The equipment ordered by Antongxuan arrived quickly, because the equipment was not shipped from the country, but from Cadiz, not far away in Spain.
His equipment suppliers mainly deal with business in Europe and North Africa. In the past, there were some factories or mines in the overseas territories of the Chu Empire in North Africa and Europe. They also needed these equipments, so the equipment suppliers still had some inventory. Can be shipped nearby.
However, when An Tongxuan was preparing to order a batch of iron ore mining equipment after the equipment arrived, he was told by the equipment supplier that the new equipment would probably not arrive for at least half a year.
Recently, in Europe, restrictions on railways, shipping, agricultural production, and mining industries have also been opened in the territories of dependent countries.
This has also led to a substantial increase in the demand for equipment and raw materials required by the above-mentioned industries in Europe.
The demand for various mechanical equipment in Europe, especially mining equipment and train-related equipment, has increased significantly, resulting in a shortage of supply. Although many equipment traders have urgently increased orders to domestic manufacturers, it will take at least more than one month for the news to be sent back from the sea. months, and it will take at least three months to transport the equipment.
This is still the limit time. If there is a slight delay, another month or two will be added.
Therefore, we will not be able to supply goods to Antongxuan within half a year.
After learning about this situation, An Tongxuan found several other equipment suppliers. Unfortunately, equipment suppliers in Europe were generally out of stock.
Finally, I found a broker and contacted an equipment supplier operating in central and southern Africa, mainly in South Africa, and got a batch of iron ore mining equipment and a new locomotive.
Although the goods need to be transferred from South Africa, which takes almost two months to arrive, and the price is relatively expensive, An Tongxuan is already very satisfied.
It is not easy to get a batch of equipment to develop iron ore within two months when there is a general lack of equipment supply in this market.
Taking advantage of this time advantage, he was able to develop the iron ore on his own site on a large scale in two months, and then transport it together with the coal ore to the Isle of Man for sale.
He received accurate information and opened a small steel plant in the Isle of Man, a territory directly under the jurisdiction of the United States. He was in urgent need of high-quality iron ore and coal.
The small steel plant opened on the Isle of Man is also a product of this wave of policy relaxation in equipment control.
Before this, although it was said that all overseas territories directly under the Chu Empire could legally open ordinary factories, even steel plants and various machinery factories, in fact, except for a few places, the industrial development in the overseas territories directly under the Central Government was limited. Not great.
For example, before this, no Chu people had set up steel plants in Europe... It wasn't that the empire officially didn't allow it, it was just that it was uneconomical and businessmen were unwilling to invest in setting up factories.
Nowadays, it is too difficult to open a steel factory in Europe, so the source of iron ore is a big problem... It is not easy to mine iron ore. At the same time, the Dachu Empire previously banned the export of mining equipment to its vassal territories. How many tons of iron ore can be mined only by manual mining by local indigenous people?
Also, if the iron ore is dug out, how will it be transported out? Not all mines have rivers near them.
Similar is the issue of coal mine supply.
Secondly, it is not easy for technicians to solve the problem. High-tech factories such as steel plants cannot be done by just looking for people. Many of the jobs require highly skilled technical staff, as well as various senior engineers, etc. , and these people in China also belong to a relatively high-income class.
In the contemporary era of the Great Chu Empire, steel workers had a very good income because of the prosperity of the industry, and most of them were skilled workers. The monthly income of skilled steel workers in Dangtu Industrial Zone could basically reach six or seven yuan, which was quite good. of the numbers.
Not to mention mid-level and senior technical personnel, whose income is higher.
These technicians can live a very good life at home, and there is no need to abandon their families and go overseas to suffer and suffer, let alone take the whole family to go overseas to have fun and immigrate... Although you can get a lot of money for free by immigrating overseas. Land, but people who can survive in the country are not willing to immigrate. The reason is very simple. Job opportunities, living standards, education levels, etc. are all related.
Therefore, the biggest problem when opening a factory overseas, especially in a new territory, is the issue of technical personnel... Among ordinary overseas immigrant groups, you cannot find any technical personnel. You have to find them locally, but if you want to hire When people work in overseas territories, the salary is very high.
If you don't give me enough money, you will be a fool to work in overseas territories that are considered remote and backward, even worse than remote rural areas, especially those in Europe.
If the salary is too much, the labor costs will also rise.
This is still talking about technical personnel. Even ordinary workers who do odd jobs are hard to find... because those who can open factories are in the directly-governed territories, and the population in the directly-governed territories are all Chu people, but there are no indigenous people. This means Your factory can only hire Chu people to work...
