Chapter 441: Return of "Shao Quanzhong's old friend from when he started his career"

Chapter 441: Return of "Shao Quanzhong's old friend from when he started his career"

Chapter 441: Return of "Shao Quanzhong's old friend from when he started his career"

"Uncle Shao, just shoot me. I've embarrassed you."

In the study, the person kneeling before Shao Quanzhong was Chen Siqi, the governor-general of Northern Zhili.

"Get up, get up, what's the big deal? If you don't lead the uprising, the literature club won't rebel, right?"

"I'm not angry because you're the leader of the rebellious literary club, but because you were dragged out from under the bed and became the first insurrection. My people can rebel, they can kill people in the dark of night, but they can't be cowards!"

"But this time you fought back once, but you didn't do it right?"

"I have no say over there. What's the point of a tablet? I'm still willing to work for you, Uncle Shao, even if it's just to run errands."

Shao Quanzhong put his hands behind his back and nodded, "Yes, you are loyal, I am very satisfied, think about it, what kind of work should I assign to you?"

"Second brother, I think it's appropriate to give my work to this boy."

The person who spoke was Hai Qing. He came back to his hometown with the skilled and brave eunuchs to visit his relatives and get to know his family, along with the young master Shao Jiliang.

"When I was in the Forbidden City, I could still take over the work of the Detective Department, but in Osaka, I am a little overwhelmed."

Haiqing is now the chief eunuch of the Qing Dynasty's temporary palace in Osaka, the head of the harem. He is very comfortable in his position and does not want to come back to manage the detective department.

"Okay, Xiao Chen, let your Uncle Hai explain things to you, and you will be in charge of the Detective Department from now on."

"By the way, I am now the Grand Marshal of the Navy and Army of the entire Daxia. It is no longer appropriate to call it the Huai Army Detective Department. So, Xiao Chen, your Detective Department will be called the Daxia Investigation and Statistics Bureau from now on. Hehe, as a director, your salary is not as high as the general commander in the north."

Chen Siqi fell to his knees, "Uncle Shao, my brother has a country in South America, what use is there for me to have money? If you don't despise me and are willing to entrust you with an important task, I will follow you till death."

Hai Qing smiled sinisterly, "Xiao Chen, this position doesn't require you to swear your life for it, nor does it require you to have any great abilities. As long as you only have Marshal Shao in your heart and don't be bribed by others, that's enough."

Haiqing took Chen Siqi to explain the business of the "Investigation and Statistics Bureau", and Isabel came over.

"Shao, the Huai Army Intelligence Department reports that Zhang Zhidong's people have discovered a huge open-pit coal mine in Fushun. In conjunction with the Benxi Nanfen Iron Mine that has been mined, they have decided to build a steel plant in Benxi."

"At the same time, we will hire foreign employees and newly graduated college students from China to establish the Fengtian Arms Company in Fengtian to compete with us for the arms business sold to Europe."

Shao Quanzhong stood with his hands behind his back, looking north, and suddenly became speechless, without responding for a long time.

Seeing Shao Quanzhong being so serious, Isabel was a little worried, "Will this allow the North to take the lead in the gambling game?"

After a long while, Shao Quanzhong sighed, "It's okay, I'm not worried that they will surpass us."

"If their methods are really better than Sven's, what does it matter if China lets them rule?"

"My brother is the emperor, my son is the emperor, and now it doesn't make any sense for me to be the emperor or not."

"I was thinking of some things from the past, and I was really moved."

"Report, a call from the Babylon Province."

Hmm? Babylon? If there is anything, just send a message to Yongxian. At most, he can find Sven. Why would he send it to me? Could there be a rebellion in Babylon?
He took a look and said, "The oil exploration team sent by Madam Wenxiu before this went around the provinces in the mainland and found no oil fields other than the Yanchang Oil Field. Finally, they arrived at the three provinces of the enclave Daqin."

"We have just discovered a huge oil field in Kirkuk, Babylon Province. The oil layer is shallow, easy to exploit, and self-flowing. The reserves are huge. The preliminary estimate is more than 22 billion tons. It will become the world's second largest oil production base after Baku."

Well, it’s not that China doesn’t have oil, but it’s buried too deep to be discovered with current oil drilling technology. Anyway, Shao Quanzhong didn’t know there was oil in China.

Baku has more oil reserves, but they are all owned by someone else. Shao Quanzhong cannot rob them, he can only act as a king and have the right of first refusal when he needs them.

The right of first refusal is of strategic significance to the country, especially when Shao Quanzhong knows about cars, diesel tanks and aircraft.

The Kirkuk oil field was discovered by Wen, and it is located in the territory of Daxia. It is Wen’s private property, which is a huge fortune.

The exploration team was sent by Wenxiu, but Wenxiu went to London and did not take care of things. The exploration team did not know about his return. Wang Yongxian is now a civil servant of the Planning and Investment Committee, so the telegram was sent to Shao Quanzhong.

