In 1892, on the Huangpu River in Shanghai, a huge passenger liner was slowly approaching the dock under the guidance of a tugboat, and this huge passenger ship was painted with two large traditional Chinese characters "Dongxing".

The East Star is the largest tonnage luxury passenger liner currently in service with a displacement of 16,000 tons, which can carry more than 2,000 passengers on the most comfortable ocean trips.

As the largest passenger shipping company in the empire and the fourth largest shipping company in the world, Nanyang Shipping Company is quite large, operating domestic coastal routes, as well as Japan, Southeast Asia, America, and Europe.

In order to increase the company's influence, and most importantly, to allow more high-end passengers to take the company's luxury cruise ships, Nanyang Company was unswervingly building luxury cruise ships when it was still in the sixties.

In 1887, in order to compete with several European shipping companies, as well as the domestic Royal Shipping Company and the newly established Pacific Shipping Company, the Nanyang Shipping Company spent a huge amount of money to design and build the Eastern Star, which became the largest ship in the world in an instant when it was launched in 1889.

In addition to its large tonnage, the Eastern Star is also equipped with the most luxurious power system of our time, which can be directly applied to the power system of a battleship, which can propel this luxury cruise ship to cruise at a high speed of 18 knots.

Of course, speed is one of the main selling points of this luxury cruise ship, but it is still far from enough to attract the super-rich to spend thousands of dollars on its maiden voyage.

Nanyang Shipping Company's luxury cruise ships have been selling luxury for the past 20 years, the staircase handrails in the hall on the East Star are made of pure gold, the chandeliers in the hall are all genuine crystal chandeliers, all the furnishings in the luxurious rooms, even the small faucets, all reveal the ultimate luxury.

In order to enhance the taste of luxury and not to be criticized by the outside world as the vulgarity of exploding wealth, the designers of the interior decoration of the East Star, especially the guest room furnishings, hired two designers from the empire who were dedicated to the service of the royal family.

After 1890, the ship's maiden voyage was from Shanghai to London, from London to New York, and then from New York to South America to Shanghai, and then to complete the entire inaugural voyage around the world.

This maiden voyage attracted the attention of a large number of super-rich and senior executives, and in order to get on the most luxurious luxury cruise ship ever, many passengers postponed or advanced their travel plans, just to catch the inaugural voyage of the Eastern Star, even if the first-class tickets were as high as more than 2,000 imperial gold yuan, they could not resist their enthusiasm.

According to statistics, on the first voyage of the East Star around the world, there were more than 20 super-rich people from all over the world worth more than 10 million yuan, and more than 100 high-ranking officials, nobles and other dignitaries took the East Star.

Its pomp and circumstance far exceeded the maiden voyage of the Titanic in history!

Two years later, the East Star is still the largest luxury passenger liner of our time!

To a certain extent, the appearance of the Eastern Star represents the rise of the empire, especially in the eighties, the empire has developed rapidly, and its economic aggregate has surpassed that of France and Germany, and is currently competing with the Americans for the second place in the world.

With the development of the economy, there will naturally be more rich people, just like the current United States is described by Europeans as exploding wealth, in fact, there are also a lot of exploding riches on the imperial side, but because of the thousand-year-old Han culture, they do not wear the same hat as the Americans.

The increase of the wealthy, and at the same time, with the economic development of the empire, penetrated into the global economic and trade system, the number of passengers between the Americas and Europe naturally increased, and these passengers also led to the development of ocean shipping.

With this background, Nanyang Shipping Company will spend a huge amount of money to build the East Star!

After the Dongxing docked at the dock today, many passengers began to disembark, but after many passengers of the Dongxing disembarked, it did not re-accept passengers, but went to the large dock of the Shanghai shipyard for maintenance.

Prepare for its upcoming mission!

In the headquarters building of the Nanyang Shipping Company on the Bund in Shanghai, several people in suits are spewing thick smoke, and they are only listening to these people talking in a low voice, and the tone seems to be in a good mood.

