Chapter 207 1894

Time passed quickly, like a white horse passing through the gap. In a flash, it was the second year of 1895, the twenty-one year of Guangxu.

For Chinese history, the year of Jiawu, which was once the most far-reaching influence, has passed, and now it seems that that year is doomed to be uneasy. At the beginning of the Jiawu Dynasty, because there was a Manchu family starved to death in Yanjing City, which caused a great shock to the Qing court. The governor of Shanxi resolutely wrote to the court, asking for the cancellation of the Manchu people's reduction, and also to investigate the supervision of Na Tong and the Prime Minister Hu Chuyuan.

As a result, Hu Chuyuan found a less reliable criminal evidence and dismissed Gang Yi for investigation. In addition, he also gave a big board to the supervisor of the Persuasion Bureau and changed another person.

In recent years, China's economy has indeed recovered rapidly, especially in the development of Tianjin's textile industry. In 1894, China completely surpassed the United Kingdom to become the world's first textile exporter, and the total internal sales were only lower than that of the United States.

In 1894, China's steel production and coal mining volume ranked third in the world, the total railway length and shipbuilding industry output value ranked fourth in the world, and the total scale of machinery industry and chemical industry was behind Germany, the United States, Britain and France, comparable to Russia.

With the rapid development of China's raw silk industry and tea, silk fabrics and tea are basically not luxury goods. The price has been greatly reduced, and the total amount of foreign trade exports is also increasing year by year.

In the three fields of silk, tea and hemp, China still firmly occupies more than 90% of the world's scale. With the development of Hainan rubber industry and Taiwan and Liangguang sugar cane industry, the total output value of China's agriculture continues to develop and expand.

Unlike Germany and the United States, which are also developing rapidly, China lacks the power of technological innovation, but the world's largest technology absorption and transfer to China, especially in the electrical industry and chemical industry. It has the first 30 MW thermal generator set and 11KV transmission and transformation line, and also has the first real Commercially operated electric railway Baosong Line.

In Shanghai and Qingdao, Fubon Chemical Factory imported crude oil from the United States and Nanyang, decomposed and processed it in China, established China's petrochemical industry system, and intensively searched for oil fields in Shandong.

The two main railways from Shenyang to Hanyang and from Xi'an to Weihai have been connected. The railway from Xi'an to Xinjiang and the most difficult Ganmin Railway are under preparation.

The market value of the Shanghai stock market exceeds that of France, second only to London and New York.

China has reached 75% of the world's total silver reserves, and has forced the price of silver and gold to rise year by year, reaching a new high of 18:1.

Behind all this, the power of Shanghai's rich country is amazing.

With the successive listing of Jiangnan Commercial Bank and Beiyang Commercial Bank, Hu Chuyuan's holding rate in Jiangnan Commercial Bank has been reduced to 42%, and he also chose to control the entire domestic industrial development through Shanghai Fuguo, especially in the five aspects of iron and steel, metallurgy, machinery, shipbuilding and chemical industry.

In other industries, although Shanghai Fuguo has a holding position, it does not occupy a dominant position. Zhongrun Company, as a supplement, holds a control in real estate, textile, food and light industry.

Zhongrun Commercial Bank, a subsidiary of China Resources Company, is the purest private business firm at present, which basically realizes stock marketization. Hu Chuyuan holds 37% of shares through Shanghai Fuguo. The stock marketization of CITIC News Agency is also progressing rapidly. Shanghai Fuguo's shareholding rate has gradually decreased to 30%, and a large number of stocks have been transferred to two younger brothers and local farmers. Partner, Hu Zhenyuan also returned to China to take care of the business in Shanghai, and he was generally responsible for the business of Jiangnan Commercial Bank and CITIC.

To some extent, Hu Chuyuan has completed his asset transfer and cashing out, from agriculture and commerce to industry, especially heavy industry.

