It's said that these countries, England, France, Russia, Germany and Austria, are having a big fight in their own backyard, but to the ordinary people who have been bullied by foreigners since the Opium War, this is all just retribution!

  It's not just over a decade ago that the foreigners were causing trouble in this region of Hebei. Now it's their turn, isn't it? Fight! Fight! The more you fight, the better, until you're all out of breath!

  It may be said that it doesn't matter, but at least in Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong and Northeast China, the owners of flour mills, textile mills and weaving factories think this relationship is important.

  Ever since the war broke out in Europe, business at our doorstep has become so much easier! Originally, as soon as the machinery was turned on, the spinning mill would definitely lose money. Now, as soon as the machinery is turned on, that silver money flows in like a river, and it's hard to stop it even if you want to.

  Historically, before the outbreak of World War I in 1914, due to the lower import price of yarn compared to the domestic production cost, even if domestic yarn was sold at cost, it was still higher than imported yarn by about 30 taels. In 1919, the Shanghai Yarn Factory produced 16-count yarn with a production cost of 149.55 taels per unit and a selling price of 200 taels.

  Originally, domestic cotton fabrics that were difficult to compete with imported cotton fabrics also became popular due to the reduction of imported cotton fabrics. As for flour mills, the doorsills of domestic flour mills were almost all trampled by Russian and French businessmen holding large amounts of cash.

  The price of bagged mechanized noodles has risen from over 2 yuan and 1 jiao to over 3 yuan.

  Facing the sudden surge in business, the bosses and owners of various factories were overjoyed, counting their profits by the handful while taking out bank loans to set up new factories.

  In a country as vast as China, it's easy to find a location for a factory, but setting up a new one requires purchasing new machinery. Although China is large, there are only a few factories that can produce flour milling machines, spinning machines, and weaving machines. The equipment of these old factories was mostly purchased from European and American companies before the war.

  When these factory owners and bosses went to those foreign firms with their orders to purchase machinery, they were helplessly told "Sorry, we're out of stock."

  At first, they thought someone else had beaten them to it and were afraid of being outdone by others. The factory owners hastily raised their prices on the spot. Those foreign firm managers and purchasing agents, although their eyes turned red from the constant price increases, still ended up with the same phrase: "Sorry! We really don't have any goods!"

  In the end, those anxious and furious factory owners and masters were left with no choice but to find out that in order to support the front line of battle, those pre-war factories that produced flour milling machines, spinning machines, and weaving machines had all converted to producing military equipment, and there was no idle machinery available to produce these civilian mechanical products.

  Apart from a few small factories that did not receive the order and were still producing these civilian machinery, most of the skilled workers in these small factories had been transferred to munitions factories, and some workers had been conscripted into the army. As a result, many factories had stopped production due to a shortage of workers.

  Only a few factories that are still open for business, now even if they work to the death, can't meet the suddenly increased orders. Moreover, in Asia there is another country - Japan has already sent purchasing personnel to the doors of European and American factories, staring at the machines. These foreign trading companies, which were originally second-hand dealers, can only stare blankly as the lucrative orders are snatched away from them.

  Those factory owners who couldn't buy machines and set up new factories were all anxious and scolding their mothers, but no matter how much they scolded, there was nothing they could do. They had to place orders at the foreign trading houses, pay deposits, so that when goods arrived, they could get the machines in time.

  At the same time, advertisements were placed in newspapers all over the world to see if there were any factories or machines for sale. Who would kill a chicken that lays golden eggs at this time? However, this is also the last hope. (Historically, Japan's machinery manufacturing industry developed greatly during World War I, and what they relied on was precisely orders from China. And the machinery manufacturing industry is precisely the mother of industry.)

  "My goodness! Are these people all crazy?!"

  Looking at the high-priced wanted machine advertisements in "Da Gong Min Bao", "Shen Bao" and "Shang Bao" that are as big as a block of tofu, Sima couldn't believe it was true. He had only seen low-priced sales machine advertisements before, and now he saw something like this

  Counting, almost every newspaper has dozens of such advertisements frantically seeking machines everywhere. If it were now, I'm afraid this advertisement would be blown out, and the person's door would probably be blasted open.

  Flour mill, spinning machine, loom, cigarette rolling machine

  Simar carefully recorded the types of machinery being sought from the newspaper advertisements, and found that the most advertised were flour milling machines, followed by spinning machines and weaving machines.

  Looking at these notes, Sima seemed to recall that in the history books of the past, World War I was a spring for domestic ethnic industries, and the capital of ethnic industries developed dozens of times.

  Looking at the bustling scene in front of him, Sima couldn't help but admire himself. To be honest, except for during the flood relief efforts and that earthquake a few years ago in the southwest, Sima had never seen such a lively scene with hundreds of people working together.

  It's hard to deny that the scene of so many people working together is indeed very uplifting. I didn't expect that last time it was still a desolate and barren land, now the warehouse prototype has been basically completed.

