1890 King of Southeast Asia

On August 18, the Russian army besieged Qiqihar with one division, and two divisions went south to cooperate with the ongoing negotiations.

On August 20, Beiyang deployed four divisions of heavy troops on the Fengjing line, completely abandoning the area north of Fengtian.

Yuan Datou was full of fear of the Russian Empire, and assembled two-thirds of the main force in Fengtian. All the troops fighting against Japan on the corridor front were evacuated, causing the bunkers built by Beiyang for several years to be directly abandoned.

In fact, Yuan Datou was also hesitating between withdrawing troops and blocking. After all, as long as the bunker group was defended, Japan and Russia could not form a joint force. If Japan wanted to break through the bunker group, it would take at least three months and invest three times the force, that is, more than three divisions.

However, the pressure on Beiyang's garrison of one division would be great, and the end might not be very good. During the consideration, the old witch was afraid of the Russian Empire, and her view of Japan was still a small country, so she ordered Yuan Datou to withdraw troops and keep Fengjing, the Manchu capital.

"The place where the dragon rises must be preserved. We still have to meet the great Qing Dynasty." The old witch had no idea of ​​strategy or tactics, and could only speak to herself based on her status.

However, Yuan Shikai still had some knowledge when training his troops. More than half of the Beiyang soldiers, as long as they were veterans, aimed their guns at the enemy when they were on the battlefield, or at least in the direction of the enemy.

In this era, this has surpassed the cattle army of Tsarist Russia and the soldiers of Britain, France and other countries.

In this era, soldiers had no psychological counseling and psychological hints. Those who could shoot another soldier without hesitation were veterans who had experienced many battles.

Or Germany and Japan - Nanhua is also among them.

Germany is a Prussian Junker military aristocracy. Soldiers are trained from childhood and are well prepared (non-mobilized soldiers).

Japan is well known. Although the Bushido spirit has not developed to the extreme at this time, the difference is similar, and both are destroying humanity.

Nanhua follows the military-national system. Whether it is the construction corps or the militia reserve, it can be generally summarized as Boy Scouts - militia and reserve - soldiers. The combat education from childhood to adulthood is systematic, and the combat effectiveness can be guaranteed.

There is also a country with the same system, but it is extremely low-key - the United States.

During World War I, British recruits could not look the enemy in the face, and they could not pull the trigger after aiming at the enemy for a long time.

In World War I, most of the casualties were caused by machine guns, artillery, bombs, poison gas and other weapons, and the casualties caused by rifles accounted for less than 10% of the total casualties.

The Beiyang Army was just not resilient enough, but during the period when Yuan Datou was there, the combat effectiveness was still considerable.

Because the old witch showed a compromising attitude, differences appeared in the court, and there were voices demanding that the young emperor return to power and fight to the death with Japan and Russia.

The old witch hurriedly sent a telegram to Yuan Datou, asking him to hold on to the death to delay time, and began to deal with the war faction internally.

On August 30, Japan and Russia concentrated 60,000 people and launched an attack on the Fengtian line.

The Beiyang 4 artillery regiments plus the Fengtian garrison army, with a total of more than 200 artillery support, suffered a defeat under the Japanese and Russian attack, and the war suddenly became stalemate.

Russia doesn't care, they are well prepared, and they really need time to digest the occupied territory. Japan is a little anxious, but fortunately, the United States is giving it blood transfusions through the big six routes, and it is still waiting for the United States to end.

The United States is very unhappy. After the war started, the United States not only lost trade with China, but the entire trade with the East was only Japan through the big six routes in the north, and the Japanese only needed war resources.

Originally, the United States wanted to force Nanhua to relax trade restrictions through the tariff issue. As soon as the tariff issue came out, some of Nanhua's products did become unsalable, but a new market appeared in front of Nanhua.

Because of the war, the market share of the Qing Empire belonging to Japan, Russia and the United States suddenly became vacant, and Nanhua found a new growth point.

…………

"Excuse me, please ask, where is the Qingshan Machinery Factory?" Sheng Jicai, the second son of the Sheng family's concubine, although not valued, but after the Sheng family embraced Yuan Datou's golden thigh, relying on the Sheng family's golden signboard, he got a job as a procurement agent for the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company.

The China Merchants Steam Navigation Company is not only engaged in passenger and freight transport, but also directly responsible for the import and export of machinery and equipment for the Qing Empire's manufacturing industry. The purchasing position is not high, but it is a lucrative job.

At first, the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company mainly imported British and French equipment. After the Sino-French War, it mainly imported British equipment. Later, Lord Li was obsessed with German weapons, and German equipment was more cost-effective, so the focus shifted to the Germans.

After the Germans occupied Jiaozhou Bay, the Qing Empire had to rent the next door to the British to balance the Germans who were full of attack awareness. The China Merchants Steam Navigation Company gradually shifted its procurement focus to the United States and Japan.

Buying heavy manufacturing equipment in the United States and light manufacturing equipment in Japan are both more than 30% cheaper than the market price of British, French and German machines.

Nanhua's is not expensive, but official transactions are prohibited by the old witch, and they are all private transactions, and the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company does not participate.

After the war, the Qing Empire canceled its orders to Japan, and the United States could not deliver goods. In desperation, the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company began to seek new sources of goods.

