Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1693 Denglai Model Area

"I heard that the old thief Wu Sangui built a large boat in the middle of Sichuan, intending to expand the trade with Jingchu. This guy is really good at doing business, and he doesn't care about anything for money. The little Emperor Kangxi of Beijing didn't even think about it. This way of saying, the Manchu Qing court really can’t do it.” On January 1675, 1, at a construction site in the outskirts of Yantai County, Liao Xiaoyao, the leader of the Denglai pioneering team, symbolically shoveled a handful of ground with a shovel. The soil that has been baked soft by the fire said to Shao Shuguang, the general manager of the Bank of Taiwan, who came to discuss the work.

"Hey, how can Wu Sangui's little business plan compare with the big picture you planned in Denglai, Commander Liao? It's far behind!" Shao Shuguang was dressed in a mink coat and whale leather boots. Yes, it doesn't look like working. Now he also put down the rake in his hand, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and flattered Liao Xiaoyao: "Jiaolaixinhe is advancing steadily, Jiaolaixinhe The smoke line light rail has also broken ground, and there will be a planned Taorong line light rail in the future, how can these local warlords compare to the grandeur of opening and closing?"

By the way, Liao Xiaoyao is also a person who does what he says, and it took only more than a year for him to get the local government's approval to build the Jiaoyan Line light rail, and it has already been built in six counties along the line, Yantai, Fushan, Qixia, Laiyang, Jimo, and Jiaozhou. At the same time, start leveling the foundation and make preliminary preparations.For this reason, more than [-] laborers in the above-mentioned six counties were mobilized. Strong men are busy on the construction site, and strong women help to transport soil, supplies, materials and grain. If so, some old people and children will also mobilize. Among them, the old people go to the construction site to help collect firewood, fetch water for cooking, and the children deliver water and food to the fields. In short, all human resources must be used.

From being able to mobilize so many people at the same time, it can be seen that the East Bank government’s rule in the Terengganu area is very strong, especially the Terengganu Prefecture, which has ruled for more than 30 years, is basically an iron-clad territory.The reason for this is actually related to the system established during the period of Marshal Mo: as we all know, the Denglai area was hit by wars in the late Ming Dynasty, and the place was washed over and over again, almost becoming a white ground, and the order can be said to have completely collapsed.After the East Coast people occupied here, they immediately reorganized the order in the local area according to their own plans and ideas, and the rebound was minimal (a piece of white paper is easy to paint). Yantai College is the cadre school with the strongest teachers in the entire Far East San Francisco area, far surpassing the large number of grassroots cadres trained by Wei Boqiu's Heishui Transportation College), which further strengthened the rule and made the government's will break through the limit of imperial power. , reaching the township level.

Otherwise, how do you think the East Bank government can easily mobilize so many people to do corvée? You must know that "prosperity" has always been a very sensitive matter in ancient times. If it is not handled well, it may lead to rebellion and uprising. .But people on the east coast really don’t have to worry too much about these things now. The veterans and a large number of cadres who have been scattered to the localities over the past 30 years have played a pivotal role. Any signs can be reported at a faster speed and then dealt with. Avoid the occurrence of vicious incidents to the greatest extent—maybe after these cadres and veterans die or degenerate, the government’s control over the local area will be weakened, but at the moment when the new order has only been established for 30 years, the operation of this system is still Yes, it has played its due role in national defense and construction.

In fact, in comparison with the four prefectures in the east and west of Shanxi that also have large-scale infrastructure today, you will know it.The four prefectures of Qingzhou, Jinan, Dongchang, and Yanzhou suffered heavy losses in the earthquake, and the roads, embankments, and reservoirs were completely destroyed. The local officials of the Qing court did not eat shit. Naturally, they began to organize local manpower to restore infrastructure.Compared with the East Coast, this process is really different. First of all, it is reflected in the shortage of labor tools, not only insufficient in quantity, but also of poor quality. Many people have to use wooden tools to work, and the efficiency can be imagined; secondly, it is reflected in the lack of labor tools. In the absence of food supply, after the people on the east bank sent away a large number of immigrants, the food shortage has eased, but Denglai still imports a large amount of rice from Nanyang, just to ensure that the next large-scale infrastructure projects will not be affected, not to mention there are A large amount of meat was sent from Jeju Island and the Heishui area, and the nutritional supply was quite good, which was very rare in ancient large-scale labor.

