It has been more than half a year since Qiao Zhiqing last participated in the Battle of Shanghai.During this time, Li Hongzhang's Huai army has undergone radical changes, and it is no longer the army that was ridiculed by Shanghainese as a tattered army when it first arrived.The battalions of the Huai Army have been expanded on a large scale and already have hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses.Moreover, the weapons equipped are not much different from those of the Qing Army, all British-made Enfield rifles, and there are more than 500 artillery pieces of various calibers.After the group arrived at the county seat of Shanghai, Qiao Zhiqing decided not to see Li Hongzhang first, and ordered the personal soldiers of the brigade to stay in the inn, only taking Huang Feihong, Liang Kuan and Lin Shirong to find a carriage, and visited the prosperous area of the county, and then walked towards the north city gate.It is worth mentioning that this inn is the secret stronghold of the Shanghai Little Knife Society, which turned into underground activities after the Little Knife Society rebelled and occupied the county seat of Shanghai a few years ago.Just a month ago, the Little Knife Club had just joined the Huaxing League under the command of Su Sanniang, and all of Qiao Zhiqing's activities in Shanghai were also assisted by the Little Knife Club this time.Xiaodaohui didn't know Qiao Zhiqing's true identity, only that he was the son-in-law who came here from Suzhou to play."
Dashuai, this is Shanghai, which looks much worse than our Suzhou" Huang Feihong, Liang Kuan, and Lin Shirong were in front of the car, they had never been to Shanghai, they were all looking around with curiosity, wanting to see how prosperous the territory of the legendary foreigners was.But in fact, after more than half a year of development, Suzhou's prosperity in both industry and commerce has long been incomparable to that of Shanghai.Although the county seat of Shanghai has been open for many years, the foreign devils obviously dare not be interested in transforming this backward small county town, but have opened a new foreign concession in the north of the city.In the concession, the foreigners set up a complete set of Western municipal systems for municipal construction, public security management, and tax collection, and in fact it has completely become a "state within a state"."
Silly boy, what we just saw is the county seat of Shanghai, and this is its prosperous place."
Qiao Zhiqing chuckled lightly, reached out and patted Huang Feihong's head.He was dressed in satin clothes, with a small melon skin hat with jade inlays on the brim, like the son of a large family.Huang Feihong stuck out his tongue and looked around, this place was indeed much more prosperous than the county town, like two completely different worlds.This is the territory of the French Concession, and it is lined with Gothic buildings, all three or four stories high.The road is bright and spacious, the main road is more than 20 meters wide, all paved with asphalt concrete, divided into two parts: carriageway and sidewalk.The French Concession had just become independent from the United Concession and was managed by its own Board of Directors, located in the Southern District.The British and American concessions were formally merged and managed by the Ministry of Industry, which was divided into four areas: east, west, north and central.With the rapid prosperity of industry and commerce in the concession, a large number of residents from nearby provinces and even overseas Chinese entered the concession to start businesses and make a living, and the concession area also continued to expand and grow.Nowadays, there are many foreign companies, businesses are everywhere, and various Western-style buildings have sprung up, like a metropolis in the West."
Young Master Qiao, what kind of paving is the road of this foreign devil, it is much smoother than our stone road.You see that the person on the side of the road seems to be licking with his tongue, can you eat this thing" Huang Feihong saw the asphalt road for the first time, it was bright and bright, it was so good-looking, and he couldn't help but sigh sentence by sentence.Qiao Zhiqing followed Huang Feihong's gesture and looked, and sure enough, there was a middle-aged man with a white beard lying on the side of the road, licking the eater with a mouthful, his expression was very funny."
Feihong, stop the carriage."
Qiao Zhiqing hurriedly shouted to stop the carriage, jumped beside the middle-aged man, and pulled him up."
What are you doing, this thing is poisonous, you can't lick it."
Qiao Zhiqing shouted to stop the middle-aged man, startling the middle-aged man, and he was stunned for a while before reacting."
Thank you, son, the old man is rude.It's just that the old man saw this thing for the first time, and he was curious, not strange, not strange. ”The middle-aged man was also very generous and decent, and hugged his fists to thank Qiao Zhiqing again and again."
What do I think of your familiar appearance, have we seen it somewhere" Qiao Zhiqing saw that the middle-aged man was thin and his face was hungry, as if he had fled from the famine.The gray cloth robe on his body was covered with patches, but the washing was very clean and tidy, and he looked like a Confucian who had read poetry and books.The middle-aged man mentioned Qiao Zhiqing, the wrinkles on his forehead gathered again, and after thinking for a long time, he suddenly shouted, "You, aren't you the battalion officer who organized the regimental training in Anqing, Qiao Zhiqing" "The old gentleman is right, it is below."
You are not the director of the Anqing Ordnance Institute, Xu Shou" Qiao Zhiqing suddenly had a slight impression in his mind, and when he heard the middle-aged man say this, he thought about it.When he was preparing to build the Qingzi Battalion in Anqing, he went to the Anqing Ordnance Institute three times and twice to ask him to make bayonets for the Qingzi Army."
It's here, I didn't expect Anqing to say goodbye, you and I actually met in Shanghai."
Xu Shou was a little excited, he had been coming to Shanghai with his family for more than a month, and he didn't expect to see the old man in this unfamiliar concession."
Old gentleman, let's talk about it in detail in the car, aren't you in Anqing, why did you come to Shanghai, your son Xu Jianyin came with you, there is no kid, but he is a talented genius, he was less than eighteen years old when I met him," Qiao Zhiqing was full of questions, and as he spoke, he warmly greeted Huang Feihong and the three of them helped Xu Shou into the carriage."
It's a long story, let's go home and say that the old home is nearby."
