Seeing that Wu Bingjian took the initiative to ask about the purchase of warships, Yi Zhishu was slightly surprised and asked, "Pinghu Gong wants to buy a battleship?" ”

"With a merchant fleet of 20,000 tons, the total value of the goods loaded at one time is more than one million, and it is indeed difficult to rest assured that there is no warship escort." Wu Bingjian said slowly: "Besides, artillery muskets are easy to buy, but large warships are difficult to buy, in the early years, pirates were rampant, and many merchant fleets wanted to buy small warships, but they couldn't buy them with silver, I really didn't expect Olifin to be so powerful." ”

"Does Oliphyn have a church background?" Yi Zhizu asked casually.

"I don't know." Wu Bingjian shook his head slightly and said, "However, Olifen has close contacts with the missionaries in Guangzhou, and he himself should be a believer. ”

Groaning slightly, Yi Zhizhi said: "It's not that Oliphon has great powers, but the times have changed, with the development of steam ships, steam warships will soon replace sail warships, I heard that Britain, France, and the United States are actively developing steam warships, and sail warships are now facing a situation of complete elimination, of course they are willing to sell them to us." ”

"Steam battleship?" Wu Bingjian was surprised, stared at Yi Zhishu and said, "How did content know about such a confidential matter?" ”

"Guess," Yi Zhizhi said with a smile.

Wu Bingjian didn't believe that he guessed, and asked, "How did you guess?" ”

"It's not hard to guess." Yi Zhicontent said with a smile: "Just look at how many new sail warships have been launched in France and the United States in recent years to know that France is unwilling to be defeated after the war, and will inevitably vigorously develop its navy, while the United States has a long coastline, and in order to protect itself, it must also vigorously develop its navy. ”

Such an inference does make some sense, but it is inevitably a bit arbitrary, and Wu Bingjian didn't want to argue, and said: "In this way, is contentment not in favor of buying sail warships?" ”

"Within ten or eight years, the sail warship will not be eliminated, and even if it is eliminated, it can be used as a training warship." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "The juniors are worried about three points, one is silver, the battleship is too expensive, four battleships cost one million yuan, and the other is that there is no port to dock after the battleship is bought, daily maintenance and repair, and the supply of artillery and ammunition can't keep up, and the other is manpower, a battleship needs three or four hundred people, and the manpower can't keep up."

The younger generation thought that it should be postponed for a few years, and after the merchant fleet had trained enough manpower, they should buy warships, and the price of sail warships should be much cheaper at that time. ”

After being silent for a long time, Wu Bingjian sighed lightly and said: "It's not unreasonable to be content, but the old man is sixty and nine this year, and he doesn't want to wait slowly.

You don't have to worry about silver, four warships, the old man is responsible for three, as for docking at the port, maintenance and supplies, it is not a problem to have silver, manpower, you can recruit, you can also hire retired naval officers and soldiers from the United States. ”

Why is Wu Bingjian so anxious? This is not like his style of acting, Yi Zhizhi secretly wondered, but it was not good to ask too much, after all, having four warships was a good thing for him, taking a sip of tea, Yi Zhizhi said: "Since this is the case, then we don't need to buy new warships, we can buy second-hand warships that have been launched within ten years, one is much cheaper, and the other can be delivered next year." ”

"That's a good idea, you talk to them." Wu Bingjian said: "Whether it's training a year in advance, the battleship must be controlled by its own people to feel at ease." ”

The luncheon officially began at one o'clock, the Wu family has a wealth of experience in receiving foreign businessmen, the banquet dishes are a combination of Chinese and Western, not only sumptuous and in line with everyone's taste, however, everyone's attention is not on the dishes, soon after the banquet began, Yi Zhizhi began to inquire in detail about the use of steam engines in various industries, and what new machines have appeared in various industries.

For the first industrial revolution, Yi Zhizhi knows very little, only that it began with the textile industry, which was marked by the widespread use of steam engines, trains and steamships, and the rest is not clear.

A group of American businessmen are very concerned about the industries that Yi Zhishu mentions and asks, and naturally they want to know what industries he is interested in, but Yi Zhizhi asks in great detail about industries from textiles to coal mining, metallurgy, transportation, machinery manufacturing, weapons manufacturing, etc., and seems to have great interest in all industries.

