In the blue sea, five ironclad ships broke through the white line and broke the waves.

On the deck, soldiers in blue and white water uniforms stood solemnly, one by one like nails, and the aura of iron and blood came to their faces.

This is the Fuzhou that Ye Zhao is riding, the Jinling-class ironclad ship just completed by the Fuzhou Shipyard, with a displacement of 3,100 tons, using a closed rotating turret, and the more striking thing is the improvement of the steam system, using a hybrid engine with high and low pressure cylinders, and higher thermal efficiency.

In fact, the power system is also one of the problems that need to be overcome in the 6,000-ton plan, such as the use of the twin-cylinder single-tube engine that has been used by the Southern Naval Division, according to the engineer's prediction, the huge ironclad ship consumes 3 tons of coal per hour under the condition of 10 boilers working, which can reach a speed of about 12 knots, and theoretically the ironclad ship stores about 1,000 tons of coal, that is, if there is no coal carrier or harbor supply, if there is no sail, the ship can theoretically sail at a speed of 12 knots, and can only last 144 or 5 days.

Therefore, it is inevitable to improve the power system, and it is a better choice to use and improve the two-stage engine that has been widely installed on merchant ships.

Fuzhou Shipyard has now received an order for a civilian ship with a displacement of about 4,000 tons, which can be regarded as a good accumulation of technology.

Wuchang Shipyard, then began to build Jinling-class ironclad ships, for the south, medium-tonnage warships have been mastered, although Wuchang Factory has just been built, but has a large number of skilled workers and technicians, it is expected that in ten months, the ship can be launched, a year and a half, will be completed.

Ye Zhao classified the ships of the southern country, with a displacement of more than 5,000 tons as first-class ships, more than 2,500 tons as second-class ships, and the rest as third-class ships or armored fast ships.

Due to repeated injuries, the Zhenhai has now been honorably retired and joined the ranks of training ships of the Guangzhou Ship Master School.

In the past two years, Nanguo has made good progress in the field of emerging technologies, with the first thermal power plant capable of remote power supply appearing in Guangzhou, the second in Changsha and Jinling, and Fuzhou, Fuzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and other places under construction.

The application of electricity has also triggered a series of technological revolutions, and the manufacturing of electrical appliances such as motors, transformers, and cables has grown rapidly.

Steelmaking technology further development, Guangfu Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. on the basis of the converter to carry out the test, with alkali refractory materials as the furnace lining, greatly improved the efficiency of removing phosphorus impurities, the Wuchang steel mill has recently smelted the first furnace of steel on a large number of alkali converters, since then SCHOTT furnace and alkali converter in the south side by side, steel quality and output leaps and bounds.

In October 1861, Nanguo established the world's first industrial laboratory in Shanghai, inspired by the Chinese, and the same laboratory in the United States was built in 1867, after the end of the Civil War. In November, Ye Zhao, a professor at Guangzhou University in the southern country, published the "Periodic Table of Elements", which shook the world chemical community, and heard that the Russian chemist Mendeleev sighed greatly, he was studying the laws of chemical elements, just touched the door, thought that he could recognize its laws in three or two years, but did not want to be preempted by the Chinese.

In the past two years, the chemical manufacturing industry in southern China has developed rapidly, and the new methods of producing soda ash with ammonia as a medium and sulfuric acid with nitrogen oxide have greatly increased the production of basic raw materials for these two chemical industries. With the advent of the periodic table of chemical elements and the theory of elements, Nanguo began to study the application of catalysis and fission technology in the petroleum smelting industry, and the quality of petroleum smelting was further improved.

Many of these technologies are mutually reinforcing, and the chemical industry would not have made such great strides without the further use of electricity.

Ye Zhao is full of confidence in China's development, with a large population and a large land and abundant resources, sometimes it is really not just talking, for example, in Europe now, from 1860, France and Britain signed a ten-year treaty to give each other the most favored nation treatment, and then France signed a commercial treaty with Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Prussia and other countries of the Customs Union.

Why? Resources are relatively one-sided, the consumer market is limited, and a kind of complementarity is used to achieve high-speed development, but it is not as easy to coordinate as a unified country, and after the reunification, China will basically not have this problem.

Therefore, Ye Zhao never thought about the development of the Meiji Restoration, if it was said that from this era to enter the stage of industrial development, in the case of no decision-making mistakes on both sides, where would the small geographical area be a heavyweight with China? Compared with the speed of development, it is also compared with the United States.

Standing on the deck blowing the sea breeze, Ye Zhao lit a cigarette and handed one to Li Jianchen beside him, Li Jianchen took it, put it in his sleeve, and said, "Your Highness, the minister is foolish," and said as he took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and presented it to Ye Zhao.

Ye Zhao took it, pondered for a while, shook his head and said, "It's too long." ”

In fact, the preparations for the establishment of the new dynasty have been carried out in an orderly manner, and the matter of the country name has not yet been finalized, and there are four plans, one is to replace the Qing Dynasty with Qian, and take the title of King Qianwang as the country name, which is also relatively decent; The second is to replace the Qing with Gui, double soil and wood, soil and water, Gui is the auspicious place of the king of Qian, if there is no Gui land attached, there is no rise of the Southern Dynasty; the third is to refer to the Chinese Empire or the Chinese Empire; The fourth is the United Empire of China and the Ryukyus.

