During the period when Qin Kai left, the three docks in the shipyard can be said to be in full swing, and the riveting of the outer deck of the 501 ship was basically completed, and the new technology brought by the German ship engineer who recently came to the shipyard is important to the success of the shipyard. After careful inspection, several German engineers also recognized the quality of the hull.

He also brought a person today, a Chinese ship engineer who returned to China when the last batch of Minister Schleier recruited engineers from Germany, named Qingying (book friend cameo, hehe...... He has studied in several ship research institutes in Germany and obtained the qualification of the German Society of Engineers.

Hearing that there is such a hot-blooded young man, Qin Kai is also happy, there are actually a lot of overseas Chinese adrift overseas in this era, if there are more such talents, he doesn't have to send people abroad to study, what a good thing it would be! After participating in the 501 ship system, Qing Ying put forward a series of opinions, all of which have been verified in the system, and today Wang Ruijie brought the firepower design of the new warship he made.

To his surprise, Qingying actually had three design schemes, and it had to be mentioned that the 501 ship of the system was not as good as the 501 ship of German craftsmanship in terms of hull firmness and endurance, considering many factors of armor and center of gravity, the most important thing was the problem of the firmness of the hull, and the configuration of firepower was not as good as the 501 ship!

The first plan is 10 twin 150mm, 30 times the diameter of the gun silhouette rapid-fire guns, the second plan is three twin 210mm, 35 times the diameter of the turret type heavy guns, the third plan is three 254mm, 35 times the diameter of the single turret type heavy guns, the overall firepower is much different than the 501 ship, but for the first self-made large armored cruiser, it is already very powerful.

After discussing this artillery problem, Qin Kai naturally had to bring in Wu Yun and a few experts, and after discussion, from the historical experience of the development of this battleship, it was undoubtedly the point of view that he wanted to choose the cannon of this giant ship, considering that the Artillery Bureau did not develop 210mm heavy guns and shells now, and finally chose the scheme of three 254mm and 35 times the diameter heavy guns.

At the same time, Qin Kai ordered Wang Ruijie, Hu Changchang, Qingying and others to set up a Mawei ship design office, absorb German ship engineers, learn the process of ship design, and do their best to form the ability to independently develop large warships! However, in the initial stage, you can choose to conduct research on merchant ships to improve your research and development capabilities!

For the project of building the 501 ship, it is required to devote all forces to speed up the construction, and the light ironclad cruiser on Hu's long distance has also completed the outfitting of the bridge and is installing the artillery, while in the dock, the keel of another light cruiser of the same type of 1,250 tons has been laid, and the hull is being riveted.

With the improvement of craftsmanship and shooting ideas, Hu Tu also had some new ideas in the design of the light cruiser, and the new light cruiser with a keel was installed, and the design of the armor and artillery was revised to highlight the speed advantage of the fast cruiser.

He Xing got the news of Qin Kai's return, and hurriedly came to him, now all industries can be said to be thriving, in Fangcheng, Hejuni established industrial base, this era is not lacking is cheap labor, the industrial output value of the two places in the Mawei Shipbuilding full support, can be described by the word "soaring".

In particular, the textile and garment industries in Phuong Cheng and the silk reeling and textile industries in Ha Cypress and Xian An brought in a large number of laborers from all over Vietnam, but the new factories that were quickly launched and put into operation quickly absorbed the new manpower. At present, the Mawei Shipyard has invested a lot of money in the construction of new factories and infrastructure construction in the two places, and the defense of the two places has also trapped Zhang Kui's second battalion......

He Xing came today for the cigarette industry, the entire industrial chain of Mawei, the cigarette industry belongs to a particularly profitable piece, although it has been put into production for a long time, because of the technical monopoly on the paper process, so far there is no other person in the domestic and even European markets in the Qing Dynasty who can produce similar types of paper.

Recently, a large number of cigarettes have appeared in the market, which are sold to Western merchants and mainland merchants in various treaty ports, but due to the rough workmanship and the fact that they are not made of paper at all, they cannot compete with Zhonghua brand cigarettes in terms of quality, but they are only cheaper and have also robbed a part of the mainland market.

