Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 140, My Empire

Earl Sweet arrived in Huaizhou safely.

Fang Yong took Earl Sweet to visit his land.

Earl Sweet was shocked and wrote in his diary:

"This is a piece of fertile land that is not disguised at all. Along the way, the wheat in the field is almost as tall as a person, just like a sapling. If you hadn't been reminded, you would never have believed that it was wheat."

"There is no need to worry about the repayment capacity of the regime here. Even if they sell completely unprocessed grain, it will be enough to pay off all the loans."

Afterwards, Fang Yong took him to visit the army.

Earl Sweet was shocked by the huge number of troops.

In terms of numbers, this number has exceeded the number of troops in the British Empire's homeland. Moreover, they are disciplined and well-trained, and are obviously not put together at the last minute.

The only thing that puzzled Earl Sweet was that he saw some soldiers practicing with flintlock rifles during training, which indicated that Fang Yong had mastered the technology of manufacturing flintlock rifles, but the army was not equipped with flintlock rifles in large numbers.

"Do you think swords, bows and crossbows are more reliable than flintlock rifles?"

asked Lord Sweet.

Fang Yong shook his head.

"No, please follow me."

Fang Yong took Earl Sweet to the ironworks in the city.

Earl Sweet got the answer to his question.

Too backward.

This original blast furnace Sweet Earl was only seen in my grandfather's diary.

It was powered by a combination of water power and animal power, but this power was too unstable, which greatly limited steel production and made it difficult to guarantee the quality of the steel produced.

The military weapons manufacturing plant was located near the ironworks, and Fang Yong took Earl Sweet to take a look.

Here, Earl Sweet saw craftsmen making weapons with pure manpower.

No wonder they couldn’t produce flintlock rifles in large quantities. It turned out they didn’t even have lathes.

This kind of manual manufacturing method not only makes it difficult to guarantee the quality of firearms, but more importantly, it greatly increases the cost of firearms manufacturing.

It is fine to manufacture small quantities for daily training, but once it is mass-produced, the time and money required will be astronomical.

In fact, the scene that Earl Sweet saw was already the scene that Fang Yong had worked hard to optimize.

At the beginning, the craftsmen were all doing their own work. Later, driven by Fang Yong's policies, these craftsmen took in many apprentices.

Today, after a long period of study, these apprentices can already mass-produce some simple workpieces, which has greatly increased the efficiency of current weapons manufacturing.

After the basic visit, we started to discuss cooperation matters.

Fang Yong's goal was very simple, which was to borrow a large amount of funds from the British Empire National Bank, and then use this money to purchase a large amount of basic industrial equipment, hire scientific staff, weapons scientists, and shipbuilders, so as to complete a comprehensive upgrade of the industrial base in the Huaizhou area.

As for the conditions promised before, merchants from the British Empire were allowed to invest in building factories and sell goods.

Fang Yong said that it was okay to build a factory. However, the political situation was unstable now, and the Great Xi Empire might send millions of troops south at any time to launch a large-scale attack on his territory. In order to stabilize the political situation, it was necessary to focus on the development of heavy industry first. Investing in building a factory could only be carried out after the political situation was stabilized. Earl Sweet frowned, and he said that the matter could be reported to the cabinet, and a group of elite army and navy fleets of the British Empire would be dispatched to protect Fang Yong's regime.

This proposal was rejected instantly by Fang Yong.

Fang Yong seriously told Earl Sweet that on the continent of Zhongxia, if foreigners interfered in the local war, then in accordance with the ancient maxims, all the countries in the Zhongxia region would unite and deal a devastating blow to the invaders.

By then, the number of troops assembled across the continent will exceed three million, and even he himself will have to participate in it according to the precepts.

Earl Sweet was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. Three million people? This was far beyond his comprehension.

In the history of the whole of Europe, a battle involving more than ten thousand people would have been recorded in history forever, but he could not even imagine what it meant to have three million people.

The idea of sending troops to intervene was directly dismissed, and Earl Sweet could only follow the route given by Fang Yong.

First help Fang Yong complete the construction and upgrading of heavy industry, and then invest in building factories and dumping goods.

Fang Yong gave a time limit of eight years.

After much bargaining, Earl Sweet finally agreed on five years.

Five years later, regardless of whether Fang Yong can stabilize the political situation, he must allow merchants from the British Empire to invest and build factories here, dump goods, and collect taxes at half of the current tax rate.

Fang Yong agreed.

Five years is enough...

As for the other negotiation details, Fang Yong did not need to participate in person and directly handed it over to Xue Dacuizi to be responsible for the negotiations.

Finally, after repeated negotiations, the British Empire agreed to lend Fang Yong 6000 million pounds, to be paid in five years, 1200 million pounds per year, with an annual interest rate of 2.8%, but it would start directly from 6000 million pounds. (Approximately 1-2 million taels of silver)
In addition, it was stipulated that the money could not be used for other purposes, but must be used to purchase industrial equipment for the British Empire, hire personnel, etc. In simple terms, it was like transferring the money from one hand to the other and eating from both ends.

Although Fang Yong has the right to supervise, how can he completely supervise such a matter of transferring money from one hand to the other? In any case, the other party has taken advantage of it.

Finally, if Fang Yong is unable to repay the loan in the future, the tax revenue of the entire Suzhou will be used as collateral.

Foreigners are so insidious!
Fortunately, Fang Yong is more insidious.

From the beginning, he had no intention of repaying the loan.

Not that he wanted to deny it.

As a positive character, Fang Yong has his own pride. He now carries the glory of the ancient empire of Zhongxia, and would not resort to such despicable means as refusing to pay his debts.

Fang Yong’s idea was that he borrowed money from the British Empire, but if the British Empire was himself, then would he not have to pay it back?

Fang Yong proposed to Earl Sweet that he could accept all these conditions, but he needed a princess of the British Empire royal blood of the right age to come for marriage in order to prove the friendship between the two sides.

At the same time, Fang Yong also hoped that the British Empire would send a bishop-level church leader to preach. He often dreamed of revelations from the Lord, but did not understand the specific meaning, so he needed someone to answer this question for him.

Earl Sweet looked very strange after hearing this.

The condition of marrying a princess of the British Empire is a little strange, but it is at least reasonable to ensure stable cooperation between the two parties through marriage.

But Earl Sweet couldn't understand Fang Yong's second condition at all.

It has always been our side that has taken the initiative to propose missionary work, and I have never seen the other side ask us to send people to preach.

(End of this chapter)