"Now the Dongxing has gone to the Shanghai shipyard for maintenance as planned, and the necessary modifications will begin at that time!" A middle-aged man flicked the cigar in his hand, and then continued: "All the modifications are in strict accordance with the requirements of the Palace Affairs Department, and it is estimated that the entire renovation plan will cost about 100,000 yuan, which is due to the fact that the Palace Affairs Department has provided a lot of furnishings and materials. ”

His voice fell, but a person beside him said: "What is a mere 100,000 yuan, as long as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can visit Europe and the United States on our Dongxing, let alone spend 100,000 yuan on renovation, even if it is worth rebuilding a ship that is bigger and better than the Dongxing!" ”

"Yes, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a noble status, he will take the ship of our Nanyang Shipping Company to visit, even if he can't publicly mention His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and publicize it widely, but everyone should know that at that time, this luxury cruise ship will be so fast, and in the future, our Southern Airlines Shipping Company will be able to completely step on the Royal Shipping and Pacific Shipping Company!" Someone else said: "But I heard that Royal Shipping and Pacific Shipping are not reconciled and are lobbying, Pacific Shipping Company does not have to worry, but Royal Shipping Company still needs to pay attention to one or two!" ”

"Yes, in the past, the royal family used the ship of the Royal Shipping Company, but this time they themselves have ignored the development of luxury cruise ships in the past ten years, and only focused on the cargo business, and now there is nothing worth taking out for the royal family to travel, but I heard that they have launched the relevant shipbuilding plan, saying that they want to build a luxury cruise ship!"

"Don't worry, they are building ships this time, it is estimated that they are under pressure from above, they are different from us, we are an independent company, and they still have the Imperial Assets Office, a few years ago, the Royal Shipping Company ran to do freight for profit, to do cruises, they are still a little behind! Besides, is it possible that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will visit European and American countries, and he will have to wait for them to build a ship? ”

When the Nanyang Shipping Company maintained and necessary modifications to the Dongxing, the palace affairs department in Nanjing, the relevant officials and female officials in charge of the prince's living were also making preparations.

A female officer flipped through the report in her hand, and then said to the female officials below: "This winter dress has less to bring, you have to bring more, now it is late autumn, and when you get to Europe, I am afraid that it will cool down, prepare a few more sets, so as not to make a mistake at that time!" ”

"There are also related jewelry of the crown princess, those sets of diamond jewelry are all liked by the crown princess, why is there no one in this list, and there are all kinds of gadgets to bring some, the number should be large, and the princess will have to reward some gadgets for those noble girls in Europe!"

While the female officials of the palace affairs department were preparing some of the daily necessities of the prince and his wife, the members of the cabinet were also discussing how to arrange the entourage for the visit.

The imperial prince's visit to Europe and the United States is one of the several major events since the establishment of the empire, Lin Lu, as the prince of the empire, is second only to the emperor Lin Zhe in the empire, and this visit is not a simple play, but has important political implications.

The reason why Prince Lin Lu visited Europe and the United States in 1892 was because in the 80s, Europe and the United States and other countries invited Lin Zhe to visit many times, but Lin Zhe, as the emperor, would easily go abroad, so he sent the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Prime Minister to do it on his behalf.

In 1890, a delegation of Russian Crown Prince Nikolai and Greek princes visited the empire, and Nikola invited the imperial prince Lin Lian to visit Russia.

Then the British prince George, who had traveled to the empire, also sent an invitation, this prince George is the second in line to the current British throne, after his father Edward, he originally had an older brother, but his brother died of illness this spring.

Again, the United States also warmly invited the imperial prince to visit the United States.

So many invitations, according to the previous practice of the empire, are basically ignored, in the past few decades, foreign countries have invited Lin Zhe to visit, but Lin Zhe has never been.

However, Lin Zhe is different, after he was canonized as the crown prince, Lin Zhe paid more attention to his appearance in some public scenes in order to increase his influence, in addition, Lin Zhe also believed that the prince's education could not only rely on books, and his heirs must go to all over the world to see it for themselves.

In this way, the prince can clearly know what the world's boss Britain is like, why Germany can rise rapidly, and why the United States can have a small population, but the speed of economic development is no less than that of the empire.

