C3486 Coastal North (1/2)
The autumn rain had finally started to fall. In the autumn of 1871, which was also the autumn of Tongzhi's tenth year, the horse-tailed boatyard held a grand ceremony to send off the Tongzhi Emperor and the New Imperial Army.
Tongzhi had only stayed in Fujian for a week, but the entire situation in the city had changed. First, he comforted the new army and ordered Shen Baozhen, who was in deep sorrow, to bring in an advanced bank in Fuzhou to improve the financial system of the city.
At the same time, Tongzhi also exempted all the families of New Imperial Army from paying taxes for ten years, and there were also taxes for a year for ordinary citizens. When such a good governance was introduced, the entire public opinion went into an uproar, and the praises for the ten thousand years old spread throughout Fujian Province like sparkling water, to the point that even half of the southern part of the city was shaken up.
The Mawei Shipyard quickly reached a preliminary agreement with the Asian president of Standard Chartered Bank of Hong Kong, who had arrived in Hong Kong on the news. The UK made an initial capital injection of one million pounds to help Horse-Tail introduce the latest shipbuilding equipment and dig deeper and wider dry docks to increase the production capacity of the Mawei Shipyard.
Not just the British Bankers, many foreign merchants who had heard the news also came here to try their luck. Although they did not have the qualifications to see the Tongzhi Emperor, they could still get some high-quality orders from him.
Under the secret instructions of the Tongzhi Emperor, with the Mawei Shipyard as the core, a small sized Industrial Zones that belonged to the Tongzhi himself had already appeared on the design.
Having previously suffered in exchange for a bank note, the little emperor finally understood that governing a country is not something that one can do as he pleases. The higher your status is, the more you have to act according to the rules.
A sudden attack on the spur of the moment is not an option, because your status and weight are too great and your influence is too great.
So he had sent detailed schedules to Shanghai and Beijing before he left the ponytail, and this time he wasn't going to investigate the surprise attack.
During this week, Hong Kong and Shanghai dispatched almost all of their steamers, galloping at top speed to the horse tail. Thirty thousand imperial guards were going to head north from the sea, and with the technology and size of their steamships at the time, this would be a very large fleet.
Even if a ship could fill up to a thousand people, it would still take thirty steamers, not to mention a lot of smaller steamships that only had six or seven hundred people.
Zai Chun was unable to take all of the soldiers with him at once, so he could only choose the most reliable ten ships and select 8000 Hippi to accompany him north.
When the imperial carriage left Minjiang Estuary, the hundred thousand citizens on both sides of the river kneeled and offered up to the Holy Son. Just one year of tax exemption was enough to move the entire people of Fujian Province to cry bitterly.
”Respectfully sending this His Majesty back to the capital … Long live! Long live! ”Long live!”
The Minjiang Estuary was a gathering of ten thousand sails, all the European Seagoing Ship Group honked their flute to send the Great Qing's emperor off to the north!
When Tongzhi returned to his own country, his influence immediately rose. The officials along the coastline had already prepared a fast boat and knew that the Emperor would not stop at his own prefectural city, but they couldn't miss this chance to kiss ass to him.
The big and small officials brought tribute to pay their respects to Tongzhi from the sea. In order to greet the local officials, the entire fleet's speed was reduced to the lowest.
From the north of Fujian to Shanghai, the British have witnessed the Chinese worship of imperial power!
Many officials were puking on the sea for three days in order to kowtow to the emperor from afar!
Once the warship with the Dragon flag appeared in the sight of the Qing government officials and civilians, everyone could not even kneel before the sea and call out ”Long live the battle”.
There were also countless local merchants. Even though they knew it wouldn't do them any good, they still brought in special products, and even paintings of Real Gold and Silver and antiques to present to the emperor.
Many times, when these treasures were delivered to the side of the Tongzhi Emperor, even the little emperor would not know who gave them to him!
The imperial power was like a giant magnet, attracting the attention of the entire empire!
Gradually, Zai Chun started to feel that, he had slowly recovered his identity of a ninety five Great Elder. Standing at the bow of the ship and watching the citizens kneel, he did not feel that touched anymore. It was only when he saw the eight thousand New Imperial Army s accompanying him that Er Mao could see the burning emotions in his eyes.