I want to be emperor

During Luo Zhixue's inspection in the Peninsula Province, he first went to Kuwait State, west of Basra, where the governor is based. After the oil resources were discovered by the Chu people many years ago, a frenzy of oil exploration and exploitation quickly started here.

Because of oil extraction, it has also driven the development of related local industries, such as roads, railways, docks and other transportation infrastructure.

At the same time, many companies have also set up some local refineries to refine kerosene locally and supply it to markets in West Asia, Africa and Europe.

Of course, the kerosene market capacity in these indigenous places is very small... far from being comparable to the huge market in the empire's East Asia, or even far less than the American market with only tens of millions of people.

The main reason is that there are not many Chu people in these places, and the populations of vassal states, protectorates and some primitive tribes in the African interior that have not yet been touched by the Chu people are basically paupers except for a few powerful people... …You can’t use kerosene as daily lighting oil like the people of Chu.

Even though the price of kerosene has dropped significantly compared to ten years ago!

Ten years ago, when the Chu Empire first started its oil industry, although kerosene was cheaper than whale oil, the price was still not low. About the thirty-seventh year of Chengshun, the sales of whale oil in the coastal area of ​​Songjiang Prefecture The price is about 80 to 90 cents per liter, and in inland areas due to higher shipping costs, the price is even more expensive, reaching more than 100 cents.

At the same time, the price of kerosene could be even lower due to its lower cost, about sixty cents.

But even this price can't be said to be cheap, it can even be said to be expensive.

After all, this 'fen' is not the cent that later generations are familiar with, but a monetary unit that evolved from the 'wen' of the pre-Ming Dynasty.

For reference, the monthly salary of ordinary workers in Chu State at that time was only sixty-seven Chu Yuan. If we use income as a comparison, it can be simply compared to the 'yuan' of later generations... Of course, if we use food prices, food consumption coins and other price systems as a comparison, Then it may only be equivalent to the horns of future generations!

In other words, even the quality of life of ordinary people in future generations, converted to the Chu Empire, would require a high-income group with a monthly salary of seventy, eighty or even hundreds of Chu yuan... This does not include the technology of the times. The different lives caused by factors only count the most basic living standards.

This is a change caused by productivity!

Therefore, it is actually difficult to accurately compare the monetary value of different periods and different productivity.

We cannot simply say how much one tael of silver in a certain period in ancient times is equivalent to in later generations! Because using different anchors will have different results.

If we simply use grain prices as anchors, one tael of silver in the late Ming Dynasty is roughly equivalent to three to four hundred yuan in later generations. The exact amount is difficult to say, because grain prices in different places in different years in the late Ming Dynasty fluctuated too much... It is difficult to find a unification. Or it is a representative standard, so it cannot be calculated specifically.

The Yuan of Chu State is directly extended from the early "liang". Without many complicated conversion processes in the middle, it can be simply and roughly understood that one Chu Yuan is one tael of silver, and one Chu Yuan is probably equivalent to several taels of silver in later generations. One hundred yuan——

In fact, it is more accurate to compare Chu Yuan with the gold standard currencies of various countries in the late 19th century, because they are both on the gold standard and are in the second industrial revolution period. Their productivity is similar, the total amount of gold in the world is also similar, and people's income is as high as The prices are actually pretty much the same.

From this perspective, Chu Yuan is very valuable.

One Chu Yuan is equal to one thousand cents... This exchange ratio was inherited from the previous exchange of one or two legal silver coins with a face value of one thousand legal copper coins with a legal face value of one cent.

In modern Chu society, the currency unit "jiao" in the middle is actually used relatively rarely by Chu people in daily life... Basically, they just say how many yuan and cents directly, and the middle jiao is ignored.

At 60 cents per liter, kerosene is not cheap. In the first two years after it was launched on the market, kerosene was actually only a living commodity that the middle class could afford. Poor people could use it, but they had to use it very frugally.

But now...the price of kerosene in the Da Chu Empire has been gradually discovered and exploited, and refineries have been built in various places. The production of kerosene continues to skyrocket, and those oils are competing with each other, and they are all pursuing to seize it as quickly as possible. market and seize the opportunity.

This has also led to the fact that the price of kerosene today is no longer what it used to be. The kerosene in Songjiang Prefecture now only costs about 12 cents per liter...

