Without the participation of the Ming Dynasty forces, or in other words, with the participation of the Ming Dynasty forces, the world would be even more chaotic. Except for the Ming Dynasty itself, many places in the world were in raging war.

The best-selling commodities of the Ming Dynasty were no longer silk and porcelain but arms. Big eight-grain rifles, grenades, and light mortars were not only expensive, but also in short supply.

If you really have a good relationship with the Ming Dynasty, you can sell light rocket launchers and heavy cannons. However, they are more expensive, and the price of cannonballs is even more astonishing.

Due to the very high requirements for processing technology, cannonballs are a unique business. It is impossible for anyone else to make them!

High-end restaurants and big hotels in the capital are often visited by people in all kinds of fancy clothes. They often drag Ming officials with them to drink, sing, and take saunas.

The arrival of these people played an accelerator role in the corruption of the Ming Dynasty's officialdom.

Regarding this kind of thing, the Ministry of Supervision completely turns a blind eye. The food of foreign investors will not be eaten in vain. In the early years, people from these foreign countries gave some things that were worth three melons but not two dates, and they were able to make money in the Ming Dynasty.

Receive large rewards.

This kind of thing is gone forever, and now foreigners have no status at all in the Ming Dynasty. Foreign missions often bring large sums of money with them when they come to the Ming Dynasty.

Now the Ming Dynasty Bank also has branches overseas, and there is a large regional bank in Suezburg. Now when doing business, you no longer need to carry large boxes of gold and silver for delivery.

You slap the banknote on the table, and I will issue a bill of lading for you. The whole process is very civilized and there is no smell of copper. Merchants like this method very much.

Nowadays, all cash transaction processes are annoying. Who has to go to the trouble of depositing your silver coins in the bank?

Some hostile envoys stayed in the same hotel, but on different floors. They worked hard all day to attack Ming officials in order to obtain more arms.

Generally speaking, whoever gets more arms will take the initiative in the war.

Li Xiao is not afraid of unsaleable weapons. As long as there are people, there will be disputes. Where there are disputes, weapons will be needed. If both sides are armed with swords and spears, the outcome of the struggle will depend on the number of people on both sides.

The side with fewer people would look for a way first, and the Ming Dynasty's advanced weapons gave them hope. So they sought the cooperation of the Ming Dynasty's arms dealers and bought a large amount of arms.

The party with swords and spears would definitely suffer in this way. After learning from the experience, they also decided to send people to Ming Dynasty to buy arms.

In order to meet these people's war needs, the workers had to work overtime at night, just to produce more weapons and ammunition and make more money.

The officials of the Ministry of Industry are very angry and look at the sky all day long. Sometimes both sides are good at fawning over each other, so the arms produced on a single day go to one side, and the arms produced on two days go to the other side.

Jinzhou Arsenal, Jinan Arsenal, and Xi'an Arsenal are operating at full capacity and producing with all their strength, so that they can meet the war needs of people around the world.

The Ming Dynasty has finally truly reached the pinnacle of the world after more than 270 years since its founding. Unfortunately, there is no emperor named Zhu sitting on the dragon throne. People of the Ming Dynasty will be looked down upon when they go abroad. An ordinary citizen of the Ming Dynasty,

They will be valued by local people abroad.

There is no way around it, if this Ming man dies inexplicably, those ferocious Ming soldiers will come over and grab the king by the collar and ask him how he died.

After killing a group of people and extorting a large amount of compensation, he left angrily. When he left, he did not forget to warn him. If there is a next time, the king will wait for his head to be hung on the flagpole to dry.

The effect is immediate. People of the Ming Dynasty can now walk around the world. If someone wants to embarrass the people of the Ming Dynasty, they will point to the warships on the sea and ask them if they are afraid of cannonballs. If one explodes, dozens of people can die.

That kind of person.

Li Xiao came to Changxing Island again on an armored ship. After more than ten years of construction, the island has been built into a steel fortress. Not only are patrol boats constantly patrolling around the island, but there are also patrol teams on the island, patrolling the island day and night.

A large wolfdog patrols along the island.

As long as weather conditions permit, there are always two airships patrolling the sky.

