In the past 12 years, Vietnam has been bullied by France.

……

In the fifties and sixties of the 19th century, it was the heyday of the Second French Empire. Napoleon III, who had just won the Crimean War and seized the land supremacy of the Russians on the European land routes, threw his ambitions to the East in order to open up new colonies and open up new markets.

Together with the British, France launched the Second Opium War, but Napoleon III understood that one war could not defeat China, the old empire, and that France had to have a sufficient springboard if it was to extract enough benefits from the East. So Vietnam became another target of Napoleon III. He saw Vietnam as a strategic position from which to penetrate further into Asia, into China.

On September 1, 1858, the French Admiral Rigo. De Genua led an expeditionary force of about 3,000 men, supported by 14 warships, and captured the fortress and port of Toulon (Da Nang) in Vietnam. Subsequently, the main force of the French army was transferred to the southern part of Vietnam, the main grain-producing area of Vietnam, namely Cochin). Only a small garrison was sent to Da Nang. After a period of attacking, the French captured Saigon on February 18, 1859. In this war, Spain entered into an alliance with France and fought it.

Due to the development of the Second Opium War in China, the main French army was soon drawn out of Vietnam, but after the Second Opium War, in January 1861, a new French and Spanish expeditionary force entered Saigon. By the summer of 1862, the Franco-Spanish expeditionary force had occupied the four provinces of Gia Dinh, Dinh Thuan, Bien Hoa, and Vinh Long in Vietnam. and big cities such as Meidi and Bajia. The Vietnamese army was simply powerless to resist the Fascist army. Subsequently, due to the unadaptation of the climate and environment, a considerable number of French soldiers were infected with the epidemic, and the French were also preparing for an expedition to Mexico. It also has no intention of continuing to expand the scope of aggression in Vietnam. Therefore, the two sides concluded a peace treaty in the middle of the year. On June 5, 1862, Vietnamese representatives signed the Treaty of Friendship with France and Spain in Saigon. Under this treaty, France acquired the three provinces of Jiading, Dingxiang, Bianhe and Kunlun Island. Vietnam promised not to cede territory to other powers without the consent of France; opening the Mekong River and its tributaries and 3 ports for French trade; Christian missionaries are allowed to preach freely within Vietnam. In addition, Vietnam is required to pay 20 million francs in reparations to France and Spain.

The gold content of one franc is 0.2903225 grams, which is almost 8 francs to two square meters of silver. 20,000,000 francs is 2,500,000 taels of silver.

Liu Xian did not expect that he would scrape out 2.5 million taels of silver from Vietnam. In fact, Vietnam didn't need to pay so much silver, it only needed three or five hundred thousand taels to buy all the front-loading guns carried by Liu Xian.

Liu Xian Liuzhou's deal with Maisheng Foreign Company. The arms alone amounted to more than 300,000 taels of silver. Match machines, cigarette machines, etc. don't cost much, and the machinery of the soap factory and the supporting caustic soda factory are also pediatrics, and these plus one piece are not as expensive as the 100 textile machines introduced by Liu Xian this time. All are authentic British goods, with a total of 10,200 spindles. It cost 83,000 dollars. It was more than fifty thousand taels of silver.

The total expenditure of 400,000 taels of silver made Liu Xian's wallet flatten. In the more than half a year since he returned home, he carefully sold a batch of jewelry treasures, and smashed all the silver he exchanged for it. And to see these machinery produce benefits, especially textile mills, it is simply impossible in a short period of time.

The textile factory founded by Liu Xian was the first modern textile factory in China. All the mechanics were foreigners led by Maxim, and most of them were Americans, although there were Germans and British. But they are now all Americans, and a few are British. The total number is only more than thirty people. Liu Xian needed to pay more than 3,000 taels of silver every month. Like those American gun technicians and chemical technicians in the Gunpowder Bureau, the salary is far higher than that of the Chinese. Even the foreign teachers who taught Western knowledge and foreign languages in the Boy Scouts under the cover of Liu's manor were no match for them. But when it comes to the size of their contribution to the Qin army, these people are not as good as teachers when they break their legs.

After so many years, Liu Xian has not sent international students to Europe and the United States. It's not that he doesn't want to, it's not that he doesn't have the right candidate, it's that his status hasn't reached a certain height. If he does so, he will likely be viewed with strange looks by his colleagues and Beijing. The secrecy of this move is weak.

Besides, the scale of Maisheng is not large. Putting everything in their hands to operate, Liu Xian was not at ease. Moreover, the current United States is not the world's most powerful country more than a hundred years later, and the current center of the world is still in Europa. Germany is the place that Liu Xian is most eager to send international students to.

But if you don't send people to stay abroad, it doesn't mean that you can't lay a solid foundation for your own people. Before studying abroad, it is undoubtedly necessary and helpful to learn a corresponding foreign language and understand some Western knowledge.

The topic is a little off, so let's get back on track and continue to talk about this textile factory.

Workers are also a major obstacle to the profitability of textile mills.

