Speaking of which, no one cares about eating and drinking anymore. Luo Huo forgot the Prime Minister's order and threw the crab aside. His eyes lit up, "Fortress plan! Fortress plan? I seem to understand, but I'm still a little confused. …Can we really achieve great things by relying only on defense without relying on offense?”
Xiao Letian slapped another crab in front of him. This time it was a hairy crab that was harder to peel. "Who told you to talk? To punish you, give me this too!"
"Ah? You don't want to be such a bully..." Luo Huo picked up the hairy crab aggrievedly, seeing that the little guy who was no bigger than his own hand had a headache. He really didn't know how to peel this thing.
Xiao Letian took a few deep breaths and lit a cigar for himself. "Before I tell you about the fortress plan, I need to tell you about two places. One is Shanghai and the other is Hong Kong!"
"Shanghai and Hong Kong were both colonies occupied by the British with strong ships and cannons. Hong Kong was ceded. The Qing government completely lost all power over Hong Kong, and even people could not circulate freely...while Shanghai was slightly better. In the concession, the Qing government can at least guarantee its sovereignty and independence in name!"
"It is undeniable that Hong Kong and Shanghai are already the most attractive places for wealth in China. Relying on the huge profits from maritime trade, the small fishing village of Hong Kong has gradually turned into an excellent deep-water trading port, and Shanghai It has also become the most important port city in East Asia. After all, it is connected to the Yangtze River Basin..."
"But is geographical location really the only reason for the prosperity of these two regions? No, absolutely not. The prosperity of Hong Kong and Shanghai is absolutely inseparable from war, which was the previous Taiping War!"
Xiao Letian stood up and looked at the rain curtain in the distance and said to himself, "Capital naturally has two instincts, one is to make profit and the other is to avoid risks! But most people only see the instinct of profit, but I don’t know that the instinct to avoid danger is actually more urgent!”
"The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom swept through half of China. How many wealthy merchants in the south of the Yangtze River were destroyed? In order to survive, they had to take their wealth to a relatively safe place to take refuge. And where is the safest place in the Qing Dynasty now? Of course it is the foreigners with strong ships and powerful guns!"
“Countless Jiangnan capital is pouring into Shanghai and Hong Kong, relying on wealth to seek a place under the cannon of foreigners, and the massive capital will definitely bring about business prosperity... Land prices are rising, the construction industry is booming, and the entertainment service industry is also deformed. It swelled..."
"Of course there is also industry. There are many people who want to do business. All they want is a relatively safe environment...Shanghai and Hong Kong have become prosperous little by little!"
At this point, Xiao Letian suddenly fell silent. His thoughts suddenly returned to his previous life, and the historical memories of that scene made him shudder.
Since the opening of Hong Kong and Shanghai, every war in China has forced a large amount of wealth to flow there. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Nian Army Rebellion, the Sino-Japanese War, the Eight-Power Allied Forces' invasion of China...
Then it got even crazier. In the early years of the Republic of China, the warlords were separatist. The frequency of wars even exceeded that of the late Qing Dynasty. After you sing, I will appear on the stage. If you have a gun, you will be the grass-headed king... Countless squires, landlords and wealthy businessmen flocked to the concessions in various places with their property. Although they know where the foreigners belong, at least there is still a minimum of order.
This is how Hong Kong and Shanghai rose. The war forced capital to avoid risks, resulting in abnormal prosperity.
In fact, Shanghai has always been the first paradise for capital hedging in the past, because its geographical location is between North and South China, and relying on the Yangtze River water system can affect the inland business district, so at that time Shanghai was the most popular place in people's minds. The largest city in East Asia, even the cities in Japan at the time were difficult to compare with.
It was not until the outbreak of the civil war that Shanghai's status plummeted. On the contrary, Hong Kong suddenly emerged and eventually replaced Shanghai's status. The reason is actually because a large number of talents and capital from Hong Kong and South China have begun to pour in crazily. In the final analysis, it is because of the damn war.
"Hey..." Xiao Letian sighed, "China's suffering has created two prosperous world-class metropolises. It's really disappointing!"
Xiao Letian turned around and looked at everyone and said with emotion, "In fact, the examples of Hong Kong and Shanghai can be applied to us. Where is our core competitiveness? What is worthy of others to follow? How to break the conflict of ideas encountered in the Tanggu Special Administrative Region now? "
"To be more practical, how do we make those refugees and even more Qing people willing to accept our 'harsh' conditions, and how do we make them proud to be one of us? The answer is actually right in front of us..."
"That's right! The Fortress Plan or the Great Wall Plan provides the Chinese with a safe haven in the civil war. Not only can refugees find refuge, private capital can also find a haven..."
"We must admit that China will be more turbulent in the future. Civil war, foreign wars, famine, plague, and various natural disasters will appear on this suffering land, and the fortress plan will collapse when the earth collapses. Give the Chinese people the last glimmer of hope!"
"Now we see that the refugees in the West Water Gate of Tanggu are still full of resistance to us, but once the war starts and the crisis of survival is imminent, do they have any choice?"
"Happiness depends on comparison. When the people inside the willow wall were holding steamed buns and drinking porridge, they turned to watch the bloody battle outside the willow wall. Those fellow villagers with the same culture and race were massacred, and shells blew up one house after another. private houses, what is their mentality?"
"Yes, there will be sadness and indignation! But what about the sadness and indignation at the same time? They will have a sense of security from the bottom of their hearts. They know that in the fortress, people's lives and property can be protected, and they can at least live with dignity... …”
This sentence really woke up the dreamer. Luo Huo, who was competing with crabs, forgot the prime minister's order again. His whole body trembled with excitement, "I understand! I finally understand..."
"What Pierre Big Nose said just now is right. The people of Tanggu have only accepted our influence for three years, and they have already begun to distance themselves from the Manchus. When Molière brought French warships to cooperate with Mailer to attack Tanggu, the Manchus None of the people in the city were traitors, they even boiled water for us to cook, and even directly participated in the war..."
"But now, naturalization, cutting pigtails, and leggings... these things that the Manchu people seem to be rebellious about, but the people around Tanggu only complained a few times and then complied!"
"Three years! Such a big change can happen in just three years. How about ten years... Hahaha, I finally understand!"
Xiao Letian smiled bitterly and slapped two more hairy crabs for Luo Huo, and specially picked the smallest one, "You are so forgetful, I will punish you by eating two more..."
"No, no, no... don't bother! Sir, do you think there is any good place for my hands? They have been pierced by crabs into colanders! Please spare me!"
