Woo... The sound of steam whistle sounded seven times. The harsh sound pierced the air, causing many people in the harbor to look at the steam iron armored ship Yongchang.

"This iron-armored ship is calling? It's so strange. It's not like the sound of gongs, bowls, and golden drums, nor is it like the cow horns that herders often use, nor is it like the conch used by fishermen."

"It's a little harsh, but it's louder than other sounds."

The officials who came to visit Liaonan on the deck discussed curiously. When they came to this land that first established industrial facilities, they were destined to be surprised.

"No, turn to the shore and walk slowly!" The captain of the ship heard the message behind the whistle, causing the sailors to change direction.

"What happened?" Officials including Chen Youlong and Xiong Wencan were confused.

The ship made way for the best alleyway from Dalian Port and almost stopped, as if waiting for something to happen.

"This is the sound of warships traveling in Dalian Port. There is also a warning issued by Yongchang, indicating that the Beiyang Fleet stationed in Dalian Port is about to come out in full swing." The captain looked at the Beiyang Fleet anchored in the harbor in awe.

Xiong Wencan also looked at the huge sail battleship.

As expected, more than ten warships of the Beiyang Fleet bulged their sails, pulled up their anchors, and left Dalian Port in an orderly manner. Behind the sailing battleships and warships were troop transport ships and grain transport ships, there were more than 30 ships. The steam iron armored ship Yongchang was requisitioned again and became the main ship of the logistics ship. Not to mention anything else, with the thickness of the armor of the Yongchang hull, Japan probably had no ship to sink the Yongchang.

More than 30 ships are vast and are a rare event in this sea area of ​​East Asia, especially these are almost all large ships, with no fishing boats or small boats that are just enough to fill in the numbers.

The Beiyang Fleet passed by not far from the ship where Xiong Wencan and the others were. Xiong Wencan and the others had the opportunity to see the style of the Beiyang Fleet. On the side of the warship were thick smoothbore cannons, the heaviest could reach forty-eight pounds, and the smallest was about six pounds. On the deck were busy sailors, and rows of naval soldiers carrying rifles looked at Xiong Wencan and the others. The momentum exuded by the elite soldiers made Xiong Wencan and the others respect him.

After the Beiyang Fleet left Dalian Harbor, the ship where Xiong Wencan and his team docked at Dalian Harbor. They should have been giving way to the Beiyang Fleet just now.

Even after the Beiyang Fleet passed by for a while, Xiong Wencan and the others were still shocked, "Where is our Beiyang Fleet going? Such a huge fleet will be in trouble."

When talking about "our Beiyang Fleet", they actually felt a little proud. Yes, they are officials of the Jiuzhou Army, so the Jiuzhou Army's fleet is their own fleet!

"I don't know what the Beiyang Fleet does when it leaves the port. Although our Nanyang Fleet and Beiyang Fleet are under the management of the Navy, there is actually not much intersection between the two sides. Every military operation is an extremely confidential matter and cannot be easily disclosed." The captain said.

After docking at the dock, dozens of senior officials walked down from the ships, attracting many workers and people on the dock to watch. These dozens of senior officials also looked at the city that rose from the ground with curiosity.

"The Admiralty Department has moved to Tianjin Harbour. The former site of the Admiralty Department has become the headquarters of the Beiyang Fleet. We don't need to visit them specifically, we just need to send someone to inform them. Let's first visit the nearby factories. There are many textile factories and wood factories in Dalian Port, almost all of which are powered by steam. Some of our official factories are trying to use power. Maybe it sounds very unfamiliar at first, but you will probably have an intuitive impression after seeing them with your own eyes." The captain was the guide to guide senior officials this time.

Some local officials in the Ming Dynasty were still very influential and capable of governing. If they could understand the new technology and commodity economy, it would be faster than cultivating a new official. After all, it would take ten years to cultivate people for a hundred years. It would be not easy to cultivate officials who could handle political affairs from scratch. And Chu Yun thought of Zhang Zhidong, Lin Zexu and others who were also adapted to the changes of that era? As long as there was pressure, capable Ming officials were not unplastic.

"Although the Academy of Sciences has partially moved to the capital to layout, a group of people are still left in Liaodong and southern Liaoning. They will teach you questions and let you briefly understand the principles of the new technology." The captain said as he walked.

The first factory they went to was a large textile mill that used steam engines as power.

"We also have many such handicraft workshops in Suzhou City, are there any strange things here?" An official from Suzhou Prefecture said indifferently.

In his opinion, isn’t the textile workshop just hiring a large number of workers and women and fitting some textile machines?

"As more than 300 years ago, Huang Daopo from Songjiang Prefecture renovated a three-spinned cotton spinning wheel. Later, Songjiang cloth had the reputation of "clothing and quilting in the world". I wonder what the difference is in textile workshops in southern Liaoning?" asked an official from the Jiangnan region.

"What you said in our opinion is just called a handicraft workshop, not a factory. Suzhou embroidery was sold well in various places, but in the past two years, you should have found that the cloth in southern Liaoning has appeared in various markets, and can often be sold at a price lower than that of Suzhou embroidery. This is still the location where we intend to control the output of the cloth, otherwise there may be a large number of unemployed workers in the Jiangnan area." The captain said.

The official textile factory in Dalian is connected to the ground, and a large factory covers a vast area with hundreds of people. Moreover, the steel bars were not used on a large scale at the beginning of the construction of the factory. Therefore, in order to improve lighting, these houses were not closed, but opened up different houses, forming partitions, but also forming a whole factory.

There are machines connected to form a system in the factory. Iron wheels that are taller than people are rotating, carrying spindles and running at high speed, and slender yarns are flying in the meantime! At this amazing speed, the number of spindles is a large number of people. Officials from the Jiangnan region are as dumb as if they are stunned.

"As a power supply of steam engines, a spinning machine drives more than three-spun cotton yarn. How about it? Can you also say that there is nothing special about our textile mills in southern Liaoning?" asked the captain.

"There are more than fifty spindles driven by this spinning machine?" The officials in Jiangnan knew what this meant, and it was incredible.
Chapter completed!