As long as there are any ships or people approaching, someone will go over to investigate. If I approach without any reason, the only thing waiting for them will be torn into pieces by gunfire.

People in the Ming Dynasty all know that this place is not accessible. The soldiers will shoot without any reason. Even if you kill someone, you can't win. At most, you can only pay a few dollars!

The defenders would also deliberately throw some livestock carcasses into the sea, which resulted in a large number of sharks surrounding Changxing Island. This is also a part of the protective circle. If someone wants to secretly swim to the island, they must first pass through this shark barrier.

Generally speaking, no one who has no tendency to seek death will go near this island of death.

This island is too important to the Ming Dynasty. It is the source of the Ming Dynasty's technological power. Li Xiao's order is that no unauthorized piece of paper is allowed to be circulated outside.

When we landed on Changxing Island, we immediately saw a row of townhouses in Chaoyang.

It was once the residence of the Li brothers and sisters, but now it is filled with scientists from England.

Now the person guarding Changxing Island is Liu Laoliu. This guy used to be a boatman. Although his ability is not very good, his qualifications are very senior.

When Li Xiu went to sea, he was his master.

But this guy was too timid and was very afraid of fighting. As soon as the cannon sounded, his legs trembled with fear. In desperation, he had no choice but to stay on the island as a sojourn. But he was the biggest in this place, so he could live a leisurely life.

.

"Commander!" Seeing Li Xiao walking down the gangway of the armored ship, Liu Laoliu hurriedly bowed and saluted. He had withdrawn from the military and was no longer qualified to salute.

"Thank you for your hard work!" Li Xiao helped Liu Laoliu up. He was almost sixty years old, and his hair and beard were all white.

"The old man has been on this island all day long, so how can he be so hard-working? It's hard work for a commander-in-chief to lead his sons to fight thousands of miles. The Ming Dynasty has a commander-in-chief, and Yuna Hainei is really proud."

After listening to Liu Laoliu's words, Li Xiao couldn't help but look at this old guy with admiration. The old bastard is good. A boatman who doesn't know a lot of Chinese characters can actually speak such literate words. It seems that the old guy still knows how to learn.

Seeing the old guy wiping the sweat from his head, Li Xiao knew the answer.

"You must have carried it very late last night!"

"No, they said if you can't carry it well...! Marshal...!" Liu Laoliu was actually a little embarrassed.

"You've been following me for more than ten years, so why bother doing these fictitious things? Don't I know how many tricks you, Liu Laoliu, have?"

"That's right! I told them a long time ago that the old man is just a guard dog and can't do anything formal. Even after carrying it all night, the commander saw through it.

Today’s children are well-educated and well-educated, which is different from our time. The younger generations in the family are afraid that the old man will embarrass them.”

"What a shame. You, Liu Laoliu, are optimistic about making Changxing Island. It's a great achievement." Li Xiao smiled and boarded Changxing Island, and went straight to the carriage parked on the roadside.

The defense on the pier was very tight, and Li Xiao even saw machine guns mounted on sandbags on the roadside.

"Old Liu, there's no need to be like this. The key to defense is to be tight on the outside and loose on the inside. You're going to scare people with a machine gun like this."

"I can't help it. I just know that everything on this island is a secret. Old man, you must do it word for word. Except for reports and official documents to the court, not a single piece of paper is allowed to be spread out on the island.

Even the garbage on the island needs to be sent to the incinerator for burning. The black smoke you see over there is the incinerator.

The old man personally inspects the goods that come in and out every day, and none of them are missing one day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year."

Li Xiao believed what Liu Laoliu said. This old guy was not good at fighting, but he was indeed a good housekeeper. When Li Xiu recommended him, Li Xiao agreed without any hesitation.

"Thank you for your hard work! If you have any difficulties, if you have any, please bring it up and everything that can be solved will be solved for you." Li Xiao waved his hand broadly, and his tone naturally became louder after he had the power in his hands.

"Everything is good on the island. The old man drinks Wuliangye and eats seafood every day. Pigs, cattle and sheep are constantly brought to him from the land, as well as various seasonal fruits.

You see it's spring now, but there are still a lot of oranges and apples in the cellar, and some old men who are rotten feel it's a pity. But there is no way, this is the rule on the island. Even if the things on the island are rotten, they are not rotten.

