Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

It can be foreseen that in the near future, the Daqingshui Division will gallop across the East China Sea and even the Western Pacific Ocean. The purpose is naturally to deter the lackeys of Britain and France, Japan.

The defense focus of the Nanyang Fleet of the Qingshui Division is the Taiwan Strait.The three-in-one defense system of Mawei, Penghu, and Keelung is enough to shield the entire Taiwan Strait. These three places originally had coastal defense forts, but this time they just turned them into comprehensive naval bases.Their function is not only to defend the great powers from going north, but also to pinch Japan's neck.Whether it is now or in the future, the lifeline of Japan, the Taiwan Strait is the top priority.

The construction of the military port in Sihanoukville, Vietnam will also be completed within three years.At that time, the Nanyang Fleet of the Qing Dynasty will be able to penetrate south of 10 degrees north latitude, directly threatening Malaya under British rule. It may seem that China does not have the strength to strangle the two places.But perhaps at some point in the future, this threat will become an important weight in the balance of the situation.

Of course, such an effect is not enough to convince people.Therefore, the main role of Sihanoukville Port in the first few years after its completion is to provide a base for the navy to go to Nanyang for training.Originally, Guan Xuqing planned to build a military port in Mawlamyine, Myanmar.

But he was dissuaded by Peng Yulin, Li Hongzhang and others.Now the keys to the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean are still in the hands of the British, and it may not be easy for the fleet to pass freely.

Moreover, Guan Xuqing also considered not to provoke the British too much, otherwise it would be impossible to say that one day the British Parliament would publish some articles on China threat theory, or directly use troops against Burma.

As for land defense, there are also two key points, one south and one north.The southern line is Burma. After finally regaining Burma, it is necessary to turn it into a barrier in the interior of China, so its defense naturally needs to be carefully planned.

Fortunately, the area bordering Myanmar and India is composed of the high Rakhine Mountains and the bottomless Chindun River Valley. This is a vast no-man's land with only two roads to pass through.

One is from Myitkyina to Dibrugarh in India via Dajiabang and Xinbeyan. This is the original road of the Tea Horse Road, and the road to the south of it is from Mandalay via Ge Rewa arrived in Silchar, India.Therefore, the plan proposed by the Ministry of War is to build two checkpoints at the mountain passes near Inbeyan and Ge Liwa. As long as these two roads are controlled, it is equivalent to controlling the gates for the British army to enter and exit Myanmar from land.

The defense in the north is not as simple as that of Myanmar. Compared with the wilderness of Mobei and Northwest, which is thousands of miles away and unobstructed, the Northeast is still dangerous to defend. Its potential economic status is not comparable to that of the Northwest and Mobei, so the defense of the North is focused on the Northeast.

It's just that the Heilongjiang and Ussuri Rivers, which are frozen for several months in a year, are far from being natural dangers to stop the Russian army, and the flat Northeast Plain is the battlefield where the Russian Cossack cavalry gallops freely.

The defense of the Northeast is a comprehensive measure. In addition to the construction of large-scale fortresses, large-scale immigration to this area is required to realize the strategy of hiding soldiers from the people.

When they marched into Russia, the Qing cavalry advanced all the way. In fact, on the contrary, if Russia came back one day in the future, it would be really difficult to defend against the Qing. Therefore, the defense of the Qing on the back was the most troublesome for Guan Xuqing.

Take back this piece of land, not to mention anything else, just for the world-class industrial base in Northeast China.The Northeast is one of the few regions in the world that is rich in coal, iron, oil, and non-ferrous metals. It also has a vast black soil that can provide a large amount of agricultural products. It is located near the coast and is surrounded by cities such as Dalian and Vladivostok. It has a good port, convenient sea transportation, and flat terrain, so it is very convenient to build railways and roads.However, such a heaven-sent industrial base is always under the threat of others, which is not annoying.What's more, the gold reserves in the area south of the Outer Xing'an Mountains are more than four times that of the whole of China in later generations. After the gold standard settlement is now implemented, what this means is self-evident.

Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how much you have to pay, you must keep the land you have taken back.

As for military equipment, the nine major arsenals will gradually break away from the control of the provinces and governors, and be placed under the control of the Ministry of Industry, and each arsenal will also start to implement independent accounting, which means that any equipment that needs to be replaced in the future will have to be paid for. purchase.As for which weapon to buy, it depends on whose things are cheap and good.This is naturally to improve the initiative of each arsenal.

After using mortar and grenade technology to exchange a batch of equipment with Krupp, the Jinling Machinery Bureau and Hanyang Armory finally looked like a little Krupp. Perhaps the Germans wanted to take care of his Austrian allies, or For other purposes, the Germans opened the mortar and grenade technology to the Austro-Hungarian Empire after obtaining the consent of the Qing Dynasty. Of course, Guan Xuqing would not mind the sincerity of the Austrians to help China build another arsenal in the north. After all, Austria The Skoda Arsenal in Bohemia is as famous as Krupp in Germany.In the end, the Austrians chose a factory of Shandong Machinery Bureau in Liaocheng, Shandong.

In this way, the Qing Dynasty owned three arms factories that were first-rate in Asia and second-rate in the world.The Hanyang Armory has already begun to study the first-generation rifles of the Qing Dynasty. The reference is naturally the old Mauser, which is used the most by the new army and has the deepest understanding of technology. It's just that the Germans are studying Mauser.Guan Xuqing instructed Cai Yong, the general manager of the Hanyang Arsenal, to contact the Germans to see if he could learn some latest technologies.As for the Jinling Machinery Bureau, it is said that it is imitating the Maxim machine gun. The first Maxim machine gun imitated by China in history was born in 1888, and it should not be too far away.

In the next five years, the army's equipment will be based on a unified standard. During the Sino-British War, Guan Xuqing had already deeply realized the huge burden on logistics brought by the use of "Wanguo brand" weapons. The Ministry of War almost used the same logistics personnel as the combat troops. To ration various types of bullets and shells.

Moreover, weapons of different standards also increase the difficulty of commanding personnel, which is especially obvious when firepower is coordinated.Therefore, in this plan formulated by the Ministry of War, this problem was strongly raised, and a solution was proposed. In terms of light weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, grenades, and mortars, these can already be self-made. After selecting a model, the next step is to The biggest problem is to expand production, and the difficulty lies in the choice of artillery. The Ministry of War prefers the cheap and high-quality Gruson cannon, while Guan Xuqing prefers the famous Krupp cannon of later generations. In the end, the two sides compromised and made a compromise between the small-caliber camping cannon and the mountain cannon. Grussian guns are used on the guns, and Krupp guns are used on the large-caliber howitzers and cannons.

After all, during the Sino-British Burma War, it was too difficult to replenish the American equipment and ammunition used by the new army.

It is more convenient to supplement the all-German equipment used.Later, the captured British equipment was finished, and there was no place to replenish it.

And the unification of armaments will prevent this from happening again in future wars.

Competition in East Asia Chapter 1 Russia's Revenge

In the 13th year of Guangxu, January 1887, the Sino-British Burma War and the Sino-Russian Siberia Blitz have gradually dissipated.The focus of national discussions is the latest five-year plan and the latest military service system.

However, none of these seemed to be able to destroy Guan Xuqing's mood to immediately turn the country into development.One after another, the successive appointments of people have been issued from the South Study Room, which has been transformed into a cabinet in terms of function, showing the determination of the 17-year-old emperor.The current form is too rare.

From a global perspective, although the two wars in Vietnam and Burma completely offended the two imperialist giants, Britain and France, it is conceivable that in the days to come, these two colonial empires will inevitably do everything possible to contain China's development.