Hu Chuyuan has liberalized Zhongrun Company and Jiangnan Commercial Bank, and his control over the silk industry, tea industry and hemp industry has been loosened. However, he did not give up the real estate industry. His CITIC Land and Fuguo Land have gradually replaced Zhongrun Land and become the largest real estate group in China.

As for heavy industry, only he can control it on a large scale at present.

Only Shanghai Baosong Iron and Steel Machinery Factory and Shanghai Baosong Shipyard, he has invested 75 million yuan. The investment scale of Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Machinery Factory is larger. Since 1885, the total investment in ten years has reached 140 million yuan, and the production capacity accounts for 1/ of China's total steel production. 3. 3.

More than 60 metallurgical plants under Zhongye Company, Laiwu Iron and Steel Machinery Factory, Zibo Aluminum Factory, Liaodong Anshan Iron and Steel Machinery Factory, Daye Iron and Steel Factory, Tangshan Iron and Steel Machinery Factory, Tangshan Shipyard, Tianjin Machinery Factory, Liaodong Shipbuilding Factory, Ma'anshan Shipyard, Fuzhou Shipyard, Shanghai Yinghua Company Its Yinghua Electric Company, Shanghai Baosong Power Plant, Xuzhou Power Plant... These are all investments of tens of millions of yuan.

Calculated, investment can't be recovered in six or seven years, but it is with these factories that the downstream merchants can make money.

With the implementation of the Company Law and the Industrial, Commercial and Commercial Trade Law, domestic businessmen run factories, especially Hui merchants. Now they are known as ten factories and nine emblems, and nine of the ten factories are run by Huizhou people.

This sentence is inevitably a little exaggerated, but it is undeniable that the strength of Huizhou businessmen is indeed getting stronger and stronger.

Businessmen with an annual personal income tax of more than 100,000 yuan can pay 100,000 buyout income tax every year, and businessmen who have more than one million yuan can also pay one million buyout every year.

Such people are called 100,000 households and millions of households.

Today, there are more than 100 people in 100,000 households in Hui merchants, and more than 20 people in one million households.

In other words, there are at least 30 Hui merchants with assets of more than 100 million yuan.

It is precisely to take advantage of this huge business network. Hu Chuyuan has been implementing another proposition - educating private schools, through taxes and other methods, plus personal persuasion and influence. Over the years, a large number of schools donated by him and businessmen from all over the country have been scattered in almost all counties across the country, and there are schools in six provinces in the south of the Yangtze River and even in all towns and townships.

There are public schools above the school, and most of the public schools are still run by government offices in various provinces. Business schools and technical schools are mainly concentrated in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Fuzhou and other emerging places, and most of them are also organized by businessmen themselves.

Universities are run by foreigners, foreign churches, the central government, provincial government offices and Chinese businessmen. But at this stage, especially after 1890, studying abroad is the theme of university education.

In 1894, there were more than 3,000 overseas students supported by Hui merchants alone, and the number supported by the Huameng Association was second only to that of Hui merchants.

In 1894, the Qingzheng axe's annual income exceeded 550 million yuan, equivalent to 458 million US dollars. The annual income surplus was about 79 million yuan. The military expenditure of the navy was 58 million yuan. The military expenditure of the army, including the Green Camp and the Eight Banners Battalion, was 85.4 million yuan. Manchu support and clan support and internal affairs. The total amount of Fufeng silver is 83 million yuan.

Qingzheng Axe's debt to CITIC Bank and Bank of America has been reduced to 370 million yuan, and there are another 300 million treasury bonds. The overall financial situation is not bad. After all, a light tax system is implemented, with an average tax rate of less than 10%.

In addition, Qingzheng Axe still holds a certain amount of official stocks in major commercial banks across the country through the Prime Minister's government office. Once these official stocks are transferred to the stock market, they can cash out at least billions of yuan, and there is also a very good dividend every year.

Of course, it is also because of the large increase in the revenue and surplus of the Qing Dynasty that the Manchu people's demand for the restoration of support has become stronger. A year is higher than a year, especially the voice of Prince Shi Duo and Prince Qing Yiqi is the loudest.

