Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 244
Zhu Tianqi didn't bother to explain to them, so he just struck while the iron was hot and decided on the matter. The matter of laying a telegraph communication system was immediately put on the agenda.

Carrying out two major events, railway construction and telegraph communication system at the same time, is naturally very expensive. However, after the Ming Dynasty reformed the maritime affairs, the Ming Dynasty maritime system has also become more and more perfect. The fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty has doubled. In addition, it has occupied the Japanese country. After that, the silver mines of Japan also brought considerable income to the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, the nearly 2000 million men shipped out from Japan were enough to solve the labor problem required for any construction. During this period, the Ming Dynasty's construction progress in Siberia has been greatly improved due to the increasingly abundant labor force. Now the Ming Dynasty is building Labor can also be mobilized from Siberia to work on railways and telegraphs.

After several months of preparations, the construction of the Kaiping-Qian'an Iron and Steel Industrial Base to the east of the capital, the Damingfu Iron and Steel Industrial Base to the south and the Datong Prefecture Iron and Steel Industrial Base to the west have all been completed.

However, after all, it is impossible to build a steel smelting plant with complete facilities in this era, so from the appearance point of view, the overall condition is still relatively primitive, but the corresponding facilities and equipment have been completely in accordance with the military industrial base of the Shaanxi Chief Minister's Department. A new steel smelting plant was built, which was very advanced in this era.

After the steelmaking problem was solved, the construction of railway lines from the three steel industry bases to the capital began. The laying of railways required the guidance of professional talents, and college students from the Railway Transportation Department of Sunchonbu University went through this After a period of study and research, I have mastered the relevant knowledge and skills of railway laying, and can immediately devote myself to the work of railway construction.

At the same time, the coal mines on the west side of Lake Baikal have also been excavated, and the iron mines five hundred miles to the west have also begun to be mined. The iron and steel smelting industrial zone between the two mining areas has also been completed. It is in the state of waiting for the rice to be cooked.

But in this era, mining is an extremely tiring and dangerous job, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it costs people's lives. In the past, it would have been difficult for Zhu Tianqi to make such a determination, but now the Ming Dynasty holds nearly 2000 million Japanese soldiers. Men, even if we open dozens more mining areas, we don’t have to worry about insufficient labor.

In addition to mining, the transportation of coal and iron ore in Siberia is also a big problem. Although according to the plan, the steel industry base is built between the coal mine and the iron ore, which shortens the transportation distance, the mining areas on both sides are still far apart. There is a distance of more than 200 miles, and the transportation is heavy ore, so the transportation is still very difficult.

The mules, horses and livestock in the hands of the Ming army are naturally not enough, so they can only let people pull the carts. The number of labor casualties caused by transportation is also very alarming. Food supply, reduce their work intensity, otherwise it is likely to cause a crisis of labor shortage.

However, despite the many difficulties, under the unremitting efforts and persistence of the Ming army, the Baikal Iron and Steel Industrial Zone was established. The output has never been high, and several college students from Shuntian Prefecture who were sent here from the capital were anxious.

Now that the railway between the capital and the three surrounding steel industrial zones is almost completed, construction of the railway on Lake Baikal has not yet started. Can they not be anxious?

Fortunately, as the local governor, Mangui did not rush them. Instead, he kept cheering them up and told them to work steadily and not to rush for success. Since they want to build a railway, they must build it step by step. It's built.

Man Gui didn't have much time and energy to stay here to supervise the construction of the railway. Since the imperial court sent these college students from Shuntian Prefecture to manage this matter, he naturally had to delegate power. After all, although these college students They are young, but they are all knowledgeable. It is better for me, a layman, not to interfere too much here.

Therefore, after Man Gui arranged the affairs here, he rushed to the front line of the Ural Mountains. However, although this place is the front line of the battle between the Ming army and the Ross army, there has been no conflict between the two sides recently. After the army crossed the Ural Mountains, it gradually moved towards the west, but it never encountered the Ross army to stop it, only a few tribesmen and mercenaries from major families occasionally came to harass it.

