the world is at stake

The Russian admiral Robb sent a telegram to St. Petersburg to inquire. It is said that they are also making similar medicines, but the output is small and the price is high, so they cannot supply the Far East.

We are now responding to the epidemic, and it is almost free for patients to use.So the Russians want to purchase from us, first to ensure the safety of Russian residents in the Far East, and second, to sell them elsewhere through the Siberian Railway. "

Tsarist Russia has a vast territory and a large population. Relying on the current capabilities of the 'Holy Alliance', it is certainly impossible to solve the medical problems of all the people in its territory.Especially the Far East.

Zhou Qingfeng thought for a while, "As long as the price is right, it's not impossible to discuss the sale of drugs."

The central government also wants to deliver supplies to the Northeast, but the transportation capacity of the Jingfeng Railway is limited after all.It is also a good thing to be able to use the 'Middle Eastern Railway' controlled by Tsarist Russia.

"Rob expressed his willingness to sell us a batch of Mosin Nagant rifles." Xu Shichang said, he felt that this deal could still be done.

However, Zhou Qingfeng looked down on some goods, shook his head and said: "We don't need Russian rifles, but we lack transportation capacity."

"Lack of luck?"

"We are importing a large amount of mechanical equipment and weapons from Germany. It will take two months to transport these European ships to Shanghai. If we can use the Siberian Railway across Europe and Asia, half a month will be enough."

Ah... ground transportation? !

Xu Shichang heard a 'hiss', and his head lit up as if he had opened his mind.Ordinary people only think of sea transportation, and only those who are familiar with the geography will connect German goods with Russian railways in a short time.

This Zhou Tianwang is very active.But after thinking about it, Xu shook his head again and said, "Can the Russians help us deliver the goods? The relationship between China and Russia is not very good now."

If it weren't for the Japanese nail, the Tsarist Russian Concession in Harbin would have been demolished by the National Defense Forces, and even the "Middle Eastern Railway" would have to be taken back.

The Russians also transported military supplies to the Japanese in Lushun before, and nine out of ten it was the British who paid for the purchase of Russian food and sent it to the Japanese army.

"There is nothing wrong with interests. Russian officials are very corrupt." Zhou Qingfeng thought about it further, "Actually, the transport capacity of the Siberian Railway has not been effectively utilized at all.

Except for some low-quality goods such as groundhog skins, there is no goods in the Far East that can be transported back to Europe from the Siberian Railway.

Nearly [-] kilometers of railways are empty, and the train carriages in Harbin are often returned to Moscow with empty boxes.Moscow also transported some military supplies to the Far East. "

Sulfonamides and toxins have just appeared, and they are priced like gold.

However, the big powers will soon mass-produce them, especially the solid basic industries of the United Kingdom and the United States, and it is easy to suppress the prices of these things.

Zhou Qingfeng sent a telegram to the imperial capital, proposing his own idea—to take advantage of the high price of specific medicines and the greed of Russian officials to let them disembark German goods from St. Petersburg and transport them to the Northeast via the Siberian Railway.

This can save at least half or even two-thirds of the time and effectively share the burden of shipping.For example, German coal mining and smelting equipment settled in Anshan, and Anshan Iron and Steel was established on the spot.

In addition, the development of the Daqing Oilfield must also be put on the agenda, and relevant equipment must be put in place as soon as possible.

Emperor Capital quickly replied: "The situation in Northeast China is complicated, and it is not suitable for large-scale projects immediately. However, ordinary coal and iron mining can be considered, and Daqing Oilfield will not be moved for the time being. Let Xu Shichang take the lead in specific matters.

As for the use of empty containers returning from Siberia, the Ministry of Agriculture is planning to develop black land in the Northeast, such as growing high-yield crops such as potatoes.Food processing factories can be established on the spot, and spirits can be sold to Russia. "

Maozi has no requirements for drinking, and vodka is mostly brewed with barley rye.But potatoes can also make wine.Sweet potatoes can be brewed 'Sweet Potato Burn', anyway, it's not industrial alcohol that will make you blind.

As long as the mind is open, the enemy's railway can also be used by me.After all, capacity is something that can only be brought into play if there is demand and a market.

Xu Shichang took the order to talk to the Russian admiral Robb.Robb's eyes lit up when he learned that the Chinese wanted to exchange special medicines for railway transport capacity.

Compared with the real thing, the power is invisible and intangible, and it is too easy to manipulate it.The Siberian Railway is not to mention that the return journey is empty, and the incoming journey is often not full.

