The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Hearing that Zhou Hexuan wanted to invest in building a railway, Song Ziwen asked with some surprise: "Brother Mingcheng, which railway do you want to invest in?"

"Guangdong-Han line." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.

"Guangdong...Guangdong-Han Line?" Song Ziwen was stunned, then laughed loudly and said, "Brother Mingcheng has thought too much. You don't need to invest in the Guangdong-Han Line. Even if the National Government is short of money, it will not dare to misappropriate the Guangdong-Han Line. The construction funds are for the main railway line that Chairman Chiang Kai-shek has personally taken care of."

What is the Guangdong-Han Line?

That is the railway section from Guangzhou to Wuchang.

The two lakes area was the most stalemate place during the Anti-Japanese War. At that time, the southeast coast was occupied by Japan, and the southwest region had inconvenient transportation. Therefore, international aid from the United Kingdom and the United States could only go to Guangdong by sea, and then reach the frontline battlefield through railway transportation (Guangdong-Han Line).

The Guangdong-Han Line can be said to be the main artery of national survival in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War before the Japanese army occupied Guangzhou.

This railway has been under construction for nearly 40 years. Initially, Sheng Xuanhuai introduced American funds to build the road. However, this caused dissatisfaction among the gentry and merchants of Guangdong, Hunan, and Hubei provinces, and strongly demanded that the Manchu and Qing government take back the construction rights of the Guangdong-Hankong Line. After several years of wrangling, Zhang Zhidong stood up to support domestic businessmen, and the Guangdong-Han Line became a government-supervised commercial office.

But this was just the beginning. The United States secretly stirred up troubles and dragged Belgium into the water. Even Britain, France, Germany and other countries wanted to come in to get a share of the pie. Coupled with the difficulty in raising funds from Chinese businessmen, the construction of the Guangdong-Hankong Line was delayed again and again.

After the founding of the Republic of China, due to years of warlord warfare, the government no longer bothered to build the Guangdong-Hankou Railway. The roads could only be built piecemeal by businessmen from all over the country year after year. Finally, various road sections were repaired one after another, leaving only the Zhu (zhou) Shao (guan) section with the most difficult engineering difficulties. According to the survey and design of the British, this road section More than 70 tunnels need to be opened.

As long as this railway is fully connected, the transportation of materials between Guangdong, Guangxi and even the two lakes will be guaranteed by the middle of the Anti-Japanese War.

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Is there any clue about the Guangdong-Han Line?"

Song Ziwen nodded and said: "There will be a war between China and Japan. Before the troops move, food and grass go first. As the two lakes are the rear areas of China's Anti-Japanese War, railway transportation must be guaranteed. The chairman of the committee has appointed Mr. Ling Hongxun as the engineering director of the Zhushao section. Mr. Ling is a great engineer. After his survey and planning, the number of tunnels that need to be opened in this section can be reduced to more than 10. Construction officially started as early as last year. The reason why I know so clearly is because the project costs a lot. Before resigning as Finance Minister, we had to raise funds from many sources."

"That's it." Zhou Hexuan nodded.

Although Lao Jiang often couldn't understand clearly, he still did a good job in this matter. If the Guangdong-Hankou Railway is not built and Japan overthrows the two lakes areas in the future, then Chinese officers and soldiers will be completely blind.

The construction of the Zhushao section of the Guangdong-Hankong Railway can be described as "a spike in the road and a drop of blood". Especially when the Nanling Tunnel was being built, miasma was prevalent, plague was prevalent, and workers often died of illness. Construction materials such as cement, steel, sleepers, etc. must be transported by manpower over mountains and ridges. In some places, fishermen are hired to transport them in small boats.

During the most difficult period, 180,000 workers were building the road at the same time, and Chiang Kai-shek worked desperately to open the road.

Song Ziwen's eyes suddenly lit up, and he seemed to have thought of something. He smiled and said: "Brother Mingcheng, if you are willing to invest in the Guangdong-Hankong Line, why not use the money to build the bridge."

"Repair the bridge?" Zhou Hexuan didn't understand.

