October of the first year of the Reform, Dagukou, Tianjin.
Calm and calm.
In addition to the naval warships on patrol, there were dozens of fishing boats out to sea. Everything looked so harmonious.
However, when the camera switched from the sea to the port land, flags were fluttering, and military tents were stretched out for several kilometers.
On the high ground closest to the port, a golden banner stands proudly. Viewed from the sea, it looks like a golden light rising straight into the sky from where the banner is.
The scientific explanation is that in order to liven up the atmosphere, the Sixth Emperor arranged no less than a hundred large dioramas in the center of his tent to focus and bounce light.
The unscientific explanation is the true dragon's energy.
But undoubtedly, the latter is the best explanation.
Therefore, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the port area were excited, saying that the Reform Emperor was indeed a real dragon that would ascend to heaven.
The camera then switched to an industrial park in the distance. Steel-making blast furnaces were rising from the ground, and black smoke was swirling back and forth in the sky like black dragons.
Thanks to the instructions of the Six Emperors to focus on steel projects, as well as the on-site office work and investment at all costs in the early days when he was the governor of Zhili, the current steel output of the Qing Dynasty has increased from 150,000 tons in the 40th year of Qianlong's reign to 290,000 tons.
.
The quantity has fully doubled.
In this regard, the Sixth Emperor specifically pointed out that steel is strength, will, and victory.
The annual output of steel is 290,000 tons, which is unprecedented in the Qing Dynasty and even in other dynasties.
But obviously, this output is not enough to dazzle the world today.
Because according to the Six Emperors' knowledge, the current steel output of Britain's Big Brother may have reached 800,000 tons, far ahead of other countries in the world.
Steel is the foundation of industrialization. All industrial facilities revolve around steel. Whether it is for military or civilian use, steel is the most basic hardware.
In this way, increasing steel production became the top priority of the Ministry of Industry during the Reform Period.
Fan Wei, Minister of Industry, specially formulated a three-year plan for this purpose, striving to increase steel production to 600,000 to 700,000 tons in three years.
In order to motivate Fan Wei, Jia Liu directly told him that as long as the steel output could be doubled in three years, his Goutou Fanbu Hall could be transformed into Fanzhong Hall.
This made Fan Wei very motivated. While exhausting the officials of the Ministry of Industry, he also forced all large and small iron mines in the Beijing-Tianjin area to be state-owned. To this end, he even used troops to forcibly relocate local mine owners, causing several casualties.
Many mine owners went to Beijing to complain.
The Governor of Zhili, Yang Jingsu, was so angry that he scolded the Ministry of Works for being messy. At the same time, he had to wipe the Ministry's butt by sending people to negotiate with the mine owners and provide them with certain compensation.
Anyway, it's just a stick in one hand and a carrot in the other. Those who obey will be given a sweet treat, and those who don't obey will be hit hard.
The Sixth Emperor himself arrived in Tianjin the day before yesterday.
The imperial camp was directly stationed at Tianjin Port, because the Western trade delegation was arriving at Dagukou today. In order to witness this exciting historical moment, Jia Liu insisted on coming despite the dissuasion of the court.
Why did the court dissuade and even accuse His Majesty the Emperor from going to Tianjin? It was not because the Emperor was the lord of the Qing Dynasty and it was too embarrassing for the court to lower his status to pick up the foreign devils.
Even enlightened people like Lao Bo and Lao Li believed that even if the emperor attached great importance to international trade after the opening of the sea, there was no need to pick him up in person, and he could just appoint a doctor at the level of the Ministry of Revenue to go there.
After all, the Western Trade Group is not an official organization of Western countries, let alone a mission. I heard that they are all Western businessmen who came to Macao for "investment" by Zhu Dawen, the prefect of Tianjin, and there seems to be some Indian company.
Therefore, the reception specifications do not really require the emperor to go there in person.
It makes our Qing emperor look very unworthy.
However, the Six Emperors wanted to die and threatened the cabinet with the idea of resigning and becoming a monk. However, the cabinet had no choice but to hold their noses and admit it.
you are not a fish, how to know the joy of fish?
