Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 763

After listening to Qian Kang's suggestion, Zhao Xin pondered for a long time.He knew that if he didn't start to solve the power problem, Beihai Town's industrial development would soon enter a bottleneck period.

It is said that in order to establish a complete industrialization system, the most important thing is to have heavy industry represented by military industry, and heavy industry is extremely dependent on the products produced by basic industry.Metallurgy, coal, petroleum, electric power, chemistry, machinery, and materials are all basic industries, each of which is a major player with huge investment, long construction period, and high energy consumption.

Now after seven or eight years of construction in Beihai Town, the first four categories have reached the scale of village-run enterprises in another time and space, while the last three categories only solve the problem of whether there is a need.

In addition to the shortage of high-quality technical workers due to lack of vocational education, Zhao Xin also had a headache because of the huge expenditure on equipment procurement.

The energy storage power station plan proposed by Qian Kang seems to be very good, and the investment is still low.But what about the future?With the increase of operating equipment, the power consumption during the day will reach full capacity, and part of the production will be adjusted to night, and the difference between the peak and valley of power will become smaller and smaller, and finally we have to return to the fundamental problem of power plant expansion.

To be honest, Zhao Xin really wanted to expand the thermal power plant on the east bank of the Xila River.The problem is that it is too expensive to build a power plant, often hundreds of millions or billions.It cost him 60 million for the installed capacity of only 600 megawatts before, but now it has to be expanded to 11 megawatts, which is equivalent to several times, almost [-] tons of gold!
By the end of 1793, there were five gold mining areas in Beihai Town, with an annual gold output of 5.7 tons.These include Solenji Island, Ezo Jihong's Dance Area, Urupu Island in the Thousand Islands, Lingjia Mining Area in Southern Kyushu, and Huma Mining Area in the north of Heilongjiang City.In addition, in the past two years, a little over five tons of gold have been purchased from various mining areas in Borneo, and Beihai Town has paid nearly 300 million Beihai silver dollars for this.

As for the Koloma mining area on the other side of the ocean, it has not yet been officially mined. Although the first batch of 300 Chinese miners from Borneo have arrived, the main work is to find ore veins, build roads, and widen the channel of the Roundhouse River.When Lu Qi and the others explored before, some river sections could not even be crossed by rubber boats, so let alone transporting gold ore out, mining equipment and food supplies were laborious to transport in.

The most terrible thing is that the gold in Zhao Xin's hands cannot appear openly in the international gold market in another time and space. Every time it has to be laundered through special channels, the other party will deduct [-]% of the intermediate fees alone, so the actual expansion of the power plant The investment required almost sixteen tons of gold.

Zhao Xin does not have [-] tons of gold, he only has less than [-] tons in his hands now, more than half a ton of which he saved little by little from his teeth over the years, mainly to ensure the wages of the crossing crowd and recruit new people; Four tons of the mine were mined in the first half of this year.The reason why the output has increased compared with last year is mainly because of the addition of mining and excavation equipment and ten ore crushers in the Lingjia mining area this year.

In fact, the Lingjia mining area is only the highest grade in Asia, and the most gold mining area is in Southeast Asia; especially in East Java, Borneo and Papua, there are many gold mines, and the world's largest "Grasberg Gold Mine" is On the island of Papua.

The problem is that the natural conditions in Southeast Asia are too harsh these days, and most of the areas are undeveloped virgin forests; cannibals, diseases, transportation, and food supply are all difficult problems to solve.If you want to develop the gold mines there, it is not too much to send 50 people there.Therefore, the task Zhao Xin gave Wang Yuanfang was mainly to get rid of those large and small sultanates, and first occupy the pits.

Both sides need money, and both need to use gold to purchase materials from another time and space to support development.In fact, Zhao Xin can't even get the money for the energy storage power station. The gold in his hand will soon be used to pay for weapons and equipment for military expansion. The details of the transaction were negotiated by Zhao Xin himself three months ago.

The Beihai Navy has developed for nearly ten years, and the total number of existing troops has exceeded 17.Among them, the navy has 1.8 people, the army has 14 people, and the logistics support force has 1.3 people.

