Hu Xiaoyan was referring to Nanjing.

Clint got up and stretched out his head to look over, but saw Hu Xiaoyan's finger pointing at the position of the Yangtze River.

"Yangtze River Bridge?" Clint exclaimed.

"Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge !!"

"Don't tell me you can't handle it!" Hu Xiaoyan smiled.

"Don't say I didn't give Germany a chance."

"My base is in Ma'anshan, so a bridge must be built here in Ma'anshan to connect the north and the south. I can approve 30 million taels of silver as start-up capital, and at least 30 million taels of silver will be invested every year until the bridge is opened. ”

"Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge!" Clint didn't pay attention to Hu Xiaoyan's words at all, he was a little nervous.

"You're kidding me, aren't you?"

"Do you need me to slap you?"

"No need. I'm sober. Thank you. ”

"Really?"

"Not really. I'm sober. ”

Clinder waved his hand repeatedly. His gaze remained on the river from Ma'anshan to Nanjing, Jiangsu.

"Hu, I have to say, you gave me a problem." Clint smiled wryly. He doesn't know much about technology, but that doesn't mean he doesn't care about technology. Unlike domestic officials, in this era, almost every foreign official can casually talk about their own technology, large and small.

So whether a bridge can be built or not, although he is not sure, but at least there is no difficulty. How difficult it is, Clinder still knows how to do it. This Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge belongs to the difficulty of S-level in his heart.

"So, that is, it can't be built?" Hu Xiaoyan was a little incredible. In his opinion, Germany in this era is the best technology country in the world (there is no one), if even Germany can't do it, then Britain and France need to be said.

Clint found the scale on the map and roughly measured it with his hands.

"About 15,000-25,000 feet or so. I've never touched such a long bridge. ”

"I've also been to the Yangtze River, where the water is very fast. It's not so easy to get down the pier. ”

Hu Xiaoyan was silent, he also knew these problems, and he was also born in technology. That's why he was the first to find the Germans.

"I'll send a telegram back and see what the experts in the country have to say. We'll talk about it after the experts visit the site. Clinder gave the answer with a frown.

This disappointed Hu Xiaoyan.

"Okay. I'm waiting for your news. ”

Clint quickly extinguished his cigar and hurried away.

"My lord, why did you build the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge?" Qin Yun asked with some confusion.

I have to say that Qin Yun is a genius, just by understanding the word Nanjing and Clinde's fingers, he guessed the object of discussion between Hu Xiaoyan and Clinde.

"China's merchandise trade is too small, so it needs to increase domestic demand. The steel and cement needed to build the bridge can be purchased domestically. This can boost domestic demand. The bridge is the same as the railway plan. It can feed our heavy industrial plants such as steel mills and coal plants. Sooner or later, this money has to be invested, and it is better to invest late than early. Early investment can also strengthen the strength of our country's heavy industry factories, which can lay a good advertisement for China's heavy industry products to enter foreign markets in the future. ”

"If you think about it, China's railways and bridges are made of our own steel, and they are used very well, so is China's steel a living advertisement? Will it be more useful for export in the future? ”

Qin Yun nodded thoughtfully.

"However, Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant will definitely snatch the rail order!"

"Hanyang Iron Works is also a steel mill in China. Although it does not belong to me now, it may not be in the future! Hu Xiaoyan said with confidence. As for Sheng Xuanhuai, the boss of the Hanyang Iron Works? Hu Xiaoyan didn't treat him as an opponent at all. Two people are not at the same level at all, and two people are not at the same level.

"Prepare a box of Huangshan Maofeng, I want to meet Li Zhongtang." Hu Xiaoyan didn't see Qin Yun's confused eyes.

Huangshan Maofeng is the tea of Anhui, and Hu Xiaoyan is also from Anhui. It's a good emotional card.

Li Hongzhang rarely has the opportunity to go to court, and only reads some excerpts at home and then writes something. He would go to the hospital before nightfall. This makes many people, including Hu Xiaoyan, unable to understand this, and it can only be attributed to personal hobbies.

