Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 103 Russia's Revenge (2)
Li Hongzhang couldn't help but think of the conversation he had with Prince Gong in the Qinxin Pavilion before leaving Beijing.Qinxin Pavilion is the highest place in Prince Gong's Mansion.Located on the top of a hill with lush grass, it has a wide view.

Prince Gong often likes to watch the scenery here and entertain guests: "Hongzhang, don't look at the iron hat on my head. But since the start of Westernization, the little emperor in the palace has regarded me and you as a bond. The grasshoppers on the rope talk about power and tactics. The boys from the Laoqi family are not inferior to the women in the West Palace, but in knowledge. The ones in the west are far behind you. , Isn’t that lighting lanterns in the latrine to seek death? It’s really going to make foreigners anxious, and it’s another disaster. You don’t think those bastards in the New Army can really stop foreigners, don’t forget, their skills are all It is learning from foreigners. Not to mention the two battles in Annan and Burma. The family assets accumulated in the Tongguang two dynasties are almost exhausted. It is scary to have hundreds of thousands of new troops there, but if there is no money in vain. All they have are fire sticks in their hands."

Hearing the words, Li Hongzhang's heart moved slightly. He sincerely admired the iron-capped prince who had been in important positions throughout the four dynasties, and was a promise among the clan and local officials, so he tentatively said: "You mean the emperor?" I don't plan to argue with the Russians, so I have to use us"

Prince Gong curled his lips, smiled and said: "Haven't you noticed that our emperor, except himself, anyone dares to use it, but everyone is on guard. As soon as he is in charge, he will accept you in name." And Zuo Zongtang's military power, the reorganization of the new army, everyone with a discerning eye knows that the only ones who can fight in the Qing Dynasty are Hunan, Chu, and Huai. Those are your troops and Zuo Zongtang's. , Dong Liang and other young people who were asked to be brought up by him were divided into ten teams, and Zuo Zongtang was also taken out of the air.

The Russians set fire to the Zhuangzi outside the gate, and those princes with yellow belts and red belts in Devon Hutong still hated him to the bone. Now he wants us to come forward to negotiate. Let's put shit pots on our heads.So when you go this time, you can only be hard but not soft. First, you can't cede land, and second, you can't pay compensation. I have asked Mr. Hurd, the Customs and Taxation Department, and French Minister Barnoli to accompany you, and you can send someone down to contact you. , let them go up together, and ask the imperial court to send new troops out of the customs."

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooo" the sound of two whistles pulled him back from his contemplation, and he felt a lot of emotion about the railway in front of him in an instant.At the beginning, in order to save money, some people advocated the use of 25-inch narrow rails, and others advocated the 36-inch rails, but the British engineer Jin Dali advocated the standard gauge of 48 and a half.

The reason why Jinda insisted on adopting the British standard was naturally to lay the foundation for Britain to compete with other countries for the power of road construction in China in the future. How could he not know the ghosts in the hearts of foreigners, but he finally chose to support Jinda because he I firmly believe that no matter ten years, 20 years or 100 years, this mine railway will definitely become a section of China's huge railway system in the future. If narrow gauge is used now, although it saves money, it will have a negative impact on road construction in the future, so Li Hongzhang resisted all opinions and finally adopted broad gauge.

And now it has indeed become an important section of the Jingfeng Railway.As soon as Guan Xuqing came to power, the first thing he did was to abolish redundant personnel and train elite troops. In addition, he wanted to build railways.No one understands the significance of roads to the rule of a country better than him. The so-called roads lead to Rome. The precarious Roman Empire relied on the convenient shipping conditions in the Mediterranean Sea and the stone roads leading to Rome for centuries. .

Now that there is a railway, as long as the troops are stationed along the railway, once something happens in a certain direction, troops thousands of miles away can be mobilized overnight, greatly improving the deployment area and use efficiency of the troops, so as to truly achieve the goal of enriching the country with elite soldiers .

