Establish the national system, set up the power groups of officials at all levels from the central to the local, and then select outstanding talents from Danfu and other universities and students who have returned from studying abroad to fill in the bureaucratic organs at all levels from the central to the local level, thoroughly improve the bureaucracy, and begin to govern society and build the country.

Li Weiguo took advantage of the time when his prestige was at its highest and the hostile forces were weakest to carry out drastic reforms, highlighting his decisiveness and perseverance, thus laying a solid foundation for China's future development.

In addition, Li Weiguo also solved a major problem, that is, to expand domestic demand to meet the challenge of foreign trade contraction.

As we all know, in modern times, China's trade has been a huge surplus for most of the period, reaching 47 million taels of silver for exports and 18 million taels of silver for imports at its peak, resulting in a surplus of 29 million taels of silver. It was not until Britain began to reduce the import of Yapian that after the First Yapian War in 1840, it began to run a deficit, reaching a maximum deficit of 14 million taels of silver, equivalent to 2 million yuan, in 1860. In this year, exports grew to 87 million taels of silver, and imports increased to 101 million taels of silver.

However, starting in 1863, Li Weiguo unified the ten provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, completely banned the trade in elegant films, and executed all of them regardless of whether they smoked opium or bought and sold them, and eliminated the elegant films in the ten provinces of Jiangnan by iron-blooded means. This year, China exported 110 million taels of silver and imported 67 million taels of silver, of which the total export value of the ten southern provinces reached 88 million taels of silver, and the import was 24 million taels of silver, with a surplus of 64 million taels of silver. In order to deal with Li Weiguo, the Qing government in the north colluded with the British and French powers and did not ban the trade of elegant films, resulting in exports of only 13 million taels of silver (most of the treaty ports were in the south), but imports were as high as 43 million taels of silver, with a deficit of 30 million taels of silver, indicating that the elegant pieces of European and American merchants such as Britain, France and the United States were dumped in the north.

After the Third Yapian War and the Northern Expedition to destroy the Qing Dynasty in 1865, Li Weiguo signed the imperial decree as soon as possible. They burned all the pieces imported to China by the European and American powers, arrested and executed all those who smoked and sold them, and cracked down on smuggling by the police and customs in various places, causing all the merchants of the European and American powers to flee and stay away from China.

Although the iron-blooded anti-smoking method was cruel, it fundamentally stopped the poisoning of opium on the country and the people, and made China's trade surplus soar to 16.14 million yuan (14.02 million in the south + 2.12 million in the north), equivalent to a surplus of 113 million taels of silver, which was a huge achievement that the Qing Dynasty could not compare.

this year. Elegant film businessmen in Britain, France, the United States and other countries lost their families, and countless people committed suicide by jumping off buildings.

In this year, the governments of the British and French powers not only lost the Third Yapian War, but also caused a huge trade deficit, and they vomited blood one after another.

However, two years later, in 1867, that is, in the 3967 year of the founding of New China (the second year of Guanghua), the European and American film merchants led by the British were unwilling to fail. Quickly colluding, Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries implemented a naval blockade in the waters of the Seven Continents Ocean (South China Sea) in Southeast Asia, intercepting and robbing Chinese merchant ships bound for Europe, thus blocking China's export channels to Europe and the United States.

Britain and other powers thought that they could use this as a means to reverse the unfavorable trade deficit. But they soon discovered that they were dreaming.

After Li Weiguo learned of this, he immediately took counter-retaliatory measures, completely banning the import of European goods and restricting exports to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries. At the same time, the sea route from the direction of the Seven Continents Ocean was cancelled, and the Pacific sea route was replaced by the Pacific Sea to go directly to the United States, because North America (referring to the government of the Northern Alliance of the United States and the military government of the South Africa) is friendly to China. And through the channel of North American merchants to transshipment to Europe, continue to obtain a trade surplus.

Although the profits have declined after the Americans changed hands, they are still profitable and continue to export to generate income.

At the same time, Li Weiguo knew that the Chinese Navy did not yet have a powerful ocean-going fleet and could not counterattack the fleets composed of the British Royal Navy, the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Spanish Royal Navy, and the Portuguese Royal Navy.

According to Li Weiguo's naval development plan, the next stage would be completed in 3970 (1870), with three years to go.

It just so happens that the country is in a period of large-scale construction, and it is completely possible to make up for the loss of foreign trade by expanding domestic demand.

Therefore, Li Weiguo took advantage of his supreme prestige in the hearts of the people to openly call on the people of the whole country to refuse to use foreign goods and buy domestic products.

Because of the poison of Yapian, because of the bullying of foreigners, because of the enslavement of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it was Li Weiguo who saved them, recuperated, exempted from harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, reduced commercial taxes, exempted from agricultural taxes for three years, fought corruption and advocated clean government, and established civil rights, all of which made the people feel grateful and reverent to Li Weiguo.

Therefore, when Li Weiguo issued a call, the common people responded one after another, selling only domestic products and refusing to sell foreign goods.