Anyone who likes to stay in a hospital?!

When Hu Xiaoyan saw Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang was looking at the crowd coming and going in the embassy area.

"Governor Hu, look at the people below."

Hu Xiaoyan walked over and found through the glass window that the most people in and out of the embassy area were Chinese. Among them, there are interpreters, sweepers, cooks, waiters, etc. There are not many real foreigners.

"The Great Qing Kingdom is still too backward! I have traveled around Europe. Although Europe is technologically advanced, it has not yet reached the level of our admiration, but why can't we beat them? The people of Beijing still have to rely on these foreigners to survive. Why is that? Li Hongzhang was a little confused.

Hu Xiaoyan was silent. This may be the origin of the original admiration for foreigners. Under the distrust of one's own country, the despair of one's own country's culture and strength. This has led to the birth of many banana people.

"I've heard a prophecy. It was the French Emperor Napoleon who said it. Hu Xiaoyan said slowly.

On February 8, 1816 (the 11th year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty), the King of England again sent Amsterdam to China to negotiate trade issues. Amsterd, the head of the mission, was a well-known British diplomat who served as the Viceroy of India, and the members of the mission were not only highly proficient in Chinese, but also mostly members of the East India Company. ”

But Emperor Jiaqing refused to meet. Amsterd returned in vain, and then he had the idea of knocking on the door of China by force. On his way back to England, he passed through the island of St. Helena. ”

"St. Helena is famous. If the mountain is not high, there is a fairy, and if the water is not deep, there is a dragon. ”

Hu Xiaoyan turned his head to look at Li Hongzhang.

"St. Helena imprisons Napoleon, the emperor of Europe."

"Napoleon was imprisoned here by the British after the defeat of Waterloo. Amsterd himself was not very sure about such a thing as war. So he came up with the idea of meeting the emperor of the king of European land warfare. Trying to get some advice from him. ”

"Amsterd managed to meet Napoleon. But Napoleon scoffed at Amsterde's plans. ”

"Do you know what Napoleon said?"

Li Hongzhang nodded. Li Hongzhang does know, because this passage is written by Hu Xiaoyan in the chapter on Napoleon in the French chapter on the rise of great powers.

"Napoleon said that it was the greatest folly in the world to fight against this vast and rich empire. You may succeed at first, you will seize their ships and destroy their military and commercial facilities, but you will also make them understand their own power. They will think; They will build ships, equip themselves with artillery. They will bring in gunners from France, the United States, and even London, to build a fleet and defeat you. ”

"Amsterd retorts: Behind China's superficial strength is a giant with feet of clay, very weak."

"But Napoleon believed that China was not weak, it was nothing more than a sleeping lion. Today, it seems that the lion is asleep, and even a fly dares to fall on its face and scream a few times. But once China is awakened, the world will be shaken. ”

After Hu Xiaoyan finished speaking, he paused for a moment.

"Even Napoleon, the king of land wars, recognized the strength of China, so why should Lord Zhongtang be sad and confused?"

"As long as we do what Napoleon said about the preconditions: we have to think; We're going to build ships and equip ourselves with artillery. We will bring in gunners from France, the United States, and even London, build a fleet, and defeat the foreigners! ”

"The reason why we failed and wasn't strong enough was because we hadn't learned to build ships, and we didn't even have many shipbuilding designers. We have not yet equipped ourselves with artillery. The total number of all the new artillery pieces in the Great Qing Kingdom is not even more than that of an army. We have not yet sent gunners from the United States or even from London, and there are less than 50 foreigners, and most of them are Russians. Do the Russians know how to use artillery? I hate to be skeptical. ”

"We have not fulfilled any of the preconditions that Napoleon said. Of course we are lagging behind. And if you fall behind, you will be beaten. ”

"If you fall behind, you will be beaten?" Li Hongzhang muttered to himself.

"Backwardness is the original sin!" Hu Xiaoyan replied affirmatively.