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Volume 4 Leviathan 167 Checks and Balances

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    "You are right, Balfour!" A satisfied smile appeared on the Admiralty's face. He knew very well how much the French wanted to take revenge on the Germans and regain the lost Alsace and Lorraine.  But the German Empire that unified the states had a formidable German army of millions. Faced with the pressure of such an army, even the French, who were famous for their pride, could only find ways to find allies to share the pressure.  Since the British at that time still maintained the inherent policy of "glorious isolation", the only powerful partner the French could find was the Russians. Joining the Chinese could defeat the Russian bear who turned its expansion focus to the east and make it turn west.  The French will be very happy.  Not to mention that this war will definitely destroy Russia's fragile financial balance and make it even more dependent on French loans.  For the French, whose country is founded on finance, this is simply a good deal with a sure profit and no loss.  "Belfort, are you willing to go on a trip?" The Marquis of Salisbury laughed: "First to Paris, then to Russia, and finally to the Far East. This trip is entirely in your own name.  The next government will not give you any authorization. Of course, all expenditures will be paid by the Ministry of Finance. I will say hello to William. You can choose the most comfortable transportation, the best hotel, the best wine and Black Sea caviar.  Damn it!" At the end, the always serious Marquis of Salisbury made a rare joke.  "The best wine and caviar, all reimbursed, my God! This is a great trip! To be honest, I'm a little jealous!" the Lord Admiralty joked from the side.  "Dear Palmer, if you are also interested, I would like to have an extra traveling companion." Belfort smiled.  "It's a pity that this is impossible. As the First Lord of the Admiralty, I have to fight in Parliament for the appropriation of new warships. Believe me, this is no easier than facing the poisonous arrows and spears of the African indigenous people!" "I know this, at least the indigenous people  I just want to eat your flesh, but our respectable colleagues want to swallow your bones too!¡± Balfour¡¯s witty reply caused the three people in the room to smile knowingly. These three Conservatives!  Members have all experienced how powerful the opposition party is in the House of Commons. If there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in the British Empire, the Conservative Party has eternal enemies in the House of Commons. Those opposition members are like a group of sharks.  , as long as they smell the slightest smell of blood, they will pounce on them and tear the cabinet members into pieces.  Baoshan, Yunnan, formerly known as Baoshan City and Yongchang in ancient times, is located in the southwest of Yunnan Province, bordering Myanmar. The northern line of the Yunnan-Myanmar Railway planned by Chen Zaixing entered Myanmar through Dali and Yongping, and then arrived in northern Myanmar.  The important town is Myitkyina, and then along the Irrawaddy River to Mandalay, the capital of Myanmar.  Chen Zaixing chose the northern route for two reasons: first, although the northern route is far away, the places it passes through are Dali, Baoshan, and Yongping, all important towns in northern Yunnan. There are a large number of expatriates doing business in Myanmar and they can get their support; second,  It can save money. There is a waterway connecting the section from Mandalay to Myitkyina. The construction can be postponed and replaced by water transportation until funds are sufficient.  Moreover, the key points of the railway are all north of Mandalay. If the British army comes from the south, Mandalay can be occupied only by conquering the key points on the Irrawaddy River one by one, which will not threaten the supply line of the Shun army; while the Shun army can back up the supply line, and  The pros and cons of fighting and retreating can be seen at a glance.  ¡°Everyone¡¯s getting off the bus, everyone¡¯s getting off the bus!¡± A rude roar woke Yu Zhiheng from his sleep.  He raised his head, and the strong subtropical sunlight shone in from the open car door. He instinctively squinted his eyes, built a shelter with his hands, and looked out.  "Did you stop midway again?" Ma Xingxing on the side was also woken up and asked drowsily.  "It doesn't look like it!" Yu Zhiheng replied in a low voice. The group of them first took a boat from Shanghai up the Yangtze River. When they arrived at Yueyang, they changed boats and headed westward on the Xiang River. They took boats and horses all the way to Kunming, and then they were blocked.  Entering the train car and rumbling toward the southwest, Yu Zhiheng and the others only felt that the weather was getting hotter and stuffier, and it felt like they were about to peel off a layer of skin from their bodies.  "It's finally over, mother. After traveling such a long way, you still thought you were going to sell us as piglets to Nanyang!" Ma Xingxing was stuck in the carriage for more than two days, with only two temporary stops along the way.  After coming down to eat, even urinating and defecating in the car, the feeling can be imagined. Now that we have reached the end, he is very excited no matter where he is.  