Fujian Governor Yamen, Qin Kai sat in the most advanced position in the lobby, obviously Ding Richang had important matters to discuss today, there were more than a dozen civil and military officials sitting in the hall, except for Master Sun, he didn't know anyone else at all, and Shen Songhe, who was at the same level as himself, did not appear, which was somewhat strange.

These officials obviously already knew about Qin Kai, although they were all sitting in the hall, their eyes glanced over from time to time to take a look, and they were naturally very concerned about this young man whose official position was advancing by leaps and bounds, and they were all asking about Qin Kai in private.

"Lord Wang, what is the origin of this political secretary Qin Yunju?"

"Most of them are donors, and they have come to our Fuzhou Yamen to make up for the shortcomings!"

"Master Ma, I was also about to ask you, I only heard some gossip, it is said that Li Zhongtang was specially promoted, and he was directly given the actual position of the political secretary!"

"Oh...... There is a background!! ”

In fact, as far as Qin Kai's official position is concerned, this is really an insignificant petty official from the six-grade political secretary, these are all old fritters mixed in the officialdom, the Qing Dynasty is a dynasty that can donate officials at a clear price, and the ordinary seven-grade county order is only worth a hundred taels of silver at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the prefect who donated from the fourth grade is only a few thousand taels.

But as we all know, the Qing Dynasty has a total of more than 1,000 county orders, and the position of the prefect is even rarer, rich lords can donate, and even the newborn dolls of rich families can also donate, but even if you donate the official position to be filled, there is no real shortage to make up, that is just a piece of paper, so later, even the rich businessmen are not happy to invest their money in this bottomless pit, at most they will donate an official position to fool the farmers in the countryside, and decorate the façade.

There was some jealousy in the eyes of the officials who observed Qin Kai, obviously thinking that Qin Kai might have some kind of backstage, which was the only reason that could be explained in their imagination.

Ding Richang obviously also heard the subtle discussion of the officials, he snorted softly, and everyone immediately accepted the discussion: "Colleagues, I have summoned you here today, it is Lord Li Zhongtang who has important affairs to arrange!" ”

The officials hurriedly got up and bowed in response: "Please make it clear!" Qin Kai is naturally also mixed in, this situation is often seen in later generations of films and television, but he didn't expect to be involved today.

"Last month, the Japanese ironclad ships demonstrated in Liaodong, and Lord Zhongtang has decided to purchase ironclad warships to fight against it, and the key point of this coastal defense is still artillery, so I am specially ordered to supervise the manufacture of artillery in Mawei, and in a few days, the artillery equipment and craftsmen of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau will come with the British cargo ships. Qin Kai ......"

The officials in this hall are all Nanyang naval divisions and civil and military officials of the governor Yamen, and this cannon-making work will naturally not fall on their heads, everyone's eyes invariably pointed to Qin Kai, and when they heard Ding Richang call him by name, Qin Kai had to come out in response: "My lord, my subordinates are here!" ”

"This matter is entrusted to you with full responsibility, you must debug the polishing of the inner chamber of the gun as soon as possible, and let Ambassador Wu of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau handle the rest, but is there any difficulty?" Ding Richang stared at Qin Kai with blazing eyes, this matter was repeatedly instructed by Lord Zhongtang, and it must be done.

It turned out that he was only responsible for the polishing of the inner chamber of the gun, which only needed to be modified to lower the grinder, and Qin Kai naturally had no pressure on this, and he responded with his mouth.

Ding Richang continued to arrange the civil and military affairs of the Fuzhou Prefecture, and ordered all officials to work together on the affairs of the Artillery Bureau, while Qin Kai watched from the sidelines, he also got to know some officials in the court, but the only one who aroused his interest was Liu Shen, the commander of the Nanyang Naval Division.

