Gao Pragmatic's infrastructure construction is definitely to make money, but it is not entirely for the purpose of making money, because there are many projects that need to be built in his plan, which are far inferior to leaving it to others to do by himself.
The construction technology of the Ming Dynasty was typical of "civil engineering", but Gao Pragmatic knew that it would be better to use less wood in future infrastructure projects. For example, the palace of the Ming Dynasty was struck by lightning or accidentally caught fire from time to time. Every time it was repaired, it was just a matter of scraping together wood, Transporting wood wastes a lot of money, food, transportation capacity and even time. If it can be replaced by reinforced concrete, the possibility of not starting a fire will be greatly reduced. In terms of time and money, you can save an unknown amount.
It should be said that the more projects require large-scale wood, the more cost-effective it is to replace it with reinforced concrete, and the more durable it is. Even though he uses fake steel bars, it is more reliable than wood!
But he is not professional after all, so there is nothing he can do about large steel columns and beams. At the same time, he couldn't develop such a magical technology as welding. He basically relied on assembly. The strength was still far behind that of later generations. It can only be said that it was definitely better than the current Ming Dynasty's technology.
As for the cost, a lot of large-scale timber is transported from the deep mountains and old forests of Yunnan and Guizhou. In this era without trains and giant ships, the price is so high that even tofu can be turned into meat. It is far less expensive than the three major factories in Kaiping. Wrought iron rods are low cost.
The so-called high cost of cement is completely pragmatic. Although it is not yet capable of mass production and cannot maximize benefits, the raw materials required for the production of cement are there, no matter how expensive they are. Where to go? Large quantities can be produced around the capital, especially since he placed the cement factory near the three major factories in Kaiping. In this way, materials such as coal ash, slag, and iron ore powder can be recycled as if they are free of charge. The cost is almost just some limestone and sandstone, and these two things are not worth much even in the capital!
Therefore, the statement that cement is expensive is just a rhetoric under the monopoly of high pragmatic technology.
The reason why he wanted to help Long Qing repair the mausoleum for free was actually the same as his previous promotion of soap. He was just using the most effective publicity channel these days, the royal family. Think about it, imperial mausoleums are all made of cement, so can this cement be a good thing?
With this level of advertising, when the highly pragmatic Jinghua Infrastructure goes to take over business, it will virtually have the highest level of strength. It will not worry about no business or no profit.
It's just that he doesn't have much energy to take on outside projects now, because he has a lot of projects to do himself.
The first major project is Tianjin Port. The preliminary construction of Tianjin Port has almost been completed. Now what needs to be done are breakwaters, permanent docks, wind shelters, and of course the planned storage areas. These are all It requires a large amount of cement, so in recent times, Jinghua Infrastructure's cement plants have only had problems with insufficient output and have not been unsaleable.
What's more, due to the opening up of trade routes in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia, the trading profits of the Jinghua Caravan have increased again, allowing Gao Pragmatic's income to grow steadily even though he has made several undisclosed large expenditures recently, so he has already We began to send people to Liaodong to prepare to open another port in Liaodong.
The location currently being scouted is called Liangfangkou, and Gao Jingshi has just learned this name, because the task he assigned is to "find an area suitable for opening a port near the mouth of the Liaohe River." This place now called Liangfangkou is actually Yingkou in later generations.
The meal has to be eaten one bite at a time, and the road has to be walked step by step. Gao Qingqing still has limited allies in Nanjing, and his influence will not be able to penetrate that far for a while, let alone Fujian and Guangdong.
Therefore, he planned to open up the sea route in the north first. The main routes should be simplified first to connect the Bohai Bay. At the same time, he would expand to Shandong and affect the Deng and Lai areas of Shandong. There is a certain shipbuilding foundation, although it seems that he cannot build one that can run the Nanyang route. It is a type of ocean-going ship, but flat-bottomed sand boats suitable for cruising in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea can still be built. Gao pragmatically regarded this as his first step to "go to the ocean".
First build a seaport, then build sea-going ships, then build a fleet, and finally consider equipping with maritime weapons. These are the main steps he has decided.
Although it seemed to take a long time, he said he was not worried about my youth! No hurries?
If you want to do it, build a one-stop giant. Otherwise, how can you strangle other people's lives and make them follow your baton? Only by holding the entire chain in his own hands can people have to listen to him, and by listening to his words, he can tightly tie the people who boarded his pirate ship, and together they can turn from landlords to maritime merchants.
Otherwise, if the really rich and powerful "tycoons" in the Ming Dynasty only knew how to annex land, how could they grow a golden flower?
Gao Wuzhi has now completed the first big plan since time travel to help Gao Gong secure his assistant position and continue the great reforms of the Longqing era. After the completion of this plan, he planned to enter a "latency period" in officialdom that would last from several years to ten years, focusing on two things.
First, there is no easy explanation for this. Now that all the conditions have been met, we are just about to pass the Jinshi exam. What if we don't do well? However, as long as Gao Gong does not become an official, he will not take the Jinshi examination, lest he get the kind of reputation that Zhang Juzheng's family had in history, which is not what Gao pragmatically wants.
Therefore, he has to wait until Gao Gong retires before taking the exam. He will take the exam to become a veritable and unquestioned Jinshi. This will be of great significance to the "deepening reforms" he will carry out in the future. At least there will be one less reason to criticize him. .
The second is to continue to expand its business territory, especially military industry and shipbuilding, as well as industries related to these two categories. These are businesses that Gao Pragmatic intends to vigorously expand, such as coal, iron, infrastructure, etc., which are all laying the foundation for these two items. industry. As for what goods will be sold after the fleet is actually built in the future, that is not a matter of high pragmatism and urgency.
Just like the Ming Dynasty's flagship products such as silk, porcelain and even tea, even if Gao pragmatism is not involved in the slightest, they are invincible existences. So what's the rush? Gao pragmatism has to get involved? And he can't be of much help in promoting these three products.
He knows how to improve textile efficiency, but he still doesn’t know whether the Jenny Spinning Machine can be used to improve silk productivity. Only cotton cloth can definitely be used, and his hand cannot reach the Nanzhili area of the Ming Dynasty Cotton Spinning Center, so he is anxious. Useless.
In terms of porcelain, he did have a unique skill, which was the product that later Europe finally broke the monopoly of Chinese porcelain, and it was also the only bone china type of porcelain invented in Europe.
However, that actually makes little sense, because even in the era when bone china was most touted in later generations, its value is far less than some famous porcelain in China, such as thin-bodied porcelain from Jingdezhen and other places. The achievements in craftsmanship and art are Not to mention. Therefore, Gao Pragmatic felt that it was meaningless to engage in porcelain by himself, at least it would not have much promoting effect.
As for tea, he is pragmatic and has no interest in buying hundreds of thousands of acres of tea mountains. Just kidding, even if he wants to be a landowner, he will only choose to work as a tenant in the port area, business district and other places to collect rent and engage in planting. It would be great to promote high-yielding crops in America in the future, but that is promotion, not himself. Go and plant.
His eyes are still on those industries that can promote Ming's national strength.
