African Nationhood

Chapter 302 Guo Songtao attracted Li Zhongtang

(Thanks to book friend RIULKN~ Brother Hao for the tip, thank you puppet!)

March 1892, Harbin.

Since the hydropower station began operating, the entire Harbin Arsenal has become increasingly mechanized.

The bulky steam engines of the past have mostly disappeared, replaced by smaller, more compact and lighter electric motors.

Tesla's contribution deserves recognition. With the improvement of the alternating current system, the UK's pursuit of Tesla's research laboratory has not dissipated.

The Marquis of Salisbury has approached Shi Jintang several times and wants to invest more.

Shi Jintang readily accepted it, and other British consortiums such as the Brandonbury family and the Imogen family that had cooperated before also invested in Tesla Studio.

At present, the shareholding ratio of Nanhua Company and Shi Jintang himself has dropped to 33%, and the research laboratory has risen directly from the previous valuation of 10 pounds to 500 million pounds.

Tesla's value was finally recognized, and he was excited when he learned that he had become a millionaire, but he soon devoted himself to the development of radios.

At present, he has experimented with diodes. As for the experiments with transistors, he is still struggling with the material of the grid.

Shi Jintang had no choice but to let Tesla continue to try experiments.

……

At the end of March, Hertz sent a telegram from Europe, informing Shi Jintang that he had been diagnosed with "Wegener's Maltomatosis".

This is a type of necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis, an autoimmune disease.

This disease cannot be cured and can only be maintained by medication. He may die from complications at any time. The physics genius of Yuan Shikong died of sepsis caused by this disease.

Shi Jintang asked Hertz to come to Southwest Africa, which was suitable for him to recuperate, and promised that the Nanhua Medical College could help him with conservative treatment.

After hesitating, Hertz followed his wife's advice and moved to Anhai Town with his children.

After their family moved in, Shi Jintang and Kelly went to greet them and placed them next door to Mr. Guo Songtao's family.

This makes it convenient for the doctors of Nanhua Medical College to diagnose and treat their two patients at any time.

……

Guo Songtao has changed his attitude since his death. He instructed his children to integrate into Nanhua Company as much as possible.

He also came forward to beg Boss Kenshi, hoping to allow his second and third sons to become civil servants in Nanhua Company.

After much thought, Shi Jintang agreed and let the two young masters of the Guo family join Ouyang Geng and Cai Shaoji.

One went to Nanhua Daily as a news editor, and the other went to the education department as a textbook editor.

Boss Shi believes that celebrities like Guo Songtao still have great influence, and this is also a disguised form of "buying horse bones for a thousand dollars."

After his request was met, Guo Songtao immediately used his influence to connect with some old memories of the Qing Dynasty.

The most important thing was that he contacted Li Hongzhang. He suggested that Li Zhongtang establish contact with Nanhua Company. He detailed the origin of Nanhua Company in his letter.

Only then did Li Zhongtang realize that the talented person studying in the United States who contributed "Allicin" and "Band-Aid" more than ten years ago had now grown into a giant in control of one party.

At that time, he told this son that he wanted to be transferred to the Prime Minister's Yamen after graduation.

Now it seems that I didn't make a mistake back then, and this boy can be said to be "the Qilin boy who turns into a dragon when encountering a storm."

Li Hongzhang immediately sent his nephew, Li Jingju (ju), Guo Songtao's son-in-law, to inspect Southwest Africa.

Ouyang Geng was ordered to receive Li Jingju and his entourage, focusing on the Harbin Arsenal of Nanhua Company.

When they saw that the powerful Maxim machine guns and semi-automatic shell guns could be produced here, they were very surprised, and Li Jingju immediately called Li Zhongtang.

After learning of this situation, Li Zhongtang immediately ordered his nephew to purchase a batch of shell guns and Maxim machine guns from Nanhua Company. Because the Maxim machine gun was too expensive, they only bought a few and matching bullets.