China Merchants Group publicly announced that it would buy German goods, but privately, all officials wanted to buy goods from Nanhua, because Nanhua could issue German invoices and get 30% profit out of thin air - this was a rebate that Germany could not afford.

So, Sheng Jicai took a ship and hurried to Sishui, looking for various machines to purchase, but got lost.

"Qingshan Machinery Factory?" A passerby rode a bicycle and looked at his companion with a confused face, "Have you heard of Qingshan Machinery Factory?"

"Qingshan Machinery Factory? Sounds familiar... I think so." Companion A scratched his head.

"You have braids, are you from Daqing? Why are you going to Qingshan Machinery Factory?" The passerby saw his companion thinking and chatted boredly.

"Uh..." Sheng Jicai smiled embarrassedly, "I heard that Qingshan Machinery Factory sells equipment and provides free technical guidance for installation. Hanyang Factory got their help. I have a place and want to buy some equipment."

"Oh! Didn't the 2nd Steel Factory move away, leaving the operation workshop and changing the name. It seems to be called Qingshan Machinery Factory. I heard that 1st Steel and 2nd Steel cooperated to complete the transformation of Hanyang Factory and sold several production lines." Companion A clapped his hands when he heard Hanyang Factory.

"2nd Steel Factory... Are you sure? Don't give people the wrong way." The passerby hesitated.

"It's him, it's him, he has transformed Hanyang Factory." Sheng Jicai handed over two Shell cigarettes, Volkswagen tobacco, which should not be smoked by people of Sheng Jicai's level.

"Then, you sit in my back seat. I'm on my way to the steel plant. I'll take you there. If it weren't for you, ask the guards over there. They would definitely know." The passerby took the cigarette and greeted Sheng Jicai.

"Hey! That's a bother to you..." Sheng Jicai said with a smile on his face.

"What's the problem? I'm on my way. Come on up and wait for the servants to get off work." The passerby urged.

"Then... thank you for your help. Nanhua is different. People are so warm-hearted." Sheng Jicai praised.

Although Sheng Jicai was born in the Sheng family, his family was only a branch of the family. He was the second son. His father was a poor student who only knew how to study. His family was in financial difficulty since he was a child.

Sheng Jicai was taught by his eldest brother to study. Later, his eldest brother also went to the Sheng family shop to work as a clerk. He stopped studying and became an apprentice in the Sheng family business.

For the sake of his family, Sheng family gave him 100 coins every month. At that time, the price of rice was 2 taels per stone, 17 coins per catty. This amount of money was only enough to buy 6 catties of rice and 10 catties of brown rice.

Although it was not much, it was not bad. Most apprentices had no money. They had to do the hardest work, suffer the most vicious beatings, and be a shameless licking dog. Only when they felt comfortable licking the master could they learn something.

However, his mother was sick all year round. Although the Sheng family paid for the medicine, it also cost money to nurse her, so Sheng Jicai developed a frugal and even stingy character - but mainly to himself.

Even after he became the shopkeeper, became a purchaser, and made a fortune, this character remained unchanged. He was not stingy to others, but extremely stingy to himself.

"We are here. It is really renamed Qingshan Machinery Factory." The passerby said in surprise.

"I told you, you still don't believe it. Brother, see you later." Companion A bowed.

Sheng Jicai hurriedly bowed, handed out another cigarette, and then said a few polite words before sending him away.

…

"I am Sheng Jicai, a purchasing agent for the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. I have heard of Director Zheng for a long time. Today I meet him and it is true..." Sheng Jicai bowed to Zheng Delin, the director of the machinery factory.

"Sir Sheng, I have heard of you for a long time. Please don't say these things. I know what I am like. I am just a rough man, but I am not as eloquent as you." Zheng Delin waved his hand.

"I heard that the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company has received orders from the machinery bureaus of three provinces, and it also needs to replace equipment and purchase ships. Is this the reason for Sir Sheng's visit?" Zheng Delin asked directly.

On the 20th, Nanhua realized that the opportunity had come after receiving the first order for textile machinery. The Ministry of Commerce cooperated with the Audit Department to collect a lot of demand orders from the Qing Empire and sent them to various factories.

Zheng Delin listened to the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company and directly found the information of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, and got a clear understanding of Sheng Jicai's needs.

"Uh..." Sheng Jicai was a little unpredictable.

"Don't get me wrong, there are more people coming here recently, so we have to do some preparations. I don't know which machines you want. This is the quotation. The ones with a check mark are available, and those without will have to wait." Zheng Delin took out the list directly.

However, in the past ten days, more than 20 groups of people have come to the Qing Empire. Except for the Nanbeiyang, which was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the others were casual. With the reputation of transforming the Hanyang Factory, many people came to Qingshan Machinery Factory, and Zheng Delin had already made preparations.

"Then... How much is this set, and there is a full set of steelmaking equipment. I wonder if it can be cheaper..." Sheng Jicai was still a little unaccustomed to being able to do things without treating people to meals or gifts.

"I give the lowest price. To put it bluntly, we are all connected, and I won't cheat you." Zheng Delin denied the possibility of a price reduction.

After some negotiation, Sheng Jicai placed an order for more than 1 million taels of silver, and then rubbed his hands.

"Do you have any way to buy ships? Don't worry, I know the rules."

"I'll call you to ask, the shipyard is slow recently, and the big ships have to wait." Zheng Delin said happily.

An order of more than 1 million taels, at least 60% profit, earning money, feeling happy.