Dominate the Country

Time flies, and two months have passed quickly.

The earth is back to spring, the sun is shining, and the season for all things to grow has arrived.

During this New Year's Day, fewer fireworks and firecrackers were set off in major cities such as Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Yanjing, Lushan, and Wuhan, but eating, drinking, and having fun did not decrease at all during the seemingly "unexciting" New Year's Day, because the data will tell you everything.

The population in Nanjing is increasing. After the Lantern Festival, more and more young people gather here. The imperial examination held every three years is about to begin. Chen Han has a clear rule that the imperial examination will not be delayed due to royal funerals, but only because of royal weddings, the imperial examination will be increased.

Candidates from all over the country came to Nanjing, and the number of candidates participating in the imperial examination officially exceeded 10,000 in the last exam, and most of these people would bring servants and book boys with them. There were no poor juren in the Chen Han Dynasty. These people all had to work in the government. Now the salaries of officials were not bad. Many people had already made the salaries of officials in the Chen Han Dynasty comparable to those in the Song Dynasty.

Nanjing City was a big city, and tens of thousands of unproductive people suddenly poured in. The prices of shops, guesthouses, restaurants and hotels in the streets and alleys almost reached the highest point in an instant. The whole city was like the weather at the moment, full of vitality!

The new cabinet was also in place. What was different from the previous discussions of the ministers of the underground organization was that Shen Guozhen actually succeeded in counterattacking.

He replaced Xie Hu's position. Poor Lord Xie, Xie Hu, who had more than 20 years of experience as a governor, was definitely going to join the cabinet, but he came up empty-handed. He was sent to the American continent by the emperor. Before the second wave of enfeoffment by the court ended, he was optimistic about the territory of America and was a good nanny.

Xie Hu was confused and confused. He didn't understand how Shen Guozhen got to the position. Many people who had no connection with Shen Guozhen suddenly changed their attitude and supported Shen Guozhen.

Is this really the effect of the Neo-Confucian Party's outliers? Is it that huge?

Xie Hu was sad, but he could only swallow his anger. He watched Shen Guozhen ascend to the position of Left Vice-Assistant of the Cabinet.

Yes, Shen Guozhen did not win the position of Right Vice-Assistant, but the position of Left Vice-Assistant, which was one level higher.

In the final analysis, Xie Hu still had no support from above.

Blame him for being in a high position so early that he was qualified to establish his own position. Moreover, Xie Hu was in a high position at a young age, and he was arrogant in his heart. The only big man he could get along with was King Song. Behind Zheng Wen, the Right Vice-Assistant of the Sixth Cabinet, was the strong support of the former Cabinet's First and Second Assistants. So Shen Guozhen failed to move Zheng Wen, but he knocked Xie Hu down.

The "strange news" that happened in the court once surprised the world, and even this year's imperial examination could not suppress it. However, new and interesting things soon attracted the attention of the whole world.

First, the first thing that the Trust Cabinet did after taking office was to issue a second batch of canal bonds. There was even news that the current canal bonds might become canal stocks in a few years.

In the next few years, the cabinet will slowly prepare its own Suez Canal Company. Although this company has not been able to control all the canal shares, nor has it been able to completely control the canal management rights that have not changed for a hundred years, the benefits can be imagined.

In history, when the Gallic Rooster was developing the Panama Canal, the construction plan was wrong - the Panama Canal was mistakenly regarded as a sea-level canal like the Suez Canal, but in fact the sea levels at both ends of the Panama Canal were very different - a large number of workers on the construction site died, the progress of the project was seriously inconsistent with the plan, and so on. In order to cover up their mistakes and continue to devour the canal project funds, the management of the canal project continued to issue canal bonds, and countless French people still waved their banknotes to buy them. Until the canal company's funds were completely exhausted and the world-shaking "Panama Scandal" broke out, countless French people cried for their money that was destined to go down the drain.

And this incident also shows how eager the people are for the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal after their horizons have been broadened. Because such a world-class transportation throat, such a golden waterway, is a visible and tangible "cash cow", its stock is a truly incomparable hard currency, and it will never depreciate.

Unless someone defeats the imperial army there and occupies the Suez Canal area, but is this possible? No Chinese would believe in such a possible outbreak, even if it is tens of thousands of miles away.

The second thing is the construction of China's first railway-Kaihai Railway, which arrives in Haizhou [Lianyungang] from Kaifeng.

This project is coordinated by the newly established Central Railway Administration, which is an absolutely independent functional department and is not affiliated with the Ministry of Transportation.

In addition, there is a steamship, and this new achievement was also brought out by Chen Han openly.

Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences did not achieve its goal. The technical patents of ships and trains were handed over to two professional research institutes, which is the foundation for their development and growth. If a research institute only relies on the financial allocation of the court, it will not have a great future. They still have to be self-reliant!

The technical patents of trains and ships are the government's greatest support for them.

However, at this time, Chen Ming's heart was no longer on the cultural and educational event that was about to start in two months, nor was he staring at the railways and ships, and the paddle-wheel gunboats being built in the dock!

Two iron-ribbed wooden warships and four 2,000-ton transport ships, these are the orders placed by the wealthy navy to the Jiangnan Shipyard and Tiannan Shipyard, which spent a lot of money to bid for the patent of the steamship.

Each ship has one warship and two transport ships. Although the navy is very interested in steamships, it is difficult to accept the very prominent appearance defects of paddle steamers. From a tactical point of view, the military's opinion is more inclined to propellers rather than paddle wheels.

But the speed of the latter is also a shortcoming that the navy cannot tolerate. In this case, the motor sailing ship is a good choice.

So, in this era, the era of steamships has not officially arrived. The current steamships still need to continue to lie under the wings of sailing warships until they can completely make up for all these shortcomings.