"Yes, build the bridge," Song Ziwen dipped his finger in tea and drew a line on the coffee table. "The lower one is the Guangdong-Hankou Railway that is about to be opened to traffic. The upper one is the Ping (Beijing) Railway that runs through the north. Han Railway. There is a Yangtze River in the middle. As long as a Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge is built, it can directly connect the north and the south, and connect the railway from Peking to Guangzhou!"

Zhou Hexuan was very interested in this and asked: "Is it difficult to build the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge?"

Song Ziwen said: "It is very difficult. As early as six years ago, the government prepared to build the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, but it was shelved because of the War in the Central Plains. Last year, the bridge repair plan was proposed again, and Mr. Mao Yisheng was invited to Wuhan for survey and exploration. And invited Soviet engineering consultants in China to assist in formulating a bridge repair plan."

"Has the plan been made?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"The plan has been made," Song Ziwen said with a wry smile. "A fixed railway-highway combined bridge can be built. The bridge site is located between the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuchang and the Lotus Lake in Hanyang. However, the estimated investment in the project exceeds 10 million yuan, and the National Government only We can shelve the plan because even if we raise funds from the private sector, we really can’t come up with that much money.”

"Let me think about it." Zhou Hexuan couldn't help but close his eyes.

The Battle of Wuhan was the largest, longest, and most annihilated battle after the Anti-Japanese War entered the defensive phase. The battlefields spanned the four provinces of Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, and Hubei. The Chinese army fought bloody battles, hundreds of large and small battles, at a cost of more than 400,000 casualties, and killed and injured more than 250,000 Japanese troops, which greatly depleted the Japanese army's effective strength.

If the Yangtze River Bridge is not repaired, the Ping-Han and Guangdong-Han railways will have to be connected by water transport (carriages are transported to the other side by ship), which greatly slows down the transportation of Chinese soldiers and materials.

If Zhou Hexuan had funded the repair of the Yangtze River Bridge, the Battle of Wuhan would have been fought more smoothly.

Zhou Hexuan did not ask for anything else. As long as the bridge could delay the Japanese attack for one more month and cause the Japanese to suffer a thousand more casualties, he would be satisfied.

Not only that, after the bridge is built, it will be more convenient to mobilize and retreat troops in the Battle of Xuzhou. Maybe the Battle of Xuzhou will be fought more smoothly.

But the investment will definitely not be recovered.

It will take at least two years to build this Yangtze River Bridge. By the time it is opened to traffic, the Japanese army has already begun a full-scale invasion of China. During the Battle of Wuhan, either the Japanese army sent planes to bomb the bridge, or the Nationalist army blew up the bridge when they retreated. Anyway, the Yangtze River Bridge must be riddled with holes, and it might be completely destroyed before the war of resistance is successful.

The 10 million yuan invested by Zhou Hexuan was 100% wasted.

"I promised to invest in building the bridge," Zhou Hexuan suddenly opened his eyes and stared at Song Ziwen. "But the Nanjing government must ensure that every penny I invest must be used to build the bridge! If anyone dares to embezzle, I will Terminate follow-up funding and let this bridge go to waste! By the way, I want to arrange for someone to do financial supervision!"

Zhu Xiang, that angry young man, has already offended his colleagues in Fei Gong magazine to the point where he is very suitable to be the financial supervisor of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge project. Although Zhu Xiang does not know financial knowledge, he can hire a professional team for him.

Song Ziwen was stunned. He didn't expect Zhou Hexuan to actually agree, and asked in surprise: "Do you have that much money?"

"I can still get this little money." Zhou Hexuan smiled easily.

Not to mention the money earned from the sulfonamide and condom business, Zhou Hexuan earned a full US$7 million during the major stock market crash in the United States. He was almost moldy lying in the bank. The current exchange rate of silver dollars to US dollars is 1:2.37, and 10 million oceans is only 4.2 million US dollars.

After China issues legal tender, the international exchange rate of the silver dollar will plummet. Zhou Hexuan can complete the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge with a maximum investment of US$3.5 million.

Song Ziwen exclaimed: "You are still so good that you don't take 10 million yuan seriously."

Zhou Hexuan didn't say much, he just hoped that the Yangtze River Bridge he built would not be destroyed in the war.