The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 197 "Stirring the Stick"

October 10, Yingzhou (now Newcastle, Australia).

A train from the north slowly stopped at the platform. England's Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Spencer Compton, Baron Wilmington, stood up from the soft leather chair, opened his arms, and stretched.

To be honest, he kind of likes taking the train as a convenient means of transportation now. In the warm and comfortable private room, there are various drinks such as wine, coffee, milk, cocoa, etc., as well as snacks such as biscuits, pastries, cans, etc., as well as various illustrated magazines, books, and newspapers to pass the boring time - but, unfortunately, They were all square Chinese characters, and he couldn't read them at all.

If you are tired, you can sit back on the leather chair and close your eyes for a while. When it's time to rest at night, there is a soft and comfortable bed, making it easy to fall asleep soundly.

If you are hungry, you can go to the clean and tidy dining car to enjoy a reasonably delicious meal and order a few plates of seasonal fruits. Everything seems so leisurely and comfortable.

This is the best way to travel!
As for the traditional carriage, well, to hell with it!

"After the war between Britain and Qi ends, we must introduce railways and trains to the Kingdom of England no matter what." Under the guidance of several Qi diplomatic escorts, when heading to the platform VIP room, Baron Spencer Compton turned his head He glanced at the box behind him and thought to himself.

Yingzhou, an important town in the southeast of Hanzhou, is the largest coal export base in the country with a population of about 200,000. It is a hub station for traveling from south to north. The train will stop here for thirty minutes to add coal and water, and also Take a brief overhaul of the steam locomotive and get it ready for the next leg of your journey.

At this time, it was already evening, but countless gas lamps illuminated the train platform and waiting room as brightly as day.

During the reign of Emperor Taizu, in order to protect the fragile environment of the Hanzhou continent, a "Forest Protection Law" was promulgated, which strictly prohibited people from arbitrarily cutting down virgin forests around their residences and preventing local soil erosion.

The rise of gas stoves and gas stoves will cause the sales of briquettes to begin to decline, which should be a high probability, and will inevitably affect the operating profits of related briquette factories.

Well, those multi-story residential and apartment buildings in the city will introduce a large number of such products, making the installation and use of gas stoves and gas stoves more intensive and large-scale, and driving their costs to further decrease.

After some wealthy and powerful people used gas stoves and gas stoves, they also strongly pursued this new thing and regarded it as a symbol of modern civilized life. After all, no one wanted their beautiful house to be blackened by soot.

This thing is much more convenient than using a coal stove in the corridor, and the indoor environment will be cleaner and hygienic.

Up to now, Qi's modern life is inseparable from the support of gas. Gas lamps have extraordinary lighting capabilities and can illuminate streets and private homes even brighter. Many government departments and large-scale factories have also introduced and installed gas lamps. After all, when you work overtime at night, you can't rely on the dim light of candles or oil lamps to help you do things, right?
The new machines in the factory can run continuously day and night. With cheap gas lamps, it is very cost-effective to realize night shift production under large-area lighting. Next, in order to comply with the general demand for expanding production, local municipalities also began to replace street lamps one after another, and installed such lighting equipment on the roadside in most of the factory and mining areas that were still dark and foggy. In this way, it is safe for workers to walk at night, making shift production more secure. Some local gas companies then planned to lay underground pipeline networks so that gas could flow along the pipes into lamps and lanterns in streets, alleys and halls.

What you get from coal is not only light, but also a dirty, sticky, and unpleasant-smelling oil - coal tar. Coal tar can be used to synthesize more than a dozen dyes for dyeing in the cotton textile industry. Compared with dyes extracted from plants, the dyeing performance is more reliable and the raw materials obtained are more stable. Well, this is also one of the important reasons why the quality of dyed cotton in Qi is generally better than that in other countries.

It can be said that one of the most "bright" signs of Qi's industrialization process is this artificial light that emits pale light and spreads from Hanzhou to the world, illuminating those "ignorant" areas that are still in darkness.

In fact, God is very fair. He has given Hanzhou Continent barren land, insufficient water resources and unpredictable climate environment. However, as if to compensate for the lack of this land, it has also given Hanzhou Continent It has rich mineral resources: gold and silver mines that are coveted by the world, iron ores with extremely high grades and abundant reserves, and coal mines with equally huge reserves, all of which have laid a solid material foundation for the development of Qi's industrialization.

In addition, coal tar contains a variety of noteworthy chemicals that could create a whole new field of industrial research.

In rural areas, in order to save money, frugal farmers generally use harvested crop straws and dead wood and weeds as fuel, supplemented by a small amount of briquettes. Of course, there are also a small number of wealthy farmers who like to use briquettes to show off their status, which is another matter.