Jia Liu was too lazy to explain to those old guys that international trade was as important as the arrival of the Paris Commune. He followed the principle of "do not tell" and came to Tianjin.
When I arrived at the port, I looked around and was very dissatisfied. I said it was a great pleasure to have friends from far away. As a huge country, how could the Qing Dynasty lose its etiquette?
As a result, Xu Ji, the governor of Tianjin, and Gao Delu, the minister of trade in Beiyang, rushed to the port in person at night and mobilized thousands of people to work overnight.
After dawn the next day, businessmen at the port and workers in nearby industrial parks were stunned by the scene before them.
The trees on both sides of the road leading from the port to other places are all hung with silk, red cloth and lanterns.
The exterior walls of shops, houses, and various buildings along the street have all been repainted.
Some are red, some are white, some are green, some are yellow...
The shop is filled with all kinds of rare goods. Both the shopkeeper and the clerk are required to dress gorgeously. Even the farmers selling vegetables have to sit on clean mats to buy and sell.
Regardless of whether it was a road or a street, it was really spotless, cleaner than the beds in some people's homes.
Slogans were painted on conspicuous places. In addition to Chinese, what is even more amazing are foreign languages.
There are yilken daqing everywhere.
But it cost a lot.
The quotations given by the decoration team were tens of thousands taels.
"It's just spending some money. I'm not asking the treasury to pay. I can just take the invoice and report it to the Ministry of Internal Affairs later."
Jia Liu did not consider himself to be Emperor Yang II of the Sui Dynasty, but believed that this was basic etiquette, because he asked for help from others.
At present, the steel industry has been purged, and the ordnance sector has not fallen behind under his guidance. The rest of the industrial facilities are very behind, especially the steam engine, an essential element of the industrial revolution, which he does not have.
Therefore, the greatest respect must be given to the guests who come from afar. If the guests are happy, the Six Emperors can get what they want.
This is called investment.
Of course, it is also called speculation.
At this time, he was testing the gun.
Not the "tat-tat-tat" kind, but the "bang-bang-bang-bang" kind.
The repeating rapid-fire gun just developed by the Ordnance Bureau looks like a multiple-barreled rocket launcher. Unlike ordinary firecrackers that have to be filled with ammunition after firing, this one can be fired continuously and rapidly.
When the first bullet is fired, the second bullet and gunpowder will automatically fall into the gun barrel, and then the second bullet can be fired.
The time difference before and after is less than one second.
It can be fired 46 times at a time.
It is equivalent to 46 firecrackers being fired at the same time.
The prototype of the machine gun.
It is said that this kind of gun was based on the drawings of Dai Zi's repeating fast gun during the Kangxi period, and was improved by the masters of the Ordnance Bureau.
After examining the sample guns, the Ministry of War believed that as long as this gun was deployed on a large scale, a force of several thousand people would be enough to sweep across Mobei and turn the Mongolian cavalry into young men who were good at singing and dancing.
Jia Liu didn't think what the Ministry of War said was exaggerated, because he was convinced that this was a machine gun, but it was not that powerful due to factors such as gunpowder, barrel, and bullets.
But he had plenty of time to build a real machine gun.
Therefore, he personally named this fast-fire repeating gun "Jatling".
And requested that "Jatling" be used as the main force of standard weapons production equipment.
"Those who develop Jatling will be rewarded with a hundred taels for their merit and promoted to a higher level; production staff will be rewarded with ten taels, ten kilograms each of beef, sheep and pork, and a hundred kilograms of rice. In addition..."
As he was talking, the attendant came to report that a Western trade group had arrived at the port and was being guided ashore by the navy.
"oh!"
Overjoyed, Jia Liu immediately led his people to the dock. Within sight, a merchant ship had docked. Dozens of foreign devils who had just landed looked at the lively scene in front of them like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden.
"It's them, that's right!"
The excited Jia Liu, regardless of his status as emperor, quickly stepped forward and grabbed the hands of a foreign Japanese with a high nose and blue eyes, and said in the surprised eyes of the other person: "What's wrong with your mother-in-law?"
An authentic London accent made John tremble involuntarily.