The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 855: Because of 997, we have to fight a world war!
The water of the Yellow Sea glowed with an earthy yellow light in the late autumn sun, and the cool sea breeze poured into the portholes of the officers' lounge of the "Flying Fish" ironclad ship. The 6500-ton steel behemoth was sailing steadily southward at a speed of 10 knots, followed by the much smaller "Daxing" light cruiser (Wuxian class), and the waves plowed by the two ships left long white wakes behind them. At the economic speed, the roar of the boiler was much lower, but the rhythmic vibration of the double-expansion steam engine deep in the hull was still clearly transmitted through the teak floor.

In the lounge, Luo Yaoguo sat at a wooden table fixed on the deck with an iron frame, tapping the table unconsciously. On the table were the sea trial report of the "Flying Fish" and several preliminary improvement sketches. Wang Yan and Ma Baocai sat on either side, and the atmosphere was somewhat stagnant.

"Teacher," Wang Yan pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and broke the silence, his tone was cautious, "The sea trial data of the 'Flying Fish' is indeed amazing, and its speed of 20 knots is the highest in East Asia. But... it is a verification ship after all, and its tonnage, firepower, and protection are only at the level of a cruiser. The 24-ton 'Flying Eagle' is more perfect in design, and its speed requirement is knots. The main gun layout is also more reasonable. Should we... wait a little longer? Wait until the 'Flying Eagle' succeeds in the sea trial and then use it as a blueprint for mass production, which is more prudent? If we rush to mass-produce the 'Flying Fish' now, once the 'Flying Eagle' succeeds, won't the 'Flying Fish' class immediately become outdated? It's a pity to spend a huge amount of money to build a bunch of outdated goods."

Luo Yaoguo took a sip from the coarse porcelain teacup, his eyes still fixed on the report. His voice was calm but unquestionable: "Wait? We can't wait. Ah Yan, you only see the technical 'outdatedness', but not the strategic 'urgent need'."

He raised his head and glanced at the two disciples sharply: "First, sea power. Now the British are still the old Union Jacks who control the lifeline of the world's oceans. As for our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the population is skyrocketing every year, with 20 million mouths to feed. There is not much land in the provinces within the Great Wall, less than three acres per capita, barely enough to eat, and no consumption capacity! Who can we sell the cloth woven, the steel refined, and the machines made in the factory to? How can we exchange them for rice from Southeast Asia, guano and saltpeter from America, and cotton from India? Once the British take back the chains and cut off our sea route, there will be a horrible disaster in the Great Wall! Starving people everywhere is the least of our worries! The 'Flying Fish' class, with a speed of knots, is specially used to disrupt trade! It is to let the British know that we have the ability to turn their Indian routes into a sea of ​​fire! With it, they dare not easily lock us down! This is a life-saving killer. One day later in equipment, there is one more day of risk of being strangled by others!"

He paused and emphasized, "Second, the arms race. The British are not fools. How can they not follow our 'Flying Fish'? I dare to assert that as long as we build 10 'Flying Fish', they will at least follow 10 60-ton fast ironclad ships! The British cost at least 10 pounds to build a 600-ton fast ironclad ship! ships would cost million pounds! This is just the price of the ship. The supporting ports, personnel, and maintenance are a bottomless pit! Using our Flying Fish to build a few million pounds for them, dragging down their finances and making them waste their precious resources chasing the wrong route we set, is it worth it?"

"Worth it! It's really worth it!" Wang Yan's eyes lit up and he immediately responded with admiration on his face, "Teacher, you are very thoughtful! This deal is a good deal!"

"It's worth it?" Ma Baocai, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up, his voice filled with suppressed dissatisfaction, "Teacher, senior brother, you are calculating the British accounts, but have you calculated our own accounts?" He pointed to the report on the table, "No matter how economical the 'Flying Fish' class is, one ship will cost hundreds of thousands of silver dollars, right? Ten ships will cost millions! Last year's annual revenue of our Celestial Empire was only more than 200 million silver dollars. Money should be spent on the right things! Education costs money, how many children are waiting for new schools? Building bridges and roads costs money, how many places still rely on people carrying things on their backs or on horses? Rural water conservancy and disaster prevention costs money, how many disasters need to be rescued every year? If the court could allocate more funds, General Manager Wu (Wu Ruxiao) would not have to levy railway bonds in the Northeast, forcing the people to curse!"

He became more and more excited as he spoke, his face slightly reddening, "Big Brother, you said it was a good deal, but the British have 100 million more silver dollars than us, and a population of only 310 million! What about us? 600 million mouths to feed, 600 million people crying out for food! How many schools can we build with a few million silver dollars? How many miles of railway can we build? How many disaster victims can we save? Teacher, our foundation lies in people's livelihood! If the foundation is not stable, no matter how many ironclad ships we build, isn't it just building a tower on sand?"

Wang Yan's face darkened, and he frowned out of habit: "Baocai! You are too soft-hearted! Without a strong navy, how can we have a peaceful life? Without an external market, who will the factory sell its cloth to? What will the workers eat? What the teacher just said..."

"Okay." Luo Yaoguo raised his hand and interrupted Wang Yan's reprimand. He looked at Wang Yan and said in an unquestionable tone: "Ayan, go inform the captain of the Flying Fish to arrange a live-fire firing of the main guns tomorrow morning. It must be fast and accurate."