After the discussion, Ding Richang specially left Qin Kai behind, Qin Kai naturally couldn't figure out what the old man's plans were, just waited respectfully, Old Man Ding looked him up and down, and saw that he didn't have any special spirit after he was promoted, so he said with a smile: "Qin Kai...... You're in luck! ”

Qin Kai knew the bizarre story behind his promotion this time, and the master Li Zhongtang in the court originally had no concept of this mechanical grinder, but obviously the excerpt of the cannon governor was still very important to him, so he also remembered the matter of this mechanical grinder.

And it just so happened that these days, after purchasing several ironclad ships, the dishonest neighbor Little Japan has been eyeing the land of Korea under the Qing Dynasty, and has continuously sent ironclad gunboats to North Korea to show its military strength. ,

In this era, the so-called strong ships and guns, that is naturally the English Fortune, so Li Zhongtang personally found the British ambassador to China, Sir Wittoma, mentioned the purchase of ironclad warships, the old Jianghu Wittoma naturally does not want China's military strength, but this does not affect China's arms business at all, he is very proud to mention some of the latest British mechanical technology new gadgets, in order to show the strength of British industry.

Of course, Ambassador Wittoma was only going to sell their obsolete warships to Li Zhongtang, and of course the price was calculated on the basis of the latest model. However, what surprised him a little was that when he mentioned the "cylindrical mechanical grinder" developed by Thomas Company just a year ago, this term made Li Zhongtang a little familiar, and he immediately remembered the all-round mechanical grinder mentioned in Ding Richang's recital.

Li Zhongtang is a human spirit, and he inquired from Ambassador Wittoma, but he came up with some news, this technology, Britain is also studying, Britain's most advanced mechanical grinder is only a "cylindrical grinder", and the universal grinder that can automatically polish the outer layer and inner chamber is also being developed in the UK, and there is definitely no one at present.

This discovery obviously surprised Li Zhongtang, who was fond of the Westernization Movement, and Xu Jianyin, the supervisor of the Shandong Manufacturing Bureau, happened to be in the capital and called him to ask him, so that he could confirm that the universal grinder in his hand was obviously a treasure, so Qin Kai's official rank was unexpectedly promoted by half a level.

Xu Jianyin, who was a modern pragmatic scientist, was obviously very surprised to hear the news, and he immediately moved all the staff of the Suzhou Foreign Artillery Bureau, which had been operating poorly so that it had been unable to produce foreign cannons normally, to Mawei, and Qin Kai's position was also raised by half a rank under the instruction of the high-level.

After the Suzhou Foreign Artillery Bureau was merged into the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, due to backward technology, it could only manufacture some old-fashioned front-loading pig iron and bronze cannons, and Li Zhongtang sent this outdated artillery bureau to Mawei, obviously he also had some expectations for the cannon governor Ding Richang, and the artillery manufacturing of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, due to process problems, has not made much progress, which is also a helpless move for a dead horse to become a live horse doctor.

didn't expect that his promotion would also make a contribution to Little Japan, he gritted his teeth and muttered: "Sooner or later, this Little Japan is my great enemy of China!" ”

Ding Richang only wanted him to ensure that he would polish the cannon well at this time, and he didn't hear what he muttered clearly, just stared at it and asked: "Qin Kai, you have to hurry up about this grinder, but if there are any difficulties, you can bring it up.

"My lord, for the polishing of the cannon breech, I can make a military order to ensure that it can be completed according to quality and quantity, but it is just ......"

"Just what? What to say ahead! Don't hide it!" Old man Ding's eyes widened, but he had a straightforward temper.

"My lord, I'm still short of manpower, I don't know if I can transfer some students from the academy, what you told me last time, I thought about it, I want to open a subject of "Machine Qì Industry" in the school, and the students who are transferred here can be regarded as learning and practicing, half a day of class every week, and half a day of on-site learning machinery!"

Ding Richang was naturally very happy to see Qin Kai implement what he instructed so quickly, he was also a doer who came out of industrial practice, and naturally knew that there were difficulties in going from books to practice, to be honest, even now, he didn't dare to say anything about Qin Kai's ability to make this mechanical grinder that was ahead of the West, but he was very appreciative of Qin Kai's ability.