However, the profits of the cigarette industry are still maintaining a momentum of rapid growth, but the main source of growth is the rapid business development of shadow companies in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, which requires a large number of goods to be shipped, and cigarettes are one of the types of sales that have soared. However, the stagflation of cigarette trade at domestic ports still worries He Xing. ,

Inheriting the huge industry handed over by Qin Kai, He Xing's heart was full of excitement and gratitude for Qin Kai's unconditional trust, but with a steady personality, he naturally understood that it was not easy to run this amazing industry well.

Because every industry he is in contact with now has more earning power than those seemingly huge silver villages, which makes him admire his amazing ability as a Qin brother, and he is even more conscientious to help Qin Kai manage this industry, naturally, his rewards are also rich, and the current He family is definitely a huge force in the shopping malls of the Qing Dynasty!

Qin Kai thought about it for a while, then said with a smile, "Brother He, the model of Fangcheng County's garment industry can also be used as a reference in this cigarette industry!" ”

He Xing pondered for a while, and immediately understood, "Brother Qin, your idea is really amazing, now those cigarettes do not have trademarks, do you see if we also create a few other brands, so that it is easier to occupy the low-end market of cigarettes, and Zhonghua brand cigarettes occupy the high-end market!" ”

"Brother He, just do what you want, and ...... Cigarettes sold to the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom should also establish local brands, be processed by our cigarette factory, and sold locally through our wholly-owned company! This brand is ...... In the United States, it is called Marlboro, in Germany it is called Springwater, and in the United Kingdom...... Let's call 555!"

Qin Kai's bad taste, obviously made He Xing feel that this Qin brother's thinking is really a sea and a sky, and after carefully noting it, he began to think about the need to build at least 5 new cigarette factories to meet the full range of cigarette production of various grades, and now there are things to do!

"Brother Qin, our paper mill has completed the expansion last month, the first three months of garment income beyond my imagination, bulk sales to Japan garments, although our price is not high, but in addition to freight, cost, there are more than forty percent of the profit, plus the sales of domestic ports, the income in the last month has reached 300,000 taels, and the increase is very fast, I think soon the garment will replace the products of those tailor shops!"

For the impact of the handicraft industry brought by the large industry, Qin Kai also calmed down and carefully considered, after all, this is an inevitable pain, in the case of the garment industry, in a short period of time, the handmade clothing industry in various ports will shrink significantly, and only a few of them can survive in the end.

However, in the current situation, this is not his turn to consider, more important than these things, bigger and stronger Mawei shipbuilding industry, although the current Mawei money-making industry chain is still in the textile, garment and related machinery, chemical industry, but in the past two years, in these labor-intensive factories, it has created an amazing industrial value and more importantly, a large number of skilled workers.

A large number of senior technicians and engineers are working hard in the various R&D teams of the factory and the special group of the Mawei real room, but this time when he came back, Chen Tongpu, who was in charge of the chemical industry, did not come, and when Xu Guofang came, he told Qin Kai that Chen Tongpu took the R&D team to soak in the real yàn room all day long to participate in the coal tar refining during this time.

Qin Kai did not intend to urge, although he had collected a lot of information about the coal coking industry, and asked Chen Tongpu to secretly manufacture a batch of coal coking catalysts, which were made by using the technical solutions of his time, which could greatly improve the dry distillation rate of coal tar and the synthesis rate of aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic organic compounds.

He asked Li Donglai about the students who studied in the United States from Shanghai one after another, this group of people is indeed a rare talent, 25 of the total 92 people directly passed the guò assessment to enter the Mawei Shipyard's Higher Technical School to study, and the other 31 students with American university study experience, according to their wishes, directly entered the Mawei related positions for internship, and now they are basically in their respective job lists, and the remaining 30 or so young schoolchildren are now studying in the Mawei Primary School.

