Sometimes God is like a naughty child who likes to tease weak humans for fun.
When the weather was hot before, Dong Shuheng wanted to go to Jiangxi to escape the heat, but things kept coming to him one after another.
Now that we are busy, a typhoon comes and the weather cools down again.
This year's typhoons are not serious.
Because the Huaihai Navy rebuilt the seawall and set up sluices.
Seawater intrusion, which was common in previous years, miraculously did not happen this year.
People who have lived by the sea for many generations have passed this on as a miracle, and some even say that Dong Shuheng is the reincarnation of Gonggong.
If you can conquer the river you are a hero, but if you can conquer the sea then you are a god.
Of course, Dong Shuheng just laughed it off as he didn't need to create such rumors to consolidate his rule.
When you mythologise yourself, there is a high probability that your successor will mythologise yourself in the same way as you did.
Because he has inherited your power, it is natural for him to inherit your divine power.
A really powerful and clear-headed god wouldn't do much harm.
What I'm afraid of are people who obviously have no ability, let alone divine power. It's easy for them to really regard themselves as gods.
If he wants to show off his divine power, it will bring endless harm to the world.
For example, Hong Xiuquan's preaching eventually brainwashed himself.
In Dong Shuheng's heart, he hopes to use systems and laws to consolidate his rule.
Laws and systems may seem to be restricting you, but in fact their greater role is to protect you.
Even in France, where liberalism is rampant, the Enlightenment thinker Rousseau said that "freedom without restraint is not true freedom."
If people want to be free, they must first ensure that their freedom is not infringed. Then they must first restrain the people around them. Of course, such restraints must also be imposed on themselves, otherwise others will not comply.
Dong Shuheng believes that this also applies to rulers.
Judging from the death rate in Chinese history, the rulers seem to be a vulnerable group.
…
Thanks to the benefits brought by water conservancy projects, a large amount of rice has been planted in Jiangbei this year.
Of course, there are also many areas that are not suitable for paddy fields where large-surface cotton is grown.
Due to the development of the textile industry in Liangjiang region, the demand for cotton is increasing, and the price of cotton has been rising. Not only farms, but also many farmers themselves grow cotton.
Dong Shuheng imitated later generations and asked the military government to advocate the establishment of cooperatives for growing cash crops in various places.
Make the planting of some cash crops more scientific and make sales smoother.
Wei Yuzhen seems to be busier than Dong Shuheng, not only managing her own newspaper, but also teaching in the academy.
Recently she seems to have become friends with Atsushi again.
Dong Shuheng suddenly discovered that all the women who had some relationship with him had become Wei Yuzhen's friends.
Of course, except for Lu Feiyan, that woman has now become the most wanted female bandit leader by the court.
The Qing court paid one hundred thousand taels of silver to buy her head. Naturally, the money came from the wealthy wealthy families in Shanxi.
Lu Feiyan has shifted her focus to Shanxi during the past period, and has been in and out of Shanxi several times.
There was nothing the government and army could do against her. The big families in Shanxi suffered disaster. Several ancestral homes of Shanxi merchant families were breached.
The big silver balls that had been stored for hundreds of years were taken away by the Taihang column.
This is very exciting for these Shanxi old men.
As stingy as they were, they also began to spend money to train militia groups. Shanxi, the back garden of the Qing court, began to develop into a warlord.
Speaking of Wei Yuzhen, Dong Shuheng suspected that she wanted to establish her core position in the family in advance.
Of course, it is also possible that the women you have a crush on all have similarities, and they will flock to each other after meeting them.
Thinking of this, Dong Shuheng shook his head. Hui'er at home was the most worry-free. She stayed with her mother every day and obeyed her instructions.
Dong Shuheng didn't understand why a person like himself, who had experience in the life of the later generations, would still like women with elements of the later generations in their bodies.
There are too many wealthy families in Liangjiang who want to send their daughters to Dong Shuheng's bed.
Maybe it's because few women don't have their feet bound?
In his previous life, Dong Shuheng also saw women with their feet bound.
That's an old lady from the next door neighbor's house.
The old lady had her feet bound since she was a child. Once she took off her socks in front of several children. Dong Shuheng saw her little feet after they were bound.
The little toes have been stretched to the middle of the foot beam, far away from the front four toes.
It was really like chicken feet, and that time almost left a shadow in Dong Shuheng's heart.
But that was the last time I saw feet like that in my previous life.
After coming to this era, he never expected that he would be surrounded by feet like this, including his mother.
Hui'er only started wrapping them when she arrived at his house. After Dong Shuheng untied her, the little girl's feet were not deformed much.
…
"Yuxiang, what are Yuzhen busy with recently?"
"Uh, well, you're really embarrassing me. This girl is busier than our two brothers."
"My father is staying in the south of the museum all day now and has no time to care about her. Didn't you recently send him some animal bones and tortoise shells with words on them? He is studying the words on them and has forgotten to eat and sleep.
"
"That's true of what you said. Teacher, he is not in good health. It's best not to work so hard. Studying oracle bone inscriptions is not something that happens overnight."
