Since the first telegram sent by Morse himself, the frenzy caused by the telegram has lasted abroad for nearly 20 years, and Guan Zhuofan knows that it will be about ten years before the first telegraph line of his own appears in China. In this case, he was determined to take a risk and quietly erect the military telegraph wire.

This is Wall's proposal. At a military meeting of several people, when talking about the method of using cavalry to summon the interrogators, Wall sighed: "It would be nice if there was a telegram." The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional, and Guan Zhuofan immediately seized this idea.

But to set up a telegraph is a matter that transgresses the rules of the imperial court, so it must not only be done quietly, but also in its own name. According to Guan Zhuofan's meaning, Libin found Jin Nengheng, and the solution he gave was to let Jin Nengheng use the name of the new company, without notifying the government, and set it up directly.

"Hmm......" Jin Nengheng couldn't help but hesitate, "What if your government intervenes?" ”

"Official? Yixuan is the government, he only pretends not to know. ”

"Then what if Wu Daotai intervenes?"

"What Yixuan wants to do, Wu Xu doesn't dare to care, and he won't care."

"Then if Songjiang Mansion ......" Jin Nengheng is very bold, but he is also very safe in doing things, so he must ask first.

"Jokes. Shanghai County and Shanghai Dao don't care about things, how can he Jia Yiqian reach out? Libin smiled, "These rules of officialdom, Eddie should understand." ”

That's right. Jin Nengheng thought about it and thought that it was feasible for Zhuo Fan to be the backstage, so he became excited, started planning very energetically, took a pen and paper, and began to write the articles of association of the new company on the spot.

"Mr. Li, I am very grateful that you gave me 30% of the shares of this company. However, how does the company make money? ”

This sentence is the key, if you can't make money, even if you have ten percent of the shares, it's just for nothing.

"Think about it, this first telegraph line was pulled up by us, and if the imperial court wants to run a telegraph in the future, who will it look for?" Libin asked himself and answered, and said firmly: "Naturally, it is Gui Yixuan to do it!" ”

"Oh-" Jin Nengheng understood, although this line was for the army and could not make money, but if he took over the business of the imperial court to run telegraphs in the future, it would be really a lot of money. Compared with this prospect, the current hard work is really nothing, not to mention that you don't have to pay for it yourself.

"OK, it's all on me." Jin Nengheng patted his chest, "Over there of Lifu Foreign Bank, I'll talk about it tomorrow." ”

He really did what he said, and the next day he found Rey Rodot and bought all the materials related to the telegraph in the warehouse of Lifu Foreign Company, and the three Danish technicians were also transferred by him.

"Eddie, did you get permission from the Prime Minister's Affairs Yamen?" Rey Rodo threw off a burden, although he was also happy, but he was also somewhat heartbroken, and asked Kim Nengheng tentatively.

"No, but I'd like to try." Kim Nenghyung, of course, refused to tell the truth.

Rey Rodot nodded, not asking anything more. He knew that Jin Nengheng was a risk-taking character, and the Shenhan line of the Qichang Steamship Company was broken out by him in this way.

So, in the British and American concessions, a new foreign company called "Sihe" was established, two engineers and hundreds of people were found, and under the leadership of Danish technicians, they began to dig up vertical poles outside the city in a grand manner. There are two lines to be erected, the one to Sijing, which is twenty miles long, and the one to Zhoupu, which is twenty-five miles long.

Guan Zhuofan and Libin expected it well, and when they started to set it up, they also encountered the soldiers and officials who inquired about it, but the foreigner who led the team only said "It was approved by your government", and no one dared to ask again. One is that for foreigners, they are all in line with the psychology of "hiding if you can", thinking that they can't be provoked; The second is the jurisdiction around Shanghai, stacking beds and frame houses, I don't know how many floors there are, so since foreigners say "the government is approved", no one knows which layer of the government is approved, so naturally there is more than one thing is better than one less, they all pretend not to see, happy to be idle.

The news from Libin was that at this rate, it would take about twenty days to finish. Hearing this, Guan Zhuofan began to stir up in the yamen, and asked the officials to clean up the small courtyard, the main room and the living room where the signing room was located, leaving only the study and signing room as the office place.

"Master, what are you going to do?" Túrin asked, puzzled.

Do what? Guan Zhuofan said in his heart, be my military aircraft department.

*

*

The telegraph is good, but there is also a troublesome matter, and that is the process of translating the telegram.

