Chapter 381 The First Balkan War
Chapter 381 The First Balkan War
It took just over two hours to arrange Meucci's affairs. In the afternoon, Shao Quanzhong hurried back to Qiao Garden, fearing that Franz would be waiting anxiously.
The emperor did not wait and sat down to drink tea with the hostess Wenxiu, smiling.
Qiao Garden has now surpassed Humble Administrator's Garden to become the first of the four famous gardens, because Grand Tutor Qiao spent a lot of effort and money to rebuild it.
No other garden has a big boss of the Grand Tutor's level to personally design and supervise the construction.
Qiao Songnian was a true elegant man. Every step in Qiao Garden was a new scene, elegant, magnificent and beautiful beyond words.
When Shao Quanzhong returned to Qiao Garden, Ping'er was taking pictures with Princess Sissi. Princess Sissi's long chestnut hair hung down to her heels, and the whole garden was filled with Princess Sissi's laughter.
Princess Sissi ran over holding up the hem of her skirt, panting rapidly, her chest heaving, "Franz, Qiao Garden is really the best and most comfortable place I have ever seen."
His Majesty Franz looked at his queen lovingly. How long had it been since he saw his wife so happy?
"I thought the view from the Leopard Room was better?"
Princess Sissi shook her head. "In terms of scenery alone, Schönbrunn Palace is not bad. But both Schönbrunn Palace and the Leopard House make me feel depressed. They are not as good as Qiao Garden and Hailing, which make me feel free both physically and mentally."
Well, this one, the old Queen Mother of the Habsburg family, the domineering Princess Sophie of Bavaria, lived in Schönbrunn Palace.
Princess Sissi is the only historical figure who was more beautiful in real life than the actress who played her, but her palace fighting skills were far inferior to those of Empress Dowager Cixi and her disciple Apple. How could she be in a good mood when she was bullied by her evil mother-in-law every day in Schönbrunn Palace?
No matter how beautiful the scenery is, whether it is Schönbrunn Palace or the Leopard House, it is also a political place, inevitably depressing and dull, and not suitable for Princess Sissi, a cheerful, kind, bright and beautiful super beauty, to live freely.
For this reason, Princess Sissi often left Vienna and lived in Budapest.
The free atmosphere of Hungary made her much more comfortable. The princess's beauty, kindness and lively personality also won the favor of the Hungarians. The Austrian Queen gained even wider love in Hungary.
On the second day, Shao Quanzhong accompanied Franz and his wife to visit Hailing City, the first eight scenic spots and the last eight scenic spots of Hailing, and picked out several good places. On the third day, he personally took the train to Kouanpu and sent Franz, who had ended his visit, to the ironclad ship Lissa.
The Lissa is a 7200-ton sailing ironclad battleship that was commissioned this year.
Although it has sails and its tonnage is not high, it uses the new technology waist gun room like the new Saxony class produced by Zhanjiang Shipyard, and the side guns have been transformed into central turrets. In this respect, it is more advanced than the Minotaur class.
Originally, the Lissa was anchored at Dagukou. Franz and his wife had been traveling with Shao Quanzhong for about twenty days, and the Lissa had enough time to go around to the Yangtze River port to pick them up.
After bidding farewell to Franz and Princess Sissi, when Shao Quanzhong returned to Hailing, his third brother Shao Quanren was already waiting for him at home.
Jeon-in doesn't dare to talk back to his elder brother like Jeon-hyo, but he is still dissatisfied with being called back from forced retirement by his elder brother.
"Brother, I am the commander of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Tank Division of the Huai Army. I have been promoted to colonel. If you don't let me help you control the army, what kind of CEO are you?"
Shao Quanzhong curled his lips and said, "Tsk, think about it, did you become the brigade commander by your own ability?"
"When you were here, did you have the prestige to stop the Literature Society from recruiting people from your subordinates? It would be better to let Zeng Xiaoyi lead the red-haired instructor to stop them, and you can make money for the old Shao family."
Wenxiu nodded, "The phone can definitely make money, but I think Yuting, you spent a million taels to buy the patent, which is a bit too much. If you give him 10,000 taels or even 5,000 taels, won't the Meuchi sell just the same?"
