Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1433 Baoding Area ([-])

The Northern Railway is basically in a state of semi-shutdown at present.

Since the end of the war with the Portuguese, both the Executive Committee and the Ministry of War have greatly reduced the investment in this railway. Even after the Shengyun-Xingguo section of about 1665 kilometers was barely completed in 42, direct investment It has been completely terminated. Obviously, the focus of the State Railway Administration has shifted to other aspects: for example, sending engineers and technicians and machinery to the Southern Cone area to help the Southern Railway Company repair the double track and some small branch lines of the Liangyang Railway (of course the Southern Railway will pay. money); for example, sending a construction team to build the Yinan Railway to connect the middle and lower reaches of the Paraná River, so as to make better use of the transportation capacity of this golden waterway; , to avoid the Daxing Waterfall, to connect the middle and lower reaches of the Wujiang River, and so on.

In short, there are still many projects. Although the northern railway that goes straight to the plateau is extremely important, there is no urgent need for it to be opened to traffic. People on both sides of the strait feel sorry for it, because they have obviously lost a few years of precious development time, and they are destined to lag behind many counties in the south in the future, but what can be done about it?

Of course, the reason why the Northern Railway is so miserable is actually related to the current sharp reduction in railway investment by the financial department.Because the railway technology on the east coast has been updated rapidly in recent years, and the railway mileage has also increased relatively rapidly in the early years, this has resulted in a large number of railway lines being in a backward state as soon as they are completed.In addition, there are endless problems with the quality of the rails, and the cost of daily repairs and maintenance is high. The more than 1000 kilometers of railways under the State Railway Administration have gradually become a relatively heavy burden, and tens of thousands of yuan have to be invested every year. Repair, maintenance and renovation, but only the so-called "golden line" of the Ome Railway can achieve a balance of income and expenditure, so the railway system loses a lot every year (even if the relatively lucrative cable telegraph business is handed over to the General Railway Administration to operate. cannot make up for the shortfall), has become more and more intolerable.

Under such circumstances, it is normal for the government to order the suspension of the construction of the Northern Railway. After all, no one is willing to spend money in this bottomless pit for a long time. After the remaining mileage of the railway and Fuxin Railway is less than 10 kilometers, the government will not invest in new railway mileage for a period of time.In their view, how to maintain the existing [-]-[-]-kilometer railway mileage is already a headache. The annual loss of [-] yuan is really scary, although part of the loss is borne by the local government. (Repairing railways is often in response to the "strong request" of the local government), but for the State Administration of Railways, this noose around the neck still makes them a little breathless.

What the railway system should do now is to find ways to control costs and increase prices (this is very necessary. Historically, the British have rapidly increased the total mileage of the country to about 20 kilometers within 2000 years after the invention of the railway, but they are not profitable. , appropriate pricing is essential), cut all unnecessary expenses, reduce the amount of losses, and then wait for the gradual increase of immigrants along the railway (the Ministry of Immigration and the National Development Bureau have been doing this consciously), the gradual activation of the commodity economy, and further reduce The amount of loss, and then rely on government subsidies and investment, and slowly find a way to turn around, there is no other way.

The suspension of the construction of the Northern Railway has undoubtedly made the residents of several counties along the line feel the pain.Dingjun County—established in January this year, has jurisdiction over four townships: Dingjun Town, Potou Township, Xiufeng Township, and Shahu Township (Zequan Township is under the jurisdiction of Yiling County), with about 17600 people—as the area I feel particularly deeply in this leading county, because the more developed handicraft industry here can no longer extend to the north with the help of railways, and can only "shopping" nearby markets with Baode County, which has the same developed handicraft industry. It is also very sad.

In addition, Jishan County and Shenglong County, which were just established last month (February), may feel slightly better than Dingjun County, because they are basically agricultural counties, producing timber and agricultural products, unlike Baode and Dingjun The industries of the two counties are more developed.However, they cannot use the northern railway to sell their agricultural products northward to the farther Brazilian plateau (where a certain degree of development is under way), but the economic loss is real, so the suspension of this railway I also feel a little regretful, but the degree is not as serious as that of Dingjun County.

