Chapter 209 The Great Western Expedition Under World Attention
Chapter 209 The Great Western Expedition Under World Attention
On September 27, the fourth year of the Tongzhi reign, the brothers Ma Guiyuan and Ma Benyuan were executed by slow slicing in Lanzhou. Nie Shicheng's and Lin Bo's troops returned to Lanzhou at the same time.
Shao Quanzhong ordered three days of rest, and on the first day of October he left Lanzhou, broke camp and headed towards Suzhou.
Bo Zai's troops were the vanguard and had already marched twenty miles. Nie Shicheng's troops had just set out, and Shao Quanzhong and his guards were still packing their bags.
"Yuting, there's an American outside who wants to see you."
"Americans? Are they employees of the woolen mill or the tractor assembly plant? Are they uncomfortable living in Lanzhou?"
"He has a letter of introduction from Zhang Siwen."
Um, from the Federation? If you want to cooperate, you can just go to Hailing to find the Wen family. Why are you chasing me to Lanzhou?
The man had thick short blond curly hair, a brush-like mustache on his upper lip, a double-breasted suit, a bow tie, a tweed coat, and a bag on his back. He looked exhausted.
Seeing Shao Quanzhong, he bowed slightly and said, "Hello, Admiral. I am Samuel Langhen Clement, a reporter from the California Land. It's an honor to meet you."
I don't know him at all and have never heard of him, but he was introduced by Sven, so I have to be polite.
"That—what was it, Mr. Clement? If you want to learn about China's development, you can go to Hailing for an interview. The northwest is barren, and I'm about to go to war, so I may not have time to accompany you."
"No, no, no, General, you are the most famous person in China. I saw a photo of you visiting Hong Kong on the front page of the New York Times when you were still a major general. You are conducting a large-scale expedition. As a reporter, I want to go with your team and record first-hand information. This will make me famous. I hope you can allow it."
The reporters are really omnipresent, and they even came to the mainland of China. Well, this is also related to Sven's introduction.
"You know Sven?"
"Yes. I published a short story, 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County', in a New York magazine. As a result, I became a somewhat famous writer. I met Zhang and his wife Jessica at a salon of Irish immigrants. Zhang and I hit it off right away and had a very in-depth conversation. Zhang is your good friend, so we should be friends too, right? You can call me by my pen name, Mark Twain."
In fact, Mark Twain was already a very famous writer in the United States at that time, but when he observed Shao Quanzhong, he seemed to have no reaction to this pen name.
Shao Quanzhong really didn't know Mark Twain. He wasn't interested in literature, and he only knew a little about Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin and Journey to the West, mostly through storytelling. He also knew Dream of the Red Chamber and Jin Ping Mei, but he had only seen the pictures but never read them, and he didn't know a single foreign writer.
"After I became a little famous, I was hired as a reporter by the California Land. I was originally planning to go to Hawaii for a travel interview, but after listening to Zhang's introduction, I simply ran all the way to China. For this, I studied Chinese for three months along the way - Can I take a photo with you?"
Mark Twain took out a camera from his backpack, and with a "bang", white smoke rose, and another famous photo appeared.
"Well, Mark, since we are friends, please stop saying 'you' all the time. It makes me uncomfortable."
"Okay, General. Before I came to see you, I had done a lot of interviews in Shaanxi and Gansu along the way, and I found that you are a very kind general."
"Merciful"? It was the first time that Butcher Shao heard someone describe himself in this way.
"I have seen many rioters who committed crimes against humanity. You killed their ringleaders, but only exiled these rioters and made them war refugees. This is a very merciful act worldwide."
Well, I am indeed kind.
"You also sold them food and tents so that they would not freeze to death in exile. If these things were made public, it would change the world's impression of the Qing Dynasty."
Shao Quanzhong understood why Zhang Siwen introduced the reporters. This was to establish a glorious image for himself in the world.
"I think you should punish them, General. If you adopt a hungry and poor dog and make it comfortable and smooth, it will not bite you. This is the main difference between a person and a dog. I don't think these rioters will be grateful." The next day, the California Land News published a text message, "Shao Quanzhong, the leading general in the Far East, set out from Lanzhou and began his great westward expedition."
The photo of Shao Quanzhong and Mark Twain, as well as the heroic figure of Shao Quanzhong riding a Qinghaicong, holding a command knife in his hand, and setting off on his horse, were not published in the newspaper until two months later.
The published photos also show the Huai Army Guards in neat uniforms. The major general of the Guards with a loyal and honest face is the "sharpshooter general" Song Laosan.
Also published were photos and records of the crimes committed by the bandits in Shaanxi and Gansu.
The shocking crime of massacring 15 million people would definitely shock the world, and it also conveyed to the world the justice of Shao Quanzhong's Western Expedition.
"In October at the frontier, the cold wind frightens the soldiers. In the third winter, the endless snow chills the fisherman on the river."
This couplet that Shao Quanzhong chanted on horseback was also recorded by Mark Twain as proof of General Shao's "literary talent".
This was actually the textbook I used in my private school in the Qing Dynasty. It was written from one of the few introductory books on ancient Chinese literature that Shao Quanzhong had read through.
It was already the tenth month of the lunar calendar, and we didn't know how long it would take to capture Suzhou. Then came the severe winter, which was not suitable for marching in the northwest desert, especially for the southern soldiers from the water towns of Jiangsu and Anhui.
When Shao Quanzhong recited these two couplets, he felt regretful. He was afraid that he would not be able to leave Jiayu Pass this year and could only wait until spring.
This was also good. Originally, there was enough food for the Western Expedition, but Ma Zhan'ao's migrating team needed a lot of food. The rioters implemented a temporary rationing system, all their property was confiscated, and Ma Zhan'ao bought all the food to carry.
In this way, we can accumulate military rations for a few months and then head west to Yili Province in the spring.
At the same time, Shao Quanzhong recalled the time when he entered Guazhou on a snowy night. He didn't know if it would snow again in his hometown this year.
I haven’t seen Ronghui at home for a long time. After marrying a soldier like me who often goes to war, she is bound to be alone in the empty house.
Fortunately, Huier is also a career-oriented person. While managing the middle school, she is also planning to build Hailing University. She probably doesn't have time to be sentimental every day.
Soon, she will be responsible for receiving a group of world-class scholars led by Maxwell.
When leaving Lanzhou, Shao Quanzhong received the last batch of telegrams.
With the help of Yung Wing, Maxwell had taken the Chinese name "Maisiwei" and, accompanied by Yung Wing, boarded the clipper chartered by Yung Wing with Thomson and was already on the sea.
From now on, electromagnetism will be a theory published by British-Chinese, right?
The "Super Yong" and "Yang Wei" were about to arrive in Stockholm, and Nobel had packed up his belongings on the barge on Lake Mala and prepared to move.
He did not continue his research, and the solid glycerin explosive could not be produced before Nobel arrived in Hailing. He finally caught the critical time point to invite Nobel.
The army marched along the Hexi Corridor, all cavalry, with rifles like a forest. There was no noise, only the sound of the horses' hooves.
The westward expedition of such a modernized team was completely different from Zuo Gong's westward expedition, and the results would certainly be very different.
The army was out of the telegraph coverage area and moved westwards, westwards...
(End of this chapter)