I bought 5000 shell guns because this type of pistol contained many bullets, could shoot far, and could be used as a short rifle by attaching a wooden gun shell to it. Such novel weapons were very new to the Qing people.

When it was time to settle the bill, Ouyang Geng promptly proposed to compensate with population. Nanhua Company was in urgent need of immigrants to fill its territory.

Li Jingju was immediately overjoyed and called Li Zhongtang again to inform Nanhua Company of its requirements.

Li Zhongtang immediately summoned his confidants and asked him to take his secret letter to his hometown of Luzhou and inform the local prefect to organize immigrants to trade with Nanhua Company.

As immigrants could be exchanged for weapons and equipment, Li Zhongtang's appetite was greatly increased, and he immediately asked Li Jingju to increase the introduction of Maxim machine guns and bullets.

This time Sansa Bruce from the Finance Department also joined the negotiation team, and the two sides had a dispute over the number of immigrants in exchange for weapons.

The finance department thought that a Maxim machine gun (300 pounds) should be exchanged for 100 immigrants.

Li Jingju believes that this price is too low, and the price for European and American labor companies to "hire" Chinese workers in coastal areas is not so low.

When the two sides couldn't agree, Ouyang Geng directly quoted a price of 4.5 pounds for a Qing immigrant. If we agree, we can continue the negotiation.

Li Jingju and others did some research and raised the price to 4.8 pounds.

Nanhua Company thought about it for a day and finally agreed. Li Jingju secretly thought he had won.

In fact, the Nanhua Company was really happy because the slave exchange trade could not continue. The Nanhua Company and William Sfield and other merchants had negotiated a new price of 8 pounds per person for transporting immigrants to Lanfang Company.

Of course, Nanhua Company did not give money directly, but gave these businessmen industrial products.

For example, Nanhua Company produces bicycles, cans, Martini-Henry rifles, bullets and other products.

Later, the production of steel increased, and cars could also be produced in exchange for immigrants.

Now with the strong support of Li Zhongtang, exchanging weapons for immigrants is also a good business.

The two parties signed a cooperation contract in this regard. The first batch of transactions included 500 Maxim machine guns with 10 rounds of bullets, and 5000 shell guns with 50 rounds of bullets, totaling 19.1 pounds. (1)

A total of 3.98 immigrants were exchanged. This deal was not small, and it was the first cooperation.

Li Zhongtang will taste the benefits in the future and will definitely continue to increase transaction volume.

Moreover, both the Maxim machine gun and the shell gun can be upgraded, and the price can also be increased after upgrading.

As for Nanhua Company's standard rifle, Nanhua Company did not recommend it to Li Jingju and others.

European arms dealers had a very consistent attitude towards the Qing Dynasty. Weapons that were too advanced could not be sold, and they had to leave a buffer time to clear their inventory of single-shot rifles.

The Martini-Henry rifle produced by Nanhua Company also has some inventory, but Li Jingju and others cannot make the decision to purchase this rifle. They have to ask Li Zhongtang for instructions after returning to make a decision.

This matter is not a big deal in Shi Jintang's opinion. Li Zhongtang's Huai army doesn't want it, but the bandits in the Northeast want it.

They are very rare for this sturdy and durable standard rifle, and they work harder to transport immigrants.

Of course, they prefer the large gold chains processed by Nanhua Company. These bandit leaders are most afraid that others will not know that they are rich.

This big gold chain is the best way to prove their worth.

注（1）马克沁机枪300镑每挺，子弹1000发150镑，驳壳枪每支4镑，子弹100发1.2镑。

The price of the barge gun comes from the 1912 Republic of China government procurement list. One barge gun plus 1 rounds of ammunition is worth 500 taels of silver, which is equivalent to nearly 58 pounds.

In addition, in the early 20th century in Tsarist Russia, the price of purchasing a shell gun was 38 rubles, equivalent to 4 pounds.

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