On March 27, 1642, February 27, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Empire.

In the corridor on a certain floor of the Mingzhu City Hospital Building, the medical staff were walking in a hurry, and a number of men dressed in Ming costumes sat on the corridor benches and fidgeted, constantly getting up and looking at a certain half-open high-end ward, but due to the hospital's management system, they could not enter the ward on the spot to see what was going on.

After a while, a young Chinese doctor walked out of the ward, pulled down his mask, and shook his head regretfully at the surrounding Ming men: "Mr. Yan has respiratory failure, we have done our best, please mourn." ”

The eyes of the oldest Ming man at the head darkened, and he slowly turned around and bowed to the people around him: "Brothers, the seventh uncle is gone...... Hey, now that the consolation has made the adults in poor health, they can't ask the military and politics for a long time, if only the eldest prince could be there...... That's it, it's hot here, and we must do our best to inform the consolation to make the adults mourn, and welcome the old seventh uncle's corpse back to the adults for burial. ”

The seventh uncle, the oldest member of the Yan family, finally passed away in old age and decay, and the last journey of his life was spent in the hospital of the overseas consulate of Huamei Pearl Island. Hearing the arrangement of Luo Da, the deputy general of the senior water division, all the subordinates of the senior staff nodded lightly without any objections. For this result, the top and bottom of the staff have actually been mentally prepared for a long time.

Don't worry about it, Huamei will definitely send the news to the Yan family members who have immigrated to Manchester City as soon as possible. The death of the seventh uncle, I am afraid that the saddest thing is his daughter Seventh Aunt and Yan Xianping, who has not seen each other for more than ten years.

Back then, Uncle Yan Qi personally sat on Pearl Island and was responsible for diplomacy for the Yan family, and he was very stubborn in letting his daughter's family stay in Huamei. In the past ten years, there have only been two or three times when Qigu has returned to Pearl Island to visit. wanted to take the old man to North America for the elderly, but was reprimanded by the old man, and even in the serious illness stage, he never let his daughter know his condition, and the reasons are intriguing.

Not only can I not worry about the big guys, but I am also worried that the juniors of the Yan family will not be able to handle the relationship with Huamei, and I am even more afraid that it will lead to the inheritance of the Yan family in the future, which is probably the reason why Uncle Yan Qi has been lonely on Pearl Island for a long time.

……

Just as Luo Da and the others were busy preparing to transport the coffin of the seventh uncle back to Dayuan, on the sea near the Pearl River Estuary in Guangzhou, Daming, a medium-sized steam merchant ship with the flag of the Oriental Union Group was slowly approaching Hong Kong Island in the Huamei Concession.

A coast guard patrol boat cruises at low speed at the mouth of the harbor, inside the military harbor on the east side. The gunboat Lynx, part of the Huamei Asian Fleet, is making final preparations for the cruise.

It has been almost five years since the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Hong Kong. On the shores of the once-pristine and barren northern deep-water harbor of the island, a beautiful town has sprung up.

Similar to Pearl City, Hong Kong's urban area, which is mainly constructed of cheap but not rough cement bricks and crystal clear glass, has a large number of oriental-style courtyard terraces. There are also many simple and bright local modern and fashionable high-rise buildings and green communities. And a number of Western-style neighborhoods. It makes Hong Kong Island more diverse.

From the first only 1 or 200 fishermen and farmers who were reluctant to give up their ancestral land, to the continuous influx of poor coastal people who have absconded or fled to the island in the past three or four years, plus hundreds of European immigrant families have been resettled by the Ministry of Immigration one after another. Today, there are more than 6,000 officially naturalized people on Hong Kong Island, and more than 2,500 people from Xin'an County, Guangzhou, who are stranded to work there.

With abundant and inexpensive manpower, close supplies from the mainland, and the strong support of the local government of Pearl Island and the Oriental Union Group, the development of the Hong Kong Viceroyalty is many times faster than that of the newly established overseas territory of Pearl Island.

On the mountainside in the south of the city, in the lush town community park, a number of viewing pavilions are built at intervals, and a small military fort is built on the top of a slope with a Chinese American flag erected, standing under the national flag, just enough to see the three-story main building of the Hong Kong Governor's Palace and the port.