Wang Yan was stunned for a moment, and immediately realized that the teacher wanted to get him out of the way. He opened his mouth, but eventually swallowed his words, stood up, and saluted respectfully: "Yes, teacher." He turned and left the lounge, and the heavy cabin door closed gently behind him.

Only the master and his apprentice were left in the room. The vibration of the steam engine and the sound of the waves hitting the hull seemed to be clearer.

Luo Yaoguo looked at Ma Baocai with a complicated look: "Baocai, what do you think of your senior brother?"

Ma Baocai didn't expect the teacher to ask this. He was stunned for a moment and answered honestly: "Big Brother... is good at everything, smart and capable, and loyal to the teacher. It's just... he is too good at catering to the teacher's wishes. There are some things he dare not say, or is unwilling to say." "Well," Luo Yaoguo nodded, with no expression on his face, "He is indeed good at flattering and trying to smooth things over. But he is also a person who can and is willing to do things. What about you? You are outspoken and dare to make suggestions, and you have not changed your original intention, which is very good. But Baocai, you are a little confused about the current situation in the world. You don't know why people in the world are 'suffering', and you don't know how to save people from dire straits."

Ma Baocai was not convinced: "Teacher! The root cause of the suffering of the people in the world is that there are loopholes in the "Tianchao Tianmu System" and the "Zizheng Xinpian"! Meritorious people annexed land, owned good farmland but paid the lightest tax; factory owners exploited workers, working twelve hours a day for only six dollars! If we could severely punish illegal nobles, curb annexation, and follow France's example, legislate an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage, why would the world be in this situation?"

Luo Yaoguo looked at him quietly, and waited until he finished speaking before slowly asking, "Baocai, tell me, under the rule of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, does everyone have food to eat, clothes to wear, and books to read? Except for the fact that 'everyone has land to farm', isn't everything else a hundred times better than the Qing Dynasty?"

Ma Baocai thought about it and had to admit: "Yes. But if the trend of annexation is not suppressed early, the tycoons and merchants will run rampant in the future and it will be too late to remedy it!"

"If mergers are suppressed, and each person is left with only three mu of thin land, then we can still farm the land?" Luo Yaoguo's voice suddenly became sharper. "Three mu of paddy fields in Jiangnan might be enough to make a living, but what about other places? In a good year, how many kilograms of grain can three mu of dry land produce? If it weren't for the continuous influx of guano fertilizer from the Inca Kingdom in the past two years, it would be difficult to produce 100 kilograms of wheat per mu! Do you know how much land the average family farm in the twelve western states of the United States has across the ocean?"

He extended his index finger and tapped it heavily on the table: "One hundred acres! Equivalent to six hundred Chinese acres! Assuming a family of six, the per capita amount is more than thirty times that of ordinary farmers here! How many of our meritorious people can get six hundred acres? If you want to suppress mergers, it is nothing more than prohibiting the sale of land and tying the farmers to those three acres of land. But do you know how many people who cross the ocean to the New World every year sell the few acres of thin land inherited from their ancestors to raise enough money for the fifty-dollar boat ticket? The three acres of land is their life-saving talisman that keeps them from starving to death, and it is also the capital for them to go out and fight for a better future! If I strictly prohibit the sale now, they will not even have the capital to fight for their lives!"

Ma Baocai was choked by this series of questions. He moved his lips but couldn't say anything.

Luo Yaoguo's tone softened, with a heavy sense of reality: "Let's talk about the workers. Do you know how much the average worker in the twelve western states of the United States earns per month? Starting from thirty silver dollars! It's more than four times higher than the starting price of six or seven dollars here! You may think that our workers get too little for six or seven dollars, and it's hard-earned money. But I know that the reason why they can still get this amount is because the cloth they weave, the machines they make, and the coal they dig can be loaded on ships like the "Bohai" and shipped across the ocean to the United States, the Inca Paradise, and Southeast Asia! Who are they sold to? Mainly to the Chinese who have immigrated in recent years! Those Chinese who sold their land to raise money for the journey and risk their lives. We get real gold and silver from them, and then use this money to buy back the food that feeds our 60 million people, the guano for fertilizing the fields, the saltpeter for making gunpowder, the rubber for making sealing strips and tires... Without this cycle, our factories will have to close, farmland will have to reduce production, the people will go hungry, and society will be in chaos!"

He stood up, walked to the porthole, looked out at the vast and boundless sea with turbulent undercurrents, and lowered his voice even lower, but every word was as powerful as a hammer:

"Now, the Pacific Ocean is not the ocean of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom! We have not yet firmly and firmly grasped those markets that can feed hundreds of millions of people and those raw material production areas that can support our industry! If we want our people to not have to live a hard life and still eat meat every day, we must take over the "feed production areas" and "pig farms" outside! Only by taking control can more people live a good life!"

He turned around abruptly, his eyes flashing with an almost cold determination:

"And those white people have already smelled the danger. We don't have much time... anymore! Making dumplings and 'Flying Fish' is not the end, but the beginning! It is to fight for the last time and the last living space! Baocai, do you understand? If you understand, then do it well. You are not afraid of offending people, you dare to say anything, and you don't give face to anyone. That's why I let you be the director of the National Defense Committee. Help me, and also help the Kingdom of Heaven to keep a close eye on those military workers and force them to build high-quality and low-cost warships. This is what you should do!"

(End of this chapter)