For example, we made some small moves in Tibet and Myanmar, fully supported the development of Japan, etc., but as the famous saying goes, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies in this world. From this perspective, through these two wars Well, China has at least obtained the qualifications for reciprocal negotiations with Britain and France, and other colonialist countries will first weigh it when spying on China, instead of always seeing him as a piece of fat that is fed to their mouths.

Such a change is actually very important. Whether the external pressure is heavy or not determines the angle of a country's policy, whether it is military or economic.

With equal status, it is possible to carry out diplomatic cooperation, which can be seen from the series of treaties signed with Germany and the United States after the war.The Qing Dynasty fully accepted the capital and products of Germany and the United States, allowing the two countries to obtain a huge capital export area and product dumping market, while China received some production and technical support from the two countries, financial and fiscal reforms with the financial support of the two countries, and Comprehensive dispatch of international students and other assistance.

This seems to be a disadvantage for China, but we should see the essence when looking at the problem.Any poor, closed and backward country cannot complete the transformation of civilization and enlightenment without the help of advanced countries, just like Japan and the United Kingdom, and New China and the Soviet Union, so it is necessary to pay an appropriate price.

Unlike Britain and France, which hold a large amount of capital but are unwilling to transform their own industries, during this period, the industries of Germany and the United States were in a stage of rapid development. It is a negligible part. This scale of capital export will not hinder the development of China's national industry, but will also provide technical assistance. The grass is more plump.

As for product dumping, not to mention that the two countries are half a world away from China, whether it is shipping from Hamburg to Yangon, Myanmar or dragging the goods from Los Angeles to Shanghai, the shipping costs are quite amazing. You know In this era, neither airplanes nor steam turbines have been invented. The speed at which large freighters can run more than ten knots is already amazing in this era.So these treaties are far less dire than they appear on paper.

Although more than 40 years have passed since the first Opium War, China's small-scale peasant economy still occupies the mainstream of social economy.

To break this situation, a large number of high-quality, high-quality circulation commodities are necessary. Instead of flooding the market with inferior commodities from Britain and France, it is better to enjoy the best commodities in the world. You must know the greatness of Germany and the United States. Some of the technology is already the best in the world.As for domestic factories, the products of Germany and the United States are all high-end products, which have little impact on them who are just starting out and mainly engaged in some low-tech livelihood industries.

Second, the industrial threshold in this era is not high, and the possibility of imitation and refurbishment is high, which also allows domestic factories to catch up quickly.

Of course, even with the support of Germany and the United States, it is not easy to rest easy.After all, Britain and France have the world's first and second navies, and have a huge colony with one-fifth of the area. Their strength is undoubtedly very strong.

However, this period was the last phase of world colonialism, and the Berlin Conference was held in March 1885.The great powers officially divided up the last piece of colonial land—Africa, and each country roughly determined the sphere of influence in Africa according to historical habits and their respective interests.

For a time, wars broke out on that golden continent, including the Egyptian war, the Ethiopian war, the Mahdi uprising in Sudan, the Congo riots, the Nepalese riots, and the Boer riots in South Africa.The great powers devoted most of their energy to that continent, and even Russia, which was not invited by the Berlin Conference, stepped up its activities in Iran, hoping to open up the outlet to the Indian Ocean.Participate in this carve-up.

As for Japan, the only one that could cause trouble for China.During this period, they urgently needed to digest the aid brought by Britain and France.And the navy's grand "four ships" plan will take time.Therefore, such a gap is undoubtedly a godsend opportunity for China.

Speaking from the internal environment.The powerful forces of the Qing Dynasty that originally restricted the development of the country basically disintegrated, the country will gradually get rid of the heavy burden of the banner people, and the contradictions among the various ethnic groups are bound to ease.Through these two wars, the development of domestic industry and commerce was greatly stimulated. Although the result of the war did not receive much compensation, the funds for the war mainly came from the country's agricultural tax, which was apportioned to merchants compared to farmers who accounted for more than [-]% of the population. Undoubtedly, a very small part of them went, and in this way, the scissors effect of industry and agriculture was realized in a disguised form.

