Earl Scott Koval stood in the square in front of the White House, watching the carriage of the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer leave.

He stood in the square for a few moments before walking to his carriage. When he came, he was seated in a royal carriage, but when he left, he was not treated like this.

The night is dark, but the nightlife of the Holy City is far from over, and the cheerful laughter can be heard from time to time in the high-end houses lining the streets. The city is at its most exciting at night, with balls, cocktail parties and salon parties taking place around every corner.

The Count of Koval was a little disheartened, and when he came to the city with a dream, like thousands of people who come here to try their luck, he tried to camp hard, but he ran into a wall at every turn.

Just like the 1/20 tax, the prime minister promised to nominate himself as a deputy minister, but tonight the prime minister seemed to have forgotten about it, and instead took the initiative to gag himself with the title of state secretary.

It's a joke, the secretary of state is just a fictitious title, you can get it as long as you can afford it, and Count Koval knows at least seven people who have this title, and many more people who have titles such as financial adviser and cabinet legal adviser.

The Council of the Nobles was nothing more than a fraternity, which could neither decide the general policies of the country nor influence the measures of the Cabinet, and the most important thing for the members of the parliament was to attend various gatherings and to benefit their families by the way.

Most of the parliamentarians saw this position as a symbol of honorable status, as they were nominated by the emperor himself.

Unlike Count Coval, Sean, who was far away in Genoa, was busy with his business.

Sean suddenly felt that his leisure time was getting less and less, and he registered five companies in one go:

Genoa Iron & Steel Company, Genoa Coal Company, Kang's Machinery Power Company, Kang's Shipbuilding Company and Kang's Railway Company.

Of course, the latter three companies are now the same people, and Johnson is now leading engineers to build practical steam engines, which will be used not only to transport ore and water from the mines in the future, but also to include the planned locomotives.

Steel companies and coal companies need a large number of specialized talents, including a large number of miners.

For four months, from July to October, Sean was busy building teams from his various companies, recruiting and spending money until the end of October when the weather cooled down.

He spent all the 2 million he borrowed from Audrey, and he also spent a lot of cash earned by his tea garden this year.

Of the 5,000 acres of tea plantations, 3,000 acres are cultivated in the later stage, and they will only have income as early as next year, even so, the existing 2,000 acres of tea gardens that can bring income have earned Sean excess profits, which is enough to support his huge investment in other industries.

He is actually rushing for time, because he expects that the price of tea next year will be a cliff price, and if there is a wind and grass, he will pay more for investing in heavy industry in the future.

That's why Poitou's banking community is keeping a close eye on Sean, and they lobby Sean every day to lend them money — they don't lend to a person who can't repay their loans, and the richer they are, the more willing they are to lend money.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Sean is now the richest man in Genoa. The profits of the tea economy shocked everyone, and the coal and iron resources in his hands were worth hundreds of millions of dollars - this piece is now only a trial mining, not only can not bring immediate profits, but need to invest a lot of money into it.

However, the speed at which he spends money is equally astounding, such as the fact that his workers only need to work 10 hours a day, six days a week, free group dormitories for non-local workers, and pregnant women are entitled to three months of half-pay leave, while those who have a skill have higher salaries and more benefits, especially those who are senior technicians can make a good life for their families just by relying on Sean's salary.

You must know that Sean's northern counterparts are all ruthless, and the workers in those factories work two shifts a day, at least 12 hours a day, and take up to one day off a month, and there is no pay for leave.

In industrially developed provinces such as Gyeonggi, a type of nightclub is popular, which is a place for workers who do not have a house, especially single non-local workers, who spend the night by pulling a rope horizontally in a room, and resting their heads on this rope.

The rope also acts as an alarm clock, and when the shopkeeper feels that it is time to use it, he unties the rope from one end, so that all the sleepers fall to the ground and wake up.

The heavy use of women and child labourers is widespread, as women's labourers, especially child labour, are cheaper and their plight is even more miserable.

Those terrible things are too numerous to mention, which makes Sean realize the profound critical significance of the sentence "capital comes into the world, from head to toe, and every pore is dripping with blood and filth".

In the eyes of many, Sean's generosity is simply opening a charity church. For example, later on, there were young female workers who kept getting pregnant, giving birth to one every year. They saw it as a mockery of Sean's ridiculously benevolent nature.

