Indonesia holds two important straits from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, one is the Sunda Strait, where the capital Batavia (Jakarta) is located, which was more important than the Strait of Malacca before the opening of the Suez Canal, and the other is the Lombok Strait, which is deeper than the waters of the Strait of Malacca and is a golden waterway for giant oil tankers.

In 1800, the Dutch East India Company, which had been repeatedly attacked by the British, was dissolved, and for so many years, the Netherlands was not a self-confident country, and it is even less confident now. Why is the proportion of Chinese in Malaya under British government higher than that in Indonesia? Because the Dutch were not confident and saw that China was focused on a large number of people, they were frightened, and they would take the opportunity to carry out a massacre and looting. The Chinese also remembered what they ate and did not remember, and after a few decades they gathered again, and so on, and never meant to unite against the tyranny of the Dutch East Indies.

When Downing was in charge of the resurgence of the Dutch East India Company, that is, after dominating the Dutch East Indies, of course the Holocaust was impossible, you are not confident enough, our Duke of London will help you be confident, if you really have a crisis, Downing can transfer troops from Singapore. In short, the Dutch East Indies would be on the path to civilized rule.

The Netherlands had a golden age, in the 17th and 18th centuries, when they were still known as the coachmen of the sea, and the whole world was flooded with their trading merchant ships. Japan, which was closed off from the rest of the world, learned from the Qing Dynasty and only had one port -- Nagasaki out of the island -- to communicate with the outside world, and what it did even more absolutely was to allow only merchant shipping trade between China and the Netherlands once a year. Why the Netherlands? Of course, this is because the Netherlands represented the whole of Europe at this time, Japan has been closed off since 1641, and the Netherlands has represented Europe for more than 200 years, so that Japan calls European science and technology "Lanxue".

Downing was interested in visiting the major cities, notably Hong Kong, Shanghai and Edo, after establishing a basic development strategy in Singapore and Batavia. Hong Kong is Britain's window to China, and the Governor of Hong Kong presides over the policy toward China. Shanghai is a Sino-foreign trade center. Edo is the former name of Tokyo, Japan, the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, who ruled Japan in Edo for 250 years, making Edo the largest city in all of Japan, an era also known as the Edo period.

Downing specially went to Japan to take a look, in order to solve the mystery in his heart, why could the Japanese Restoration be so smooth?

He was promoted to Governor of Hong Kong in April 1854, Commander of the British Army in Hong Kong, Vice Admiral, Plenipotentiary to China, and Superintendent of Commerce. The governor was not only a politician, but also a wonderful man. He is one of the world's top linguists, and has spent his life studying various languages. Hey, 200 kinds! He is fluent in 100 languages. Bao Ning even knew Cantonese, a Chinese dialect that even Tang Ning couldn't understand. Downing's trip to Hong Kong is a treasure, is there a more suitable talent than this linguist to internationalize the "LCD typewriter"?

As a high-ranking official like the Governor of Hong Kong, Bao Ning can't be familiar with every language, but with such a knowledgeable master, the task of internationalization will become much smoother. Bao Ning also has a common language with Downing - he used to be in the steel business. Long before the rise of Downing's British steel company, Bao Ning had already lost a lot of money, so it was not Tang Ning who ran out of Bao Ning's business. Bao Ning's business is not good because he is too good to the factory workers, and he does not have the high technical skills of Tang Ning, so the results are naturally not optimistic. After the business failed, he had to enter politics, and because of his talent for language, he was favored by Prime Minister Palmerston and became the governor of Hong Kong.

When Downing arrived in Hong Kong, the azure figure of the Great Eastern sailed into the Central Naval Base at the fastest speed in the world, and the Governor of Hong Kong led the political and business elites to stand on the shore to greet them. The Duke of London's tuba represents Downing, Britain's top aristocracy, and the Great Eastern, the world's largest and fastest cruise ship, represents the hegemony of maritime commerce.

