At the beginning of March, a telegram that traveled thousands of miles finally reached Liu Xian, and it was Huo Guangzheng of Germany. All the equipment for the steel mill and some precision machinery for the processing of guns and guns were ordered. The agreement was signed, and the first batch of 500,000 taels of silver had been paid to Lihe Foreign Company. It is expected that in three months, this batch of equipment will arrive at the port of Qinzhou, so that Liu Xian has a preparation.

Of course, there is also the remaining 800,000 taels of silver that are ready. All the guns and equipment ordered by Qin Jun and the enrollment fees of more than 100 international students in Germany totaled 300,000 taels.

Liu Xian did not panic because of the preparation of 800,000 taels of silver, and did not shed blood in distress because of the expenditure of 500,000 taels of HSBC checks. These are the foundations of Qin's future great undertakings, and they are the most solid steps he has taken for his future ideas. Not only was he not distressed, Liu Xian sent a telegram directly to Huo Guangzheng, asking him to go to France after the matter in Germany was over, send out all the checks he had left, and get back at least three ironclad gunboats from Britain.

Before World War II, the British Imperial Navy was always one of the most feared forces in the world.

And Germany, which originally built a calm second ship for the Dragon Banner Navy of the Great Qing Dynasty, is now only a land overlord walking on one leg. To count on them to help the Qin army build ironclad gunboats now, Liu Xian might as well contact Bell. Anyway, the United States still has some experience in building ironclad ships.

It was 1872 in the Western calendar. In more than two years, it will be the climax of the Peony Society incident. Liu Xian must hold a little real modern surface power in his hands, otherwise with the few broken ships in Qiongzhou Town at the moment, the war will really expand, but it will be fatal. The powerful Japanese navy can sweep through the two provinces! Yes, the mighty Japanese Navy. Liu Xian did not have hysteria, and the current Japanese navy is indeed very strong. Although it is not as powerful as the sea power of the whole of China, the two newly purchased ironclad ships (steel-armored and steel-hulled) and the five iron-ribbed cruisers of more than 1,000 tons are much stronger than those of the Fujian Shipbuilding and Naval Division. It is better than the Guangdong sailors.

If he didn't hold a few ironclad ships in his palm, Liu Xian would not dare to boldly intervene in the battle of Taiwan with confidence.

……

Shanghai Pudong - Chuansha Fumin Hall.

This is a shanty town that is no different from other shantytowns, where hundreds of families live. Men go out every day to sell coolies and do hard work, and 90 percent of them are carrying bags on the docks. But no one could have imagined that among the hundreds of low-rise shantytowns, there are three entrances that can go directly to the underground of this shantytown and a huge basement cave.

In an ordinary crawling house, four sturdy men in coolie suits, but with daggers and short guns pinned to their waists, were firmly guarded in the four corners of the house. Just under a table in this room was one of the three mouths.

In front of and behind the house, there was also a group of armed men lying in wait, always on the lookout lookout. Although this whole shanty town is full of Axe Gang. Whether adults or children, the elderly, the weak, women and children, all of them are their vigilant posts.

Tongguò is a dark tunnel, reinforced with stone on the ground and all sides, and several flames dance on the oil lamps, casting a man's figure on the stone wall, black projections swaying with the dancing of the lamps.

Wang Qing walked through the dark tunnels with a smile on his face, walking past the pillars that supported the ground one by one, until he was in front of a person. He stared at the man on the ground and said calmly, "Lord Wang, why bother like this? He is also a person who knows books and etiquette, and if he is not forced to do so, he does not want to get blood on his hands. If you don't open your mouth, you and I can make it convenient. ”

The man was lying on a slightly sloping wooden plank with his head and feet firmly tied, and he listened to Wang Qing's words, his face showing a mixture of anger, disdain, and fear.

Wang Qing smiled even more softly. "If you make up your mind not to speak, then you have to be embarrassed, and you have to be embarrassed. I can tell Lord Sù that the Axe Gang has taken root in Shanghai for all these years, and until now, no one has been able to resist the punishment three times. ”

Wang Qing squatted down, clamped the head of the six-rank petty official in front of him with two knees, did not let him shake, and casually covered a piece of cotton cloth on his face, this person's face was covered, he couldn't see things, and his heart was even more frightened, he didn't know what Wang Qing was going to do, and there was a rapid whine in his mouth, and the cotton cloth on his mouth rose and fell with his breathing.

Wang Qing shook his head pityingly, but his hand did not slow at all, and when he lifted the wooden scoop next to his hand, he poured the water in it on the face of this 'adult'. The cotton cloth on the mouth immediately clung to the adult's mouth and nose.

This 'adult', who was in the family with Wang Qing five hundred years ago, didn't seem to expect it to be just some water, and instantly quieted down. But then, as if remembering something, he suddenly struggled violently with all his might.

Wang Qing's face became cold and ruthless at this moment, he pressed one hand on the head in his legs, covered the wet cotton cloth with another layer, and then took up a scoop of water and slowly poured it onto the cotton cloth.