Shao Quanzhong snorted, "Xiu'er, why are you so petty when it comes to money? You guys don't know how big a business this is. One million is just a small fraction of the profit."
"The invention of the telephone will go down in history. If I take advantage of their misfortune and steal their patent at a low price, future generations will point fingers at me and scold me. I have to consider how history will judge me."
"I'm telling you, Quanren, don't look down on the CEO I arranged for you. This thing will become a big source of income for our Huaxia. Our Shao family can produce a billionaire with this project. By then, you will be rich and richer than me."
"This is China's first big business that has surpassed other powers and is leading the world. I don't feel safe handing it over to others." "Here, this is what I wrote. Let Meucci lead the experts to continue to develop and upgrade the technical development goals and appearance of the phone. Give me the people and money. Get it done as soon as possible, and don't let others take advantage of the opportunity to share the money with us."
Lieutenant Colonel Brigade Commander Shao Quanren retired obediently and became the first president of China Telecom.
On August 1871, the tenth year of the Tongzhi reign (October 10, 17 in the Western calendar), reporters gathered at Buckingham Palace.
Her Majesty Queen Victoria, in full view of the public, picked up the phone and spoke to Prime Minister Gladstone at the London Stock Exchange.
As soon as this commercial show performed by the Queen herself was completed, China Telecom was flooded with phone orders.
It must be safe, no matter how much it costs.
For the nobles, this is face; for those working in securities, information is money.
What? Laying telephone lines? Using that stuff? Telegraph cables are now laid in all the major cities of the world. They are made of pure copper. You can rent a telephone and use it.
Overnight, the world entered the telephone age.
Shao Quanzhong was answering a transatlantic call. Rong Hui, who gave birth in the newly purchased villa in Oxford, had another baby boy. Shao Quanzhong heard his son's loud cry on the phone.
Shao Quanzhong's youngest son Shao Jiying was born. Rong Hui lived up to Shao Quanzhong's expectations and gave birth to three boys in a row.
After hanging up the phone, Shao Quanzhong was very satisfied, "We now have a flagship product that is technologically advanced in the world, and I have given birth to another son, hahahaha!"
Wenxiu didn't like to hear this. Ronghui was very ambitious and gave birth to three sons, but she only had a boy, Jisi, and the other two were girls.
Forget it, this is God's will. Wenxiu interrupted Shao Quanzhong's boasting and said, "Brother Shao, the American Rockefeller Company we invested in has started to make money, and the kerosene it produces is sold all over the world."
"We own 49% of Rockefeller's shares. As a major shareholder, I have already dispatched exploration personnel from our company to China to look for oil. I don't believe that China, which is so big, has no oil fields."
"Yes, yes, yes. We should not only look for it in the mainland, but also in Alaska, British Columbia, Kokand, and Ili Province. Oh, and send people to Mecca Province to check it out, too."
Time flies, and two months passed in a flash.
"How charming, how beautiful, please love me, good girl."
"Oh, Liuliliuli, oh, Liuliliuli, please love me, my good girl!"
On New Year's Day 1872, an army of people passed through Bucharest and headed towards the Bulgarian border city of Ruse.
More than 50,000 Russian soldiers were in high spirits. After comprehensive training by the red-haired instructors, their mental outlook was completely different from that of the soldiers under the Tsar. They sang the cheerful folk song "Kalinka" and bravely rushed to the front line.
The Russian soldiers were equipped with the same Krupp light field guns, Mauser bolt-action rifles, 37mm Hotchkiss rapid-fire guns, grenades and shotguns as their red-haired instructors. Except for the heavy siege artillery and tanks and armored vehicles, they had everything else the Huai Army had.
The army crossed the frozen Danube, easily captured Ruse, and headed straight for Sofia.
Ten days later, the Irish-Lucian coalition forces arrived at the gates of Sofia, and Istanbul had already received the news.
Upon learning of the invasion of the Grand Duchy of Crimea, the Ottoman Empire sent 280,000 troops to reinforce Sofia, and the First Balkan War officially began.
(End of this chapter)