Yang Yuxin did not expect that the person Liu Lantao was waiting for was Zhan Tianyou, the most famous railway engineering expert in modern China.

For time travelers, even historical novices are not unfamiliar with this name. In the history of modern Chinese industry, Zhan Tianyou is a person with an extremely important position. It can be said that if Zhan Tianyou did not have much achievements, the modern Chinese industry, which would have not had much achievements, would have been greatly disappointed.

Although Zhan Tianyou had not yet built the famous Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway at this time, he returned from the United States. Since he became an assistant engineer in Tianjin China Railway Company in 1888, he has been engaged in railway construction work in China for 14 years and has achieved remarkable achievements. He has successively presided over the construction of the Tianjin-Tang Railway, Pingli Railway, Jinlu Railway and other projects. Before the Gengzi State Reform, Zhan Tianyou served as the official railway bureau in charge of the official railway affairs in the Custody and outside the Custody and the engineer in the Jinzhou Railway section, and presided over the construction of the Yingkou Railway branch line. Later, due to the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, the project of the Yingkou Railway branch line was interrupted and instead taken over the construction of the Pingli Railway.

Pingli Railway is the third section of the Zhuping (Zhuzhou to Pingxiang) railway, and is also the longest section (38 kilometers). This railway was originally a supporting project for Pingxiang Coal Mine (now Anyuan Coal Mine). It is 89 kilometers long and is built in four sections.

It turned out that the Pingli Railway was under the leadership of the construction of the Pingli Railway by American railway engineers Li Zhi and Mark Lai. Because Li Zhi and Mark Lai advocated that the Pingli Railway adopt the American railway gauge (1524mm), and was rejected by Qing court engineers because it could not connect with the Ping'an Railway section with a pass-through standard of 1435mm. Li Zhi and Mark Lai believed that the Chinese could not build this railway well because the water surface of the Pingshui Xiangdong River section passing through was wide and the water flow was fast, and the construction of the bridge was difficult, so they had to invite them in the end, so they took the drawings.

In this case, Zhan Tianyou took the initiative to undertake all the engineering tasks. Although there were no drawings, it took more than a month to re-survey and design, and mobilized people to start construction immediately to repair the Xiangdong Bridge. Zhan Tianyou used a combination of earth and oceans, equipped with enough sandbags and straw bags, dug a pool around the foundation of the bridge pier, and used a water truck to dry the water truck, then drove the piles and stabilize the pier. After the piers were completed, he personally directed the construction of the beams. In less than three months, the Xiangdong Bridge was laid on the rails, thus overcoming the biggest difficulty of the Pingli Railway.

Although the Pingli Railway was not completed at this time, there was no major disaster in the later construction. Therefore, Zhan Tianyou returned to Shanghai and prepared to take over the Tsarist Russia's withdrawal from the Northeast and restore the railway project outside the pass. However, after the first batch of withdrawals, Russia repeatedly made seven new conditions for withdrawals to the Qing court: including the fact that the great powers were not allowed to enter Manchuria, Russia participated in the administrative management of North Manchuria, etc. If the Qing court did not accept it, it would refuse the second batch of withdrawals.

As a result, the Qing and Russia were in a stalemate, and Zhan Tianyou could not make a trip, so he had to stay in Shanghai temporarily, waiting for the result of the Qing and Russia negotiations. When the Shanghai office learned that Zhan Tianyou was in Shanghai, it immediately contacted Zhan Tianyou and invited him to visit Shandong, and visited the crossing to carry out the construction of the Jiaoji Railway and the planning of all railway engineering projects within the next five years.

Time travelers have been in this era for one and a half years. Although they have also recruited and trained a group of local subordinates, they are basically civilians, and there are also a small number of middle and lower-level officials and soldiers. However, they have not recruited celebrities from this era. First, although the time travelers are now famous, they are not yet able to let celebrities take the initiative to join them. Second, the time travelers did not take the initiative to invite them, because the time travelers have not yet discovered that they have the celebrities they really need. Zhan Tianyou was the first.

The goal of the traveler is to build a modern industrial system, and what he needs is a science and engineering talent, from civil machinery, infrastructure engineering, or physics, chemistry, electricity, etc. Simply put, the traveler needs engineers, not writers, artists, thinkers, etc. In this era, such talents are rare and very few. Zhan Tianyou is the best among these few talents. Because Zhan Tianyou is not only an engineer, but also a railway engineer. In fact, railway engineers are not only only building railways, but also proficient in bridges, roads, tunnels and other projects, which is an extremely comprehensive system. Zhan Tianyou is just such a comprehensive engineering talent.

In fact, among the time travelers, there are many talents in engineering construction, but most of them are house construction. There are also a small number of experts in bridges, roads and tunnels, but there are no railway talents. Railways are known as industrial bloodline and are one of the important symbols of modernization. In the five-year plan of the East China government, the railway has been built for more than 1,000 kilometers, which is just needed for talents like Zhan Tianyou. Therefore, after Qingdao learned that the Shanghai office contacted Zhan Tianyou, it immediately instructed the Shanghai office to inviting Zhan Tianyou to visit Jingdao. The purpose of the time traveler is to invite Zhan Tianyou to Qingdao first, so that he can see the various engineering construction and industrial development in Shandong with his own eyes, and then he will stay in Shandong to work for the time traveler.

