Rebirth of the Qing Empire

Kang Fan was well aware of the complexity and chaos of this era. While sending Blue Demon team members to escort the He family's caravan along the way, he also helped the He family select strong people among their own workers to form a escort team to carry out on-site inspections of the He family's industries in various places.

Protect.

Confan entrusted Donovan to purchase a batch of Winchester m1894 lever-action rifles and bullets from the United States, and equipped them with the escort team. Compared with the Mosin-Nagant m1891 lances equipped by the Blue Demon Team, although

The power and range vary quite a bit, but they are light, short, easy to carry, and moderately powerful. They are very suitable for use by escorts who only perform low-intensity conflict missions in cities.

The escort team is composed of several retired Huai Army veterans who are specially hired to serve as captains of each unit. They use their combat experience and military skills to train the escort team members and are responsible for directing various actions of the escort team. The escort team members usually still do their own thing.

The errands are concentrated only when there is action. It is a loose militia organization that combines peacetime and wartime, is flexible and efficient.

Coincidentally, Donovan and his three American friends all moved with their family from the eastern United States to California in the west, riding on the boom of development in the western United States since childhood, and settled in San Jose in that state.

Come down. The three friends have been together since childhood

He is very proficient in using the Winchester m1873 rifle. The Winchester m1873 rifle is known as the "gun that conquered the American West" and contributed greatly to the development of the American people in the west. And the Winchester

m1894 continuous gun

It is an improved version of the gun, with superior performance, but there is no big difference in operation. It is perfect for these three Americans to train the escort. Kang Fan therefore gave them generous rewards and corresponding training

power, allowing them to serve as escorts

Team members and instructors. These three Americans finally found a position that suits them. They are quite dedicated. While continuing to work with Donovan, they have their own fixed careers and their lives have settled down. Donovan also

Therefore, a worry was settled.

Of course, Donovan and the others would not know that the world-famous "Silicon Valley" of the United States would be born here. At that time, San Jose was just an agricultural product processing and trading center, an immigrant settlement developed as a commodity supplier for gold diggers.

Most residents are engaged in agriculture-related jobs.

Donovan's family is in the agricultural products business, and his three partners were all born in out-and-out farmers' families. Due to Donovan's superior family background, he concentrated on his studies under the supervision of his father since he was a child, although he was not as good as his three partners.

He was a "wild boy" who ran around all over the mountains and fields all day long, but occasionally he would be lazy, put down his books and go out to play with his friends, and thus formed a deep friendship.

Later, Donovan left home to study abroad, and had very little contact with his friends. They met again when Donovan returned home to get married.

Donovan's wife is of Spanish descent and was born in a local businessman's family. Her father's generation had a close relationship with Donovan's father's generation. In Chinese, it is described as "a child who is married with the fingertips", which makes Kang Fan quite interesting.

.Donovan and his wife have known each other since childhood, and his wife is also very familiar with his three partners. In addition, Donovan is their family member.

The only boy among five children, in the days when Donovan left home, his three companions naturally became the protectors of the elderly, women and children in Donovan's family. Later, Donovan's sisters successively

After getting married, the sons-in-law took over the burden of these three partners, which facilitated the trip of these three partners to China to find Donovan.

The reason why Donovan was able to handle the import and export trade between China and Western countries with ease was inseparable from the good relationship with Hurd, then the Customs and Excise Department of the Qing government. Hurd was born in Northern Ireland, England, and his family

They are from the same family line as the Donovan family. Although one is in the UK and the other is in the United States, the ancestors of the two families have always been close, so the relationship is still stable in their generation.

Hurd was appointed by the Qing government as the General Department of Customs and Taxation in 1863 and has been there for 32 years now. This man was deeply trusted by the Qing government and served for 50 years. During his tenure, he not only controlled the finances of China Customs

In addition to intervening in China's internal affairs, military affairs, diplomacy, and taking over port, maritime, postal services, etc., and its long-term service to Western powers in their invasion of China, they have also been commended by European governments.

It was only ten years ago that Donovan came to China and started doing business. During this period, he mainly focused on preaching and voluntary medical practice, but he did a lot of good deeds for the Chinese people. He only started doing business in the past two years.

Years later, especially after getting acquainted with Kang Fan, I finally made a few decent deals.

Donovan was sensitively aware that Kang Fan, a strange Chinese man, would definitely achieve great things. This man was very different from other Chinese men with long braids. He could speak fluent English, knew everything about the world, and had profound knowledge.

He has super personal abilities, is tall and strong, has a broad mind, quick thinking, and a strong will. He has almost no obvious shortcomings. He has too many secrets in him, which is his most attractive thing.

Confan was quite disgusted with Hurd, but he admired Donovan's character and ability.

Without Donovan, an American, it would not be enough for students to have intelligent minds. In contemporary China, the technical equipment and various chemical raw materials that students need are simply nowhere to be purchased. For example, advanced steam power machinery,

Turbine generators, various advanced machine tools and industrial equipment, as well as chemicals and chemical equipment that even Kang Fan can't name. Now, through the cooperation between Donovan and the US Embassy, ​​not only does it have a piece of land in Tianjin that belongs to

It owns its own territory and some of its products are also exported. This progress is of great significance.