The Great Eastern also has two guns, the only main cannon, in front of the hull, used to defend against pirates, Krupp's old technology, although it is a breech-loading rifled gun, but compared with the British Royal Navy, it is only a little farther and more accurate, and the rate of fire is relatively slow.

The neatly arranged soldiers on the side of the ship are Downing's "Marine Corps", a total of 300 members, selected from the Hessian hunters to shoot and physically the strongest soldiers, and not afraid of the wind and waves. If the Governor and his entourage had a good eye, they would have noticed that the guns in the hands of these Marines were relatively short, and the standard was unprecedented, because this was Downing's first "Lee-Enfield" rifle, produced by the Belgian Arsenal, the official model number was FN-1855. The fn here is the French meaning "state-run", on the surface this arsenal is the factory of the Belgian Ministry of Defense, but in fact it is dominated by Downing, and the name of FN is just to give face to the Belgian government.

Rifled guns do not need smoothbore guns at all, so long barrels are farther, more accurate, and dexterous than smoothbore guns, which is necessary in trench warfare. Trench warfare had already arisen in the Crimean War, since both sides of the war had already used high-explosive howitzers, and exposure to such howitzer kill surfaces would be ugly, and the army quickly came up with the tactic of digging trenches.

These FN-1855 guns have long been quietly shipped with the Great Eastern, only to arrive in Singapore to be handed over to 2500 soldiers for training, and selected the fastest to adapt to this kind of customized manual rifle hunters, don't underestimate these 300 people, their shooting speed is enough to fight 3000 flintlock soldiers, and the accurate range is 3 or 5 times that of the flintlock pistol, that is, theoretically, these 300 marines can fight against nearly 10,000 flintlock pistol army! If they attack on a rainy day with flintlock muskets, they are an invincible army, haha!

If Bao Ning, the commander of the Hong Kong Army, knew that the hundreds of soldiers on the Great Eastern were such terrifying combat power, I don't know if he would still smile so brightly, but fortunately he didn't know.

The Duke of London is not like a big warlord with a heavy army, he smiles like a flower, hugs and shakes hands with the powerful people of the Far East, and looks like a dove tyrant.

At this time, Qi Taiyu, a Jin merchant who finally learned to be Shatush in Tangning, saw a scene that shocked him, this "old friend" is not only a high-ranking official, but also a big official who makes the governor of Hong Kong bow, China's biggest is of course the emperor, but ...... The emperor was defeated by the British, and this governor of Hong Kong is the British plenipotentiary representative of China! What a mighty power is this? Only Linfell, a little girl beside him who could speak Chinese, quietly asked, "What kind of official is the Duke of London?" ”

Lin Fei's lovely black eyes rolled and said, "It is equivalent to Prince Gong of the Qing Dynasty!" Then she chuckled.

Where is Qi Taiyu willing to believe, and said: "Little children, do you know who Prince Gong is?" Shoot one’s mouth off! ”

Linfield: "Humph! I know! Tang Ning told me that Prince Gong Wang Yi, the brother of Emperor Xianfeng, almost became the emperor. Now he is the chief minister of military aircraft, and he tends to open his eyes to the world, and Tang Ning said that the only person in the royal family who has a little brain is Prince Gong, and the rest are all stupid! ”

Along the way, Qi Taiyu was very surprised by this genius little girl, but she didn't expect that she really knew Prince Gong, and the comment of "open your eyes and see the world" was even more incisive. In order to avoid Lin Fei from abandoning her studies when she traveled to the East, Tang Ning taught her lessons from time to time, and wanted to return to the Qing Dynasty, so she naturally told her about the political situation at that time.

