One day in early July

Detroit

Detroit is a port city located in the northeast of the United States, close to Canada, a territory of the British Empire, because it is located in the Great Lakes region with convenient water transportation, developed steel and shipbuilding industries, and is an important industrial town in the northeast of the United States.

Inside the top floor of the famous Mayflower Hotel

Li Fushou was wearing thin silk pajamas, holding a few documents in his hand and reviewing, Fiona came in with a cup of freshly brewed coffee, put it lightly on the table, and glanced at Li Fushou and stopped.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Sir, I saw the new summer dresses in the high-end stores so beautiful, can you go buy them! Please, I really like it. ”

"Well, Fiona, how many years will it take to work to pay back the money you owe me?"

"It's probably more than 270 years, I can't remember the specifics, anyway, I'm resigned to my fate, this time I'll add another 100 years, and when I buy my favorite dress, perfume and leather bag, I can stay by your side with peace of mind."

Li Fushou took a sip of coffee with a smile, Fiona held his shirt with both hands and swayed around, begging and refusing to let go.

She has a lot of debts now, and she can't pay it back in this life anyway.

"Li-first-sheng, okay-well, please."

"Alright, alright, let someone arrange a carriage to take you there."

"Wow, dear Lee, you are the best master in this world."

Fiona jumped for joy, and turned away excitedly, she swore to go to the department store to buy as much as she wanted, hmph, how can it be in a hundred years, at least two hundred years in debt.

Fiona is in charge of Li Fushou's daily life, playing the role of personal secretary, and the two young men and women are grinding their ears and temples together, and their affection is deepening, but they have not broken through the last layer of defense.

Love...... What the hell is that?

Li Fushou didn't think about how to settle Fiona, it was definitely not feasible to be a wife, and Fiona was a little wronged as a concubine or underground lover.

Fiona came from the prestigious family of the Counts of Normandy, was an aristocratic girl, and a devout Protestant who strictly forbade premarital misconduct to tarnish the honor of the nobility.

Although the French Third Reich no longer existed, the European monarchies and the United States recognized the French aristocracy in exile.

Bullying a European aristocratic orphan girl in distress, the white man's spittle star can drown Li Fushou, what a terrible person!

This matter is very tricky, it is not so simple to push down, and he can't do irresponsible things.

Thus the present strange relationship was formed;

Fiona said that she was a financial advisor, but in fact, she was more like a personal secretary, and that she was a personal secretary was actually more like an ambiguous lover, and that she was an ambiguous lover and did not break through the last line of defense, and she did the work of a personal secretary every day, mainly taking care of Li Fushou's daily life, so she was not embarrassed or embarrassed.

Fortunately, Fiona is a girl who doesn't have much scheming, and she is still a little complacent about this relationship.

Li Fushou must take into account that his basic market is Chinese power, what is the matter with marrying a foreign woman?

Shaking his head and putting these aside for the time being, Li Fushou picked up the document in his hand and looked at it.

One is a schedule for recruiting Detroit skilled shipyard workers, technicians, and shipyard operations dispatchers, and everything is going well.

In Detroit, there are tens of thousands of people in the shipbuilding industry at the same time, and there are hundreds of large and small shipyards, and the competition between them is fierce.

Li Fushou's 19th Century United Shipping Company, the first batch of three 5,000-ton ocean-going freighters, if built in Detroit, would be at least 20% cheaper, which could save tens of thousands of pounds.

But this kind of good thing can only be thought of, and it is not feasible.

The ocean-going freighter built in Detroit in the northeastern United States must travel thousands of miles around Central and South America, and then pass through Cape Horn, the southernmost point of Argentina, all the way north, and it takes more than half a year to reach Oakland on the west coast and circle the Americas.

The long voyage required at least three resupply docks, and avoided Antarctica's harsh winters and capricious summers, when violent polar currents and waves up to 10 feet high were an irresistible nightmare for humanity, and it was impossible to know how many ships had been killed.

If you want to bypass the storm-ravaged Cape Horn, you can only choose the safe time of spring and autumn, experience the test of stormy waves in the polar regions, and arrive safely all the way.

The North American continent is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Pacific Ocean in the west, and basically the ships built in the eastern part of the United States can only be used for the Atlantic route, and the ships built in the western region of the United States are used for the Pacific route.

This means that tens of thousands of pounds sterling in shipbuilding costs cannot be saved.

Because the transportation demand of the Atlantic route far exceeds that of the West Coast of the United States, Detroit's shipbuilding industry is particularly developed, and the technical level also exceeds that of the West Coast, which is the purpose of Li Fushou and his entourage.

Ocean freighters can't make it past Cape Horn at the end of the world, and skilled shipbuilders and advanced shipbuilding equipment can cross the continental United States via the Central Pacific Railroad to Oakland for a train ticket.

The second document is a thorough investigation report of the major machinery factories in the city of Detroit, which is obtained through a special detective agency, and the content is very detailed.

