Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 190 Industrial Development Begins with Plagiarism and Piracy

After Liu Mingqi was taken away, the military court official saluted Fang Haiyang and said.

"Thank you, Commander, for cooperating with us."

Fang Haiyang just said with a somewhat dejected look.

"It should!"

Liu Mingqi was different from other people in that he was a civil servant. He was a military general and the commander of a naval fleet.

If the Military Court wants to take him down, it must have the cooperation of Fang Haiyang, the commander-in-chief of the navy.

Otherwise, one careless mistake could backfire and lead to a mutiny.

This is something no one wants to see!

Therefore, before arresting someone, the Military Court would notify Fang Haiyang in advance and ask him to cooperate with them.

As for Fang Haiyang, Liu Mingqi is his confidant. How can Fang Haiyang deny his involvement when Liu Mingqi got into trouble this time?

In order to get rid of the trouble, the most direct way is to assist the Military Court in arresting people.

Fang Haiyang was thinking whether he should go and apologize to the king afterwards...

……

Amid the constant flow of carriages and horses, Weng Heweng and the two brothers of the Weng family bid farewell to their old father, left Xiangyin, and headed for Guangzhou with a few followers.

Weng He was selected in the imperial examination held by the Tang Dynasty in Hunan. He came to Guangzhou this time to obtain relevant official documents and then prepare to take up his post.

Weng Tong came to Guangzhou, preparing to visit the industrial park in Foshan, purchase a batch of machinery and equipment, and then return to Xiangyin to build their Weng family's grain processing plant.

The carriage and horses continued along the official road without stopping.

They stayed at the post station at night and traveled during the day. After walking for about twenty days, the two brothers of the Weng family finally arrived outside the city of Guangzhou.

At this time, the New Year is approaching.

Looking at the huge city of Guangzhou in front of him, Weng He turned and said to his younger brother.

"Second brother, when we get to Guangzhou, let's go and find a place to stay together."

"Then we will split up tomorrow. I will report to the Organization Department of the Ministry of the Interior, and you will leave for Foshan, okay?"

When Weng Tong heard this, a smile appeared on his round face, and then he said.

"Listen to big brother!"

After the two brothers finished talking, they continued to ride in the carriage towards Guangzhou.

We queued up to enter the city, then found an inn and asked for a room upstairs to stay the night.

The reason why there was only one room was that the rooms in the inns in Guangzhou city were in short supply during this period, and the inn they were staying in was almost full.

Many businessmen from all over the world, even from the West, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asian countries, stayed here.

As a result, the two brothers had to sleep in the same room, and their entourage had to squeeze into the big bunk bed.

By the time they settled in, it was already evening. The two brothers found a seat on the first floor of the inn, ordered food and prepared to have dinner.

At the dinner table, Weng He asked the waiter for two newspapers. While waiting for the food to be served, he and Weng Tong each read one newspaper.

This is a Tang Daily, a relatively official mouthpiece newspaper sponsored by the Tang Dynasty court.

Generally, there is little entertainment news published on it. Most of the news are about serious policy changes, battle reports of the imperial army and other related content.

As he flipped through the newspaper, Weng He showed a rather surprised expression on his face.

Because the first sentence of the newspaper is a line of large, bold letters.

【Extra! Extra! 】

[The 9 major smuggling case was solved, all corrupt officials were arrested, and the number of people involved in the case reached thousands. ]

Next is a detailed account of the course of the September 9 major smuggling case.

It includes the course of the case, the process of solving the case, the results of the case handling, and commendations to the relevant personnel involved.

Finally, he concluded that paying taxes according to the law is the obligation of every citizen of the Tang Dynasty. Tax evasion must be corrected and tax avoidance must be punished.

Weng He looked at the list of beheadings, property confiscations, exiles, and labor camps in the newspaper and felt terrified.

I couldn't help but remind Mr. Weng who was sitting opposite me.

"Second brother, when our Weng family does business in the future, we must pay taxes according to the law."

"Look at these people. For a little bit of profit, they sacrificed their entire family. It's really not worth it."

Weng Tong also nodded and said with great emotion.

"The deputy director of the tax department and the commander of the navy's fleet are all big shots. Who would have thought that they would be defeated by something as trivial as smuggling?"

The waiter who came with plates to serve the food heard Weng Tong's sigh and started talking to him.

"My two guests, you may not know that this smuggling case is not as simple as reported in the newspapers."

“There are a lot of things in there!”

Upon hearing this, Weng Tong couldn't help but be curious and asked.

"What does Xiao Er know? Tell me in detail!"

Upon hearing this, the waiter did not hide anything and spoke.

"You may not know that the reason why this smuggling case caused such a big stir was not because of smuggling, but because of opium."

"As everyone knows, your Majesty's father died fighting against the British during the Opium War."

"That's why the king hates opium so much."

"So after the army conquered Guangzhou, they began to ban opium in Guangzhou."

"These officials took advantage of the king's absence from Guangzhou to collude with foreigners to smuggle opium into Guangzhou, killing the people and making profits from it."

