When Luo Zhixue's special train arrived in Changchun, it met with a group of senior officials from Liaobei Province as usual the next morning, and in the afternoon, it met with senior officials from Heishui Province.
Because the Northeast Railway is currently only built to Changchun and has not yet extended northward to Shuangjiang City, the provincial capital of Heishui Province, Luo Zhixue's special train cannot go to Shuangjiang City, nor can it inspect most areas of Heishui Province further north.
But now that we are all in the Northeast region, we have to meet local officials and military representatives from Blackwater Province.
Therefore, senior officials and generals from Heishui Province were sent to Changchun to meet with him.
Similar situations also occurred in Mobei Province and Xiaobeihai Province. Because the grassland railway only extended to Fengzhou City in Monan Province, the royal train did not continue northward. Instead, officials and generals from the two provinces further north were sent to Fengzhou City. State meeting.
On the second day after arriving in Changchun, Luo Zhixue met with officials from Liaobei and Heishui provinces and listened to the local economic reports of the two provinces.
The report of Northern Liaoning Province is pretty good. Through the focus of reclamation and development over the years, part of the Songnen Plain has been developed, so the agricultural output value is good. As for industry and commerce, although the land is not good, several minerals near rivers have also been developed. In addition, the local The forestry and fur industries are pretty good.
In addition, the port fishery is barely adequate. The Liaobei Province of the Da Chu Empire is quite large, including the northeastern part of the Koryo Peninsula, all the way to the seashore in the east. There are also several port cities on the east coastline, which have developed to a certain extent. Fishing and trading industries, but the overall scale is not large.
Economically, Northern Liaoning Province is far inferior to Liaodong Province, but its potential for subsequent development is very great. After all, the Songnen Plain in the western region is excellent arable land. Once fully developed, the grain output will be very high.
There are also many mineral resources and forestry resources.
As for Heishui Province, its economy is worse than that of Liaobei Province. The main reason is that this place was just developed not long ago. Although the Chu Empire continued to immigrate to this area in the past twenty years, this place is too It is a cold place, so there are very few immigrants who voluntarily go there. Most of them are official immigrants or even exiled criminals...
At present, the total population of Heishui Province is only 700,000 to 800,000, and they basically live in the Songhua River and Nen River basins, mainly concentrated in the Shuangjiang Prefecture area where the Songjiang River and the Nen River meet.
In other places, some immigrant settlements were established along the rivers, ranging from hundreds to thousands of people.
With a small number of people, it is difficult to carry out agricultural development or mineral resource development.
Therefore, the economic aggregate is relatively poor!
But... the per capita economy is actually pretty good. After all, there are fewer people and more land. This limited population is also concentrated in the Songhua River and Nen River basins with very good agricultural conditions. The fertile black soil gives this area great agricultural production potential. .
Therefore, horse farming and even mechanized farming are widely used in this place, and the per capita grain output is very large.
So even though Heishui Province only has a population of 7 to 8 million, it is a serious source of grain. Local people can earn a lot of economic income by selling grain every year. Therefore, the per capita income level is actually higher than that of many cities in Guan. Come higher.
When meeting with officials from Heishui Province, Luo Zhixue heard about the local agricultural development, forestry resource development, fur resource development, mineral resource development, etc., and focused on the upcoming development of the Sanjiang Plain.
Luo Zhixue said that the empire's next step will be to gradually migrate to the Sanjiang Plain and develop the local plain area to make it a new food production base in the Northeast.
The development of Northeast China mainly revolves around the three major plains, namely the Liaohe Plain, the Songnen Plain, and the Sanjiang Plain.
Therefore, whether it is Liaodong Province, Liaobei Province or Heishui Province, they are included.
On the third day after arriving in Changchun, Luo Zhixue inspected the Liaohua Agricultural Company not far from Changchun City.
The grain planting area in this place is larger, more horses are bred, and the degree of modernization is very high. Agricultural planting is basically mechanized, and even horse plowing is less.
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After completing his inspection of Liaohua Agricultural Company, Luo Zhixue's inspection of the three northeastern provinces was basically over.
Then Luo Zhixue's special train began to return south, passing through Shenyang and continuing south to Lushun. The reason why it did not go east to the Koryo Peninsula was because the Northeast Railway only reached the mouth of the Yalu River in the east and had not yet entered the Koryo Peninsula.
Therefore, it is not very convenient to go to the Korean Peninsula. It is impossible for Luo Zhixue not to take the royal train and then walk to the Korean Peninsula with more than 20,000 people.
So this time we will not go to Koryo Peninsula, but to Lushun.
