After listening to Qian Kang's suggestion, Zhao Xin pondered for a long time. He knew that if he did not solve the power problem, Beihai Town's industrial development would soon enter a bottleneck period.
It is said that the most important thing to establish a complete industrialization system is to have heavy industry represented by military industry, and heavy industry is extremely dependent on products produced by basic industries. Metallurgy, coal, petroleum, electricity, chemistry, machinery, and materials are all basic industries. Each of them requires huge investment, long construction period, and large energy consumption.
Now after seven or eight years of construction in Beihai Town, the first four categories have reached the scale of village-run enterprises in another time and space, while the last three categories only deal with whether they have or not.
In addition to the shortage of high-quality technical workers due to the failure of vocational education to keep up, the huge expenditure on equipment procurement also gave Zhao Xin a headache. He could only buy the most urgently needed items first, and put off the rest as long as possible.
The energy storage power station plan proposed by Qian Kang seems to be very good, and the investment is relatively small. But what about the future? As the number of operating equipment increases and power consumption reaches full capacity during the day, some production will have to be adjusted to nighttime, and the peak-to-trough difference in power will become smaller and smaller. In the end, we have to return to the fundamental issue of power plant expansion.
To be honest, Zhao Xin actually wants to expand the thermal power plant on the east bank of the Xila River. The problem is that building a power plant is too expensive, costing hundreds of millions or billions. The installed capacity of only 60 megawatts cost him 500 million before. Now to expand it to 600 megawatts is equivalent to multiple times, almost 11 tons of gold!
By the end of 1793, there were five gold mines in Beihai Town, with an annual gold output of 5.7 tons. These include Solenki Island, Konobui Area in Ezo Prefecture, Urupu Island in the Kuril Islands, Hisikari Mining Area in Minami Kyushu, and Huma Mining Area in the north of Heilongjiang City. In addition, a little more than five tons of gold were purchased from various mining areas in Borneo in the past two years, for which Beihai Town paid nearly 3 million Beihai silver dollars.
As for the Coloma mining area on the other side of the ocean, it has not yet been officially mined. Although the first batch of 300 Chinese miners from Borneo has arrived, the main work is to find mineral veins, build roads, and widen the channel of the Round House River. . During Lu Qi's previous expedition, some sections of the river were inaccessible even to rubber boats, so it was difficult to transport mining equipment and food supplies, not to mention gold ore.
The most terrible thing is that the gold in Zhao Xin's hands cannot appear openly in the international gold market in another time and space. It has to be laundered through special channels every time. The other party will deduct 30% of the intermediate fees alone, so the actual expansion of the power plant is The investment requires approximately sixteen tons of gold.
Zhao Xin does not have sixteen tons of gold. He now has less than five tons in hand, of which he has saved more than half a ton bit by bit through his teeth over the years, mainly to ensure the wages of the time travellers and to recruit new people; in addition, The four tons were mined in the first half of this year. The reason why the output has increased compared with last year is mainly because this year the Linggao mining area has added mining and excavation equipment and ten ore crushers.
In fact, the Linggao mining area is only the highest grade in Asia, and the largest number of gold mining areas is in Southeast Asia; especially gold mines are everywhere in East Java, Borneo and Papua, and the world's largest "Grasberg Gold Mine" is there. On the island of Papua.
The problem is that the natural conditions in Southeast Asia are too harsh these days. Most areas are undeveloped virgin forests; cannibals, disease, transportation, and food supply are all problems that are difficult to solve. If you want to develop the gold mine there, sending half a million people there is not too much. Therefore, Zhao Xin's main task for Wang Yuanfang was to get rid of the sultanates, large and small, and seize the traps first.
Everyone needs money, and gold needs to be used to purchase materials from another time and space to support development. In fact, Zhao Xin can't even get the money for the energy storage power station now. The gold he has on hand will soon be used to pay for the weapons and equipment used to expand the army. The relevant transaction details were negotiated by Zhao Xin personally three months ago.
The Northern Navy has developed for nearly ten years and now has more than 170,000 soldiers. Among them, the navy has 18,000 people, the army has 140,000 people, and the logistics support force has 13,000 people.
