The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 771: Seize the Luck of Industrialization! (Seeking monthly votes)

As the carriage rolled over the newly paved asphalt road along the Suzhou River, Feng Xiuying suddenly opened the curtains. The September sun slanted in, illuminating the gold pocket watch chain on her chest - this was one of a pair of Shanghai brand gold watches given by Luo Yaoguo when she married Hu Wansheng, and the cover of the watch was engraved with the image of the Heavenly King.

"Look at those chimneys." She pointed to Hu Wansheng.

On the Pudong skyline across the river, seven red brick chimneys of different sizes were spewing black smoke into the blue sky. On the top of the tallest chimney stood a five-pointed iron star, rusting red in the morning light. Ma Baocai, who was sitting opposite Hu Wansheng and Feng Xiuying, turned his head and took a look: "The chimney with the five-pointed star on the top is the foundry chimney of the Pudong Factory of the Jiangnan Arsenal Cannon Factory, which is used to produce large castings and forge 120mm caliber rifled cannon barrels."

"The other chimneys are all used by boiler rooms in silk reeling and spinning mills." Feng Yunshan held the Shenbao newspaper on his knees. The front page was printed with the news that the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company had just purchased a new 8000-ton ship and had just launched. "But there are problems with opening too many of these large factories. Last year, weavers and machine operators in every province caused riots and smashed many shops selling machine-made cloth."

Ma Baocai took over Feng Yunshan's words and said, "There are still many prefectures that have set up checkpoints privately to prevent the entry of cloth from other places! The King of Wu even dismissed many local officials for this."

Feng Yunshan sighed softly: "They are also doing this for the common people to make a living!"

Several people in the car fell silent.

In the second half of the 19th century, machine weaving was already able to crush homespun cloth! The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which had been industrializing for nearly 10 years, had an increasing impact on the domestic homespun cloth market. This was certainly a good thing for Southern Zhili (Jiangsu), Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, and Northern Zhili, which were at the forefront of industrialization, but for many inland areas, the impact was a bit too great!
For the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which already had a population of nearly 5 million, the impact of industrialization on traditional handicrafts caused the unemployment of traditional handicraftsmen, which was directly related to social stability.
The carriage was passing the Waibaidu Bridge. In the turbid waves of the Huangpu River to the east of the bridge, three-masted sailing ships and paddle steamers were crossing each other. On the dock on the other side of the Suzhou River, groups of bare-chested dock workers were unloading cargo from barges. Their bronze backs were bent into bows by the large bags of cotton shipped from Shandong and northern Jiangsu, and the blue cloth towels on their shoulders had long been soaked dark by sweat. Suddenly, the whistle sounded long, and another iron-hulled steamer passed by, spewing white steam, dragging a long string of barges loaded with steel slowly into the Huangpu River - these steels were either shipped from the "old-fashioned" Xuzhou Steel Plant, or the products of the Hubei Daye Steel Plant, which had just completed modernization last year.

At present, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a total of three modern steel mills, namely the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant in Southern Zhili (Jiangsu), the Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant in Northern Zhili, and the Daye Iron and Steel Plant in Hubei.

The second phase of Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant has reached full production, and the third phase is about to be put into production. Tangshan Iron and Steel Plant and Daye Iron and Steel Plant are still in the state of not reaching full production in the first phase. When the third phase of Xuzhou and the first phases of Tangshan and Daye are all reached, the pig iron production of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will be able to reach 1870 million tons, and the steel production will also move towards more than tons. As for the million tons of steel, it was in the s.

A single example can tell us the whole picture. Today, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's industrialization process is much smoother than its previous history. However, for a large country with hundreds of millions of people to transform, the pain it needs to endure is too much.

The carriage had turned into the "Financial Street" of the outer coat. On one side was the Huangpu River, and on the other was the "foreign concessions" with tall buildings. Chinese businessmen in long gowns and foreign compradors in various Western-style clothes were shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk. All kinds of Western-style horse-drawn carriages came and went on the open road, and the traffic police's copper whistles sounded one after another.

Suddenly, the roar of a steam pile driver was heard. Hu Wansheng saw a huge construction site at the intersection of a main road. Bamboo scaffolding was like a hornet's nest, and workers wearing rattan hats were climbing up and down like ants. A steam pile driver that Hu Wansheng had only heard of but never seen before was standing there, driving wooden piles into the ground with a grunt, grunt, and its efficiency was indeed incomparable to human power.

The convoy continued to move forward and finally stopped at the Bund Passenger Terminal opposite the Customs Building. Hu Wansheng saw that the bronze clock at the Bund Customs Building pointed to nine o'clock, which was one hour before the departure time of the "Western Ocean" cruise ship of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, on which he was going to take the ship.

Feng Yunshan, Hu Wansheng, Ma Baocai, and Feng Xiuying got off the car together, and under the protection of a dozen guards from the Nanwang Mansion, they wanted to go to the VIP building. At this time, they saw more than 20 immigrant ships moored on the river nearby, with black, red, and yellow tricolor flags fluttering on the masts. Outside the boarding pier used by ordinary people, there was a sea of ​​people, peasant women in cloth shirts holding their babies, and men carrying poles on their shoulders with blanket rolls and iron pots swinging on both ends.