By the way, Jishan County currently has five townships under the jurisdiction of Jishan Town, Guishan Township, Zhaoyang Township, Jinxian Township, and Chengzhang Township, with a population of more than 13700. It is the 59th county-level administrative unit in the country; Shenglong County is The 60th county-level administrative unit in the country, under the jurisdiction of Shenglong Township, Shengxing Township, Longxi Township, Shengyun Township and Cuiyun Township (located near the small town of Karazinho in later generations), with a total of more than 15300 people, and Jishan County is similar. Its economy is dominated by timber harvesting and processing, and agricultural production.

And if these two counties can take advantage of the railway to some extent, and the people will not be too desperate, then the few towns that are managed by them in the north, such as Xingjiang Township (located in the later Balakang Township) New settlements such as Gaogang Township (located near the later town of Sananduwa), Chongxian Township (located near the later town of Sarandi), and Shaxi Township (located near the later town of Nonoai) For the common people, they almost fell into the "Eighteen Levels of Hell"!This is not to say that their agricultural products cannot be sold. They are new settlements with limited output and difficulties in self-sufficiency. Exporting agricultural products is still too far away for them.They are desperate, mainly because if the railway cannot be repaired nearby, they will encounter great difficulties in purchasing commodities such as seeds, fertilizers, livestock, farm tools, daily necessities, medicines, building materials, etc. The shortage of supplies is almost certain, and Even if you can buy it, the cost is higher than that in the place where the railway is connected, which undoubtedly greatly increases their production and living costs. Who can be satisfied?

However, the members of the Executive Committee are unshakable in their determination to cut most of the railway investment, and they have also won the support of the majority of people in the government. After all, the construction cost of this railway is not only high, but the annual maintenance and renovation costs are also quite high. Gao Gao, I have to put it on hold for a while. After all, not everyone can endure huge losses for a long time. This is a matter of several 10 yuan per year.It can be said that even if the people from Genoa rush over now and say that they are willing to advance money to help the people on the east coast build a railway, and then give money after the repair is completed, it is estimated that the members of the executive committee will not agree. He, the financial burden is too great!Therefore, residents of the towns north of the Xingguo Station on the Northern Railway and even some newly established settlements on the north bank of the Wujiang River who are eager to see through the railway are doomed to spend many years in disappointment, and their lives in these years are doomed to be difficult—— —Fortunately, the local output is not bad, if you are poor, you will be poorer, at least you won’t starve to death, right?

"The Baoding area (temporarily governing Baode County, Dingjun County, Jishan County, Shenglong County and some managed townships) wants to develop, and the railway is really important, but now the higher authorities have clearly stopped building new railways, which is very important for the development of this area In fact, it is extremely disadvantageous. Deputy Commissioner Shao, Baode County was established by you, and now that you have been promoted to the district administrative office, you must not forget the folks in the county!"

Those who spoke were a group of officials from Baode County, including the newly appointed chief and deputy county magistrate and some top bureaucrats.It is rare that Shao Yaoguang, who has been promoted to the executive deputy commissioner of Baoding District (the commissioner is temporarily vacant), returned to Baode County for inspection, so everyone came forward to play the emotional card, to make connections, and to seek some benefits from the district administrative office, and the breakthrough they chose, Naturally, it was the northern railway that had failed, but it seemed to have little effect, because their county was not adjacent to the railway, and the export channel of their county's goods was mainly through Baoan River to Duck Lake.

Speaking of this, I have to mention that Shao Yaoguang, who was originally an active army officer and the military management committee member of Baode County, has officially retired from the army system after being persuaded by his family, and then he was transferred to the county magistrate of Baode County.Last year, the Executive Committee established the Baoding District Administrative Office in Dingjun County. After a series of fierce games and exchange of interests, Shao Yaoguang was promoted to the post of Executive Deputy Commissioner of Baoding District under the active operation of his father Shao Shude. As for the county magistrate of Baode County, the Northwest Reclamation Bureau has just been revoked (the four counties of Yuexi, Tieling, Chengshan and Meluo counties under the jurisdiction of the Bureau have been changed to the direct jurisdiction of the Government Affairs Council, so far the counties directly under the government There have been as many as seven) an official came by airborne, and this gentleman is currently on a business trip in Ping'an County to discuss the export of industrial products in Baode County.