Zhang Jian's side brought the matter of the military academy that had been prepared for a long time, and after Ding Richang's approval, he had already begun to recruit students in the academy and the shipyard, but the military academy was not called Mawei Military Academy, because Qin Kai felt that the name was too earthy, and finally agreed to name it "Nanyang Military Academy".

He took into account that it was the first time to recruit students, so the number of students in the first batch of the plan was not much, only 40, and the instructor candidates were already available, with Qin Kai as the principal, Xu Jianshan as the chief instructor, and the specific military courses were taught by Schleier from Germany, and the training was served by Wang Zhi, who was born as a student soldier recommended by Xu Zhishan. ,

In this way, the shelves of the military academy have been set up, and Zhang Jianlai asked about the treatment of the military academy students, after all, the first batch of cadets who were admitted to the military academy were basically from the shipyard, and there were two American students among them, and the others were all from the Nanyang Navy Division and the Security Corps, and the original treatment was not low.

At this point, Qin Kai did not hesitate at all, he scooped out the current "Training Minutes" and "Regulations on the Management of Officers and Soldiers" and handed them to Zhang Jian, "Brother Ji Zhi, if you enter the military academy, you are a soldier, our Nanyang Military Academy will recruit students in the future, since you are determined to be a soldier, you must do a good job of horse leather shroud, and plan to sacrifice your life for the country, don't be afraid of death when you are a soldier, you are not a soldier if you are afraid of death, and if you want to be promoted to become rich, the Nanyang Navy Division will not accept it!" ”

Zhang Jian heard Qin Kai's answer, nodded and smiled: "Gale Wind, I'm just waiting for your words, then I understand, let's go and arrange the recruitment of the first batch of students!" ”——

Prince Gong is a little uncomfortable these days, and the affairs of the French make him feel like pins and needles! Now he is a high power, and the power team he has set up can be said to be an elite gathering, Wu Yingdian University Shi Baojun, the Ministry of Officials Li Hongzao, the Ministry of War Shangshu Jinglian, and the Ministry of Industry Shangshu Weng Tonggong, either the patriarch of the Qingliu faction, or the model of the Tumbler in the court, the right to speak in the court can be pinched by himself!

The most powerful military aircraft department and the prime minister's yamen of the Great Qing Dynasty controlled by him, to put it bluntly, the entire Qing Dynasty up and down seems to be determined by him now! But that's just what it seems...... From the four years of Tongzhi after being impeached by the editor Cai Zhiqi, he almost went home to retire from the experience, more than ten years of tempering, this prince who was dedicated to foreign affairs and tried to revive the Manchu Empire has long had no original ambitions, in his original words, anyway, this world is the world of the queen mother, and he is obedient to be a courtier.

Today, Li Hongzao hurriedly gathered all the bigwigs of the Military Aircraft Department early in the morning and rushed to see Prince Gong together, he brought a recital by Chen Baochen, a college student, and a secret telegram from Zhang Peilun, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.

Wu Yingdian University Shi Baojun first opened his mouth and said: "Lord, Zhang Peilun doesn't know where this news came from, he said that the French are about to start a war, I don't know if I can be sure!" ”

Li Hongzao pointed to the telegram on the table, "Since Zhang Peilun patted his chest in the telegram to guarantee that the news is accurate, then you can believe him, after all, in this matter, the most vulnerable ones are their Fujian and Guangzhou, and I just got the news from Beiyang, Li Zhongtang asked the French to negotiate, and the new minister has already sent a message, paying 60 million taels of compensation and transferring the rights and interests of the vassal state of Vietnam......"

Syllable...... When Prince Gong heard the news, he angrily shook the teacup on the case, "The French are too much!" Could it be that our Great Qing Kingdom is so weak and deceitful! ”

These bigwigs are very clear, the six princes are acting for only one reason, and this condition is something that the Qing Dynasty can't afford anyway! The treaty signed by Li Zhongtang and Baohai before can be described as high-sounding, and the Qing Dynasty did not pay compensation and did not fall into the name of the suzerain, but the Vietnamese added another suzerain, France, which has been scolded by the Manchu Dynasty civil and military.