As for the Chu people who immigrated to overseas territories and settled down, although they were all poor before immigrating, when they arrived in overseas territories, no matter what they were like before, as long as they settled there, they would become small landowners per capita... Ten acres of land is the most basic.
As long as you have the ability and don't abandon the land, the governments of overseas directly-controlled territories will dare to rent you more land for farming, thousands or even thousands of acres.
Therefore, the immigrants from the Chu State's overseas directly-administered territories, let alone others, are all small landowners when viewed by the standards of the domestic hinterland...
Even if the purchase price of grain is relatively low, the overall income level of immigrants is not too high and they are not wealthy, but at least they have enough to eat and drink...
If you give me less money, they don’t have to work for you as an ordinary wage earner. You might as well work hard to rent more government land and plant more land.
You pay more, but the labor cost goes up again...
Therefore, in most of the overseas territories, especially those with small area and small population, the labor cost is more expensive than that in local factories... Because these places basically have no idle labor force and are not as densely populated as in China. The amount of land per capita in rural areas is very limited, and the countryside cannot accommodate an increasing number of laborers, who need to leave the countryside to make a living. This has also brought sufficient labor resources to the domestic large-scale industrialization process.
But the overseas territories directly under the Central Government are all in a state of land waiting for people. The governments of those overseas territories directly under the Central Government are all thinking about how to attract more local immigrants. There is no idle labor force in the local areas.
There is a shortage of manpower and high labor costs. At the same time, various raw materials may not be available. All equipment and production parts must be purchased locally.
In the end, the cost of setting up factories in many overseas territories directly produced is worse than purchasing directly from the mainland.
Even if you purchase it locally and ship it over, you still need freight.
Therefore, developing industry is not that simple, and not all overseas territories can do it.
This involves a series of issues such as talent supply, labor costs, raw material costs, and supply chains.
Otherwise, you may think that the large-scale industrial zones built locally are just for show. When people build these industrial zones, they are concentrating their efforts on big things. They provide you with the supply of talents, raw materials, parts and components, and can also provide you with various supplies. Financial support, significantly reducing costs after integrating the industrial chain.
Therefore, in the contemporary Dachu Empire, although the empire officially treats all directly-governed territories equally, except for more sensitive industries such as national defense industry, you can do whatever you like in overseas directly-governed territories in other industries without too many restrictions.
However, the industrial development in many overseas territories directly under the Central Government is basically not very good. Even in North America, which has a large number of various resources and a large population, and has unique conditions, it is very difficult to develop industry now... The local population in North America is still small. The market capacity is too small, consumer demand is low, and there is almost no supporting industrial chain.
Therefore, even though various mineral resources are extremely useful, especially the rich coal mines and iron ores in the Great Lakes region, industrial development is still very difficult...
Moreover, these overseas territories are directly governed territories just like the empire itself. There is no such thing as tariffs between them. To a certain extent, the Chu Empire is a truly global economic integration... without trade protection. , coupled with various other difficulties, have resulted in the fact that although the policy allows it, it is still extremely difficult for overseas territories to develop industry.
This is even more obvious in Europe!
The Chu people have been in Europe for some years, and they have obtained more than 30 directly-administered territories of varying sizes through various means.
Including Cadiz in Spain, both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, Le Haffre and Calais in France, the Isle of Man in the UK, Dover, etc...
These directly-administered territories in Europe are mainly islands, coastal ports, and estuary areas. The area is actually not very large. They are generally dozens of square kilometers, and at most one or two hundred square kilometers. They are mainly used as military bases and incidentally as military bases. Used as a trade transit port for indigenous trade.
It was never planned to turn it into an industrial base or something like that... But if people from the Chu State set up ordinary factories here, the officials would not prohibit it.
In particular, the official government has officially divided the territory in detail, clarifying the directly governed territories, administrative territories, and dependent territories. For the first time, it has been legally clarified that all directly governed territories adopt the same set of various standards. What is the local area like? What are these overseas directly governed territories? The same goes for territory.
The simplest and most direct example is that the administrative structure of all overseas territories is the same as that of the mainland in the traditional sense. They adopt standard administrative structures and the same laws.
Even the minimum wage standards, maximum working hours, land policies, etc. are all within the scope of the unified imperial standards.
For individuals, it means free circulation of people. As long as you are a Chu native, you can go wherever you like. As a Chu native born on the Isle of Man, as long as you can afford a ferry ticket, you can go directly back to your homeland. It is possible to live and work in Songjiang.
You can also take part in the imperial examination, or even go to Jinling to take the examination, and eventually become a high-ranking official in the empire.
But even so, few Chu people have gone to the Isle of Man, England, to set up factories in this miserable place before!
