Daming 1805

Chapter 181 Wangfu Project and Baku Oilfield

When Zhu Jingyuan was ready to go to the construction site of his new palace, his aide Niu Jian sent a message from Xichang:

"Your Highness, the United Kingdom has officially passed the Regent Act, and the Prince of Wales has become the Regent of the United Kingdom, in fact, the Crown Prince supervises the country.

"Under the operation of British Prime Minister Pitt, the conflict between the British mainland and the American colonies has intensified.

"Pete is prepared to take this opportunity to push for a direct merger of the United States with the British mainland...

"At the same time, the information personnel of the West Factory stated that it cannot be ruled out that this was a deliberate choice made by Pete in order to keep the position of prime minister."

Zhu Jingyuan took the telegram, carefully read the content on it, and got a general understanding of the situation in Britain.

Then asked a rhetorical question that seemed completely unrelated:
"Are acceptances done for Florida and Texas?"

Niu Jian was obviously taken aback, but the relevant information was all in his mind:
"Completed, the original local Xiyi settlements have been emptied, and our troops have entered the main military strongholds and residential areas.

"Now the garrison is pulling the net to search the original settlements, to check for possible omissions and hidden Thais or Mexican slaves.

"The first batch of armed immigrants departing from Xintianfu in Nanyinzhou has arrived, and they are cooperating with the troops to clean up the original residential areas.

"The first batch of Ming native immigrants are expected to arrive in the next few days, and they can celebrate the New Year there."

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and said:
"In other words, there is no need to worry about the Americans refusing to withdraw from Florida, or delaying the handover.

"Since this is the case, the British will not be able to integrate the United States in a stable manner. We have to add fire to both the British and the United States.

"Let us get in touch with the Western newspaper staff and writers, and write some analysis and comments separately.

"On the one hand, promoting the United States as a member of the United Kingdom will certainly be a drag on the United Kingdom.

"On the other hand, the propaganda that America would become a large Ireland would be directly exploited by England.

"But don't use too much force, just a little fanning, don't be too obvious.

"You don't need to use any special power, don't be discovered."

Niu Jian smiled and nodded in agreement, and went back to send a telegram to Xichang, conveying Zhu Jingyuan's meaning.

At the same time, Zhu Jingyuan formally went out to the construction site of the new palace with a dozen guards and his two maidservants.

Guan Tianpei led his subordinates to carefully screen all the immigrants and natives in the past month.

At the same time, he kept an eye on the personnel of the palace and asked them to establish a strict household registration system according to the local standards of Ming Dynasty.

All subsequent immigrants will be screened when they disembark, and they will be registered with their household registration information before they can enter Liusha City.

During this process, Guan Tianpei discovered that dozens of immigrants whose backgrounds were not particularly clear were transferred to Oman by his family.

These immigrants themselves may not be at risk, but there is some uncertain information on their resumes, and they were sent away in order to avoid possible risks.

The climate and environment in Oman is actually better than that of Quicksand City, and it is not a punishment to send them there to settle there.

Then Zhu Jingyuan was finally able to walk around outside the existing old palace accompanied by guards.

Now the entire Liusha City is a big construction site, not only the new palace is being built, but there are also several construction sites around the palace.

Including collective residential buildings for more immigrants, as well as the future headquarters of the new Dashiguo imperial court.

There are more oil tanks being built by the sea, and more importantly desalination plants and water towers and cisterns.

At the same time, the external wall structure of the palace is basically completed.

In the planning of the royal palace in the Ming Dynasty, this outer wall is usually just a "Xiao Wall".

It's just an ordinary single-layer fence, not a city wall that can run horses on it.

However, in the capitals of newly-built vassal states overseas, most of these walls have become city walls.

Especially for feudal states whose capitals do not have a city, this wall will become a real city wall, as is the case with the Great Food Kingdom.

Moreover, the structure of the city wall has also changed. It is not a traditional city wall with rammed earth and bricks on the outside, but a concrete blockhouse surrounding the palace.

The interior of the wall is hollow, capable of passing vehicles and people, and there are machine gun shooting holes in the wall.

There are four elevated watchtowers at the four corners of the wall.

There is also a moat dug outside the wall, which is designed to draw sea water in directly from the bay after being dug to a sufficient width.

There are no rivers to rely on in the mainland, only sea water can be used.

Generally speaking, this is a complex modern fortification.

According to Zhu Jingyuan's cognition, this kind of defensive fortress can still play some role in the era of World War I and before.

In the era of World War II, in the war between major powers, it was of little significance in front of heavy weapons.

However, the palace is going to build a city wall anyway, and this fortification can make the officials of the palace and the immigrants around the palace feel at ease.

Let them all instinctively feel that in case of any sudden and dangerous incident, they can take refuge in this seemingly very strong fortress.

When Zhu Jingyuan came to the gate of the city wall, he looked at the busy workers inside and outside the wall and under the wall, and smiled and bowed to them.

Then he passed through the open gate of the wall and came to the courtyard of the saying.

The foundation of the inner courtyard wall of the palace is being laid, and the structure of the wall should be similar to that of the outer wall.

