And besides, and besides, and besides.....

The sound of the iron wheels of the train rolling over the steel tracks stunned the three well-informed bigwigs from Europe.

"It's... This is a steam engine?! ”

Macartney exclaimed.

The steam engine first appeared in England.

Macartney has seen it too.

But many newspapers in London ridiculed the steam engine that had just appeared.

This type of steam engine was first used to pump water from mines.

The result is not very easy to use, and the coal consumption is also large.

Many newspapers ridiculed that "this is a machine used to pump groundwater from coal mines, but alas, it may consume more coal than it is dug out of the mines.....

As a result, many people are not too optimistic about the prospects of the steam engine.

Watt, a mechanical engineer, was dug up to the East by King Zhu Ming, and Macartney also knew about it.

But who would have thought.

It's just over a year.

The steam engine turned into a steel behemoth in front of him.

Steam locomotives spewing white smoke dragged long rows of trains over the steel tracks.

It's not that fast, though.

It's about the same as a horse trot.

But the carriage dragged behind it showed the power of the steel beast.

"From Huizhou Mansion to Guangzhou Mansion and then to Nanxiong Prefecture...."

Macartney squinted, estimating the distance.

"For such a long distance, the number of rails needed is an astronomical amount!"

Bourblon added.

The two looked at each other.

I saw the shock in their eyes.

Steel was expensive in this day and age.

After all, the current steel production is here.

In Europe, though, there are also horse-drawn carriages.

But this is more of a place like a mine.

And it is generally wrapped with steel sheets, and the cost is relatively not so high.

As it is now, directly as road transport, not many countries can afford this cost.

Not to mention.

After waiting for the train to rumble past, several people stood on the edge of the tracks to check.

"It's an all-steel track!"

Bourblon gasped.

Macartney touched the warm railroad tracks.

"Maybe Zhu Daohua got a cheap steelmaking technology....."

This is the most likely guess.

Because both of them are sure of it.

In the north of the Qing Dynasty.

The price of steel is several times more expensive than in Europe.

And Zhu Daohua can even reduce the cost of smelting steel in the East to the same level as in Europe.

Then he could not afford to use an all-steel railed track.

So, most likely, the technology for smelting steel has improved.

Combined with a steam engine with almost unlimited power.

This technological innovation in Guangdong is enough to shock a group of Europeans.

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Not far away, at the mouth of the Pearl River, a steamship emitting white smoke rumbled upstream.

The three of them turned to look.

What I saw was a black iron ship.

"This is an all-steel steamer."

Chen Tingxuan, a reception official of the Ministry of Rites, said.

"It belongs to the test ship of the navy, and the initial plan was still wooden-hull iron-clad armor, and later King Ming asked for an all-steel-hulled ship."

Chen Tingxuan said.

This is all mentioned in Ta Kung Pao.

Everyone knows it in Guangdong.

There are no leaks or anything.

What's more, this doesn't reveal any secrets.

Both the open-hearth method and the steam engine are the best solutions found after thousands of experiments and trial and error.

This is the so-called first-mover advantage in industry.

Someone else wants to imitate?

Unless it receives technical assistance from Daming.

Otherwise.

I want to try it out for myself.

Then, like Zhu Daohua, it will cost a lot of money and resources to conduct experiments - and the resources will inevitably be more than those of Daming.

Because although Zhu Daohua doesn't know the technical details, he knows the right direction.

A lot of the time.

Just finding a direction consumes a lot of costs.

"Trains, ironclads..."

Macartney groaned.

"It's a steam engine!"

Kant said.

"A revolution is taking place in Guangdong!"

"A technological revolution!"

Kant took a deep breath.

"This revolution will have a profound impact on the whole world!"

.........

"Mr. Kant, long time no see."

Inside the Ming Palace in Guangzhou.

Zhu Daohua first met with his old friend Kant.

"How is your expedition to the East?"

Kant looked at Zhu Daohua with emotion.