I went to Lushun not for anything else, but simply because this place is also a relatively important naval port for the Dachu Empire Navy, and it is also a new port, industrial and commercial city in the Liaodong region.
With the opening of the railway from Shenyang to Hekou, Lushun has gradually taken away part of Hekou's resources due to its superior geographical location. Especially in recent years, the new soybean processing and trading industries have developed quite well in Lushun.
In addition, Lushun was originally an important port for the navy. It was the supporting port for the Chu Empire's navy to fully control the Bohai Sea, the northern part of the Yellow Sea, and even the west coast of the Koryo Peninsula.
There are not only a large number of warships parked locally, but also a large number of naval soldiers stationed there. There are also several shipyards and corresponding supporting companies.
The combination of these has allowed Lushun to develop reasonably well with great potential, and has threatened Hekou, an old coastal processing trade city.
After the inspection in Lushun, Luo Zhixue's special train began to return south, passing through Jinzhou, Shanhaiguan, Tianjin, and Jinan all the way back to Xuzhou.
However, after returning to Xuzhou, they did not continue south to Jinling City, but turned west and entered the Henan area.
Luo Zhixue's northern tour plan this time is very large, and its route basically follows several main railway lines.
It used to go north, but now it goes west, mainly inspecting Henan and Shaanxi provinces. Later, it will follow the Huguang railway network into Chubei and arrive at Hantianfu. By the way, it will also visit Changsha in southern Chu.
After the inspection of Changsha is completed, he will actually return eastward, then go to Jiujiang, Nanchang, and finally return to Jinling City.
Starting from Xuzhou's westward march, Luo Zhixue's formation lasted for more than a month. During this period, he also went to Funiu Mountain, the land of Longxing in the Great Chu Empire, and led a group of military and political officials into Funiu Mountain on foot.
It's just that the Funiu Mountain now is different from the Funiu Mountain in Luo Zhixue's memory.
The previously winding winding paths have disappeared, replaced by a flat road all the way to the west in Lushan County. It is enough to accommodate four carriages running parallel at the same time. The road paved with cinders is very flat and fast.
Cinder road, this is also an emerging road construction solution in the Chu Empire in the past ten years. It is better than gravel road, and there are many sources of cinder, and the price is very cheap, so it is a good way to pave roads. choose.
Of course, there are cities that lay waterways, but cement is still relatively expensive these days, so it can only be seen in small quantities in cities. But even in big cities like Songjiang, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Jinling City, most of the roads are still just cinder roads.
As for boardwalks and stone pavements, there are even fewer. They are usually on commercial streets and main roads in cities with strong political connotations. The overall proportion is still very small.
Walking on this flat road paved with cinders, Luo Zhixue could no longer feel the hardship of fighting in Funiu Mountain...
The subsequent formation was similar. I saw many buildings along the way, but they were all magnificent buildings built by the local government to commemorate this place of Longxing. They did not feel like a mountainous area at all.
Not to mention remembering the bitter and thinking of the sweet.
Coming in with excitement and returning in failure was how Luo Zhixue felt, but he didn't say anything. After all, the local government spent great efforts to build roads in the Funiu Mountain area to support local people's livelihood and relieve the local mountain people from poverty. It didn't matter. No matter how you say it, it's a good thing.
Luo Zhixue will not dampen the enthusiasm of local officials.
After completing his inspection in the Funiu Mountain area, Luo Zhixue continued south to Nanyang, then Xiangyang, and finally arrived at Han Tianfu.
When I was in Hantianfu, I also experienced taking a train and ferry.
The royal train drove directly onto the huge train ferry and then crossed the Yangtze River, not to mention it felt quite fresh.
After crossing the Yangtze River, the imperial special train continued south to Changsha. After staying for two days, it did not continue south. Then it turned around and returned east. After passing through Wuchang City of Han Tianfu, it went straight to Daye Industrial Zone.
This is the earliest large-scale industrial base in the Chu Empire that integrates mining, smelting, machinery, national defense, and chemical industry. Even now, the base is still ranked among the top three in the field of heavy industry, second only to Dangtu Industrial Zone and Songjiang Industrial Zone.
Neither Tianjin nor Guangzhou can compare with Hantian Daye Industrial Zone in the field of heavy industry.
When you come to Daye Industrial Zone, you have to take a look at Daye Steel Company. It is the earliest comprehensive steel enterprise in the Dachu Empire and the first steel plant to develop mass production technology for steel.
This steel plant can be said to be the cradle of the Dachu Empire's steel industry. It not only supported the early and mid-term steel industry of the Dachu Empire, but also trained a large number of technicians and skilled workers for the Dachu Empire's steel industry.
In addition to Daye Iron and Steel Company, there are many other well-known and extremely important enterprises in Daye Industrial Zone across the country.
