Liu Xian met Zhang Shouxun and Zhang Shuping at the Qinnan Iron and Steel Plant, and it was already November. The No. 1 blast furnace for ironmaking in the iron and steel plant has been completed, and the furnace will be opened in the next few days, and the No. 2 blast furnace is still under construction.

"Haha, outside the door, outside the door. How different is it from a teahouse? ”

Hearing Erzhang talk about the 'grand occasion' of the Hanyuan Public School, Liu Xian really didn't have the face to recognize it. And, really, this sentence is from the bottom of his heart. The current reputation of the Han Yuan Public School is really based on the teahouse storytelling of 'geography and history'. Perhaps in the eyes of many people, this is a joke!

As for the two compliments on the Boy Scouts, Liu Xian was disrespectful. He himself is full of expectations for the future of the Boy Scouts. When he raised troops against the Qing Dynasty, these people were his most reliable support.

Time has come to this point, and the officials in Qinzhou and Lianzhou, as well as the bigwigs in Guangzhou and Guilin, have fully understood what Liu Xian is going to do in Qinzhou. These people don't think that Liu Xian has the courage and dares to do things, but they feel that Liu Xian is still lacking in brains.

The construction of an iron-making plant in Lingnan, which lacks iron ore and coal resources, is really whimsical. These people do not think that steel is the cornerstone of a country's strength or not, and the embodiment of a country's strength. They have no idea how important steel is to a country. They don't even know the difference between steel and iron, because they don't know what pressure is. From this point of view, Zhang Zhidong cares about slaughtering a lot of money, no matter how ignorant and arbitrary, 'China's annual sales of foreign iron are worth more than 5 million gold, and Guangdong sales are a lot. Leak Yidu. It is necessary to purchase machinery for mining and set up factories for refining. Iron smelting is especially important. The perception is also somewhat one-sided, but patriotic fervor. Words are in words. It is much stronger than the bigwigs in the two Guangzhous at the moment.

Vietnam. Beiqi.

In the early morning, the golden glow of the sun just fell on the surface of the sea. A formation of three steamers appeared off the coast of Hongji Harbor and was escorted by two ironclad ships. The formation carried two integrated infantry brigades of the Qin army and a fully formed brigade equipped with 20 75 breech guns + 18 front-loading rifled guns, with a total of 1,550 officers and men. Whether it is scale or strength, this is the strongest and largest number of troops requisitioned by the Qin army to Hongji City since the development of Hongji Coal Mine.

In the previous period, the repeated redeployment of troops was limited to the size of two brigades. And this time. A group of three full brigades, and the two brigades that were originally stationed in Hongji City were not transported back to Qinzhou Port at all.

This is definitely an action against the French.

The Paris Commune had long been suppressed, and the newly established French Third Republic, in order to restore its own strength and strengthen the self-confidence of its citizens, immediately started a colonial war on a global scale.

They are in the Indian Ocean, in Asia, in the Americas. ...... in Africa It seems that the French want to use this to prove that they are still a great power.

In October, a fleet of ironclad ships, three iron-ribbed ships, and six steam carriers, loaded with 2,000 French soldiers, landed at Nanqi. The spearhead of the soldiers was pointed at the heartland of Vietnam.

Huang Jiyan had already led 5,000 new troops to Zhongqi. This was the central force of the Vietnamese resistance to the French army. And Vu Zhong Binh led the remaining thousand new troops to garrison Hanoi. Liu Xian was not worried about the French fighting against Vietnam, because he knew clearly in his memory that the Sino-French War would start 12 years later.

Liu Xian had no idea that France had already launched two attacks on Vietnam before the Sino-French war began. Easily captured the South and North Quarters of Vietnam. Hindrances and losses inflicted by Vietnamese officers and troops on the French army. It is not as good as the threat and damage brought to France by the Black Flag Army and the Vietnamese Rebels. However, in order to deter France, Liu Xian still transferred troops to Hongji City. At the same time, Xie Jigui also led his troops back from Zhennan Pass to Langshan.

I have probably seen the transfer of the Qin army. When the officers and soldiers of the three brigades of Qin officers and soldiers landed from Hongji Port in formation, the order of the entire Hongji Port remained the same. There was no mezzanine at all, welcome and so on.

From the officers to the soldiers, the Qin army changed to thinner cloth uniforms. In October, Vietnam did not mean to be cold at all, the officers and soldiers wore cool hats on their heads, and everyone was still sweating wolf, but no one waved their hands to wipe the sweat during the procession. The march of more than 1,500 people made no sound except the sound of neat footsteps, the wheels of horse-drawn artillery carts, and the sound of horses' hooves. The team pulled out a curved queue in the port area of Hongji Port and rushed like a long snake towards Hongji City in the inland area to the west.

It's not that no one is interested in this new but bustling city. But they know their responsibilities, and they don't come to play.

And also today, the entrance of a camp outside Hanoi City is very lively. It was crowded with thousands of young men who came from all over Beiqi. The 5,000 new troops were transferred south, and the recruitment of a new batch of new troops naturally began.

Around Hanoi, the peasants in patches and straw hats craned their necks curiously, looking at the pergola at the end of the line, and exchanged their heads with each other. A few people in the middle also looked eager to try.

