Chapter Twenty-Four: The Dream of the Automobile Industry

  "This gentleman, thank you for helping us out of this difficulty, thank you very much!"

  Seeing that the soldiers who were chasing them had finally dispersed, Yan Zhongzheng, who was already a bit dizzy from blood loss, signaled to his injured brothers to rest for a while. He then asked his younger cousin Xiao Wu to help him go over and thank the people in the car who had helped them escape.

  There were still tens of meters to go, but considering not to cause misunderstandings among the people in the car, and their guns were really out of bullets, so he loudly greeted the people inside the car in English (he thought they were foreigners), waved his hand with a gun, then threw it on the ground!

  Yan Zhong was a bit nervous, his foreign language skills were not good, he only knew a little English, and as for other languages such as German, French, Russian, Japanese, etc., he didn't know anything at all. He couldn't help but feel afraid that if he encountered a foreign friend who didn't understand English, he would be treated like those Rui Cun's lackeys and have his head blown off, which would be a great injustice!

  "We are not hostile, hello, we are the revival of the revolutionaries, and accept my thanks! (We have no hostility towards you, thank you for just lending us a helping hand, thank you, please accept my gratitude!)"

  "My name is Yanzhong (He Xie), and this is my brother. May I ask how to address you?"

  Inside the car, Li Han frowned and listened with great effort to Yan Zhong's poor Mandarin-accented English. Due to his line of work, he was not only fluent in English but could also barely understand some German, French, Russian, Japanese, and Korean. However, what made him feel helpless was that hadn't he already shouted in Chinese earlier? Had they not heard clearly, or... or did they think it was impossible for a Chinese person to own such a large car?

  After confirming through the bulletproof glass that there was no danger outside, he gave Tian a reassuring glance behind him, adjusted his equipment and then pushed open the car door to get out.

  "How are you all? What reason is causing these Qing soldiers to chase after you..."

  Fluent Mandarin, no such thing as Mandarin yet, at most some worldly people understand that what he said is Beijing dialect. Li Han and a few others exchanged greetings, then swept the battlefield with an air of indifference, and actually collected twenty-one old rifles for him, most of which were 80-90% new.

  "You... you are... Japanese..."

  He spoke in standard Mandarin, but seeing him dressed differently from the locals, he might be a Japanese or something. Jian Zhong and several others obviously didn't take him as one of their own, just thinking he was a Japanese businessman who often came to China. After all, cars were still a rare commodity in this era, not only in China but also in Japan, which was considered a strong country in Asia at that time. The domestic automobile industry was still in its infancy, and at most, they could only repair damaged cars, let alone produce them, which was just a beginner's level.

  "Japanese?"

  Li Han frowned slightly, but his mind quickly grasped the other's meaning. He patiently explained: "This gentleman may be mistaken, I am not Japanese, just a young man who followed my parents abroad and only recently returned to China!"

  Yan Zhongzhi and a few others were stunned for a moment, not expecting to run into their own compatriot who had returned from overseas. Although they were taken aback for a moment, they quickly regained their composure.

  "With more of your help, sir, he's got a good shot."

  In response to Li Han's inquiry, although this person had rescued a few people from the Qing soldiers' hands, he was still cautious in his heart and cleverly praised his marksmanship while avoiding a direct answer. He took an incredulous glance at the corpses not far away, saw something red and white on the ground, and felt a wave of nausea in his abdomen, his face turned pale, and he hastily shifted his gaze to another place, not daring to look again, but the astonishment in his heart grew even stronger.

  "Every shot hits the target, this man's marksmanship is indeed superb!"

  "It's nothing, you're overpraising me. I've only practiced a few years of military service abroad, and the only thing that came out of it is this one hand with a gun! Let me introduce myself, my surname is Li, single name Han, a true Han, named Yi Zhi, nice to meet you!"

  All the guns that were collected were loaded into the car, pretending not to see the eager look in a few people's eyes, jokingly, and sent away so many guns in Lou Village, and he is still heartbroken now. It is necessary to know that he does not know any list of military merchants at present, and if he really wants to take the road of revolution in the future, it will be necessary to arm his subordinates with a large amount of military weapons. This batch of guns that were just confiscated was excellent in quality, even better than what he had obtained from the horse bandits before, so he took them all away during the time of clearing the battlefield, thinking that they might be useful in the future.