Because the envoy of the Southern Dynasty informed the Southern Dynasty of the imminent establishment of the Southern Dynasty, the lord of the Ryukyus Kingdom was willing to join China.

However, there were many people who opposed the fourth name, and it was difficult to adopt it, and all the ministers believed that Ryukyu was already the land of China, and the theory of union was alienated, so how could Ryukyu be called China on the same terms?

For these four country names, Ye Zhao couldn't make up his mind for a while, just waiting for the heavens to sign.

Ye Zhao felt that he had been in this world for a long time, and he had become chattering, or rather, he had begun to worship ghosts and gods, thinking about it, it was actually a good thing.

There are no taboos, it seems to break everything, and many times, there is no moral constraint.

In the atmosphere of his body, unconsciously, he would worship the heavens and the earth and worship the gods, and Ye Zhao gradually felt that his mood was not as impetuous as in his previous life, and many times he seemed to have sustenance.

"Be simple and powerful." Ye Zhao said.

"Yes, the ministers and colleagues will ponder again." Li Jianchen bowed down and said, standing beside the regent, thinking about the prosperity of the new dynasty in the future, his heart fluctuated and he couldn't help himself.

Along the way, there have been many hardships, and if the regent sits on the right seat, Li Jianchen believes that the future China will definitely return to the prosperity of the Wanyi Dynasty.

The coastline gradually appeared in front of you, and you arrived at the port of Zhigu.

The Third Infantry Regiment of the Fifth Town of the Red Lady Department has conquered Tianjin, and the rest of the troops are on the front line of Yizhou in Baoding, and are launching a general attack on the northern garrison forces in Zhili, and there are still 2,000 armored musketeers of the Chechen Khan Department who are incorporated into the Red Lady Department.

Shanxi Governor Li He surrendered, Zheng Zewu troops stationed in Taiyuan, and reorganized the surrendered Green Battalion New Army and Civilian Regiment.

After Shenbao and Harich broke through Xi'an, the Shenbao Department stationed troops in Xi'an and issued a military order from Pingyuan, ordering the remnants of the Qing army in Xi'an and Shaanxi to disarm and surrender. Harwich's division advanced into Gansu and marched towards Lanzhou.

The war between the North and the South was an unprecedented test of the southern country's mobilization, logistical support, and coordination capabilities of various ministries and provinces.

The Harwich army took advantage of the victory to attack Lanzhou, and it was even more necessary for the Southern Dynasties to mobilize countless people to ensure this long-distance supply line.

Lanzhou is the farthest place for Ye Zhao to send his armed forces for the time being, and when Harwich attacks Lanzhou, he needs to stabilize it first and then use troops against the northwest, either to appease or suppress, and to break it.

All kinds of machinery and equipment for the establishment of the Ordnance Bureau in Lanzhou have been prepared, and under the current transportation conditions, the establishment of the Ordnance Bureau in Lanzhou can support the future Northwest War to the greatest extent.

The Fuzhou docked and docked, and the Pingyuan Army soldiers who had already stood three steps, one post, five steps and one sentry.

It was Zheng Sanying, the chief officer of the Third Infantry Regiment, who came to greet Ye Zhao, and when Ye Zhao took two steps and held his hand and patted him cordially, Zheng Sanying was stunned and didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

Ye Zhao stayed in the military camp on the outskirts of Tianjin, a green military tent, and the barracks were densely covered with such tents.

Speaking of which, this war is a stimulus to the economy of the southern country, such as military tents, how many factories and workshops in the southern country have benefited?

It's just that the treasury is getting tighter.

This year, another 100 million yuan of banknotes have been issued, but the national debt has reached a dangerous number, but the vigorous development of the South Korea has concealed this, with a steady flow of foreign funds and the first use of many new technologies to make investors full of confidence.

In fact, Nanguo's fiscal revenue is expected to exceed 200 million silver dollars this year, but at the same time, the accumulated national debt is as high as 180 million silver dollars.

This is an extremely dangerous ratio, but the people of the south do not know, otherwise it will have a devastating impact on the issuance of paper money, after all, most of the people do not understand the specific mode of national debt, at first glance, they must think that the central government is going bankrupt, who would dare to use paper money?

Now Ye Zhao is thinking about the end of the war, to reduce the national debt figure as soon as possible, but the occupation of the entire northern territory will not actually have a leap impact on fiscal revenue, on the contrary, infrastructure construction and so on, more and more need to spend money, after all, it is unrealistic to rely only on private capital for infrastructure construction, let alone schools and other actual poverty alleviation investment.

Sitting at the wooden table, looking through the war reports of the past ten days, the guards outside the door came in to announce that the British and French consuls in Tianjin came to visit together.

Ye Zhao waved his hand: "I don't see." ”

In Jinling, the consuls of Britain, France, and the United States and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been fighting lawsuits, and businessmen from the three countries have borrowed huge amounts of silver money to the north, totaling more than 10 million taels of silver, and the three countries hope that the southern dynasty can inherit the debt relationship of the northern country.

Quoting scriptures, the Southern Dynasty said that before declaring war on the North, the Southern Council sent a note to the countries and did not recognize all the contracts signed between the political axes and private individuals of the countries and the North, including the loan relationship. Therefore, the borrowing of the northern kingdom should never be passed on to the southern dynasty.

They had no effect in grinding with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they even chased themselves to Tianjin, and they did not see them when they were in Jinling, and they came to Tianjin, and they were no exception.

(To be continued)