"Qin Kai, I'm okay with this, I'll let Sun Fu draft the document and send it down in a while, you can go to the front and back schools to choose," Old Man Ding thought for a while, and continued to add: "In addition, I appoint you as a direct instructor, and you can directly report to me if you can't make a decision!" ”

Qin Kai was naturally very grateful for Ding Richang's enlightened actions, but this thin old man made him feel the greatness of the pioneer, and he sincerely bowed down and thanked: "My lord, please rest assured, in time, I can understand the greatness of your adult's decision today." ”

Hearing Qin Kai's undisguised sycophancy, Ding Richang's old face tensed, "Qin Kai, why have you only been wearing official robes for a few days, this horse's kung fu is very fast, hurry up, get things done!" ”

The next day, all the students of the Mawei Ship Administration School got a teaching instruction of "Machine Qì Industry", all students in the front hall and the back hall can take this subject, of course, in accordance with the requirements of the Mawei School, an exam will be conducted every three months, which is just printed by Qin Kai, and this explanation of the course does not have any old-fashioned noun explanations, only sharp questions and assertions. ,

"The current state of Chinese industry?"

"The Theory of Sea Power!"

"The beginning of the era of giant ships and cannons!"

"How do shells fly?"

"How does gunpowder explode? What are the factors that affect the explosion of gunpowder? ”

"What factors affect the speed of the boat?"

"Is the steam engine the end of industrial machinery?"

"What is the future of the machine?"

“……”

Obviously, this peculiar lecture has received the general attention of the students, most of the students of Mawei Ship Administration are children from ordinary families in the province, and there are also children of enlightened eunuchs, for most of the students, they can get free food and a monthly subsidy of four taels of silver for studying here, which is one of the important reasons why they study here.

And a student who only has this kind of thinking is obviously not what Qin Kai needs, what he needs is the ability, enthusiasm, and ability to open his eyes to the youth of the world, although this requirement is obviously a bit extravagant in this era.

On March 11th, it was the class time of the first class of "Machine Qì Industry", Qin Kai came to the classroom located in the former school hall at 8 o'clock early, which was a medium-sized room that could accommodate 30 people, but the moment he entered the classroom, he was really surprised, the room was already full of students, and the age seemed to range from fifteen or sixteen to twenty years old. Many of the trainees, apparently without a place, brought their own stools to sit in the aisle and in the open space in the back row.

What Qin Kai didn't know was that although he occasionally came and went in the academy, he was already famous now, because he was the only Han instructor here, and the drama story of his promotion to the third level made him even more famous.

He is wearing an official uniform today, after all, this is a government-run school, which makes him quite uncomfortable, the beast painted on this dress and the fake braid on the back of his head are really a little aggrieved, so he chose to sit on the podium upright, his eyes swept at the students below, and did not go down to communicate with the students.

He looked coldly at the students below, but there was something hot burning in his heart, that is, among these ordinary students, many talents who came out of China's modern industry and military in the future, Mawei Academy was only a few hundred students, but they sacrificed their lives in the battle against the great powers, and wrote an immortal heavy stroke.

American Mark in his Chinese travel diary has recorded these horsetail ship ship students, which Chinese students are very smart, only need a short month of tutoring, can understand the British and French teachers in the classroom to teach all kinds of subjects, they only rest less than 10 days a year, the rest of the time is desperate to study, but there is no physical training at West Point here, the cadets are bored in a daze except for holding books after class.

But this Westerner Mark did not know that these young people, even in the face of the absolute superiority of the French warship cannons, did not hesitate to drive outdated wooden warships and breech guns into battle, including many heroic deeds like Deng Shichang, just because they had the blood of the Chinese in their chests.

The students below also looked at the young instructor on the podium in a daze, the Chinese instructor who has been full of all kinds of rumors recently, and whispered one after another.