However, this situation has changed in recent months. First, the policies in the vassal territory, especially the transportation and mineral policies, have been loosened. Mining companies established by Chu people in the vassal territory are allowed to apply for the purchase of mining equipment and transportation equipment.
This means that when steel plants are opened locally in Europe, the supply of raw materials can be guaranteed...
At the same time, another thing is that the relaxation of traffic restrictions in the territory of the dependent country means large-scale construction of railways or ports, which will require a large amount of basic materials such as cement and steel.
There is a supply of raw materials and market demand. Although there are still problems such as talent supply and high labor costs, there are already steel merchants who are willing to give it a try first.
Yu Jianye, the boss of the Isle of Man Steel Plant, was the first to try it. He is personally very optimistic about the local steel market in Europe. Although there are not many Chu people in Europe, there are more than 100 million indigenous people in the subject country. These The total of human agricultural production and daily consumption of iron products is not a small amount.
The most important thing is that with the relaxation of mining and transportation restrictions in the territories of the dependent countries, there will definitely be a lot of standard railways built by official investment in various mining area railways in the future. Such large-scale railway construction will inevitably require a massive amount of rails.
Just adding the two together, the huge market is enough for Yu Jianye to take a gamble.
Although Yu Jianye decided to open a steel plant in Europe, in order to avoid any unnecessary risks and considering the supply of iron ore and coal, he chose to open a steel plant nearby on the Isle of Man.
On the one hand, the Chu people in Europe have found relatively abundant and easy-to-exploit coal and iron mines only in the area of the Third Road in England. Mineral resource surveys in other places have not yet been completed.
The coal and iron ore resources in England are very rich, and the grade is also very good. Many of the iron ore and coal that are easy to mine are concentrated in the central and northern regions.
Taking into account the transportation costs of coal and special ores, the steel plant must not be too far away... At the same time, it is impossible for Yu Jianye to directly build the steel plant in the coastal area in the middle of the British Third Road area, because the Chu Empire is currently in There is no directly governed territory in this area.
The Chu people were quite cautious when establishing territories directly under their jurisdiction... not necessarily everywhere.
Especially in areas such as central Africa, northern Africa, West Asia, Europe, and central and northern India, which have been clearly designated as economic colonies by the imperial high-level officials, the Chu Empire does not intend to carry out large-scale territorial annexation in these places in the future!
Well, there are exceptions for important resource producing areas... For example, the West Asian Peninsula. Emperor Luo Zhixue gave instructions early on to capture this place if he had the chance.
But generally speaking, the Chu Empire no longer plans to carry out large-scale territorial annexations in these places, but plans to turn these places into vassal states, protectorates, etc., in order to obtain economic benefits.
This is also the territory directly under the jurisdiction of the Chu people in Europe. It is generally small in area and is mainly located in coastal ports.
The Empire took over the Isle of Man as a direct territory. The reason was very simple. It was not because this place was so rich. In fact, this poor place had nothing to offer... But this island was just stuck in the middle of the Irish Sea. Through this island, one could reach the The island of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the Midlands, southeastern England and other areas form a comprehensive coastal deterrent.
As long as a navy and ground troops are stationed here, no matter what happens in the above-mentioned areas, the Chu army can get the news in a short time and quickly dispatch a fleet to carry the marines there.
Similarly, there is the Danish sea area, the island between Sweden and Denmark. This small place is of little use, but the location is very good, just right at the exit of the Baltic Sea, covering the surrounding areas.
There is also a rigid standard for the territory directly under the Central Government, which is that the people living in this place must all be Chu people, and there cannot be indigenous people... Those with indigenous people are ordinary colonies, that is, administrative territories, which are completely different from the territory directly under the Central Government. the concept of.
In order to avoid indigenous people smuggling and causing population problems, the Chu Empire often tended to choose islands, rivers to block it, or peninsulas, which were easier to build in some areas, especially when building directly-administered territories for military garrison, trade and other non-immigrant farming purposes. Where walls, barbed wire and other isolation zones are built, and if it is a coastal port, the area will generally not be too large.
Putting together many conditions, although the Chu people established several directly governed territories in the British Isles, there was only one in the north, the Isle of Man.
Therefore, if Yu Jianye wants to build a steel plant, he actually has few choices. The Isle of Man is more suitable, and the other one is Dover.
In the end, Yu Jianye chose the Isle of Man.
He spent a lot of money to specially invite a group of technicians from the mainland here, and spent some money to recruit a group of workers from Cadiz. Together with the steel equipment ordered from China, he finally settled in the Isle of Man. A steel factory was built out of this shitty place.
