The train "clanged" forward, and not long after leaving Tianjin New Town (Free City), it was speeding up on the flat North China Plain.

Mathilde. Bonaparte sat in a lavishly decorated carriage, stunned by the trees, houses, and fields that were rapidly falling out of the window. This is not the first time that the princess, who grew up on the lands of the German Confederation and has royal blood from the Bonaparte and Württemberg royal families, has taken a train. Trains are not a rare thing in Western Europe. But the "high-speed train" that ran so fast, but it was the first time she took it.

In another adjacent carriage, the French ambassador, Bourbulon, the British ambassador, Robert Brown, the British ambassador. Winston Churchill, Brother Trigo, who accompanied Princess Mathilde from Hong Kong, and several British or French military observers, were also experiencing this "Chinese speed" for the first time. However, several of their big men were still shocked, talking and laughing along the way. The content of the topic, in addition to the fact that war is a railway, in fact, on the Eastern Front, the two are fundamentally the same thing.

"I heard that His Majesty the Emperor is still building a railway to the Mongolian trading city? Is it also such a rail railway? ”

"You're talking about the Kuzhang Railway, right? At present, the plan is only to build a railway to Kulen, which is a double-track railway, one of which is a steel rail, and the other is a plate rail. ”

Robert. Churchill laughed and teased his well-informed information, and several Europeans present exclaimed in low voices. It's hundreds of miles from Kulun to Zhangjiakou! How many tons of steel rails do you have to use? 30,000 tons or 40,000 tons? You must know that the world's largest steel country, the United Kingdom, in 1850 produced only 60,000 tons (tons) of steel.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, can you make the train go a little slower? I'm afraid it's going to roll over......"

After a long period of patience, the French princess finally spoke to sit across from him. Emperor Zhu, who was holding a pile of documents that he didn't know what to read, made a request.

"This train...... Soon? Zhu Jishi put down the document. Said to Mathilde with a smile.

Mathilde though a French princess. But she spoke far better German than French, so she asked Zhu Jishi in German with some South German accents. And Emperor Zhu also spoke good German because he had studied in Germany in later generations, so he also answered in German. This gave Mathilde a sense of intimacy.

"Isn't it fast? Your Majesty, your train is faster than any train I've ever done in Europe. ”

"But it will definitely not be overturned, because the Beijing-Tianjin railway has laid steel rails throughout the process."

"Rails? A railway paved with steel!? Mathilde's fair face was full of surprise, "How much does that cost?" ”

Zhu Jishi smiled and spread his hands: "Actually, it didn't cost much, in fact, the engineers of my Lanfang Foreign Company found a low-cost way to make steel." So I can get a certain number of rails at a relatively low price. ”

Since the emergence of the Bessewheat converter method for more than three years, Lan Fangxing has invested heavily in this area, spending tens of millions of yuan to upgrade and expand the steel plant, and built 30 sets of 2-ton Bessewheat converters in Liaoyang, Yingtian, Daye and other places, increasing the daily output of steel to more than 200 tons, and the estimated annual output of steel in 1853 can exceed 60,000 tons, of which there are as many as 40,000 tons of rails! By 1854, steel production could be increased by another 30%, and it was already able to challenge the steel output of the British Empire's largest steel country in the world (60,000 tons in 1850) - of course, but the output of steel was close to that of Britain, and if it was less than 20% of Britain's pig iron production, the estimated output in 1853 was less than 400,000 tons (of which Lan Fang Hong produced 280,000 tons). It is comparable to the iron production of France and the German Confederation, and much higher than the more than 200,000 tons of iron produced by Russia.

Arguably. The development of China's iron and steel industry, which started more than 40 years earlier, is not only rapid but also relatively smooth. The reason for this is nothing more than the superiority of the capitalist system.

First of all, large iron and steel and military-industrial complexes such as Lan Fang Xing belonged to the royal consortium, but they were out-and-out private enterprises, and the management headed by Bethel Mai still held shares, and in early 1853 they also sold their shares to the public. Its operation is completely market-oriented, and it is completely incomparable with the historical Hanyang Iron Works.

Secondly, there is a strong and independent financial system that provides sufficient funds for the development of China's steel industry. Historically, China's financial system has been controlled by others for a long time, with foreign banks such as HSBC, Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank, Bank of Korea, and Kim Jong Bank playing the role of quasi-central banks. As a result, the cost of domestic capital is too high, and financing is extremely difficult.

The third main reason is that China now has an independent tariff protection system, in addition, the cost of shipping is extremely high at this time, China's steel market is basically closed, and is not affected by the impact of cheap pig iron in the world - for the same reason, it is difficult for China's cheap steel to enter the European and American markets, and can only be used to build railways. Moreover, stimulated by the protracted war, China's military production has developed extremely rapidly, and the demand for steel is naturally great, which in turn stimulates the rapid development of the steel industry.

"Oh? Low-cost steelmaking methods...... How come I haven't heard of it in Europe? Mathilde asked, somewhat surprised. She guessed that Emperor Zhu would definitely adopt a secret method to prevent the European steel industry from discovering this mystery.

"In fact, Lan Fang Hong has already applied for patents for Bessera converters in Europe and the United States, and has set up branches in the United Kingdom and France to sell Bessera converters."

It's just that these efforts are going a little slowly, and the marketing is not good. By July 1853, only 10 Bassemat converters had been sold in Europe, and none of them had been delivered.

"Really? On behalf of the French steel industry, I would like to say thank you. The princess smiled and looked at Emperor Zhu with affection. She has left steel behind because what she is really interested in is kadia (jewelry) and handsome and dashing men. The Chinese emperor in front of him is not only not ugly but also quite handsome, full of the air of a king in the East, and the richest person in the world, so he is obviously a worthy person......

Emperor Zhu also smiled and said: "It should be said that it is me who thank you, Your Royal Highness Princess, but you have come all the way to China for my daughter." This must be a very hard journey, right? And it's so hot...... Fortunately, my summer resort has been renovated, so in a few days, how about we go there for a while to escape the heat? ”

The French princess does have a very attractive face and figure, which is a rare beauty, and she is of noble birth. For such a bright color, Emperor Zhu is very willing to have a deep friendship with her.

……

Mongolia, the city of buying and selling.

It is now the capital of the Mongol Boktor Khan Yihin and the headquarters of the combined Mongol-Russian forces. While Zhu Jishi was busy conducting diplomatic activities with the charming French princess, the 100,000-strong army under the command of Yixin and Muravyov was preparing for battle day and night, waiting for the Ming army to approach the fully fortified trading city.

On the same day that Princess Mathilde arrived in Tianjin, the news of the meeting of the Ming army's eastern and southern armies in Kulen also reached the trading city. This was expected by everyone, and it did not cause any panic. But the news was accompanied by another, seemingly inconsequential piece of information, which caused a stir and quarrel among the Russian officers at the headquarters of the city.

"A railway paved with steel rails! God, if this railway is really paved to the city of trading, the whole of Eastern Siberia will not be saved! ”

"Is the message accurate? So much steel for the Chinese? ”

"Very accurately, the Chinese have found a low-cost way to make steel, and it is said that 60,000 tons of steel will be produced this year!"

"There is already a steel rail railway, which is the ...... from Tianjin to Beijing"

"But there are almost 1,500 versts from Beijing to the trading city, how many tons of steel do you need to build a steel rail railway?"

"Every 40 versts is about 40 tons, 1,500 versts need 60,000 tons, and the Chinese can take it!"

"It's too bad now, a steel rail railway has enough capacity to support the consumption of 200,000 troops, and if we let it be built, we won't be able to hold East Siberia......" (To be continued......