Dominate the Country

The whole of Nanjing was filled with joy. The prosperity of the country and the prosperity of the state made the capital city with the largest population in the world excited.

You can’t know how precious it is without comparison.

Louisiana may be regarded as a great place by many people, but if this piece of land is equal to 15 Central Plains provinces, then all Chinese people will know how powerful it is.

In such a lively atmosphere, no one knew that the newly appointed Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of National Security, Xiao Jian, had already bid farewell to Chen Ming. He was not ostentatious at all, but he left Beijing South with a large group of his men at a very fast speed.

Chen Ming’s appointment was neither disclosed to the cabinet ministers nor discussed by the ministry, but this was normal. Because the officials of the national security and military intelligence departments have been personally controlled by Emperor Chen over the years. Even some job changes in the two ministries were beyond the cabinet’s control.

However, Xiao Jian was promoted from the position of director of the Economic Crime Investigation Department to the left assistant minister of the National Security Bureau. This change was somewhat unusual, causing speculation and discussion in the court and the public.

The Economic Crime Investigation Department is not of high rank, it is only a yamen of the fourth rank. Xiao Jian was promoted to the third rank because of his meritorious service. But this does not mean that the Economic Crime Investigation Department will not have any power or influence.

As can be seen from the name, the Economic Crime Investigation Department focuses on economic crimes. From the beginning, it was limited to officialdom, and later securities trading and financial transactions. The small fourth-rank yamen is a guillotine hanging over the heads of the capitalist class, with great power.

And now the boss of such a yamen has become the second in command of the National Security Bureau and the successor to the first in command of the National Security Bureau. What is the emperor going to do? Is it because the pressure on the bourgeoisie is not enough?

Or is he saying that he is very satisfied with the Economic Crime Investigation Department and values ​​it very much, or something else?

For a moment, even the princes were quiet. When Xiao Jian went south, they were even more frightened. Because they needed a lot of money to fight for the throne, buy reputation, manage personal image and power, etc., those corporate consortiums that contributed money to them behind the scenes could not run into Xiao Jian's hands.

Xiao Jian was promoted, and he went south immediately. This looked like a big move. So many people used pigeons to send letters, asking related companies to conduct self-inspections immediately, and if there were tax evasion or other illegal situations, they should make up for it immediately.

Before Xiao Jian's true purpose was determined, no one dared to be careless. The senior officials of Chen Han in Nanjing were still overjoyed by the good news they received a few days ago, but the emperor poured a basin of ice water on them in a blink of an eye. What was the intention here?

Very quickly, the political atmosphere of the senior officials in Nanjing changed. It's better to get off the excitement as soon as possible. An inexplicable atmosphere enveloped the sky above Nanjing. Countless pairs of eyes watched Xiao Jian and his party, passing through Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and going straight to Guangzhou. Many noble ministers who were involved in Guangdong and Guangxi were scared to death, while those noble ministers who were involved in Jiangsu, Zhejiang or Fujian immediately relaxed their minds.

But for Chen Ming in the palace, this matter was just a small episode. Xiao Jian was a card he played, and whether this card could achieve the expected effect depended on Xiao Jian's own ability.

It was time for national security and military intelligence to "change dynasties". Xiao Jian was a person Chen Ming was very optimistic about. Now he was the second in national security, but if he wanted to ascend to the highest seat smoothly, he had to give Chen Ming a satisfactory answer in this exam.

"Your Majesty. Mr. Watt wants to see you!"

In the palace, Chen Ming heard such a report.

In 1800, Watt's patent and Bolton's cooperation expired, and he retired in the same year. But their cooperation continued to the next generation. Matthew Bolton continued to cooperate with James Watt Jr., and at the same time absorbed William Murdoch as a partner to ensure the company's continued success. After Watt retired, he traveled to France and Germany with his second wife, and bought a house in Wales.

But soon, Watt received an invitation from Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences in China, and came to China with his wife.

Watt's feelings towards China are very complicated.

It was the Chinese who made his invention great, and everyone praised him as a "man who changed the world". But it was also the Chinese who stole the fruits of his labor, so that he only received a gift from Zhongshan Academy of Sciences in the huge market of China.

Watt was a man who loved money, and his actions in the UK proved this.

In order to protect his own interests, Watt did not hesitate to use power and patent law to suppress the latecomers. For example, Jonathan Hornblower invented another steam engine in 1780, but failed because he was sued for infringing Watt's patent.

The patent for the "sun and planet" crank gear linkage device applied by Watt in the same year and the patent for a steam engine applied in 1782 both have strong evidence that they were invented by his engineer William Murdoch.

However, William Murdoch never raised any objection to the ownership of the patent because of his interests. He worked for the company of Boulton and Watt all his life and was absorbed as one of the partners after Watt retired. Even after the crank patent that originally hindered Watt's invention expired in 1794, Watt's steam engine continued to use this "sun and planet" transmission technology.