There are no less than 20 merchant ships in the harbor, whether it is a Western-style galleon, a Ming schooner, or a gorgeous and unique steam merchant ship, all of which are moored in a scattered manner.

Several heavy steam cranes on the side of the wharf slowly rotate their booms under the shouting operation of the workers, piles of goods are piled up in the port area, dock movers dressed in short clothes wrapped in linen turbans shuttle among them, rubber-tyred carts come and go, and the expansion project of the port storage area has not been interrupted all year round. Brightly dressed Daming maritime merchants can be seen everywhere, showing the rapid prosperity of border trade since the establishment of the Hong Kong Governor.

The transshipment of gorgeous goods from Pearl Island, or the output of several provinces south of the Ming River, has formed a new trade transit port on Hong Kong Island. Different from the usual risk of sailing to the Pearl Island in the South Seas, now without much effort and time, Daming maritime merchants can carry out various commodity trade at the "doorstep", and the coastal maritime merchants of Guangzhou, Fujian and Zhejiang have obtained a more convenient channel for overseas trade in and out, and the bulk maritime trade along the southeast coast of Daming has gradually shifted.

It is said that in recent years, even the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in Macau, the Chinese businessmen in Manila, the Yan family of the senior officials, and Zheng Zhilong in Fujian have tilted the focus of trade towards Hong Kong quite a lot, so that the officials of the overseas territory of Pearl Island have been suffering from gains and losses for some time.

Since the Viceroyalty of Hong Kong itself is only positioned as a free trade zone and a transit port, in addition to ship maintenance and some inland small-scale agriculture, the number and scale of local industrial projects are extremely limited, so most of the imported industrial and agricultural raw materials from the Ming Dynasty still have to be transferred to the Pearl Island Overseas Territory, thousands of nautical miles away.

To this end, the Oriental Transportation Company, a subsidiary of the Oriental Union Group, has directly deployed 1 Oriental Union 2000 type, 4 Oriental Union 800 type merchant ships and 2 national standard 1500 cargo ships in the Hong Kong branch, accounting for one-third of the commercial capacity of the Far East Branch of the Oriental Union Group.

The Asian Fleet of the Chinese and US Navy, on the other hand, has also assigned two of the four Raccoon-class gunboats under its jurisdiction to be stationed in Hong Kong all year round, alternately sailing to protect the surrounding trade routes. This kind of river and offshore general-purpose steam gunboat, with a full load displacement of only 905 tons, adopts a large number of civilian standards. Equipped with three single-mounted 75mm naval guns and a small number of machine guns, it is inexpensive and simple to build, with only 36 officers and men, and now has four ships in service in the Caribbean Fleet and the Asian Fleet.

……

Under the watchful eyes of the port and wharf police and workers, the Oriental Union 2000 merchant ship led by Senator An Shaoqing and carried by the "Congressional Oriental Research Group" from China and the United States finally arrived in Hong Kong after more than two months of sailing.

This is the first time in more than 10 years that the National Assembly has sent representatives to inspect and conduct local investigations of overseas administrative units in eastern Africa, and along the way they also made short stops at the overseas consulates of Nanshan, Wolshan Island, and Pearl Island.

Lip Service is the United States and the United States, but from the great catastrophe to the present. The whole gorgeous beauty passed through the crowd. There are really not many people who have the courage to go to sea, and there are only a handful of people who can travel to the East in person. As a representative of the "pro-Oriental" who travels through the public, An Shaoqing lost sleep all night when he first arrived on Pearl Island.

"Dad. You see. It seems that there are people living on the continent to the north! "The ship is not yet steady. A girl in a skirt holding a monoculars next to An Shaoqing shouted happily, and one hand tightly held An Shaoqing's arm, looking very intimate.

This time, on the grounds of "subject practice investigation", he asked for leave to accompany his father to Anjie in the East. is only 18 years old, is the eldest daughter of the An family, and is currently studying geography in an Ivy League university, which can be regarded as inheriting the mantle of An Shaoqing. With the signboard of the first master of geology and geography in Huamei, the school affairs office of the Ivy League university naturally gave the green light, and even arranged for two outstanding male students studying for a master's degree to team up to accompany them, in order to obtain An Shaoqing's professional guidance.

