Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 348 The End of 1880
'Piric acid is a yellow explosive, which is more powerful and violent than the famous TNT. Among high explosives, the power of picric acid is second only to nitroglycerin. It has good stability and is easy to prepare. In the 1880s and 1890s, it was one of the most suitable explosives for artillery shells.

Picric acid is the first new type of explosive developed in the field of domestic explosives. Various types of smokeless gunpowder, such as single-base explosives used as rifle ammunition and double-base gunpowder used as artillery ammunition, are still in the experimental verification stage. Perhaps in another three to five years, smokeless gunpowder with different characteristics will enter the practical stage and be equipped for use by the domestic regular army.

The technological progress made by the Han Dynasty in textile dyes and explosives was widely disseminated through a number of local official newspapers. Zhou Sheng and Lin Shenhe, as the first batch of local scientific researchers who achieved major technological breakthroughs, were awarded the title of hereditary baron.

On January 1880, 1, Zhou Sheng and Lin Shenhe received iron certificates and imperial edicts from Li Mingyuan, which symbolized the proof of their hereditary noble titles. As a result, the number of hereditary nobles in the Han Kingdom increased to 5.

On the day of the ennoblement, in addition to Zhou Sheng and Lin Shenhe who received the most attention, a total of seven researchers were awarded non-hereditary titles such as baron and knight. Four of them were local Chinese researchers, and the other three were Mannister, Jedlik, and Astrom, who made the greatest contributions to the steel, electrolytic metal, and AC generator projects a few years ago. Li Mingyuan once promised them that if they made phased breakthroughs in their research fields and they were willing to join the Han nationality and serve the Han government forever, then Li Mingyuan would grant them noble titles.

Li Mingyuan's words always counted, but before the ceremony of enthronement, the three of them were reluctant to make a clear statement, join the Han nationality, and be loyal to the Han government. Therefore, their names were not on the first list of people to be conferred titles.

At the end of 1879 and the beginning of the new year, the three men thought for a long time. Faced with the generous conditions offered by the Han government in terms of title, wealth, status, etc., they finally agreed to be loyal to Li Mingyuan, join the Han nationality, promise to keep the secret of the scientific research projects they were engaged in, and comply with the arrangements made by the Han government for them.

After receiving clear responses from the three people, Li Mingyuan fulfilled his original promise and decided to grant them noble titles. However, due to the three people's indecision some time ago and the improvement of the situation in the Han State, the hereditary baron title originally planned to be granted was downgraded to life baron. Only when the three people make technological breakthroughs again in their research fields, will the life baron title have hope of becoming a hereditary baron title.

The second ceremony of awarding noble titles, which was mainly for scientific and technological researchers, ended successfully. On the second day, the preparatory activities for the establishment of Chang'an University of Technology and the Chemical Society, which mainly focus on chemical engineering branch discipline education, officially began. The 50 Han yuan withdrawn by Li Mingyuan from the royal industry and the 100 million Han yuan allocated by the Han government will be used as the starting funds for the foundation construction and scientific research project research of Chang'an University of Technology. At the same time, in order to show the royal family's emphasis on scientific research and education, Queen Wu Lingxuan and Concubine Zhang Baoyi, in their personal names, took out 20 Han yuan and 15 Han yuan respectively from their private dowries and donated them to Chang'an University of Technology free of charge to support the Han government's strategy of developing the country through science and technology.

Even the empress and the imperial concubine donated their dowries to the fields of science and technology and education. Naturally, high-ranking officials of various central government departments and military generals could not remain indifferent. Hu Yaji, Liu Pu, Sun Bin, Zhao Yan, Zheng Qiru and other officials of all ranks responded to the call of the empress and the imperial concubine, and donated varying amounts of funds to major universities free of charge.

In 1880, the first year of Jianye, the first year of the emperor's reform, it came to an end unknowingly in the boom of large-scale construction.

At the end of January 1880, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held talks with diplomats stationed in their home countries by Western countries on the formal establishment of diplomatic relations. A month later, the talks ended and the Han government reached a consensus with ten European countries, including Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, and Sweden, to establish diplomatic relations at the ministerial level. The Han government sent formal diplomatic officials to the ten European countries, established consulates in various European countries, and stationed them in Europe to handle diplomatic, economic, political and other relations between the two sides. As for the ten European countries, those countries that had previously stationed diplomatic personnel in Argentina and Uruguay immediately upgraded them to embassies in Han and formally took over the responsibilities of Han's diplomatic affairs. Those countries that established diplomatic relations with Han for the first time sent some diplomatic officials from Europe to Han to establish diplomatic relations between the two sides.

In March 1880, a fleet consisting of two main ironclad ships, two small ironclad ships built independently, and sixteen large and medium-sized ocean-going transport ships, carrying 3 marines and more than 400 criminals sentenced to exile, set out from Yishui Port, the capital of Haizhou, and headed for the central waters of the South Pacific to receive Samoa and Zibo in exchange for the Germans.

