The news that the Songjiang Railway was fully opened to traffic and the Zhenghe was officially put into commercial operation greatly stimulated all walks of life in the Dachu Empire.
Because this high-pressure steam engine brings more convenient transportation, and convenient transportation can greatly reduce the cost of goods.
This is of great benefit to the exporters of agricultural products and industrial raw materials, as well as to major factories.
This stimulating reaction was also directly reflected on the stock price of the Jinling Stock Exchange of the Dachu Empire.
The stock prices of many industries have increased to varying degrees, whether it is the shipbuilding industry, the steel industry, the machinery industry, the shipping industry, or even the textile industry, etc., there have been varying degrees of stock price increases.
This means that people are very optimistic about the economic benefits brought by trains and ships in the future.
Among them, the two basic industries that have risen most fiercely are steel and coal, which seem to have no direct relationship with steam engines.
Why? Because whether it is trains or ships, they are big users of iron, and they also burn coal...
In terms of iron use, steam engines actually do not use much steel directly. After all, a power unit is only that big, but ships and railways are large users of iron.
Ships, today's ships are widely constructed using wrought iron as load-bearing structure, not only for ocean-going ships, but also for inland river ships, and the proportion of wrought iron used in the materials is increasing.
With the large-scale application of steamships, more and more new ships are built, and the amount of iron consumed will definitely increase.
It is very likely that hundreds of thousands of tons of steel will be used in shipbuilding alone in the next year.
As for railways, what are the main construction costs of railways? It is the roadbed and rails. If the terrain is flat, then the cost of the roadbed will be relatively low, and the main cost lies in the rails.
According to the empire's future railway construction plan, there are thousands of kilometers of construction plans in the early stage. How many rails will be used...
According to this rail demand, the current Dachu Empire's steel industry must continue to expand production on a large scale to meet demand.
Otherwise, there would not be enough steel to produce rails, and the railway would not be built.
The demand for steel in the future is bound to grow explosively, so steel practitioners and investors are very optimistic about the steel industry.
The same is true for the coal industry!
After a large number of trains and ships are put into use, the use of coal will inevitably increase.
After all, both of these things are powered by coal... But when it comes to the huge demand for coal, it is not actually the ships or trains themselves, but the large amount of steel needed to build the ships or railways.
And producing these steels requires a lot of coal!
The steel and coal industries have always been deeply linked, because steel is produced from iron ore and coal. It is not just a single iron ore that can make steel. You also need to count. Coal is twice as much as iron ore.
As huge as the railway's demand for steel is, the steel industry's demand for the coal industry will increase exponentially.
In the future, the demand for coal in the Dachu Empire's steel industry will see explosive growth.
Not only coal is used for steelmaking, but also coal is used in general industry and private use.
Because the large-scale application of ships and trains in the future will inevitably lead to a decrease in coal transportation costs, the decline in coal prices will also inevitably increase the total sales volume in the industrial market and the civilian coal market, because as coal prices fall, More companies will choose to use steam engines as the most powerful power, thus abandoning water power.
As for the private use of coal for heating and cooking, because coal prices were relatively high in the past and transportation costs were high, generally speaking, coal was only used on a large scale for heating and cooking only where water transportation was convenient, or simply near the coal production areas. .
But if transportation costs fall, coal will be able to cover more areas, so the total sales of coal and other products will inevitably increase significantly.
The demand for coal for steelmaking, coal for power, and coal for heating will all see explosive growth.
This means that the coal industry of the Da Chu Empire is about to experience a big explosion...
Some optimistic practitioners believe that even if domestic coal production increases five times in the next five years, it may not be able to meet the market demand five years later.
This kind of optimistic prediction about the future has also led to the major coal mining companies now being busy expanding production, building railways in mining areas, introducing trains, and about to contact shipping companies to transport coal outbound by steam ships. .
Guangning Coal Mining Company in Lianzhou Prefecture, Guangdong, in addition to actively expanding production, is also preparing to spend huge sums of money to transform the original mining area-sea terminal railway to wrought iron standards in order to transport a large amount of coal after the expansion to the port for shipment. track while extending construction.
The reconstructed and upgraded Guangning Mining Area Railway is estimated to be more than 50 kilometers long, covering many of their mining areas.
And they are also preparing to upgrade the Liberty Coal Shipping Terminal to ship coal faster.
The above-mentioned transformation measures are all aimed at facilitating the transportation of coal to meet the increasing market demand for coal.
