The Marquis of Bésemer has been feeling a little smug lately. In recognition of his exploits, the Ming Emperor had recently canonized him the Marquis of Nanfen and appointed him as the president of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of the Ming Dynasty - a position that had previously been held by the Emperor himself! After Zhu Jishi said that he would resign from this position, all the foreign scholars who worked and taught in the Ming Dynasty looked at this chair with wide eyes, but how could these people's contributions to the Ming Empire and the cause of human science be compared with their own champions who pioneered metallurgy? In the past few years, his invention of the converter steelmaking method has sparked a revolution in the steel industry in China, no, all over the world!

China's steel industry, which was the first to benefit, has become the world's second largest steel producer after Britain in just seven or eight years. With the commissioning of the second phase of the Nanfen Iron and Steel Plant, China's pig iron production will exceed 1 million tons in 1857! The output of steel will exceed 200,000 tons, almost on par with the United Kingdom! Driven by the steel industry and the machinery industry, Daming's coal production is also rising, and it is expected to exceed 20 million tons this year, surpassing the United States to rank second in the world. In this age of coal and iron, the powerful steel industry and coal mining industry are the foundation for the rise of an empire!

Despite the economic downturn around the world, the Chinese emperor was still ambitious to industrialize his country, and when he was only three-fifths of the way through his first five-year plan, he began to work on an even more ambitious second five-year investment plan. On the instructions of His Majesty the Emperor. Investment priorities for the Second Five-Year Plan. It will be railways, steel, coal, machinery, shipbuilding. If it can be done. The Ming Empire could not surpass Britain as the world's largest industrial nation - of course, only in terms of steel and coal production and railway mileage in operation over Britain and the United States. However, it is such an achievement and speed of development that it is enough to attract the attention of Whitehall. The Marquis Ramsay, who had just arrived in Nanjing, had already secretly conveyed to him the message of Whitehall Street: to collect information related to the industrial construction of the Ming Empire.

It is clear that the British people of insight have realized that the Ming Empire in the East, like the United States in the New World, will be a potential threat to the world hegemony of the British Empire. I don't want their strength to expand too quickly. Compared with France and Prussia in Europe, the Ming Empire and the United States were too big and wealthy, and unlike Russia, they were constantly involved in the chaotic affairs of the European continent. Once these two countries rise, they have the potential to take hegemony away from Britain! But what problems can Whitehall's attention and attention solve? Didn't European capital and talent flow to the United States? Didn't the Ming Empire become a magnet for Indian money? Didn't the British factory owners still want to extract the most profit from the industrialization of the United States and the Ming Dynasty? Capital knows no borders!

On the lawn of a luxury home in Pudong, Shanghai, it is now the fragrance of a summer night. Marquis Ramsay, a former Indian governor who had just begun his tenure as a Ming government official, was invited to speak with him about the possibility that the Ming might produce more steel and coal than the British. The English Marquis, who looked a little tired, was sitting on a Chinese chair, just drinking black tea. Looking at his watch, it seems very worried that an industrialized Ming dynasty will appear in the east of the world.

Bessema smiled secretly in her heart. His father was a French scientist (member of the French Academy of Sciences) who fled to England because of the Revolution, and he himself did not have a high sense of identification with Britain, so he was very much a bystander. The reason why Britain can rise to become a hegemon is only because of its geographical location, under the protection of the English Channel, Britain can not only keep the chaos of the European continent out of the country, but also use this chaos to absorb capital and talent from the European continent - the essence of a continent is concentrated in small England, and it is really foolish if she cannot develop again. But now that the European continent is under French leadership, there will be no more chaos in the conceivable years. Moreover, the rise of the United States has given European capital and talent a better place to go. The Ming Empire in the East is now beginning to play a similar role as a magnet for financial talent, and has begun to draw capital from India, which the British Empire regarded as the jewel in the crown. What is ridiculous is that Britain, which is the world hegemon, is not only helpless about this, but also fantasizes about making a big profit in the industrialization of the United States and China...... This country has never had only the interests of commercial capital, and not much imperial vision.

Of course, this thought was not expressed in the face of the Marquis of Bésemai, but he replied in an approving tone: "Yes, we must always keep an eye on this eastern country, which is so great and populous that it is now on the track of industrialization. Perhaps if he is not careful, he will go ahead of our British Empire. ”

Ramsay raised his eyes, seemed to be satisfied with his respectful attitude, nodded solemnly, and said: "Whitehall is not worried that China has as much coal and iron as we do, after all, this country is very large, and there are many places that need iron and coal. What Whitehall is really worried about is that the Chinese have naval power comparable to the Empire! If Chinese are seeking the world's most advanced shipbuilding technology, then we should be worried...... Mr. Marquis, the largest shipbuilding company in China is now under your management, right? I don't think you're going to let it get much of a deal, are you? ”

Bessemai smiled slightly, everyone knows that the interest of the Chinese is not on the sea, after all, they are a continental people, for thousands of years, will not change because of an emperor. The most important thing is that China still has a common enemy in the northwest. They simply did not have the extra strength to put at sea, and unless they had twice as much coal and iron as the British, they would not be able to challenge British hegemony. Is that really not the day coming, though?

While the two foreigners were leisurely drinking tea and chatting, at Fort Maria in Nanjing, the emperor and two prime ministers of the Ming Empire were summoning Wu Chunqiu, who had returned from the United States. Contrary to the importance that the British Empire attached to China, Zhu Jishi never regarded Britain as a real opponent! Although Britain is still in the Victorian era, it is still the world's largest industrial country, with the world's most steel and coal, and the world's largest navy. But Zhu Jishi has spent many years in England and knows the country very well - this is an out-and-out "capitalist country", and every word is dominated by profits! There is only the short-sightedness of capital, and there is no long-term strategy of a thousand-year-old empire. In Zhu Jishi's view, the "British-style system of moderate reform and rule of law", which was admired by later generations, was nothing more than the needs of capital rather than the needs of Britain and the British people.

The reason why Britain is not as turbulent as France is because the British can integrate into American society more easily than the people of the rest of Europe - because the official language of the United States is English! All those who can't get along in the UK can go to the United States, and all the capital that can't get a satisfactory return in the UK can also go to the United States. Britain's own Canada, Australia and Australia, two huge lands rich in resources, were not sufficiently populated until 100 years later to become the pillars of the empire. Britain is the hegemon of the world, and it can be said that it is the capital of success and the capital of defeat! Britain is still in its prime, but capital has begun to flow out of there, so the time is not far off for the heyday to pass. And where the outflow of capital from Britain will go will directly determine who will dominate the capitalist world in the future.

Historically, the country that undertook this capital was the United States, and now Zhu Jishi wants to make his Ming Empire one of the most attractive places for international capital. (To be continued......)