Long-distance communication in 1875 was a very expensive thing. Even though China had wireless telegrams, Foreign Minister Li Xin only received a very brief message after his visit to Siam. "August 4th, the Republic of Prawn overthrew the monarchy and established a republic state system. The elected Senate organized the Japanese Constitution Compilation Team.?? The Constitution Compilation Group led by Takeo and Hijikata Suisan began the formal work of compiling the Constitution. The new Constitution will come into effect after the Senate and House of Representatives' decision. "
Important events had to be briefed. Even on the ship, they could receive regular radio notifications. Li Xin was very satisfied with this. Although the message was brief, it was impossible to guess the internal operation, but whether or not they received the message was the key.
After archiving the telegram, Li Xin began to prepare to dock in Java and Sumatra to visit the local construction. On August 7th, the liner arrived in Java. Unexpectedly, when they docked in Java, the local officials let the people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stay at the port for half a day before they were allowed to disembark.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw thousands of people on the ship. They looked like Japanese. They were armed and were boarding the ship in an orderly manner at the dock. After a few ships left, the local troops from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to greet them. During a private conversation, Li Xin asked the local comrades, "What are those Japanese doing?"
"Well …" The comrade pondered for a while. He had to tell the truth in front of the foreign minister. The comrade gave a very serious answer. "Those Japanese were hired by the local China militia to clean up."
Li Xin didn't say anything after listening. He understood what had happened. After the local inspection, Li Xin found that since ancient times, Java had only been inhabited by China. That was the only fact in Java now. Later, when he visited Sumatra, it was the same. Since ancient times, Sumatra had only been inhabited by China.
Java and Sumatra were really magical places. There was oil underground and palm oil on the ground. No matter what kind of oil it was, it had huge economic benefits for China. Not only did it provide raw materials, but it also led to industrial development.
After the end of the five-year plan, China's steel production finally stabilized at the level of 300 million tons. It was useless to produce a bunch of steel ingots and store them in the warehouse. No one in the civilian world would store such things anyway. Steel had to be processed into steel products. At this stage, the biggest consumers of steel were railways, shipping, and housing. Compared to these, the factory did consume a lot of steel, but the consumption was relatively small, and it required special steel with more technical content. On the contrary, they had much less demand for real crude steel products.
There was no need to mention the railway, the steel track was laid out very well. The shipbuilding industry, or more accurately, the shipbuilding industry for oil transportation, has been developing rapidly recently. The new type of oil carrier was simple in structure and could be built quickly. The wide, all-metal hull was suitable for long-distance transportation. Steel ribs, iron plates, riveted joints, surface rust removal, painting, installed power, trial voyage, and then it could be used to transport oil. A ten thousand ton ship would require thousands of tons of steel. China had about 20 ships, including those that were completed and under construction. It was said that the total production could reach 50.
The ship also needed a lot of oil barrels. Even if one oil barrel only used 20 kilograms of steel, 100,000 oil barrels would require 2000 tons of steel. China had produced about 5 million oil barrels so far, and 100,000 tons of steel had been easily consumed. After the tanker arrived at the dock, the oil barrels that had been filled with oil were placed in several levels in the cabin and fixed. Then it turned around and sailed towards China's territory. After unloading the cargo at the port, it turned around and continued to advance towards the former Dutch East Indies, now Sumatra and Java.
The construction of the port also required a lot of steel. Railways and bridges were also large consumers. Li Xin had long heard that steel was the backbone of a country. Now he completely agreed with this description. It was useless for a country to rely on numbers. If they wanted these people and resources to be effectively transported and used, they had to lay countless amounts of steel under their feet.
Even residences were the same. Buildings that looked like they were made of wood and bricks were supported by steel buried in the beams.
With this understanding, Li Xin was very confident about his upcoming trip to Turkey. According to the intelligence, the Ottoman Empire, which had territories in all three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa, had hundreds of years of history, and had once suppressed Europe to the point where they could not even breathe. He was confident that the Ottoman Empire would be able to restore its former glory. Since the Osman Empire had such confidence, the proposal to help them build the railway would also be approved.