Needless to say, there is no Chinese code, so only English can be used. Each transmitter needs to be equipped with a transmitter and receiver and an interpreter, even if it is on duty in two shifts, then four people are needed. Now there are three machines in total, and that is twelve people.

"Let the interpreter be the dispatcher." Libin had a whim.

Libin's approach sounds great, so you don't have to ask for an interpreter. However, there are very few people in the concession who can send reports, and they must know English, Chinese, and newspapers, and there are no such people at all.

"Heavy money, recruit people to learn." This is the solution proposed by Kwan Zhuofan.

"It's not about money." Libin shook his head and said, "I asked the Danes, and they said that it would take at least three months to learn to send newspapers, and at least three years to become proficient." ”

Guan Zhuofan gasped: "Then what should I do?" ”

The two of them stared at each other and were speechless for a while.

"There it is!" Or Libin thought of a way, "You can go to Hong Kong to invite someone!" ”

"Is there someone in Hong Kong who can send a newspaper?"

"Ha Luha, Yi Xuan, there is something you don't know about Lu Dao." Libin smiled happily, "The telegram from Hong Kong is received from Singapore and is very developed, as long as you are willing to give money, you can invite a few people." ”

"Is it just in time?" Guan Zhuofan couldn't believe it.

"Just in time." Libin said with certainty, "Ten days on a foreign boat is enough." ”

"But...... At times like this, I can't do without people. Guan Zhuofan shook his head, "You can't go." ”

"I don't have to go by myself," Libin explained, "I have a cousin who works as a small comprador at Jardine Matheson, and I asked him to go to Hong Kong to do Liang Kai's painting last time. ”

That's fine. Guan Zhuofan was very happy, and told Libin that it was best to let his cousin set off tomorrow, and the time and expenses delayed would be subsidized by himself.

"Money doesn't matter, it's my brother in the end. It's just that when you arrive in Hong Kong, how many people should you recruit? ”

Guan Zhuofan opened his mouth, but did not speak, touching his chin with his hand, as if he was a little undecided. When Libin saw him like this, he knew that he must have remembered something again, so he did not urge him, but sat quietly and drank tea.

"I think our 'Sihe' company is probably going to make money." Guan Zhuofan finally opened his mouth, but what he said was indescribable, and he didn't know where he thought.

"This ...... How do you talk about money? Libin asked, puzzled.

"Mr. Li, let me give you a good idea, Master Cao Yuying on the military plane, there is a letter to me, saying that Li Hongzhang's Huai Army will be able to reach Shanghai in April." Guan Zhuofan looked at Libin and smiled, and slowly analyzed, "Li Hongzhang is the master of Zeng Commander, and he is a more foreign person than the teacher. You say, if he went to Shanghai and saw the telegraph, would he like it? ”

"You mean, let Sihe do his business?" Li Hongzhang's reputation has not yet risen, Libin doesn't know much about him, hearing Guan Zhuofan say this, he asked with great interest, "But he is only a third-rank according to the rank of inspector, and the military salary probably depends on Zeng Dishuai to plan for him, so he may not have the money to get a telegram." ”

"As long as he arrives in Shanghai, he will not be a three-product." Guan Zhuofan said with a faint look in his eyes, "Xue Huan's Su Fu has to belong to him." ”

It turned out that this was the case, Libin thought to himself, this was naturally Guan Zhuofan's inside information from Jingli. Since Li Hongzhang will be appointed governor of Jiangsu, there will naturally be money in his pocket, and if he wants to make a telegram, he will naturally have to find "Sihe" to do it, no wonder Guan Zhuofan said that "he is probably going to make money."

"This is a good thing," Libin's eyes lit up, but it wasn't for making money, "You arrested He Guiqing, Xue Huan must hate you in his heart, and now this Li Hongzhang has replaced him, it's really good." ”

Couldn't it be better? Guan Zhuofan smiled and said nothing. The front door drove away the wolf, but a tiger came in the back door, and he would rather be an enemy with ten Xue Huan than fight against one Li Hongzhang.

In Libin, whether to do Li Hongzhang's business or not, that is a matter of the future, after such a big circle, the matter of hiring people in Hong Kong has not yet been decided, so I have to ask again: "Yixuan, how many people should be recruited, you haven't said yet?" “

"Actually, it's been said — I mean, try to recruit as many as you can." Guan Zhuofan looked at Libin and said thoughtfully, "In the future, if Governor Li is short of people, we might as well recommend a few good people to go over and save him in an emergency." ”

*

(Special thanks to Brother [Understanding].) ）