Chapter 415 414 [Navy and Fatty]

In mid-March, the freighter carrying the machines entered Sichuan and was about to arrive at Chaotianmen Wharf.

Zhang Mouzhi stood on the deck of the riverboat, looked at the pier and praised: "Chongqing is a good place, with convenient water transportation, not much worse than Jiujiang."

"So, as long as Liu Xiang can continue to occupy Chongqing and develop the economy well, sooner or later, Sichuan will be unified," Zhou Hexuan said, pointing to the Chaotianmen Wharf. "Sichuan's guns and ammunition must be purchased through the Yangtze River waterway. Otherwise, we can only buy from the southwest. From this point of view, Liu Xiang's military logistics supplies are much more convenient than his opponents."

"Hey, what's that?" Zhang Mouzhi asked in surprise, pointing to the small ship on the river in the distance.

Zhou Hexuan looked quickly, and saw those riverboats had strange shapes, iron plates were installed on both sides of the hull, and a gun barrel was welded on each side. He was not sure: "Is this an armed ship?"

The captain of the freighter responsible for transporting the machine is obviously much clearer than them. When he saw those small riverboats equipped with cannons, the captain immediately shouted in horror: "Be careful, be careful, be careful not to overturn Commander Liu's warship! You will lose money."

Zhou Hexuan sweated wildly when he heard this, and immediately didn't know what to say.

The Mongolian navy in later generations was famous. A landlocked country that does not rely on the sea, it just built three ships and seven people to build a navy for fun.

Liu Xiang's navy is also well-known. He refits ordinary small river ships, installs iron plates as armor, and installs two small steel cannons as naval guns. He often trains and cruises in the Yangtze River.

This worried the fishermen along the river, not because they were afraid of being hit and sunk by a warship, but because they were afraid that their own fishing boat would accidentally capsize the warship. At that time, there was a folk song in Chongqing that sang like this: Tell your small fishing boats along the river that you will lose money if the waves overturn the warship. It cost 55,000 to buy a boat and 33,000 to buy a gun.

Liu Xiang's warship is not only small in tonnage and horsepower, but it is more fun when firing. Every time a gun is fired, the hull will retreat a lot due to the recoil. However, the Sichuan army's technology in transforming warships is not bad. The two small steel cannons are welded to a standard enough to prevent the warship from turning around on the river as soon as the guns are fired.

Zhou Hexuan hastily took out his camera and frantically took pictures of several Sichuan Army "warships" on the river. These photos will be precious decades later.

After everyone got ashore, they immediately contacted the porter at the dock to transfer the machine, and Zhang Mouzhi was quite pleased with what happened next.

"It seems that Liu Xiang still understands civil affairs. We were charged a lot of exorbitant taxes along the way. Instead, when we arrived in Chongqing, we only had to pay a tariff at Chaotianmen Wharf." Zhang Mouzhi had a good first impression of Liu Xiang.

The local man who was hired to transport the machine along with him said, "It's all thanks to Director Liu."

"Who is Director Liu?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

The local man said: "Liu Hangchen, Director of the Financial Division of the Sichuan Rehabilitation Supervision Office, is a top student at Peking University, and now he specializes in helping Commander Liu manage finances. Director Liu has just taken office, and he has abolished more than 30 taxation agencies. The day of moving is also much better."

Zhang Mouzhi wondered: "This is rare. Those who help the warlords with their finances usually try to find ways to increase taxes, but Liu Hangchen wants to abolish the taxation agencies?"

"That's not true. It is now rumored that Director Liu is the reincarnation of the God of Wealth," the local said enthusiastically, "I heard that Director Liu has been in office for one month, and the supervisory office that has been paying for it has been paying more than 100 yuan in unpaid taxes. In the second month, there was a balance of more than 2 million.”

"It's interesting." Zhou Hexuan laughed.

The local man said: "It's more than interesting. There are many stories about Director Liu. In the past, when soldiers asked for loans from merchants, they always borrowed money but never repaid it. Everyone just treated it as a disaster. After taking office, Director Liu has also been busy. Borrowing everywhere in a panic, but people are very trustworthy. After the loan expires, no merchant dares to ask for the account, but Director Liu personally brings people to the door to pay back the money, even the interest is not a penny!"

Zhou Hexuan suddenly understood why Liu Xiang in history was able to gain a firm foothold among the many warlords of the Sichuan Army, and finally unified Sichuan in name.

It is very important to have an expert who knows how to manage money and win people's hearts under your hands!

...

Chongqing is obviously different from other places. There are almost no rickshaws here.

Well, in a mountain city, pulling a rickshaw is not exhausting!

The usual means of transportation is a sliding pole, two strong long bamboo poles are tied into a stretcher, with a bamboo reclining chair in the middle. Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Mouzhi sat on the sliding pole, and the bearers carried the sliding pole up the hill, feeling quite comfortable on the wobble.

Not to mention comparing with Tianjin and Shanghai, even compared with Jiujiang, Chongqing at this time seems to be very backward.

There are basically no modern buildings, and there are traditional wooden or bamboo buildings everywhere. Liu Xiang has only been working hard here for a year or two. Chongqing has not developed yet, and there may be more significant changes in a few years.

The two of them led their followers all the way from Chaotianmen to Caiyuanba. After setting up the machine, they planned to find a hotel nearby to rest.

At this moment, a group of people walked towards them, and pedestrians on the street avoided one after another.

The two pole-carriers who were carrying Zhou Hexuan also hurriedly avoided, almost throwing Zhou Hexuan off.

A Sichuan horse dragging a cart was frightened and knocked over the hawker stall on the street. The hawker immediately argued with the driver. One lion opened his mouth to ask for compensation, while the other only wanted to pay for the damaged goods.

The one who caused the commotion was a big fat man, who was also sitting on the pole, and said impatiently: "What's the trouble? It's a big deal, and you're going to be green and white. It's a lot of money. I'll pay for it!"

The peddler immediately stepped forward with a smile and said, "Mr. Ha, a small business is not worth much, just two oceans is enough."

"Give him two yuan," the fat man waved to his followers, "Hurry up, don't delay me watching the Sichuan Opera."

When Zhou Hexuan heard the peddler calling the fat man "Ha Gong", he suddenly understood, and asked aloud, "But Commander Fan?"

Hearing the standard Mandarin, the fat man was a little stunned. He looked at Zhou Hexuan suspiciously and asked, "Which one are you? How can you recognize me?"

"My lord Zhou Hexuan." Zhou Hexuan laughed.

The big fat man muttered to his subordinates: "Could it be that some central government official who came to Chongqing on business can speak official Chinese in a clear and orderly manner."

Some of his subordinates really understood, and immediately replied: "Ha Gong, this gentleman is amazing. He is a famous scholar all over the world. Commander-in-Chief Chiang always reads his books, and even prints his books and distributes them to others. Officials read!"

"That's amazing!" The fat man was taken aback, and said to himself, "Hey, I can't tell. How did he recognize me?"

His subordinate flattered him and said: "It means that Mr. Ha has already become famous far and wide, and even academic scholars know about you!"

"Hey, yes, yes," the fat man hurriedly got off the sliding pole, and shouted happily, "Mr. Zhou, let's go to the theater together. I, Fan Haer, will be the host, and I promise to let you have a good time in Chongqing!" "