Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 717 Age of Empire
In June of the 21st year of Chongzhen, the general situation of the whole world suddenly became calm. After hesitating for a long time on the edge of the Yangtze River, Dorgon finally retreated. There were more than [-] Jianzhou Jurchen soldiers, and the savage Jurchen soldiers were still in Jiangnan Killed, or captured, even Song Qingshu was extremely stubborn, and he was not willing to negotiate peace with the Qing court, let alone submit a prisoner exchange.

For the Jianzhou Jurchen with a small population, this has reached the point where even the Mongolian Alliance on the grasslands began to be dissatisfied. The loss of almost 20 Mongols also made the grassland tribes with a small population vital Big injury.

However, Song Qingshu has no intention of the Northern Expedition for the time being. On the one hand, since last year, Jiangnan has been fighting for almost two years. The important point is that the territory has more than doubled in size now, and the newly occupied provinces, especially Huguang, which is dominated by farming, have not been fully digested. If you rush to the north at this time, it is easy to waste all your previous efforts.

Although neither Dorgon nor Song Qingshu officially declared a truce, the large-scale armed conflict basically stopped after the recovery of Huguang. The confrontation between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty was basically formed.

However, the end of the war does not mean that the world is peaceful, and Song Qingshu has become even busier.

Crackling firecrackers roared fiercely on the ground, thousands of wealthy people in robes and gowns, all kinds of fat people clapped their palms fiercely, and amidst the crackling sound, Song Qingshu, who was wearing a red flower on his chest, stood At the front, there were more than a dozen well-known gentry from Huguang. With the sound of scissors, a piece of red silk was cut short in an instant. After it was released, the red cloth without support on the plaque fell gently.

Hanyang Iron Works!

It is not unreasonable for Zhang Zhidong to set up Westernization and build China's first national giant steel factory here. It is next to the Dayeshan Mine, which is rich in coal and iron ore for steelmaking, and it is close to the Yangtze River. , the water transport is developed, and Hanyang Zao, which is generous and splendid in later generations of China, was produced here.

This can be regarded as Song Qingshu's sweet date for the Huguang gentry. He subordinated the rich mining resources nearby to Huguang Province, invested more than half of it from the treasury, and raised more than half from the local government. This Hanyang Iron Works has not yet waited. At the opening, Yingtian's imperial court has already placed a large number of orders, enough for ten years of production, enough for every investor to make their first pot of gold.

Seeing that Song Qingshu had finished cutting the ribbon, the local gentry applauded desperately with excitement.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was completed, followed by the product display, to increase the confidence of investors. Amidst the cheering shouts of the big guys, a group of people all entered the factory building. The smelly long strips of I-beams were paved on the gravel and tracks, and the huge, grunting vans caught the eyes of the people present.

Song Qingshu couldn't be more familiar with this thing.

rail!

This first order was not made by the famous Hanyang, but bundles of steel rails. Song Qingshu passed the Congress and planned to build the first Daming railway, the Songxiang Railway. Xiangyang, by the way, also went south to Jingzhou.

Later generations will have the sound of the train, known as the golden ten thousand taels. Although the largest Huguang province within the territory of Ming Dynasty has been taken back, the further inland, the smaller the industrial and commercial atmosphere. Classes control the mainstream of society. Song Qingshu realized that he was too idealistic. If he followed Jiangnan's political model and allowed local celebrities to enter the Congress and form a cabinet, he would have found himself a big political enemy.

What if these guys demand the abolition of the "Declaration of Human Rights" and the restoration of the privilege of landowners and gentry not to pay taxes?
Fortunately, Mr. Sun Yat-sen, a later generation, had a way to divide the establishment of the republic into three steps, military administration, political training, and constitutional administration!It is an excuse that the localities cannot adapt to the New Deal, and the members of Congress from Jiangnan do not want a large number of members from other provinces to flood into Congress in a short period of time, which will weaken their own rights. Therefore, most of Huguang, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Zhejiang still implement In terms of military administration, the Ministry of War and the army directly manage local affairs. Who dares to prick their hair and pout their buttocks, and serve them with a big knife.

However, there have been countless examples in history, and this situation will not last long, so Song Qingshu's first policy is to build roads. As long as the traffic is smooth and there are more merchants coming and going, the bourgeoisie will naturally prosper, even if it is conservative Old antiques, no one wants to have trouble with money, right?

But once you get on Song Qingshu's thief ship, it will be like a drug addiction. Rush away, just like the British Empire where the sun never sets.