"If the king knew about this, how could he tolerate it?"

"Look, the September 9 smuggling case broke out. Those officials had their homes confiscated, and those whose families were exterminated were exterminated. This can be considered retribution."

Upon hearing this, Weng Tong nodded in agreement and said.

"But in my opinion, no matter what the reason is, it is definitely a good thing for the court to ban opium." "Opium is indeed harmful to people."

When Weng Tong was a child, his second uncle was addicted to smoking.

He watched helplessly as his second uncle, a slightly plump middle-aged man with a kind smile, quickly became emaciated after smoking opium.

Then he died soon after, and before he died he was so emaciated that only a bag of bones remained.

Upon hearing this, everyone around nodded in agreement.

Nowadays, there are many people who have been deeply harmed by opium.

Guangdong, in particular, is located at the forefront of China's opening up to the outside world and is a hard-hit area by opium.

Apart from anything else, the Tang Dynasty's move to ban opium definitely won over a large number of people in Guangdong.

The two brothers of the Weng family finished their dinner and then returned to their room.

After a night's rest, the two brothers went their separate ways. Weng He went to the Organization Department under the Ministry of the Interior in Guangzhou City to prepare to receive his appointment.

Weng Tong led a team to Foshan to purchase a batch of new rice hulling machines.

The reason for going to Foshan is that Foshan is now the industrial center of the Tang Dynasty.

Not only was Datang's arsenal located in Foshan, but an industrial park was also opened there.

Specialized in supporting the development of various industries!
Weng Tong and his men arrived in Foshan, found a broker to introduce them, and followed the broker's lead to a machinery factory in the Foshan Industrial Park.

The person who came out to receive them was the director of the machinery factory, whose surname was Gao and whose name was Gao Wei.

Gao Wei came forward and said with a smile.

"May I know your name, boss? What kind of machinery do you want to purchase?"

Weng Tong waved a folding fan in his hand and spoke in a very stylish manner.

"My last name is Weng."

"My family is in the grain business, so I want to buy a batch of rice hulling machines and open a grain processing plant."

"I wonder if the factory owner has any goods here?"

Gao Wei led the way in front, talking as he walked.

"A shelling machine."

"No problem, of course there is."

"What model does Mr. Weng want?"

Weng Tong recalled the relevant data he had previously inquired about and spoke.

"We need the latest model of drum shelling machine and the corresponding supporting equipment."

Gao Wei heard this and nodded.

"Boss Weng, come with me and I'll show you the spot goods."

As he spoke, he led the way and took Weng Tong into a factory.

Inside the factory, there is a new type of drum shelling machine and a steam engine used as a power source.

Several workers were debugging the equipment.

Gao Wei walked up to the workers and said a few words, and then they started to start the equipment.

The steam engine was ignited, shovelfuls of coal were loaded into the furnace, and as the temperature rose, the steam engine gradually started.

The piston drives the transmission shaft and starts to output power. With a loud rumbling sound, the drum sheller also starts to turn.

Amid the friction of metal parts, bags of husked rice were poured into the trough.

As the machine operates, the husk of the rice falls off, and the white rice flows out from the discharge port and is collected in sacks.

After the machine stopped working, Gao Wei and Weng went forward to investigate.

Weng Tong reached into the rice bag, scooped up a handful of rice and started looking at it.

Looking at the still warm rice grains in his hand, Weng Tong brought the rice to his nose and smelled it. The aroma of grain filled his nose.

Weng Tong put the rice back into the sack, then went forward to check the machine. After a while of pretending to touch it quietly, he asked.

"Director Gao, how much is this shelling machine?"

A cunning flashed across Gao Wei's seemingly honest eyes as he spoke.

"Not expensive, fifty silver dollars for a drum shelling machine."

Weng Tong frowned.

"And the steam engine?"

Gao Wei said with a smile.

"The steam engine is more expensive, two hundred silver dollars a piece."

“However, one steam engine can drive four or five shelling machines in series at the same time, so it is not very expensive.”

The industrial development of the Tang Dynasty had just started, and the main reason why the price of machinery was able to be lowered was due to large-scale production.

In order to promote industrial development, the Tang Dynasty court made public almost all production drawings of mechanical equipment, and even adopted a semi-laissez-faire attitude towards piracy and plagiarism.

If you want to start a factory, you just need to sell a set of blueprints and recruit a few craftsmen, and then you can set up the framework.

It was these small factories that sprang up everywhere that greatly promoted the industrialization process of the Tang Dynasty.

Although product quality is not guaranteed, the scale has increased.

Once the quantity increases, naturally some people will start to focus on quality and invention.

By then, the quality will naturally improve.

In the early stages of development, piracy and plagiarism were indeed a shortcut.

Apart from Britain, the pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, other subsequent industrial countries, whether France, Germany, the United States, or Japan, almost all started out by copying and piracy.

The Tang Dynasty is no exception!

(End of this chapter)