Workers for the main works of the exterior walls are gradually being transferred to the interior walls.

The courtyard between the inner and outer walls is now mainly used for stacking construction materials, and there are also a small number of simple houses for workers to live temporarily.

However, the number of workers on the inner and outer walls is actually not too many. Most of the workers are in the area inside the inner wall and are building the palaces in the palace.

At present, the main drag reduction of the three main halls and the king's bedroom has basically taken shape, and the decoration should start after the Chinese New Year.

The surrounding auxiliary buildings are also under rapid construction.

All the buildings in the inner courtyard of the palace are expected to be basically completed in the middle of next year, and the UK will be able to move in next fall.

Although the current Daming architecture is still in line with the traditional architecture in appearance, it has basically abandoned the traditional wooden frame.

Before the large-scale development of overseas land, the local big wood itself was hard to find, and the traditional palaces built became smaller and smaller.

The key is that Emperor Shizu invented concrete himself, and mentioned the technology of reinforced concrete frame structure in a foreseeable way.

After the completion of industrialization and the era of rapid steel production, reinforced concrete buildings began to flourish.

Of course, this surge is relative to the classical era. Even now, reinforced concrete is not affordable for all families.

The small-scale self-built houses of ordinary families are basically brick and tile structures. Where there is wood in the local area, wooden beams may be made from local materials.

There is no wood available around, and most of them are filled with prefabricated floors or concrete.

However, the imperial clan and nobles, the qualified elite, and the official buildings of the imperial court are basically reinforced concrete frame structures.

The wooden frame structure of ancient Chinese architecture is a good inspiration for modern frame structures.

Coupled with Emperor Shizu's special suggestions, the development of related architectural design technologies has been accelerated by more than 120 years.

The reinforced concrete frame structure, which was widely used at the beginning of the [-]th century, was popularized in the Ming Dynasty at the end of the [-]th century.By this time, it has been very mature and has specialized construction machinery.

The reinforced concrete frame structure has no large area of ​​walls, which is very suitable for the construction of traditional Chinese buildings and palaces.

The walls and the interior of the house continue to be decorated with wooden materials, and the final look and feel is not significantly different from traditional buildings and palaces.

But the actual room and unit space is wider, and the construction speed of the whole building is much faster.Given that there are tens of thousands of workers in Liusha City, it is impossible to build such a large palace and so many other buildings so quickly.

There are even elevators inside the latest high-rise buildings and halls, and the final use comfort is of course greatly improved.

Zhu Jingyuan walked around the construction site and saw the busy workers around him, from time to time he smiled and bowed his hands to them, shouting for hard work.

When encountering workers who had a break, surveyors and designers, and workers who were dealing with some special crafts, Zhu Jingyuan went to chat with them.

Many boys are naturally curious about buildings, machinery, and weapons. When they see these things, they have no resistance. Zhu Jingyuan is such a person.

In this era of complete integration of oriental classics and modern technology, Zhu Jingyuan is quite excited about this large construction site that is almost the most advanced in the world.

Of course, I watched the craftsmen with curiosity, and naturally asked all kinds of interesting questions.

But this kind of behavior makes the ordinary worker of this era very excited.

The workers all felt that Prince Dashi was extraordinarily amiable, and he had no airs as a king or Prince Daming at all.

Because of the high standard of wages, the workers who are usually very enthusiastic about their work have once again raised their emotions to a higher level.

Niu Jian and Guan Tianpei, who were beside Zhu Jingyuan, were also very surprised by Zhu Jingyuan's behavior.

Both of them could tell that Zhu Jingyuan didn't deliberately pretend to be a virtuous corporal, but that he really didn't dislike the mess of those workers.

Even the maidservants beside Zhu Jingyuan, An Xiaona and Irene, were very surprised.

When Zhu Jingyuan was with them usually, and when facing the servants of the palace, he also acted quite amiable.

But An Xiaona and the others instinctively believed that it was because everyone was Zhu Jingyuan's family members and close subordinates that they had that attitude.

Now it seems that His Royal Highness Prince Dashi has the same attitude even if he is an ordinary worker outside.

From the staff and guards, from the maids to the workers, they all have a new understanding of the young king of his family.

Zhu Jingyuan walked around the construction site for more than an hour, and at noon he called the workers to rest, and returned to the palace himself.

In the afternoon, Zhu Jingyuan received news that Zheng Fuguang, who had been busy in the Baku area for almost two months, had returned.

Zhu Jingyuan immediately went to see this theoretical subordinate of the company, greeted him and asked about the situation in Baku by the way.

When Zheng Fuguang came to Dashi Kingdom from Daming, he still had a bit of a scholarly temperament, but now he has completely become a resident engineer.

Her cheeks are slightly dark, but they are also quite rosy, and her hands are a little rough. It is obvious that she has done a lot of work by herself.

Although he is in a state of travel and dust now, he is quite energetic and looks very healthy.

When Zheng Fuguang heard Zhu Jingyuan's question, he reported like a few treasures:

"His Royal Highness chose the location really well, and Baku is also a piece of land soaked in the sea of ​​oil.

