Chapter 208 Shao Quanzhong's Advantages as a Time Traveler
Chapter 208 Shao Quanzhong's Advantages as a Time Traveler
"Brother Shao, why are you here again?"
"Madam is going back to Hailing now. No matter how busy I am, I have to come and see her off and spend a night with her."
"Why do I not believe it so much?"
"My loyalty to my wife is absolutely evident to all."
Wen Xiu circled around Shao Quanzhong and said, "There is a problem, definitely a problem. You are such a heartless person, always saying that women are not allowed to meddle in other people's affairs. Now you are suddenly so nice to me, there must be something wrong. Tell me the truth, don't make up stories."
Northeastern dialect is contagious. If there is one person from the Northeast in a class, everyone will soon start to speak in a Northeastern accent. Even Wenxiu, a girl from the waterside town of Central Jiangsu, was seduced by Shao Quanzhong to speak in a Northeastern accent.
"I'm here mainly to see my wife off, and there's another very minor reason that can be ignored. I need to give my wife some business advice."
Seeing Wenxiu looking at him with a joking expression, Shao Quanzhong stopped performing.
"When you return, immediately set up the Wen's Textile Company, purchase textile equipment from the United States, and start machine-making silk products."
Wenxiu was surprised. "Didn't you always forbid us from doing this, saying that this is a British cake and we can't touch it for the time being?"
"I won't touch it now. What I want to instruct is that this factory should be small in scale, specializing in producing high-quality products, and training skilled workers at the same time. When the production can be opened up one day, the scale can be expanded."
"The British are very sensitive about this. They will be dissatisfied with the small scale. We have so many industries that need investment. Why do we have to risk offending the British by setting up such a small factory with low profits? Since the scale is small, why not do it manually? We have no shortage of skilled weavers who can weave silk."
Shao Quanzhong smiled slyly, "Mainly, I have asked Emery to contact the BASF chemical factory in Prussia. We will establish a joint venture with them for this textile factory. They will provide the most advanced dyes, and we will be responsible for weaving the cloth. As for the British, I will give them benefits in other areas to compensate them. For decades, we will hold on to the British's thick thighs tightly."
"What's the point of a joint venture with the La Prussians? Can't we just buy their dyes directly?"
"this--"
Shao Quanzhong scratched his head. "This factory needs to produce high-quality products, mainly for the royal family, so it needs a special yellow dye. We don't have any other requirements, we just want to get the formula of a yellow dye called TNT. Tell the Prussians that this is a product for the royal family, and they must know the formula thoroughly. They can just provide products for other colors of dyes, so we can transfer more shares of the joint venture factory for this."
Wenxiu was very surprised. "Didn't you always say that guns are the most useful and currying favor with the royal family is useless? Why did you change your tune?"
"Don't worry about this. When you go back, select a group of skilled technicians trained by the arsenal in recent years, from various trades, and send them to Lanzhou. I will set up a Lanzhou branch of Wen's Arms Company, which will specialize in supplying arms for the Western Expedition. Remember, all the technicians must be reliable Jiangyan folks, and you must know them well. Tell them that they will be paid three times their salary when they are on business trips, but they must sign a confidentiality contract."
Wenxiu was puzzled. "Now the transportation from Hailing to Lanzhou is not a problem. The railway from Xi'an to Lanzhou will be opened soon. If you build a factory specifically for this purpose, it may not take long for the production to end before the Western Expedition is over."
"I'm a woman of my family. Madam, just follow my instructions. This is a military secret. The fewer people who know about it, the less danger there is of leakage. I will try to keep this secret until 1891. By the way, let Ding Gongchen personally preside over the establishment of this factory, and let his reliable disciples serve as technicians. No foreign employees are allowed."
"Let me think about it. What tricks are you going to come up with to trick the foreigners... Ugh, stop it. It's broad daylight, ugh..."