Lin Zhe planned to let his prince take a look in person and broaden his horizons.

Two years ago, under Lin Zhe's arrangement, Lin Yan had visited the Kingdom of Ning, North Korea, and the Kingdom of Vietnam, which was his first appearance on diplomatic occasions.

In the middle of this year, Lin Zhe issued an edict to let Prince Lin Tuo be in charge of foreign affairs, which was the fourth adjustment of the work after Prince Lin Tuo acted in charge of agriculture and forestry affairs, industrial and commercial affairs, and education affairs.

If nothing else, Prince Lin will turn many departments of the cabinet around!

After acting foreign affairs, that is, he took advantage of the situation to visit various countries on his behalf, and many European crown princes or important members of the royal family have visited the empire, German Emperor Wilhelm II has visited the empire before he ascended the throne, Russian Crown Prince Nicholas II has also visited the empire, and Prince George, the second heir in line to the throne of the United Kingdom, has also visited the empire.

Now, the visit of the imperial crown prince can also be regarded as a kind of return visit!

The crown prince is going to visit European and American countries, and because the prince is in charge of foreign affairs, this visit is not just a playful visit by members of the royal family, but a clear, official diplomatic visit.

To a certain extent, Prince Lin Li's visit was on behalf of Lin Zhe.

Therefore, the cabinet also attached great importance to it, and in the end, after the cabinet ministers debated it, they chose several more important retinues for foreign visits, including Zuo Congdian, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then Li Hongzhang, Minister of Industry and Commerce.

Zuo Congdian was promoted to Minister of Foreign Affairs four years ago, and his predecessor Song Guanqian controlled the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 20 years, although there were several years in the middle without serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, but Song Guanqian really withdrew from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1888.

Zuo Congdian is also an old diplomat, in the early years, he basically rotated several important foreign ministers of the empire, served as minister to Britain, also served as minister to the United States, and then also served as director of the European Department, and then to the co-minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in 1886, he served as the plenipotentiary minister of the Chinese side in the negotiations between China, Britain and Russia on the Afghan issue.

He is an old-qualified diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, second only to Song Guanqian.

But this year's age is not young, if he is sixty-two years old this year, if there is no accident, he can only work for a few more years, and then he will have to be the same as his predecessor Song Guanqian.

Although there is no age limit for the appointment of cabinet members on the imperial side, judging from the age of cabinet members over the years, basically after the age of sixty-five, you have to seriously consider Zhishi, and when you are sixty-eight years old, you will basically have to be Zhishi, otherwise, a large group of people below will have to scold you for not being able to go.

The positions of the ministers and co-ministers of this cabinet are all like this, and the hundreds of high-ranking officials in the empire are waiting for their places to be vacated, and if those in their seventies and eighties are unwilling to give up, the people below will have a great opinion.

And Li Hongzhang, I have to say that gold is gold, no matter in that time and space, this person will shine, after Li Hongzhang returned to the empire, his career in the early ten years is not worth mentioning, and he really got up in the imperial officialdom when he went to Guangdong to serve as a political envoy.

Later, he was out of control, and was successively promoted to the governor of Guangxi, and then transferred back to the cabinet as the assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and two years later returned to the local post as the governor of Jiangsu.

Then in 1889, he was transferred back to the cabinet and became Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Being able to become the Minister of Industry and Commerce as an important minister of the former Qing Dynasty is enough to prove Li Hongzhang's talent.

Although there are countless former Qing officials in the empire, and many of them are also very nourishing later, there are only a handful of people who can really make a provincial governor or enter the cabinet, among which Li Hongzhang is the most outstanding one.

The cabinet selected the accompanying ministers, and then there were the entourage arranged by the palace affairs department, the secretariat, and the military, and the total number of the prince's delegation reached more than 300 people.

In order to escort the prince's delegation, and also to conduct military exchanges with other countries, the Imperial Navy directly sent a detachment of a detachment to accompany the prince's delegation.

On October 12, 1892, the newly painted Dongxing welcomed the Prince's delegation, and then sailed out of Shanghai and headed straight for Europe under the escort of the Royal Navy detachment. (To be continued.) )