Lord Wang's body continued to shake violently, the green tendons on his neck flared up, and his waist was tall. It's a pity that this is just an adult who can't pick up his shoulders and can't lift his hands, and the power that surged at this moment can't even be suppressed by Wang Qing, who has been exercising quite strong in the past few years. But how could Wang Qing continue to do this kind of hard work? Someone on the left and right immediately stepped forward to suppress Lord Wang's writhing body, Wang Qing let go of his legs, quietly watched his subordinates, the veteran interrogation of Shanghai County Ya, and pasted cotton pieces on Lord Wang's face one by one. Counting the time in his heart, he said with pity: "What is this thing called?" Sticking to the official? Or is it a plus official? My lord, you are a member of the Yamen, and you are not unfamiliar with this criminal law, right? ”

"I've never eaten pork, and I've seen a pig run?"

Silently counting in his heart, Wang Qing stimulated the 'prisoner' in his mouth. After waiting for enough time, he tore off the few pieces of cotton cloth, revealing the distorted face of the Lord of Songjiang Mansion below.

Wang Yuanbin, with his eyes wide open, desperately raised his head a little, spit out a big mouthful of water, and then coughed violently, and then put his head back on the plank in exhaustion. His head was covered with water stains, and his eyes were panting blankly.

Wang Qing himself had never tried this kind of criminal law, but just thinking about it made people shudder. And you can taste it more than once.

It's the same as waterboarding, no, it's more horrific than waterboarding. It is not as suffocating as waterboarding, which can make people feel suffocated in a short time, but it can make the tortured person feel the proximity of death clearly while suffering, and few people can always insist on it again and again. In this stronghold, Wang Qing has never seen a person who has been tortured three times. Obviously, this Lord Wang, who has fine skin and tender meat, will not be an exception. Wang Qing let him recover for a while. Squatted down and said to him, "Lord Wang, as I just said, as long as you tell the truth, you can live." I think for the sake of you as a jinshi, I'll give you a chance, don't be ignorant! ”

Wang Yuanbin no longer had the expression he had just now, and cried loudly: "I...... I, what will I do after I say it......"

Wang Qing smiled coldly, didn't say a word, and directly covered Wang Yuanbin's face with the cotton cloth, Wang Yuanbin immediately screamed in horror under the cotton cloth, this time he didn't need to pour water, and Wang Yuanbin's nerves were completely destroyed.

"I told you, as long as you are a human being, you can't survive this kind of criminal law. I'll ask you the last time, who greeted the Chuansha Fumin Department to investigate the shantytown. ”

Just five days ago, a fire burned down a shantytown of more than 300 households in Pudong, killing and injuring three to four hundred people. Although no one cared about the lives of the shantytowns, the death and injury of three or four hundred people also shook the whole of Shanghai. And Wang Qing paid more attention, because that shanty town was one of the places where he hid.

Immediately afterwards, the Chuansha Fumin Department had to pretend to standardize dozens of shantytowns in Pudong.

Wang Qing didn't pay much attention to this matter. The shantytown was just one of the rare places he landed in Pudong after coming to Pudong. But when Wang Qing found out that the original norms of the Chuansha Fumin Department had suddenly escalated into a careful investigation, if he was no longer vigilant, he would not be able to mix up with the situation in front of him.

After the attitude of the Chuansha Fumin Department changed, in just three days, it arrested 15 middle-level backbones of the Axe Gang and hundreds of low-level personnel under the pretext of theft and robbery. Wang Qing immediately mobilized all the connections to investigate, but there was no sign of Songjiang Mansion at all, and Chen Qiyuan, the magistrate of Shanghai, did not move. Wang Qing could only stare at Shanghai Dao Shen Bingcheng. This uncle has been a Hanlin editor, a bachelor of waiters, the chief editor of the Wuying Palace, and the school manager of Wenyuan Pavilion, and he is a standard conservative school. After coming to Shanghai, he was very different from Ding Richang, just because the backstage was tough, and Li Hongzhang had just become the minister of Beiyang, so he couldn't refute the face of the imperial court, and Shen Bingcheng was quietly doing his own official in Shanghai. And the reputation is very good, Huayi Yanran, and the people are convinced.

Wang Qing was very suspicious that this 'good official' who was not good at foreign affairs could be that he had just had a little relationship with Li Zhongtang's people and made a fuss about the wharf to 'increase salaries', so as to add a little cost burden to the shipping operations of Swire, Jardine Matheson, Changqi and other foreign companies, and stabbed himself in the back.

There is no way, Shen Bingcheng is a big fish, Wang Qing can't catch it at all, and he doesn't even dare to touch it. I had to invite Wang Yuanbin, a close confidant of Yang Yongjie, the prefect of Songjiang, who was not only in charge of clerical copywriting in the prefect's yamen, but also came to the government office of the Chuansha Fumin Hall the day after the fire. Ask if Shen Bingcheng issued any official documents that cannot be secreted, and then Yang Yongjie instructed the officials of the Chuansha Fumin Department.

Wang Yuanbin sighed and opened his mouth: "It is indeed Lord Shen who spoke. But we all know that the Axe Gang is powerful, and we really have no intention of making a feud with you. Now it's just for show, for Lord Shen to see. ”

"As for why Lord Shen spoke, I really don't know......" R1152