In order to provide fuel for making fires and cooking, Hanzhou has established a briquette factory in almost every county, specializing in selling machine-made briquettes. Therefore, local urban residents now mainly use briquettes for cooking and boiling water - which is also one of the main sources of pollution in the city. The cost is not much more expensive than buying firewood.

It was not until the twenty-sixth year of Qianwu (1668) that a senior craftsman at the Heishan Coke Factory successfully used gas to install the first gas lamp in the workshop. This "useless" gas was turned into treasure and applied to in actual production and life.

Later, after improvements and various safety hazards of gas lamps were gradually eliminated, gas lamps were gradually promoted and applied from Jianye Prefecture to all parts of the country, and there was a strong trend of gradually replacing whale oil lamps with poor lighting effects.

Initially, this kind of lamp was very unsafe and was prone to the danger of flammable explosions when used indoors, so it was only used sporadically as urban street lights.

Coal, as the most important industrial fuel during this period, has been utilized to the extreme by Qi State. From coal mining to coal refining and extraction, as well as a series of related ancillary products derived from it, Qi State has begun to take shape. Coal chemical industry.

This is true for the rich and powerful, and the middle class with higher incomes naturally have to keep up with the pulse of the times, jump on the bandwagon, buy corresponding gas stoves, and try their best to bring their living standards closer to the upper class.

According to rough estimates by commercial investment institutions, with the government's vigorous promotion, the production and sales volume of gas stoves and gas stoves should be able to increase at an annual rate of 8-10%, which will gradually reduce their production costs and initial installation fees, and then This will stimulate a further increase in sales of these products, eventually making them standard equipment for middle-class and above households across the country.

The first was the extraction of a substance that later became very important, called aniline, from coal tar.

Regarding the application of gas, in addition to gas lamps, researchers in Qi also developed and manufactured gas stoves and gas stoves for use by the urban middle class and high-income classes. As soon as this "clean energy" was launched, it immediately received strong support from the government, because the use of gas stoves is definitely more effective than burning coal directly. It produces almost no waste gas, which is very important for improving the quality of the entire city. Air quality is of great benefit.

The discovery of coal gas can be traced back to more than 80 years ago, when the state of Qi was refining coal to coke. However, at that time, due to the simplicity of the gas collection container and the fact that scientific researchers at that time did not fully understand the performance of gas, they did not utilize it. I just feel that the gas released from the coal can burn easily, and the burning fire is very bright.

Aniline is one of the most important intermediates in the dye industry and can be used to prepare various dyes in the dye industry. In the pesticide industry of later generations, it was used to produce many pesticides and fungicides; aniline is also an important raw material for rubber additives and used to manufacture antioxidants; it can also be used as a raw material for pharmaceutical sulfonamides, and is also used in the production of spices, plastics, and varnishes. , film, etc.; it can even be used as a stabilizer in explosives.

The second item is to convert aniline into another substance, phenol. Phenol, commonly known as carbolic acid, has bactericidal and antiseptic properties. It was first used to experiment with sewage treatment processes and later became famous when a surgeon at the Royal College of Physicians used it to prevent postoperative infections. It was this achievement of this doctor that enabled many patients who underwent surgery to avoid dying due to wound decay.

However, the most important thing is the third discovery in coal tar - aniline black. It was the first organic dye to come from a laboratory. Its appearance aroused great interest in Qi's chemical community. After years of exploration and experimentation, aniline black has gradually been used in industrial printing inks, wood coatings, decorative coatings, plastic coatings, shoe polish coloring, leather dyeing and other purposes. "If relevant coal chemical technology can be introduced from Qi, the rich coal resources of the Kingdom of England will certainly be turned into a huge commercial resource." Baron Spencer Compton listened to a brief introduction to Qi's coal chemical industry. After learning about the development, a somewhat fascinated expression appeared on his face.

After more than four months of arduous negotiations in Chang'an, the armistice contract between Ying and Qi has come to an end. After the Kingdom of England made huge concessions, the main terms of the contract have been initially reached. What remains are just the details and how both parties will implement them in the future.

Under this situation, Baron Spencer Compton decided to return to Europe and submit the draft contract to Parliament for review and to His Majesty the King. If nothing else goes wrong, the Parliament will vote and approve it, and then His Majesty the King will sign and seal it, and the Anglo-Qi War will come to an end.

Before the negotiations began, under the strong request of Baron Compton, the Qi government agreed to temporarily suspend all war actions and lifted the blockade and harassment of the Kingdom of England and even the North Atlantic shipping lanes.