How many more trains will be opened on the nearly [-]-kilometer railway, who knows?

It’s just that transportation capacity involves a wide range of aspects, especially the transportation through the St. Petersburg port. The entire link process is very complicated.But fortunately, high income is the best stepping stone to open up relationships.

When the imperial capital expressed its willingness to exchange a ton of railway transport capacity for a life-saving sulfonamide, things became much easier.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs dispatched a procurement team headed by Jiang Zuobin to head west along the Trans-Siberian Railway, take a train all the way to St. Petersburg, and then arrive in Hamburg, Germany by boat.

Kaiser Bazel I was also very surprised. At the same time, he was very optimistic about the idea of ​​using Russian railways, and hoped that if the route was unimpeded, Chinese goods such as tungsten ore could be transported to Europe.

Jiang Zuobin purchased a batch of food machinery from Germany and returned from Hamburg. Dozens of tons of goods were safely transported to Harbin along the way.Due to the good management along the way, the whole journey only takes [-] days.

If you want to go by sea, at the current speed of the seagoing ship, you can't do it in two months.

Sulfonamide, which can cure septicemia, penicillin, which can treat syphilis, and streptomycin, which can treat tuberculosis, once these things are industrialized and the output soars, the price will drop sharply.

China has a great desire to export medicines to Europe and compete with the big powers for its internal market.

The smoothness of the first transportation has greatly stimulated the stakeholder groups in China, Russia and Germany.In particular, the Russian railway department, which is stuck on the railway line, has found a good way to get rich.

Just when the Tsarist Russian officials did not know why, the railway freight volume between China and Germany suddenly increased.For the second time, 98 Mauser [-] rifles and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition were shipped.

This is less than a thousand tons, and it was transported away by a heavy-duty train.

The Russians themselves are not satisfied with this volume.I hope that the Chinese side will ship more things, or provide some goods to the Chinese side--Xu Shichang knows how crazy life-saving medicine can make people.

There is an upper limit for a person's consumption of food, clothing, housing and transportation, but there is no upper limit for the consumption of life.As long as you can survive, you will be willing to spend money.

As a result, Belgian steel, German machine tools, Czech forging machines, Swedish mining machines, and industrial products from various European countries seemed to find inexplicable buyers, and they were rushed to the Russian territory.

In order to make money, Maozi Railway staff took the initiative to drive extra trains.After all, steam locomotives can be operated as long as they burn coal and water, and the freight is quite cheap.

Tsarist Russia's population in the Far East is too small, in fact, it cannot support the Eurasian Railway, which cost a lot of money to build.Now this railway has instead become a strategic channel connecting China with Europe.

Chapter 54

In October 1910, Manzhouli City on the Sino-Russian border.

Two Chinese workers who were deported by Russia returned to the territory and stayed in the inn in the city.A few days later, they died on the same day as the other two guests in the inn, with large purple-black spots on their bodies.

This day is July 10th.

Before that, two workers were working on a railway site in Russia.Seven people died suddenly in the work shed where they were, and their bodies were black and purple.So the Russians drove out all the other Chinese workers in the shed and burned their clothes and luggage.

Many people died in the Manzhouli Inn, causing panic, and the passengers fled.Even the shop owner had to close his shop and flee to Harbin, but he did not escape death.

The owner returned to Fujiadian in Harbin.

This is a slum with low houses, crowded houses, and more than 2 people.Most of the residents here are laborers who built railways, and they came to the Northeast from the disaster-ridden pass to find a way of life.

Due to limited economic conditions, laborers often live in the same room with several people, lying on the kang made of adobe, and the sanitary conditions are extremely poor.This is a natural breeding ground for the epidemic.

The owner of the store also died shortly after returning home, and his family buried him for five days in grief.But soon, his family members also continued to fall, followed by neighbors, and then the entire Fujiadian residents.

All patients have the same characteristics, high fever, vomiting blood, and dark purple skin after death, so the world calls it the 'Black Death'.

At that time, Harbin had more than 33 nationals from 16 countries, and 19 countries had consulates here.Westerners generally believe that rats should be exterminated because it is plague.

But in the Northeast in November, the outdoor temperature is [-] to [-] degrees below zero, and the indoor temperature is not much better.Who raises mice that will come out and move around at this time?

When the epidemic spread across the Northeast, Wu Lien-teh, who was dispatched by the central government in advance, stepped forward and sent thousands of doctors, nurses and police officers who received simple training to various places to implement strict isolation and blockade, and secondly, to promote epidemic prevention strategies.

