Seeing Li Mingfang's appearance, Qin Chuan couldn't help but ask Li Mingfang a little strangely: "Old Li, what's wrong?" ”

Li Mingfang asked Qin Chuan in surprise: "Boss, do you have any special requirements for this cement?" ”

Qin Chuan didn't have any special requirements for cement, he just wanted these two buildings to be stronger. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Of course, it is said that the higher the grade of cement, the better, but I don't know if the cement at this time is distinguished by the grade, so Qin Chuan didn't dare to ask.

Li Mingfang smiled bitterly and said: "I said the owner, if this is the case, we have cement in the Qing Dynasty, where do we have to import it from abroad." ”

"What, there is cement in the Qing Dynasty? Why haven't I heard of it? ”

Hearing Li Mingfang say that there was cement in the Qing Dynasty, Qin Chuan couldn't help but be shocked.

"Yes, there is a cement factory on the Kaiping side, we can buy cement from there."

Qin Chuan thought about it carefully, he had never heard of any cement factories there, he had collected a lot of information very seriously in the concession, mainly what could the Qing Dynasty produce at this time, but the result made Qin Chuan very disappointed, all modern industrial products, the Qing Dynasty could hardly produce them, from iron nails to simple machinery and equipment, the only better ones were guns and bullets, but these were all government-run military enterprises, and they were generally not operated externally.

In Qinchuan's memory, there is now a Kaiping coal mine in Kaiping, which is also government-run, and there is an enterprise called a fine soil factory that can't figure out what it produces.

"Lao Li, in addition to the coal mine, Kaiping is also a soil factory, so what other factories are there?"

Li Mingfang was puzzled for a long time and suddenly laughed: "Oh, the owner, this is not your fault, foreigners' things, when we come to the Qing Dynasty, we basically add a foreign word in front of the name, such as foreign fire, foreign nails, and foreign guns, but the name of this cement is strange, I can't figure out how it is called fine soil, this fine soil factory is a cement factory, and fine soil is cement, which was opened by Tang Tingshu, the general office of the Kaiping Mining Bureau, the year before last. ”

Li Mingfang said that Tang Tingshu, called Jingxin, is a native of Guangdong. He went to church school, can speak fluent English, worked as a translator in Hong Kong and Shanghai Customs for ten years, worked as a comprador in Jardine Matheson, had his own fleet, opened the earliest insurance company in China, preceded Sheng Xuanhuai as the general office of Shanghai Steamship China Merchants Bureau, prepared for the Kaiping Mining Bureau in 1876, built the first railway in the Qing Dynasty, Tangxu Railway, and opened more than a dozen mines with his friend Xu Run.

It can be said that Tang Tingshu can definitely be called the most influential figure in modern China's modern economy.

Qin Chuan was stunned for a long time and couldn't help but laugh dumbly, he really didn't expect that this fine soil was cement.

It's just that since there was cement in the Qing Dynasty the year before last, why haven't we seen those forts, fortifications, and even buildings in the Qing Dynasty used to use things like glutinous rice juice to build and reinforce them. In the final analysis, it is still the Chinese people who are complacent, only recognizing what their ancestors have left behind, but are unwilling to actively accept new knowledge.

From the people in power to officials at all levels, to the ordinary people, the wisdom of the people has not been opened, which is the biggest and most dangerous drawback of the Qing Dynasty at this time.

Thinking of this, Qin Chuan's heart couldn't help but move, followed by a burst of ecstasy.

I just remembered Tang Tingshu, but his friend Xu Run, not only the Kaiping Mining Bureau, but also Tang Tingshu's closest business partner, especially worthy of praise from later generations, or Xu Run and Rong Hong together suggested funding for young children in the United States, although for some reasons, Cixi later ordered those "lawless" students in the United States to return to China, but these people have basically succeeded.

In Qin Chuan's memory, the first batch of 30 children between the ages of 9 and 15 arrived in the United States in 1872 and began a fifteen-year study career. A total of 120 young children went to the United States in four batches. By 1880, more than fifty young children had entered American universities, including 22 at Yale University, 8 at MIT, 3 at Columbia, and 1 at Harvard. The rest of the students, although they have not yet finished secondary school, have basically excellent grades in school.

Due to the excellent performance of the group, these young children with pigtails are not only the earliest government-funded international students in Chinese history, but also the great writer Mark Brown. Twain's friend was also received by US President Grant Grant.

When they were ordered to return to China, the remaining 94 of the 120 children who had been sent back to the United States in three batches in 1881, except for nine who had been repatriated early for indiscipline and 26 who had died of illness. The first batch of 21 returning students were sent to the Beiyang Telegraph School in Tianjin to learn telegraphy, while some of the second and third batch of returning students went to the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau and the Shanghai Machinery Bureau, while the remaining some were assigned to the Beiyang Naval Division, as well as the Beiyang Machinery, Telegraph, Torpedo and other bureaus and schools to work as errands.

Not only do these people not be reused now, but in later generations, except for Zhan Tianyou, Tang Shaoyi, the first premier of the Republic of China, Cai Shaoji, the president of Beiyang University, Tang Guoan, the first president of Tsinghua University, Yan Huiqing, vice minister of foreign affairs of the Beiyang government, and Liang Dunyan, the chief of transportation of the Beiyang government, and a few other people are unknown.

Qin Chuan said in his heart: "These people are all unambitious compared to now, if you can recruit these people to your subordinates, it will be a great thing." ”

However, we have to solve the matter in front of us before we can do it. This cement is there, but he doesn't know what the quality is, and Henry asked, looking at the side.

"Mr. Henry, do you know Kaiping's cement? How is its quality? Is it available? ”

Henry, who is proficient in Chinese, has been listening happily to the conversation between Qin Chuan and Li Mingfang, and when he saw Qin Chuan asking, he nodded with a smile and said: "Qin, if you want to say what are the commendable industrial products produced by your Daqing Dynasty, except for your Aurora brand cloth, and then this cement, I really don't dare to compliment the rest, you can rest assured, the quality of this cement is very good, and the bridge on the Jinyu Railway that you are building now is the cement that uses it." ”

After eating lunch and resting for a while, Qin Chuan couldn't wait to write a letter to William Jr., telling him that the rifle he wanted was changed to 2,000, which was this Type 88. And then there is the need to order a thousand barge guns, equipped with enough ammunition.

After writing the letter, Qin Chuan personally went downstairs to the account room to find Li Mingfang and asked Li Mingfang to send the letter to William Xiao as soon as possible. In addition, he told Li Mingfang that he should try to inquire about the situation of those young children who studied in the United States after returning to China, in short, the information is as detailed as possible.

When he returned to the small building, he asked Chu Yunfei to go to Li Mingfang, take some of the firecrackers he bought, find a tin bucket for dye and some bottles, and then ask Xu Tong to move a table to the backyard. In addition, the people who called the factory protection team went to the backyard training ground.

After instructing Chu Yunfei, Qin Chuan carried the suitcase brought by Ye Ziqi and went straight to the backyard.