When Li Haidun arrived in Guangzhou, the governor of Liangguang had already been replaced by Tan Zhonglin, and Zhang Zhidong, who had ordered 20,000 "Manlixia rifles" from Bao Ji & Co., had been transferred to the governor of Huguang last fall, and Cai Xiyong, who was now handling this matter, also went to Wuchang with Zhang Zhidong.

Mr. Tan was a conservative bureaucrat who, unlike Mr. Jang had largely ceased operations since he took office. Schroeder was worried that the contract would not be fulfilled smoothly, and the 20,000 rifles that came this time would be smashed in his hands.

"Don't worry, a mere governor wouldn't tear up a contract with a Westerner, unless he doesn't want to stay in his current position." Li Haidun said with a smile, besides, Governor Tan is still a very cautious person, such a person will not be willing to take the slightest risk for the sake of the court's money.

Things turned out as he expected, and there were no twists and turns. For the visit of a "Prince", Lord Tan is as careful as possible to meet the needs of his guests. It was very smooth, and in just three days, Li Haidun had more than 700,000 taels of silver on his account.

However, it was also a problem, and Helton was not prepared to ship them back to Europe, the international silver price had been depreciating, and he did not want his hard-earned money to shrink again.

"Let's go to Wuchang." Heldon quickly made a new decision.

"What? Our plan is to buy raw silk and tea in Shanghai. Schroeder asked.

"Go to that Governor Zhang, maybe we can sell some more rifles." In fact, Li Haiton said, his real idea was the steel plant that Zhang Zhidong was preparing.

Unlike Governor Tan, who was afraid of getting into trouble, Zhang Zhidong was still very welcoming to the visit of an Austro-Hungarian "prince", which at least showed that his position in the minds of foreigners was still quite important. Although Heldon was not a "prince" and was now just an earl, what did it matter, in the eyes of these Chinese bureaucrats, he was the younger brother of the crown prince, and sooner or later he would become a prince.

Li Haiton was still taken aback by Zhang Zhidong's enthusiasm. After leaving Guangzhou, the group made a short stop in Shanghai, and the cruiser "Apar" sailed up the Yangtze River and arrived at Wuchang in just over a day. According to the plan, Li Haidun planned to dock the warship at the public concession pier in Hankow, and then go to visit Zhang Zhidong after a night's rest.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the warship arrived at Baisha Bay, it was stopped by a gunboat full of colorful flags.

"What's going on?" Lieutenant Colonel Hansel, a little overwhelmed, was about to order the warship to prepare for battle, but fortunately Lee Hayton stopped his actions in time.

"Lieutenant Colonel, here, no one is going to attack a battleship of the Imperial Navy." Sure enough, the sailors quickly reported the situation.

"It's the envoy sent by the Governor and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Great Qing Kingdom."

"It's the Prime Minister's Yamen!" Li Haiton really wanted to correct his mistakes, now there is no so-called Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Great Qing Kingdom, but after thinking about it, forget it, the two are the same thing anyway. "Ask them to come up!" He said to the captain.

Several pigtailed Qing nationals went up the gangway to the deck, and Helton and Hansel led a group of sailors on the deck to welcome the guests.

Soon figuring out the situation of the other party, Zhang Zhidong sent his chief adviser Sang Zhiping as a representative to welcome the visit of a "European prince", and the other was Liang Dunyan, a diplomatic representative sent from the Beijing Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen, who is said to have studied in the United States.

Li Haiton couldn't help but look at him twice, standing in front of him was a standard Qing bureaucrat, and there was no trace of studying in the United States from him. The environment can really make a person change a lot, and he can't help but sigh in his heart.

The warships were stationed on the Han River, and the Hanyangmen Wharf in Wuchang could not accommodate ships of thousands of tons at all. The town of Wuhan in this era is very different from the big Wuhan in his memory, except for Turtle Mountain and Snake Mountain, he seems to have come to a strange and dilapidated small town.

Zhang Zhidong took a group of officials from Hubei Province to the Hanyangmen Wharf to greet Li Haidun's arrival, which still surprised him. "Could it be that I'm also a very important guest?" Lechelton smiled when he saw the formation on the dock, which was good and more beneficial to his plan.

On the dock, Li Haidun saw the officials of the Great Qing Dynasty standing up in a few rows, led by a thin old man, and beside him, there was also a Westerner who was also thin and had a braid on the back of his head, this should be Zhang Zhidong and Gu Hongming, yes.

Liang Dunyan walked between the two and said to Zhang Zhidong and Li Haidon: "This is Prince Haydn of Austria. ”

Zhang Zhidong arched his hands at Li Haidun and said with a smile: "Welcome to the Three Towns of Wuhan with His Royal Highness the Prince, it is really brilliant!" ”

"It's a pleasure to meet you, it's an honor!" LeHydon also said with a smile in French, and then stretched out his right hand, which he did on purpose.

Zhang Zhidong looked a little embarrassed, not knowing what this "prince" was going to do, Gu Hongming hurriedly whispered a few words in his ear, and Master Zhang also stretched out his right hand slightly stiffly.

It was a moment worth remembering, and I shook the hand of history, Helton Lee thought.

Subsequently, Li Haidun introduced his entourage, and Zhang Zhidong also introduced his subordinates: Tan Jixun, the governor of Hubei, as well as Wang Zhichun and Chen Baozhen, and the following is a lot of scenes without any nutrition.

Li Haidun spent two days in Wuchang and quickly achieved his goal. Li Haidun consciously or unconsciously mixed some Chinese when talking, which made Zhang Zhidong feel more cordial, and he looked at him differently. The rest was easy to do, and Cai Xiyong, who was in charge of foreign affairs, would not upset Lord Zhang, and ordered 30,000 rifles from Li Haidun, as well as fifty Skoda guns. In fact, Zhang Zhidong originally planned to only order 15,000 rifles, but because he looked at Li Haidun, he simply sent a little more favor.

The reason why he looked at Li Haiton was only because when he talked about the Hanyang Iron Works that Zhang Zhidong was building, he casually put on a few more high hats for him.

"Steel is the cornerstone of industry, and His Excellency the Governor has done so wisely and with great foresight. In the future, Hanyang Iron Works will make your name go down in history! What Li Haidun said was the truth, but Sang Zhiping, Liang Dunyan, Cai Xiyong and others on the side rolled their eyes when they heard it, who said that Lord Yang would not be able to pat on the back, you don't see the usually arrogant Lord Zhang, and now his eyes are narrowed into a slit.

Li Haiden talked about some of the professional knowledge of the steel mill, although he didn't know much about it, but it was enough to fool the more layman Zhang into a fog. Eventually, Governor Chang wanted him to serve as an adviser to the ironworks, and Helton happily said that he would do his best to be a good adviser for the sake of the friendship between the two countries.

Of course, friendship was secondary, mainly because of silver, which was a big deal of more than 6 million taels of silver, or about 30 million crowns.

After leaving Hanyang, Li Haidun went to Jiangning to meet Liu Kunyi, the minister of Nanyang, and even went to Tianjin to meet Li Hongzhang, and he was always full of interest in these governors who held real power.

As for going to Beijing, take a look at the nominal emperor, think about it, forget it, Emperor Guangxu can't bring himself profits. Li Haidon successfully sold 60,000 rifles and 100 Skoda cannons in the Qing Dynasty, which can be regarded as a full load.

Of course, he now brought back sixteen freighters of raw silk, tea, and other specialties from China.

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