In 1875, long-distance communication was very expensive, and even with the availability of wireless telegraphy in China, Foreign Minister Li Xin, who had ended his visit to Siam, received only a very brief message. "On August 4, the Republic of Ezo overthrew the monarchy and established a republican state system. The elected House of Councillors organized a constitution-writing team of Japan, and the constitution-writing team led by Takehiro Enomoto, Toshizo Hijikata, and others began the formal drafting of the constitution. The new constitution will come into force after it has been decided by the Senate and the House of Representatives. ”

Important events should have briefings, and even on the ship, they can receive regular radio reports, and Li Xin is very satisfied with this. Although the news is so brief that it is impossible to guess even the internal operation, the key is whether or not you get the news.

After archiving the telegram, Li Xin began to prepare to anchor in Java and Sumatra provinces to see the local construction situation. On August 7, the passenger ship arrived in Java province. Unexpectedly, when they were berthing in Java Province, local officials actually let people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stop at the port for an extra half a day before letting them disembark.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw several thousand people on board, and they were still Japanese, and they were boarding the ship in an orderly manner at the dock with weapons. After a few boats had sailed, the comrades of the local troops who greeted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to greet them. During the private conversation, Li Xin asked the comrades who greeted him, "What are those Japanese doing?" ”

"Hmm......" The comrades of the troops muttered for a while, and he could not help but tell the truth in the face of the foreign minister. The comrades of the unit gave a very serious answer, "Those Japanese were invited by the local Chinese militia to clean up. ”

Li Xin was silent after hearing this, he understood what was happening. Later, during a local inspection, Li Xin discovered that Java had only been Chinese since ancient times. This is the only fact in Java right now. The same was true when I visited Sumatra, which has been only Chinese since ancient times.

The provinces of Java and Sumatra are truly magical places, with oil in the ground and palm oil in the ground. Either type of oil has huge economic benefits for China. It not only provides raw materials, but also drives the development of the industry.

After the end of the First Five-Year Plan, China's steel output finally stood at the level of 3 million tons. It's useless to produce a bunch of ingots in a warehouse, and there's no way anyone would store them. Steel has to be processed into steel products. At this stage, the largest consumers of steel are undoubtedly railways, shipping, and housing. Compared with these, the factory does consume a lot of steel, but the consumption is relatively small, and it requires more technical special steel. For real crude steel products, their demand is much less.

Needless to say, the railway steel is the hard laying. The shipbuilding industry, more precisely, the shipbuilding industry for oil transportation, has recently developed rapidly. The new oil tanker is simple in structure and quick to build. The wide all-metal hull is suitable for long-distance transportation, steel ribs, iron plates, riveting, surface rusting, painting, installation of power, sea trials, and then it can be used to transport oil. A 10,000-ton ship requires thousands of tons of steel. China, including completed and under construction, has about 20 ships. It is said that the total production will be able to reach fifty ships.

Such ships also require a large number of oil drums. Even if only 20 kilograms of steel are used for one oil drum, 2,000 tons of steel are needed for 100,000 oil drums. China has produced about 5 million oil barrels so far, and 100,000 tons of steel have been consumed so easily. When the tanker arrived at the dock, the oil drums that had been filled with oil were loaded into several flats in the ship's hold, and they were placed and fixed. He then turned around and sailed towards Chinese territory, unloaded his cargo at the port, and then turned around and continued on to the former Dutch East Indies, now Sumatra and Java.

There is also a lot of steel needed to build a port, and railways and bridges are also large consumers. Li Xin has long heard that steel is the backbone of a country. Now he fully agrees with this description. It is no longer useful for the country to rely on the large number of people, and if these people and materials are to be effectively transported and used, it is necessary to lay countless steel under their feet.

Even the dwellings are the same, the buildings that seem to be made of wood and masonry are really supported by the steel buried in the beams and columns.

With this understanding, Li Xin is very confident in his next trip to Turkey, in the intelligence, there are territories on the three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, with a history of hundreds of years, and the Ottoman Empire, which once overwhelmed Europe, has the confidence to restore its former glory. Since the Ottomans were so confident, the proposal to help them build the railroad would also be approved.

On August 19, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Xin also arrived in Istanbul. Ahmet 61 Midhat Pasha was in charge of receiving the distinguished guests from China. He also did not expect the Chinese foreign minister to arrive in Istanbul for a diplomatic visit so soon.