At present, the total strength of the Western Front Corps in charge of Liu Sheng and Fan Tong is 40,000, the Eastern Front Corps in charge of Deng Fei is 25,000, the Shandong Army in charge of Sheng Haizhou is 25,000, the Nanyang Army in charge of Wang Yuanfang is 15,000, Beihai Town The existing garrison force is 10,000, and the remaining 25,000 are deployed like pepper noodles at key points from Khalkha to Siberia.
This small amount of troops is definitely not enough to enter and exit the customs. The total strength of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the pass is about 600,000, of which the total strength of Zhili, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong is 180,000, and the total strength of the five Jiangnan provinces is close to 150,000. The 330,000 are only the number of Green Camp and Eight Banners soldiers under the system. There are nearly 100,000 local regiments training and armed forces in the entire northern region.
Zhao Xin's plan was to rely on Shandong's population advantage to expand the total strength of the Eastern Front Corps and Shandong Army to 250,000 by the end of March 1795, so as to achieve the strategic goal of seizing the Central Plains and the five Jiangnan provinces in one fell swoop.
Although the Northern Navy's attack on the Qing army was like a strong man beating a child, even if they bully others, tens of thousands of troops cannot conquer more than 700 counties. You can't just knock down the front foot and then abandon the city and move on to the next one, right?
After this year's summer offensive, Beihai Town's territory in Shandong has expanded to 43 counties in five prefectures, with a corresponding total population of more than 14 million. 200,000 vs. 14 million, the conscription ratio is only 1.4%, which means that young people can be picked at will.
Shandong in the middle and late Qing Dynasty had the worst relationship between man and land in northern China, worse than Henan. With the population explosion during the Qianlong era, the registered population of Shandong Province today has exceeded 26 million, and the reclamation of suitable arable land has basically ended during the Kangxi period; after that, all the land reclaimed was the size of the river bank, which was extremely barren. , when there is a flood or drought, there will be no harvest.
Don’t look at the fact that Kong Shaoan organized farmers’ associations all over Dengzhou to redeem land from landlords and lease it to landless peasants through cash and bonds. In fact, even if all the landlords and gentry in Dengzhou were overthrown, all good and bad land would be destroyed. Divided evenly, the per capita cultivated land is just over three acres, and the average monthly grain possession is only 30 kilograms, which cannot reach the minimum survival demand line of 36 kilograms.
In order to solve the problem of food shortage in Jiaodong area, Beihai Town has successively transported more than 200,000 tons of food to Dengzhou in the past two years. On the one hand, the military control commissions in various places provided free lunch and dinner to school-age children to encourage them to study; on the other hand, they recruited more than 200,000 farmers through the third-level peasant associations in counties and villages to carry out public projects, implemented work-for-relief, and built and improved a lot of infrastructure. The seaport alone has been built and expanded four times, and there are countless other projects such as river widening and dredging, river dam reinforcement, farmland water conservancy, roads, urban drainage and other projects.
It is said that organized workers are a good source of soldiers, and organized farmers are also a good source of soldiers.
However, 200,000 people are easy to recruit, but 200,000 guns are not enough. They have to be bought from the other side, and they cannot be bought along the right side. All types of weapons must be purchased at 1.2 times, and there must be spare ones. .
Different from the weapons used by the servant army, the regular troops of the North Navy have always been issued semi-automatic and automatic weapons from another time and space. The purpose is to realize the difference in weapons generation so that fewer people can bully more enemies.
When the committee met to discuss this matter before, someone once asked why it could not be equipped with a "1790-style rifle" instead of having to buy weapons from another time and space?
There was no need for Zhao Xin to personally take action on this matter. Wu Siyu, the head of the Military and Political Department, explained it.
To put it simply, the training and combat rules of flintlock weapons troops are quite different from those of troops using semi-automatic weapons. One group cannot use the "three-by-three" tactic, and another group can line up and shoot. Besides, there are not more than 100,000 flintlock rifles in the logistics arsenal, only over 20,000 rifles when fully loaded.
Later, someone suggested a "breech-loaded mercury-loaded percussion gun." Zhao Liang, the head of the military industry, refuted it with the history of the development of firearms in another time and space. That is completely heresy, don't insult me.
Qian Kang and Zhao Xin talked for more than an hour. After talking about the expansion issue, they also talked about equipment procurement. Zhao Xin listened patiently and carefully, already feeling dizzy. He put out the unburned cigarette butt in his hand and said, "Old Qian, I will add it all up and give you an answer in a week."
"Okay, I'll wait for your news."