As one of the Chinese orphans who was abducted and trafficked to North America by the Dutch sixteen years ago, An Jie has long forgotten the memories of her deceased biological mother and two years ago. The girl has now grown up, and like other girls in the Ivy League, she is fair and ladylike, quiet and dignified, smart and confident.

"I knew you were looking for a reason to play, and coaxed your mother to say that it was arranged by the school." An Shaoqing dotingly touched her daughter's long hair tied with a silk scarf, and smiled and took the telescope in the other party's hand, "I want to see what results will be produced from the practical investigation of the subject you 'tricked' from the teacher." ”

As soon as An Shaoqing's words came out, the other Huamei officials on the deck all laughed. For the talented girls in the geography department of the Ivy League universities, there is also a rumor in Manchester City's high society. In addition to having a senatorial father, the talented girl's mother is also a super lady like the chairman of the board of directors of Standard Oil of North America.

"I have all the course materials and tools with me. Well...... Independent mapping of Hong Kong Island contours, right? Oh, and the seniors are still checking the toolbox inside, and I'm going to help too! Seeing that many elders were looking at her, An Jie blushed and hurriedly ran back to the cabin.

"Your Excellency the Senator, Governor Elson and representatives of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in Macau have arrived at the port to greet you. Mr. Fan of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that it will take two more days to arrive. ”

A secretary of the research team leaned over and looked in the direction, only to see several horse-drawn carriages parked on the streets of the port area, and a middle-aged European official in gorgeous costumes, surrounded by many policemen, was walking towards the merchant ship, including two European businessmen.

"It's the first time I've been on a boat for so long, and I don't have the appetite to go to dinner. Speaking of Fan Li, I haven't seen him for another year. An Shaoqing rarely threw away Wenqing's temperament, and also told jokes, and there was a burst of laughter around him.

……

The next day, under the introduction of Hong Kong Governor Elson, An Shaoqing continued to meet with various Guangdong maritime merchants who were resident on Hong Kong Island.

It is not clear what kind of official the Huamei Senator is, but the local emperor-like governor of Fanyi actually treats an ordinary-looking Chinese with respect, even Zhao Mingchuan and the former third child of the Eastern Union Group, who are high in the eyes of ordinary people, have never had this kind of treatment, and the Guangdong maritime merchants can't help but be secretly speechless. After inquiring again, I found out that it was a noble person in the overseas Huamei Mansion, and everyone was immediately in awe.

Even if An Shaoqing didn't know much about the real Ming culture and merchants, he also showed a very high affinity. Pan talked about the operation of Guangdong maritime merchants in Nanyang, and An Shaoqing actually gave a lot of construction in half a pot of water, which attracted frequent nods from everyone. At the luncheon, An Shaoqing proposed on a whim that he was willing to buy all kinds of books, calligraphy and paintings, and porcelain from the Ming Dynasty with a large amount of money, and entrusted the governor Elson to receive them on his behalf, which impressed the maritime merchants of Guangdong.

This place is different from the Ming Dynasty. All trade is subject to taxes, some of which are not even a fraction of a penny. However, the tax items here are clear, and there are many preferential policies according to the specific situation. Therefore, the Governor of Hong Kong to obtain better trade policy care has been the most common thing for Daming maritime merchants who have enjoyed the convenience of Hong Kong's new trade port in recent years.

This peaceful Chinese senator is worthy of my Chinese ethnicity, loves Sven, does not like jewelry, gold, silver and jade, some ordinary and visible editions of calligraphy and paintings can be sent away, if it is a rare book, the price is higher. The Ming maritime merchants seemed to feel that they had smelled a familiar smell and thought that they would do what they liked. It is expected that there will be more benefits in Hong Kong in the future. So they were overjoyed, patted their chests and expressed their willingness to do their best.

In the afternoon of the same day, Luo Huide, who had been in Hong Kong for the longest time, hurriedly returned to Guangzhou. And then I don't know what to do. I actually got a lot of calligraphy and paintings and a small number of antiques in one day. Then he rushed to Hong Kong on the third day, much to the jealousy of some of his sluggish maritime counterparts.