In this way, the Kingdom of England can take a breath of relief and import some much-needed grain, wood, sugar, tea, coffee, and other necessary production and daily necessities from abroad.

The goods accumulated in various ports can also be smoothly sailed to the North American territories and several tropical islands in the Caribbean, in exchange for massive amounts of tobacco leaves, cotton, and lovely gold and silver coins.

Compared with before the war, in three years, the overseas trade of the entire Kingdom of England dropped by more than 90%. All merchant ships were trapped in the ports. No one cared about the goods produced in factories and workshops. Countless factory owners and traders Bankruptcy.

Many civilians in the country became homeless without food and clothing, and died tragically on the streets of London on winter nights because of hunger and epidemics.

Qi's continuous maritime blockade, the desperate Irish uprising, and the upsetting Scottish Kingdom's secession war have had a huge impact on domestic industrial and agricultural production, which cannot be fully described in a few words.

I once thought that Isolated in the sea, with its superior geographical advantage as an island country, I could escape the flames of war. However, under the attack of a maritime overlord more powerful than the Kingdom of England, this unique geography turned into a disaster. Millions of kingdoms It is difficult for the people to obtain any external material and personnel support.

All of this seems like a nightmare, and it's time to end!

Of course, to end this war, the Kingdom of England also paid an extremely heavy price.

The overseas colonial territories of Newfoundland, Acadia (today's Nova Scotia, Canada, Cape Breton Island and Saint-Jean Island were French territories at this time), British Belize, and the British Bahamas Islands were given to Qi.

An indemnity of seven million pounds—a disgraceful figure considering the size of the population England possessed—was one pound per head, repayable over twenty years at an annual interest of four per cent, secured by the customs duties of the Kingdom of England.

Ireland is allowed to establish an independent state, but the Kingdom of England can retain the right to reside and administer the three counties of Northern Ireland in the form of a lease.

The domestic market is open, with London, Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle as designated treaty ports, and import and export tariffs for various commodities are negotiated and formulated by the two countries.

Cast the captured officers, soldiers and merchant sailors.

The King of England sent members of the royal family to Chang'an to apologize (apologise) for provoking the war.

The terms such as land cession, compensation, market opening, and royal apology may seem harsh, but in Baron Compton's view, they are still acceptable.

Newfoundland and Acadia were taken from the French during the War of Spanish Succession. It would not be a pity to lose them to Qi. Moreover, handing over the above two places to Qi State can also drive a wedge between Qi and France and drive a nail between them (both places have a large number of descendants of French immigrants).

Belize was taken from the Kingdom of Spain and ceded to Qi, which was just the right time to break up the nominal alliance between Qi and Spain and allow them to add fuel to the fire for the fight for American territories.

Humph, I don’t believe it. Qi’s vassal state in South America continues to invade and seize Spanish American territories. How can the Kingdom of Spain endure it again and again?
Now, the transfer of Belize to Qi will surely stimulate the fragile nerves of the Kingdom of Spain even more.

To the north of their New Spanish Viceroyalty is Qi State's Yinzhou Territory, to the southeast is Qi State's newly acquired Belize, and near the Isthmus of Panama is the Haizhou Viceroyalty. Coupled with Qi State's powerful maritime power, the Kingdom of Spain may have trouble sleeping and eating for this. Get settled!

As for Ireland, allowing it to establish an independent country may be more harmful to the Kingdom of England, which is also a pity.

After all, losing the colonial territory at your doorstep will result in a loss of tens of millions of pounds of exploitation income every year. It will also cause many manor owners and nobles who invested in Irish land to lose all their money at once, and may be criticized by some domestic noble MPs. opposition and protest.

However, this armistice contract was not without some benefits to the Kingdom of England. At the very least, Qi recognized the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of England in the British Isles and gave up its position of supporting Scottish independence.

Yes, that "old tyrant king" James III was abandoned by the people of Qi!
Also, the large-scale influx of Qi capital and goods into the Kingdom of England, although inevitably suppressing the development of domestic "national industry", can more or less introduce a large number of advanced Qi industrial technologies and management methods.

During the more than four months of negotiations, Baron Compton had a vague feeling that Qi did not want to overly weaken England. Instead, it expressed its intention to work hand in hand with the Kingdom of England, which had been "baptized" by war, and continue to implement the balance of power on the continent. Strategy to prevent the emergence of a certain hegemon in the region and the unification of the European continent.

Support the independence of Ireland to contain the Kingdom of England, unite England to check and balance the European countries, and finally realize the island country's maritime strategy!

Baron Compton thought deeply about this and couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

Is it possible that we in England are a "stirring stick" in Qi's strategy on the European continent?

(End of this chapter)