Shao Quanzhong understood. "Isabel, forward the telegram to Sven. I will keep the shares, but I will give the oil field to Sven for ten years. During this period, I will not take any dividends and will fully support Sven's work."

Shao Quanzhong picked up the phone and said, "Put me in the Hailing Patent Office."

"Hey, I've been offering a reward for gasoline and diesel engines for a long time. Has anyone received the reward?" "Report, no."

Alas, that’s how scientific research and invention work. Sometimes you have to wait even if you spend money…

On September 1875, 9, the Zeppelin airship returned from Berlin and stopped at Hailing Airport.

Well, this is the airport that was urgently built in the eastern suburbs after a telegram was sent from Berlin sixteen days ago. It was just a flat ground, with some temporary buildings built as warehouses and offices.

Hailing is now expanding and the airport is being built in Jiangyan.

The Germans are very confident in their manufacturing capabilities and are working overtime to build thirty military airships. They are even starting to make their own four-stroke internal combustion engines.

The first Zeppelin was a cargo ship and was not suitable for dropping bombs, so it was used as a transport boat. It was planned to fly about once a month, regularly traveling between Hailing and Berlin to transport the most important military supplies.

There are now three huge airships parked at Hailing Airport, and the other two, "Daxia" and "Fuxing", are under the control of Wang Yongxian's Investment Planning Committee, responsible for transporting urgently needed development materials to more distant places such as Sinai, Babylon and Mecca.

Kokand and Ili Province are also quite far away, but there is no need for airships - there is a train.

More cargo airships are being manufactured, and it is estimated that other countries will soon purchase them. Daxia will order 50 of them in the first phase, and the North has ordered two for trial use.

During the war years, new technologies were applied as quickly and as widely as possible, and money flowed into the good fruit companies.

This time, the airship brought a large amount of gold and silver coins, not to pay for the Hua Agency given by Shao Quanzhong. The Germans were very honest. Shao Quanzhong said it was the design fee for the airship, so they accepted it without hesitation.

This money was for future arms bookings. The British Empire was too large, and when Germany and Britain went to war, most German accounts in banks were frozen.

The money was kept in the account of the Berlin branch of Wen's Bank in Germany. It was transported here for safekeeping and could be withdrawn at any time to obtain the most needed supplies.

Shao Quanzhong didn't care about the money and supplies. The person who came with the airship was Shao Quanzhong's old friend Evan, the owner of the Frankfurt Soap Company.

Because of his old friendship with Shao Quanzhong, Evan boasted about it everywhere and soon saw the effect, he was promoted.

Evan was appointed by Bismarck as the liaison officer of the Hailing Office, specifically responsible for importing supplies from Hailing.

"An old friend of Shao Quanzhong when he started his business." Evan always looked up at the sky when walking in front of others. When he saw Shao Quanzhong, he nodded and bowed, "Marshal, I brought three people with me. I think you should meet them."

"These two are the former partners of Otto, the expert you hired to develop the four-stroke internal combustion engine. They have a project and want to find Wen's investment."

The two Germans bowed together, "Your Highness, we want to build cars for commercial applications. My name is Karl Friedrich Benz, and this is my good friend, engineer Wilhelm Maybach."

Well, Shao Quanzhong had heard of these two people for a long time, but he didn't look for them specifically. Cars are just a business to make money. He values ​​diesel cars more, which are more valuable in military terms.

But since they came to his door, he still welcomed it. He talked with the two for a long time, and then asked Wenxiu to invest and set up a factory.

Germany was at war and had no extra funds to develop this kind of civilian product, but when Wen developed it, it became a huge cash cow.

After busying around for a while, a young man of eighteen or nineteen was ignored in the back. It took Shao Quanzhong a long time to remember what this guy was doing.

The young man was very patient and smiled. "Excuse me, Marshal. This is a recommendation book from Berlin University."

"I was admitted to the University of Berlin with outstanding grades. The professors were very responsible. They examined my abilities and thought that the University of Berlin would waste my talent."

"I was advised to come to Hailing and study under the world-famous Professor Maxwell, so that I could have greater development."

Is this another genius who wants to learn from Maxwell? Shao Quanzhong shook his head.

Genius, that's all. The last time Tesla came, it had been a long time, but he didn't seem to be able to do anything.

Maxwell's Cavendish Laboratory has consumed seven million taels of silver, but has still produced no results.

However, Tesla only had good grades in primary and secondary schools, and he came here before he even went to college. This guy has a recommendation letter from a university professor, or something even more impressive?

Shao Quanzhong didn't understand and waved his hand, "Send him to Xiaoxiang Cliff. It's up to Old Mai to decide whether to keep him or not. By the way, what's your name?"

"My name is Heinrich Rudolf Hertz."

(End of this chapter)