Farmers worked hard to clear the land, sold grain for money, and bought more fertilizers, ploughing cattle, farm tools, etc. from domestic merchants.

Women no longer weave cloth and spend more time raising silkworms and other livestock, which they sell for money to buy finished fabrics, cosmetics, jewelry, etc., from domestic merchants.

Tenant farmers who broke free from feudal shackles were freed, they did not have land, and they did not need to continue to work as slaves in the landlord's family, but went to work in the factories, mines, and shops of the state or individuals, and received higher labor remuneration, in this way they also repaid the imperial court and responded to the emperor's call to become the working class of New China.

The landlords did not dare to exploit the tenant farmers anymore, and some had to develop in the direction of the big plantation economy, while others stopped being misers, and instead invested in the construction of mines and factories, turned to business, and made money with money.

The status of the merchant was no longer low, he was grateful to the country, responded to the emperor's call, no longer imported foreign goods, but invested his funds in national bonds, actively supported and participated in the construction of the country's major industrial bases, invested in factories, and became a big capitalist.

In response to the emperor's call, they actively helped the country to build railways and highways, and built bridges when opening holes in mountains and rivers, which can not only exercise physical strength, but also help the country save money.

Officials and dignitaries were photographed by the National Commission Against Corruption for deterrence. He also no longer bought foreign luxury goods, but turned to support domestic products and responded to the emperor's call.

Aspiring young people actively sign up for domestic colleges and universities such as Danfu to learn knowledge and serve the imperial court in the future.

All this is the credit of Li Weiguo, whose supreme prestige has integrated people from all walks of life, expanded domestic demand, and stimulated the rapid development of the country's economy.

Li Weiguo's efforts to accomplish these great events are extremely happy and proud.

But he's not tsundere. Knowing the huge gap with Britain, France and other traditional industrial powers in Europe, even if China's economic aggregate is currently the largest in the world, most of it belongs to the grain GDP created by the peasant class, because more than 200 million people, only a few are capitalists and working classes, and most of them are landlord farmers. If we cannot increase our overall national strength, we will not be able to strengthen the country.

As an agricultural country, China has a huge amount of manpower and GDP, but it does not have much industrial added value. On the whole, it is less than one-fifth of Britain's comprehensive national strength, and its industrial added value is even less than one-third of that of the United States, which fought five or six years of civil war.

This is the huge gap between agricultural and industrial countries!

Li Weiguo, who understands this gap, naturally wants to focus on industry, which is why he personally inspected the industrial base in central and southern Liaoning. It is because the overall layout and resource distribution of the industrial base in central and southern Liaoning are very close to the Great Lakes Industrial Zone in the United States.

As we all know, in 1860, the United States produced less than one million tons of pig iron. The steel output was less than 10,000 tons, and by 1915 the pig iron output reached 33.82 million tons, an increase of more than 30 times; Steel output soared directly to 32.15 million tons, an increase of more than 3,000 times, while the annual output of German steel in the same period was only 18.322 million tons, the British steel output was only 7.788 million tons, France 4.69 million tons, Tsarist Russia 4.237 million tons, Japan 253,000 tons, and China M at that time only had a pitiful 34,000 tons, which could not compare with the single digits of American steel production.

The United States can achieve such great industrial achievements, the core is the Great Lakes Industrial Zone, where there is a concentration of rich coal and iron ore, that is, easy to mine, and compact, and the Great Lakes water transportation is extremely convenient and cheap, so that the United States steel production cost is very low, but the quality is very high, with the continuous improvement of steelmaking technology, the greater the output gap, in a short period of time the United States has achieved the world's first.

For historical China, it was not until after the liberation that the rich coal and steel veins of the Liaoning-Zhongnan Industrial Base were discovered, and it was precisely because of the Liaoning-Zhongnan Industrial Base that the super-China of the 21st century was achieved, a hundred years later than the United States.

But now it is different, after the reunification of China, Li Weiguo immediately developed the industrial base in central and southern Liaoning, and carried out industrial construction at the fastest speed, striving to become the world's first industrial power before the United States developed, and has maintained it.

Starting from Mukden, follow the post station to Lushun all the way, and you can reach Anshan Station in a short time.

Anshan Station, as the name suggests, is a post station for communication between Mukden and Lushun.

But today it was different, the post station became the emperor's temporary residence, and Li Weiguo stayed here for a few days, inspecting the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant, which was less than 20 miles away from the Anshan Post Station, and the Qianshan (Anshan) iron ore mine that surrounded the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant in an arc.

More than 10 billion tonnes of iron ore are buried in this area, and the veins are concentrated and easy to mine. Li Weiguo set up the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant here, taking the principle of proximity, convenient transportation, not far away are Yingkou, Dalian, Qinhuangdao and other ports, and the smelted steel can be directly transported to the major coastal ports by sea, or transported to the mainland by land.

At the same time, a hundred miles away is the Fuping Coal Mine, an open-pit coal mine with excellent quality and huge coal reserves that will ensure the needs of the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant for the next two hundred years.

