I want to be emperor

After the imperial exercise, Luo Zhixue inspected the local development nearby.

The first two days focused on the rural situation in the surrounding areas and agricultural development.

The agricultural development in the Anlu area is still possible, and the grain output has been greatly improved, especially after the artificial diversion of the Yellow River, coupled with the basic water conservancy projects that have been invested in the Huaihe River Basin for many years, the flood situation in the Huaihe River Basin has been greatly improved. From the past years of small floods, the three-year floods have become smooth weather.

In a real sense, the Huaihe River Basin has become the source of development for the area north of Anlu Gaoguan River.

This also allowed the agricultural development in the Anlu area to be relatively fast, and the grain production increased greatly.

After Luo Zhixue inspected the agricultural production in several counties along the railway line, he affirmed the agricultural production of Anlu governor's office.

At the same time, it can also affirm the series of small industries that have been developed around rural areas in Anlu Province in recent years.

This increase in food production has fed the people, and we must find ways to further increase farmers' income.

How to increase the income of farmers is a very large and even difficult problem.

There are various methods, such as promoting economic crops with higher returns, organizing surplus rural labor to export labor services to economically developing areas, etc., are actually one of the methods.

However, the most effective and at the same time the most difficult way is to develop local industry and commerce, increase local jobs, absorb local rural surplus labor, and allow local farmers to obtain more additional income.

How can it be so easy to just develop industry and commerce and build factories!

Governments all over the country are doing it, but to be honest, not many can really do it, especially in Anlu...the location is a bit embarrassing!
Anlu straddles the banks of the Yangtze River, and the empire's industrial layout on both sides of the Yangtze River just perfectly bypasses Anlu... To the west of Anlu is the Daye Industrial Zone in Hantianfu, and to the east is the Dangtu Industrial Zone in Yingtianfu... In addition, there are Jiujiang and Nanchang, which are developing fairly well.

Not to mention that the Jiangnan area to the east is like a super vortex, absorbing funds, talents and various resources from the surrounding areas.

In recent years, Xuzhou, a new industrial city, has emerged in the northeast of Anlu. Even Zhengzhou in the northern Central Plains has developed quite well.

Only Anlu... perfectly missed any industrial boom in the Great Chu Empire in the past 35 years!
It was fine in the early years, and the development of industry and commerce was still in its infancy. The Huainan Coal Mine and the Tongling Copper Mine were built in Anlu, and some small and pieces of light industry development were added. The economic data can be seen in the past.

Well, everyone was not doing well that year, and there were still a large number of northern provinces that were in the post-war recovery stage that had been severely damaged for comparison, and some remote and backward provinces in the southwest were at the bottom.

Therefore, in the first ten years before the establishment of the Great Chu Empire, although there was no major development in Anlu Province, relying on the advantages of early development, coupled with the advantages of Yangtze River water transportation, etc., the development was barely okay, and the economic aggregate was at its best. , was once in the No.8 position.

The top ones are Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Yingtian, Hantian, Chubei, Chunan, Jiangxi... Just looking at this ranking, you can know that Anlu's economic development has been very embarrassing even in the early days!

Because if you look closely at this ranking, you will find that except for Zhejiang, these areas are all along the Yangtze River... And in the Anlu area of ​​the Yangtze River, Anlu's economic development is the bottom one!
Anlu's economic development has been in a very embarrassing state for a long time... This is especially evident in the industry.

At present, in the Anlu area, except for a Huainan coal mine and a Tongling copper mine, there are not many large-scale enterprises that can be sold.

And these two companies are still typical mining companies...the kind that mines and sells resources.

As for machinery manufacturing, these things are not doing well, and the development of light industry is not doing well.

The entire industrial layout seems to have everything...but nothing is very good.

In this way, the speed of development is naturally not very good. Although the overall economic aggregate has continued to grow, but other provinces have grown faster.

A few economically strong provinces/directly-governed governments, such as Jiangnan, Yingtian, Hantian, Guangdong, Hebei and other places, not to mention, even ordinary provinces have developed their economies quite fast, leaving Anlu behind.

Such as Chubei, Chunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and other places.

Even in Shaanxi, which was once devastated, relying on the geographical advantages of the Northwest important place, they devoted all their efforts to developing Xi'an, forcibly creating a Northwest heavy industry base, and the economic data quickly surpassed Anlu...

There is also Liaodong Province, a latecomer, which was a desolate place more than 20 years ago. Relying on the rapid development of local rich resources, it has now become an important economic center in the entire northern region.

You are developing fast, but others are developing faster, which means you are lagging behind, right?
This is the case in the Anlu area. It seems to be developing well, and the economic data is also increasing every year, but unknowingly, it ranks lower in the economic rankings of the local provinces...

Some pessimistic people even believe that if this situation continues like this, it may not take a few years to be surpassed by some provinces in Nanyang that are newly included in the hinterland of the empire... For example, Malacca Province has developed very fast in recent years.

There are fewer people, more land, rich resources, and a very advantageous geographical location. Not to mention anything else, relying on a Singaporean family to do a port trade business can live a very nourishing life.