Guangxi is not as good as the southeast coast, and Guangxi is still an inland province. Yes, Guangxi at this time of the Qing Dynasty was completely cut off from the sea by Guangdong and Vietnam. Qinzhou is from Guangdong!

The social environment is relatively conservative. The common people have a certain degree of resistance to foreigners and foreign goods. There were already bad rumors about the textile mill when the factory was built. As soon as the machinery arrived, there were even more ridiculous rumors in Liuzhou that "the factory will use the chimney of the boy and the girl, and the female worker will be cut by the foreign devil". Therefore, the textile factory has been recruiting workers for a month, and not a single female worker has been recruited, and only more than 100 male workers have been recruited. And if you want the entire textile mill to have 100 looms and other supporting facilities in two shifts, it will take at least 400 labor. Although Liu Xian has always been promoting on the recruitment notice - workers make a base of five cents of silver a day, and after deducting the guarantee for the daily workload, they will be paid according to the output, and a familiar worker can earn a penny of silver a day for safekeeping. In that way, you can have a salary of more than three taels of silver every month, which is definitely a first-class income in Guangxi.

There is also a subsidy for the injured, and there is compensation for the disabled.

But they can't recruit enough workers.

Liu Xian couldn't help it, so he could only look at the match factory, the cigarette factory, and the soap factory first. If these factories can open up the situation, there will be no more resistance from textile factories.

"We want a port. Just this place, occupy! ”

On the map of Vietnam, Liu Xian's finger drew a circle on the location of Hongji Port in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam. He nodded vigorously, "We want to be here!" ”

Hongji Coal Mine was one of the largest and most important coal producing areas in Asia in the past. The coal seam is thick and the topsoil is thin, which is conducive to open-pit mining. The mining area is more than 100 kilometers long and 15-20 kilometers wide, with 2.25 billion tons of coal reserves, and most of them are high-quality anthracite. But this great treasure has been in the hands of the Vietnamese for thousands of years, and there is no chance of 'showing up'. Later, the Hongji Coal Mine was not developed until three years after the end of the Sino-French War, when the whole of Vietnam fell into the hands of the French.

At this time, there are only a few small coal yards in the Hongji Coal Mine, which are basically workshop-style small transactions.

"Foreigners have bullied us twice and three times, just like the current Tianjin lesson plan, poor Zeng Guofan I's reputation is lost, what do they rely on? It relies on strong ships and cannons. And what will be used to forge the guns of the strong ships?

Is it wood? No. It's iron! It's steel! ”

In the conference room where the upper echelons of the Qin army gathered, Liu Xian frankly told his subordinates a little ambition. Initial ambitions!

"Now the front-loading guns are not good, they are lagging behind, and everyone knows why we can't make breech-loading guns. In addition to the technology, there is no machinery, that is, the steel is not up to the mark, and it is not enough. ”

"This bit of coal in Vietnam is not to be dug up and sold for money, and put it in your pocket. But in the future, I want to build the largest steel mill in Asia, and to build a steel mill, I need not only iron ore, but also coal, good coal. ”

Fan Debang, Zhou Jun, Liu Zhuo, Xiang Fa, Cao Huailiang and others suddenly realized, no wonder their boss values that place so much. It's no wonder that his own boss was so happy when he heard that Qi Dalin was transferred to the general army of Qiongzhou Town, and opened his mouth to say that there was iron in a place called Shilu in Qiongzhou. It turned out to be a plan.

As for the boss, why did he know that there was iron and coal thousands of miles away, no one in Fan Debang's group asked. Because all of them knew that Liu Xian still had a force in his palm, and they all thought that this secret force was doing something for Liu Xian.

"This steel plant has to be built, and it costs a lot of money. Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were thrown in, but no sound could be heard. But for the sake of our future, the factory must be built. Liu Xian's gaze swept over everyone present. I didn't plan to ask Beijing for money, I wanted to pay for it myself. You don't need to make too much noise, the meat is your own when you eat it in your stomach. We don't want a name, just affordable. Therefore, we raise our own funds internally.

After the factory is built, the shares are converted according to the proportion of individual contributions, and we set up a joint-stock company. ”

A different atmosphere enveloped the entire conference room. A group of people looked at each other, and their eyes were full of light that was ready to move.

It's an opportunity, a great opportunity.

The benefits of the match factory, the cigarette factory, and the glass factory are visible to any of them. And the steel plant, which is a heavy weapon related to the country's fortune and people's livelihood, if it is said that it is not profitable after it is built, then no one will believe it.

At least the officers present in the Qin army would not believe it. Because they know that the steel mill will be linked to the manufacture of guns at the very least, so far, it is enough for these soldiers.

"My lord, I want to get involved. But I don't have any money! Those of us who stayed in Hanzhong are not the same as those who went to Xinjiang. If you have a savings of 1,800 taels in the family, you will be considered rich. ”

"Don't you all have thousands of acres of land?" Liu Xian's eyes were raised.

"Ahh Sell land, ......" The officers were shocked. (To be continued......) R527