In March of spring, April 8, 1895 in the Western Yuan calendar.

Hu Chuyuan took his family to visit the Baoguo Temple in Hangzhou. Then, he took Pan Limei and his youngest sons to Fuzhou. Then, he went to the United States and passed by the Kingdom of Hawaii for a second visit.

In the past two years, Pan Limei and Wu Shuzhen have not been getting along well with each other.

Two wives always have this kind of thing. Seeing that she was depressed, Hu Chuyuan decided to take her out alone and take her on vacation in Hawaii by the way... and then deal with the problem of the Kingdom of Hawaii by the way, which has been a little complicated recently.

At this time, Fuzhou was the most pleasant moment. Hu Chuyuan took his family to live in the French manor on the top of Pingding Mountain. Ding Ruchang, the Prime Minister of Maritime Defense, arrived a few days in advance, and the two inspected the Fuzhou Ship Administration Factory together.

After a few days of preparation, Hu Chuyuan held a ponytail meeting in the large conference room of the manor that night to make a plan for the navy for the next ten years.

Ding Ruchang, Minister of Marine Defense, Lv Han, Minister of Marine Defense Auxiliary, Ye Fu, Admiral of Beiyang Marine Division, Deng Shichang, Admiral of Nanyang Marine Division, Ye Zuke, Admiral of the East China Sea Division, Luo Dayou, the right servant of the Ministry of War, as well as technical officials such as Wei Han and Zheng Qingli, and Zhang Baixi, the special supervision minister sent by Emperor Guangxu, attended.

After the meeting began, Lv Han first made a report on the situation of the domestic navy and the development trend of the international navy. Everyone sent a copy, and then he spoke first and talked about it roughly.

In the past five years, the total tonnage of the Qing navy has been maintained at about 350,000 tons, and new ships have been built, but the old ships have also been resold to other countries, especially the Philippines, the Borneo Autonomous State and Latin American countries. Because four new Ningyuan-class battleships will be added this year and next year, the total tonnage has reached 427,000 tons.

This scale ranks first in Asia and the Far East, still equivalent to 30% of the United Kingdom, 63% of France, and 40% of the Navy's military expenses.

For the naval shipbuilding technology of the whole world, 1888 was a huge watershed. In this year, rapid-fire guns, smokeless launchers, cold-pressed nickel-chromium steel and Harvey steel gradually matured, and the overall layout and ideas of warships have undergone earth-shaking changes.

At present, most of the warships produced by the Prime Minister's Haiphong Yamen before 1888 have been eliminated and sold to the Philippines and the autonomous states of Borneo as second-hand warships.

The problem of Ningyuan-class battleships is relatively protracted. After the end of the Geng-Yin War, Britain took into account the balanced strategy of the whole Far East and suspended the construction of Ningyuan-class battleships for Qingzheng Axe on the pretext of cost.

In April 1892, Hu Chuyuan had to arrive in London in person to renegotiate with the United Kingdom, and finally continued to build a single ship at a price of 51.2 million yuan, which is about 7.11 million pounds.

This price is 40% higher than the original Sino-British Arms Sales Agreement. At the cost, the main protective armor is completely selected from the special steel provided by Armstrong, and the armor design is also more reasonable than the royal power level. The overall design has been improved on the basis of the royal power level. The artillery and artillery systems are all German. The Rump system.

At the same time, the whole set of design scheme and related parts of the technology were completely transferred to Fuzhou Shipping Administration, and a technical team was dispatched by Armstrong Shipbuilding Company in the United Kingdom to guide the production of the same model in China.

Compared with World War I and World War II, this price is still acceptable.

The 40% higher cost, Hu Chuyuan also offset by selling some official shares. From the book, Qingzheng Axe was still purchased at the price of a single ship of 36.57 million yuan. Even so, Manchu was still very dissatisfied and demanded that the purchase of warships continue to be banned, and even domestic construction would be stopped for several years.