It's a pity that the American businessmen don't know much, many of them have only heard of it, they haven't seen it with their own eyes, and they can't tell the purpose of the machine, which makes Yi Zhixiang a little disappointed. I think that some members of the Puzzle Club may know some of Mr. Yi's questions. ”

Puzzle Club? What kind of organization is this? Why have you never heard of it? After a slight sigh, Yi Zhizhi said: "This is an organization established by foreign businessmen in Guangzhou? ”

"Yes." Oliphyn said: "This is an organization for the purpose of disseminating Western practical knowledge, also known as the Association for the Dissemination of Practical Knowledge in China, there are not many members, only eighty-three people, the Puzzle Association publishes the publication "Monthly Statistical Biography of the Eastern and Western Examinations", which is a Chinese monthly magazine specifically for Chinese reading, which contains a lot of knowledge in astronomy, zoology, botany, mineralogy, kinetics, and mechanics. ”

Yi Zhizhi was very interested, thought about it, and then said: "But I have never seen the "Monthly Statistical Biography of the Eastern and Western Examinations" for sale on the market. ”

Olifin shrugged his shoulders and said with a regretful expression: "The Monthly Statistical Biography of the Eastern and Western Examinations is not popular in Guangzhou, and now it has been discontinued. ”

Yi Zhishu said with a smile: "I am preparing a newspaper to introduce in detail the political economy, military history, culture and art, and educational technology of the West, and I am willing to cooperate with the Puzzle Society." After a pause, he then asked, "What other organizations do foreign businessmen have in Guangzhou?" ”

"The number of foreign businessmen in Guangzhou is not large, but there are quite a few associations and organizations that have been established." Oliphyn said with a smile: "There are the Christian Federation, the Seamen's Friends Association, the Morrison Education Association, the Chinese Medical Missionary Society, and of course, the Wisdom Society. ”

"I'll visit them one by one when I have time." Yi Zhishu replied politely, except for the Christian Federation, he was quite interested in several other associations, and indeed wanted to visit, but it was not appropriate to turn the topic away at the moment.

Glancing at everyone present, he said with a smile: "Everyone knows that the main foreign trading countries of the Thirteen Lines today are the United Kingdom and the United States, and the important trading partners of the Thirteen Lines before were the Netherlands, France, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Austria... These countries do not come to Guangzhou to trade with the Thirteen Elements now, and the square in front of the Thirteen Elements Pavilion can no longer see the grand occasion of the flags of various countries fluttering. ”

Speaking of this, he asked loudly, "Do you know, what is the reason for this?" ”

This question is not only of interest to a group of American businessmen, but also Wu Bingjian and Wu Changqing are also very surprised, no one in the thirteen lines has ever thought about this problem, and the two of them don't know why Yi Zhishu asked this question, obviously, Yi Zhifen will not be untargeted.

"It's war!" Herder said casually: "It was because of the Napoleonic Wars that all the countries of Europe were ravaged by France, the economy was in recession, and they could not afford to trade. ”

"No, it was the British who had a monopoly on European trade with the Far East."

Olifin laughed, "It's because of the lack of silver." ”

Yi Zhicontent said with a smile: "It's not because of the war, it's been twenty years since the Napoleonic Wars, it's not that the British monopolize the trade in the Far East, the British don't dare, that will arouse the anger of the whole of Europe, Mr. Olifin is right, it's because of the lack of silver!"

The Qing Dynasty is rich in products and self-sufficient, and there is no commodity in the West that is necessary for the Qing Dynasty, so the trade between the East and the West, the Qing Dynasty has always been in a position of surpassing, and the trade surplus is quite high!

After more than 100 years of continuous trade between the East and the West, silver from the West continued to flow into Guangzhou, and even the silver mountains were emptied, and without silver, they could not trade, so the vast majority of European countries had to withdraw from Guangzhou's trade.

Actually, Britain and the United States also lacked silver, but the United Kingdom and the United States found alternatives, the United Kingdom used Indian cotton, the United States used American ginseng and fur, and of course, now you use crows. Slice. ”

After a pause, he said in a deep voice: "In recent decades, Britain and European countries, including the United States, have successively carried out the industrial revolution, replacing manual workshops with factories and replacing manual labor with machines, which has greatly improved productivity.

The Qing Dynasty has a vast territory, rich minerals, the largest population, the largest handicraft workshop and the most prosperous market, but there is no industrial base, the Qing Dynasty wants to carry out the industrial revolution, all the new machines and new technologies will be the best silver substitute!

It's going to be a huge market like no other! As soon as the news spread, all the countries that had been forced to withdraw from the Canton trade because there was no silver, no trade alternatives, would flock to it. ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at the group of American businessmen present and said: "In the peak season of maritime trade next year, if the Thirteen Banks and Yuanqi Bank do not see the sincerity of the United States, they will spread the news that the Qing Dynasty is going to carry out the industrial revolution, and I believe that many European countries will be very happy to share the market of the industrial construction of the Qing Dynasty." ”

Hearing this, Wu Bingjian was speechless for a while, implementing the industrial revolution in the Qing Dynasty? How is this possible, foreign businessmen in Guangzhou are restricted in their freedom of movement, they don't even have the freedom of movement, and they can still build factories?

A group of American businessmen were both excited and worried, and they were content that this was clearly proposing that the Qing Dynasty would carry out an industrial revolution, and as he said, it would be a huge and incomparably vast market, and they were worried about whether the United States could seize this opportunity.

Yi Zhishu took in the expressions of the American businessmen, and said with a smile: "Next, let's talk about the talent technology and machinery and equipment of some industries to be introduced next year, everything is subject to the market situation in Europe, talent introduction, we can pay three times the price of the salary in the United States, or as I said before, I like win-win ......." ”