In addition to the rails laid on the ground, the railway also needs the trains running on it.Most of the trains on the Jingfeng Line, Beijing-Shanghai Line, and Beijing-Han Line are imported from the United Kingdom and Germany, and a small part is imported from the United States. So many locomotives and carriages are transported all the way around half the world. In the future, the silver consumed would be enough to buy several Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships, so establishing our own train factory is a top priority.

After two years of hard work with the first group of young children studying in the United States supplemented by recruiting foreign technicians, the Tianjin Railway Bureau and Wuchang Railway Bureau were finally established and became the only two train factories in China. The technology of Germany and the United States, and the machine tools from Germany and the United States still have a lot of technology. This can be said to be the credit of Fang Huai's diplomacy. However, with the weak technical foundation of the Qing Dynasty and the lack of talents, it is necessary These people need to redouble their efforts now!

Everything starts from scratch, learning as you build.Fortunately, in the past few years, the successive victories in foreign wars have greatly boosted the hearts of the people. Many military factories have posted "One more bomb, one more captive" and "Don't watch the sweat at this time, but see the blood at that time." "Slogan, the workers who were whipped and often cut corners did not make a sound when they worked overtime, and those foreign students who usually dressed in clean clothes slept directly in the workshop, and continued to work when they woke up. They bought donation tickets as soon as the processing money and fire adding money issued to them changed hands.

The two major railway bureaus, one south and one north, were established miraculously in such an atmosphere. Now Wuchang Railway Bureau has been able to produce various passenger and freight carriages, and Tianjin Machinery Bureau has also imitated the first small horsepower train. The steam locomotive ushered in a new era for China's railway industry.

In Li Hongzhang's drowsy thoughts, the train continued to move forward, surrounded by cement office buildings and large iron gates for each factory area, and the unique smell of heavy industrial areas permeated the whole air.

Soot was everywhere, and even the flowers on the small flower beds were black.This kind of scene can still be seen sporadically all the way to Tangshan. In this piece of land in North China, there seems to be a prototype of a small industrial zone.Most of these Westernization projects in Beiyang are his hard work, but looking at these hard work today reminds him of the land in the Northeast.

This time he went out of customs, in addition to negotiating, he also had an errand to comfort the local area.In the Northeast area, the resources and transportation are not inferior to this, and the situation is also open. More importantly, the land is sparsely populated and suitable for construction.

Fang Huai's emphasis on the land is well known among these important ministers. Unfortunately, since the "Beijing Treaty" and "Aihui Treaty" cut off millions of miles of territory in Jiangbei and Jiangdong, it has become a It is a fertile land under the feet of the Russians. Every year after the river freezes, the Russian Cossack cavalry will come to beat the autumn wind, and all constructions have become a picture on paper.

Guan Xuqing even thought about building a group of fortresses along the Heilongjiang and Wusuli Rivers, but the south side had been facing pressure from Britain and France, and the project was huge, and the treasury couldn't afford the money for a while, so he stopped under the dissuasion of his ministers.

However, these did not stop Guan Xuqing from being obsessed with the land in the Northeast. The renovation of the Jilin Machinery Bureau, the construction of the Anshan Iron Mine and the Liaoyang Coal Mine, the laying and extension of the Beijing-Fengyang Railway, these kinds of books are always ranked first in the South Study of.Thinking that before he left, Guan Xuqing specifically asked him to investigate the damage situation in detail and restore the original appearance as soon as possible. Li Hongzhang, who had been in the officialdom for most of his life, couldn't help realizing that maybe the emperor's next move would fall on this.

Perhaps, the emperor had long planned to fight Russia.But is it now?Taking advantage of the entanglement between Britain and Russia, it first won Burma and then took back a large amount of Mobei land.The fight was due to the time difference. Frankly speaking, if one side of the Anglo-Russian war withdrew first or did not try its best, the Qing Dynasty would be doomed.

Whether Myanmar can return is still unknown, and the opening of the northern gate is more likely to be directly captured by the Russian Palace.Fortunately, Guan Xu had the right time to settle the matter and got such a big deal.It can be said that it is seeking victory in danger, so what is the emperor's plan this time?Let yourself go to the Northeast to help rebuild or start a war against Russia?

(End of this chapter)