The two ships that arrived in Europe this time were equipped with some machinery and equipment when they returned. Most of the space was used to carry people.
With the help of Prince Adalbert, Wang Tao recruited hundreds of people this time.
Among them are scholars who are not taken seriously, scientists who are down and out because of experiments, and skilled workers who have been laid off by factories due to overproduction.
Regardless of their professional background, they all embarked on a long voyage with the dream of getting rich in the East.
Schönbai, who was in his fifties, should not have appeared on this ship. He was beyond the age of going out to make a living.
He was a chemistry professor, but he almost went bankrupt because of something he invented.
In order to continue his experiments, he had to agree to the invitation of Wang Tao, a scholar and diplomat from the East, to the far East. The former promised to let him serve as the dean of a chemical engineering college.
And promised to give him an annual remuneration of no less than 5,000 marks. At the same time, he was willing to fully fund his nitrocellulose experiment.
Schoenbai has always believed that he can find a stabilizer for digestive fiber. Put a halter and a shackle on the manic nitrocellulose to make it docile and controllable.
But every time he reported back to him, the result was a violent explosion, and the university kicked him out of the laboratory. The laboratory he rented was also damaged in explosions, and he had to continuously pay compensation.
The huge compensation gradually emptied his savings over the years. He wanted to seek funding from an explosives factory or the government.
However, everyone believed that nitrocellulose was an uncontrollable explosive and could not be used normally, so no one was willing to fund him.
Many people are saying that he was driven into paranoia by successive failed scientific experiments. Everyone looks at him like a mental patient.
When he was desperate, an Easterner named Wang Tao found him. He had listened to Wang Tao's speech. He talked about Eastern alchemy and explained that gunpowder was invented by these alchemists more than a thousand years ago.
, and eventually spread to Europe.
The alchemists of the East and the alchemists of the West were the earliest chemists.
Schönbai thought that maybe he should go to the mysterious Eastern country where gunpowder was invented. He had a hunch that he could have good luck there and find the stabilizer of nitrocellulose in one fell swoop.
"Uh... maybe I'm really crazy." Looking at the port getting further and further away, Schonbein thought in his heart.
Every great scientist has such stubbornness. As long as they can achieve the goal of research, they will be strong and compromise.
…
As mentioned before, Mai Lian, who should have arrived in Shanghai, has not appeared for a long time. So where did he go?
Mailian went to China as minister this time with an important mission. Mailian did not pay much attention to this ancient country in the East. He felt that sooner or later, China would become a colony of Western powers like India.
It's just that this time the United States has caught up with a good opportunity. The great chosen country, the United States, will also tear off a large piece of flesh from this old empire, thus achieving America's take-off.
This time Mai Lian has two tasks in the East:
One is the signing of the "Treaty of Goodwill" agreed with Japan last year.
The other thing is to try hard to urge Britain and France to force the Qing to change the treaty. With the Qing court's usual response, it is very likely that they will stall and delay. In the end, this matter will prompt Britain and France to send troops to invade China.
The United States will appear as an accomplice. When Britain and France sign a new treaty with the Qing Dynasty, Mailian can take the opportunity to get a share of the pie with Britain and France.
Americans have very precise business calculations. If this wave of operations succeeds, it will be a waste of money and will be a pure benefit to the United States.
So Mailen did not go directly to Shanghai, but to Hong Kong, where he would meet Perry's East India Fleet.
Mai Lian brought three warships to China this time, plus Perry's four. Mai Lian believed that with these seven warships, forcing Japan to sign a contract would be a trivial matter.
As long as Britain and France do not interfere, this fleet can go sideways in the Far East.
After joining Perry's fleet, Mai Lian made a brief repair in Hong Kong and immediately headed north.
Mai Lian didn't know that their every move in Hong Kong was under the nose of the Huai Navy Intelligence Department's spies.
These spies were sent to Hong Kong by Dong Shuheng to monitor the Perry fleet. They could do a lot in one winter. They had even bribed an Irish sailor on the ship.
These American sailors did not stay peacefully on the ship during the past few months in Hong Kong. They spent every day in various restaurants to pass the time.
However, some sailors did not have that much money to spend, so they gave intelligence agents the opportunity to bribe them.
As long as the bribed sailors provide some information about the fleet, they can get a large sum of money, which is enough for them to find a white woman to vent their feelings and try their luck at the casino.
Mailian's arrival and their next plan soon reached Dong Shuheng. Dong Shuheng, who returned to Yangzhou, happened to receive the news from Hong Kong. Only then did he know that Mailian had gone to Hong Kong.
The problem now facing Dong Shuheng is that he is likely to have a big fight with the Russians after May.
But if the Americans go north to Japan, it is very likely that a war will break out. It is impossible for the Huai Navy not to take action by then.
Therefore, the Huai Navy may face the embarrassing situation of fighting on two fronts. Although one side is currently a second-rate country, it will definitely bring some trouble to the Huai Navy.
I couldn't think of a good way, so I had to brainstorm. So General Dong Shuheng and a group of political leaders convened a meeting to discuss how to break this situation.
