"I know that some people now think that foreigners have come to the country to do business anyway, they themselves understand these things, as long as we have money, the people of the Celestial Empire, if they handle the affairs of these craftsmen, it will be too embarrassing, but if they ask foreigners to buy for the rest of their lives, it is naturally a good thing for foreigners to sell, but if there is a conflict, foreigners are unwilling to sell, then it is not blind?" The Empress Dowager Cixi said, "Wouldn't it be better if you could make these machines and steel yourself?" It's better to be cheap and good then—"

"Yes, the slave asked the Ministry of Communications to open a railway school, specially invited foreigners to teach about railway trains, and to investigate the construction of the matter.

"Excellent," the Empress Dowager Cixi was overjoyed, Mu Yang'a was bent on political achievements, such a person could use it, and couldn't help but open her mouth to praise, "You can have such an idea, and the Ministry of Rites is also doing it!" It's the best way to buy first, learn and then build your own. ”……

After several negotiations, Muyana finally decided on the joint construction of a railway between Britain and France, and the demonstration railway was transported from the European mainland, and then the two countries moved the steel mill and the train factory to the territory of the country, the British originally chose Hong Kong, Muyana gave up the idea on the grounds that "the train will be mainly in the north within ten years", and finally the agreement agreed to set up the steel plant in "the place where the iron ore is produced and the transportation is convenient", and the train factory is located in Tianjin and Haihai, which will be built by the two countries, in the words of Muyana, "the country is so big." I'm afraid that factories in your country and other countries can't make enough railroad tracks day and night, so why do you need to negotiate a separate manufacturer in one country? For the sake of Muyana's words, Spanish and American businessmen also set up a lot of steel forging factories in the treaty ports, ready to undertake the construction of railways, Britain and France because of excessive steel production and even unsalable, agreed that neither country could build steel mills in the country within five years, but this move could not withstand the coaxing of businessmen from other countries, and the next year, the American businessman Underwood built a steel mill in Ma'anshan, and received orders for steamship weapons and equipment rails. Britain and France hurriedly coaxed the Ma Iron Works, and this agreement naturally lost its effectiveness, which is a later story, so I will not mention it for the time being.

The official railway matter was agreed. Muyang'a was so proud that he explained the beginning and end of this loan to build the railway, and he said proudly, "I can build a railway without spending a penny of money and grain." To promote business and trade exchanges, Tianjin Dagu mouth can be reached in an instant, and it is extremely conducive to national defense," and pointed out his plan, "prepare to set up a railway school, specializing in cultivating people who are familiar with railways, and entrust them with important tasks," "set up a steel plant, to meet the needs of the whole country." ”

Other ministries are okay, and Prince Gong is just a cold bystander. It's just perfunctory, but Cao Yuying, who is still the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, jumped out, what else will happen to the Ministry of Communications? Ready to merge all the ministry? When the Ministry of Communications was set up before, Cao Yuying was a little worried, after all, the Ministry of Communications overlapped with the Ministry of Industry, and they were all in charge of construction. There is no reason to make money, the Ministry of Communications takes it, and I can't wait for it, but now it's about the iron factory. The Ministry of Communications was also ready to intervene, but he couldn't bear it anymore, so he folded his bullet to impeach Mu Yang'a, "I don't know the general situation, it's not a matter of the Ministry of Communications, and I will act on my behalf." Interfering with the functions of the Ministry of Works. The construction of the dynasty was handled by the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Communications was newly established, and the matter of the official road and railway was under its jurisdiction, and there was no other matter, and now there is an iron factory, which should have been dealt with by the Ministry of Industry," pointed out Muyanga, "taking care of things and flattering, and bringing foreigners with self-respect!" ”

Cao Yuying has always been the Empress Dowager Cixi, and now she is a serious military minister, his meaning was listened to by the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager listened, and it was really reasonable, so the steel plant and the next gunpowder factory, musket factory and other matters were handed over to the Ministry of Industry, and asked the Ministry of Industry to build a steel plant and produce within five years, the gunpowder factory and the musket factory to catch up with the standards of foreigners, and the matter of building the Jingshi Lecture Hall called the Ministry of War to supervise, and the Ministry of Industry to build.