"Make way! Make way!" Several patrolmen in black waved their batons to clear the way. The crowd parted like the tide, revealing a Chinese man in a tuxedo, with a dazzling black, red and yellow ribbon on his chest.

"Dear elders!" The man stepped on the wooden box and raised the iron horn. "I am Zhang Agui, also from Guangxi! Ten years ago, I sold my ancestral land in Xunzhou Prefecture and moved to San Francisco. Now I work as an immigration commissioner for the California government." He stomped his shiny leather shoes. "See? British goods!"

The crowd was buzzing with discussion. An old man with a limp spat, "The officials are colluding to cheat people!"

"Laughing at you? Are you worthy?" Zhang Agui grabbed a handful of gold coins from his wallet. The bright yellow coin was dazzling in the sunlight. "In the California gold rush, you can pick up these by just bending over! If you bring your family to the West Coast, each family will be given 100 acres of dry land immediately! If you are willing to go to the Rocky Mountains to open up wasteland, you can get 600 acres!"

Ma Baocai suddenly said, "This is the fortune of our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Otherwise, who knows what chaos the world would be in."

Feng Yunshan sighed softly: "It's not enough. There are already 5000 million people now. In another 2000 or years, billion people will not be able to stop it! Baocai, you and Wansheng are on a heavy mission!" The whistle suddenly sounded. The Pacific Steamship Company's "Immigration Transport" ship "Jinshan" began to lower the gangway - this is a light-loaded steam sailing ship with a displacement of more than tons. It was designed and manufactured by the engineers of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau with the help of British and French engineers after mastering the construction technology of the "Tianjing" class. It is a steam sailing ship designed to transport people at low cost. One trip can transport people!
With subsidies from the governments of three states on the west coast of the United States, the Pacific Steamship Company has ordered 100 "Jinshan" class ships from the Jiangnan Arsenal. Once they are all put into use, they will be able to transport at least 50 people to the west coast of the United States each year.

"Golden mountains and silver mountains, the west coast, the land and the big tiled house!"

Amid Zhang Agui's roar, the crowd rushed towards the new world like a tide.

In the Colorado wilderness, the autumn wind blew gravel and whipped the curtains of the caravan. Xianfeng was still shivering in his bearskin mattress, his forehead was so hot that it could be used to make pancakes - he fell ill shortly after the Battle of Vicksburg, with a cold and fever that never got better, and there was no medicine to take, so he could only endure it.

After Bell put a wet towel on his forehead to cool him down, he lifted the curtain and looked east, only to see a winding team like a dying black snake - 150,000 "black coats" carrying iron pots and leading skinny donkeys, walking westward with one foot deep and one foot shallow on the withered bison grass.

"Protecting" them were about 30,000 black flag lords wearing gray uniforms, carrying rifles, and flying the "black, yellow, and red" tricolor flag! In addition, there were thousands of "Americans" dressed like Americans, driving countless cattle, sheep, and horses, heading west together.

At this time, Bell heard several black flag masters shouting to encourage the black serfs below.

"The Governor said that you are now freed. You are no longer black slaves, but black serfs!"

"When you get to Colorado, you won't have to pick cotton for the white masters anymore. You just need to help us grow wheat, raise pigs, and herd cattle. How wonderful!"

"Serfs can move up further. As long as they accumulate enough points, they can raise the flag."

Bell Watling thought to himself: "Black serfs are indeed better than black slaves, but the progress seems a little small."

At this time, the sound of horse hooves came, and Bell looked over and saw Chen Yucheng, who was leading the rear guard, leading the red-robed True Covenant Bishop Lingli. When they got closer, Bell realized that Lingli looked dusty and had a leather bag slung across his shoulder.

"Master, General Chen and Bishop Lingli are here." Bell whispered to Xianfeng who was resting with his eyes closed.

"Lingli. Why is he here?"

"Governor," Chen Yucheng had already dismounted, "This is an urgent telegram from His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu, sent from Washington."

This telegram was not easy to get. It was first sent to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Embassy in Washington in a secret code, and then sent to Lingli in New Orleans. Lingli then personally chased after Xianfeng's westward-bound team, and finally caught up with them all the way to Colorado.

When the hard-to-deliver telegram copy was unfolded under the oil lamp, a long horn sounded outside the covered wagon. The "black, red and yellow" tricolor flag was hanging low in the twilight, and 150,000 people were setting up camp. Lingli read in stiff official language: "King Wu asked whether Colorado, Idaho and New Mexico can be controlled? How much combat power does the Southern Army still have? If they want to defect to the North before next year's election."

"Defect to the North?" Xianfeng was stunned and interrupted Lingli's words. Then he reached out to take the telegram and read it carefully. After reading it, he was silent for a long time before shaking his head and saying, "It will be a bit difficult to defect next year! The South still has fighting power, and the North has not been seriously damaged. If you defect too early, you will have fewer peaceful days in the future. If you can hold on for another term and let the North and South of the United States consume some more time, and then defect in 1868, the luck of the United States will be over."

(End of this chapter)