Xu Shou couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart, and while talking, he burst into tears, and hurriedly invited Qiao Zhiqing to his home as a guest.During Li Xiucheng's attack on Shanghai, more than 500,000 refugees flowed into the concession.The foreign devils took the opportunity to build rows of shikumen houses for rent and sale, which in disguised form stimulated the unprecedented prosperity of the real estate, finance, service industry, and industry and commerce.The carriage followed Xu Shou's guidance to a chaotic residential area, all covered with stone two-story buildings, black lacquered gates, and stone door frames.Freshly washed clothes were hung everywhere in the alley, damp and dark, and there was no sunlight.Qiao Zhiqing helped Xu Shou get out of the carriage, only letting Huang Feihong guard Xu Shou's house, and Liang Kuan and Lin Shirong stayed to guard the carriage.After entering the gate, there is a small courtyard inside, and the middle ground floor is the guest room, and there are two wings on the left and right.Xu Shou introduced it in the carriage, this courtyard was shared by him and Hua Yufang and Gong Yuntang, and the two gave the main house to Xu Shou and lived in the east and west wings respectively.There is also a courtyard next door where Zhang Sigui, Li Shanlan, and Wu Jialian live, all of whom fled from Anqing to Shanghai together.These people were the technical backbone of the Anqing Ordnance Institute, and before Chen Yucheng occupied Anqing Mansion, he had completely relied on his own strength to make the first steam engine of the Qing Dynasty."
Old woman, Jianyin, let's see who's coming" Xu Shou just entered the door and shouted excitedly upstairs in the hall."
Who's going to thrill you.If you bought the rice back, we haven't eaten for a day. ”On the second floor, there was an old woman's broken thoughts, and a few footsteps sounded, and a middle-aged woman came out of the staircase, followed by a young man with clear eyebrows.The young man's five-foot figure, sword eyebrows and starry eyes, but his face was a little yellow, and he didn't forget to hold the book in his hand and look at it."
Sister-in-law Xu, do you still know me" Qiao Zhiqing saw the woman and shouted enthusiastically.At that time, in order to go to Xu Shou's back door, he often visited his home with gifts, and he was also quite familiar with Mrs.
Xu."
Hey, isn't this Qiao Yingguan, why did you come to Shanghai too" Mrs.
Xu was obviously a little excited, and hurriedly stepped forward to look at Qiao Zhiqing excitedly."
I came here to do something, and I happened to meet Brother Xu, so I stopped by to see you."
Qiao Zhiqing chuckled lightly and shook hands with Mrs.
Xu like family."
Jianyin, you kid, stop reading.You don't always talk about your Uncle Qiao, he came to see us. ”Mrs.
Xu wiped her tears excitedly, relieved herself and hurriedly pulled the young man on the side over."
Hello Uncle Joe."
The young man bowed deeply to Qiao Zhiqing, and read his book again."
This kid is really getting older and more ignorant.I used to be arguing to see you, Brother Qiao, don't be surprised" Mrs.
Xu hung her head a little embarrassed, smiled wryly, and hurriedly pulled Qiao Zhiqing to sit down on the guest chair."
This is Jianyin, I've grown a little taller, I don't even know him anymore."
After Qiao Zhiqing sat down, he looked at the young man and laughed.His thirst for knowledge was not fake, and his eyes were as obsessed as if he were looking at his lover.Xu Shou was busy in the courtyard for a while, then came up with a pot of tea, happily filled Qiao Zhiqing, and sat down beside Qiao Zhiqing."
Brother Xu, you haven't answered my question on the carriage yet, how did your family get down to such a point" Qiao Zhiqing moistened his throat with the tea bowl, estimating that there was a guest coming, Xu Shou took out all the tea leaves in the box to entertain, and the taste of tea was not so fresh."
Hey, it's not Chen Yucheng's long-haired thief."
Xu Shou patted his thigh, shook his head and sighed, and continued, "After you went south to Shanghai with Li Dashuai, Zeng Dashuai increased his troops to besiege Nanjing City all day long, and we were busy producing ammunition day and night in the armory.But at the end of summer, I don't know where Chen Yucheng's long-haired thief came out of nowhere, and attacked Anqing City with 100,000 soldiers and horses.None of our armoury escaped, but were seized by the hairy thieves and forced us to make them munitions.Later, Zeng Dashuai counterattacked Anqing City, but because Chen Yucheng's soldiers and horses were equipped with foreign guns and cannons, they were all beaten back by Chen Yucheng.Zeng Dashuai was furious, so he sent a notice to send someone to secretly bring it to the armory, informing us that if we cooperate with the long-haired thief again, after the city is broken, we will be punished as anti-thieves.But the hairy thief's knife is on our neck, and we dare not listen.It lasted like this until the autumn equinox, Zeng Dashuai didn't know how many Hunan troops he organized to besiege Anqing City, this time the fight was quite tragic, almost half of Anqing City was taken by the Hunan army.The people of our ordnance station also took advantage of the chaos and all ran away, but because they were afraid that Zeng Dashuai would blame them, they also went incognito to the concession in Shanghai, which is the territory of foreigners, and they were not afraid that the Hunan army would come to investigate.A few of us old guys are a little useful in addition to repairing machines and building machines, and we really don't know what we can do here, so we just rely on odd jobs on weekdays to make ends meet. ”After Xu Shou finished speaking sadly, Mrs.
Xu also wiped her tears on the side."
Oh, yes.Brother Qiao, just now you said that the thing that paved the road was poisonous, could it be that you know that thing" Xu Shou sighed, suddenly remembered something, and there was a spirit in it, and he raised his head and looked at Qiao Zhiqing curiously
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