This is a unique institution of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng initially set up a military aircraft department in 1732 for the needs of commanding the Qinghai war; The back edge is customized, responsible for assisting the emperor in dealing with military affairs. Don't say that the Qing Dynasty people were uneducated, in fact, it was a common practice for Chinese dynasties to constantly transfer the center of power from one institution to another. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu used Shangshu to seize the power of the prime minister's deliberation to control the power of the prime minister.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, considered that the prime minister was above 10,000 people under one person, and his power was too great, posing a threat to military power, and he established six ministries, and dispersed the power to six ministries at once. When the six old ministers have great power, they can set up a "study to walk" and take power over again. The same is true for local institutions, where the name "governor" was known as a supervisory body as soon as it was heard, but later in order to seize local power, governors were constantly dispatched, and later it became a common practice to become a formal provincial office. The governor was not at ease, and then the "governor" was released, first as a superintendent, and later as a common practice.

In just five years, the little friends who wandered together on the streets of Kashmir like idle people in society soared into the sky and became the Duke of London, Qi Taiyu felt like a dream.

Tang Ning was quite happy when he saw Qi Taiyu again, this was his first friend after coming to this world, compared with "Fa Xiao", and this guy from Jin Shang was flexible, it was more than enough for Tang Ning to be a small comprador, and in this troubled era, Fa Xiao had a way out, benefiting others and himself, and there was a lot of harmony.

Now, Qi Taiyu has faintly felt that this "comprador" is extraordinary. And Tang Ning also admired his words: "As long as there is money to be made, I dare to sell muskets!" "The profiteers of troubled times want this kind of courage.

When Qi Taiyu said that he wanted to sell muskets, he didn't expect Tang Ning to really have muskets, until Qi Taiyu saw the tall and mighty Hessian mercenaries on the Great Eastern who respected the Duke like a god.

These days, Tang Ning and the Hessian mercenaries have been fighting even hotter, and he told the soldiers the scientific method of physical training:

Muscles are made up of a large number of muscle fibers thinner than a human hair. One of the characteristics of muscle fibers is that a very small number of muscle fibers are pulled and broken with each skeletal muscle movement (note that unlike a massive tear in a muscle strain, this is only a very small injury), and then the new muscle fibers will be thicker than the original. This is an ability acquired in the long-term evolution of living things, and it is seen in organisms with muscle tissue. With this ability, it is possible to ensure that individual organisms are better able to change their body shape and physical abilities in response to their environment, making them better at running, swimming, or climbing trees.

In addition, if our bones are hit or compressed by external forces, there will also be small damage, and the new bone tissue will be thicker than before. This phenomenon was described by the 19th-century surgeon Julius ? Wolfe discovered, named Wolfe's Law. Worf's Law is a good explanation for why martial artists have had a bone that is far harder than the average human since ancient times – they are beaten a lot.

Muscles will not only grow, but also shrink. Muscle is an important tool for living beings, but it is also an extremely luxurious energy consumer. Even when we are at rest, our muscles use a lot of energy and don't sit as quietly as fat tissue. Muscle fibers are constantly completing their metabolism - senescent muscle fibers are absorbed, and new muscle fibers are constantly growing; Since the muscle fibers that are not fully used are not broken, they will grow thinner than the original ones after being absorbed. That's why after we stop exercising, our muscles will gradually relax and become smaller, and the muscles of people who are paralyzed in bed will atrophy.

Now we know that muscles are always in a balance of supply and demand, and muscle accumulation = the need for body movement (this rough equation does not take into account complex factors such as red muscle, white muscle, and nutrition). When a person starts exercising, the balance of the muscles is disrupted, and the muscles will increase in size for a period of time to re-establish a new balance. And when the workout is maintained at a fixed amount (say 100 push-ups per day), a new balance is established and your muscles will not grow any further unless the balance is broken again.

Therefore, it is very silly and useless to train hard every day, and every training is to the limit, and a large number of muscle fibers are broken, so that the physical fitness and physical fitness can be quickly trained. In order to master this rhythm, Tang Ning asked the instructors and soldiers to practice hard together, so that they could use their physical strength to feel when to play hard and when to stop. Tang Ning also practiced with the soldiers for a period of time, and felt that Napoleon the Great, an officer and a soldier should eat, live and train together to understand the theory of soldiers. Do you think that a duke who trains hard with the head of the soldiers, and then lies on the ground like a dead dog with exhaustion, can the bond of affection not be strong?

