Mawei Port in Fujian is 40 miles away from Fuzhou, located on the north bank of the Minjiang River and only 33 kilometers away from the entrance to the Minjiang River. The exit section here is mostly a canyon, and there are island barriers such as Langqi, Kurulu, Sichuan and Shi, outside the entrance to the sea. The port area is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with good shelter conditions and a wide port area. It is a safe haven with superior conditions. In addition to being a rare port, it is also the largest shipbuilding base in Asia. The construction of Mawei Shipyard took more than a year from February 1827 to June 1828, and has been continuously expanding since then.

When the shipyard had just started construction in February 1827, the only thing that came here was the refugees collected by the Royal Industrial Development Company of China from all over the country. They leveled the factory and dug out the road. In May of the same year, French technicians and fellow French students who came to China from France took over the command of the project. A year later, a wide-area shipyard had already taken the preliminary form.

In October 1828, China's first self-built frigate was launched here. This offshore defense warship named "Fujia" was equipped with 60 howitzers from France. By 1829, Fuyi, Fujing and Fuding were launched one after another.

Of course, the shipyard with the ownership of Royal Industrial Development Company is not satisfied with this. Mao Hongsui, the general secretary of Royal Industrial Development Company, adopted a management method of year-end dividends linked to performance and bonuses in the company. Driven by interests, the president of Fujian Mawei Shipyard, who returned from studying in France, actively expanded the shipyard business and built merchant ships for coastal merchants. This action brought vitality to Fujian Mawei Shipyard and also brought a good start to its development.

The Navy Banner under the Guangzhou General was disbanded after the establishment of the Nanyang Navy, and the Navy Banner Camp became the location of the Guangdong Navy Martial Arts Hall. Guan Tianpei and Lai Enjue trained the first batch of naval officials with modern consciousness here, and finally in 1829, the Nanyang Navy established its own offshore fleet. The fleet used a second-deck battleship purchased from France as its flagship, equipped with Fu A, Fu B, Fu C, Fu Ding and some modified original naval ships stationed in Fujian, Guangzhou, Xiamen and other places.

As early as 1827, the British sent envoys to China to negotiate the re-spatch of consuls. Liu Xie asked Dai Lanfen to make tough demands to ask British merchants to stop importing opium into China and threaten to close Sino-British trade. Britain softened during the negotiations and agreed to China's conditions. Unfortunately, in actual situations, the Chinese navy's ships could not stop the British merchants' opium ships. In addition, China's coastline was long, and the inflow of opium did not relieve much. Dai Lanfen protested to the British consulate many times on this matter, and the result seemed to be quite satisfactory. But in reality, the inflow of opium rose to a new height in 1829.

This incident made Liu Ji very troubled. Although the current Sino-British trade is clearly in a surplus according to customs statistics, this surplus has been offset by the secret opium trade. Liu Ji's determination to ban smoking has become increasingly firm.

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March 1830, the Old Summer Palace, the Hall of Qinzheng...

"The Russians attacked Persia for the second time the year before, and the greedy polar bear went to war with the Turks for the seventh time. Previously, the Russians joined forces with Britain and France to wipe out the Turkish fleet at the port of Navarin. Last year, the Turks lost the seventh time last year. They compensated the Russian bears 10 million Dutch guilds and occupied the vast areas on the mouth of the Danube and the eastern coast of the Black Sea."

Hearing Dai Lanfen talked freely, Liu Ji's heart crunched, which reminded him of China after the Opium War, one after another of compensation treaties, one after another of occupied land, and his ears were full of bad news, and all the disasters seemed to have no end. Hong Kong was ceded, the Old Summer Palace was destroyed, the land north of Heilongjiang was occupied, the land north of Xinjiang was invaded, endless humiliation, and the last bit of morale of the Chinese nation was lost. By the time he was cheered up, it was a hundred years in a flash, and many great opportunities were wrong. It was like playing chess, and at the critical moment, he took a wrong step and fell behind step by step. Liu Ji thought of this and closed his eyes, as if he was dozing off.

Dai Lanfen, who was sitting opposite Liu Ji, didn't understand. He thought the emperor was tired, so he lowered his voice and asked softly: "Your Majesty, I'm leaving."

"Wanxiang, please continue to talk. Is the opium in the south controlled now?"

Seeing that the emperor was not asleep, Dai Lanfen replied: "I think the opium in the south has indeed been controlled. One is the Nanyang Navy has begun to take shape, and the other is the Emperor granting Lord Lin the right to mobilize the Nanyang Navy. The opium ship arrest has been much smoother."

When Liu Ji heard this, he opened his eyes, sat up from the couch, picked up the tea bowls on several pieces and took a sip, but said without looking at Dai Lanfen and said: "Yuan Fu has already written the question book and asks Guangdong, Fujian and coastal provinces to do a good job in coastal defense!"

Dai Lanfen asked thoughtfully, "Is it because Lord Lin led Admiral Guan to sink a British opium ship on the sea a few days ago?"

Liu Ji shook his head and replied: "Yuan Fu recently requested to inform the British merchants at the Fifth Port of Trade to hand over all opium."

Dai Lanfen was silent. After a moment, Dai Lanfen asked, "Are the emperor ready?"

"What do you think Wan Xiang?" Liu Ji did not answer immediately, and he asked calmly.

"I dare not answer this matter casually. The British insisted that it was a merchant ship when they sank the British opium ship a few days ago. Now the relationship with me, the Qing Dynasty, is already very tense. If this is done at this time, will it anger the British and cause a war?"

Dai Lanfen's answer was expected by Liu Ji. In Liu Ji's opinion, whether the British wanted to start a war is to see whether China's national strength is strong, and the other is how much profit this war can earn. If both are obviously beneficial to the British, the British can start a war by just finding an excuse.

"The more you are afraid of this thing in war, the more it will come. You tell the British that whenever an opium ship arrives in China, it will be sunk by me. If the British want to make trouble, I will stop all trade with the British."

Dai Lanfen suddenly felt proud in his heart for the emperor's reply, but another vague worry also bothered him.

After Dai Lanfen responded to the promise, he asked carefully: "Does the emperor agree to Lord Lin's memorial?"

Liu Ji pushed open the window and looked into the distance and said, "Isn't it right for Yuan Fu to ask the British to hand over opium? I originally planned to send an order to governors of several provinces along the southern coast to hand over opium, but what I am worried about is that officials from various provinces do not understand the foreign national conditions and deviate from my will."

Dai Lanfen understood this very well. He nodded and replied: "The emperor is very concerned. If the emperor's will is passed down, the coastal officials will not be able to distinguish between the British or French. They will definitely arrest people randomly. At that time, whether it is an opium merchant or a good merchant, they will definitely expand the situation."

Liu Ji was indeed so worried. He nodded and said, "You can do it according to my will!"
Chapter completed!