As for the life of the peasants, because there were no major natural disasters during the Guangxu period, they could barely live a decent life. In addition, the newly acquired Vietnam and Myanmar are areas with extremely rich agricultural resources, and the immigration policy has been eased to a certain extent. The contradictions of land annexation, so the contradictions caused by the difference between industrial and agricultural scissors did not appear clearly.

More importantly, the victories of the two wars against foreign aggression in name have greatly improved the morale of the people, especially the "feud" that the enemy still burned the Old Summer Palace and caused heavy harm to himself in the two Opium Wars. endless enthusiasm.

Just look at the unprecedented enthusiasm for joining the army that broke out after the war. The streets, alleys, taverns and teahouses praised Guan Xuqing one after another. In such a mood, the little contradictions caused by taxation were easily covered up. down.

Under the cover of currency reform, most people will not know that in the past few years, they have actually paid more than [-]% of the original tax, and they will only feel that their hands are much tighter than before. are expensive.If things go on like this, such contradictions will eventually erupt, but fortunately, the most difficult hurdle has passed. Although the industrial and agricultural scissors gap will still exist in the future, with the development of Northeast China and Myanmar and Vietnam, Such contradictions were always concealed under the tide of immigration until China began to embark on the imperialist road of external expansion.

In Tangshan in the deep winter, there is a bitter north wind blowing everywhere. Because it is located in the flat North China Plain and close to the Bohai Sea, the wind is still very strong.The strong wind blew Li Hongzhang's official robe and slapped his knees, but this proud old man did not show any fear, stroked his long beard lightly, and stood upright on the train from the capital to the outside of the pass.

This time, just after the war in Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey ended, Russia tore up the border line that the two sides had just signed, took advantage of fire to loot, and sent troops to Longxing outside the customs. They were driven out, but some towns outside the customs were looted, and there were ruins everywhere. Even the holy capital Hetuala was burned by fire.

In the imperial court, many nobles and nobles of the banner and Qingliu clamored for using troops against Russia, in their opinion.The Qing even defeated the British and the French, who are ranked among the best in the world. What is the long-haired devil who is looked down upon by the British and the French? I heard that the long-haired devil was joined by the British and the Turks not long ago. defeated.It has to be said that the relentless reports of the "Daqing Daily" have indeed enriched the knowledge of those high-ranking officials in the capital. The first thing many people do when they get up early in the morning is to count the boxes with the newspaper.

Li Hongzhang couldn't help but think of the conversation he had with Prince Gong in the Qinxin Pavilion before leaving Beijing.Qinxin Pavilion is the highest place in Prince Gong's Mansion.Located on the top of a hill with lush grass, it has a wide view.

Prince Gong often likes to watch the scenery here and entertain guests: "Hongzhang, don't look at the iron hat on my head. But since the start of Westernization, the little emperor in the palace has regarded me and you as a bond. Grasshopper on the rope... In terms of power and tactics, the boys from the Lao Qi family are not inferior to the women in the West Palace, but in knowledge. The ones in the west are far behind... You know that the boys from the Lao Qi family really don't know how to advance or retreat, so they insist on fighting Foreigners are fighting to the end, isn’t that lighting lanterns in the latrine—looking for death? It’s really going to make foreigners anxious, and it’s another disaster. You think those bastards in the new army can really stop foreigners, don’t forget Now, their skills are all learned from foreigners. What's more, after the two battles of Annan and Burma, the family assets accumulated in the Tongguang and Guangxi dynasties are almost exhausted. It is scary to have hundreds of thousands of new troops there, but if There's no free money. All they have are sticks."

Hearing the words, Li Hongzhang's heart moved slightly. He sincerely admired the iron-capped prince who had been in important positions throughout the four dynasties, and was a promise among the clan and local officials, so he tentatively said: "You mean the emperor?" I don't plan to argue with the Russians, so we need to use us..."