Watt even obstructed the invention and promotion of other steam engines that were not patented by him, and believed that it was impossible to use steam engines to drive vehicles. As a result, the efficiency improvement of Watt's steam engine in more than 20 years after its birth was not as good as the short three or four years after 1800. It can be said that from this aspect, Watt definitely dragged the British down.

But Watt is still recognized as the inventor of the steam engine in the world, even in China. The new steam engine structure invented by Watt on the basis of the original steam engine has hardly changed in this engineering structure in the next 50 years. Only the "parts" have changed!

But this era is not the world dominated by Europe in the original time and space. In the rising Chinese China in the East, it is a powerful empire that makes the whole of Europe feel fear.

The pace of the British slowed down, and the British fell further behind China.

In the past two or three decades, the Chinese have invented one machine after another using steam engines, and a large number of steam-powered machines have been used in textiles, metallurgy, coal mining, transportation and other departments.

On the other hand, Europe still needs to learn from China in practical engineering machinery. Even many European countries are waving money to recruit engineers in China, but the results are not good.

Decades of development have made China extremely powerful, but its scientific theoretical attainments are still not as good as Europe, especially in basic theoretical research, there is still a certain gap between China and Europe.

China is now stronger than Europe in practical technology, because they have Chen Ming. Although Chen Ming does not understand technology, Chen Ming has a broad "vision" and a free mind. Many things that the natives of this time and space have not thought of, Chen Ming can point out, and can also state specific requirements.

It's like drawing a big framework, and then letting those who understand technology fill it in little by little. This is much more convenient than the "invention and creation" of Europeans. The result is that China is still recruiting basic theoretical researchers in physics, chemistry, mathematics, etc. from Europe, while mature Chinese engineers are urgently needed by Europeans.

It's just that the latter has gained very little!

The Chinese made Watt famous in Europe, and the Chinese also made Watt lose face. Now that Watt has retired, he could not refuse the invitation from Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences, the highest authority in the Chinese scientific community.

And in fact, Watt really came at the right time this time.

The wealthy Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences made a small golden steam engine weighing 22.5 kilograms, made of pure gold, and awarded Watt as the lifetime award of the Luban Award.

The Luban Award is one of the highest awards in the Chinese scientific community. In addition to the Luban Award, there is also the Shennong Award for agriculture, the Bian Que Award for medicine, the Shengong Award for architecture, and the trophy is a small Great Wall; then there is the Baijia Award for literature. There is also a comprehensive award - the Huabiao Award, which also has mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, philosophy, medicine, economics and other categories.

At the same time, Emperor Chen personally approved Watt's qualification to become an academician of the Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences, which is like the title of academician of the Royal Society of Britain. And Watt is one of the only three foreign academicians left in the Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences!

Therefore, Watt, who is only 70 years old, has really felt a little proud recently.

He has no worries about money. As an inventor, fame is a big pursuit for him. In the whole of Europe, apart from Watt, who else has won such a high honor in China?

Chen Ming praised Watt to the sky with the academician of Zhongshan Academy of Natural Sciences and the lifetime award of Luban Award.

But considering Watt's invention and the progress of British steam engine research that he had suppressed for more than 20 years, it would be enough to give him a low-level title.

It's a pity that Chen Han's lowest title is earl, and even a streamer title is impossible to give to Watt.

But Chen Ming is doing his best to praise Watt. He wants to let all Europeans see how China treats a great inventor.

If Watt could interact more with China in the early years, Chen Ming would have given him the crown of "Father of Industry", but unfortunately he didn't. He even said a lot of words that belittled the progress of China's steam engine, which of course was to relieve pressure on himself. But Chen Ming has a bottom line to praise Watt again. It's impossible to lick him endlessly, right?

Watt will have a fancy dinner in the Chinese palace today. This is one of the honors that Chen Ming gave him.

Of course, although Watt's eyes were almost grown to his forehead by Chen Ming's series of flattery, as a combination of a businessman and an inventor, and as a person who is quite involved in politics, Watt subconsciously noticed China's industrial progress.

The first to benefit from the large-scale application of steam engines was China's steel industry, which came from behind in just thirty years and has now become the world's largest steel producer with an unshakable position. The British's annual output of 250,000 tons of pig iron is already proud of the European continent, but it is a tiny thing compared to China.

And with the commissioning of steel mills in Myanmar, Annan, Java Island, and Sumatra Island, it is just a matter of time before China's steel production exceeds that of the entire Europe. And driven by the steel industry and the machinery industry, China's coal production has also been rising steadily, and is expected to exceed 50 million tons this year, which can also surpass the coal production of the entire Europe.

In the 19th century, in the age of coal and iron, the powerful steel industry and coal mining industry were the most solid foundation of an empire!

——The Great Chinese Empire!