"Honestly, Chris, if it weren't for the changes in Guangdong, my image of the East would probably be very bad...."

Kant shook his head and said.

"Especially the Qing Empire, which was a decaying, degenerate, decaying empire full of deception and poverty. This is completely different from what I imagined of the civilization of the Eastern Empire. ”

Before coming to the East.

Western scholars like Kant are actually full of glorified imagination about the image of the East.

In their imagination.

This oriental civilization, which has lasted for thousands of years, will be a better utopia than European society, with a political system that can effectively rule more territory than Europe, a civilized international social system, rich people, a society full of morality, and so on.

However.

Although Kant did not travel all over the Qing Dynasty.

But it's an investigation of Tianjin, Beijing, and the two cities.

It was a great disappointment to Kant.

The situation in the city of Beijing is simply shocking.

In the center of the Qing Empire, the streets of the city were flooded with sewage, and feces and household garbage were piled up on both sides of the roads and at the entrances of residents' homes.

Of course.

The situation in the Forbidden City and the aristocratic quarters was much better.

But this at least shows that the urban governance of the Qing Empire was very problematic.

The situation in the countryside is also alarming.

There were yellow-faced and skinny peasants everywhere, and he had never seen a fat man except for officials and wealthy landlords.

Extreme poverty is staggering.

"You do have a responsibility to bring your country out of this numbness and suffering."

Kant said.

Responsibility?

Zhu Daohua thought for a while and said, "In fact.... My country was not like this a hundred years ago. This extreme degradation of governance capacity is more due to the increase in the difficulty of governance brought about by the population explosion. ”

Sincerely.

The Qing Dynasty was an empire that essentially continued the Ming Dynasty's system of local governance.

That's why historians call this period the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Qing Dynasty had eight banners, and the Ming Dynasty also had clans.

The eldest brother should not talk about the second brother.

In addition to the ethnic policy and extremely repressive cultural shackles that make the Han people quite unhappy.

In terms of local governance capacity.

You can hardly say that the Qing Dynasty was worse than the Ming Dynasty.

And what really makes the difficulty of governance skyrocket.... It's because of the explosion of the population.

From the inflow of high-yielding crops from the Americas and the end of the Xiaoice period.

As a result, China's population has skyrocketed from about 100 million to 400 million in just over 100 years!

This population swelling is quite frightening.

This made the Qing court, which almost completely summed up the lessons of the previous dynasties, and it seemed that the Qing Dynasty could "last for thousands of years" had no more experience to manage such a large population.

Coupled with the "illegality" of the Qing government itself, he had no more interest in organizing and managing so many Han people.

It has led to the spiritual outlook of the whole country, the appearance of the city, becoming so unbearable.

"Mr. Kant, this is a picture of the river during the Qingming Dynasty, which depicts the appearance of the city during the Song Dynasty.... You see, in the history of China, there was such a vigorous era. ”

Zhu Daohua pointed to the corner of the Qingming Riverside Map hanging in his office and said.

"What changed all this was the barbaric invasion of civilization."

"At that time.... Barbarism often possesses violence that is more powerful than civilization. ”

Zhu Daohua said.

"But now it's different, Chris, you're leading a revolution that will completely affect China, affect the world, change the whole world."

"Maybe my subjects won't be grateful to me for that."

Zhu Daohua smiled bitterly.

Change is painful.

Compared with the tenants who worked as tenants for the landlord's old wealth.

Will the workers in the textile factories in Foshan, the smelters, the machinery factories, and the gun factories in Lantau be happier?

Not necessarily.

With the use of steam engines.

In factories such as the textile industry.

Workers work more than 12 hours a day.

From morning to night, and even at night, I had to work overtime with whale oil candles.

Tenants, on the other hand, are usually a little busier when they are busy farming.

And no matter how busy you are, you can go home and sleep at night.

The intensity of work is much smaller than that of the workers in the factories in Foshan and Lantau Island.

"Any change will make some people feel painful, but on the whole, all this you are doing is changing the fate of China, the fate of history."