  "This... please forgive me for not being able to answer about my life, I hope you will understand. However, if it's convenient for you, I hope you can leave your name card and address, so that one day if I'm lucky enough to survive, I must repay the kindness of saving my life today. Now that things have come to this point, the Qing army will definitely launch a massive manhunt for us, we don't want to implicate you, let's escape... escape..."

  He smiled apologetically at him, but Li Han didn't tell him the names of those people. He thanked him and wanted to ask for his address so that he could repay him in the future. Seeing those few people suppressing their legs and the pain on their bodies, yet still waiting with a determined face, Li Han shook his head and refused them. In his heart, however, he had already roughly figured out their identities!

  "This is not necessary, it's just a matter of lifting my hand for me. To be honest, what we overseas Chinese hate the most is this weak and incompetent Manchu government that has lost our country's dignity. I'm just going to kill a few of their running dogs! But do you gentlemen need me to escort you on your way?"

  Looking at the wounds on the three people, Li Han's eyes flashed with a hint of admiration. One person's left leg was injured to the bone and yet still standing with the support of another person by his side. The other two also had gunshot wounds on their bodies, although none were fatal, but they were troublesome nonetheless. If they didn't hurry up and treat them, they might get infected, and things could take a turn for the worse.

  "Alas, a hundred years later, if the nation still has today's quality and will, China will truly stand among the world's strong nations in at most twenty years. What a pity... what a pity..."

  When I'm bored and surfing the internet, I see the chaos, blindness and worship of money among the new generation in China. Although it's only a small number, this number is gradually increasing, and it's more obvious among the younger generation.

  "Don't bother you anymore, sir. You'd better leave quickly too. The Qing soldiers in the city might still come after us, it's safer to leave early..."

  Yan Zhongzhi, although looking refined and scholarly, was indeed a man of his word. Despite being shot in the arm, he persisted in carrying the wounded comrade who could no longer walk. After reminding him to be careful, he then helped another person beside him, and the three of them left together.

  "Hmm..."

  "Ah..."

  "Hiss..."

  A wolf howl, a thud, and a pained cry. Before he could even open his mouth, Zheng Zhongji accidentally stepped into a nearby pit, dragging the injured soldier and the person supporting him down to the ground with a loud crash.

  "You guys, just don't compete with me anymore, come on, I'll send you off..."

  The three of them were really unable to move, and with this fall, the wounds on their bodies started bleeding even more. The few people who fell to the ground were all in agony, and there was no way to refuse, so they could only let Li Han pull each of them up one by one, and then support them onto the car.

  "This car has a lot of interior space, Tian Jie, would you mind passing me that white box over there... yeah, that one. Come on, come on, the few brothers in here lie down first, and I'll take care of you as soon as I get some distance!"

  After helping several people onto the car and settling them in, it was clear that the car's extraordinary features had left everyone astonished. Yan Zhongzhi, despite having injured his hand earlier, was still very curious and reached out to touch the interior of the car. He then noticed a young woman inside and immediately turned red with embarrassment, saying: "I'm afraid we're troubling you again, sir. I hope you won't mind us being in your company. Although we've seen automobiles before during our travels abroad, we've never seen one as large as this. I've heard that the industrialized countries of Europe and America have built something called a 'truck,' which can transport not only goods but also soldiers. I had my doubts about it, but now seeing your car, I...I...alas, when will our great China be able to produce such industrial wonders? If I could see it with my own eyes, I would die contentedly...alas..."

  His face darkened after finishing speaking, and the two people beside him were the same. Although they didn't understand the mechanical manufacturing method, they also understood that even a strong Asian country like Japan had not yet mastered the art of making equipment, let alone the Qing dynasty, which had just begun to smelt steel, could only envy with open eyes, leaving only regret.

  Li Han, who was driving, originally intended to exchange pleasantries with him, but suddenly heard his words and his face turned cold, the words reached his lips, but he couldn't speak!

  Yes, although the automobile manufacturing of this era is not as complicated as that of later generations, if it is not a truly industrialized country, unless it has first-class steel and mechanical manufacturing capabilities, it can only be a pipe dream. At least in the next five years, China's dream of independently manufacturing cars seems to be a bit distant. Ten years later, if he can still survive until then, he will definitely strive to achieve it!