Ming Zuo

"It is inevitable that steamships will replace sailing ships. Whoever can seize the opportunity will become the overlord of the ocean. It's just that Qin Luo's boy is not willing to enter, and he insists on securing the military first. He missed the opportunity for nothing!"

The news of the Suez Canal not only caused a shock in Europe, but also many people in the empire realized its great value.

For the sake of profit, he actually found Zuo Menggeng's head.

Zuo Menggeng met Pan Xiaona and Qu Yin who came rushing over in Lanzhou.

Pan Xiaona was originally a government official, but after Pan Yunlong came out to serve as the governor of Heilongjiang Province, the father and son discussed it, and he resigned to go into business.

After all, father and son are high-ranking officials in the court, so it is easy to cause gossip.

After Pan Xiaona returned to Songjiang Mansion, he started a foreign trade business with Qu Yin and a few friends.

With a bunch of relatives of the emperor and the top rich, it shouldn't be too easy to make money after the game.

They were not satisfied, and decided to use the Suez Canal to become bigger and stronger.

They set their sights on the steamer.

The outside world doesn't know much about steamships, but at their level, they already know the great value of steamships.

Think about it, others are still using sailboats to trudge to death, but they have steamboats that are not afraid of going against the current and traveling through the waterway in a faster, safer and more massive way. How much wealth will that be?
Everything was well thought out, but the door was turned away by Qin Luo.

Qin Luo had only one reason.

Steamships must first meet the needs of the military before spreading to the civilian population.In the case that the military does not have a large number of steam warships, it will definitely not open up technology to the civilians.

Pan Xiaona and Qu Yin couldn't afford to wait, so they simply traveled all the way west to find Zuo Menggeng to make decisions.

Zuo Menggeng listened carefully and did not blame them for selfishness.

This kind of thing is not selfish.

And from a more high-end point of view, it may be beneficial to open steamboat technology to the private sector.

"Leave this to me."

Seeing that Zuo Menggeng was going to make a move, Pan Xiaona and Qu Yin were all overjoyed.

They were also very wise, they didn't let Zuo Menggeng sell in vain, but gave 30.00% of Wu's shares to the royal family, and 14.00% of the shares to Qin Luo.

In this way, they can conduct ocean trade under the banner of the royal family, which is undoubtedly safer, and they can go anywhere in the world without hindrance.

Zuo Menggeng wrote a long letter to Qin Luo, explaining his thoughts in detail.

The steamship is definitely a good thing, and it can help the empire further consolidate its position as the overlord of the sea.

He also understood Qin Luo's worry.

I am afraid that after the steamship enters the commercial and civilian fields, it will soon be imitated by other countries, thus threatening the interests of the empire.

Only Zuo Menggeng knew that the steamship would be controlled by other countries sooner or later.But this time, it will definitely not be easy.

After all, European countries have only just started in terms of academics and disciplines, and there is no doubt that there will be a long way to go before reaching the level of being able to manufacture steam engines and widely use them.

Even for those who study in the empire, it is not yet known how many years it will take to realize the knowledge of the system.

After all, the steam engine is the beginning of industrialization, and its technical content is still very high.

Mechanical principles, material synthesis, skilled workers, theoretical knowledge, etc., this is a whole knowledge system, and it is definitely not something that can be surpassed by a certain genius or a few geniuses.

With this understanding, there is no need to worry about opening steamships to the public.

On top of that, steamships were new to the empire, still in their infancy.

What are the deficiencies, in fact, researchers can not guarantee.

Relying solely on the military to help with the experiment, the number of samples must be insufficient.

Another point is that warships are very different from civilian ships. Even if they are tested in the hands of the military, they may not be suitable for use in the hands of civilians.

The best way is to grab it with both hands.

Relying on the strong capital and demand of the imperial people to accelerate the development of steamships and promote the replacement of shipping faster.

It will take some time before Qin Luo receives the letter, Zuo Menggeng temporarily focuses on other matters.

After three years on the west tour, the empire obviously looked a lot different.

For example, the city of Lanzhou under his feet has become extremely prosperous.

"There are as many as four or five hundred caravans that come here every day, with more than [-] people. Just to receive these caravans, the residents of the city can make a lot of money. At present, Gansu is no longer Central appropriation is needed, and trade and related supporting links alone can generate huge profits.”

Li Yuanding, the governor of Gansu Province, was in high spirits, and at the same time, he also meant to show his merits.

But I have to say that Gansu is doing really well.

As a well-known poverty-stricken place in Northwest China and a key province for environmental protection, everyone had no expectations for this place.

Just be able to protect the environment.

Who would have thought that with the expansion of the empire in the Western Regions, the Silk Road, which had been silent for nearly a thousand years, would be revived again.

Both the East and the West are hungry for each other's needs, but due to various changes in the past history, trade and exchanges have not been possible.

Now that all the obstacles are gone, the exchange of supplies has become a reality, and the merchants immediately became the most active group of people on the Silk Road.

Like flowing water, they brought wealth to all parts of the world, and also created the prosperity of Lanzhou.

Zuo Menggeng looked up the information, and was shocked when he saw that the population of Lanzhou exceeded 50.

Even a place as remote as Lanzhou can have a population of 50, so what about other places?
He hurriedly asked Long Zuguang to ask for the materials.

Not long ago, the Ministry of Civil Affairs completed the first census since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the whole work process was really hard.

After all, the current empire is too big. To be as detailed and accurate as possible, in this age of inconvenient transportation, it will take a huge amount of work.

For this reason, it took five years before and after the first census.

The end result is also very gratifying.

Now the registered population of the empire has exceeded [-] million.

Among them, there are [-] million people in the mainland, and the rest are Indians in the New World, aboriginals in Central Asia, the population of Annan, Morocco, Temasek, and the provinces of Nanyang and Australia.

Of course, although the population is very large, many of them are not high-quality population, and they are still a burden on the country.

But in this era, the huge population will definitely be a good boost as the empire develops.Otherwise, such a huge territory cannot be effectively controlled at all.

In addition to the population size, the ethnic distribution is also sufficiently diverse.

According to statistics, the empire currently has a total of 170 ethnic groups.The largest population is the Han nationality, with a total of 100 million people.

The smallest population is the Inuit people located in the Arctic Circle, with only more than 300 people found so far.

However, under the protection of the empire, the current life is very good, and the related customs and culture have not been destroyed, and they have been preserved in their original flavor.

The greatest achievement of the empire is obviously to allow the Indians in the New World to survive.

In the future world, Indian culture will be more completely presented to the world. (end of this chapter)