Prince Gong curled his lips, smiled and said: "Haven't you noticed that our emperor, except himself, anyone dares to use it, but everyone is on guard. As soon as he is in charge, he will accept you in name." And Zuo Zongtang's military power, the reorganization of the new army, everyone with a discerning eye knows that the only ones who can fight in the Qing Dynasty are Hunan, Chu, and Huai. Those are your troops and Zuo Zongtang's. , Dong Liang and other young people who were asked to be brought up by him were divided into ten teams, and Zuo Zongtang was also taken out of the air.

The Russians set fire to the Zhuangzi outside the gate, and those princes with yellow belts and red belts in Devon Hutong still hated him to the bone. Now he wants us to come forward to negotiate. Let's put shit pots on our heads.So when you go this time, you can only be hard but not soft. First, you can't cede land, and second, you can't pay compensation. I have asked Mr. Hurd, the Customs and Taxation Department, and French Minister Barnoli to accompany you, and you can send someone down to contact you. , let them go up together, and ask the imperial court to send new troops out of the customs..."

"Woo... woo..." The sound of two whistles pulled him back from his contemplation, and he felt a lot of emotion about the railway in front of him in an instant.At the beginning, in order to save money, some people advocated the use of 25-inch narrow rails, and others advocated the 36-inch rails, but the British engineer Jin Dali advocated the standard gauge of 48 and a half.

The reason why Jinda insisted on adopting the British standard was naturally to lay the foundation for Britain to compete with other countries for the power of road construction in China in the future. How could he not know the ghosts in the hearts of foreigners, but he finally chose to support Jinda because he I firmly believe that no matter ten years, 20 years or 100 years, this mine railway will definitely become a section of China's huge railway system in the future. If narrow gauge is used now, although it saves money, it will have a negative impact on road construction in the future, so Li Hongzhang resisted all opinions and finally adopted broad gauge.

And now it has indeed become an important section of the Jingfeng Railway.As soon as Guan Xuqing came to power, the first thing he did was to abolish redundant personnel and train elite troops. In addition, he wanted to build railways.No one understands the significance of roads to the rule of a country better than him. The so-called roads lead to Rome. The precarious Roman Empire relied on the convenient shipping conditions in the Mediterranean Sea and the stone roads leading to Rome for centuries. .

Now that there is a railway, as long as the troops are stationed along the railway, once something happens in a certain direction, troops thousands of miles away can be mobilized overnight, greatly improving the deployment area and use efficiency of the troops, so as to truly achieve the goal of enriching the country with elite soldiers .

In addition to the rails laid on the ground, the railway also needs the trains running on it.Most of the trains on the Jingfeng Line, Beijing-Shanghai Line, and Beijing-Han Line are imported from the United Kingdom and Germany, and a small part is imported from the United States. So many locomotives and carriages are transported all the way around half the world. In the future, the silver consumed would be enough to buy several Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships, so establishing our own train factory is a top priority.

After two years of hard work with the first group of young children studying in the United States supplemented by recruiting foreign technicians, the Tianjin Railway Bureau and Wuchang Railway Bureau were finally established and became the only two train factories in China. The technology of Germany and the United States, and the machine tools from Germany and the United States still have a lot of technology. This can be said to be the credit of Fang Huai's diplomacy. However, with the weak technical foundation of the Qing Dynasty and the lack of talents, it is necessary These people need to redouble their efforts now!

Everything starts from scratch, learning as you build.Fortunately, in the past few years, the successive victories in foreign wars have greatly boosted the hearts of the people. Many military factories have posted "One more bomb, one more captive" and "Don't watch the sweat at this time, but see the blood at that time." "Slogan, the workers who were whipped and often cut corners did not make a sound when they worked overtime, and those foreign students who usually dressed in clean clothes slept directly in the workshop, and continued to work when they woke up. They bought donation tickets as soon as the processing money and fire adding money issued to them changed hands.