Save the Bachelor of Heaven

In the seventeenth year of Qianlong's reign, the Beijing-Tianjin Railway was officially started, with a total investment of more than 5 million taels.

The Ministry of Household Affairs was very confused about the construction of this railway. They didn't understand why Xiang Nan spent so much money to build a fucking railway.

However, after Xiang Nan came to the throne, he had always been dictatorial, and the entire court was his one-man command. Even ministers such as Zhang Tingyu and Ertai could only give suggestions but could not stop his administration.

Judging from Xiang Nan's seventeenth year on the throne, they had to be convinced.

The new army trained by Xiang Nan recovered Jungar in half a year. The Jungar Rebellion lasted from the Kangxi Dynasty to the Yongzheng Dynasty, causing harm for nearly a hundred years. The imperial court attacked Jungar five times and was defeated twice, resulting in heavy losses.

It only took Xiang Nan half a year to capture all Jungar, which was really impressive.

Moreover, after Xiang Nan came to the throne, he increased revenue and reduced expenditure, making the Ministry of Household Affairs have a surplus every year. Today, the national silver inventory is 800 million taels, the highest in all dynasties. I dare not say that the country is rich and the people are strong. At least there will be a major disaster and the court will have enough financial resources to provide disaster relief.

Unlike during the Kangxi and Yongzheng years, the national treasury was empty and it was unable to even provide disaster relief, let alone fight a war. Several times it was possible to rely on funding from salt merchants.

Moreover, after Xiang Nan came to the throne, he has been cracking down on corruption. As a result, today's Qing Dynasty cannot be said to have no corrupt officials, but generally speaking, the administration is clear and the official style is simple.

Compared with previous dynasties, such political achievements can be regarded as a prosperous emperor. Therefore, they had no choice but to agree to Xiang Nan's plan to build a railway.

…

In the same year, Xilin Jueluo, the eldest brother Yonghuang's eldest brother, gave birth to Xiang Nan's first imperial grandson.

Xiang Nan was very happy and named him Mian'en, which means continuous kindness. In fact, historically, the eldest son of the emperor's eldest son Yonghuang was named Miande. However, Miande's private dealings with officials made him suspicious of the emperor, so he took away his title and died of illness at the age of forty.

In comparison, the second son Mian'en was smart, respectful, and well-groomed. He was deeply loved by Qianlong and was the first among the emperor's grandsons to be crowned king. At that time, Qianlong's own sons had not yet been crowned kings.

Mian'en even came close to inheriting the throne. If it weren't for the early Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang passed the throne across generations and caused King Yan to rebel, Qianlong would have made him the crown prince. Moreover, Mian En lived to be seventy-six years old, which was considered a long life in ancient times.

Therefore, Xiang Nancai named the emperor's eldest grandson Mian'en, hoping that he would be smart, healthy and live a long life.

…

In April of the seventeenth year of Qianlong's reign, the imperial court held the third draft.

At this time, six years have passed since the second draft, and twelve years have passed since the first draft. It's time to draft again and bring new blood to the harem.

First of all, most of the first concubines who entered the palace, such as Lang Hua, Ru Yi, Hai Lan, Wanyin, and Zhu Ying, are now in their forties. Although they are well maintained, they still look like young women in their thirties, but in fact they are already in their thirties. Not suitable for sleeping anymore.

Secondly, in the past six years, only Ji Lan and Xie Lingzhi gave birth to a son and a daughter in the harem. Apart from this, there has been no new birth in the palace for a long time.

Therefore, Lang Hua was preparing to hold a third draft for Xiang Nan, and Xiang Nan did not refuse. His sons Yonghuang, Yongcong, Yongqi, Yongcun, Yongheng, etc. are all grown up.

In addition to enriching his harem, the draft can also select more beautiful girls and send them to their homes to help his sons flourish.

Then the third draft began.