For example, the Hantian Arsenal was the largest arsenal in the Chu Empire and the only comprehensive arsenal left in the country. Its products ranged from various cold weapons to armors to rifles, artillery, ammunition, and more.
Its product line is very rich and can produce almost all equipment for the army. Its output is generally not small, and most of them retain the ability to increase production capacity.
The factory is also the main manufacturer of a series of main rifles in active service in the Dachu Empire, that is, the 23-year-old rifle, and the main factory of the Army's 115mm series field guns, 150 series howitzers and other artillery.
The Hantian Arsenal, which has a complete product line and a large scale, can provide all kinds of weapons and ammunition for the ground forces of the Dachu Empire in wars by themselves.
How can I put it, even if Guangzhou in South China, Songjiang on the Yangtze River, Dangtu, Tianjin in North China, Northeast China and other places have all fallen, leaving only Huguang and the inland areas, the Chu Empire can still arm millions of people with just one Hantian arsenal. The army fights the enemy.
This is the importance of Hantian Arsenal!
However, although it is large in scale and has many product lines, it is precisely because of the many product lines that the design and R&D of Hantian Arsenal is subject to certain restrictions... There are too many projects, and the R&D funds allocated to each project are not enough. .
It is also a breech-loading rifle. Tianjin Firearms Factory, a subsidiary of Hebei Arms Company, has made great progress in the field of breech-loading rifles by relying on more professional and concentrated R&D funds and personnel. The Type 18 breech-loading rifle The rifle has been determined to start small-scale production and is planned to be equipped with the Guards. The Army will also start small-scale procurement.
However, the research and development of breech-loading rifled rifles at Hantian Arsenal is not very good. They have not even solved the air leakage problem. However, their idea is not to rely on the gun itself to solve the air leakage problem, but to Rely on metal bullets to solve air leakage problems.
It's just that the research and development of metal bullets is not easy. Over the years, I have been working on all-metal bullets. The progress is pretty good, but it is not practical.
Moreover, the bolt structure of their breech-loading rifled rifle is different from that of the Tianjin Firearms Factory's rotating bolt. Their bolt adopts a self-developed lifting bolt. Compared with the rotating bolt, this type of bolt has The gun is very easy to operate, with few steps and simple movements, which results in a faster rate of fire.
When Luo Zhixue watched them fire live ammunition, he found that the testers actually fired more than ten rounds of bullets in just one minute. The rate of fire was quite fast, much faster than the Type 18 rifle from the Tianjin Firearms Factory.
Moreover, they use self-developed brass all-metal bullets, which are powerful and have a long range.
But it is not without flaws. The bullets they developed have not solved many technical problems. They have huge flaws and are easy to explode. There are also other problems, such as deformation, jamming, etc., and the recoil is also very large.
In terms of overall practicality, it is actually not as good as the Type 18 rifle from Tianjin Firearms Factory.
But it also has unique advantages, that is, fast rate of fire and long range.
Many people in the Army still admire this rifle. They believe that after some defects of this gun have been improved, a batch of test equipment can be purchased on a small scale and compared with other breech-loading rifled rifles through actual use and actual combat. .
In other words, for the Dachu Empire, there are currently two breech-loading rifled rifles as candidate models, and it is estimated that more will appear in the future.
After all, there are not only two weapons companies in the Dachu Empire, but five. The other three weapons companies are also developing breech-loading rifles. When the time comes, they will definitely come up with their own breech-loading rifle designs and use them. To compete for orders for the new generation of main standard rifles for the army and navy.
After visiting the Hantian Arsenal, Luo Zhixue ran to the Hantian Machinery Factory next door.
Hantian Machinery Factory is famous as the most powerful machine tool equipment R&D and production factory in the Chu Empire, and it almost monopolizes the domestic high-end finishing market.
Luo Zhixue is actually not very interested in their machine tools. What Luo Zhixue is interested in is their research on a series of special steels.
Although Hantian Machinery Factory only produces machine tools, in fact it is the most technologically advanced special steel R&D and production enterprise in the Chu Empire, but they do not sell special steel raw materials to external parties.
They are generally sold directly integrated into their own machine tools and other equipment.
The second is to supply some high-performance parts for others, such as bearings... Hantian Machinery Company is also the largest bearing manufacturer in China. The bearings they produce have very good performance, but of course, the price is also very expensive.
Therefore, although it is a special steel manufacturer, Hantian Machinery Company and Tianjin Iron and Steel Company are the same raw material supply companies.
They don't make money by selling raw materials, but by selling high-performance equipment and parts. They make a lot of money, and the gross profit is very high.