Finally, we still have to talk about the local grassroots.In the Dengzhou area of ​​a white land, the people on the east bank restored the production order, moved a large number of people, and redistributed the land. All the rules and regulations were based on the local rules (for example, 30 mu of land per person cannot be bought or sold, etc.), from scratch. A new system was established.It has only been 30 years now, the prestige of the government is still there, the local clan relations have not yet formed, the landlords have no soil to survive (restricted by policies), and the businessmen are still in the stage of capital accumulation, so basically the government Dominate everything with minimal resistance.

On the other hand, in the Qing Dynasty, even mobilizing people to build embankments on the river had to be handled by the county magistrates from the local gentry, and the money and food were also distributed by the gentry clan.It’s okay if they repair the ones near their own home, but if it has nothing to do with their own home, their enthusiasm can be imagined. Coupled with some other things that are reckless, so several years have passed, and the Qing court still has not healed the shock of the year. Agricultural production has not yet fully recovered from the trauma left by the disaster.There are four prefectures in the east and west in such a large mountain, and it is a bit difficult to support an army of one hundred thousand, and the common people are squeezed into human beings. This shows the gap in administrative efficiency between the Qing and Eastern governments.

And this difference in administrative efficiency is reflected in economic development, which is the very different style between Denglai and Xisifu today.Speaking of the construction of the Jiaoyan Line Railway, apart from its military significance (connecting Jiaozhou and Yantai, the two most important military strongholds on the coasts of the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, respectively), is it not related to the economic development of the six local counties?How can it be!

Yantai, Fushan, Qixia, Laiyang, Jimo, and Jiaozhou, even if they are not the six most affluent counties in the area under the jurisdiction of the Denglai Pioneering Team, they definitely rank above the average level of the sixteen prefectures and counties.With a population of 60, stable production of grain, fruit, and handicraft products, there are already conditions for building a regional market. Now, once this light rail line is fully connected, the logistics cost will be reduced to a fraction or even a tenth of what it used to be. One is that it will definitely promote the prosperity of the commodity market. The government can collect a lot more by collecting taxes, especially when there are a large number of consumers in Denglai (there are no landlords, almost all of them are self-cultivating farmers).

The improvement of the market has also greatly stimulated investment from all over the world.Over the past few years, a small number of businessmen from Ningbo and even from the local area have invested and opened businesses in the Denglai area.For example, in 1673, a local businessman named Liu in Jiaozhou invested in the construction of a brick production line, capable of making nearly [-] bricks per day. As a result, the sales volume was very good, and the supply of products was in short supply, especially after the construction of the Jiaolai Xinhe Defense Line and the light rail project. A lot of bricks are required for various facilities along the way, which makes this investment a lucrative project, and I don’t know how many people are envious.

For another example, members of the Sun clan in Ningbo partnered with local technicians to open a cement factory in Ninghai Prefecture in 1674, with an investment of more than 3 yuan and an annual output of [-] barrels of cement.Similar to the brick factory, this enterprise also mainly produces pozzolan cement, and its output sells quite well in the Denglei area.And thanks to the abundant limestone resources along the coast of Yantai, Ninghai Prefecture, and Weihai, the cost of producing cement is also quite low, so the profit of the entire factory is astonishing.

It is worth mentioning that the booming business of brick factories and cement factories has promoted the investment of government and private capital in coal mines.Among them, Dongan Japan Co., Ltd. was invited to take a stake in Kushiro Coal Mine. The coal mine increased its capital and shares by 10 yuan, introduced some new coal mining equipment from the local area, hired a number of technical and management personnel with high salaries, and intended to double the existing coal production; On the other hand, the North Korean company took a different approach and directly negotiated with the North Korean government, intending to invest in coal mines in northern North Korea, so as to use the abundant and cheap local human resources to produce a large amount of low-cost coal, which is more competitive than the Dongan people themselves in Kushiro The coal mined in Heishui and Heishui is much higher.

In addition, the forest harvesting and timber processing industries in Heishui and other places were also affected by these two giant projects. They developed rapidly and attracted a lot of investment. I paid 5000 yuan.Moreover, this giant enterprise in the Far East has now set its sights on the Heishui Machinery Processing Factory, a workshop-style enterprise that originally smelted pig iron imported from North Korea and produced metal agricultural tools and simple industrial tools.