The vigorous steelmaking began!
This Isle of Man steel plant, located in East Asia, the hinterland of the entire Chu Empire, is actually a small steel plant that cannot be scaled up. Its annual output is only more than 30,000 tons of pig iron, and its steel output is only more than 5,000 tons. , one of the large domestic steel plants... has a production capacity of hundreds of thousands of tons.
But in this part of Europe... the Marne Iron and Steel Works is a proper super steel plant. Although there are no accurate figures, the current pig iron production in the entire European region was estimated to be only 30,000 to 40,000 tons before the arrival of the Chu people.
Nowadays, Europe has been affected by widespread wars and the impact of steel products from the Chu Empire. The existing handmade pig iron production in indigenous countries is estimated to be even lower. I don’t know if there is even 10,000 tons. As for the steel production, it can be ignored... …
A mere small-scale Marne Iron and Steel Works, which was not a big deal in the Great Chu Empire, had far more pig iron production than the current indigenous pig iron production of all European countries. It had steel production that they simply could not mass-produce.
This is the strong contrast between industrialized countries and feudal agricultural countries!
This is the reason why the Great Chu Empire is invincible all over the world!
It's just that although Yu Jianye's Marne Iron and Steel Works has been established, the source of iron ore still has certain limitations... Although there is a lot of iron ore in the UK, and there are also many open-pit high-quality iron ores, there was no such thing before. Why are people from Chu coming here to mine iron ore...because they can't sell it after mining it, and no one wants it!
Chu businessmen who invest in minerals in Europe either invest in precious metal minerals or invest in the coal industry like An Tongxuan. After all, they need to consider market and profit issues.
There's no way they can make money by digging out a lot of unsellable iron ore.
As for the indigenous people... Even with their mining capabilities, they can't dig out much iron ore.
It was only in recent months, after learning that a steel plant was built on the Isle of Man, that Chu businessmen began to mine iron ore, and An Tongxuan was one of them.
An Tongxuan took the time to make a special trip to the Isle of Man and met with Yu Jianye. The two parties initially signed an iron ore and coal cooperation agreement.
One has a coal mine that can stably produce a large amount of coal, and there is also an open-pit iron mine ready to be mined. The other needs a large amount of iron ore and coal. The cooperation between them can be said to be a hit.
After returning from the Isle of Man, although the equipment required for iron ore mining had not yet arrived, Antonxuan still began to recruit indigenous workers in advance. These indigenous workers could first carry out some infrastructure construction of the iron ore plant.
Prepare for subsequent equipment installation and large-scale iron ore mining.
Antongxuan once again recruited Aboriginal workers, making him quickly become the largest Aboriginal employer in the entire Wales region. He has recruited more than 2,000 Aboriginal workers to mine coal and iron ore.
However, it must be noted that An Tongxuan's coal mines and iron mines do not need to pay taxes to the local government of the Kingdom of Wales... An Tongxuan directly spent 2,300 Chu yuan on it from the local government. A nobleman purchased a large area of land around Blaenavon.
His Anshi Mining Company not only owns the mineral exploration and mining rights in this area, but also owns the ownership of the entire land. It also has the power to hire and station armed mine protection teams, and has limited local judicial, tax authority, etc.
This land trading model is different from the surveying rights and mining rights that later generations are familiar with... but is more like a land trading behavior between lords in the European regions of the Middle World.
Of course, nominally this land still belongs to the Kingdom of Wales, and the entire Kingdom of Wales is part of the Great Chu Empire.
The vassal states were also part of the Great Chu Empire, and their territory was also the territory of the empire!
But in fact, this place is an independent kingdom. An's Mining Company of An Tongxuan owns almost all the rights in this small piece of land... almost the same power as the previous noble lords in this place.
If An Tongxuan is willing, he can accept the canonization of the Kingdom of Wales and become a noble under the Kingdom of Wales, but An Tongxuan is unwilling, because if he accepts the canonization, he will need to bear the corresponding feudal rights and need to submit to the King of Wales Allegiance.
How could he, a dignified colonist of the Chu State and a boss worth tens of thousands of Chu Yuan, be loyal to the king of a remote overseas puppet country?
Of course, the most important thing is that if you do this, you will easily lose your identity as a Chu person... After all, the Chu Empire does not recognize dual nationality, so you can be a Chu person and a native at the same time.
You yourself are shameless and willing to be a native, but the imperial officials cannot afford to be embarrassed.
The Great Chu Empire clearly stipulated in the law that Chu people were not allowed to hold official positions in the indigenous countries in the subordinate countries, let alone be loyal to the indigenous kings/lords and other monarchs, otherwise they would be expelled from the country...