However, these are small troops, with no more than 100 people at most. Naturally, such small troops will die as many as they come. Over time, no one dares to come to die.

Could it be said that the Ross Kingdom really ignored the Ming army that invaded the territory of the Ross Kingdom?Or is it that the Russian state has just experienced a disastrous defeat against the Kingdom of Poland and has no ability to resist the Ming army?
No, the main reason is that Patriarch Filaret, the actual ruler of the Russian state, is critically ill, and the Romanov family's rule over the Russian state is also in a critical situation.

Since Philalet came to power, he has vigorously suppressed the major nobles in Russia and squeezed the great nobles out of the center of political power. Naturally, these great nobles were unwilling to do so. Now that Philalet is critically ill, the great nobles Naturally, they are all keeping an eye on the Romanov Court, and may come back at any time to divide the power.

As the tsar, Mikhail was not an iron-fisted ruler like his father Philalet. Facing the big nobles who were ready to move, he had already backed down and even thought about abdicating in order to save his life. .

Now the attention of the entire Russian country has been focused on Moscow, and on Filaret. As long as Philalet dies, the Russian country will change and undergo great changes.

It was naturally not difficult for Man Gui to hear such important news. After Man Gui learned the news, he couldn't help but marveled, "The emperor is really a heavenly being. He was thousands of miles away, and he could predict the situation in the court of King Rus in advance." Things!"

But then Mangui felt a chill running down his spine. If the emperor really knew everything, wouldn't it mean that his every move here could not be hidden from the emperor?Although the thought of this made people feel a little scared, Man Gui was also somewhat grateful that he had not done anything extraordinary in the past two years, nor had he dared to do anything illegal.

In fact, Mangui is not a saint. Everyone works for the imperial court. Naturally, they are all for promotion and wealth. That is to say, the past two years are the "startup stage" of Siberia. Little trick, after the Ming army has established a firm foothold in Siberia and eradicated the threat from the western Ross State, Man Gui may not be as clean as he is now. In Siberia, a place full of gold, people who have touched fat How can your hands not be stained with oil?

But now Man Gui didn't even dare to have this thought, lest his thoughts would be seen through by the emperor, and his fate could be imagined.But this is Man Gui's overthinking. Even if he really uses power for personal gain and embezzles some property, as long as it is not too outrageous, Zhu Tianqi will turn a blind eye. Zhu Tianqi understands that "when water is pure, there will be nothing." According to the principle of "fish", we don't have too strict requirements for our subordinates, especially those who are trustworthy and capable.

A month later, news came from Moscow that Patriarch Philalet had passed away due to illness. After hearing the news, Mangui immediately ordered to speed up the Ming army's march to the west. Although according to old rules, people should come when they have something to do at home. It is very immoral and unlucky to attack a city.

But Man Gui is a rough man, and he doesn't pay attention to this. He only knows that the emperor told him that there will be a big change in the country of Rus, and Man Gui also believes that the purpose of the emperor telling him this is to hint that he wants to arrest him. Seize this opportunity and defeat Rose in one fell swoop.

On the one hand, Mikhail, the Russian tsar, held a funeral for his father Philalet, and on the other hand, he also had to deal with the major nobles who came to Moscow to seize power. Mikhail's way of dealing with these nobles was to "compromise." , they basically gave permission and consent to the requests of these great nobles, and had no intention of fighting against them at all.

After Philalet's funeral was completed, the power of the Russian state had been divided up. Tsar Mikhail was once again ousted, and power returned to the hands of the major nobles. These nobles were the first to gain power. The thing is naturally not to help the Russian country, but to think about how to strive for more benefits for my family.

Some families who have conflicts with each other now have no one to restrain them anymore, so they naturally no longer suppress their hatred between each other. Even if they meet with swords and fight, other families often cannot If you stay alone, you will easily be enlisted by one of the parties to help, and the civil war in Russia is about to break out.

However, after all, the Romanov dynasty is different from the previous major dynasties in Russia. Even though the power of the tsar is divided among the major nobles, the tsar is still the largest family representative in Russia, and he also has the greatest power. He holds the largest number of troops in his hands.

