While the huge fleet of the Da Chu Empire was floating on the sea, heading towards the Indian Peninsula, preparing to start a large-scale war, the country of the Da Chu Empire was still calm.
Most ordinary people don't even know that the military is preparing for war outside again...
Even the middle and high-level people in the empire who know the inside story are mostly not too concerned about this war. Instead, they are more concerned about the news that the Central Plains Railway is about to be opened to traffic.
This will be the second trunk railway to be fully connected after the Jiangnan Railway!
The Central Plains Railway, with a total length of just over a thousand kilometers, starts from Tianjin in the north and ends at Jinling Jiangbei in the south. It passes through many cities in North China and then enters the eastern Central Plains, then enters Xuzhou, Fengyang, Chuzhou in Jiangbei, and finally reaches Jiangpu County in Yingtian Prefecture. That is, Jiangbei of Jinling City.
The completion of this railway means that the north-south travel of the Chu Empire will be more convenient and faster.
Taking a train from Jinling City can quickly reach Tianjin City, the most important industrial city in the northern region of the Chu Empire.
This has a huge strategic impetus for strengthening north-south connections and developing local economies along the way.
Therefore, not only the ministers below are concerned, but Luo Zhixue is also very concerned about the construction of the Central Plains Railway.
On April 21, the 26th year of Chengshun, in this early summer season, Luo Zhixue personally led a group of military and political dignitaries to preside over the opening ceremony of the entire line at Jinling Jiangpu Railway Station.
It announced that transportation between the north and the south has entered the train era!
Three days later, the latest Da Chu Di newspaper published a report focusing on the opening of the Central Plains Railway. It quoted Luo Zhixue's speech and declared that the Da Chu Empire had entered a new railway era.
In the future, the Dachu Empire will build more railway lines and strive to connect every province to trains.
Future railway construction is not just a slogan, it is what the Chu Empire is currently doing!
Since the 21st year of Chengshun, when the Chu Empire launched large-scale railway construction, a large number of railway lines have been approved for construction every year.
The four main railway lines, two vertical and two horizontal, have actually been fully constructed, but currently only the Jiangnan Railway and the Central Plains Railway are fully connected.
However, other railway lines have also been constructed to a greater or lesser extent. The Haizhou to Xi'an railway section in the East-West Railway plan has already completed the Haizhou to Xuzhou section and the Zhengzhou to Luoyang section. It is currently under construction in multiple directions at the same time. It is expected that In two years, the construction of the entire railway line will be completed, and then the Haixi Railway, an important part of the east-west railway, will be connected.
If nothing else goes wrong, twenty-eight years after Chengshun, we will be able to further extend the railway line from Xi'an to the west, and eventually build it all the way to Lake Balkhash, which is the Northwest Railway in the East-West Railway Plan.
However, if Xi'an goes west, the population along the way is small, the economy is backward, and neither agriculture nor industry is strong. Therefore, the Northwest Railway is a war-ready railway in the railway planning of the Dachu Empire.
Its political and military value exceeds its economic value.
In other words, this northwestern railway will not be able to recoup its investment costs for many years to come, let alone make additional money.
However, the Northwest Railway is extremely important for the Chu Empire to rule the northwest region, avoid centrifugal forces in the area, and strengthen its control over Central Asia. Not to mention not making money, it has to be repaired even if it loses money.
Building war-ready railways is also the main political task of the Railway Corporation. If it were not for the purpose of building these war-ready railways that are losing money, the Dachu Empire would not have a railway franchise.
The purpose is to allow railway operating profits in some areas to support railway construction in economically backward areas.
The east-west railway plan is expected to last for many years, especially since the northwest railway is mountainous and will be difficult to build. Therefore, it is estimated that by the 35th year of Chengshun, the railway may not be able to be built to Lake Balkhash.
Relatively speaking, several other main railway lines were built relatively quickly.
One of the two railways is the South East-West Railway from Ningbo to Hantian. The Jiangnan Railway has been completed and the railway from Jiujiang to Hantian is currently under construction. This railway network is being built relatively quickly. After all, the economy along the way is good and the railway is still under construction. It passes through Daye, the industrial center of the empire, and Hantian, the capital of the Chu Empire. The most important thing is that the terrain along this railway is flat, making railway construction more convenient.