Downing also innovated in shooting training. As the saying goes, "sharpshooters are fed bullets". This is too vulgar, Tang Ning wants to change this truth, he invented a reusable practice gun, its shape, weight and recoil are similar to the real gun, and the bullet can only fly straight for more than ten meters, within a few meters to shoot accurately, the shot is a rubber bullet, hit a special target, the target has a detection force sensor, through a simple logic circuit to record the soldier's target performance. Tongguò is a practice gun that can save a lot of bullets, but the amount of training can be compared with unlimited ammunition, supplemented by a small amount of live ammunition, the shooting level of these hunters, who are not small, has improved by leaps and bounds, and they have become sniper-level masters who have penetrated a hundred steps.

Follow the Grand Duke, the GIs have anecdotes every day, and they are fresh every day, and the dream of the world's most ** army seems to be not just a dream. All the GIs were confident, especially after Downing deduced that they could "boost morale" with 300 against 10,000 based on firepower, and these Marines were even more proud and confident.

The fact that a group of mercenaries can have such a sense of belonging to their employer is unheard of in the entire history of mercenaries.

There are no weak soldiers under the strong generals, I never thought that the Governor of Hong Kong is the same here, the great linguist Governor has an assistant named Wei Tuma, this is the translation of Hong Kong, in fact, Thomas? Wade, the Hong Kong translation not only turns the order into a Chinese habit, but also makes it look like a Chinese, well, since it was Wei Tuma himself translated, let it be. Yes, this sinologist Wei Tuma translated a large number of names, place names, and object names in Chinese and English, began to work as a Cantonese translator for the Hong Kong Supreme Court in 1845, and served as a Chinese vice consul in Shanghai in 46 years, and also served as the Shanghai Customs and Excise Department when the Qing court was unable to effectively manage customs when the Taiping Army was at its most violent, and was the top talent in Chinese pinyin that Tangning was looking for.

The British, of course, have no psychological barriers to turning from officials into businessmen, technicians, as long as the project is attractive enough. This pair of pediatric linguist officials is completely unimaginable to Chinese typewriters, which seems too difficult, right? You must know that the emergence of the typewriter is the moment when many masters exclaim that "Chinese characters have come to an end". (http：/／.）。 There is no way, Tang Ning can only roughly explain the power of a small but powerful "random memory", that is, a god-level invention that can instantly find one or several addresses in the corresponding 6,000 Chinese characters stored in the random memory by pressing a key.

Don't talk about such things as LCDs, so as not to frighten people.

Obviously, this is a history-changing project, and linguists have little sense of mass-producing steel and building big ships, and being able to build Chinese typewriters is a fatal temptation for them - to go down in history. Not to mention the Governor of Hong Kong, he didn't do anything to change the British Prime Minister, and was willing to join Downing's non-alphabetic typewriter program.

Of course, you can't let the two promising officials give up their jobs, anyway, they are far away, and the British government can't look down on them, so it's okay to put part of the R&D team in Hong Kong, so the Governor of Hong Kong and the assistant to the Governor of Hong Kong actually became secret employees of IBM's Hong Kong headquarters, and this development lineup is really powerful.

As a result, everyone will see a strange scene, the Hong Kong Governor and his assistants do not do anything serious, often go to the nearby IBM development team to guide the work, and even call the team to the Governor's Mansion to "lecture".

Governor Bao Ning, a former factory owner who was very kind to the workers, also brought the directors of several orphanages in Hong Kong supported by the International College project and some lovely children. Downing praised the Governor-General's ongoing efforts to make Chinese middle- and lower-level officials in the Hong Kong government, participate in juries, and become lawyers. Education starts with the baby.