So very good, after a few months, the British ash factory was established in Baoding, the Ministry of Internal Affairs came forward to raise the clan's silver, and a down-and-out British businessman jointly built a ash factory, in Yangliuqing, within a few months, the market ash was popular, in addition to building official roads, and can build houses to renovate the city wall, and even build river embankments, for a time the ash was popular, and the craftsmen also improved the process in time, making it more suitable for the practicality of the ash.

In October, the official road from the Old Summer Palace to the Beijing Division was all built with foreign ash, the official road was smooth as a mirror, and it was very strong and durable, for a time everyone in the Beijing Division was sensational, no one went out of the city gate to watch in person, and then, let Cao Yuying feel a little depressed and even wanted to vomit blood The thing happened, Mu Yanga set up checkpoints in the traffic arteries, and the carriage on the official road needs to pay the use fee, according to the Ministry of Transportation's ** is the "toll", although the cost is not much, deduct the official carriages of the ministry, but after all, people come and go every day, and the cost adds up, It's really scary, the Ministry of Communications took money from the Ministry of Household to repair the official road, and now it is making money by relying on the official road, this Old Summer Palace to the Beijing Division is just a small section, but Cao Yuying thought of so many official roads in the world, which slowly has to be put away...... No matter how much business anyone knows how to spend money to buy a quick one, he threw this cornucopia out of vain, and he couldn't help but feel depressed, unable to sleep all night, and the corners of his mouth were foaming a lot.

Muyanga came out of the standard for the construction of official roads, and used the will to make the world clear, not to mention that the cement factory of the Internal Affairs Department of Andehai was in short supply, and even the factories of the foreigners did not have time to produce, so they could only recruit workers for production, and then recruit workers and re-produce. The gentry everywhere also smelled the fishy smell, and for a time cement factories bloomed everywhere, and there were many people talking about the gray scene.

In the sixth year of Tongzhi, it was the year of vigorous start of large-scale construction, and this year began, and then quelled the beginning of the new rebellion, starting from Beijing, to Lanzhou The official road was built within four years, and the telegraph line was immediately laid to Xi'an, although it had not yet reached Xinjiang, but it had been greatly shortened; At the end of six years, the Tianjin Dagukou railway was completed, the crowd was crowded, everyone was proud of the car tour, and then the Haiwu Songkou to the Chenghuangmiao railway was completed, and Hangzhou also had a railway to be built, the official roads everywhere were blooming, everyone saw the way to make money, and the poor and crazy Yamen around the country couldn't wait to start the construction of the project, and he was the counselor of the British Embassy at that time. Ten years later, Henry, who became ambassador to Britain and had been in the country for more than ten years, and then returned home in disgrace around 1890, wrote in his personal diary that this book became an important historical source for later generations to study British relations and to observe the country's political, social and economic development, at least at this time. Henry's comment is quite objective and fair: "In this year, the whole country seems to have fallen into a wave of Western technology fanatism, which is unprecedented, because at this time, almost all the technological machines of the West (including Britain) have flocked to the country. Although many officials are not interested in these things and have always maintained a contemptuous attitude, this does not affect the determination of those in power in the country...... The whole court seemed to show a kind of healthy competition, constantly having to bring in the technology of learning to imitate and transform the West, and in order to prove his achievements to the supreme ruler of the Qing Dynasty, the empress dowager of the Qing Dynasty, and in less than three months the first rivet of the railroad had been nailed, and I have to admit that the speed of the country was too fast, if in England. At least the House of Commons has to fight for a year or two, and when I get to the country, half a year later, the small-scale railway in Tianjin has been paved and opened to traffic, and then the Ministry of Communications specially asked the local officials who went to Beijing to report on their work to Tianjin to go to Tianjin to go to a railway, and everyone who came invariably asked to start building a railway in their own jurisdiction, and if there is no money, it is okay to provide free labor, a county magistrate in Jiujiang Dangzhi County said to me. You must know that the construction and collection of railways are all under the Ministry of Communications. In this case, the local government has no profit to speak of, and is also responsible for providing free land, which is not cost-effective. (Cixi, hehe.) If you understand this account, you can become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom...... ）

