Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 263 Industrial Machine Aristocracy System
On the morning of December 17, when the first ray of sunlight shone through the window into the study, Li Mingyuan had just packed his clothes and was ready to go out.

"Your Highness, General Li has sent a message that the transport fleet has sailed to the waters near Hetao County and is expected to arrive at Xinjing Port at noon today."

Liu Pu walked outside the study, saw Li Mingyuan who had just come out, and spoke.

"Well, I will dispatch a company of troops from the Royal Guards Brigade to the port to perform guard duty. I will not go to pick her up in person."

Li Mingyuan paused and added, "The war between Chile, Bolivia and Peru started a few months earlier than expected. The battle plan made in advance at home needs to be changed, and the date of my marriage to Miss Wu will also be postponed for a while."

"Your Highness, are you worried that Bolivia and Peru will not be able to stop the Chilean naval offensive?"

“There is such a worry.”

Li Mingyuan loosened his sleeves and continued, "The impact of the war in Chile, Bolivia, and Peru cannot be explained in just a few words. Come with me to the research institute first, and I will explain the war later."

After Li Mingyuan made the decision to start the war early, the first thing he did was not to convene a meeting of the main officers of the National Defense Force to deploy combat tasks, but to go to the Han Royal Science Academy outside the new capital to check the development progress of a number of scientific research projects.

The development of scientific research projects in the Han Dynasty began in 1870 and lasted for about eight years by the end of 1878. During these eight years, most of the research projects did not make significant progress due to the lack of scientific research talents and the backwardness of current technology. However, in several key areas, relying on those not yet famous scientific research talents who were intercepted in advance, the Han Dynasty has become a world leader in certain specific fields.

Manister, Jedlik and Astrom are the most important scientific researchers in the Royal Academy of Sciences. Among the three, Jedlik is responsible for the research of rotating magnetic field AC generators and arc lamp projects, Astrom is responsible for the preparation of metal elements by electrolysis, and Manister is responsible for steel refining and production wage improvements.

In terms of background alone, although Eström and Jedlik are not as good as those great scientists, they are also physicists with a certain social status, while Mannister is just an ordinary steel technician. In terms of professional knowledge, Mannister and the other two are basically in the same league. However, scientific research and inventions are sometimes not determined by a person's comprehensive scientific quality, especially in the second half of the 19th century, when mankind had too many undiscovered truths in the scientific knowledge system, and many scientific and technological inventions and improvements were not based on first having scientific theories and then applying them to practice to invent various advanced technologies.

Instead, it is the phenomena that scientific researchers or industrial technicians discover in accidental or inevitable practical operations based on years or decades of actual work experience, and then summarize universally applicable scientific theories based on the phenomena.

Therefore, it can be said that the vast majority of technological inventions are scientific and technological beyond the current level of human cognition, and the reason why newly invented science and technology are more advanced is also because people do not yet understand this field of technology.

Mannister was a man who lacked theoretical knowledge but had rich practical experience. He had decades of work experience in steel smelters. After being poached by Li Mingyuan to the Han Dynasty, he spent three years and finally developed a new steel pipe rolling method in 1877 based on the ideas provided by Li Mingyuan and the experience he had cultivated over a long period of time in his work.

The steel pipe rolling method ordered by Mannister was invented eight years ahead of schedule. This technological invention alone enabled the Han Dynasty to make great progress in the steel industry. However, although a single technological advancement could make up for the shortcomings in the industrial development of the Han Dynasty, it could not raise the overall industrial level of the Han Dynasty by a level.

The steel industry is an integrated industrial system consisting of countless branch technical fields. From coal mining, iron ore smelting, electrolytic separation of special metals to the final production of finished products, any shortcomings or deficiencies in any stage will lead to the failure of the final product.

Overall, the industrial development of the Han Dynasty started late. The steel smelter and military factory established in 1869 were the earliest industrial infrastructure systems. After nearly ten years of development, the Han Dynasty achieved self-sufficiency in some daily life areas and important military industrial fields. However, compared with the United Kingdom, France and Germany, the industrial system of the Han Dynasty was relatively low-level and crude.

For example, in the field of textile manufacturing, although the Han Kingdom had many garment factories producing cloth, it did not have machine tools to produce garment-making equipment.

The same thing is true in the steelmaking and weapons manufacturing industries.
The performance of the military factories and steel smelters of the Han Dynasty can reach the general international level, but if these mechanical equipment fails, the Han Dynasty still needs to buy equipment parts from European countries for repair. Therefore, it can be seen that the industrial system of the Han Dynasty is built on the basis of buying, buying and buying. If you want to buy the machine tools for producing mechanical equipment, sorry, European countries are not stupid. Even if you offer a high price, they will not give you the core machine tools and supporting machine tool technology.