Faced with this predicament, the Anlu area has also explored many different development paths in recent years.

For example, the industrial development of Hefei, the new provincial capital that focuses on the layout of Anlu, develops the local area by undertaking some industrial transfers in Yingtianfu and Jiangnan areas.

The industrial development in Yingtianfu and the Jiangnan area is very rapid, which will inevitably lead to an increase in the cost of some local enterprises, and the Anlu area itself is a labor export province, the local labor is cheap, and Anlu itself is also a big market. Setting up a local factory nearby can also effectively reduce transportation costs for enterprises.

This has also accelerated the industrial development of the Anlu area in recent years.

However, what Luo Zhixue is most concerned about is not the governor's office in Anlu, and the way to build a new industrial city around Hefei.

This so-called emerging industrial city has too many key city strategies in the Great Chu Empire... Almost every province will find ways to develop industry, so it does not hesitate to relocate the provincial capital, focus on supporting a city, and so on.

After the advent of the railway era, there are not a few provinces that have relocated their provincial capitals for economic development in the past ten years... Anlu is not the only one.

In Northeast Liaodong, the provincial capital moved from Liaoyang to Shenyang, the provincial capital in northern Liaoning moved from Jilin to Changchun, the production of Heishui moved from Shuangjiang City to Binjiang (Harbin), and Donghai Province on the Koryo Peninsula also moved from Pyongyang in the north to the farther south. Seoul.

The provincial capital of Jiangbei was moved from Huai'an to Xuzhou.

Henan Provincial Government moved from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou.

This kind of situation is not special in the Great Chu Empire, and it is even considered common... This is still the provincial capital, not to mention the prefectural and county towns.

When many prefectures and counties opened the railway line, because the original prefectural or county seat was far away from the railway line, the railway company refused to accommodate, or because of other development factors, they all moved to the prefectural or county seat.

Changing the provincial capital of the Anlu area is rare and common in the contemporary Great Chu Empire, and even if it is necessary in the future, it is not impossible to change it...

It is normal to use railways for better development by changing provincial capitals.

For Anlu Province, it has also achieved certain results. At least in recent years, the main industrial output value of Anlu has increased a lot, and Hefei's contribution is very large.

It can be seen that the development method of relocating the provincial capital and focusing on supporting Hefei is still effective!

But still the same sentence... Anlu is not the only province in the empire, and Anlu is not the only one who does this. In fact, most provinces do this, and they do it better than Anlu.

In such a comparison, in Luo Zhixue's view, Hefei, which is developing fairly well, is actually just like that.

He even looked through the list of local enterprises in Hefei... He couldn't find the name of a large enterprise he was familiar with. This shows that after so many years of development in Hefei, he still failed to cultivate a large enterprise with national competitiveness.

In today's Anlu area, the largest enterprise with the largest output value is still Huainan Mining Company, followed by Tongling Mining Company... The former mines coal, and the latter mines copper and smelts copper!

Not to mention, these two mining companies are doing very well. Huainan Mining Company is currently the largest coal mining company in the Yangtze River Basin of the empire. It not only has large coal mines in Huainan, but also has many other places. few coal mines.

Although the name of Tongling Mining Company is inconspicuous, it is actually the most important copper mine production enterprise in the early and middle period of the empire. Its copper production accounted for 20% of the country's total copper production in the 20.00th year of Chengshun. However, it has dropped significantly in recent years.

Its huge copper production is not only used to cast a huge number of copper coins, but also used to cast various bronze cannons.

Even now, with the successive discovery and exploitation of copper mines in various places, the copper mine output of Tongling Mining Company can no longer account for such a large proportion of the national output, but it still cannot be underestimated...

It is precisely because of these two huge mining companies and the related industries that they drive, the industrial output value of the Anlu area is not so ugly... It barely guarantees the position of the middle reaches of many provinces in the empire, otherwise, it will be reduced in minutes for downstream.

If you don't work hard, you will be overtaken by Guangxi in the south... In the early stage of the empire, Guangxi was still busy cleaning up all kinds of messy chieftains. How could it have the time and energy to develop the economy... In order to clean up the chieftains, suppress Turmoil, the empire even moved the provincial capital of Guangxi from Guilin in the north to Nanning in the south in the early years of the empire... not for anything else, just for better and closer attack on various chieftain forces.

After cracking down on all kinds of chieftains, we started to engage in economic development... The speed of development is also quite satisfactory. The total amount has risen to the middle reaches of many provinces in the empire, which is almost the same as that of the Anlu area.

At any rate, this Anlu is located in the hinterland of the empire, on both sides of the Yangtze River, next door is Yingtianfu, an important place in the capital, but the economic aggregate is about to be overtaken by Guangxi, the traditional southern barren region...

Don't look at people in the wasteland in the southwest, but the economic development in recent years has actually been very good, and it has been steady and steady.

In the early years, the industrial development in the governor's area of ​​Guangxi was actually not very good. All kinds of small troubles, all kinds of messy light industries, small machinery industries and so on, there were no big companies, and industrial products were mainly sold domestically. host.