The Ottoman Sultan Abdul 61 Aziz warmly received the Chinese foreign minister, and the agreement brought back by Ahmet 61 Midhat Pasha was very incredible. It is not that there are no foreign companies that have proposed to build railways in the Ottoman Empire, but there is no company like China that builds railways without strings attached.

The sultan and his court ministers laughed happily when the young Chinese foreign minister himself uttered the same message as the Ahmet 61 Midhat Pasha Band. It was a joke of fun.

Li Xin is from the Ministry of Commerce, and there is no pressure on him to laugh twice on the spot. He smiled as if he had not heard the thoughts of the Sultan and his ministers. But deep down, he was extremely disappointed. Not even compared to an immortal hero like Weze, and far less prominent than other small states of the Ottoman Empire, the sultans and their ministers may not be compared.

Li Xin's first stop was Siam. King Rama V Chulalongkorn of Siam is only 23 years old this year, he ascended the throne at the age of 15, and after ascending the throne, he first went abroad to investigate, visited China, India, Java, and saw the world, and opened his eyes. After this child officially became pro-government, Cambodia was first taken away by France, and then Laos by China. In the end, China swallowed the fat sheep France and opened up the land territory into the Gulf of Siam.

The young man Chulalongkorn finally endured it and confessed. He's not the kind of forced towel, but he's trying to keep up. After seeing the modern state, Chulalongkorn in 1874 planned the gradual abolition of slavery in Thailand, sent a large number of students to study in China, and invited many advisers to Thailand to help form a new type of government.

There are many overseas Chinese in Siam, coupled with Chulalongkorn's soft figure and his actions in China. The Liberation Party admired Siam, and Chulalongkorn took advantage of this opportunity to complete the demarcation of the border with China. In addition, the Sino-Siamese Friendship Treaty was signed, which affirmed that the two countries respected each other's sovereignty and integrity, did not invade each other's territory, did not interfere in each other's internal affairs, and were friendly and mutually beneficial.

China and Siam have a history of friendly exchanges, and Weese never had plans to annex Siam, and Chinese immigrants not only did not suffer persecution in Siam, but were also welcomed by the local people for bringing advanced farming techniques. China also really wants to nurture Siam.

Siam has increased its revenue through the rice trade, and has established a new tax system and a budget system to keep the country's finances running. Every year, the fiscal surplus is invested in infrastructure. The situation in Siam is getting better day by day. China is preparing to build a railway from the northwest to the Gulf of Siam, and Chulalongkorn said Siam is willing to agree with China on a rice-for-rail project.

Siam is so cooperative, what else is there for China to talk about. After the agreement was signed, China was waiting for its own railway to be completed first, and then the construction of the Siam section began.

Compared with Chulalongkorn, an unusually mature and steady 23-year-old young man, the 45-year-old Ottoman Sultan with a smile as if he was looking at a rare animal, he looked like a stubborn child who had not grown up at all and was full of anger.

Li Xin suddenly felt that this trip was too good. The world is so big, and there are all kinds of people. Traveling around the world and meeting all kinds of people, you will really feel like you are growing up faster. Because of the problem of 100 tons of gold, Li Xin felt that he had enough of being wronged. can be put another way, if Li Xin is on an errand under the Ottoman Sultan, it will not be a grievance, but I am afraid that the rest of his mood is to die.

What to say about people from other countries, that's a private feeling. Handing over work is diplomatic work, and even if there is a pig on the other side, a qualified diplomat will communicate with a pig in a language that a pig can understand.

At this time, a minister asked with a smile: "The British are afraid that they will not let the Chinese ships carry the railroad tracks for the construction of the railway to us." How can you build a railway without railroad tracks? ”

This just gave Li Xin a chance, and he replied: "We also have such worries, but even if we don't go through the Suez Canal, we can build the railway here." We went to the Persian Gulf, unloaded supplies to Basra, and built a railway from Basra to Baghdad. A railway was built east from Baghdad through Damascus to Beirut. In this way, the Mediterranean Sea can be connected by the Persian Gulf. At the same time, a railway was built from Baghdad to the north, through Mosul and west to the Bospoleus. It is also connected from the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf. The Ottoman army would be able to maneuver through the domestic railway network in the same way as the German army......"