Luo Huide did this with only one purpose, that is, he hoped to win a contract bid to be held by the Hong Kong branch of the Oriental Union Group in the near future - the purchase order for military textiles of the Chinese Army.

The purchase orders of the Chinese and American military were actually transferred to the Far East to be made by Ming merchants. It made An Shaoqing stunned for a while. After inquiring, I got the answer from Governor Elson.

It turned out that this batch of orders was entrusted by Yang Wenwen Life Art Group to the Hong Kong branch of Oriental Industrial Company of Oriental Union Group to look for an OEM in Daming.

The year before last, the Oriental Union Group sold two sets of small garment sewing production lines in the Far Eastern Union. Luo Huide, who once recommended himself to obtain a large number of important industrial raw material import channels for the Oriental Union Group, with the support of Zhao Mingchuan, grabbed one set with a loan from the Oriental Bank, and the other set was taken by Qiongzhou. With the help of Guò Qian Laosan, Luo Huide immediately built a garment factory on the outskirts of Hong Kong, and then recruited a group of hired workers from the surrounding counties and towns of Guangzhou.

The technical equipment is almost the same as Yang Wenwen's ready-to-wear company, but Daming's labor cost is ridiculously cheap. A female worker in a Daming sewing machine who has undergone short-term training has a monthly salary of just over one or two silvers, which is almost one-tenth of the monthly salary of a skilled female worker in Huamei. Even if you add the special fabric for military uniforms produced by the designated Pearl Island Textile Company, the ex-factory price of a set of Chinese Army winter military uniforms is only one or two taels of silver in Luo Huide's garment factory, equivalent to 1.8 US dollars. In Huamei's local garment production company, the production cost of products of the same specification will not be less than 3 US dollars, but the unit price of the Chinese military to Yang Wenwen is only 4 US dollars a set.

With such a low price of Daming ready-to-wear garments, even if it is shipped all the way to Huamei and the United States, plus various taxes, the final OEM cost of a set of winter military uniforms is only 2.2 US dollars, an extra 40 cents, which naturally makes Yang Wenwen smell the business opportunity of tricks, and it is natural for the Tongguò Oriental Union Group to subcontract the order contract to the garment manufacturer of Daming.

An Shaoqing, who was holding the sign of "Revitalizing the Traditional Cultural Undertakings of the Chinese Orient", was attracted by a number of calligraphy and paintings, and "disarmed and surrendered". Although it is not good for him to directly violate the business rules to meddle in this open commercial bidding, it does not prevent him from introducing the business director of the OUCC Group who is in charge of the bidding to Luo Huide.

Who doesn't understand what the senator means? Anyway, as long as the price is really fair, it is not a big deal to give it to Luo Huide. The business director of the Oriental Union Group, who understood it, revealed the price reservation limit of the bidding contract "slightly", so that Luo Huide knew how to prepare.

15,000 sets of army winter uniforms, 5,000 pairs of military bags, 20,000 pieces of military blankets, and 1,000 pairs of large military tent canvas components. At the one-time bidding meeting on April 2, Luo Huide got a total value of $89,000 worth of orders from the Chinese and US military in one fell swoop, and the rough calculation of the profit can reach $22,000, about more than 14,000 taels of silver! Although all orders must be completed within three months, with the current scale of Luo Huide's small factory, it will be very difficult, but this is quite the income of nearly two years of desperate work in the past, no matter how difficult it is, you must resolutely eat it!

With the big order in hand, Luo Huide was happy and anxious in his heart, and he couldn't wait to send his son Luo Jian to the factory to supervise the start of work, and he himself personally went to the local Donglian Commercial Hall to order the relevant fabric varieties that were missing, and he had to go back to Guangzhou to urgently recruit workers, preparing to work two shifts for ten hours a day!

ran almost half of the urban area of Hong Kong, and the son who didn't learn and didn't know how to do it couldn't be found again. was so anxious that Luo Huide shouted with a mouth full of "unfilial piety", which made the Ming Guangdong maritime merchants secretly laugh.

……

The east and west ends of the mainland of Hong Kong Island are high-altitude mountains, and in the middle is a winding, low-waisted mountain range, which is in the shape of a dumbbell. In the 17th century, the inland mountainous area, which was not destroyed by industrial civilization, is still a lush and primitive high and deep dense forest.