On August 19th, China's Foreign Minister Li Xin also arrived in Istanbul. Ahmet? Midhat Pasha was in charge of receiving the distinguished guests from China. He did not expect the foreign minister of China to arrive in Istanbul so soon for a diplomatic visit.
Sultan Abdul Aziz of the Osman Empire warmly received the foreign minister of China, Ahmet? Aziz warmly received the foreign minister of China, Ahmet Abdul Aziz. The agreement of intent brought back by Midhat Pasha made the Sultan and the court of the Osman Empire feel very incredible. It was not that there were no foreign companies that proposed to build railways in the Ottoman Empire, but there was no company like China that did not attach conditions to the construction of the railway.
They heard the young foreign minister of China personally say that Ahmet Pasha and Ahmet Pasha had the same message. Midhat Pasha delivered the exact same message, and the Sultan and the court ministers laughed heartily. It was a kind of joy as if they were listening to a joke.
Li Xin was from the Ministry of Commerce, so it was no pressure for him to laugh. He laughed as if he did not hear the thoughts of the Sultan and the ministers at all. But deep in his heart, he was extremely disappointed. He did not even need to compare himself with a hero like Vézé. Compared to other small countries that were far less prominent than the Osman Empire, the Sultan and the ministers might not even be comparable.
Li Xin's first stop was Siam. King Rama V Chulalongkorn of Siam was only 23 years old this year. He ascended the throne at the age of 15. After ascending the throne, he first went abroad to explore China, India, and Java. After seeing the world, his horizons were broadened. After the child officially took over, Cambodia was first taken away by France, and then Laos was taken away by China. In the end, China swallowed France, a fat sheep, and opened up six territories into the Gulf of Siam.
In the end, Chulalongkorn endured it and admitted defeat. He was not the kind of person who was forced to admit defeat, but tried to keep up with the situation. After seeing modern countries, in 1874, Chulalongkorn planned to gradually abolish slavery in Thailand, while sending a large number of students to study in China. He also invited many consultants from China to help Thailand form a new government.
There were many overseas Chinese in Siam, plus Chulalongkorn's soft figure and achievements in China. The Restoration Party was quite appreciative of Siam, and Chulalongkorn took advantage of this opportunity to complete the border with China. He also signed the Sino-Siamese Friendship Treaty, which stipulated that the two countries respected each other's sovereignty and integrity, did not invade each other's territory, and did not interfere in each other's internal affairs.
China and Siam had a history of friendly exchanges, and Vézé never had any plans to annex Siam. Chinese immigrants were not persecuted in Siam, and because they brought advanced farming technology, they were welcomed by the local people. China really wanted to support Siam.
Siam increased the national treasury's revenue through the rice trade, and through the establishment of a new tax system and budget system, the country's finances were operating normally. Every year, the financial surplus was invested in infrastructure construction. Siam's situation was getting better day by day. China was preparing to build a railway from the northwest to the Gulf of Siam, and Chulalongkorn expressed that Siam was willing to reach an agreement with China to exchange rice for the railway project.
Since Siam was so cooperative, China had nothing to say. After the agreement was signed, they waited for China to first build its own railway, and then start the Siamese section of the project.
Compared to Chulalongkorn, who was an unusually mature and steady 23-year-old young man, the 45-year-old Sultan of the Osman Empire, who was smiling as if he was looking at a rare animal, looked like a naughty child who had not grown up at all.
Li Xin suddenly felt that this trip was great. The world was so big, and there were all kinds of people. Traveling around the world and meeting all kinds of people, he really felt that he had grown up. Because of the 100 tons of gold, Li Xin felt that he had been wronged enough. But from another perspective, if Li Xin worked for the Sultan of the Osman Empire, it wouldn't be wronged, but he would probably want to die.
His comments on people from other countries were his personal feelings. Diplomatic work was diplomatic work. Even if the other party was a pig, a qualified diplomat would communicate with the pig in a language that even the pig could understand.