But it is certain that these six "warships" are also the best in the world.

The pressure on the Ship Research Institute is very great. The hybrid ship of sail + steam engine is what they hate, but now it is their best choice. In order to make up for the various defects on the ship, they still have to spend a long time and a lot of effort.

Jiangnan Shipyard and Tiannan Shipyard did not give up civilian use while accepting military orders.

Small paddle steamers have great advantages in inland waterway transportation. And the large-scale manufacture of small inland paddle steamers can also accumulate a lot of shipbuilding experience for the two shipyards.

These two emerging things have attracted the attention of the whole of China to a large extent. This is the result of the government's strong promotion.

Of course, there will be people in the private sector who are dissatisfied with ships and trains, but in front of the Chen Han government, their power is zero.

The Logistics Department has issued ten 500-ton small transport ships to each of the two shipyards, and some dignitaries and inland transport companies involved in the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce have also placed orders with the two shipyards.

The door to ships in China's water conservancy transportation has been quietly opened, and it will never be closed again.

Only by keeping pace with the times can Chinese businessmen continue to earn the profits they expect; being stubborn, conservative, and even being a stumbling block to history will eventually be eliminated by the waves of the commercial tide.

Chen Ming hopes that when he is sixty years old, he can see a real steamship warship, and see China's ironclad warships showing off their power on the sea in his lifetime.

First wooden warships, then ironclad warships.

Chen Ming knows that this still requires enough experience to accumulate, and he cannot blindly start shipbuilding, but he has the patience to wait.

Even if it is a paddle steamer, with the range and accuracy of the hexagonal gun, it can still become a top hunter on the ocean.

Of course, Europeans will not watch China stride forward and continue to sleep. When the news of ships and trains reaches Europe, they will immediately tend to invest resources in research in these two areas. But China can always take the lead!

...

Japan, Hokkaido.

The Japanese flag is already flying in Beihai City. China not only kept its promise and withdrew from Ezo, but also taught it to the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo several decades in advance. It should be clear that the agreement signed between China and the shogunate clearly stated that China had the right to operate here for 50 years.

The city will only belong to Japan 50 years later. However, China handed over the city and the surrounding areas to the Japanese shogunate in the last year of Liu Dezhao's term. At least 50,000 Chinese and Koreans withdrew from Beihai to Sakhalin Island and Korea.

Therefore, Beihai, a city located at the mouth of the lower reaches of the Ishikari River, now belongs to the Tokugawa shogunate. The entire Ezo was also officially included in the Tokugawa shogunate's rule and renamed "Hokkaido".

It seems that the only thing that remains unchanged in the entire Beihai is Tang's.

Tang's Department Store is like a behemoth, continuing its career as the first shopping mall in Beihai, just like its boss, Tang Feipeng, who lives a flamboyant, arrogant and luxurious life in Edo, Kyoto, Osaka and other places.

Snowflakes fell, and the sharp cold wind blew into the house through the open door. Sanno Pingbei sat cross-legged at the door, seemingly not feeling the cold, letting the wind blow, with only a small wine table, a pot of sake, and a wine glass in front of him.

Sitting opposite him was a middle-aged man in his fifties - Prince Arisugawa Orihito today. He is a confidant of the current Emperor Kokaku. Emperor Kokaku's father was forced to commit suicide by the shogunate because he did something wrong [framed], and Prince Arisugawa Orihito was his kaishakunin.

Although the reputation and interests of the Japanese royal family have been constantly suppressed by the Tokugawa shogunate in recent years, Prince Arisugawa Orihito is a confidant of Emperor Kokaku, and still has a little sense of existence.

But now Prince Arisugawa Orihito feels extremely cold all over, as if he had fallen into a thousand-foot ice cave in the cold winter. No matter how cold the weather in Hokkaido is, it can't be colder than the coldness in his heart.

Freeze yourself to death. When you die, you won't have so many troubles.

A barely detectable smile appeared on the corner of Sanno Pingbei's mouth. Prince Arisugawa Orihito, who was a bit cowardly, was not a true samurai who regarded the honor of a samurai as more important than his own life. He could not break free from the iron chains he had put on himself. He was absolutely unwilling to face death!

Yesterday was Prince Arisugawa Orihito's last chance. Prince Arisugawa Orihito knew this very well, but he knew that if he made any "inappropriate" moves, the person in front of him would definitely let him commit suicide. So he chose life, cowardice defeated honor, and he was a complete coward.

Yesterday, facing that person, he made a decision that would forever nail himself in the history of Japanese shame. Now he can't turn back. It seems that he can only obey the wishes of Sanno Heibei, but this will seriously damage the interests of the Japanese royal family and the royal family.

Sanno Heibei seemed to have returned to the past, back to the day when he served as the kaishakunin for the second generation of Prince Kanin Naohito. He himself swung the knife on behalf of Japanese tradition. He was in pain because he knew that those things were really not done by Kanin Naohito, but it didn't help. He was extremely painful that day, but also extremely glorious.

Compared with that day, he was also extremely painful yesterday and today, but Prince Arisugawa Orihito clearly saw that the honor they cherished more than cherry blossoms had fallen gently.

"Your Highness, since you have made the decision, then go ahead firmly. Let history and the future judge whether we are right or wrong with Kyoto."

"Japan can only have one voice. The wisdom of the royal family is far from enough to lead Japan to rise."

"We can only rely on the samurai, and Japan can only rely on the samurai."

Shinohira Kita has not yet "revealed" his true face. He waved his arms, excited and unable to control himself, and the snow and wind in the sky were melted by his burst of passion. "What I did was despicable, but I did it for Japan."

"We can no longer turn back. It is not about the survival and honor of the samurai, but also about the future of the Yamato nation." Sanohira Kita behaved like a fanatical nationalist.