Therefore, the construction of the Jiuhan Railway Section is relatively fast. Many sections have been completed so far. It is expected to be completed by this winter. By then, the southern east-west trunk railway, one of the two horizontal lines, will be completed.
Relatively speaking, the construction progress of the Zhengzhou-Zhuzhou Railway, one of the two longitudinal railways, that is, the railway from Zhengzhou to Hantianfu Hankou, and the railway from Hantianfu Wuchang to Changsha Zhuzhou, is still relatively behind. However, the terrain along the way is also flat. It is expected that in Chengshun It can be completed in twenty-eight years.
The Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway, one of the north-south trunk railways, is more difficult to construct and is expected to be opened to traffic later.
There is no way, the southern part of Jiangxi and the northern part of Guangdong are both mountainous areas... Building railways in these places is very difficult for contemporary construction capabilities.
If it weren't for the economically developed Guangdong in the south, the Chu Empire would not start building the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway now. The cost would be too high...
Due to cost issues, the Chu Empire currently has no plans to build a railway to Sichuan, nor to build railways in Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Fujian and other places. The cost of building railways in these mountainous and economically weak places is simply too high.
Guangdong is an exception!
There is no way, who makes it the second largest economic province in the country, its total economic volume and the finance provided to the empire are second only to Jiangnan Province.
Moreover, there is a big gap between this second-ranked province and the following provinces: Yingtianfu, the capital city, which ranks third, Hebei, which ranks fourth, and Zhejiang, which ranks fifth.
It is unreliable to discuss GDP and the like, because the Chu Empire currently does not have very sound economic statistics, but the economic strength of each province can still be seen from the central fiscal revenue.
The economy is the strongest in the empire, with a large number of factories. At the same time, the local agriculture is also very good. Jiangnan Province, a traditional land of plenty, supplied more than 70 million Chu Yuan to the central finance of the Chu Empire in the 25th year of Chengshun, accounting for 10% of the country's total. Fifteen percent of the central government's more than 450 million Chu yuan.
Next is Guangdong, which handed over more than 60 million yuan to the central government last year, accounting for 13%.
These two provinces alone account for 28% of the central fiscal revenue of the Great Chu Empire!
This is quite an exaggerated figure, and it is possible to have such exaggerated figures because Jiangnan Province relies on the geographical advantages and transportation advantages of the Yangtze River Basin and the central point on the local coast to bring together industrial raw materials and funds from the Yangtze River Basin and coastal areas. At the same time, industrial products can also be sold to the above places.
Its industrial and commercial economy is very prosperous.
Similarly, Guangdong is also relying on the advantages of the Pearl River Basin and coastal areas to vigorously develop its industrial and commercial economy.
Unlike Jiangnan Province, it can extend its economic influence to various coastal areas, such as the northern coastal provinces, Northeast China, and even Fusang.
Guangdong's economic external radiation mainly relies on foreign trade with Southeast Asia and India, and foreign trade accounts for a relatively large proportion.
To put it bluntly, the reason why Guangdong's economy can develop so rapidly is because of the huge indigenous markets in Southeast Asia and the Indian Peninsula.
The Western Trading Company of the Dachu Empire, in order to save transportation costs, purchased their goods sold to India and even Africa and Europe in the Pearl River Delta Economic Circle of Guangdong.
These two provinces have unique geographical advantages in developing their industrial and commercial economies, which other provinces cannot learn from.
As for other provinces, the economically better ones are Zhejiang, Hebei, Liaodong and two directly-governed prefectures, namely the capital Yingtianfu and the companion capital Hantianfu.
Part of the economic aggregate of Yingtianfu, the capital, is the financial and other service industries brought together by the bonus of the capital's status, that is, the tertiary industry. This part accounts for a relatively large proportion.
The other part relies on Dangtu Industrial Zone.
This place is one of the major heavy industrial zones in the Great Chu Empire. It has a series of large-scale enterprises directly under the Ministry of Industry, such as Dangtu Machinery Company, the three major steam engine manufacturers, Dangtu Steel Company, currently ranked fifth in the country, and Seven Weapons The headquarters of one of the companies, Jiangnan Weapons Company, and its main subsidiaries: Dangtu Arsenal, Dangtu Artillery Factory, Dangtu Ammunition Factory and other enterprises.