Although Mikhail is not as tough as his father Filaret, he is definitely not weak or incompetent. Now that the Ming army has invaded the Russian state in a large scale, and its troops are directed towards Moscow, Mikhail cannot turn a blind eye, so He stood up decisively to stop the civil war and conflicts that were about to break out among the major nobles, demanding that they unite and deal with the outside world as one, and first drive away the invading Ming army before discussing internal issues.

Mikhail does not have as strong a binding force as his father Philalet on the major nobles, but the major nobles cannot deny him any face. If he openly violates the will of the tsar, he will definitely become the target of public criticism, so the major nobles cannot deny him any face. Although the nobles were not sincere, they all gathered together again and sent troops to resist the Ming army.

However, this time, in addition to the disastrous defeat of the Russian state in the Kingdom of Poland, heavy casualties, and serious troop attrition, the major nobles came back to power, each with their own selfish motives, and were unwilling to send out all their troops. The total number of the Russian state this time was no more than Only fifty thousand soldiers and horses were gathered together, and they no longer had an advantage in numbers.

Not only that, the army assembled by the Russian state this time has no cohesion at all. Not only is the fighting not very coordinated, but it also collapses at the first touch. When they are slightly at a disadvantage, they begin to flee. Except for Mikhail's direct troops, The other troops simply came to make up the numbers.

Man Gui laughed as he slapped him. Now the Ross army was much more vulnerable than before. The Ming army's advance did not slow down at all because the Ross army sent a large army to block it. It was still moving towards Ross. They marched straight into Moscow, the capital of the country, and easily captured dozens of towns, large and small, along the way.

But it has to be said that the main force of the Russian army is still relatively tenacious, and the counterattack against the Ming army was also the most fierce. However, Mangui was not in a hurry. Once he encountered the stubborn resistance of the Russian army, he ordered to bypass these strong forces. city, or besiege the city and consume the Rus' Kingdom. Anyway, the Ming army's cannons have a long range, so they can just hide in the distance and bombard the Rus' city. It is only a matter of time before they capture their city.

The closer they get to Moscow, the capital of the Rus' State, the stronger the resistance the Ming army encounters. Although the troops in all parts of the Rus' State have dispersed, the main force of the Rus' State still persists in fighting and shows strong combat effectiveness. Mangui simply ordered to slow down the march, and gradually the two armies entered a stalemate.

At this time, in the Ming Dynasty, the railway between the capital and the three surrounding industrial zones had been completed. The Daming Machinery Factory also successfully manufactured the first steam locomotive. The train was sent to the Kaiping-Qian'an Industrial Zone and placed on the railway. , conduct the first trial run.

The speed of the train is not very fast. It can only cover sixty or seventy miles per hour, and its speed is not half that of horses. However, its carrying capacity cannot be matched by horses. In the first trial run, a total of nine carriages were mounted. Each car was loaded with cast steel rails and coal.

If such a large amount of goods were to be pulled by horse-drawn carriages, let alone whether the horses could pull it, even if they could pull it, they might not even be able to travel ten miles in an hour. The advantages of railway transportation are naturally transcendent.

The station of the capital was set up outside the front gate, and Zhu Tianqi personally led civil and military officials to welcome the train into the station to celebrate the successful opening of the Daming Railway.

Then, the train took the goods to Datong Prefecture. Now that the railways from Kaiping-Qian'an Industrial Zone, Damingfu Industrial Zone and Datong Prefecture Industrial Zone to the capital have been opened, the next step is to build a railway from Datong Prefecture to Datong Prefecture. The railway in the Lake Baikal Industrial Zone has been closed, so the rails and coal produced in the Kaiping-Qian'an Industrial Zone and Damingfu Industrial Zone have to be transported to Datong Prefecture to support construction.

The coal mines in the Datong Industrial Zone are too small, and their steel output is also the smallest. Naturally, they have to rely on the assistance of the Kaiping-Qian'an Industrial Zone and Damingfu Industrial Zone.

In addition, there is also the laying of lines for the telegraph communication system. With the gradual laying of railway lines, telegraph communication in various places has also begun to be gradually opened.

(End of this chapter)