In addition, some mining companies have found the Railway Corporation.
Trying to get the Railway Corporation to take their huge freight needs into consideration when planning their railway lines.
For example, the Northern Shanxi Mining Company, which owns the super-large coal mine-Datong Coal Mine, has always suffered from difficulties in coal transportation, so that it has been guarding such huge coal resources, but it can't make much money...
They had previously thought about building an overseas railway, even using horse-drawn carriages... but they couldn't build it because the investment was too large.
Now, they want to rely on the power of the Railway Corporation and let them consider their coal transportation needs when building railways.
Anyway, the official had a strategic plan for the Prairie Railway, but the main consideration in the previous planning was military needs. After leaving Zhangjiakou, the railway line went straight north to the grassland, all the way to Xiaobeihai.
The idea of the Northern Shanxi Coal Mining Company is to find ways to build a straight railway from Zhangjiakou to Datong to facilitate the transportation of coal.
If that doesn't work, they would even rather bear part of the railway construction costs.
Of course, the premise is that a railway from Tianjin to Zhangjiakou must be built first, otherwise the railway from Zhangjiakou to Datong will be empty talk.
The local Shanxi Northern Mining Company, together with the local government, and even the Shanxi Governor's Yamen are about to rush to build a railway from Datong to Tianjin as soon as possible...
Promote local economic development by developing the abundant coal in northern Shanxi.
Otherwise, it would be really heartbreaking to hold a lot of coal and not be able to transport it and sell it to make money and develop the economy.
And these things that happened one after another are all the huge impacts brought about by the practical application of trains and ships.
What is rejuvenating the country through science and technology?
What is industrial rejuvenation?
Trains and ships are the means of rejuvenating a country through science and technology and industry, at least in the Chu Empire in the mid-seventeenth century.
The huge response and impetus produced by the industry after the high-pressure steam engine interview was eventually reflected in the capital market.
There is no need to say that the stock prices of various industries on the Jinling Stock Exchange have risen. More importantly, a large amount of funds have begun to enter the above-mentioned key industries.
The basic industries include steel and coal in the upstream, heavy equipment manufacturing and shipbuilding in the midstream, and shipping in the downstream.
Of course, more funds have still entered the railway industry.
Even though the Dachu Empire did not open up the railway industry, but adopted a monopoly approach, it did not allow railway companies to go public or issue bonds for direct financing.
However, railway companies still receive large amounts of investment from the capital market through bank loans.
In the past few months alone, many regional railway companies affiliated to the Dachu Empire Railway Corporation have signed loan agreements with a number of banks. The loan amounts involved in these loan agreements have reached 20 million Chu Yuan. So huge.
And this is just the beginning!
The Dachu Empire Railway Corporation is still planning railway lines and entering the construction stage. These railway lines will also require loans in the future.
According to estimates, in the next three years, the total amount of loans expected by the Dachu Empire Railway Corporation will reach more than 200 million Chu yuan.
Although the 200 million in these three years refers to the total number of loans required for the planning and construction of the railway within three years, and this money will only be obtained gradually as the construction progresses, and the continuous disbursement of the loans may last more than five years, it is not He said that 200 million would be spent within three years.
But this is still a staggering number.
Loan 200 million within three years!
Anyone who hears this data will be stunned!
But there is another statistic that is even more surprising.
In the first month after the official operation of Songjiang Railway, its profit reached more than 11,000 yuan!
This is only one month. According to this calculation, there will be a profit of at least hundreds of thousands in a year.
But the construction cost of Songjiang Railway is only 700,000 yuan!
In other words, the Songjiang Railway will only need five years at most to recover all the construction costs. After five years, it will be a net profit, and the net profit will be more than 100,000 lilan per year.
Although the high profitability of Songjiang Railway is almost impossible to replicate, because it relies on the strong industrial scale of Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou Industrial Zone, the intensive freight and passenger demand brought by the nearby permanent population, and the local people also have relatively high fare consumption. ability.
Taken together, these have led to the ultra-high profitability of Songjiang Railway.
But in any case, the strong profitability of Songjiang Railway has given the empire's senior officials, especially those who have invested heavily in railways and whose profit prospects are unclear, a reassurance, letting them know that investing in railways can not only promote local economic development, but also It can make money!
In this way, the empire's top officials approved a series of construction plans of the railway company, the first of which was the Jiangnan Railway.
In addition to the Su-Song Railway, which has been approved for construction, other sections of the Jiangnan Railway have also obtained construction permits and begun to enter the grand occasion of simultaneous construction at multiple points.