Ready to ship it out again.

If the old man has any request, can you send me a deputy? The old man is getting old, and he will take charge of this place after taking the deputy for a few years. The old man also goes home to hug his grandson. Commander, you don’t know, last year my grandson

Gave birth to a great-grandson for me.

I wanted to take advantage of the Chinese New Year to come to the island to pay homage to my old man. But I turned him back!

This island is a place where outsiders are not allowed to come casually. Anyone on the shore who dares to sail a boat or swim to the island will be shot immediately.

How can my old man's family break the rules set by the commander-in-chief? But the old man is really panicking in his heart, this is another generation of people."

The light in Liu Laoliu's eyes changed from kindness to hope. At this age, it is indeed a gratifying thing to see another generation.

"What you mentioned, we will do it when we get back. We must find someone who can take responsibility. Speaking of which, I, Li Xiao, can't help you. I'm over 60 years old, and I still have to be trapped on this island." This request.

It's impossible for Li Xiao to disagree, it's just human nature.

Besides, Liu Laoliu is getting older, so in the future this island will have to be filled by young and strong people. As for who to send, Li Xiao has no idea yet.

The carriage quickly arrived at the center of the island, where there was a huge reinforced concrete building. There was actually a barbed wire fence hanging on the tall wall.

There is a watchtower every ten or twenty meters around the wall. Soldiers with guns stand on it. Li Xiao visually inspected the cement wall to be almost five meters high.

This place doesn't look like a research place, it looks more like a prison.

The carriage drove to the gate, and the huge iron door creaked open.

Li Xiao saw that there were actually machine guns on both sides of the iron gate. The soldiers standing guard at the door, holding a big wolf dog, saluted Li Xiao's car.

After getting off the carriage, Li Xiao saw many people wearing blue work clothes. Some of them also wore safety helmets on their heads, and many of them were blond and blue-eyed.

Walking to the door of the workshop, Li Xiao saw Dr. Newton with oily hands.

Historically, Newton studied theoretical physics, but now Li Xiao has used all his ingenuity in the development of automobiles.

A car geek once said that a car is actually an engine and four wheels.

A car is indeed an engine with four wheels, but if you want this engine to spin with four wheels and pull more than ten tons of things around the world, this cannot be accomplished overnight.

Newton has been working here with his people for two years. Here are the best craftsmen in Ming Dynasty and the best conditions. A qualified engine can be manufactured according to Newton's design.

The engine is the heart of the car. But it is really difficult to manufacture this heart.

The first point is the issue of engine downsizing.

Whether it is the engine of the Ming Dynasty or the engine developed by Newton and others in Bombay, they are all as big as a two-bedroom apartment. To put it bluntly, the so-called gasoline engine is a reduced version of a fuel-fired boiler.

Because fuel has a low ignition point and high heat, it generates heat energy faster and higher than coal, so the output power of a fuel-fired airship is higher than that of an ordinary coal-fired steam engine.

But what Newton has to do now is to limit the weight of the engine to less than one thousand kilograms. The size must also be greatly reduced, which not only requires top-notch manufacturing technology, but also requires continuous innovation in design.

Daming actually has a team studying this matter, but the progress seems to be slower than that of Newton. As long as the engine is successfully miniaturized, other problems are not actually a problem. Daming will soon have a car that can hit the road.

Li Xiao came today because Newton had made a breakthrough on the engine problem and had already manufactured a complete engine and installed it on the car. Just waiting for Li Xiao's order, the car went around the factory and it was completed.

Accounts to leadership.

Over the past two years, Daming has spent a huge amount of money on this project. Now that the results have been achieved, he has to show off to the shopkeeper who paid for it.

Only in this way can future funding be secured.

Outsiders like Newton had no foundation in the Ming Dynasty. If they wanted to survive, large bonuses were indispensable.

As soon as he walked into the workshop, Li Xiao was shocked by what he saw. On the display stand, he saw a "car" parked on the railway track.

Oh my God! Aren't cars meant to run on roads? How come they run on rails! If I wanted to use them on railways, I would have asked people to study the miniaturization of fuel trains.

"This is...!" Li Xiao looked at all the staff in surprise.

"This is our concept car!"
Chapter completed!