During the period of the Gengzi Kingdom's transformation, Zhan Tianyou was busy with the Pingli Railway project, but he had also heard of the deeds of overseas Chinese. From the heart, Zhan Tianyou still had a good impression of overseas Chinese, because if it were not for overseas Chinese to return to China at the extreme, Daqing would probably not be able to be saved. Even if the country was not destroyed, he would not know how much silver or how much land he would have to be cede. The result of the current result was indeed entirely due to overseas Chinese. Therefore, when he learned that overseas Chinese asked to see him, Zhan Tianyou also met Liu Lantao happily.

Zhan Tianyou was so moved when he learned that overseas Chinese invited him to visit Jingdao and the construction of Jiaoji Railway. The length of the railway planned by the East China government in the five-year development plan exceeded 1,000 kilometers. Although Zhan Tianyou has presided over many railway projects since his return to China, the courses of these railways are not long, only a few dozen kilometers short, and only a hundred kilometers long. A Jiaoji Railway is nearly 400 kilometers long. With other plans, Shandong Province plans to build more than 1,000 miles in the next five years. As a railway engineer, he naturally hopes to build a long-distance railway. Whether it is the challenge or the sense of accomplishment in the project, it is far greater than the construction of a short-distance railway.

Even if there is no railway, from Zhan Tianyou's heart, he also hopes to go to a place under the jurisdiction of Chinese overseas. After all, hearing is false, seeing is true. Moreover, Zhan Tianyou is one of the few people who have completed their studies in the 11th year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1872). Although Zhan Tianyou's patriotic thoughts remain unchanged, his 10-year life experience in the United States has made Zhan Tianyou's ideas more towards modern Western society rather than traditional Chinese society. In this regard, the thoughts of time travelers are closer to time travelers. Zhan Tianyou is not a politician, nor has any plans to go into politics. He does not care about official positions such as railway assistants, but just hopes to have a good environment to build several high-quality railways for China, do his best to help China develop and develop.

In the past 20 years since returning to China, although Zhan Tianyou has built several railways for China, he is not very easy. One is that the scale of these railways is too small, which is better than nothing for a country like China. The second is that the resistance to conservatism is too great. Every railway construction will involve a lot of interference. Although these matters do not need Zhan Tianyou to solve, they have had some impact on him after all. Third, since Zhan Tianyou returned to China, he has encountered three major changes in Jiawu, Wuxu and Gengzi, and was extremely disappointed with the actions of the Qing court.

The emergence of overseas Chinese has also made Zhan Tianyou look forward to it, because from all the rumors, overseas Chinese are not only good at fighting, but also good at Western learning, and customs and habits have all been Westernized. Because he also confirmed this in his conversation with Liu Lantao, Liu Lantao's way of thinking and speech are almost completely Western, and there is also the grand five-year plan for overseas Chinese, which also makes Zhan Tianyou have a more favorable impression of overseas Chinese. From his heart, he really hopes that China can embark on the path of modern industrial development like the United States.

However, after all, Zhan Tianyou is still carrying the official position of the railway assistant, and he is working under Sheng Xuanhuai. In recent years, Zhan Tianyou has been able to build railways more securely. Sheng Xuanhuai has really helped him a lot. Not to mention anything else, it is basically the mess of the conservative school that was solved by Sheng Xuanhuai, and it did not make Zhan Tianyou worry much. Moreover, in terms of funds, equipment, etc., Sheng Xuanhuai also tried his best to meet Zhan Tianyou's requirements, so Zhan Tianyou was still very grateful to Sheng Xuanhuai.

So Zhan Tianyou asked Sheng Xuanhuai for leave, saying that he hoped to visit Qingdao by the invitation of overseas Chinese and to examine the construction of the Jiaoji Railway. If the Qing court and Russia negotiated, he could go directly from Qingdao to the outside of the customs and be responsible for the restoration of the railway outside of the customs. If there was no negotiation, after visiting Qingdao, he would go back to continue the Pingli Railway project.

Of course, Sheng Xuanhuai was unwilling to let Zhan Tianyou go to Qingdao. He knew that this was the Chinese overseas who wanted to dig their own walls. Although Sheng Xuanhuai did not know the great significance of railways to modern industry and society, he also knew that his industry needed railways. Among Chinese people, only Zhan Tianyou could build railways. Not only was he no longer inferior to foreign engineers in technology, but he was also dedicated and serious in his work. The price was much lower than that of foreign engineers, and it was easy to manage. You must know that foreign engineers were all old men, and they could not do anything, and they would give up the job if they were not satisfied. Therefore, with Zhan Tianyou, he not only had much confidence when negotiating with foreign engineers, but also left a backup plan. Just like this Pingli Railway, if it weren't for Zhan Tianyou to save the situation, it would be difficult to deal with it.

But Sheng Xuanhuai wanted to stop Zhan Tianyou from going to Qingdao, but he couldn't find a reason. After all, Zhan Tianyou is really fine now, and he just said to visit Qingdao. Why should Sheng Xuanhuai stop Zhan Tianyou? Therefore, Sheng Xuanhuai could only give Zhan Tianyou 10 days on the grounds that the project on the Pingli Railway also required Zhan Tianyou, so he asked him to go and go back quickly.

In fact, this reason is very irresistible, because the most difficult construction of the Pingli Railway has been completed, and the remaining work can be handled by the engineers on the site, and Zhan Tianyou does not need to watch it. Moreover, this time Zhan Tianyou returns to Shanghai, he is not going to take care of the Pingli Railway again. However, Zhan Tianyou doesn't care, and still agrees to Sheng Xuanhuai's request.
Chapter completed!