If all goes well, the first phase of the Jiangnan Railway project, namely Hangzhou-Songjiang-Suzhou-Changzhou-Zhenjiang-Jinling-Wuhu Dangtu, will be open to traffic in about 25 years from Chengshun, or at most three years.
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And just when the Chu Empire was entering into major railway construction and ship construction, and the capital market was in a state of revelry, on the vast and sparsely populated northern grasslands, the frontline soldiers fighting against Russia once again received good news.
After more than three months of continuous marching and fighting today in spring and summer, the Yenisey Dispatch Army under the Chu Army’s Second Group Army finally successfully captured the last large Russian stronghold on the Yenisei River on July 13th: Picture Ruhansky city.
This is a city established by the Russians forty-nine years ago, and it is also the city that the Russians have operated for the longest time in the Yenisey River Basin.
However, because it is far less important than Yeniseisk, which was previously captured by the Chu army, its overall defense strength is not strong.
The reason why the Chu army waited until this summer to capture the city of Turukhansky after capturing Yeniseisk last year was purely due to weather and distance reasons.
In winter and even in spring, it was difficult to launch large-scale military operations due to the severe cold. I finally waited until the weather was no longer so cold, and then I went down the river and ran across thousands of kilometers to kill the local Russian defenders and destroy this ancient city. The important stronghold on the Tunguska River was captured.
With the capture of this Yenisei River stronghold in the north by the Chu army, it was announced that the Russians had completely and permanently lost the Yenisei River Basin.
Today, the Russians have no medium or large strongholds in the Yenisei River Basin. At most, there are only a few small colonial strongholds that have not been discovered by the Chu army.
Siberia is too big. If some small Russian residents stay away from the big rivers and don't run out stupidly, it will be difficult for the Chu army to find them...
Not to mention the Yenisey River Basin, even in the Lena River Basin and the Far East region to the east, there are probably still small Russian strongholds existing.
As for losing contact with most of them for a year and a half, it is not a problem at all in terms of colonial activities at this time.
This is why the Third Army, after taking control of the Lena River Basin, began to conduct frequent searches and patrols in the Lena River and the Far East... just to find out the remaining Russian strongholds and then capture them.
At the same time, it was also to continue to conquer the many local indigenous people.
In the vast Siberian region, there are not only Russians now, but actually the larger population is the local indigenous people. Some of the indigenous people were conquered by the Chu army or the Russians before, and now they are all under the rule of the Chu Empire and began to enlightenment.
However, there are still some areas that have not been conquered by the two countries before and still maintain their independence, especially several areas in the Far East, many of which are controlled by local indigenous people. Russia did not have actual control before.
The current task of the Third Army of the Chu Empire is to continue to clean up and suppress the remnants of the Russians and the local recalcitrant indigenous people, in order to completely control the local area.
At this time, after the Second Group Army has captured the Yenisei River Basin, it will subsequently dispatch some troops to station and patrol various places, pull out the remaining Russian strongholds, and recover the indigenous peoples.
The Siberia the empire wants is not a Siberia shared with foreigners, but a Siberia that belongs entirely to the empire.
From the land to the population, everything belongs to the Chu Empire!
Of course, these are all follow-up matters, and there is no rush. They can be dealt with slowly.
It took the Russians decades to gradually take control of the central and western regions of Siberia. The Chu Empire was also patient enough and spent several years or even more than ten years to complete the complete Chineseization of the area.
Just like before in the three southwestern provinces (Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan) and the Qingkang region (Kangba, Kangxi, Qinghai), the Chu Empire faced frequent large-scale rebellions by numerous local chieftains.
However, they did not adopt a soft policy like previous dynasties, and did not engage in canonization and the like. Instead, they took the toughest measures from beginning to end, uprooting all the chieftains and dignitaries who dared to resist, liberating the serfs, and imposing on the local people. Comprehensive education of the people.
More than ten years have passed, and now in the vast southwest region of the empire, including Guangxi and Yunnan-Guizhou, as well as parts of Sichuan, Qingkang, etc., various chieftains and powerful forces that have been entrenched in the area for thousands of years have been uprooted.
This move not only stabilized the empire's local rule, but actually liberated more than ten million local people at the bottom... You must know that in the era of chieftains and religious dignitaries, serfs and even slavery were still retained in these places. It was very cruel. …
But now, the people in these places can enjoy the true glory of civilization.