Compared with Shao Yaoguang, Lan Fei, Nanjiro and others who also serve as military management committee members and directors of the military management office still choose to continue to develop within the military system.They had been handed over last year, and then resigned from Shenglong County, Dingjun County and other places, and returned to the Army. It seems that the next step will be assigned to overseas colonies for training and gilding. The future is also good.

"You bastards are still the same as before, talking nonsense all day long!" Shao Yaoguang looked at the group of middle-aged people who followed him, and said with a smile: "The suspension of the construction of the Northern Railway will have some impact on you. But if you want to talk about how big it is, I think it’s just too big! More than [-]% of the goods in Baode County are transported to Ping’an County through the Bao’an River for shipment and sales, so don’t talk to me about what you have!”

Baode County was established by Shao Yaoguang, and most of its officials were promoted and appointed during his tenure. Unlike other counties, the cultural level of officials in this county is generally not high. There are also old immigrants from the Portuguese colonial era. In short, the composition is very complicated.However, these people's work enthusiasm is very high, and they have rich experience in handling grassroots government affairs, especially in the collection of taxes. Anyway, Shao Yaoguang admired them a lot, because they were capable of doing things.

Moreover, as Shao Yaoguang said, the export of commodities in Baode County is mainly transported out through the Baoan River, a river channel that is dredged every year, and then loaded at the Ping'an Port Wharf, and sold to all parts of the country (in fact, mainly in the Yazihu ​​River Basin) .This medium-sized county with a population of 2.9 people (1-3 people is a medium-sized county) had a very developed handicraft industry foundation in the Portuguese occupation era. It began to develop towards semi-mechanization and full mechanization, and through preferential credit and the introduction of new investors, its industrial production scale has also expanded, and the economy of Baode County has naturally increased.

Of course, we all know that if the production scale is expanded, but there is no market that can absorb its output, it will naturally be a big blow to the industrial economy of Baode County.However, the East-Portuguese War, which lasted for four years, brought good news to all business owners in the county. The profits brought by the production of military supplies greatly nourished the economy of Baode County, which had just expanded, and made it through the most difficult time. Difficult start-up stage, and finally stabilized its production on a certain scale.Subsequently, the development of major settlements along the Northern Railway and the development of newly occupied land in Brazil also brought considerable market demand. Although there was strong competition from workshop owners and factory owners in Dingjun County, Baode County’s Business owners can more or less get a little market share, which also maintains the scale of the county's industrial economy to a certain extent.

"You people, all of you only know how to keep your eyes on the local area. But how many people are there in the entire Baoding area, more than 8 people, and Kuhaha accounts for more than half of them, and how many people really have spending power? "Shao Yaoguang looked dissatisfied at the group of former subordinates who were scratching their heads, and then said in an indisputable tone: "A bunch of idiots, can't they broaden their minds and turn their eyes from west and south to east? Theoretically speaking, we Baode County is also a coastal county. Although the long and narrow coastal plain is separated by the Mar Mountains, Linhai is Linhai! I heard that the National Development Administration and the Immigration Department have been setting up settlements on the Atlantic coast. You all know the settlements, right? Yes, it’s actually not far from our Baode County! Moreover, some new settlements will be established in the northeast of our Baode County (in the vicinity of the later Chrisiuma City), and Migrating a large number of immigrants to reclaim wasteland, this is not a market, what is a market?"

"Hurry up and think of a way. It's so close, even if you use mules and horses to transport goods, the cost will not be much higher. Opportunities are only reserved for those who are prepared." Deputy Commissioner Shao Yaoguang finally said.

(End of this chapter)