In mid-April, the last batch of 4 Chinese immigrants stranded in Southeast Asia due to the Argentine War arrived in South America. The transport fleet docked at the mouth of the La Plata River. After a month of disease prevention, epidemic health inspections and simple repairs, the 11000 immigrants were divided into two groups. One group of 11000 people went north along the Paraná River to settle in the Pampas, and the other group of 4000 people continued to take transport ships along the coastal coastline to the south of the Patagonian desert. Then, at each coastal port, the transport fleet would drop off a group of immigrants and let them take the farm tools, food, livestock, etc. issued by the government to temporarily establish temporary settlements in coastal areas with water sources and pastures. After adapting to the natural environment of the Patagonia region, they followed the rivers and the direction of the growing pastures and migrated inland.

In November 1880, under the organized arrangement of the government, immigrants established a total of 11 settlements of various sizes in areas such as the Valdes Peninsula, Viedma, Ushuaia, Rosen, and near Lake Argentino.

From the transport ships arriving in mainland South America and docking in Songzhoufu (Buenos Aires), to the southernmost tip, the immigrant settlements established in the Ushuaia region of Tierra del Fuego.

The Han government used Chinese immigrants to control the southern territory, which is 3200 kilometers long from north to south. Although the soil in the southern Patagonian desert is poor and rainfall is scarce, the vast grasslands and the diverse climate environment in the coastal areas have created rich animal and plant resources.

For example, the Valdes Peninsula in the Golden State (Chubut Province) has a total area of ​​about 3 square kilometers. The land on the peninsula is barren and not suitable for the growth of crops such as soybeans and wheat. However, the peninsula is home to a large number of wild animals such as llamas, guanacos, alpacas, wild deer, foxes, etc. The offshore areas close to the Atlantic Ocean are home to large marine animals such as South American fur sea lions, walruses, and southern right whales.

The Indian tradition of domesticating camels to carry goods inspired Chinese immigrants to migrate to Patagonia. Near immigrant settlements such as the Valdes Peninsula and Viedma, young and strong Chinese people, under the organization of immigration resettlement officers, formed hunting teams one after another, went deep into the inland areas, specifically looking for traces of camels, and then used the speed advantage of riding horses to surround and capture the camels they found.

The advancement of chemical dye technology has promoted the progress of the local textile industry, and has also driven the development of camel breeding and camel wool processing industries.

After the immigrants capture alpacas, guanacos and other camels, except for a few injured ones that are difficult to treat, most of the alpacas will be dispersed and raised in the land allocated to each family.

The native region is vast and sparsely populated, but in the Pampas, where the population is relatively dense and animal husbandry is most developed, on average each cattle raised by immigrants occupies one hectare of grassland, while in Patagonia, on average one alpaca can occupy two hectares of land.

The unique natural environment provides the most suitable conditions for the development of local animal husbandry, and the development of animal husbandry provides valuable start-up funds for industrial development.

At the end of 1880, according to the latest statistics, the total number of cattle in the native area exceeded 1100 million, and the number of sheep reached 2300 million, with the total number of cattle and sheep exceeding four times the native population.

The rapid growth in the number of livestock, mainly cattle and sheep, has driven the growth of agricultural product exports. At the same time, the surplus of cattle, sheep, pigs and other livestock is also gradually changing the dietary structure of Chinese in South America.

Take the annual meat consumption of Chinese families in the Pampas as an example. Ten years ago, Chinese families who had just immigrated to South America were worried about encountering another disaster like the one on the mainland, so they only ate meat every few weeks. However, more than a year after the Han Dynasty occupied the La Plata region, the external threat was greatly weakened. Every civilian household raised varying numbers of livestock. Therefore, their demand for meat products also increased from the initial four or five kilograms of meat per household per year to an average of 160 kilograms of beef, mutton and pork per household per year.

Abundant meat intake ensures the normal nutritional needs of local people. Northern refugees who have just arrived in the local area often gain ten to twenty kilograms in weight after staying for three or two months, and their sallow and thin appearance is replaced by a rosy, healthy skin color.

The improvement in eating habits and living environment has had a huge impact on local people. Although the impact on adult Chinese is not yet very obvious, the new generation of children born locally are generally one or two centimeters taller than their peers who have just migrated from the mainland.

During the feudal society, the natural height of the Chinese population has always been taller than that of people in neighboring countries. However, after entering the Ming and Qing dynasties, the population increased sharply and the per capita grain output was insufficient, which led to a gap in the height of the Chinese and modern Westerners.

The situation in mainland China where the height of Chinese people is naturally limited due to insufficient food intake is no longer possible in the Han country. It is foreseeable that when the new generation of babies who are born locally and have adequate nutrition intake grow up, their average height and physical fitness will be significantly improved compared to their parents.

(End of this chapter)