Kant said with certainty.

"Without you, those colonial powers in Europe would sooner or later discover the weakness of the Qing Empire. In fact, they now know the fragility of the Qing Empire, so they will now choose to support the Qing Empire against your Ming Empire. ”

"Let them come!"

Zhu Daohua said nonchalantly.

"Mr. Kant, in this day and age there is only one criterion for measuring the strength of a country, and that is the degree of industrialization!"

"At this point... Even if I only have two provinces, Guangdong and Lanfang, I will soon surpass France and the United Kingdom. ”

"The only thing that worries me is that the rise of the Ming Empire will lead to the unity of Europeans."

"Mr. Kant, do you think the Europeans will unite?"

Zhu Daohua asked.

In fact, King Zhu Ming has another concern.

It's the rise of the United States.

However, the United States is still only a small country with only 800,000 square kilometers and has just become independent from Britain.

Even if Zhu Daohua said that this country will dominate the world for a hundred years in the future.

Not many people believe it now.

And....

Zhu Daohua probably will not give the United States this chance again.

For Zhu Daohua.

Two priorities of the foreign policy of the Ming Empire.

One is Europe and the other is North America.

In Europe, to maintain the division of Europe, it is absolutely impossible for the rise of the Ming Empire to cause the EU and the like to appear in advance.

In North America...

To suppress the United States.

It is necessary to seize the territory of North America as much as possible.

Zhu Daohua pressed these calculations in his heart and did not say it.

Kant looked at Zhu Daohua.

After a long time, he said: "If you want to unite the Europeans, unless your Ming Empire sends hundreds of thousands of troops to invade Europe now..."

"Otherwise, I don't see that possibility."

Even Germany cannot be united.

Europe?

Are you kidding.

After the endless coma, Shi Yu suddenly got up from the bed. If you want to watch the latest chapters, please download the Star Reading app and read the latest chapters for free without ads. The website has not updated the content of the latest chapters, and the Star Reading APP has updated the content of the latest chapters.

He took a big breath of fresh air, and his chest trembled.

Confused, incomprehensible, all kinds of emotions come to my heart.

Where is this?

Then, Shi Yu subconsciously looked around, and then became even more dazed.

A single dormitory?

Even if he had managed to be rescued, he would have been in the ward by now.

And their own bodies...... How could it be that there was no injury at all.

With doubts, Shi Yu's gaze quickly swept from the room, and finally his gaze stayed on a mirror at the head of the bed.

The mirror reflected his current appearance, about seventeen or eighteen years old, and his appearance was very handsome.

But the problem is, it's not him! Download the Star Reading app and read the latest chapters ad-free and free

The previous self was a handsome young man in his twenties who had been working for a while.

And now, no matter how you look at it, this appearance is only the age of a high school student......

This change made Shi Yu stunned for a long time.

Don't tell him that the operation was a success......

The body and face have changed, and this is not a question of surgery or not surgery at all, but immortal magic.

He's a different guy altogether!

Don't...... Did you cross by yourself?

In addition to the mirror at the head of the bed, which was obviously not good in feng shui, Shi Yu also found three books next to it.

Shi Yu picked it up and looked at it, and the title of the book instantly silenced him.

"Essential Animal Breeding Manual for Novice Breeders"

Postpartum Care for Pet Animals

"Alien Beast Ear Girl Evaluation Guide"

Shi Yu: ???

The names of the first two books are quite normal, but what are you doing with the last one?

"Ahem."

Shi Yu's eyes were solemn and he stretched out his hand, but his arm quickly stiffened.

Just as he was about to open the third book to see what it was, his brain stabbed violently, and a flood of memories flooded back.

Icefield City.

Pet animal breeding base.

Trainee pet breeder. The website is about to close, download the Star Reading app to provide you with the great god Mr Mu Mu Mu Ah's Qianlong: Qing Dynasty? What about my Great Qing Dynasty?

Beastmaster?