As a new army, the monthly money is much more than their daily hard work. But at the thought of the danger to the lives of soldiers, many people retreated.

Here, no matter where you come from, as long as you are qualified, no matter what kind of origin, whether you are a slave or a poor peasant, you can immediately put on the uniform of the new army.

Liu Xian did not dare to change the military uniform without authorization, but the new army in Vietnam was dressed in a Western-style uniform. You can refer to the Beiyang Army. The indigo military uniform is very spiritual.

But the eyes of the vast majority of the people present fell on the dozen or so men dressed as Qing soldiers in the selection area. I saw that these people were stout, strong and powerful, and they were even more energetic, and almost all of them had a circle of whips in their hands. It looks fierce and vicious, and he has a short gun pinned to his waist!

Chen Jing stood in the selection pergola, and at the beginning of this selection, the expression on his face was not less tangled.

"Damn. That's the result of your previous primaries? This guy is not even four feet five, even if he is not qualified as a target! Pointing to the candidate in front of him, Chen Jing's heart was about to erupt with fire.

"Hehe, who is this uncle? You have chosen soldiers, warriors, warriors who charge into battle. Isn't it an uncle who has to take a break after running three steps, or a chef? ”

……

And in the process of selecting soldiers with Chen Jingan's dry mouth, Wu Dekai was sitting in a comfortable tea shop with a few Vietnamese dressed as businessmen, leisurely drinking tea and chatting about business.

"Need soap, cigarettes, sugar? No problem, I can provide all the range of soaps, cigarettes, sugar, rock sugar, fruit candy and so on, from low-end to high-end, as much as you want! I made a note of it, but if it is shipped from Liuzhou, it will take about half a month to get to Hanoi. ”

"Oh, plenty of time? Well, no problem! ”

"Finely dyed cotton? I have 500 horses in my hand now, and it only takes five days to deliver them! ”

The conscientious and responsible sergeant major in the transfer station back then is still a sergeant major after so many years. But his sergeant major was a fifth-level sergeant major with no more than twenty people in the entire Qin army. The status is comparable to that of a captain.

A small abacus was placed on the tea table, Wu Dekai held a cigarette and pulled the beads, while desperately recording in the small notebook, his expression was very bright, and his face was very ruddy. Another business is done.

These Vietnamese businessmen can only be regarded as small fish, but the profits combined are enough for him to make another share in the Nanyang Shipping Company.

He was just an empty leather bag, and he took the agreement and sold it to the merchants of Guangxi, or even the Quartermaster Department, and the silver was in his hands. You don't need to do it yourself.

And a few small businessmen in Vietnam are also happy. When Qin's ship arrived in Vietnam, the most it pulled was rice, and the goods sent over were all aimed at some big merchants, after all, the things produced by Qin's army were only sold in China, so it was okay. It is really not necessary to operate the Vietnamese market, as long as the maintainers have a few big heads and maintain the source of rice, everything will be fine.

After remembering the last stroke, Wu Dekai's heart was already happy. This Vietnam is really its own feng shui treasure, since I came here last year to train new recruits for the Vietnamese, the work is not heavy, and the money is not less. I already have five shares of Nanyang Shipping Company stock in my hand, right?

The stock of one hundred and two shares is now traded at least one hundred and twenty shares, and it is six hundred taels of silver. But Wu Dekai is not satisfied, his old buddy Liao Wenhui now has ten shares in his hands, and he has partnered to invest in a sugarcane plantation, which has a lot of money.

……

After six days, the recruitment of soldiers for the new battalion of the new Vietnamese army in Hanoi was finally completed. A total of 1,700 men were recruited into the camp.

1,700 men were divided into four battalions, and like four flesh and bones, they were fought over by the generals under Wu Zhongping. The instructors sent by the Qin army didn't care about this. It's just that I have some contempt for the military attache of Vietnam in my heart.

If they really want to lead the team, they should take the initiative to enter the barracks and mingle with the recruits after they have set their positions. Chen Jing once handed over this mention to Wu Zhongping, but it didn't stir up any movement at all, and it was completely lost.

……

As the time entered November, the No. 1 blast furnace was ready to fire.

On this day, Liu Xian and Zhang Shuping came to the steel factory early in the morning and watched iron ore, coke, limestone, etc. being loaded into the blast furnace with their own eyes. Then, make a fire—

The first pot of the furnace took a little longer, and Liu Xian Iron and Steel Plant stayed for two days, watching the first furnace of molten iron in the No. 1 blast furnace come out with his own eyes. I felt in my heart that it was not easy for me to come all the way to now, and my eyes were a little moist. This is China's first furnace of new iron smelting, which is of great significance to China, and the hundreds of people present are afraid that Liu Xian alone knows it.

But he believes that in the future history, he will definitely make a strong mark for today's heat!

The same is the Liu Mansion in Qinzhou. Zhang Miaotong has followed him directly here these days to accompany Liu Xian.

"Congratulations, madam, you are so happy......"

Just when Liu Xian was laughing heartily in the steel factory, Zhang Miaotong, who suddenly felt no appetite for dinner in the morning, summoned the doctor to give him a pulse. She felt that she had been sleepy and listless lately, and this morning she had lost her appetite and did not want to eat anything...... (To be continued......)