Machine tools are called the mother machines of industry, and the development of other industries is based on machine tool production. Therefore, the huge capital investment of the Han Dynasty only established the foundation for the development of the industry. If it wants to go further, it must independently master the relevant technologies of machine tool production and manufacturing.

Core machine tool technology is hard to buy even if you have money. Most of the small amount of machine tools that Li Mingyuan spent money to buy are relatively backward equipment. To obtain machine tool technology from European countries and successfully digest it, cultivating scientific talents in the country is one aspect, and exchanging advanced industrial technology for the other party's machine tool technology is another effective way.

After the Mannister pipe making method was proven effective in practice, Li Mingyuan instructed Liu Pu and others to contact Germany. Finally, on the condition of sharing the Mannister pipe making method technology and paying part of the funds, they successfully introduced industrial machine tools and technology for producing rifles and 75mm artillery machinery and equipment from the Germans. Then, in the following year and a half, they used the previously recruited European technical talents and Chinese students to gradually digest the production and use methods of machine tools and equipment, which effectively made up for the shortcomings of the Han Dynasty in machine tools for the first time.

Although Manister invented the new steel pipe rolling method under the guidance of Li Mingyuan, Li Mingyuan did not treat him unfairly. Instead, in order to retain the scientific and technological talents recruited from Europe, Li Mingyuan immediately increased Manister's salary level and promoted him to vice president of the Royal Academy of Sciences. After the other party decided to stay, Li Mingyuan also revealed that within three years, he would be awarded the hereditary baron title.

Obtaining a title in a monarchy is undoubtedly the highest encouragement for an individual. However, the title system of the Han Dynasty was not established until the second half of 1878 due to Li Mingyuan's deliberate delay. According to the standards set by Li Mingyuan, the title system of the Han Dynasty was divided into two types: royal family and aristocracy.

The royal descendants were divided into princes, dukes, feudal lords, princesses, and princesses according to their closeness and achievements.
Prince is the highest title for members of the royal family, and is usually bestowed on the direct descendants of the monarch. After the direct descendants of the monarch die, their heirs will inherit the title by one level lower.

The titles of prince and feudal lord (a title in the Spring and Autumn Period, such as Bai Qi, the Marquis of Wu'an) were hereditary titles and did not require demotion for inheritance.

Princess and Princess Royal are titles for female members of the royal family and are not hereditary.

The aristocratic system was divided into two classes: hereditary dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons, and non-hereditary barons and knights.

Non-hereditary baronies and knights are generally awarded to scientific and technological talents who have made contributions and meritorious generals who have not reached the level of hereditary titles, while the five hereditary titles of duke, marquis, earl, viscount and baron are awarded to outstanding scientists, military generals and officials.

Although the royal and aristocratic title systems are different, they have unified requirements in terms of the standards for granting titles. Anyone who is granted a title must have great achievements and cannot be biased because of his or her status and position. When inheriting a title, all heirs must serve in the army for three years and can only inherit the title after being reviewed and approved by the commander of the unit and the title supervision committee.

At the same time, as role models for all classes in the country, the nobles must maintain good personal qualities and must not rely on their noble status to bully the weak. Otherwise, their noble inheritance rights will be revoked. In serious cases, their family's noble title will be abolished, and they will be handed over to the judicial authorities for conviction.

From ancient times to the present, the standards for granting nobility have always been very strict. As time entered the second half of the 19th century, the rights of traditional nobility became smaller and smaller. While Li Mingyuan followed the trend of the times and weakened the rights of the nobility, in order to ensure the honor of the nobility, he will take more meticulous measures to strictly limit the number of nobility. According to the results of consultations with major generals and officials, after the successful occupation of Argentina and Uruguay, the number of the first batch of hereditary nobility will be controlled within thirty people, and the titles of non-hereditary nobility will be controlled within one hundred people.

Thirty hereditary nobles are very rare compared to the one or two thousand suitable nobles in Japan, Germany and other countries. Correspondingly, the small number of nobles further proves their preciousness. Therefore, when Li Mingyuan promised to grant Mannister the hereditary baron title within three years, the other party agreed on the spot without hesitation, and took the initiative to bring his wife and children to live in the Han Kingdom and change his nationality to the Han Kingdom.

Li Mingyuan was very pleased with Mannister's decision. Not all white people in Europe were arrogant. As long as he was ruthless and lured them with enough benefits, there would still be people willing to stay and serve the Han Dynasty.

Because of Mannister's leading effect, more than 40 hired European white technical talents chose to settle down and contribute to the industrial undertakings of the Han Dynasty. As a result, the adverse effects brought about by the Frenchman Darman's refusal to retain Li Mingyuan and insisting on returning to France after the end of the work contract were mostly dissipated, and Li Mingyuan's confidence in continuing to recruit European scientific and technological talents for his own use also increased.

(End of this chapter)