Especially when it comes to steam internal combustion engine manufacturers, there are more than 5 large machine plants in Detroit with independent production capacity.

Li Fushou's goal is to choose one of them for acquisition, which is related to the next development strategy of the Red River Valley Ranch, without mechanized agriculture and animal husbandry, it has never been able to become bigger and stronger.

In 1851, Alabarte of France invented the world's first steam-powered tractor, which was invented earlier than passenger cars, which shows the urgent need for agricultural machinery.

Li Fushou's goal is to cooperate with American university professors to set up a special internal combustion engine power laboratory to develop a fuel-powered tractor, so that it can be born more than ten years earlier than the original historical time and space.

The steam-powered tractor is too cumbersome, expensive and ineffective, and it is stuck in the ground at every turn, and the progress in practical promotion and application is slow.

The corresponding oil-fired internal combustion engine can be very small, although the power is also reduced accordingly, but it is enough to cope with daily field work, according to the current level of science and technology, as long as the investment funds should be able to develop it.

Li Fushou's intention is to use the scientific and technological strength of the United States and Europe to invest funds to focus on small fuel internal combustion engines, especially in terms of reliability and practicality, and take the lead in making breakthroughs in this area.

In the future, the tractor and even the automobile industry will be based on the successful development of small fuel internal combustion engines.

Making arrangements for scientific and technological research and development in advance is a chess piece laid out by Li Fushou in advance, which is related to a large industry of hundreds of millions of pounds.

As a result, Australia can establish a technological advantage in the production and research of internal combustion engines, and take the lead in development through relevant technology patents, which will become the beginning of the next export of high-tech industrial products.

This is an important strategic idea that must be completed by Li Fushou himself.

The third document is a market research report, citing the data of the U.S. Government Department of Industrial Development, which can see the current situation and future development trend of the steam engine industry in the late 19th century, which helps to recognize the current technical level and choose the appropriate entry point.

After comprehensive consideration

Li Fushou is ready to choose small and medium-sized steam machinery as the key direction of future development, and has sent people to Philadelphia and New York to focus on funding relevant university laboratories to obtain the latest scientific research results of steam machinery.

A few years later, when the time is ripe, you can smoothly enter the field of small and medium-sized steam machinery manufacturing and create your own trump card products.

Steam engine products are the current mainstream technology, as long as the preparation work is done quickly, it can be put into production.

The internal combustion engine is the technology of the future, and it is necessary to further accumulate scientific and technological heritage and improve the R&D and manufacturing process of special steel to meet the higher requirements of the internal combustion engine.

In addition, Li Fushou also conceived the idea of building a high-level primary, secondary and university education system to complete the whole process of talent training.

Of course, that's all years later.

Li Fushou paced back and forth in the room, considering every detail, and suddenly raised his head to look at the door.

The door opened

Fiona hurried in with a message in her hand, her face quite serious.

"What's wrong? Came back so soon. ”

"Lee, something happened in the Red River Valley, this is the transoceanic telegram I just received."

"Oh......"

Li Fushou unfolded the message and looked at it, and the anger in his heart burned all at once.

The message said;

Since May, the Royal Queensland Mounted Police have repeatedly gathered to go to the Red River Valley Ranch and demanded a search on suspicion of hiding fugitives, but they were all blocked by a group of gunmen led by Liu Shan and Wei Chi Shouzhuo.

The reason is simple.

The Red River Valley ranch is privately owned, and the Mounties must have a warrant from the state attorney to search the warrant before they can be reasonably and lawfully entered, and are otherwise not allowed to enter.

After entering June

Speaker Edward was at a complete disadvantage in the fierce campaign of the incumbent Governor Frank and was forced by the situation to make a desperate attempt to take military deterrence actions against the Red River Valley Ranch and show a tough attitude in order to restore voter confidence.

In this case

June 24th

The Old Woman, a veteran third class sailing ship of the British Empire's South Pacific Task Force, sailed into the port of Brisbane on the grounds of daily patrol supplies.

The captain of the ship is Lieutenant Commander Mendes of the British Imperial Navy, a noble officer born in Kent, the eldest son-in-law of Speaker Edward, who is suspected of using public weapons for personal use to help Speaker Edward's election.

Three days later

The "Old Woman" went up the Brisbane River and brazenly invaded the Red River Valley pasture, and the officers and men on board the ship showed off their force to the Chinese, and the guns of the black holes pointed at the manors, barns, docks, reservoirs, and other facilities, causing great panic.

Nan Huaiyu, Liu Shan, and Wei Chi Shouzhuo led a group of Chinese cavalry to confront them, and in the early afternoon, the "old woman" brazenly opened fire on the face of the world's condemnation, killing and wounding more than 10 of our people, destroying more than 20 buildings, and killing more than 100 livestock.

A day later, the battleship "Old Woman" departed, leaving a mess in its wake......

The tree really wants to be quiet and the wind doesn't stop!