The scale of this draft was even larger than the previous two. There were as many as 20,000 to 30,000 show girls selected. After primary selection, secondary selection, and palace selection, Xiang Nan finally selected four show girls.

One is Hesheli Fuling, the daughter of Vice-Capital Hesheli Shiren with a yellow flag, who looks very much like the Princess All Saints in the 1986 edition of "Journey to the West";

One is the daughter of the Mongolian King of Bahrain, Bahrain Mae Ruo; the other is the daughter of He Yongtai, the prefect of Ganzhou and the banner of the Han army, He Xin, who looks very much like the popular actress Zheng Wenya in the 1980s in Hong Kong;

One is Chen Wenying, the daughter of Chen Jinghu, the magistrate of Jizhou. She looks very much like Zhao Mingming, a popular beauty in the mainland in the 1990s.

Later, Balin Meiruo was granted the title of Yingguiren, Fuling was granted the title of Changzai, and He Xin and Chen Wenying were granted the title of Yes.

In addition, Xiang Nan also selected twenty beautiful girls and rewarded them to Yong Huang, Yong Cong and other heirs, as well as other princes and nobles.

…

In August of the seventeenth year of Qianlong's reign, the chemical plant designed by Xiang Nan himself and jointly supervised by Liu Yong, Rao Xueshu, and Wu Hong was finally completed.

Xiang Nan named it the Creation Factory, which means "the creation that conquers the heaven and the earth."

The Creation Factory is located in the deep mountains of Miyun in the north of Beijing, in a remote environment and sparsely populated area. In this way, even if a chemical plant accidentally leaks, there will not be too many casualties.

What the Creation Factory wants to create is to extract benzene, salicylic acid, cresol, indole, carbon black, etc. from coal tar.

Among them, benzene can be used as an explosive, and trinitrotoluene is TNT, which is the safest explosive. It will not explode even if it is burned or shot. Only a detonator can detonate it. Although it is not as powerful as Dana dynamite, its safety has been greatly improved, and it is still the mainstream explosive to this day.

Salicylic acid can be made into aspirin, which is still one of the best analgesics and antipyretics; cresol can reduce inflammation and disinfection; indole is an important raw material for perfume, and carbon black can be made into inks, coatings, dry batteries, etc...

All in all, coal tar is a treasure, and a large number of useful materials can be extracted from it.

Tiangongfang and Fengtian Steel Plant use a large amount of coke every day, and coke is produced by coal coking. Coal tar is a by-product of coking. It could only be discarded originally, but now it is used for refining.

Fortunately, Xiang Nan ordered people to keep the coal tar, and now it is used to make the first batch of raw materials.

Liu Yong, Rao Xueshu, and Wu Hong became the first directors of the Creation Factory. Among them, Liu Yong is the director of the factory and is awarded the fourth rank. Rao Xueshu and Wu Hong are deputy factory directors, from the fourth grade.

"My dear friends, please don't think that the position of factory director is small. Let me tell you that this creation factory is a treasure house for our Qing Dynasty in the future. The output value it creates in a year will exceed three million taels of silver. How much can it compare to? Government tax revenue.

Moreover, the things it produces can be used to make explosives and medicines, which can be said to benefit the country and the people. If you manage this factory well, not only my humerus, but also my name will be remembered in history in the future. Xiang Nan told the three of them.

The three of them were very excited when they heard it.

"However, the creation factory turns waste into treasure. It is a creation that conquers the world. It is bound to be troubled, so you must be careful." Xiang Nan added, "The workers must be restrained and no one is allowed to be negligent. Otherwise, you must be careful." , once something goes wrong, there may be no grass growing for dozens of miles, so be careful.”

The three of them were shocked when they heard this. They didn't expect this factory to be so dangerous.

But now that it was over, they couldn't shirk it, so they all nodded and agreed.

The reason why Xiang Nan handed over the factory to the three of them was because he knew that the three of them were sophisticated. Otherwise, he would not dare to do anything rashly.