But it's not that easy.

The common people in panic have never had a good impression of the government.Especially in the wild Northeast where bandits and Japanese and Russian forces are everywhere, people have always only believed in themselves and did not listen to orders.

The people are full of fear of isolation and regard the quarantine personnel as enemies.When the government required isolation, they hid the patients in closets or haystacks to avoid being taken away by quarantine personnel.

Once a person dies from illness, the family members are afraid of being discriminated against if they are known by the outside world. Instead, they bury the body under snowdrifts, throw it in a ditch, or even hide it on the roof.

Wu Lien-teh asked theaters, teahouses, and schools to be closed, and shops must be forcibly disinfected.Businessmen whose interests were damaged resisted, saying that they would not sell a grain of rice or a piece of meat to the officials engaged in epidemic prevention.

The jobs related to epidemic prevention are very bad.

When Xu Shichang and Wu Liande were at their worst, the National Defense Forces arrived.The army imposes military control on cities and villages, and all personnel and materials must be arranged and deployed by the government.

Violent agencies took action to check all the areas where the epidemic occurred to ensure that the infected and close contacts were screened out from the healthy population for isolation to avoid the spread of the epidemic.

The [-] officers and soldiers of the First Division of the National Defense Forces arrived in Shenyang in early November, and then deployed battalions to cities and villages throughout the three northeastern provinces.

The key is... There are medicines and free treatment.

By the beginning of December, the spread of the plague, which was as pervasive as mercury, came to an abrupt halt.

The number of patients and deaths in the three northeastern provinces has dropped significantly. As some patients have been cured and returned home, there is hope for victory in this invisible war.

In Fujiadian quarantine zone in Harbin, Naniwa Kawashima, who came from the "South Manchuria Railway", stood in front of several huge piles of corpses.Beside him are thousands of Harbin businessmen, officials, civilians, and diplomats from various countries.

In the name of "Assisting in Epidemic Prevention", the Japanese Kanto Governor's Mansion in Lushun donated 15 yen to the governments of the three eastern provinces through the "Southern Manchuria Railway Club", and at the same time sent a group of medical staff to various places in the Northeast.

Naniwa Kawashima appeared in Harbin with his identity of "epidemic prevention". He took great risks to come to the most severely affected area, but what he saw after arriving was the aftermath.

cremation.

Every 100 coffins or corpses are piled up in a pile, poured with kerosene, and then a fire, thousands of corpses are burned.The smoke from the cemetery rose into the sky, and for a while, the flames billowed and the heat wave surged.

The corpses of the dead were frozen hard, like ferocious black iron.The corpses still carry a large number of germs, and burial cannot solve the problem, but will leave future troubles, which must be burned.

Kawashima was surprised by the speed and decisiveness of the Tohoku government.He is well aware of the Chinese custom that the dead should be buried in peace, and such a change of customs is very likely to attract fierce opposition.

"Maybe it's because civilians are frightened by the epidemic." Kawashima looked at the crowd of onlookers.When the body was burned, everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and relieve their psychological burden. "It's good to burn it, at least the epidemic is under control."

It wasn't just the corpses that were burned, but also certain prejudices in people's minds were burned in this catastrophe.

Because of the threat of the plague, the people of the three northeastern provinces had to work closely with the government.The government has also done a good job and did not disappoint the common people.

The resolute actions of the Northeast government amazed ordinary people.It can mobilize more than 2 troops, organize 10,000+ medical staff, police officers, and civilians, transport tens of thousands of tons of relief supplies and distribute them within ten months.

This is clearly a practical exercise.

Although the First Division of the National Defense Forces has just been formed, its more than 500 trucks and a large number of radio stations have played an important role in epidemic prevention.Chuan Dao came from Shenyang and saw with his own eyes that trucks were pulling patients from villages and towns into the city for treatment.

Not only plague patients, but also other patients and even pregnant women were taken care of.Due to the rapid control and effective drugs, the death toll of this epidemic will not exceed [-], which greatly wins the hearts of the people.

The scene of burning the corpse was magnificent, but Kawashima didn't want to watch it again.He moved a little and could see another larger fire. In order to completely eliminate the source of the epidemic, all the houses in Fujiadian, Harbin were burned down.

Those low, dilapidated, dark and damp houses with closed doors and windows are the homes of more than 4000 poor people.But next to the burned residential area, thousands of tents were stretched out to provide temporary shelter for the homeless.

Kawashima walked through the dirt road in the tent area, and could clearly see the English words 'Manchester' or 'Portsmouth' printed on these tents.