But they also have unique advantages, that is, is the geographical environment suitable for the growth of sugarcane, and a very good sugar industry has been developed from this.

As for sugar, let’s not talk about it in ancient times. Even in modern times, it was a very important bulk commodity, and the price was not cheap. This kind of sugar cane planting and sugar refining are very profitable businesses.

The governor of Guangxi has set his heart on the sugar industry and sugar cane planting. Now there is the largest sugar factory in the country. Well, the second and No.3 are also there... Guangxi is currently the largest in the empire. An important edible sugar planting and processing base.

Relying on sugarcane planting and sugar refining industry, Guangxi's economic development has risen rapidly, and a series of related industries have been developed.

Now people in Guangxi are still seeking to have their own seaport, trying to get Guangdong to cede Lianzhou Prefecture to Guangxi, so that Guangxi can have a seaport... But this is probably not going to happen.

If the empire had just been established, there was still hope through direct administrative intervention. Anyway, at that time, there was no big difference in which province Lianzhou belonged to, and everyone had no opinion.

But now... the empire has been established for more than [-] years, and it will be very difficult to carry out such a large-scale administrative region change.

This is not just a random drawing on the map, there are many local interests involved behind it.

Today's Lianzhou Prefecture is not Lianzhou Prefecture in the traditional sense. There is also a Guangning County... What is there in Guangning County?It has the largest and highest quality anthracite coal mine in the Great Chu Empire so far!
Guangning coal is the only priority coal designated by the Great Chu Empire Navy. If there is a choice, the warships of the navy will only use Guangning anthracite.

At the same time, Guangning Coal is also the preferred power coal supplier for many shipping companies!
This Guangning anthracite is worth the old nose money

For this Quang Ninh coal, Annan returned to the establishment of Thang Long Province, and Thang Long Province has been in a lawsuit with Guangdong for many years, thinking about taking Quang Ninh County to the past.

Seeing people digging coal next door to eat spicy food, but I am gnawing sand in front of the barren mountains and fields every day, Governor Shenglong will definitely have an idea...

But people in Guangdong have been eating the fat of Guangning coal for more than ten years, so how can they spit it out easily.

As for Lianzhou Prefecture, which governs Guangning County, it makes a lot of money every year just by relying on a Guangning Coal Mine, and its fiscal revenue is very rich.

Furthermore, the coal in Lianzhou and the iron in Hainan form the core foundation of Guangdong's own iron and steel industry. If you want to dig out the Guangning coal in Lianzhou, it is tantamount to breaking a leg of Guangdong's iron and steel industry. The governor of Guangdong It is to fight with you.

Thang Long Province wants Guangning coal, and Guangxi wants Lianzhou to export to the seaport... This is basically impossible in the contemporary Great Chu Empire.

Even Luo Zhixue doesn't support it... The local structure has been formed for more than [-] years, so why bother... It's nothing to look for.

Therefore, if Guangxi wants to have its own seaport, it may not be possible, but this does not affect the external transportation of goods in Guangxi.

Even if Lianzhou belongs to Guangdong and Guangxi, goods, especially edible sugar, can still be transported by rail to Lianzhou Port, and then shipped to various ports.

Guangxi has its own advantages and also has its own difficulties, but even so, it is still biting the tail of Anlu Province in economic development, and there is a tendency to catch up at any time.

This makes the officials in Anlu very worried... If the economic ranking continues to decline, they are worried that their future will be affected, especially the governor of Anlu...

This gentleman has only been in office for four years, and An Lu's economic ranking has already dropped by two places... If he falls any further, he will have to worry about whether he will be dismissed directly.

For this reason, he also tried every means to develop the economy. In addition, he also wanted to do some things that highlighted his political achievements.

If the economic aggregate cannot be improved, then he will focus on increasing people's income... Ever since, this has created the so-called 'small township industry model'.

By supporting and encouraging small-scale enterprises in villages and towns, the local economy can be developed, and at the same time, a large number of jobs can be created locally to increase the income of local people.

This made Luo Zhixue very interested!

Those big companies are important, but a variety of small and micro businesses are even more important!

Because the latter is actually the economic model that provides the main employment and feeds more people!

You are a super enterprise, supporting hundreds of thousands of employees... But how many such super enterprises can there be in the whole country?They can be counted on one finger, and they are basically comprehensive enterprises with production bases all over the country, such as Li's Iron Manufacturing and Su Qin Textile.

And these super enterprises are basically concentrated in major industrial cities.

But there are so many cities in the Great Chu Empire... It is impossible for every city to have so many large enterprises.

The economic subjects of the empire, especially those providing employment and taxation, were actually a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises.

For example, there are many unremarkable tertiary industries that are actually very important in the economic system and provide a large number of urban employment.

Not to mention the large number of small factories and even workshops.

Luo Zhixue, on the other hand, has paid more attention to the development of small and micro enterprises in recent years.

The governor of Anlu obviously also studied his Majesty's political orientation in recent years, and the so-called small-scale village and township industrial model created by this was obviously aimed at prescribing Luo Zhixue's preferences.