If this treaty is signed under his own team, then this life will be in vain, and this official position will not want to continue, and by the way, even the fame of Qingliu will be completely blackened......

Jinglian, the secretary of the military department, was a well-known grass on the wall of the central court, and immediately asked: "Everyone, what do you think of Chen Baochen's excerpt?" ”

This Chen Baochen is the backbone of Qingliu, Yi naturally turned his head and asked Qingliu's boss Li Hongzao, and asked, "Lansun, can you discuss this Chen Boqian's excerpt?" ”

"Chen Boqian came to tell me early in the morning, and Baoting also had to go to the fold to second," Li Hongzao naturally knew a lot of details, that is, the news of the new victory of the Nanyang Navy Division, Zhang Peilun also hinted in the telegram that the victory rate was quite large, only saying that the battle was being fought and the battle situation was unknown, and this excerpt was the mention of the Qingliu cadres who were enthusiastic about Qin Kai to take charge of the troops in Vietnam.

For these Qingliu cadres, in fact, Li Hongzao does not have any direct command, after all, the so-called Qingliu is just a loose faction, and there is no relationship between the upper and lower levels, and Li Hongzao, as a veteran, the cadres are more or less ventilated with him, but this time Qingliu recommended two candidates, who seem to have their own characteristics. ,

Hubei Zhangzhidong and Hanlin Pan Zuyin came to play the day before yesterday and recommended Xu Yanxu, the prefect of Taiping, to take charge of the army in Vietnam. Today, Chen Baochen's excerpt is recommended by Qin Kai, the political envoy of Fujian, which is even more sufficient, winning two victories over the French in the past year, and Qin ordered to handle the training of Vietnam's ** guard.

Weng Tongyong, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry next to him, flipped through the chapters, and interjected and asked: "Lord Wang, this Fujian political envoy Qin Kai, I remember that it seems to be Ding Richang's henchman, didn't there be someone in the Huai Army who joined him some time ago?" ”

Prince Gong smiled and didn't answer it, some things are more useful not to say than to say, after all, this Li Zhongtang and himself are still on the same big ship as the foreign affairs...... On the side, Shangshu Jinglian of the Ministry of War came out to answer the call, "Now the leader of the Vietnamese army is Wu Changqing of the Huai Army, which means that he definitely doesn't want the Huai Army to make great contributions!" ”

Li Hongzao saw that the opportunity to strike at the Huai army had come, and this kind of homeopathic thing should naturally not be missed, "That's true, I heard that this Qin armor is close to the Hunan army, if the war is together, the meaning of the above will definitely enable the ...... of the people of the Hunan army", he naturally has an unstated sentence in his words, which is also the meaning of preventing the Huai army from becoming dominant,

Prince Gong and Li Zhongtang can also be regarded as Austrian aid, but the momentum of this Huai army to become bigger, as long as it is a Manchu minister, they don't like to see, there is no possibility of reconciliation on this kind of issue, since these Qingliu bigwigs are all in this tone, then they can push the boat with the water, anyway, the signatures of the folds are Qingliu Hanlin and bachelors......

"Then let's leave this matter at that, tomorrow morning, the court will hand over this Zhang Zhidong and Chen Baochen's folds, as for who will go to Vietnam to take charge of this army in the end, please ask the Queen Mother to set a tone!"

These important ministers in charge of the military affairs of the Qing Dynasty finished their deliberations, and they just set a tune, and the last person who scooped up the idea turned out to be the Empress Dowager of the West Palace, who was thinking about balancing the authority of the court and China all day long in the palace, and knew nothing about military affairs, Qin Kai naturally did not know the fate of his own decision at this time, and was sent to the hands of Cixi, who had held power in China for decades.

That night, after he held a meeting of the core members of the Mawei Ship Administration, Qin Kai hurriedly boarded the battleship again and left Mawei Port!

Our journey is an eventful South China Sea......