The two young officers sitting at the desk in the back row, wearing the blue and white uniforms of the back school, one of them was tall and thin, his head turned from side to side, and his face seemed to be smiling, obviously listening to the discussions of the people around him very leisurely. The young man next to him sat upright, indeed a tall and angular man, his eyes were slightly closed, and the sharp aura that was inadvertently revealed made people dare not despise him.

The tall and thin Qing's name is Zhang Kui, he is a student in the front hall, he turned around and said in his ear: "Ruidong, there is really a lot of news about this Qin instructor, what do you think of seeing a real person today?" ”

"It's okay!" The upright and cold young man seems to cherish words like gold.

"What do you mean it's okay?" The tall and thin young man was obviously not satisfied with the answer of his tablemate.

"There should be some ability, look at his style is a bit ......"

The two of them cut off the topic for a moment, because Qin Kai began to speak on the podium.

"Students, I am your instructor of the "Machine Qì Industry" course, my name is Qin Kai, of course I am a real Chinese, before taking the first class, there are a few words that have to be said in front, I have half a day of classes and half a day of practice in this course, students who do not have the desire to do it themselves, please consider participating carefully, otherwise the practical exam will not be qualified, and the student status will be cancelled It will be worth the loss!" ,

As soon as these words were thrown out, the classroom immediately fell into a whispered discussion, and several students got up and left after thinking about it.

"It's the first time I've seen such a rush to a student," the tall and thin young man in the back leaned into the same table and whispered.

"It's kind of interesting!" The same table still maintained that straight posture and replied.

"In addition, I would like to tell you again, I can get 60 points here is already a very great talent, if you don't have enough self-confidence and perseverance, I also advise you not to choose such a profound homework!" Qin Kai observed the movements of the students below as he spoke, he naturally didn't want to scare these students away, but he hoped to find seedlings to spread his thoughts among these students.

These words obviously did not deter the students, Qin Kai waited for a few minutes with a stiff face before nodding with a smile, "Well, I see that all the gentlemen are very confident, this is very good!" Finally, I can responsibly tell you that from me, you will definitely be able to learn different knowledge from foreign teachers, and the ultimate goal of your learning from me is to far surpass the so-called Western techniques! Gentlemen...... There is no faith! ”

"There is !!" The students below replied in unison.

The tall and thin young man looked at the table next to him, and said with a questioning expression: "This Qin instructor can't be a big mouth!" ”

"I'm looking forward to seeing what our instructor is capable of as soon as possible," the tablemate said.

Qin Kai looked at the young faces in the audience very happily, although he didn't know any of them at this time, but he believed that over time, some of them would be able to help him achieve the great goal in his heart, "Very good, I really hope that student can take the initiative to stand up and serve as the class leader of this class!" ”

A few figures immediately stood up below, and scrambled to say: "Me! ”

"You!" Qin Kai pointed to one of the tall and cold young men, because he had been noticing in front of him that this young man's sitting posture was very upright, even when he was talking to a student next to him, he had not changed this posture, obviously this was an alternative student.

"Report to Instructor Qin, my name is Zhou Ruidong!"

"Very good, Zhou Ruidong, I appointed you as the class leader, you have to assist me in class management, I hope you can understand what to do next!" Qin Kai quickly shook his hands, "Next, I'll start the first lesson - the theory of sea power!" ”

Immediately, everyone was attracted by this new term, the Mawei Shipyard before and after the school learned the ship system zuò, ship driving, as soon as this theory of sea power came out, everyone in the classroom immediately felt that what they were shouldering was no longer a simple breadwinner, no longer a meritorious promotion, but the cornerstone of subverting the outdated concept of the empire.

The theory of sea power was put forward by the US Navy commander Mahan at the end of the 19th century, but it is obvious that the official written text is still more than ten years later, Qin Kai has no awareness of plagiarism, and does not hesitate to carry forward the spirit of take-it-ism.

[5K chapter, brothers, smash the ticket! ] 】

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