Selling Ma Street, Liangguang Governor's Palace.

Deng Tingzhen was stunned with a copy of the newspaper, and when the next person came in to light the lamp, he was shocked to realize that it was already dark, and he put down the newspaper in his hand, and paced slowly in the room in a restless mood.

There are two things in the newspaper concerning Guangdong, one is that Zhong Xiang is preparing for the coastal defense charter, and the other is the Fujian gangsters, and the coastal defense charter is a cliché, and it is nothing more than the supervision of the coastal provinces to take care of the subordinates, the strength is solid, and the patrol is serious, and it must not be slackened for a long time.

He was worried about the gangsters, and the newspaper reported: In recent years, there have been three-point meetings in the four prefectures of Fujian, and there are parties and gatherings, and their momentum is particularly blazing.

Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong provinces adjacent to the province are full of bandits and are unscrupulous, and the local officials want to investigate and investigate, and many bandits in the military service of the various battalions in Nai have ...... communicate with each other first, so that the leaders have heard the news and followed the .

The governors of Liangjiang, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Liangguang have carefully discussed the various circumstances mentioned in the foldout, and strictly urged the local officials to seriously investigate and deal with the bandits mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

The reason why Deng Tingzhen was uneasy was because he clearly knew that there were indeed gangs in Guangdong, and the triads were not small, and most of the congregations were involved in the crows. Pieces of smuggling and sales, he is also under strict inspection of crows. It was only during the smuggling that the existence of the triad was discovered, and several investigations were carried out, but with little success, needless to say, there were many triad members in the local yamen and the land and water camps.

Now that smuggling is spreading to Peking University, he doesn't know if the three points that have emerged in Fujian in recent years will have anything to do with the triad? If there is a relationship, it is not a trivial matter, and the gangsters who control huge financial resources will not be a trivial matter once something happens.

"Sir." A long entourage reported softly outside the door: "Yuanqi shopkeeper, easy to be content to ask to see outside." ”

What can I do if I want to be content? Deng Tingzhen stopped, pondered for a while, and then said, "Bring him in." ”

Yi Zhi, who was dressed in a moon-white robe, walked in slowly, and Deng Tingzhen, who saw it, bowed down and said, "The younger generation has seen Gong Yun." ”

Deng Tingzhen glanced at him and said, "What do you want to see if you are content?" ”

Listening to his tone, it seemed that he was in a bad mood, and Yi Zhixiang secretly thought that it was not the right time, but he also had to bite the bullet and said: "Yuan Qi has purchased machinery and equipment from American businessmen to mint silver dollars and print silver tickets, but operating machinery requires training, and Yuan Qi plans to hire several foreigners who are familiar with machinery to train apprentices on Mashacang Street...... ”

Hearing this, Deng Tingzhen was a little disliked, and such trivial things also bothered him? After a little hesitation, he said, "But there are other things?" ”

Hearing this tone, he became more and more impatient, and Yi Zhi couldn't help but secretly complain, but he was unwilling to retreat, so as not to spoil his impression, he looked up at him at the moment and said: "The case of the Duke of Yuyun is in the shape of labor, it is better for the younger generation to say something about what he has seen and heard in the West and think that the Duke of Yunyun is lacking." ”

Baba's door-to-door came to tell what he had seen in the West? Deng Tingzhen was not interested in this, but he expected that Yi Zhizhi's move must have a purpose, so he immediately spoke: "Contentment sits down and says." ”

"Duke Xie Yuyun." Yi Zhizu thanked him before he sat down, and as soon as he sat down, he asked, "Duke Yiyun has been sitting in Liangguang for three years, have you ever heard of a Western train?" ”

Deng Tingzhen, as the governor of Guangzhou, sat in Guangzhou, and was also in charge of foreign affairs, although he did not understand English, and foreigners were rarely seen (the imperial court had a system that did not allow foreigners to enter the city and did not allow foreigners to see officials. But he was not ignorant of the situation in the West, and immediately said: "Be content with what you mean, but pave the road with iron, and drive on it......." ”

"Exactly." Yi Zhizhi nodded and said: "The train refers to the vehicle that travels on the railway track, usually composed of multiple carriages, a carriage can carry more than 100,000 catties, usually a train is composed of more than 10 carriages, the train can reach a speed of 60 miles per hour, and can run day and night ...... non-stop." ”

Before he finished speaking, Deng Tingzhen was already stunned, although he had heard of the train, but the speaker was completely anecdotal to say, only said that the car walked on the iron, and it was not as clear as Yi Zhishu said, a train carries millions of catties, and travels seven or eight hundred miles a day and night, what is the situation? He couldn't help but ask, "Is the rumor correct?" ”

"Absolutely." Easy to know the way of affirmation.

Deng Tingzhen said suspiciously: "Contentment has never been abroad, and I have never seen it with my own eyes, why are you so sure?" ”

"There are a lot of foreign businessmen gathered in Guangzhou, and there are many countries in the world." Yi Zhizu said in a deep voice: "These data are obtained by the juniors who asked all kinds of businessmen from various countries, and then averaged them after statistics, even if there are discrepancies, the difference will not be large." ”

Hearing this, Deng Tingzhen was speechless, the Western train was so powerful, it was completely beyond his imagination, Yi Zhizhi was content to take the hot iron, and then said: "In addition to the train, there are also steamships in the Western Ocean, without the help of sails and oars, you can walk on the water, advance and retreat freely, and go against the water, which is also easy and abnormal." ”

Deng Tingzhen's face was full of disbelief and said, "How is this possible? ”

"Whether it's a train or a steamboat, it's because of the steam engine." Yi Zhishu said slowly: "The West invented the steam engine, not only trains and steam ships use steam engines, but various industries are widely used steam engines as power, such as textile, mining, smelting, and casting. ”

Hearing this, Deng Tingzhen was slightly moved, and groaned slightly, before he spoke: "What do you want to say with contentment?" ”

"The advent of the steam engine opened the industrial age in the West." Yi Zhi's tone was unusually heavy: "The Qing Dynasty has lagged behind the West for decades, and it is necessary to catch up, and the younger generation has ordered a batch of steam engines and machinery and equipment from American merchants, and hired a large number of machine technicians, preparing to try to use steam engines to open a factory in Xiguan, so that the adults and gentry in Guangzhou can experience it for themselves, and then I hope that the Duke of Yuyun will appropriately relax the restrictions on foreigners." ”

After talking for a long time, just for this? Deng Tingzhen looked him up and down a few times, he really wanted to see if the steam engine was as powerful as Yi Zhixiang said, and immediately said cheerfully: "As long as you don't enter the city and don't cause trouble, it's okay to relax appropriately." ”

"Duke Xie Yuyun." Yi Zhixiang hurriedly thanked him, paused, and then continued: "Last time, Duke Yuyun asked how to alleviate the outflow of silver, and the junior suggested a three-pronged approach, and the third is a virtuous circle of foreign trade. At the same time, a large number of machinery and equipment were purchased from the West, which should be able to slightly ease the trade contradictions between the Qing Dynasty and the West. ”

This is possible, Deng Tingzhen stroked the long beard on his chin and asked, "Is the train expensive?" ”

"Trains are not expensive, but railways are expensive." Yi Zhisuff said with a smile: "However, although the railway is expensive, the younger generation still hopes that the younger generation will write to the imperial court and list in detail the various benefits of the train and railway, especially in the military aspect. ”