Wenxiu forgot her doubts about the strange textile factory. After taking a day’s rest the next day, she finally ended her unforgettable trip to Lanzhou on the third day.
Chemistry is an experimental science, and chemical inventions are full of accidents. It takes thousands of experiments to get a practical product by chance. Germans are known for their rigor and rigidity, and are very good at this boring work, so they have always been the world leader in the dye industry and have kept the most secrets of dye formulas.
TNT is a yellow dye that was accidentally discovered by German chemist Wilber Land in a failed experiment in 1863. It was not until 1891 that someone discovered that it could be used as an explosive...
Therefore, Shao Quanzhong did not care too much about the exclusive rights to dynamite for which he did not win the Nobel Prize, and he also looked down on the picric acid of Shimose gunpowder, which was regarded as a treasure by the Japanese in later generations.
This is his biggest advantage as a time traveler. As a warlord, how could he not know what TNT is used for? What he really likes about Nobel's invention is actually the electric detonator, which has not yet been put on the agenda.
When Nobel comes, we can just keep this project exclusive and secret.
Speaking of Nobel, the news about Nobel has arrived.
Emery called for the third time and said, "The telegraphic contact with BASF Chemical is going well. The Prussians are very interested in entering the East Asian market and are willing to pay for a secret formula for a dye.
Nobel requested that all his research equipment and raw materials be shipped to Hailing, but no merchant ship was willing to undertake the transportation task, no matter how much the transportation fee was. Please tell me whether to buy a small clipper. Also: It would be best if a ship could be sent from China, as there are no navigators and sailors willing to go on the same ship with Nobel here. "
Embarrassing, it's easy for me to do it for the electric detonator. But it's hard for him to come and it's also hard for him to leave. Well, this is good news.
Shao Quanzhong thought for a long time, the longer the night, the more dreams there are. What if Nobel suddenly developed solid glycerine explosives one day, and sold them all at once, plugging the loss hole of his company, he might not come. Sending a ship from the Far East to Sweden is really unreliable.
"Come here, call Liao Rong. He said last time that the British have already built the first two thousand-ton ironclad ships, which I named 'Yang Wei' and 'Chao Yong'. I hired the British Navy at a high price to bring them back in advance. Before coming, go to Stockholm and pick up Nobel."
This forced Shao Quanzhong to send two warships to pick up Nobel. In case one ship got into trouble and was blown up by the madman Nobel, there was still a spare ship...
Fortunately, the military operation was kept secret, and the British sailors did not necessarily know what dangerous people and cargoes were being transported, otherwise they might have disobeyed orders and gone on strike.
Nobel's issue was finally resolved completely.
On September 13, the fourth year of the Tongzhi reign, good news came from the front line that Ma Guiyuan and his brothers had been captured and the Xining bandits had been wiped out.
How could it be so fast? Ma Zhanao had just arrived at the battlefield when the battle was over, so he could have sent back the victory report in this time.
Looking at the detailed battle report, ah, that's it.
Ma Zhan'ao took advantage of the fact that Ma Guiyuan didn't know that he had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and made an appointment with Ma Guiyuan to meet to fight against the Huai Army together. He lured the Ma brothers into a trap and captured them on the same day.
Ma Guiyuan's bandit gang was leaderless and was defeated in one battle by the Huai Army and Ma Zhan'ao's troops.
Now Ma Guiyuan's brothers and a large number of captives have been taken to Lanzhou, and the rioters have been sent by Ma Zhan'ao to join the 600,000 rioters, bringing the number of rioters who have been relocated to 660,000.
Shao Quanzhong was full of energy and enthusiasm. "Ma Zhan'ao is really a man of courage and strategy. If he could sit in Ma Hualong's position, who knows how the Battle of Jinjibao would have turned out. After dealing with Ma Guiyuan and his brothers and the captives, the entire army will march to Suzhou to remove the last nail of the bandits in Shaanxi and Gansu, and prepare to march west to Yili Province!"
(End of this chapter)