The sea breeze blows from the mouth of the mountain range in the south, which is refreshing and comfortable, looking at the south from afar, and vaguely seeing a piece of blue waves. A few gorgeous Ivy League college students who are doing altitude contour measurements on the mountainside are relaxed and happy, but they are also slacking off a lot in the internship courses at hand. They all left the observation instruments. Spread out the blanket and sit on the grass by the woods, set out the snack lunch box, and start the picnic leisurely. Several police officers from the Hong Kong Governor's District, who are in charge of security, also sat far away to drink water and rest.

Anjie is still wearing an elegant Ivy League high school spring dress. While the two seniors were having dinner. Take a walk along the gentle slopes of the mountains. The spring breeze blows. The birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, and the primitive and beautiful scenery makes the girl wander away, and before she knows it, she has walked to the bottom of another gentle slope of the mountain. Away from his companions.

Plumes of water vapor and soot were rising from behind the boulder in front of you, and you could still faintly hear the whirring sound of steam erupting and the strange grinding sound.

There is still a steam engine running in such a wilderness? An Jie was surprised, so she carefully walked over the slope with the edge of her skirt, wanting to see what was going on.

A young man of about 20 years old was squatting in a low-lying field with a smeared face full of smoke, in front of him was a small one-way steam engine that was a simple mess, and several bamboo baskets of coal were scattered around. The tiny steam engine seemed to be connected to a more complex set of equipment, and the slightly sore grinding sound of people's teeth came from there.

The young man was still sweating profusely fiddling with the homemade steam equipment around him, and he didn't notice that a beautiful girl had come not far from his side.

"It's been half an hour, and it hasn't been cut yet, and it's still not strong enough to replace it with a stainless steel cutter head?" Looking at a certain piece of translucent stone on the firmware of the completely hand-built "blade cutter", Luo Jian was puzzled.

"You need to get more steam!" Luo Jian frowned, and began to add coal and fire again, causing thick smoke to rise, the machine trembled, and coal ash flew.

"That's quartz, hardness 7.0, ordinary steel bit hardness at most 6.0, how can it be cut? If you keep doing it, the bit will wear out. ”

A pleasant soft voice floated from behind him, and Luo Jian's hands were in a mess and he almost stretched his hands under the blade. Stunned, he looked back and saw a girl in what looked like a Tessie dress looking at him with a smile.

"This ...... Hardness of seven points zero? What kind of stone phase is this? Luo Jian stood up slowly, not feeling how the black ash on his face was so unsightly, he just looked at the other party blankly, showing a surprised expression.

Seeing the funny appearance of the other party's black face, An Jie almost laughed, but in line with strict family education, she turned sideways slightly.

"Uh...... Let the girl smile. ”

Luo Jian seemed to understand the other party's gaze, quickly ran to the side, took out the water bladder and cleaned it for a while, then raised his sleeves and wiped them a few times, and then straightened his sleeves, and then walked to An Jie's side respectfully and saluted deeply.

With a slightly red face, bright eyes and jade teeth, a Tessie-style pink elegant thin waist wide hem long skirt, dark cloud long hair shawl, and a neat red and white silk scarf on the back of the head, two hair strands hanging down the shoulders, and two hands lightly held in front of him, indescribably skillful and dignified. Luo Jian secretly looked at it while saluting, and his heart jumped slightly.

"You did it yourself? Pure handmade steam engine, it's not simple......"

A scholarly face with clear eyebrows but not dull appeared in front of him, looking at most a year or two older than himself, and those bright eyes revealed a completely different curiosity and seriousness, which made An Jie feel very novel.

"The girl praised falsely, this 'steam pneumatic stone cutter' is in the next two years of time, pondering handmade, once imitated the Hong Kong wharf's 'steam handling crane', but the ingenuity is unexpected, so there are many shoddy places. The hardness that the girl just mentioned refers to the difference in strength between the stone and the stainless steel cutter head? ”

Luo Jian looked back at the steam engine he had built with great regret, and was embarrassed that he had been bumping into the steam engine he had built with great difficulty, but he was embarrassed that a little girl could see the problem at a glance for two years.

