"It is inevitable that steamships will replace sailboats. Whoever can seize the opportunity will become the overlord of the ocean. It's just that Qin Luo doesn't have enough oil and salt, so he insists on ensuring the military first, and he misses the opportunity!"
The news of the Suez Canal not only caused shock in Europe, but many people in the empire also realized its huge value.
For the sake of profit, he actually found Zuo Mengeng's head.
Zuo Mengeng met Pan Xiaona and Qu Yin who had come from all the travels in Lanzhou.
Pan Xiaona was originally a government official, but after Pan Yunlong came out to serve as the provincial governor of Heilongjiang Province, the father and son discussed it and he resigned and went into business.
After all, father and son are both high-ranking officials in the government, so it is easy for others to gossip.
After Pan Xiaona returned to Songjiang Mansion, he started foreign trade business with Qu Yin and several other friends.
A group of relatives of the emperor and the top rich people, it will not be too easy to make money after the end of the game.
However, they were not satisfied and decided to use the Suez Canal to become bigger and stronger.
They set their sights on steamships.
The outside world doesn't know much about steamships, but at their level, they already know the great value of steamships.
Think about it, others are still trudging exhaustingly with sailboats, but they have steamships that are not afraid of going upstream and downstream, and can travel through the channel faster, safer and in greater quantities. How much wealth will that be?
Everything was well thought out, but Qin Luo was rejected.
Qin Luo had only one reason.
Steamships must first meet the needs of the military before they could spread to the civilian population. In the absence of a large number of steam battleships equipped by the military, the technology will never be opened to the civilian population.
Pan Xiaona and Qu Yin couldn't afford to wait, so they simply headed west to find Zuo Mengeng to make the decision.
Zuo Mengeng listened carefully and did not blame them for being selfish.
This kind of thing is not selfish.
And from a more high-stakes perspective, opening up steamship technology to the private sector might not be without its benefits.
"Leave this to me."
Seeing that Zuo Mengeng was about to take action, Pan Xiaona and Qu Yin were both extremely happy.
They were also very wise and did not let Zuo Mengeng go to waste. Instead, they gave 35% of the shares to the royal family and 14% to Qin Luo.
In this way, they can conduct ocean-going trade under the banner of the royal family, which is undoubtedly safer and has unimpeded access to anywhere in the world.
Zuo Mengeng wrote a long letter to Qin Luo, explaining his thoughts in detail.
Steamships are definitely a good thing and can help the empire consolidate its position as a maritime hegemon.
He also understood Qin Luo's worries.
It was feared that after steamships entered the commercial and civilian fields, other countries would soon imitate them, thus threatening the interests of the empire.
Only Zuo Mengeng knew that sooner or later steamships would be controlled by other countries. But this time, it will definitely not be easy.
After all, European countries have just begun to take off in terms of academics and disciplines. There is no doubt that there will be a long way to go before they can reach a level where steam engines can be manufactured and widely used.
Even for those who studied abroad in the empire, it is not yet known how many years it will take for them to realize the systematic knowledge they have learned.
After all, the steam engine was the beginning of industrialization, and its technical content was still very high.
Mechanical principles, material synthesis, skilled workers, theoretical knowledge, etc. This is a whole system of knowledge, and it is by no means one or a few talents can catch up.
With this understanding, opening steamships to the public is less worth worrying about.
Most importantly, steamships were also new to the Empire and were still in their infancy.
In fact, researchers cannot guarantee what the shortcomings are.
Just relying on the military to help with the experiment will definitely result in too many samples.
Another thing is that warships and civilian ships are very different. Even if they are tested in the hands of the military, they may not be suitable for use in the hands of civilians.
The best way is to grab it with both hands.
Rely on the strong capital and demand of the people of the empire to accelerate the development of steamships and promote the replacement of sailing ships faster.
It would take some time for Qin Luo to receive the letter, so Zuo Mengeng temporarily focused on other matters.
After three years of patrolling the west, the empire obviously looked different.
For example, the city of Lanzhou beneath your feet has become extremely prosperous.
"Every time there are four to five hundred caravans coming here, with more than 70,000 people, the residents of the city can make a lot of money just to receive these caravans. At present, the entire Gansu Province is no longer Central funding is needed, and there will be huge profits from trade and related supporting links alone.”
Li Yuanding, the governor of Gansu Province, was very interested and wanted to show his merit.
But I have to say that Gansu is doing really well.
As a well-known poverty-stricken place in the northwest and a key province for environmental protection, everyone originally had little expectations for this place.
Just protect the environment.
Who would have thought that with the expansion of the empire in the Western Regions, the Silk Road, which had been dormant for nearly a thousand years, would be revived again.
Both the East and the West are hungry for Peter, but due to various changes in the past history, trade and exchanges were impossible.
Now all the obstacles are gone, exchange of goods and needs has become a reality, and merchants have immediately become the most active group of people on the Silk Road.
Like flowing water, they brought wealth to various places and created Lanzhou's prosperity.
Zuo Mengeng checked the information and was shocked when he saw that Lanzhou's population exceeded 500,000.
Even a remote place like Lanzhou has a population of half a million, but what about other places?
He quickly asked Long Zuguang to ask for the information.
Not long ago, the Ministry of Civil Affairs completed the first census since the founding of the People's Republic of China. The entire work process was really hard.
After all, the current empire is too big. To be as detailed and accurate as possible requires a huge workload in this era of inconvenient transportation.
Because of this, the first census took five years.
The end result is also very satisfying.
Today, the empire's registered population has exceeded 700 million.
Among them, there are 400 million people in the mainland, and the rest are the Indians in the New World, the indigenous people in Central Asia, the Annan population, Morocco, Temasek, Nanyang Province, Australia Province, etc.
Of course, although the population is very large, many are not considered high-quality people and are still a burden to the country.
But in this era, the huge population will definitely be a good boost as the empire develops. Otherwise, such a huge territory cannot be effectively controlled.
In addition to the population size, the ethnic distribution is also diverse enough.
According to statistics, the empire currently has a total of one hundred and seventy-three ethnic groups. The largest population is the Han ethnic group, with a total of 311 million people.
The smallest population is the Inuit people located in the Arctic Circle, with only more than 1,300 people found so far.
However, under the protection of the empire, life is now very good, and the relevant customs and culture have not been destroyed and have been preserved authentically.
The greatest achievement of the empire was obviously to allow the Indians in the New World to survive.
In the future world, Indian culture will be more completely presented to the world.