These animal bones and tortoise shells were indeed found by Dong Shuheng’s people. Archaeological and historical research does not seem to have any immediate practical significance.
In fact, this is not the case. Historical research can explore the formation and evolution of a nation, which is very helpful for people to cultivate national pride and national self-confidence.
Dong Shuheng's trip to Dafeng was all about smokeless gunpowder.
Another thing is to go and meet little Krupp.
The couple is living very well in Dafeng now, and they are not in the dilemma of being bound by reality everywhere when they were in Prussia.
Krupp Jr. has recently been setting up a R&D center here in Dafeng.
Sort out the technologies brought from Prussia, especially artillery and smelting technology.
Although Huaike's factory has not been established, these technologies must be licensed in advance to Dafeng's arsenal and Xuzhou's steel plant for use.
Dong Shuheng also specially attended the two's make-up wedding in the church and sent his blessings to the two, which moved the couple deeply.
In fact, the main reason he came to see Little Krupp this time was to discuss the location of several new factories. One was an arsenal, which mainly produced artillery, and the other was a steel plant.
Dong Shuheng meant to place the two factories in the riverside area of Jiangning City.
Firstly, it has convenient waterway transportation along the Yangtze River. Secondly, Dong Shuheng knew that Ma'anshan in later generations was an iron ore producing area.
If the quality of the iron ore in Ma'anshan is not high, then the iron ore in Daye upstream is of high quality.
In addition, Pingxiang in Jiangxi is rich in high-quality anthracite. With these two steel plants can be built.
In addition, these places, Pingxiang and Ma'anshan, are all under the jurisdiction of Huaihai Navy.
Daye was under the rule of Zuo Zongtang. Dong Shuheng wanted to buy his iron mines, which gave him a way to make money. Lao Zuo would probably laugh from ear to ear.
Moreover, Jiangning City is about the same distance from these two places and is connected by waterways, so transportation costs are very low.
Of course, Dong Shuheng came to the conclusion after reading the introduction of Han Yeping Company in his previous life. In fact, he knew nothing about steel smelting.
So this time he found Little Krupp in person, just because he wanted him, an expert in smelting, to go there in person, conduct an on-site inspection, and make an assessment.
The construction of a steel plant is a big project, and moving it is also a big trouble. Therefore, you must be careful when selecting a location. Once you have chosen it, you cannot change it arbitrarily.
After listening to Dong Shuheng's suggestion, little Krupp readily agreed.
He happily said to Mary: "My dear, I can make up for the honeymoon trip I owe you!"
Mary is also a person with an out-of-the-box personality. He also likes to travel, especially in the mysterious East.
Apparently the two of them regarded the inspection arranged by Dong Shuheng as a trip.
But it is indeed true. For two foreigners who came to China for the first time, such an inspection activity did feel like a trip.
Little did they know, they went out and took a lot of photos introducing Chinese customs and customs.
Mary told a real China in very simple language, and made a picture album together with these photos.
This book was valued by Wei Yuzhen, and after being published by the Shanghai Commercial Press, it was marketed in Europe and became a best-seller.
Some people even say that it is the contemporary "Marco Polo's Travels". But unlike Marco Polo, she introduced the real China to Europeans.
This is a story for later.
Dong Shuheng wanted to place these two factories in Jiangning because of the consideration of future development of Jiangning.
A very large city cannot develop solely by relying on light industry, it must have a complete industrial system.
Heavy industry is the root of it.
After leaving Dafeng, Dong Shuheng passed by Gaoyou and attended the Gaoyou railway opening ceremony.
The speed of railway construction in this era was really fast. All the telegraph lines in Liangjiang River were opened.
The railway that was started at about the same time has only been opened for a short section.
Of course, there are still many sections of road that are under construction at the same time. However, the only one that is actually open to traffic is from Yangzhou to Gaoyou. In addition, the railway from Xuzhou to Haizhou is basically completed.
Dong Shuheng also found out from engineers that the main time was spent on bridge construction.
Railway bridges are different from previous bridge construction in China and require very high strength of the bridge. Currently, steel bridges are generally used.
The river network in Jiangsu is dense, and a large number of bridges need to be built to build railways. Therefore, although the railway lines are ready in some places, they cannot be accessed by trains, so they are waiting for bridges.
Compared with other cities, Gaoyou has the fastest urban development.
Because this place is mainly based on light industry, factories can be built very quickly. This is what light industry is like. As long as the factory is built and the equipment is installed, production can begin immediately.
Moreover, the population enrichment effect of light industry is very strong, and the influx of a large number of people plays a positive role in promoting the development of cities.
Here in Gaoyou, Dong Shuheng had already seen a group of buildings that would only be seen in later generations - a community.
These enclosed living areas are generally houses built by the factory to accommodate workers, and are mostly two or three-story townhouses.
Here Dong Shuheng really felt the atmosphere of a modern city. This was different from Yangzhou and Jiangning now.
Except for wealthy families, those big cities are basically just slums, with no middle class. Such cities will not see any major development.