"How so...... Each mineral has its own hardness. For example, the calcite under your feet has a hardness of only 3.0, the apatite in your hand has a hardness of about 5.0, and the blade you use is probably ordinary cast steel, with a hardness of only 6.0 at most...... To cut them, you have to use blades that are harder than them, otherwise no amount of force is used, except for the wear of the blades, it is useless. ”

An Jie nodded, and said a series of the simplest and most basic common sense in the mineralogy course of the geography department of the Ivy League University in China.

"Listening to the girl say this, it makes sense! If this kind of gold and stone is written like a girl, how much effort can be saved......"

The basic logic is still very clear, but it is not as detailed as this. Luo Jian, who lacked relevant knowledge, blushed slightly, and hurriedly bowed his head.

"It's not the number I set, it's a set of physical properties of ore summarized by previous scientists. I'm just repeating it from the script. Well, I think about it, if you want to cut that piece of quartz, the material of that blade should be alloy steel......"

Anjie is also simple, and does not have the superiority of "bullying" the oriental compatriots, but carefully explains how to break the quartz stone in front of him, as well as some related metal and mineral knowledge.

A lot of natural knowledge that has never been heard of, or has never been so systematic, rolls in like waves, listening to it, the light in Luo Jian's eyes is even worse, and in the end, he has already heard God.

"Xiaojie! We're here! ”

"Miss Anjie, I've finally found you!"

Just when An Jie was about to continue to identify the few stones held by Luo Jian, several anxious voices sounded on the gentle slope of the mountain in the distance, and then he saw two seniors waving to him on the hillside, while the three Hong Kong policemen ran towards him from several directions, it seemed that he had been looking for a long time just now.

"Ann...... Miss An, I actually forgot to ask for my surname for a while, it's really ......"

Seeing that the local Huamei policeman ran over, and it was obviously coming for the beautiful gorgeous girl in front of him, Luo Jian immediately knew that the other party's identity must not be low, and he immediately felt nervous.

"What are you doing here?" A small Hong Kong Chinese policeman who grew up on Pearl Island walked to Luo Jian's side with a baton on his waist, looked up and down at this dirty young man, and then looked at An Jie, who was "unscathed", his brows slowly furrowed, "Security official duties are being performed here, please show your settlement ID card." ”

"In Xia Luo Jian, the word Xiping, recently lived in Hong Kong temporarily to study. Oh, my father is a ...... Luo in Guangzhou" Luo Jian hurriedly took a step back, and reached out to touch his arms, intending to show his temporary residence visa.

"Mr. Policeman, he's a friend I just met, we're discussing academic issues, it's safe here." An Jie walked from the side, lowered her head and lifted her skirt and saluted slightly, and then smiled apologetically at the two seniors who surrounded her, "When I saw something very interesting, I walked away and troubled the two seniors." ”

"Miss An Jie, it's not too late, Your Excellency Councillor should already be very anxious. Please go back right away, you can continue tomorrow. Several policemen cautiously surrounded An Jie in the middle, and one of them turned around and glared fiercely at Luo Jian, who was silent.

Honourable? Could it be that he is a man of the high gate of the United States of China? Also, how can she be the daughter of an ordinary family if she is so proficient in gold and stone grids...... Luo Jian suddenly felt a strange sense of loss in his heart, but he remained silent on the surface, just silently walked back to his steam engine and began to clean up the mess.

Looking at the seniors and policemen beside her, An Jie thought about it, and walked behind Luo Jian with a smile: "I'm sorry, I'm going back." If you are interested in continuing today's topic, you can come to the Doge's Palace tomorrow, I have a few books for you. ”

After speaking, An Jie took the notebook and pencil from the senior behind her, wrote down a few paragraphs of text with a brush, and then tore them to Luo Jian.

“…… Xiaojie, you scared us before, why did you sit and sit and people disappeared! ”

"yes, even the police were in a hurry just now! If something happens, the school will probably expel us! ”

A series of muttering gradually faded away, and the girl's figure gradually shrunk and blurred, and finally disappeared behind the distant hillside, Luo Jian pinched the small note in his hand and looked stunned...... (To be continued......)