Shao Shuguang, the general manager of the Bank of Taiwan, has negotiated with the factory to issue 10 additional shares at a price of [-] yuan per share. crucible, steam engine, forging equipment, mechanical processing equipment, etc., and employ some technical personnel to strive for some industrial upgrading.

Shao Shuguang optimistically predicted that by the end of 1676 at the earliest, the factory would be able to trial-produce small-scale cast iron light rails, and then export them to Denglai in large quantities to meet the needs of the [-]-kilometer line of the planned Taorong Line.You know, this is a great deal. Once it succeeds, the Heishui Machinery Processing Plant will be very rich. It will no longer be a problem to successfully upgrade and transform. It will become a first-class smelting and processing factory in the Far East. An integrated enterprise is also a matter of leisure - of course, due to the requirements of technical confidentiality, the East Coast has repeatedly emphasized that the technology and talents introduced by the Heishui Machinery Processing Factory can only be strictly limited to Sakhalin Island , must not flow out of the island and spread to other places, otherwise everyone must bear the responsibility!

Liao Xiaoyaogui is the captain of the Denglai Pioneering Team, and he did not dare to disobey this local request. Therefore, he has never asked to move the Heishui Machinery Processing Factory to Dengzhou, otherwise he will not be able to bear the responsibility if the secret is leaked in the future. .Therefore, after mentioning the construction of the railway line, he had to tell Shao Shuguang once again that the people from Bank of Taiwan should also fulfill their obligations as shareholders and supervise the normal operation of the factory, so as not to let it be unbelievable The factor injury leads to the discontinuation of production.

Shao Shuguang naturally nodded when he heard this, and only heard him say: "The rubber smoke line is a big project, and the Taorong Line that is likely to be launched in the future is also a big project. The mileage of [-] kilometers is small, and it is possible for the Heishui Factory to eat all of it." We are not able to catch it, but it is very possible to eat one-third or even half of it, this is a huge market, we will not lose the big because of small things, don’t worry.”

"It's good to know the seriousness." Liao Xiaoyao nodded when he heard the words, and said: "After the light rail line is completed, there will be five major wharf projects in Yantai, Jiaozhou, Weihai, Rongcheng, and Dandong. There will also be a lot of light rail and other facilities on it, which is dark enough. The water plant has been used for a long time. As the first modern coal-iron complex in the Far East, I don’t want the flames to be extinguished by some uncontrollable factors. The crime of the people and the people of Ningbo."

"And these enterprises have developed and grown one after another, and Denglai's economy has been on the right track. With the impregnable Jiaolaixinhe defense line, if the Qing Dynasty in the west cannot control the sea, why should they fight us? Only then, maybe the mainland The members of the Executive Committee will allow Denglai to have first-line technology-sensitive companies, and they will not be so worried about making wedding dresses for Chinese people and strictly prohibiting them." Liao Xiaoyao said: "The three major pioneering teams in the Far East will face challenges in the future. Denglei has great challenges and great risks. If its own economic strength, industrial production capacity, and military combat effectiveness are insufficient, the end will be worrying. Among the three, Denglei has the greatest development potential and the best security situation. , My expectations and plans for Denglai are great! Of course, I may not have the chance to see this day, but I hope that my successors will stick to this plan in the future and make Denglai stronger. Manager Shao, you guys Bank of Taiwan, as a large enterprise rooted in the Far East, should also keep this in mind, and don’t be reluctant to spend money when it’s time to invest. This time you have invested in many companies in Heishui, and you have done a good job. I am very pleased and hope that you will also be in Denglai in the future Invest a lot, I heard that you are planning to invest in building a machine noodle mill in Weihai? This is very good, and you can invest more in the future, with the government escorting you, this business can’t go wrong.”

"Of course, Commander Liao, there is no problem with investment, but qualified workers are hard to come by. The government still needs to further popularize primary education in the future." Shao Shuguang also said.

"That's for sure, but it can't be done overnight, take your time." Liao Xiaoyao replied: "When primary education is also popularized, then Denglai will really become a model area, second to none among the overseas colonies. It is also related to the quality of the local population. Like New China and Australia, where civilized people and savages are mixed, how can they compare with Denglai? Not to mention those European countries, they are still fighting, and they are still fighting for a moment. can not stop……"

(End of this chapter)