Especially with Donovan as the intermediary, the U.S. Embassy used the excuse that the Tianjin base was still a U.S. concession and openly supported Kang Fan and the others in the name of the U.S. government. This invisibly made Kang Fan and the others rely on a government that was better than the Qing government.

Stronger backing ensures that products can participate in fair competition in the market. For Kangfan and the others, who are more than a hundred years ahead of other competitors in terms of technical concepts, they have a huge asymmetric advantage from now on!

"Your god gave you to me, so that I got an extremely precious gift. I couldn't be more satisfied with the quality and appearance of this gift." Kang Fan said with a smile.

Donovan smiled meaningfully and said: "I know Mr. Kang has lofty ambitions and the personal ability to realize this ambition, but in these troubled times, without the strong support of the government or foreigners, if you want to realize your ideals, you can only rely on one

It's simply not possible to have hot blood in your mouth."

"I have the He brothers. Isn't the support of you and Yu Hao enough?" Kang Fan asked.

Donovan shook his head, "The best result is: you are the government yourself, you have the rights, and you can do your own thing with less or no restrictions."

"If I were the current emperor, my country would not be in such a mess." Kang Fan said seriously.

Donovan smiled and said: "In China, if you say this, you will be beheaded."

"In that case, I will flee to the United States with you. Will you take me in?" Kang Fan asked with a smile.

Donovan shook his head, "I know very well that you are reluctant to leave your motherland."

Kang Fan smiled and said nothing.

Donovan changed the topic: "Currently, Ningwu Mansion is short of a fifth-grade military attache - the Chinese Army Guard. If you are willing, this position will be yours from today on."

Kang Fan was stunned, "Are you looking for Hurd?"

"Yes. For you and for me." Donovan was very proud.

Kang Fan laughed, "A British and an American helped me become an official in China's Qing Dynasty?!"

Donovan looked at him in confusion until he calmed down and then said: "As a business partner, I only want to make profits from working with you; as a friend, I want to help you realize your ideals. You treat me as yours."

Friend, so I will do my best to help you realize your ideal. Please respect everything I have done for you, Mr. Kang."

Kang Fan quickly nodded solemnly, "I respect and thank you for everything you have done for me, Mr. Donovan."

"God is on our side now." Donovan repeated the words Mei Xiang said and smiled mysteriously.

After the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, in order to pay the war reparations to the Japanese government as soon as possible, the Qing government not only borrowed debts from Western powers, but also solicited donations from the domestic people, and stipulated that donors could be appointed to official positions according to the amount. The Qing Dynasty already had a system of buying officials.

, this time it was the first time to raise donations to serve as an official, so there were many people who planned it. However, because the amount of donations required was large and the official position obtained was pitifully small, there were only a few people who actually implemented it.

Before Kang Fan met Hurd, Donovan had already made the decision without authorization. He donated ten thousand taels of silver to the Qing government in the name of Kang Fan and got a low-ranking official position. Donovan was very embarrassed, so he decided to ask Hurd for help.

De introduced. Hurd obtained his current official position after many efforts, and spent another 10,000 taels of silver. Calculated before and after, the total cost was more than 20,000 taels of silver.

Kang Fan was very moved by Donovan's good intentions, and he truly felt the American's kindness to him. Although this official position was still small, it was a military attache in charge of a defense, and he was given real military power.

It’s a great thing!

Kang Fan said: "If I remember correctly, the current governor of Shanxi should be Hu Pinzhi. This person passed the scientific examination and entered an official career. His general political tendency is to support and implement Emperor Guangxu's ideas of reform and strengthening. Our development

The position is consistent with his own thoughts

Yes, we should be able to achieve good cooperation. However, Shanxi's overall agricultural resources are not as good as those in Northeast China, Hebei, Henan and other places. The Sanjiang Plain, Hebei Plain, Nanyang Basin, etc. in these places are famous throughout the country for wheat and cotton production areas. At present,

It seems that the river

Due to the relatively concentrated imperial power, complete industry and agriculture, and large population in the Central Plains regions such as North China and Henan, there is no room for us. We can consider expanding agriculture outside the customs: after the Qing army entered the customs, they occupied the entire Central Plains region. Hundreds of years later

, but they began to ignore their birthplace - the Northeastern region. The Northeastern region is sparsely populated, with thousands of miles of fertile fields and crisscrossed rivers. It is an ideal place to develop agriculture. We find ways to make a fuss on this land and establish our

'Granary'."

Donovan smiled, "It seems that your target is not just Shanxi or Northeast China? You are interested in the whole of China."

"Yes." Kang Fan replied without concealment, "I am Chinese and I am interested in all things Chinese."

"I feel honored to be able to help you in any way I can." Donovan said sincerely.

Kang Fan stared at Donovan's sincere and clear blue eyes and said word by word: "I want my motherland to be as prosperous and powerful as your motherland, the United States."

Donovan nodded and said, "I've seen it a long time ago. This is your ideal."

Although Kang Fan knew very well that realizing his ambition was almost a fantasy, he could not convince himself not to continue. No matter what the result was, he was willing to go on step by step until one day he could no longer go on. Donovan knew better than him

The dangers of today’s world can be seen in

After understanding Kang Fan's thoughts, he put aside all the imaginable and unimaginable difficulties and chose to help without hesitation. He understood the importance of his decision: this may be the most important thing he has ever done in his life.

A meaningful thing. Therefore, he must continue to do it at all costs.