Qian Kang knew that Zhao Xin was in trouble, but the expansion of the army had nothing to do with him. He didn't come to the eighteenth century to lead troops in war! As the person in charge of the power outlet, it would be his dereliction of duty once the power supply fails to keep up, so he must prepare for a rainy day. In another time and space, if the power in an area is insufficient, it can be adjusted through the power grid, but where can he go to adjust it in this time and space? You can only solve it yourself.
At present, the entire Beihai Town's electricity consumption is supported by two small thermal power plants and more than a dozen diesel generator sets. The electricity consumption in oil fields and gold mines is completely dependent on diesel generator sets. The key is that the thing is not cheap, a set of 1800KW costs several million.
Zhao Xin got up and took Qian Kang to the entrance of the hospital. When he came back and was about to push the door open and enter the house, a puff of smoke hit his face and made him cough. He and Qian Kang were smoking in the room, which was filled with smoky fumes. They didn't notice it when they stayed in it before, but now they were choking when they came out and went back in again.
Zhao Xin simply asked the guard to open the door to diffuse the smell, and walked back and forth in the yard. As he walked, he stopped in front of the tree pond at the southwest corner of the courtyard wall, folded his arms, and stared blankly at the few bamboos with yellow leaves in front of him.
Chai Rugui, the chief of guard, saw that he sometimes frowned, sometimes narrowed his eyes, and sometimes sighed. He knew that this man must have encountered something difficult and was thinking of a solution, so he made a hissing gesture to the surrounding guards.
At this time, there was no other sound except the wind blowing, the chirping of birds and the rustling of bamboo leaves. I don't know how long it took, but Chai Rugui's ears moved and he suddenly heard footsteps coming from outside the yard, getting closer and closer. Not long after, a "salute" command sounded, and then the heavy courtyard door was pushed open from the outside. Ding Guofeng, wearing a dark green military coat, walked in, followed by a guard, carrying a bag in his hand. thing.
"Salute!" The guards in the yard gave a military salute in unison.
Ding Guofeng smiled and raised his hand to return the salute. At this time, he had noticed Zhao Xin who was standing still. He took a closer look and couldn't help but laugh, so he joked: "Hey~~ You are trying to learn from Wang Yangming's style of bamboo! What's wrong? , started to pursue the spiritual world? This is not good, you have to wait for the brothers and make progress together. What is the saying? It is really good if everyone is good. "
Zhao Xin said dumbfounded: "We haven't seen each other for a few days, but you are such a talkative person. Do you have anything to do with me?"
"Why don't you come and see me if you have nothing to do?" Ding Guofeng pouted at the guard behind him and said, "I just finished prescribing medicine from the hospital and wanted to come over for a walk. Are you in trouble?"
In front of the guards in the yard, Zhao Xin did not answer, but changed the topic: "What did Doctor Wu say?"
Ding Guofeng said helplessly: "I still have to eat a few more, and I have to continue doing the steaming."
After returning from South Asia, this person's health has not been good. He can't cheer up every day. He has stomachache from time to time. He is too lazy to move and does not even attend committee meetings. According to Wu Xianhou, a master of traditional Chinese medicine in Beihai Town, this was because he stayed in India for too long and the rainy season was too humid, so external dampness entered his body. As the saying goes, "A thousand colds are easy to get rid of, but a dampness is difficult to get rid of." If the dampness evil is not removed, it will be useless no matter how many supplements you take.
The two entered the house. Zhao Xin was about to ask someone to make tea. Ding Guofeng said no need. He slowly took out a thermos cup from his coat pocket and explained that it was barley and red bean water boiled by his wife. He would drink this now if he had nothing to do.
"Ouch~~! Why do I think you have a tendency to develop in 101 now? Are you going to have to ride in a car to fall asleep tomorrow? Tsk tsk, sick tiger, oh, no! It's the sick king."
Since the year before last, the four nicknames of Liu Sheng, Wang Yuanfang, Deng Fei and Ding Guofeng among the time travelers have changed. They are known as the "Four Kings of the Northern Navy", and each of them has his own side. Dare to love! Zhao Xin is about to be promoted to become emperor, and King Kong is about to be promoted to heavenly king.
"Ahem! Can we still chat happily?" Zhao Xin's counterattack came suddenly. Ding Guofeng was caught off guard and almost choked without swallowing a mouthful of water.