Li Xin didn't know what touched the Sultan in his words, his eyes had begun to squint, the wanton smile was gone, and a cruel and tyrannical thing loomed on the Sultan's face. Su Man said as if to himself: "Transporting troops by rail? ”

Regarding the Sudanese issue, Li Xin calmly replied: "Yes, to transport troops by rail." There was a mobility advantage when fighting on the inner line, and the Ottoman army could travel quickly by train. Where troops are needed, troops from other areas can be mobilized to gather where they need to be committed. Germany quickly assembled forces after the start of the Franco-Prussian War, relying on Germany's well-developed railway network. ”

"What if the thieves destroy the railroad while the thieves are suppressed?" The Sultan asked earnestly.

Li Xin now understood the true meaning of the Sultan's tyrannical look, and when he thought of suppressing other rebel nations in the country, a strong killing intent rose in the Ottoman Sultan's heart. Li Xin was a diplomat and was tasked with trying to improve the Ottoman Empire's goodwill toward China, so he explained in detail: "The railway is not simply a train running on it. The railway itself requires a large number of stations, maintenance. These strongholds were difficult to supply without railroads, and they were garrisoned with a large number of people, inefficient, and with few people, and they were dangerous when besieged by the enemy's superior forces. With the railway connection and the regular arrival of patrol vehicles, these problems can be solved. The railway is not only a railway, there are also telegraph lines along the line, and communication is very convenient......"

Li Xin and his group all had experience in the army, and they were no strangers to war. Li Xin's level is definitely not good to fool the battle-hardened soldiers of the Guangfu Army, and it is more than enough to fool the Ottoman Turkish sultans in the palace. What's more, what Li Xin is talking about is not nonsense, but the concept of war of a rather serious "industrial country".

The Sultan listened attentively, and became more and more energetic. The Ottomans had many foreign enemies, but the real enemy was the rebel forces in the country, from Europe to Asia. The Sultan was very interested in the fact that the railway would be effective in eliminating these internal rebels.

However, the Sultan was interested, and in the end nothing decent was negotiated. And Li Xin didn't understand what these people in the Ottoman Empire were thinking at first. Of course, it is impossible for people who are mixed up in China's Ministry of Commerce not to play perfunctory tricks, and if the Ministry of Commerce does not know the skills of shirking, then don't do it in the Ministry of Commerce. The problem is that His Majesty the Sultan's shamelessness is really beyond Li Xin's imagination. At least in Li Xin's judgment, the Ottoman Empire saw that the Chinese foreign minister enthusiastically recommended the railway, and they thought that they could cheat it fiercely. Since China can come up with such favorable conditions, there is no reason why China cannot be forced to make more concessions.

If the Ottomans really admit that their mining level is terrible, they do not have the ability to mine on a large scale to pay off their debts. Li Xin is ready to continue to talk about cooperation in mining development. However, the Ottoman Empire, from the Sultan to the ministers, all had the attitude of "Lao Tzu is in charge of Lao Tzu's territory", and Foreign Minister Li Xin immediately made a choice, "Bye-bye!" Yo you! ”

Tell the Ottoman Empire that Li Xin and the Italian side have already set a time for their visit. Foreign Minister Li Xin left Sudan and went to Italy. Now the upper echelons of the Ottoman Empire were in a hurry, they did not expect the Chinese foreign minister to act so quickly, coming as he said he would come, and he would leave as soon as he said. They again offered to seriously discuss the matter about the railway, and Li Xin left behind the diplomatic staff that had been prepared for a long time. Let the Ottomans negotiate with full-time personnel.

Li Xin and his entourage sailed westward to the Kingdom of Italy, which was finally unified.

When the ship finally left the port of the Ottoman Empire, Li Xin let out a long breath. finally didn't have to deal with this gang of scum, Li Xin felt extremely happy. There are many bad businessmen in Europe and the United States, but the purpose of businessmen is to make profits. As the Jewish profiteers famously said, "If you are deceived once, it is the problem of the scammer, and if you are deceived twice, you will have a problem." Compared with these evil merchants, the feudal lords are ten thousand times more hateful.

The evil merchants also knew that their actions were wrong, and the feudal lords took their evil deeds for granted, and even used the name of God to prove that they were completely moral. Li Xin felt that there was nothing more disgusting than this.