"The quicksand city is still drilling down wells, and the oil can only come out of the ground after the oil layer is drilled to a depth of more than 1000 meters.

"Baku, at least 50 meters, can start to produce oil, and the maximum is 600 meters.

"It's so convenient to extract oil there, we can drill a well in less than ten days.

"My subordinates feel that the oil reserves in Baku may not be less than those in Quicksand City.

"The only disadvantage is that it is located inland, and it is very inconvenient to transport to Daming mainland.

"It can only be handed over to the royal consortium, let them operate it, and sell it to the surrounding countries of Lucia, Khiva, Kazakhs, and Xianbei."

However, Zhu Jingyuan knew that the original reserves of Baku were lower than those of the Persian Gulf.

Baku is just the most convenient large oil field to exploit. Although its production once reached half of the world, it also once reached [-]% of the Soviet Union.

But in just ten years after World War II, the output quickly dropped to 15.00% of the Soviet Union, and finally slowly dropped to [-]%.

As for the oil in the Persian Gulf, Zhu Jingyuan doesn't know how long it will last.

Zhu Jingyuan nodded with a smile and said:
"It's really not easy to export, so I handed it over to the royal consortium and exported it to Lucia and nearby countries.

"Our Dashi country collects its own oil and sells it, so it is more reasonable to take advantage of loopholes.

"When it comes to other feudal states, it's a bit too ostentatious to still do this.

"For the royal consortium, it's just right to gag them.

"Anyway, they have to pay me dividends."

Zheng Fuguang smiled and sighed:
"Your Highness is right, the Baku oil field is managed by the royal consortium, so that we can produce oil on a larger scale in the Great Food Country.

"Now the drilling process has basically stabilized, and the follow-up is to continue to stabilize drilling in the existing oilfields.

"So I want to go home and have a look, after all, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, please allow your Highness.

"If there is a need here, the subordinates can come again after the new year."

Zhu Jingyuan suddenly realized:
"If you go back to the capital, is it still too late?"

Zheng Fuguang immediately said:

"In time, the fastest passenger ship can reach the capital in as little as [-] days, and can go back before the year."

Zhu Jingyuan sighed:
"If you can catch up, then Zheng Gong will go back."

Zhu Jingyuan took out his own check, signed a [-] silver bill, and handed it to Zheng Fuguang on the opposite side:

"Time is running out, and I don't have time to prepare any New Year's benefits, so let Zheng Gong send a New Year's red envelope in advance."

During the Chinese New Year, it is also a traditional practice of Ming Dynasty manufacturers to give red envelopes to important employees.

So Zheng Fuguang was not too surprised, subconsciously reached out to take it, and at the same time thanked him with a smile:

"Your Highness is really too polite..."

Then subconsciously glanced at the number above, Zheng Fuguang was shocked:

"Ah thirty thousand silver bills...that's too much! Your Highness...this...I don't dare to take this..."

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and waved his hand:
"Not much, compared to Mr. Zheng's rush and busyness over the past few months, and compared to the income from the oil fields in Liusha City and Baku, this amount of money is really not much.

"Zheng Gong is at ease, don't have any pressure and bad thoughts, continue to work hard in our Daming Airlines in the coming year, and strive to get another [-] next year."

Thirty thousand silver bills, if converted according to purchasing power, are equivalent to 300 million RMB in Zhu Jingyuan's previous life.

Zheng Fuguang personally led a team of workers to help Zhu Jingyuan drive out Liushacheng Oilfield and Baku Oilfield.

He is the chief engineer of oilfield development and the actual person in charge of the project, and he has created billions of dollars in industry within half a year.

Although it was mainly due to Zhu Jingyuan's advance planning and direction, the 300 million year-end bonus is not too much for him.

But in this era, unless they own shares, the income of ordinary engineers is far from reaching this level.

If Zheng Fuguang's craftsman level is not promoted, if he only relies on labor remuneration, he may not be able to save [-] silver bills by the time he retires.

From Zheng Fuguang's point of view, His Royal Highness Prince Dashi's move is really a bit generous and scary.

But thinking about the past experience, this Highness has always been very generous, and the remuneration of the craftsmen of the local company is also the highest in the industry.

After Zhu Jingyuan persuaded and encouraged Zheng Fuguang to accept the check carefully, he formally took his leave and left.

After sending Zheng Fuguang away, Zhu Jingyuan called the long-busy chief Shi Liu Zhixin again:

"It's time to start preparing for the New Year, prepare a standard of welfare and red envelopes for all officials and workers, and distribute them before the year.

"Now we have a total of more than 2 people in Liusha City, no matter men, women, old or young, they will give a red envelope.

"Of course, if the position is important and the work performance is good, you should pay more, and vice versa.

"For specially hired workers whose families are not here, if they want to go back for a reunion during the Chinese New Year, they can go with Mr. Zheng now.

"There are also a few other specially hired boats, which go around to purchase all kinds of New Year's goods and sell them in the city at cost prices.

"Let the immigrants who have just settled here have a lively and comfortable New Year..."

(End of this chapter)