Yu Zhiheng saw the ones in front of him and said to Ma Xingxing in a low voice: "Old Ma, your eyes light up when you get off the car. When you see Da Xu and his two sons, say hello. We are unfamiliar with this place. Let's hug together."  Better!" "Yeah!" The two got out of the car and saw the hot sun above their heads. The railway ended not far away. There were rails, sleepers and large hay sheds piled on both sides of the road.  The end is full of sexThere are probably more than a thousand workers working on the upper body.  "What a big scene!" Ma Xingxing exclaimed. He looked at the guard on the side and asked, "Ask brother, where is this place? Where does the railway lead to?" "Crack!" The guard couldn't help but break up.  He whipped Ma Xingxing and cursed: "Prisoner on death row, who allowed you to speak? Why don't you go to Daoji's side and queue up? If you dare to move again, I will beat you to death!" Ma Xingxing couldn't bear the pain, so he had to  Baotou got out of the way, and the guards waved their whips and shouted loudly, driving them to the other side of the roadbed. They lined up in carriages. A middle-aged man with only one eye walked up to a mound and looked  Looking at the bewildered people below, he pulled out the pistol from his waist and fired into the air, shouting: "Quiet!" When he saw the people calm down, he nodded with satisfaction, inserted the pistol into his arms, and shouted loudly  : "You are all redundant. No matter the court, family or family, you are not needed, so you are here. I only have three requirements here: work hard, eat well, and don't get into trouble. As long as you do  By the above three points, I guarantee that you will all be able to live well and get wages, otherwise -" At this point, the one-eyed man paused for a moment, pointed at the laborers who were working hard on the foundation and said loudly  : "Look at those Burmese people, you don't want to end up like them!" People looked around blankly, and many people didn't understand what was going on.  Seeing the state of everyone, the one-eyed man nodded with satisfaction, pointed his finger at his nose, and said loudly: "My name is Cao Da, obey me, and you will survive!" Ma Xingxing was confused.  Rushing into a camp, the burning pain from the whiplash on his face reminded him that this was not a dream.  Yu Zhiheng dragged him into the camp, received distributed clothes, and was driven into the hut. Suddenly, Ma Xingxing jumped up and shouted: "Where is this place? I want to go back. I still have children and a wife."  , I want to go back to Shanghai!" "Shut up, you idiot!" Yu Zhiheng pushed Ma Xingxing to the ground and cursed in a low voice: "Do you want to die? Didn't you hear what Cao Da said just now?  I bet he would be very happy to have the opportunity to warn others! " "How could this happen? How could this happen!" Ma Xingxing suddenly fell to the ground and cried bitterly. He had actually just realized what happened, but subconsciously  Li still can't accept all this.  The next morning, Yu Zhiheng and the others started work. Since both he and Ma Mars had experience working in a forging factory, their work was more technical and easier.  Their main job is to nail the sleepers and rails laid on the roadbed with spikes, and to repair some machinery that was damaged during the work.  Yu Zhiheng and Ma Martian soon discovered that compared to them, the Burmese laborers who were responsible for the heaviest work, such as digging roads and transporting gravel as ballast, received far less food and accommodation than Yu Zhiheng and the others.  , the supervisors' attitude towards them was even more brutal. If the supervisors only used insults and whips to deal with domestic workers like Yu Zhiheng, then they simply used sticks and nooses to deal with the Burmese workers.  More than once, Ma Mars saw supervisors beating Burmese workers who violated the ban to death and then hanging them from trees next to the railway. In the same situation, Chinese workers usually only deducted their wages for the day, and at most they could only get paid.  A few whips.  Regarding all this, the vast majority of domestic workers have mixed feelings. They are both frightened by such terrible encounters and at the same time grateful that such encounters have not happened to them. Some even  Feeling gloating about these foreigners.  After all, there exists in the human soul such a despicable feeling, which is to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others.  But Yu Zhiheng belongs to a very small number of people. Although many domestic workers also have a simple sympathy for Burmese workers, few people can vaguely feel that the supervisors have different opinions on the two as he does.  The treatment was not because the overseers belonged to the same country as them, but to increase the contradiction between the two and prevent them from uniting to resist oppression.  Of course, due to the lack of cultural limitations, Yu Zhiheng could not express this feeling in rigorous language, but his innate wisdom and rich experience made him feel that what separates people is not language, skin color, race and other external factors.  The difference is whether they have a large amount of property, whether they rely on their own labor for a living or rely on various means to profit from others, and their different positions in society.  Compared with the overseers and the big bosses behind the overseers, the Burmese workers who don't understand the language, have different appearances, and are covered in dirt are more like his compatriots.
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