At half past seven o'clock in the morning, under the sky full of smoke and dust in the three towns of Wuhan, the whistle of the work sounded, and the whistle sounded one after another, and one after another. www.biquge.info If you look through a telescope from the Chuwangtai Armory outside Wuchang City, the entire city will wake up at this moment.

Although the three towns of Wuhan are no longer the place where the Governor is located and have lost their central role, as the "thoroughfare of nine provinces", with convenient transportation, and of course, more importantly, with the industrial base left over from the Governorate, the three towns of Wuhan have already become the most important transportation hub in China, and it is also the most important industrial base.

It is even the first city in China with a real population of more than one million, from the original devastation and no remnants of the city, to today's millions of residents in the city, and no less than two million residents in the three towns, it took only a few years, which is rare in Chinese history.

At the sound of the whistle of the commuters, thousands of bicycles, which were developed many years ago, have now become the most common means of transportation for China's urban class, and although their prices are as high as 30 yuan each, they are still popular with the citizens. After all, bicycles largely solve the traffic problems of the urban class.

Hundreds of thousands of bicycles squirm on the roads of Wuhan's three towns and suburbs. The flow of vehicles and people moves slowly, converging from many forks onto the main line, and then dispersing from the main line to the factories.

Hanyang Arsenal, General Machinery Company, First Model Textile Factory, Central Power Plant, Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Company...... There are other lesser-known, but also sizable, companies that have started working the day shift. Nowadays, Chinese enterprises have become accustomed to modern management, and workers are also accustomed to working in two shifts, day shift and evening shift, with 11 hours per shift.

Eleven hours of work may be daunting, but this kind of working time, protected by labor laws, makes Chinese workers much happier than workers in Europe and the United States, where workers work 14 to 16 hours a day, some even up to 18 hours, but the wages are very low, while in China, they only need to work 11 hours, and have a day off every six days, which is why the workers have always been grateful to His Majesty the Emperor, after all, It was the eleven-hour work day advocated by the emperor himself.

Because of the coal dust, the road paved with coal asphalt and gravel is very dirty, and the people on the bicycle are constantly stepping towards the factory, and the sound of the whistle urging them to go to work has numbed them, and they will catch up with the road of six or seven kilometers every day to come to the factory and work in the factory.

As soon as they enter the factory, they immediately start to rotate like a machine, and then work non-stop, in the whole process of work, they only have 30 minutes of lunch, and six times 30 minutes of bathroom time, this is one of the evidence of "scientific management", although China is not the first country to implement industrialization, but as early as many years ago, began to explore the innovation of modern factory scientific management, so that the factory became a factory.

On this day, as usual, China's industrial gears represented by the three towns of Wuhan were running normally and rotating normally.

An hour before the whistle sounded, Li Shufen, the wife of the general manager of the Hankou Yarn Mill, got up, and when the servants at home prepared breakfast, she personally dressed her sons, who were twins, and then urged them to study, until the two sons memorized the "Thousand Character Text", she nodded with satisfaction, although the imperial examination has now been abolished, but the Chinese culture is still the inheritance of large families. Even in the eyes of many people, this is what distinguishes them from ordinary families.

While the sons drank milk - this was a custom that came down from the royal family. Although His Majesty started after Huanggang, although it was easy to seize Hubei, but the war also left many orphans of martyrs, so His Majesty established a school for the bereaved families to accommodate and train the children and relatives of those who died in the war. In order to raise the children of these bereaved families, His Majesty ordered the introduction of dozens of black and white purebred cows from Europe to produce what was known as the best milk in China at that time. The school stipulates that students must drink one pound of milk after the second class every morning, and it can be said that the children of the bereaved family in the school grew up drinking authentic fresh milk. The practice of drinking milk in schools for the bereaved also affected many gentry families in Wuchang City, and everyone began to drink milk for their children. Now this habit has long become a relatively common habit of life in the families of the official gentry.

I read the letter, but I didn't, and then I took out the newspaper and glanced at the ink-smelling newspaper. Li Shufen has long been accustomed to some things that modern housewives should do - preparing newspapers for their husbands, which is a thing that modern housewives must do well, I heard that in aristocratic families, there are special servants who iron newspapers with irons.

Because the husband is a businessman, the "Business Daily" should be placed at the top, and of course, the "Imperial Times" and the local "Wuchang Daily" are indispensable. Now there is always a lot of news about the war in these newspapers, because the Chinese Dynasty and Britain are in a state of war, and even in the Handelsberg, war-related news still dominates the pages of the newspapers.

But Li Shufen knew that he was more concerned about the American occupation than the war between China and Britain, but the news of the American Civil War was usually not on the front page, and was always crowded into the pages. When a country is at war with another country, who would notice the insignificant civil war that took place in that country on the other side of the ocean?

When Li Shufen was just preparing the newspaper, she saw her husband walk in, and then sat at the dining table while drinking porridge and reading the newspaper.

"The price of coal has risen again!"

Looking at the current price in the newspaper, Wang Yunfeng's brows furrowed, and he said dissatisfiedly.

"Everything has risen and risen since the war, the price of steel is rising, the price of freight is rising, and the price of coal is also rising......"

Of course, the price of cotton yarn and cotton cloth is also rising, and the war is stimulating everything, which is a good thing for the merchants, but not necessarily a good thing, because now a more annoying problem is troubling all the spinning mills.