At present, Liu Sheng and Fan Tong are in charge of 4 troops on the western front, Deng Fei is in charge of 2.5 troops in the east, Sheng Haizhou is in charge of 2.5 troops in Shandong, Wang Yuanfang is in charge of 1.5 troops in Nanyang, Beihai Township The existing garrison is 1, and the remaining 2.5 are deployed like peppercorns at key points from Khalkha to Siberia.

It is definitely not enough for such a small force to enter and exit the customs.The total strength of the Manchu Qing in the pass is about 60, of which the total strength of Zhili, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong is 18, and the total strength of the five provinces in the south of the Yangtze River is close to 15. 33 is just the number of Green Battalion soldiers and Eight Banners soldiers under control, and there are nearly [-] local regiments training armed forces in the entire northern region.

Zhao Xin's plan was to expand the total strength of the Eastern Front Corps and the Shandong Army to 1795 by the end of March 3, relying on Shandong's population advantage, so as to achieve the strategic goal of capturing the Central Plains and the five southern provinces in one fell swoop.

Although it is said that the Beihai Navy's fight against the Qing army is like a strong man beating a child, but even if they bully people, tens of thousands of troops can't handle more than 700 counties.You can't hit it with the front foot, and then abandon the city with the back foot and continue to the next one, right?

After this year's summer offensive, Beihai Town's territory in Shandong has expanded to 43 counties in five prefectures, with a corresponding population of more than 1400 million. 20 to 1400 million, the conscription ratio is only 1.4%, which means that the young and strong can be picked at will.

Shandong in the middle and late Qing Dynasty was the area with the worst human-land relationship in northern China, worse than Henan.With the population explosion in the Qianlong era, the registered population of Shandong Province has exceeded 2600 million, and the reclamation of arable land has basically ended in the Kangxi period; after that, all the land that is reclaimed is the size of river beaches and mountain depressions, which is extremely barren. , In a year of flood and drought, there will be no harvest.

Don't look at Kong Shaoan's large-scale farmers' associations in various parts of Dengzhou, buying land from landlords through cash and bonds, and then renting it out to landless farmers; On average, the per capita arable land is just over three mu, and the average monthly grain possession is only 30 catties, which is far below the minimum survival requirement of 36 catties.

In order to solve the problem of food shortage in Jiaodong area, Beihai Town has successively delivered more than 20 tons of grain to Dengzhou in the past two years.On the one hand, the military control committees in various places provided free lunch and dinner to school-age children and encouraged them to study; infrastructure.The seaport alone has been newly built and expanded in four places, and there are countless other projects such as widening and dredging of rivers, reinforcement of river dams, irrigation and water conservancy of farmland, roads, and urban drainage.

It is said that organized workers are a good source of soldiers, and organized peasants are also a good source of soldiers.

However, 20 people are good recruits, but 20 guns will not work. You have to buy them from the other side, and you can’t buy them along the way. All types of weapons must be purchased at 1.2 times, and there must be spares.

Different from the weapons used by the slave army, the regular troops of the Northern Navy have always been issued semi-automatic and automatic weapons from another time and space. The purpose is to realize the difference in weapons so that fewer people can bully more enemies.

When the committee held a meeting to discuss this matter, some people asked why they could not be equipped with "1790-style rifles", but had to buy weapons from another time and space?
There is no need for Zhao Xin to do this kind of thing himself, and Wu Siyu, who is in charge of the military and political department, explained it.

To put it simply, the training and combat rules of flintlock troops are quite different from those of troops using semi-automatic weapons. One regiment cannot use the "three-three system" tactic, and the other regiment will line up and shoot.Besides, there are not 10,000+ flintlock rifles in the logistical arsenal, and there are more than 2 if they are full.

Afterwards, someone suggested a "rear-loaded thunder mercury percussion gun". Zhao Liang, the head of the military industry, refuted it with the history of firearms development in another time and space. That is completely heresy, don't insult me.

Qian Kang and Zhao Xin talked for more than an hour. After talking about the expansion, they talked about the purchase of equipment.After Zhao Xin listened patiently, he was already dizzy.He snuffed out the unburned cigarette butt in his hand, and said, "Old Qian, I will add up the sum and give you an answer in a week."

"That's fine, I'll wait for your news."