Even his own henchmen hinted that Sean didn't have to be so generous, but Sean still went his own way, and he felt that he was black enough.

As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. He can't control others, just take care of himself, he has a minimum bottom line.

On November 1, 1832, the first truckload of iron ore was mined in the Darlington Iron Ore Mine, not far from Fort Partenham, and the first car of coal was mined at the Dockton Coal Mine 70 kilometers away.

This marked the start of operations for Sean's steel and coal companies.

But how to transport the coal to the steel smelters located in the iron ore areas is a planned problem. Relying on animal power to transport is not only too inefficient, but also extremely costly.

A huge, long, strange black iron guy parked outside the open stack of the Dockton Coal Mine.

It dragged more than twenty iron guys behind it, and this is the train that Sean once advocated vigorously.

Johnson: That's what his team of engineers have done over the past six months.

Steam power itself is not the most difficult, they have built a practical steam engine for ships, laid a solid technical foundation, trained the R&D and manufacturing teams, and made a train locomotive without a problem.

Using a steam engine to drive the wheels, this has long been thought of, and many have tried it. Even without Sean, many mines used steam engines as transportation power, and those locomotives were only used in the mines, not for long-distance use, because they inevitably encountered problems such as lack of power, broken vehicles, excessive vibration, and so on.

In fact, Sean plays a key role in the practical application of trains:

For example, the shape of the wheels of the train, the innovation of the rails and the roadbed, these ideas themselves are no less important in the eyes of engineers than the steam engine head.

Sean's train, also named the Genoese, had its nose pulling 6 coal cars and 20 passenger cars, carrying 90 tons.

The Genoese had already been experimented with before, and had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, which was the result of many detours.

Today Sean will officially introduce it to all Genoese.

Governor Byrne, Mayor Stanley of Poitou, mayors of two different regional cities where the coal and iron mines are located, bankers in Poitou, and aristocrats and factory owners close to Sean all received Sean's invitation.

With the sound of a whistle, the Genoese moved slowly, humming, and then moving smoothly at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour.

It crosses the mines and runs through the hilly terrain of North Genoa.

Along the railway tracks, the local people were crowded, and some people rode horses and ran along, cheering for this miracle. For this reason, Sean had to hire a large number of people to maintain order so that no one would run to the railroad tracks to find his death.

The guests in the carriage couldn't help but think a little more than they were excited.

This viscount, who is becoming more and more influential, always has a lot of ideas, and is far-sighted, never taking one step at a time.

Sean is by no means looking for iron ore and coal for the sake of building ironclad ships, nor is he making trains for the sole purpose of smelting steel. Sean has a complete plan, and when Sean presents his business plan, people are surprised to find that a business empire has been born.

From this point of view, it was not a wise move for the Koval family to compete with him in the first place. Of course, the opening of this experimental railway brought some hope to the Koval family, but this hope will inevitably make the Koval family realize the pivotal role that Sean plays in it.

The head of the black steam engine, pulling the carriage full of black coal, drove along the black railroad tracks.

Perhaps in the near future, this black behemoth will be seen galloping all over the vast territory of Europa.

The power of industry will shock the world, and as the railroad tracks extend, this power will penetrate into every corner of the empire, and will greatly change the appearance of this world.

This powerful black power was inexplicably awe-inspiring, with some feeling fear, some wondering, and many more eager to take the plunge, while the bankers surrounded the governor to unblock the feasibility of building several commercial railroads.

At the same time, this black power also represents the rise of a person.

"Sean, congratulations!"

In a special box in the last carriage, there were only three people, Audrey, Carl and Miller.

Audrey's sincere smile, and the pity for Sean, who has been reduced a lot recently, under her smile, made Sean can't help but hold her soft hand.

Audrey rarely didn't refuse.

Miller took advantage of the excuse of smoking, led the excited Carl, to the corridor outside the box, and pointed to the backward field outside the car.

"I was surprised by your arrival. Sean said.

Audrey smiled: "No, you still owe me 2 million, I'm worried that you will leave." You can't afford to pay for it. ”

"I'm a poor bastard now, or I'll leave me alone with you. Sean said, "Or you marry me, and we'll be settled." ”

Audrey shook her head and stroked Sean's face, "I'm a widow, and I'm several years older than you. ”

"It's okay, I don't care. ”

Sean's eyes were full of tenderness and sweetness, almost melting Audrey.