"Let's have a cigarette. By the way, do you have any chewing gum here? It will be troublesome to smell it when you get home soon."
The medicine Wu Xianhou prescribed for Ding Guofeng was to regulate the lungs, so he asked him to avoid smoking. His wife, Xue Wu, worked as a head nurse at Beihai Town Central Hospital, and she knew all about this, so she mobilized everyone in the family, from nannies to guards, to keep an eye on him, making Ding Guofeng feel like he had no love in his life.
Zhao Xin threw the cigarette and lighter in front of the other party, handed over the chewing gum in the drawer, and said with a smile: "You can't smoke at home, so you came here to smoke cigarettes."
"As you say, who among us brothers is following the other!" Ding Guofeng lit up his cigarette, took a few sips of it with satisfaction, and then asked, "How is the progress of the military expansion?"
"Kong Shao'an and Sheng Haizhou both assured me that there will be no problem with the supply of troops, as long as the support regiment arrives on time."
The so-called "shelf regiment" is a unit structure with only officers and no soldiers, including regiment, battalion, company, and platoon officers, deputy officers in charge of political propaganda, and communications personnel. According to the principle of "three-three system", a group must have 120 people. 200,000 recruits are 80 regiments, so the number of shelf regiments is 10,000.
Now half of the 80 "shelf regiments" who have been transferred from various units are in place. They are rushing to various parts of Shandong in batches to form new units, and training will begin immediately.
It is no exaggeration to say that this military expansion task is extremely arduous. It is the first large-scale expansion of the Northern Navy in history. It's already the end of September, and there are still 5 to 6 months until spring next year. Before winter, the military control committees of Jiaodong counties still have to build barracks facilities and training grounds. Kong Shaoan and Sheng Haizhou are now so busy that they can only sleep three or four hours a day.
"Hurry up and take good care of yourself. If Xiao Kong collapses from exhaustion, you have to go to Shandong to help support him for a while." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he hesitated and then said: "I feel uneasy lately, as if something is going to happen. "
Ding Guofeng flicked the cigarette ashes and asked curiously: "What happened?"
Zhao Xin shook his head: "I don't know. It would be nice if I knew."
"Is this what you were thinking about when you were standing outside in a daze just now?"
"Nowhere! It's all about money, money is tight!" Zhao Xin smiled bitterly and briefly explained what Qian Kang was looking for him to do.
Ding Guofeng listened silently, took a cup and took a sip of water, blinked his eyes, and suddenly said: "Boss Zhao, just listen to what I'm saying next. If you don't listen, just take it as a joke." I fart."
"Okay, if you smoke enough, you will fart quickly." Zhao Xin and Ding Guofeng teased each other for a long time, feeling much more relaxed.
"I think you are a bit left-wing when it comes to material procurement. In the past, there were few people and a small territory. You used the money you exchanged for antique gold to buy things with Andrew, and you still had a lot left on hand after the purchase. But now the family is big and has a big business. , and then using gold to fill Andrew’s bottomless pit would be more than worth the gain. Have you ever thought of using other methods? "
Zhao Xin frowned and asked without thinking: "What do you mean?"
"When I went home during the Spring Festival, I had nothing to do and used my phone to check the news. I just took the plane to Okinawa. As long as you, Boss Zhao, take action, you can take whatever you touch and take away!"
Zhao Xin narrowed his eyes and looked at Ding Guofeng with interest, and asked, "What next?"
"Then just sell it. Isn't a plane worth a ton of gold?" Ding Guofeng said with a smile and started to drink water again.
"Are you related?"
"Don't be ridiculous. If I had that connection, would I be able to do nothing all day long when I was demobilized and returned home? Okay, it's almost time. It's time to go home and make medicine."
As he spoke, Ding Guofeng fastened the lid of the cup and tightened it, stuffed a piece of chewing gum into his mouth, then stood up and walked to the clothes hanger to put the cup back into his coat pocket. He picked up his coat and put it over his shoulders. He saw Zhao Xin sitting motionless behind the desk and looking at him, shook his head and said, "Don't be fooled, don't be fooled. In fact, it's not just airplanes that can be sold, right? Don't give it away, I'll go on my own."
After saying this, the guy didn't even look at Zhao Xin's reaction. He waved his hands behind his back and pushed the door open. Soon, cheerful whistle music sounded in the yard.
(End of chapter)