"Hey, this month, there are less than 300,000 bales of cotton shipped from the United States, and before they wait for Wuhan, they will be divided by factories in Shanghai and Guangzhou......

The reason why Wang Yunfeng will sigh this is because now because of the American Civil War, the cotton supply of yarn mills has become a problem, on the one hand, the soaring market, and on the other hand, the cotton supply is insufficient, how not to annoy him.

"Master, since the cotton from the United States can't be shipped in, why don't you buy our own cotton."

Although Li Shufen doesn't understand cotton, in her opinion, the cotton of the United States is cotton, how can China's cotton not be cotton?

"What do you know, the American cotton silk is long and of good quality, the national cotton silk is short and of inferior quality, and there are a lot of impurities in the cotton, and it has not been deseeded, how much is inconvenient to produce, although the price of national cotton is low, and the price of foreign cotton is high, but if it is calculated, it is really used, and the price is not much cheaper......"

Just as he was saying this, suddenly, at the end of the newspaper, he saw a text the size of a tofu block, which immediately attracted his attention and made his whole face suddenly appear full of surprise.

"This, this...... That's great! ”

The news in the newspaper that the Textile Industry Association had submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the protection of "China's normal interests in the Union of America from the United States of America" was good news for every cotton textile manufacturer in China, but it was absolutely not good news for Anson Pu, who was the US ambassador to China.

"This is a signal that China may meddle in the internal affairs of the United States!"

An Guoli's words made Pu Anchen nod, his brows furrowed, in the past period of time, although he did everything possible to prevent the envoys from the south from entering the imperial capital, but with the intervention of the textile industry guild, the situation became more and more delicate, which meant that China's policy could change at any time.

"China itself does not produce cotton, so why does it have to ...... cotton from the United States?"

An Guoli complained there, as a northerner, he has obviously forgotten the fact that just a few months ago, as a diplomat, he also got involved in the export of American cotton to China, in the past few years, cotton has been the most important commodity exported by the United States to China, it is by virtue of the large export of cotton to China, to make up for the deficit of the United States trade with China, so that the trade with China is in surplus, the prosperity of the cotton trade, I don't know how many American businessmen have made a fortune.

At that time, like many businessmen, An Guoli wanted China to import cotton from the United States forever, and even fantasized that the Chinese would raze all their cotton fields to the ground, rather than trying to transfer American cotton to China by domesticating American cotton seeds, as they do now.

"Cotton is not the most important thing!"

Shaking his head, Pu Anchen said with a serious expression.

"For China, cotton is just an excuse, an excuse for them to meddle in the internal affairs of the United States, it is certain that the Chinese empire has always been unfriendly to the United States, although they often talk about the so-called "Sino-American friendship" in words, but in fact, my friend, this is just words used to deceive others, the Chinese have always been disgusted with us, and their current gross interference in the internal affairs of the United States is proof! ”

Gross and brutal interference in the internal affairs of the United States!

Despite his anger, Pu Anchen did not have any solution, because he knew very well that China's power was too large compared to that of the United States, and that it was now more important for the United States to avoid provoking such a power as much as possible.

"Your Excellency, now Washington must respond directly to these Chinese and tell them that the United States will never tolerate any country interfering in our internal affairs, let these Chinese go to hell!"

An Guoli shouted indignantly, as if to prove that his point of view was correct, and he continued.

"China now is not a few months ago, at that time, we may have been worried about whether they would start a war, but now, we don't need to worry about this at all, after all, they are in the middle of a war with the British, thank God, the two countries that are most likely to be involved in a civil war now are the war that broke out between them......"

An Guoli's attitude undoubtedly represents the attitude of almost all Americans who support the North, when the news of the outbreak of war between China and Britain came, all of them silently muttered in their hearts God bless, even Lincoln in the White House once made such an exclamation, after all, this means that it is impossible for them to interfere in the internal affairs of the United States.

"Thank God, Chinese got into a fight with the British, but ......"

Saying thank you, Pu Anchen looked at the distance and frowned.

"What we have to think about is, what should we do if the Chinese protest to us and demand that we lift the lockdown? Is it to accept or to reject? ”

This is exactly what Pu Anchen fears, and he is almost certain that the Chinese will definitely take action, and their foreign ministry will solemnly protest to him in order to reassure the businessmen and ask the United States to lift the blockade.

"What else can I do? Rejecting them, of course, should we still accept their protests and lift the blockade of the South? Excellency! ”

An Guoli replied bluntly, in his opinion, lifting the blockade of the south is simply unscrupulous, it is the internal affair of the United States, and no country can interfere with it. No matter how strong China is, this kind of rude behavior is absolutely unacceptable.

"Of course I will reject them, and Washington will reject him as well."

As a diplomat, Anchen knows very well what kind of choice Washington will make, and Washington's refusal is certain, after all, the United States is not a third-rate weak country, and the United States is not one of those small countries in South America, and when faced with a threat, it will reluctantly choose to accept it.

But on the other hand, he knows very well what the Chinese will do next?

"What worries me now is the Chinese, what will the Chinese do next?"

"What will the Chinese do?"

"Yes!"

Pu Anchen nodded, and then continued.

"What is certain is that after we refuse this time, the Chinese will be reluctant to protest to us again and again, again and again, and what will eventually evolve into it?"

This is the reason why Pu Anchen is worried.

"Then let them keep protesting, Your Excellency, don't forget, and Britain, as long as Britain can have an advantage in this war, then the Chinese's protests will always stay in words."

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