Qian Kang knew that Zhao Xin was in trouble, but the expansion of the army had nothing to do with him. He didn't come to lead troops to fight in the eighteenth century!As the person in charge of the power port, if the power supply cannot keep up, it will be his dereliction of duty, so he must plan ahead.In another time and space, if the power in an area is not enough, it can be adjusted through the grid, but where does he go to adjust it in this time and space?You can only solve it by yourself.

At present, the power consumption of the entire Beihai Town is supported by two small thermal power plants and more than a dozen diesel generator sets, and the power consumption of oil fields and gold mines is completely dependent on diesel generator sets.The point is that those things are not cheap, and a set of 1800KW costs several million.

Zhao Xin got up and sent Qian Kang to the gate of the courtyard. When he came back, he was about to open the door and enter the house when a puff of smoke hit his face, making him cough.He and Qian Kang were smoking in the house, and they didn't feel it when they stayed in it before, but now they choked their throats when they came out and went in again.

Zhao Xin simply asked the guards to open the door to diffuse the smell, and wandered back and forth in the yard by himself.As he walked, he stopped in front of the tree pool at the southwest corner of the courtyard wall, folded his arms, and stared blankly at the few bamboos with withered leaves in front of him.

Seeing that he sometimes frowned, sometimes narrowed his eyes, and sometimes sighed, the head of the guard, Chai Rugui, knew that this man must have encountered a difficult situation and was trying to figure out a way, so he made a booing gesture to the surrounding guards.

At this time, there was no other sound except the wind blowing birds and the rustling of bamboo leaves.After an unknown amount of time, Chai Rugui moved his ears, and suddenly heard footsteps coming from outside the yard, and they were getting closer.Not long after, the command "salute" sounded, and then the heavy courtyard door was pushed open, and Ding Guofeng, wearing a dark green army coat, walked in, followed by a guard, carrying a bag of thing.

"Salute!" The guards in the yard saluted in unison.

Ding Guofeng smiled and raised his hand to return the salute. At this time, he had noticed Zhao Xin who was standing still. He took a closer look and couldn't help being amused, so he joked: "Hey~~ You want to learn from Wang Yangming's bamboo! What's the matter , Started to pursue the spiritual world? This is not good, you have to wait for the brothers to make progress together. How do you say it? Everyone is good."

Zhao Xin said dumbfoundedly: "I haven't seen you for a few days, you are good at talking. What can I do for you?"

"Can't you come and see if you have nothing to do?" Ding Guofeng pouted at the guard behind him and said, "Didn't you just get a prescription from the hospital and want to come over for a walk. Are you in trouble?"

In front of the guards in the yard, Zhao Xin didn't answer, but changed the subject and said, "What did Doctor Wu say?"

Ding Guofeng said helplessly: "I still have to eat a few times, and I have to continue doing steaming."

After returning from South Asia, this person has been in poor health. He can't keep up his spirits every day, has stomach pains from time to time, doesn't bother to move, and doesn't even attend committee meetings.According to Wu Xianhou, a master of traditional Chinese medicine in Beihai Town, it was because he stayed in India for too long and the rainy season was too humid, so the external damp entered his body.As the saying goes, "a thousand colds are easy to get rid of, but a dampness is hard to get rid of." If the dampness does not go away, no matter how many supplements you take, it will be useless.

When the two entered the room, Zhao Xin was about to ask someone to make tea. Ding Guofeng said no, and slowly took out a thermos cup from his coat pocket, explaining that it was the barley and red bean water boiled by his wife, and he drank it now when he was free.

"Ouch~~! Why do I think you have a tendency to run towards 101 now? Do you have to ride in the car tomorrow to fall asleep? Tsk tsk, sick tiger, oh, no! It's the king of sickness."

Since the year before last, the nicknames of Liu Sheng, Wang Yuanfang, Deng Fei and Ding Guofeng among the cross-travelers have changed. They are known as the "Four Heavenly Kings of the Northern Navy", and each town has its own side.Daring!Zhao Xin is about to be promoted to be an emperor, and King Kong should also be promoted to be a king.

"Ahem! Can you still have a pleasant chat?" Zhao Xin's counterattack came suddenly, Ding Guofeng was caught off guard, and almost choked without swallowing a sip of water.