At this time, a minister asked with a smile, "I'm afraid the British won't let China ship the railway tracks to us, right? How can we build the railway without the tracks? "
This gave Li Xin a chance. He replied, "We also have this worry, but even if we don't pass through the Suez Canal, we can still build the railway here. We can go through the Persian Gulf, unload the goods to Basra, and build a railway to Baghdad from Basra. From Baghdad to the east, build a railway through Damascus to Beirut. In this way, the Mediterranean can be connected to the Persian Gulf. At the same time, build a railway from Baghdad to the north, through Mosul, and west to the Bosporus Strait. From the Black Sea to the Persian Gulf, it will also be connected. The army of the Osman Empire can move through the domestic railway network like the German army … "
Li Xin didn't know what his words had touched the Sultan. His eyes began to narrow, and the wanton smile disappeared. A cruel and tyrannical thing was faintly discernible on the Sultan's face. Suman seemed to be talking to himself, "Transport troops through the railway?"
Regarding the Sultan's question, Li Xin calmly replied, "Yes, transport troops through the railway. When fighting on the interior lines, there is an advantage in mobility. The army of the Osman Empire can move quickly by train. Wherever troops are needed, troops from other areas can be mobilized to gather at the location where troops are needed. After the start of the Franco-Prussian War, Germany quickly gathered troops, relying on the railway network in Germany. "
"What if the rebels destroy the railway when they are suppressing the rebels?" the Sultan asked seriously.
Li Xin now understood the true meaning of the Sultan's tyrannical look. Thinking of suppressing other rebellious ethnic groups in the country, the Sultan of the Osman Empire had a strong desire to kill. Li Xin was a diplomat, and he was also responsible for improving the goodwill of the Osman Empire towards China, so he explained in detail, "The railway is not as simple as running a train on it. The railway itself needs a lot of stations and maintenance. These strongholds are difficult to supply without the railway. It is inefficient to station too many people, and it is dangerous when surrounded by the enemy's superior forces. With the railway connection, there are regular patrol vehicles coming and going, and these problems can be solved. The railway is not just a railway, there are telegraph lines along the line, and communication is very convenient … "
Li Xin and the others all had experience in the army and were no strangers to war. Li Xin's level was certainly not enough to fool the experienced soldiers of the Liberation Army, but it was more than enough to fool the Osman Turkish Sultan in the palace. What's more, what Li Xin said was not nonsense, but a rather serious "industrial country" war concept.
The Sultan listened carefully and became more and more interested. The Osman Empire had many foreign enemies, but the real enemy was the domestic rebels from Europe to Asia. The completion of the railway could effectively eliminate these internal rebels, and the Sultan was very interested.
However, the Sultan was interested, but in the end, there was no decent result. And Li Xin initially did not understand what the Osman Empire people were thinking. Of course, it was impossible for people in China's Ministry of Commerce not to play perfunctory tricks. If the Ministry of Commerce did not know how to evade, then they should not work in the Ministry of Commerce. The problem was that the Sultan's shamelessness was really beyond Li Xin's imagination. At least in Li Xin's judgment, the Osman Empire saw that the China Foreign Minister was very enthusiastic about the railway, and they thought they could ruthlessly extort it. Since China could come up with such favorable conditions, there was no reason not to force China to make more concessions.
If the Osman Empire really admitted that their mining level was terrible and they did not have the ability to use it on a large scale to pay off the debt. Li Xin was ready to continue to talk about cooperation in mining. But the Osman Empire, from the Sultan to the ministers, all had an attitude of "I call the shots in my territory." Foreign Minister Li Xin immediately made a choice. "Goodbye! You! "
He told the Osman Empire that Li Xin and the Italian side had already set a visit time. Foreign Minister Li Xin left the Sultan and was going to Italy. This time, the upper echelons of the Osman Empire were anxious. They did not expect the China Foreign Minister to act so quickly. He came and went as he pleased. They once again proposed to seriously discuss the matter of the railway, and Li Xin left behind the prepared diplomats. He let the Osman Empire negotiate with the full-time personnel.
Li Xin and his party sailed west to the finally unified Kingdom of Italy.
When the ship finally left the port of the Osman Empire, Li Xin breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he did not have to deal with this group of scum. Li Xin felt very carefree. There were many evil merchants in Europe and the United States, but the purpose of merchants was to make profits. As the famous Jewish profiteer said, "Being cheated once is the problem of the swindler. Being cheated twice is the problem of the swindler." Compared with these evil merchants, the feudal lords were ten thousand times more abominable.
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