Although the idea is good, the current railway is really a bit shabby. Looking at the big cars, those Hu Guanghao who came in couldn't help whispering, looking puzzled, even Song Qingshu himself was a little ashamed.

No way, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Empire is not very strong. Song Qingshu has been responsible for the development of steam engines since the establishment of the constitution. Things come, so that even if a section of railway track is built first, if Song Qingshu wants to cover it up, he has to use a horse-drawn train.

Although it feels very shabby, as the leading character, Song Qingshu still had to bite the bullet and introduce to a group of primitive people with a big smile.

"Everyone, this is a railway imported by the empire from Westerners. With [-] horses as traction, it can pull a thousand catties of goods and travel hundreds of miles a day. Moreover, once this railway is completed, its service life will far exceed that of the usual yellow mud. On the road, from Hanyang to Yingtian, the time will be shortened to ten days!"

In the late Qing Dynasty, on the pretext of alarming the ancestral mausoleum, Cixi did not allow the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, the first railway in China, to run the trains, but used horses to pull the trains. For a while, many insightful people laughed, but these insightful people of foreignism However, they did not know that the earliest Western railways were also drawn by horses, so that later generations, when translated to China, the engine power was measured by horsepower.

Even without steam engines, locomotives running on rails can still save [-]% to [-]% of energy, which makes large-scale land transportation a reality.

Listening to Song Qingshu's introduction, a large group of Huguang gentry couldn't help but gasped, and then, a large group of people couldn't help but a golden light shone from their eyes.

Even if it does not break away from this era, Huguang still mainly exports grain. Every year when it is transported to Jinling, [-]% to [-]% of the grain will be consumed on the road. The whole Huguang will consume millions of shi of grain. But if this railway is really built If so, the saved transportation costs and the profits brought about will be astonishing!
"This railway is built from our Hanyang Iron Works to Daye Mine. It is used to transport ore, but it also has passenger carriages. Your Excellency the Cabinet, everyone, please follow me!"

After Song Qingshu's announcement, as the general merchant of Hanyang Iron Works, Song Xi, an elite son from the Song family in Cixi, was also very excited to lead the way in front, behind the sixteen traction horses, a train with exquisite workmanship was connected one by one. The boxes were opened for these big donors one by one, and Song Qingshu was the first to board the carriage.

Looking at the scenery outside the glass window, Song Qingshu was really moved to the point of tears, and the feeling of catching the train to go to school in later generations came back again.

The layout of this carriage, in later generations, must be high-speed rail high-end seats, leather sofas, solid wood tables, and the seats at both ends are much more spacious than the crowded green leather trains of later generations. With surprise, these landlords and gentry from Huguang boarded the train one after another, and immediately There was a whistle outside, and the coachman shook the reins of the horses violently, and sixteen horses dragged five or six carriages and galloped out like arrows.

…………

The railway drives the country to move towards modernization. When Song Qingshu took his first step in Hanyang, the atmosphere of the imperial era was already pervasive in Songjiang.

The huge Haidayu supply ship, more than 20 Yingtian-class battleships, and more than 50 huge merchant ships with three to five masts gathered on the edge of the port. Countless people flocked to these ships like ants. On the shore, countless people Saying goodbye in tears.

Less than three days after Song Qingshu's trip to Huguang, Sun Chuanting and Zhou Yanru, who were in charge of government affairs, received the news that they had been waiting for too long. Last year, they set off from Bamin to explore new routes and head for the expedition fleet of the New Continent. , returned!

The Hawaiian Islands were officially marked on the chart, and several ships built temporary anchorages there. The remaining 5000 immigrants successfully landed on the west coast of the Americas and arrived at the Spanish colonial site of San Francisco, which is later known as San Francisco.

Not to mention where the Ming Dynasty built its stronghold, the merchant ships that came back this time also brought amazing wealth. Near San Francisco, people discovered gold sand mines in the river water, and used the silk, tea, and porcelain they brought back from the local area. In the hands of the native Indians and the Spaniards, they exchanged boxes of gold, silver, cocoa, animal skins and other valuable commodities. The profits increased tenfold every time the ship came and went!
A 7000% profit is already enough to make people take risks, not to mention the golden gold and white silver. These goods were brought back to Jinling from the port by the West India Company. When the second sea escort fleet recruited merchant ships, I don’t know how many emerging chambers of commerce rushed in. More than [-] people became the second batch of immigrants to go to the New World to pan for gold.

The ambition for wealth surpassed the comfort brought by the original land, and an ambitious new era began in Daming...

(End of this chapter)