So, there are so many bastards who only know how to make money.

At present, the Qing navy is still mainly composed of three major fleets, followed by the Yangtze River naval division and coastal naval divisions in various provinces, two 12,000-ton Ningyuan-class battleships, 10 main ironclads of 7,000 to 8,000-ton, 14 6550-ton Fuzhou-class ironclad ships, and 2,200 tons to 4,500 tons. There are 21 cruisers, 34 Chunyu-class destroyers and 27 defense ships.

The number of patrol boats, gunboats and torpedo boats is still relatively large, but in addition to the total tonnage, it is actually not much.

After all, the navy is still dominated by Hu Chuyuan, and he finally made a final, regardless of Man's nonsense, and continued to implement the construction plan of 10,000-ton battleships in Fuzhou Ship Administration General Factory.

The ironclad cruisers and dome cruisers have not kept up with the development of the times. They have been phased out within five years and replaced by all-steel Xiangyang-class light cruisers with specifications between 4,000 tons and 5,000 tons.

Ningyuan class only built two ships in China, Fuzhou Shipping Administration General Factory and Jiangnan Shipbuilding Factory built one each, only to increase experience. The new main battleship is named Liangzhou class, and the tonnage is still maintained at 12,000 tons. Between the Liangzhou class and the cruiser, a Weiyuan class battlecruiser is designed with a drainage tonnage between 8,000 tons and 10,000 tons.

The speed is slow, but the first-class ironclad ships with good attack and defense still need to be developed. On the basis of Zhiyuan-class and Fuzhou-class ironclad ships, the new type of Jinzhou-class second-class battleships are redesigned, with a drainage tonnage and Weiyuan-class battlecruisers.

The unified characteristics of the four types of warships of Liangzhou class, Weiyuan class, Jinzhou class and Xiangyang class are the use of new steel, steam turbine, kerosene mixed combustion technology, and electronically controlled artillery technology. The caliber of the main gun is still smaller than that of the British system. It is characterized by many main guns, the caliber of the main gun is completely unified, and the secondary gun adopts 75mm and 1 20mm rapid-fire gun.

In the past two years, Fuzhou Ship Administration has been carrying out practical experiments on large-scale steam turbines on Fuzhou-class ironclads, called the "New Fuzhou-class plan". Although the new Fuzhou-class has not been born, there is no problem in using steam turbines on ironclads with 7,000-ton-class displacement.

The spring rain class is still very advanced in overall technology. It continues to maintain the speed of production of 6 to 8 ships per year, and gradually replaces cruisers under 3,000 tons. Subsequent models should gradually absorb the latest mature technology at the same time, and continue to retain two experimental ships for the follow-up Prepare for the shower level.

With the complete shift of the Qing navy to the attack type, the role and status of the defense ship have declined significantly. The cheap surname is the most important. Therefore, the Zhenjiang-class defense ship continues to use cold-pressed nickel-chromium steel. There is no need to design a new model, but only a few experimental ships are reserved to prepare for the new Zhenhai class.

After the navy's plan for the next ten years is determined, it is expected that in 1905, the total tonnage of the Qing navy will be increased to 550,000 tons, with the strength to deal with the Russian and Japanese navies at the same time. The number of battleships above 10,000 tons will reach 12, the number of battlecruisers and second-class battleships of 8,000 tons will reach 20, and light and medium-sized 15 cruisers, 45 destroyers, 25 defense ships, and 20 torpedo assault ships.

There will be at least 30 submarines with actual combat value.

At present, few people really know the submarine plan. They can be counted with one hand, and they have not been discussed at the meeting. This is just the conclusion that Hu Chuyuan and Ding Ruchang have negotiated in Tianjin in advance.

To this end, Hu Chuyuan is stepping up his efforts to carry out research on battery, diesel engine and torpedo technology.

(to be continued)