"Have a cigarette. By the way, do you have chewing gum here? It will be troublesome to smell it when you get home later."

The medicine Wu Xianhou prescribed to Ding Guofeng started from regulating the lungs, so he asked to avoid smoking.His wife, Xue Wu, works as the head nurse at the Beihai Town Central Hospital, so she knows all about this, so she mobilized everyone in the family, from the nanny to the guard, to keep an eye on him.

Zhao Xin threw the cigarette and the lighter in front of the other party, then handed over the chewing gum in the drawer, and said with a smile, "I can't smoke at home, so I came here to smoke cigarettes."

"That's what you say, who is our brother?" Ding Guofeng lit a cigarette, took a few puffs contentedly, and asked, "How is the progress of the military expansion?"

"Kong Shao'an and Sheng Haizhou have assured me that the source of troops is fine, as long as the shelf regiment is in place on time."

The so-called "shelf regiment" is the framework of the army with only officers and no soldiers, including regiment, battalion, company, platoon officers, deputy in charge of political propaganda, and communication personnel.According to the principle of the "three-three system", a shelf group must have a size of 120 people. 20 recruits are 80 regiments, so the number of shelf regiments is [-].

Now half of the personnel drawn from various units to form the 80 "shelf regiments" are in place, and they are rushing to various parts of Shandong in batches to form new units, and training will begin immediately.

It is no exaggeration to say that the extremely arduous task of this military expansion is the first large-scale expansion of the Beihai Navy in history.It is now the end of September, and there are still 9 to 5 months before the start of spring next year.Before winter, the military control committees of Jiaodong counties have to build barracks and training grounds. Kong Shaoan and Sheng Haizhou are so busy that they can only sleep for three or four hours a day.

"Take care of your body quickly. If Xiao Kong gets tired, you have to go to Shandong to help him for a while." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he hesitated for a while, and then said: "Recently, I always feel restless, as if something happened. "

Ding Guofeng flicked the cigarette ash and asked curiously, "What happened?"

Zhao Xin shook his head: "I don't know. It would be great if I knew."

"That's why you were standing outside in a daze just now?"

"Where is it! It's all about money, money is tight!" Zhao Xin smiled wryly and gave a general account of Qian Kang's finding him.

Ding Guofeng listened silently, took a cup of water and drank a couple of sips of water, blinked, and suddenly said: "Boss Zhao, just listen to what I'm going to say, and if you don't listen to it, just ignore it." I fart."

"Okay, if you've smoked enough, let the fart go." Zhao Xin chatted with Ding Guofeng for a long time, feeling much more relaxed.

"I think you're a little left-handed when it comes to material purchases. In the past, there were few people and a small land. You used the money from antique gold to buy things with Andrew, and there was still a lot left after the purchase. But now the family is big and the business is big. , and use gold to fill Andrew’s bottomless pit, it’s not worth the loss. Have you thought about using other methods?”

Zhao Xin frowned, and asked without thinking: "What do you mean?"

"When I go home during the Spring Festival, I use my mobile phone to check the news when I have nothing to do. I just take the plane in Okinawa. As long as you, Boss Zhao, make a move, you can take everything away!"

Zhao Xin narrowed his eyes and looked at Ding Guofeng with great interest, and asked, "And then?"

"And then sell it, one plane is not worth one ton of gold?" Ding Guofeng said with a smile, and started to drink water again.

"Are you related?"

"Don't be funny, if I want to have that relationship, can I still have nothing to do when I am demobilized and go home? It's okay, it's almost time, it's time to go home and make medicine."

Ding Guofeng fastened the lid of the cup as he spoke, stuffed another piece of chewing gum into his mouth, then got up and walked to the hanger to put the cup back into his coat pocket.Pick up the coat and drape it over your shoulders.He saw Zhao Xin sitting motionless behind the table and looking at him, he shook his head and said, "Don't be foolish, don't listen to me. In fact, it's not just the plane that can be sold, right? Don't give it away, I'll go by myself."

This guy didn't even look at Zhao Xin's reaction after he finished speaking, he waved his hands behind his back and pushed the door out. Soon, cheerful whistles rang out in the yard.

(End of this chapter)