"The president's intention is that it is best to solve Japan's problem within three months, and then we can fully deal with the Russians. So we cannot wait for the Americans to hit a wall after arriving in Japan, and then come back to plot against us."
Chief of General Staff Yan Shikun analyzed.
"Well, it's the problem that General Staff Officer Yan mentioned."
"I would say we should just declare war on the United States. I think they are so far away and they probably don't have many troops in the east." Liu Qingnan, commander of the teaching division, said when he returned to Yangzhou to report on his duties.
Huai Haijun's offensive has basically ended. Peng Yulin, Liu Qingnan, Wang Congzhi, and Yang Bingchun have all returned to Yangzhou to report on their duties. Huai Haijun's next move will be decided after discussion.
Regarding the Taiping Army, Dong Shuheng has been hesitating in his heart whether to crush them with strength or wait for the opportunity that appears in history.
The things he had done around Tianjing before were to prompt this opportunity to appear in advance. But the specific time was not something he could predict.
Therefore, after the previous troops faced off against the Taiping Army, Dong Shuheng stopped the Huai Navy's offensive.
The reaction of the Taiping Army also confirmed Dong Shuheng's thoughts.
In order to further confirm He's idea, Dong Shuheng even arranged for the second division to capture Raozhou and Jingdezhen. On the one hand, he could take the production of porcelain into his hands, and on the other hand, it was a further test of the Taiping Army.
Under such circumstances, the Taiping generals on the front line were able to refrain from launching a counterattack against the Huai Navy. This shows that they must be planning something important and do not have the time and energy to engage in a big battle with the Huai Navy.
…
"Commander Liu, if we take the initiative to declare war on the United States, the impact will be too great. Britain, France and other countries may think that we are provoking the Western world, and they may turn to support the United States. But it is different when the United States attacks and we passively defend.
Zeng Xianfeng objected.
After honing his position as Prime Minister of the Huaihai Navy Government for so long, Lao Zeng is now able to use an international perspective when looking at problems.
"What Lao Zeng said is true, so we can only look for other breakthrough points."
"President, my subordinates think we may have a breakthrough point." Liu Dahai, who had been silent until now, suddenly said.
As he spoke, he stood up and walked to the world map in the conference room, pointing to a small archipelago between Japan and Taiwan on the map.
"Look, everyone, this is the Ryukyu Kingdom. It has always been a vassal state of our country, and it still pays tribute every year."
"The current king of Ryukyu is King Shangtai, who is only twelve years old this year. The power in the country is basically in the hands of the Cai, Lin, Jin and other big families. These big Ryukyu families basically moved there during the Ming Dynasty
Of course there are also some descendants of pirates.”
"Ryukyu's main income comes from tribute trade. They don't have any special products. They used to obtain goods through tribute and resell them in Naha. However, this revenue path was later occupied by the Satsuma Domain of Japan."
"Now on the main island of Ryukyu, what the Ryukyu Kingdom can control is Shuri Castle, and the port of Naha is basically under the control of the Satsuma clan."
Liu Dahai knew the Ryukyu Kingdom very well. Pirates in the East China Sea basically used Ryukyu as a temporary resting place at sea.
Naha Port is like a free port, a mixed bag of fish and dragons. Merchant ships and pirate ships can dock, and no one cares about it at all. The Satsuma family only firmly controls the commercial area of the port. They don't care about the ships entering the port.
"Commander Liu, you have said so much information about Ryukyu, but how should we use Ryukyu as an entry point?" Dong Shuheng had indeed ignored the value of Ryukyu before.
With the development of navigation, the role of Ryukyu's entrepot trade has become minimal. The small quota of goods obtained by Ryukyu through tribute cannot even be filled by a large ship.
Moreover, the Qing Dynasty's national door has been opened, and Western countries are importing goods directly from the Qing Dynasty, such as from Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Today, Naha is mainly used as a port for ships to transit and rest. Looking at the location on the map, it happens to be at a crossroads.
"President, my subordinates have remembered that King Shangtai of this generation has not yet been canonized by the imperial court. Envoys from Ryukyu came to seek canonization a few years ago, but the imperial court was so overwhelmed by the Taiping Army that it had no energy to take care of this matter." Zeng Xianfeng
Suddenly I remembered.
"I understand. We are sending troops to Ryukyu in the name of ennoblement. If the Satsuma Domain stirs up trouble, the Satsuma Domain will be wiped out. If the American fleet wants to make any move against us, it must pass through Naha. But then
If Ba is controlled by us, it will be equivalent to blocking the throat of Americans." Dong Shuheng suddenly realized.
Dong Shuheng suddenly remembered the first island chain in later generations. How could he forget such an important thing?
When he was planning the Huaihai Navy before, he only considered that Ryukyu had little resource value, so he did not put Ryukyu in his priority development direction.
However, he forgot that sometimes strategic location is also a kind of resource. Singapore also emerged in later generations due to its strategic location.
If you want to dominate the Pacific in the future, Ryukyu is a crucial link.