A Dangtu Industrial Zone and the tertiary industry have supported the economy of Yingtian Mansion. Otherwise, the traditional land of plenty and cultural centers would have long ago declined in the industrial age.
Just like Jiangxi, Jiangxi was actually very good in the traditional agricultural era. Many places in northern and central Jiangxi were land of plenty, but after entering the industrial era, its development was somewhat unable to keep up. The reason is still because Due to its poor geographical location and the dual competition from Dangtu Industrial Zone in the east and Daye Industrial Zone in the northwest, industrial development has never been able to take off.
The Daye Industrial Zone next door belongs to Han Tianfu, the capital of the Han Dynasty. As one of the largest heavy industrial zones in the Chu Empire, and with the fairly good light industry developed in Hankou, Han Tianfu's economy is also pretty good.
At present, the five provinces mentioned above and the two municipalities directly under the central government have relatively good economic development, while the others are basically not doing well.
Either the transportation is inconvenient, the climate is extreme, or there are few resources, and it is impossible to do it even if you want to.
For example, the two northeastern provinces of Liaobei and Heishui and the two grassland provinces of Monan and Mobei actually have rich mineral resources.
However, the transportation is really inconvenient, and it is difficult to transport various precious minerals and even animal husbandry resources to the outside world on a large scale.
At the same time, the climate is too cold to attract a large influx of people.
There is not even a large population, so why talk about developing industry?
Even in Shanxi, a province where a large amount of coal has been mined, the current economy is not doing well... There is no way, Shanxi is mountainous, and it is not easy to transport coal and sell it to make money.
This is why Shanxi has been planning to build a railway in the past few years. Even before the construction of the Prairie Railway, that is, the railway from Tianjin to Zhangjiakou, they had already raised funds to build a mining area railway in Datong... It is said to be a mining area railway. , but in addition to connecting various coal mining areas, this mining area railway also extends for hundreds of kilometers in the direction of Zhangjiakou.
Now we are waiting for the railway from Tianjin to Zhangjiakou to be opened to traffic, and then it can be connected to the railway line in the mining area of Datong, and finally realize the large-scale export of coal.
They were eagerly looking forward to this railway.
Other provinces also have their own troubles, either with inconvenient transportation, lack of special resources, or poor climate.
These days, there are relatively big limitations in developing large-scale industry, especially when the railway network construction is not perfect enough and inland water transportation is also limited.
In the end, the industrial and commercial economy could not develop, and only traditional agriculture and a small number of factories could maintain economic data.
Such economic data is naturally hard to come by.
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This is not only true for many inland provinces, but also for many prefectures and counties in coastal provinces.
Even in a large economic province like Guangdong, not all places are economically developed areas. In fact, only the Pearl River Delta has good economic development, while other places are generally not doing well and are even extremely poor.
Heping County in the mountainous area of northern Guangdong is such a poor and economically backward county that receives provincial financial support and even central financial support funds every year.
In this regard, we still rely on Wang Tu’s hard work in the past three years!
Before Wang Tu took office as Heping County Magistrate three years ago, the economy of this poor place could not compare with many poor counties in the interior!
We need population but no population, we need resources but no resources, we need transportation but no transportation, no matter how you look at it, you are still poor...
Over the past three years, Wang Tu had used all his magic and the few connections he had to the limit, and finally managed to bring over a dozen companies to settle there, finally allowing the economy of this poor place to develop slightly.
Although the economic aggregate is still not comparable to those counties with good economies, not even as good as a village in the Pearl River Delta... But it is not easy. At least the economic growth data is very high. It has been every year in the past three years. Double the growth.
Relying on this, well, plus his hundreds of millions of contacts, he was finally promoted. First, he was transferred to Guangzhou and entered the provincial governor's yamen. He worked as a casual post from the fifth rank for a few months, and then was sent to Heyuan Prefecture serves as the magistrate of the prefecture, with a rank of five.
Although the official position was changed from the sixth-grade county magistrate to the fifth-grade county magistrate, Wang Tu still did not dare to relax.
Because if Heping is one of the poorest counties in Guangdong, then Heyuan Prefecture is the poorest state capital in Guangdong, bar none!
By the way, in the 25th year of Chengshun, Heyuan Prefecture, which was originally directly under the jurisdiction of Huizhou Prefecture, was changed to a provincial prefecture. Although the administrative level was still the fifth grade, it was still one of the dozen prefectures in Guangdong. .