The only object of allegiance for the Chu people can only be His Majesty the Emperor of the Chu Empire!
As the saying goes, one minister does not serve two masters. This is a matter of the principle of monarch and minister, and no challenge or destruction is allowed!
Because of various special circumstances, An Tongxuan has absolute power over the indigenous people in his company's territory, and even has certain judicial authority.
In fact, this kind of territory can be regarded as a colony to a certain extent, but there is no such thing as sovereignty, because these vassal territories are in principle part of the territory of the Dachu Empire.
As a Chu countryman, you can't compete with the Chu Empire officials for territorial sovereignty!
Similar situations are actually very common. Some trading stations, plantations, mines, etc. established by the Chu people in the vassal territory, many of them have various rights according to different agreements reached between the investing merchants and the local indigenous people. Make it a state within a state.
The difference from official administrative colonies is that these places do not have officially dispatched administrative structures...
But it is worth noting that although there are no administrative institutions for the Chu people in these places, the Chu people in these places are still under the jurisdiction of imperial laws.
This is the principle of personal territoriality of the Great Chu Empire, as well as the principle of extra-legal jurisdiction over Chu people in the territory of the state. Chu people are subject to the jurisdiction of Chu law no matter where they are, even in their so-called private territory. No exception!
Of course, in fact, if you go to an indigenous-controlled area that is not a subject country, such as the interior of central and northern Africa, where many Chu people have not set foot, and then build an independent kingdom on your own, Chu officials will not bother to talk to you.
In the past few decades, there have been many examples of Chu people going overseas to play Jianguo and become kings... Many Chu people have a dream of becoming kings and emperors in their hearts. If they can't do it in the Chu-controlled areas, they go to Went overseas.
Many of them ended up in various ways after the official arrival of the Chu State. Some resisted, some surrendered, and a few were lucky enough to establish an independent country. In the end, they were even recruited by the imperial officials. , either became one of the imperial nobles, or became the king of a vassal state of the empire.
In short, there is everything... In the contemporary Great Chu Empire, there are now several vassal kings who were born in the Chu state. They all went overseas to build their own kingdoms, and then voluntarily surrendered, made certain contributions, and were finally allowed to do so. Those who retain their kingdom and become a vassal state...
However, although these people were granted the title of king of the vassal state, they would also lose their Chu nationality and become indigenous people among the Chu state's population...
Anyway, there are many vassal kings under the empire. As long as they know each other well and are smart, the empire is not inferior to these Chu people who are trying to build a country.
In this chaotic and turbulent era of global expansion, it is true that anything can happen.
And under this great trend, a Chu native in West Africa also wanted to imitate a series of predecessors, and wanted to build a country on his own, and then obtain official recognition and canonization from the empire, and become the king of a vassal state!
The place he chose to establish his hegemony was West Africa, where the empire had little sense of presence and had not yet carried out large-scale colonial rule.
This young man named Chen Jingyun has a big bald head and an old-style military uniform. He has more than 100 years of experience and a somewhat abnormal brain. He dreams of making a career and becoming a desperado in Chengshun. In July of the summer of forty-three years, I took a steamship and landed at a small port on the west coast of Africa.
As soon as these more than 100 people landed, they used a series of civilian rifled guns to beat the local indigenous troops to a disadvantage... Then they raised a flag majestically. Chen Jingyun proclaimed himself the 'King of West Africa' and established the West African Kingdom.
This scared the local indigenous people quite a lot...
After learning that a battle broke out here, the officers and soldiers on an offshore patrol ship of the African Fleet of the Great Chu Empire Navy who came to check the situation were stunned...
They had only heard that many people went to the Americas and Africa to build kings and founding countries, but they usually treated it as anecdotes and jokes, but they really didn't expect to see such a weird thing with their own eyes...
You are a good Chu countryman, why should you be considered a native... You have more than a hundred armed men, and you can run amok in these vassal territories or non-subject territories. The kings of the vassal states will have to make fun of you when they see you. , Princess or whatever, you can go anywhere, make enough money in the vassal territory, and then go back to your hometown, Songjiang, and other prosperous places to enjoy the life of a master!
I really don’t want to become a king in an indigenous place like this...
The most important thing is that once you give up your identity as a Chu countryman, you become a native. It won't be illegal if a group of Chu countrymen come over and kill you...
The laws of the Great Chu Empire did not protect the indigenous people. In most cases, the indigenous people were not even considered human beings in the eyes of Chu people, and were no different from cattle and horses.
It's not good for a good Chu countryman to be a native...
Damn it’s a long time to live!