Whether it is a mine or a factory, it is surrounded by rivers and directly connected to the Bohai Bay, which is enough to meet the needs of industrial development.

All of this is similar to the Great Lakes industrial region in the United States.

Today, the Fuping Coal Mine and the Qianshan Iron Mine were all found by the ore exploration team under the prompting of Li Weiguo, and the iron ore field and coal mine were initially established. The Qing Dynasty set this place as a forbidden area, not developed for hundreds of years, inaccessible, everywhere is primeval forest, there are rich forest resources, can be large-scale coke production, with coal to make steel and iron is very convenient.

Standing at the site of the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant, Li Weiguo, accompanied by Li Hongzhang, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Huang Tifang, the Zuo Shilang, Wu Yong, the secretary of the Ministry of Officials, Fu Xuexian, the secretary of the Ministry of Households, and other personnel, as well as the personnel of the Ministry of Industry (Construction Bureau), Yu Department (Land and Resources Bureau), and Ministry of Water (Water Conservancy Bureau), inspected the construction of the factory and listened to relevant reports.

"At the current pace of construction, when will the steel plant be put into operation?"

Hearing Li Weiguo's inquiry, Huang Tifang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, according to the planned progress, the project will be divided into three phases, with a total construction period of 5 years, and finally build 6 large-scale steelmaking open-hearths of 100 tons, 20 medium-sized steelmaking open-hearths of 600,000 tons, and 100 steelmaking open-hearths of 20 tons, and finally achieve an annual output of 4 million tons of crude steel, 2 million tons of refined steel, and 200,000 tons of special steel; 54 medium-sized iron-making blast furnaces with a capacity of 300 cubic meters, 14 large-scale iron-making blast furnaces with a capacity of 700 cubic meters, with an annual output of 8 million tons of pig iron; 12 fuel plants with an annual output of 150,000 tons of coke, 6 large-scale slag plants specializing in the production of synthetic slag agents, and 4 preparation plants for the production of oxidants, reducing agents and carburizers; In addition, there are 16 forging mills, foundries and other derivative factories specializing in the production of various steel and iron products. ”

The scale of this steel plant, which is considered to be the top steel plant in the world, once completed, will surpass the current world's largest steel factory, the Newvent steel plant.

However, Li Weiguo does not dare to guarantee whether there will be larger-scale steel plants in Europe and the United States in five years. For China's steel demand in five years, it should be enough.

However, at present, China is carrying out large-scale industrial construction, the construction of major industrial bases has begun, and the construction of railways has begun to be built throughout the country, and a lot of steel and iron materials are consumed. Especially in the Chinese Navy, the construction of 10,000-ton ironclad ships has begun, which is all made of steel, and eating iron every day is the same as eating, which has exhausted Baoshan Iron and Steel Plant, and needs to build other steel plants as soon as possible to share the pressure.

Navy construction is the top priority, and Li Weiguo does not want steel production to affect the speed of ship building.

He then said: "Five years does not seem to be a long time, but at present, the domestic demand for steel is huge, the supply of steel materials is tight, especially the naval construction is accelerating, and it is competing with the British Navy for time, so five years is still too long." ”

Huang Tifang said with a smile: "Your Majesty don't worry, the data reported by the minister just now is the steel production capacity when it is fully completed in five years." In fact, the longest time is spent on large 100-ton steelmaking open-hearth furnaces, which are complex and require a long construction period because they use the latest open-hearth steelmaking technology. The 60-ton and 20-ton steelmaking open hearth furnaces are much easier, of which the 20-ton steelmaking furnace only needs one year to be completed and put into operation, plus not only the Liaoning Central and South Industrial Base, but also the Beijing-Tianjin-Tang Industrial Base of Zhili Iron and Steel Plant, the Pearl River Delta Industrial Base of Huangpu Iron and Steel Plant, the Yangtze River Middle Reaches Industrial Base Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, the construction direction of these steel plants is the same, 20-ton small steelmaking furnaces will be completed within a year, so it is enough to meet domestic needs. ”

Li Hongzhang also said: "That's right, the reason why the steelmaking furnace was built in three tons, large, medium and small, was to consider the early production and early results, and Your Majesty did not have to worry about the impact of domestic construction on steel production capacity." ”

"Excellent! Well done! Li Weiguo nodded again and again, and then suddenly realized, just now I was curious about why the scale of the steelmaking furnace of the Beiyang Iron and Steel Plant should be divided into large, medium and small, so it is.

At this time, Fu Xuexian on the side said with a bitter face: "Your Majesty, don't just say that they are doing well, but also be considerate of Weichen!" ”

Li Weiguo was stunned for a moment, and asked rhetorically, "What's wrong with you?" ”

Fu Xuexian smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, with a stroke of your pen, seven industrial bases have been built, hundreds of factories, tens of thousands of miles of railways, 750,000 workers have been recruited, and a large-scale production movement has been vigorously started. ”

"How much?" Li Weiguo is happy, and Fu Xuexian is distressed about money.

"117 million RMB!" Fu Xuexian said painfully.

Woohoo!

Scare a crowd! (To be continued.) )