In recent years, the Dachu Empire has been adjusting its administrative jurisdictions, mainly based on regional, economic and other factors.
As a result, many new prefectures appeared, some were prefectures and prefectures, some were provinces and prefectures, and some states were upgraded to prefectures.
It was under this background that Heyuan Prefecture was established and later changed to a provincial prefecture.
The reason for changing it to a provincial-level prefecture is also simple. This place is too poor, and when it directly belonged to Huizhou Prefecture, the officials of Huizhou Prefecture mainly focused on the economic development of coastal areas and the lower reaches of the Dongjiang River, and paid little attention to the mountainous areas in northern Guangdong. Not too concerned.
In fact, the economy of Huizhou Prefecture itself is not very good and cannot be compared with a super big government like Guangzhou Prefecture. Therefore, it is difficult to provide much support to the remote Heyuan Prefecture on its own.
In order to develop the economy of backward areas and to better support the development of remote mountainous areas, of course, the promotion of the chief envoy Cheng Yongfeng is indispensable.
Cheng Yongfeng finally took control of the overall situation by adding prefectures, changing some prefecture-administered prefectures to provincial-administered prefectures, and then promoting personnel changes in some prefects.
On a larger scale, this is related to the power competition between Cheng Yongfeng and Governor Tang Tiangui.
And this is also the reason why Wang Tu was promoted to the magistrate of Heyuan Prefecture.
Because Wang Tu was from the Cheng Yongfeng faction, and the prefect of Huizhou Prefecture was a core cadre of the Tang Tiangui faction, Cheng Yongfeng single-handedly pushed for the transformation of Heyuan Prefecture into provincial jurisdiction in order to control more authority.
This state and government were gradually fought over, and Cheng Yongfeng's career as chief envoy in Guangdong was slowly unfolding, otherwise no one would listen to his words.
In this regard, Governor Tang Tiangui also went from being strong at the beginning to gradually giving in, and finally changed his role from the former chief envoy to a real governor.
The governor of the Dachu Empire was a feudal historian who held great power over a region. He was responsible for the strategic development of the entire province. Economic development and people's livelihood were only one part of many local affairs. Tang Tiangui, who had just taken up the post of governor, obviously had not realized this yet. a little.
Although he became a governor, he still did the work of a chief envoy.
As a result, in the first year, not only did he fight with the chief envoy Cheng Yongfeng, but he also failed in many other convenient matters. For this, he received several reprimands from the elders of the Senate.
When he went to Beijing to report on his work at the beginning of last year, Luo Zhixue didn't have a good look towards him.
In this way, Tang Tiangui completely woke up and began to make concessions on economic and people's livelihood matters, letting Cheng Yongfeng take the lead while he retreated behind the scenes to control the overall situation.
Cheng Yongfeng also gave up when he saw good things. After all, he was just a chief envoy. Even if the second-in-command had the support of his superiors, it would be difficult to really shake the position of the first-in-command... and if things went too far, the superiors would most likely replace him. Chief envoy, rather than changing to a second-grade governor.
Especially important officials like the governor of Guangdong.
Although the elders of both parties made concessions, the Guangdong governor's turmoil, which had been turbulent for more than a year, gradually calmed down.
Wang Tu also took advantage of this good external environment and Cheng Yongfeng's strong support to be promoted to the magistrate of Heyuan Prefecture.
Now, he is facing a Heyuan Prefecture that is extremely poor.
He had no choice but to go around shamelessly looking for connections to attract investments as before. Not only was he looking for new investments, but he also actively contacted his old acquaintance Song Alin, who had previously invested in Heping's bean curd processing and tea processing.
Song Alin's business has been getting bigger and bigger in the past two or three years. He has built six new non-staple food processing plants. Last year, he also invested in the construction of a large-scale fruit canning factory in Dongguan, Guangzhou.
Canned food is considered a leading industry in the contemporary food processing industry, with huge output value.
All kinds of canned food not only entered the military supply system, but also widely entered the civilian market. Canned meat, canned fruit, and other messy cans were everywhere.
As a businessman focusing on the food processing industry, Song Alin naturally got involved in the canning industry early, mainly engaged in canned fruits of all kinds.
At the same time, there are many other food processing industries.
Wang Tu found Song Alin because he wanted to build a truly large-scale tea industry base.