“…… As for the official road, I can't imagine that it will evolve into such a situation, and in this year, the national government is still very financially constrained. The rebellion in the northwest involved too much of their financial resources, so it was impossible to build on a large scale in our official road, but because of the good road facilities before the country, the roads that have been repaired for hundreds of years only need to be slightly built into high-grade roads that can be turned into cement paving, as long as this way, they can collect money, and the local officials are very happy to have such a situation, but the problem is, the government has no money, what should I do? ”

“…… It is unimaginable that the wealth of the Chinese people is unimaginable, except for the official roads in coastal and other places where foreign banking institutions make loans, and the investors among the people have found a way to make money, as long as they lend money to the government, and after a few years, the energy source will continue to collect money from the official roads, and they will make a steady profit. Take the sea as an example, there is a special business and the government to do the construction of official roads and ticket numbers, the government has money, and then the cement factories are everywhere, because of the rebellion and stagnation of infrastructure construction for many years finally blowout, taking the official road from Tianjin to Beijing as an example, has been all paved with cement pavement, so that some local governments have been in the county pavement also paved with cement for charging, later, the Ministry of Communications had to introduce a planning plan, there is a clear deployment of the official road, And it is clear that no toll is allowed on other road sections except official roads, so that this problem is barely solved. I have to say that although the issue of road tolls has caused trouble to a certain extent the exchange of goods within the country, the government's revenue has increased significantly, and although the government did not receive money in the first few years, because it was all taken away by banks and loans, it was not a few years before the government made money. Correspondingly, there are fewer people who do not work in the country, because there are too many opportunities to find jobs, and the people of the country organize young people in each place, train them regularly, select people with good physical fitness, let them participate in the management of local security, those who have great strength can build roads, those who have skills can do exquisite manual work, women enter the handicraft factories of foreigners or Chinese, and there are fewer and fewer people who have nothing to do in me. ”

"I have observed why the infrastructure is booming like this, in addition to the support of the government, and the advanced technology of our country, the most important thing is that they have the strong support of the supreme ruler," Henry continued, and the horse-drawn carriages on the smooth cement road outside the window flowed endlessly, "There is an old saying among the Chinese people, it is called that the ruler has what he likes, and the people below will definitely do it, this sentence is very reasonable, the emperor is very supportive of the construction of the cement factory, and I heard the grapevine that the monthly profits of the cement factory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs make the emperor very happy, He also specifically demanded that the fortifications built by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry (the two departments of the state under the cabinet) must be purchased from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not to mention that the emperor himself went to sit on the railway in Tianjin after it was repaired. The Emperor was very excited when he returned from Tianjin, and asked to build the railway from Tianjin to Peking as soon as possible, preferably to the entrance of his rare garden, and his pedantic and stubborn teachers strongly opposed it, but could not prevent this from happening, and the Emperor told the Minister of Communications that he wanted the construction of the railway to be completed within a year, so the Minister of Communications stopped the construction of other railways, and gathered the junior workers of the Railway Academy under his jurisdiction, as well as the outstanding engineers of the British Empire, to build the railway with all their might. It is precisely because of the determination and hobby of the rulers that the railroad flourishes, although it is still half a year, but the number of kilometers of railway roads ready to be built and planned has exceeded the number of all railway tracks in Britain, which has to be said to be a huge adventure, in my but those merchants in my country do not care at all, they have gone crazy with joy, although the export to the country has been growing over the years, but the import of opium textiles has been shrinking, after the emergence of cement and steel, There's another big cake waiting for them, and everyone will go crazy. ”

"And the Queen Mother," Henry was a little cautious when talking about the supreme ruler of the country, "I believe that without the nod of the Queen Mother, no one would dare to do this, and do so much." I don't know if her presence is beneficial to the British Empire, but now, under the influence of the merchants, London has a very good opinion of her, and has forgotten our disputes with the people in the northwest and southwest. (To be continued.) )xh118