Therefore, the people at the bottom of these places actually have a very favorable impression of the empire, and even support the empire's rule.
This also made the empire's local enlightenment policy very smooth, and the people at the bottom were very receptive... Those who resisted were just some chieftains and religious dignitaries.
Currently, large-scale intermarriage occurs in these places by changing the language, clothing, etiquette and even daily customs.
The local lower class people, especially the new generation, have basically been Hanized and consider themselves Han Chinese.
To a certain extent, there is no obvious difference between the younger generation of people in these places and the people in other parts of the empire. There may be some older local people who remember some of the customs and traditions of earlier years and can speak about the local Some patois, but decades later? What about a hundred years from now?
These things will inevitably disappear in the long river of history.
When the time comes, if you say that the people in these places are indigenous barbarians and not Han Chinese, descendants of Yan and Huang, they will all turn against you!
Just like you are now scolding those grassland men who are from Mongolian tribes in southern Mongolia, but have recognized their ancestors and changed their surnames and changed their clothes as barbarians, these tough grassland men will turn against you every minute: you are the barbarians, and your whole family is a barbarian. They are barbarians...
If you meet someone with a bad temper, they might even shoot you with an arrow...
Although the empire's civil policy in the southwest region paid a high price in the early days, it even fought several large-scale counter-insurgency wars, one big every three years and one small every year.
But the results have been very good, which can be seen from the fact that there have been no large-scale rebellions in the area in recent years.
And if this situation continues, it is estimated that there will be no chieftain rebellion in the southwest region in the future.
Throughout the thousands of years since ancient times, only the Chu Empire has been able to completely solve the problem of chieftains in the southwest, and other dynasties have not been able to do so.
Of course, this is also due to the limitations of the times.
After all, the expansion of China's territory was gradual, from the Central Plains to the eastern region, to the northern and southern regions, to the southwest and northwest regions, etc. This was a gradual expansion process.
It was the turn of the Great Chu Empire, and it was time to completely resolve the Southwest and Northwest issues.
In the future, we still need to solve the problem of northern Siberia, and it is actually easier to solve this problem in Siberia because there are not many indigenous people there.
Just a few people were first killed through suppression, and then through various indoctrination policies, and then organized tens of millions of people to immigrate to China and engage in large-scale intermarriage with the local indigenous people.
In more than ten years, let alone retaining the indigenous culture, there may not even be much indigenous blood left.
Therefore, the education problem in the north is far less serious than that in the southwest and Qingkang areas.
Therefore, the strategic focus of the Northern Chu Army, especially the First Army and the Second Army, is not to educate and counter-insurgency, but to the Russians.
Although the Russians lost the Yenisei River Basin, they still controlled the Ob River Basin, and the Chu Empire naturally could not tolerate this.
The top officials of the empire have always wanted to push the western border to the Ob River Basin, and then into the vast West Siberian steppe west of the Ob River.
Therefore, the Ob River must be captured!
If you want to win the Ob River Basin, in addition to continuing to fight the Russians, you also need to face the remnants of the Jungar.
Today, the remnants of Jungar are active in the northern and eastern areas of Lake Balkhash, a large area of which is in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River, an upstream tributary of the Ob River Basin.
If the Great Chu Empire wanted to control the Ob River, it had to capture these remaining Zhungeer troops as well.
After these years of continuous attacks, these remaining Zhungeer troops are actually much worse than before.
They fled all the way west to these places. Although they still retained a large population, the pastures they could control were no longer enough to support such a large number of people and livestock.
Not to mention that the Chu army's cavalry ran over to attack their tribes every three days. Such frequent attacks made many small and medium-sized tribes in Zhungeer feel uncomfortable.
Especially those tribes that grazed close to the areas controlled by the Dachu Empire, instead of recovering their strength in the past few years, have been further weakened.
Some tribes even chose to betray Zhungeer in order to survive, and then led their eastern tribes to submit to the Chu Empire.
Therefore, after twenty-two years of maturity, the remnants of the Jungar tribe no longer have the 200,000 tribesmen that they had when they first fled to these places. At most, there are only 140,000 to 50,000 tribes left, and the control area is also smaller than before. It was much smaller in the beginning.
At least in the large southeastern area of Lake Balkhash, they no longer dare to go grazing... There is no way, the Chu army's cavalry often sets out from Yining to attack their grazing tribes... and there are thousands of them when they are dispatched. They raided Jungar tribes and plundered their livestock.
No martial ethics at all!