"Damn Brits, dude, did they sell all the second-hand munitions of the Boer War to the Chinese? Not only are there tents made by the British, but there are cans of corned beef."

Fire prevention ditches were dug in the tent area, public toilets were built, and the police maintained law and order.The medical staff will go door to door every day to inspect and treat patients in time.

Inside the tent are double beds with iron frames, arranged in five rows and two rows.The wood-burning and coal-burning stove provided hot air, and the smoke pipe pierced through the roof of the tent, emitting white smoke.

Kawashima walked past a very large tent, which turned out to be a school.Dozens of children of different ages ran around inside and outside the tent, making the young teachers who came to support from the imperial capital panic.

The only things that keep the kids quiet are two things.

One is to eat.

Not only cans of corned beef came from England, but also tins of biscuits.

The biscuits were as hard as corned beef, and they couldn't be chewed directly. They had to be soaked in water or simply cooked as porridge.

In Kawashima's view, the taste of British canned food is hard to describe, but for children in the slums, it is nothing more than a delicacy.It provides enough calories and nutrients to keep a person full.

The children can not only eat enough, but also dress warmly.Clothes made of Indian cotton were thick and sturdy, replacing old clothes that were as dirty as black charcoal.The latter was thrown into the fire and burned.

Seeing these British supplies become relief supplies for the three eastern provinces through sea and railway, every "Meiji patriot" was so angry that he shed tears.

The same goods were also provided by British officials to Japan in the form of loans.But its price is inexplicably higher, twice or even three times higher than what British merchants shipped to Shanghai or Tianjin.

"Official materials are actually more expensive than private ones. It's like slaughtering our big Japan like fat sheep."

In addition to eating, the second thing that can make children quiet is to watch teaching slides.The temporary school has four classes every day, and the volunteer teachers from the imperial capital will play teaching videos.

The Ministry of Education of the Imperial Capital obviously knew that the level of teachers in the country was uneven, so they simply produced a batch of slides as fixed courseware.Low-level teachers only need to memorize the content of the class, and they can follow the text according to the courseware.

At present, all the slide courseware for elementary school content has been completed. Students can see cute and interesting patterns and images and easy-to-understand content, and the learning difficulty is very low.

The slide projector is also simple. In fact, it is a light bulb or calcium carbide that acts as a light source and projects the slides onto the screen.The Ministry of Education intends to continue to make slides for junior high schools, and at the same time tackle key problems with sound films, using technology to promote the improvement of teaching standards.

The temporary school has not yet distributed textbooks, so children of different ages each grab a piece of wood and use black charcoal as a pen to study.

Kawashima walked past the school tent just as the school bell rang.Dozens of kids ran back to the classroom, waiting for the slides to light up.Five or six thousand similar simple schools have been opened across the country, and millions of students have been educated as a result.

"It's a good idea."

Whenever classes are held, some adults also stop outside the tent.Some people waited and watched, some listened silently, and some seemed to follow suit. They were all very ordinary people.

The population in the slums is almost all illiterate. It is a huge progress for their children to master simple listening, speaking, reading, writing and calculation, and to understand the common sense of nature and society.

If a group of students with good brains can be found, the teacher will report and send them to a higher school for further study.Teachers, students and parents will all be rewarded for this.

Japan's current education is doing well, but Kawashima can clearly feel that China's crude teaching system contains vigorous vitality, and it is a hidden threat.

If the teaching services provided by the school change the fate of children, the recruitment site next to the school is to change the fate of adults.

Many of the poor people living in Fujiadian are railway workers working in Tsarist Russia, and a sign was erected at the recruitment site - Construction Bureau of the Three Eastern Provinces of China Railway Construction Corporation.

The recruiters recruited thousands of people in one morning.These workers will choose another place to resettle. The first thing is to prepare for the building materials factory of the Construction Bureau and build dormitories for the bureau's employees.

There is more than one signboard for recruiting workers, there are coal mines, farms, food factories, clothing factories, and timber factories.Not only men are recruited, but women are also recruited.

There are a large number of jobs to choose from, which is the fundamental reason why the poor in Fujiadian can accept the burning of their homes.They will enter more than a dozen state-owned enterprises and really build their own homes.

Kawashima went around the tent area, but couldn't find anything to exploit.He silently recorded what he saw and heard, and returned to the Russian Concession in the urban area with a feeling of resentment.

In the concession, Kishi Yajiro from the Japanese General Staff Headquarters is waiting.

Chapter 55