  A 140-meter-long, 36-meter-wide warehouse wall made of stone blocks has been built to a height of one meter. The people busy with their work in hand did not notice that an unfinished five-wheeled agricultural vehicle suddenly appeared in the center of the warehouse.

  Driving out of the large gate of the warehouse, it didn't attract people's attention. After all, since the start of work, stone materials, cement, and tools have been transported back and forth with this kind of car that they had never seen before.

  In the evening after work, some lucky ones can even take this car back to their residence under the envious eyes of others.

  Dozens of meters outside the warehouse's outer wall, hundreds of people are digging the foundation of the warehouse's perimeter wall with sweat dripping like rain. The labor cost here is calculated based on whether one can complete a day's worth of earthwork.

  Digging out a cubic meter of soil on this rocky ground is not easy, but if it can't be completed, money will be deducted, and exceeding the quota will result in bonuses.

  People working hard are all bent over and working desperately, not daring to slack off, in order to get extra bonuses. The foundation of the large warehouse alone requires a huge amount of earthwork.

  Moreover, the aggregate needed for cement mortar to fill gaps between stone blocks in walls also had to be sifted and washed out of the excavated soil which contained a large amount of gravel.

  Far away, he saw Old Gao and a young man standing under a distant pavilion, seemingly discussing something. The young man was quite unfamiliar to Sima, and it seemed like he had never seen him before. Could he be the helper that Old Gao had invited? With this thought in mind, Sima walked towards the pavilion.

  "Old Gao, you've been working hard these days."

  Simar looked at Gao Chuanliang, who was obviously thinner than the last time he came, and said sincerely: "Because now there are a large number of warehouse construction workers gathered here."

  If the warehouse is not built yet and I suddenly appear here in a car, it may cause unnecessary trouble. After hesitating again and again today, I decided to take a risk and try. This car will definitely stay here, no need to take another risk.

  "It should be, it should be."

  After seeing Sima, Gao Chuanliang, who had some grievances in his heart at the beginning, has been busy for half a month and no longer has any grievances.

  "Lao Gao, who is this?" Sima turned his head to look at the young man standing beside Lao Gao, holding a blueprint and wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

  "Hello! My name is Liu Jiyuan, from Tianjin."

  Because of the young master mentioned by this tall boss in front of him, Mr. Sima, although he is as young as imagined, the dust on his clothes makes Liu Jiyuan, who has an architectural background, have a good impression of this young master. He actively stretched out his hand to introduce himself.

  "Hehe! Sorry about that, I just went to the construction site and took a stroll around, got my hands a bit dirty."

  Simma was obviously surprised to see someone introducing himself with a handshake in this place, but he seemed more accustomed to this courtesy than bowing and scraping. As soon as they shook hands, he noticed that his hand and body were covered in dust from riding the open-top tricycle around the block, so he apologized.

  "I didn't expect Young Master Sima to come to the construction site to check on progress after not seeing him for over a dozen days, I wonder if he's still satisfied with my work?"

  Liu Jiyuan heard that Sima came from the construction site, and casually asked him. Although he had some good feelings towards this person, thinking that the other party looked down on himself (since he was invited by Old Gao, this so-called "master" of Old Gao's mouth had never appeared), his heart still felt a bit awkward.

  "Young master, you don't know, thanks to this Mr. Liu from Tianjin Wei, the drawings you left behind, those old people who have been working all their lives can't understand them either. Without introduction, he invited Mr. Liu from Tianjin Wei, and this Mr. Liu is a returned overseas student. The blasting and excavation of the mountain, as well as the construction of the warehouse, were all thanks to someone's guidance."

  Gao Lao saw that Liu Jiyuan was somewhat angry and hastily greeted him, indeed owing to his help these past few days.

  "Unexpectedly, Mr. Liu was a high-achieving student returning from abroad. In this bitter and desolate place, Mr. Liu worked hard, very hard!"

  Although not highly valued for overseas students, it was also not highly valued for the future generations of Chinese people. In 1915, these overseas students who received top honors were all extraordinary individuals, and those willing to come to this bitter place were truly rare.

  "There, I think even Master Sima would agree that these drawings must have cost a lot of money! Even in places like Tianjin and Shanghai, it's rare to find someone who can produce such excellent drawings. What's even more remarkable is the reasonable design of the factory layout. I reckon there are very few people in the country who can achieve this level of quality, probably had to be purchased from abroad!"

  After returning home, Liu Jiyuan, who had been working in the Ministry of Transportation of the Northern Government, was introduced by someone to go abroad at first did not agree, but later saw this drawing.

  Liu Jiyuan, who had never seen such a reasonably designed factory construction drawing in the country before, came without hesitation at that time. The attraction of being responsible for supervising such a large project was far greater than the stable work of the Northern Government Transportation Department for Liu Jiyuan, who majored in architecture. Moreover, the income here was also higher than his original income.