For Chu people, even ordinary low-income families can afford kerosene at such a price!

But... this price is still too expensive for the local indigenous people in West Asia, Europe, India and other regions...

People from the Chu country, even the most ordinary factory workers, can earn six or seven Chu yuan a month... The twelve cents a liter of kerosene is naturally nothing.

But the income of indigenous people in contemporary countries is far from that high!

I won’t talk about other people with lower incomes. I will only say that the income is relatively good among the indigenous groups. They belong to the local middle-income class and are local indigenous people who work for the Chu people.

When people from Chu hire a local ordinary labor force in Spain, they only need to pay eight hundred cents a month... Of course, there are also some benefits, that is, they can get potatoes, corn and other cheap food provided by people from Chu at relatively cheap prices.

For this kind of work, the local indigenous people are fighting for it.

Most of this income they need to maintain their basic lives, using kerosene... Even kerosene, which costs about twelve cents a liter, is relatively expensive for them... It's not that they really can't afford it, but they can't bear it. Or it's not necessary.

As for ordinary workers with lower incomes, or tenants of local landlords or even serfs, that is not to mention. Those with low incomes cannot even eat enough to eat, let alone light a lamp at night.

Under such circumstances, many of the Chu people's products, even after they have entered industrialization, have a huge output, extremely low cost, and a relatively low selling price. However, for the indigenous people of various countries, the Chu people's industrial products are still relatively expensive. of.

Kerosene, a bulk daily necessities, is just one of the more typical representatives.

Therefore, the total population of indigenous people in various countries seems to be large, adding up to hundreds of millions. However, all the indigenous markets put together are actually not as good as the American market with a population of only more than 30 million.

Therefore, the main product of the oil industry of the Great Chu Empire, that is, kerosene, is mainly aimed at the Chu people's own market. The export volume seems to be quite large, but the proportion is very small, only five or six percentage points.

But even so, these few percentage points of kerosene sales are enough for oil companies to build some small and medium-sized refineries in Basra, a peninsula province that is close to the indigenous market and is an oil producing area.

These refineries have led to the development of other industries, so using the oil exploration in Kuwait as an introduction, a certain industry has been developed in Basra.

The total local population is not large, but the industrial output value is still quite large, and the per capita income is also high.

Luo Zhixue could clearly see this when he inspected the area. Even though the Peninsula Province is thousands of miles away from the hinterland of East Asia, the modernization of local urban buildings is not too low.

Although the buildings in Basilari are not very tall, they all have the necessary modern facilities. Electrical equipment is relatively fashionable in East Asia. You can also see it here. Some commercial buildings generally have elevators and electric lights.

Some of the major urban roads in Basra are even paved with asphalt... There is a local oil refinery, and the waste residue after oil refining is asphalt, which can be used to pave roads. The cost is less than transporting cement from distant East Asia to pave roads. Cheap.

At the same time, people's living standards are also relatively high.

Luo Zhixue first looked at some major local economic data, such as the income level and prices of local people, and also visited a local farmer's market.

I found that although the food, fruits and vegetables here are more expensive, the meat is relatively cheap.

The income of local people is generally high. The monthly salary of an ordinary worker in a local oil refinery can reach fifteen Chu yuan. Even an ordinary worker in the service industry can earn a monthly salary of about ten Chu yuan.

This salary level is no less than the salary level in Songjiang Prefecture.

The salary level in Songjiang Prefecture has continued to develop over the past ten years as the local economy has continued to develop and the economy of the general environment has continued to rise. Therefore, the minimum salary level has reached eight yuan. Generally speaking, workers who have long-term stability have a basic income. They are all above 10 Chu Yuan. For some temporary workers and low-income service workers, the salary is probably between 8 Chu Yuan and 10 Chu Yuan.

This level is already in the first echelon in East Asia.

Overseas, the salary level in the Basra area of ​​Peninsular Province is actually better than that of Songjiang Prefecture... This is still rare.

Although overseas has vast territory and sparsely populated areas, there is a lot of land and you can plant whatever you want... It seems very wonderful, but in fact the average income of people in overseas areas is still not as good as that in East Asia.

There is a lot of land overseas, but human farming has limitations, and you cannot farm without limit... As for using horses to farm or even machines, the horses and machines also require costs, and in the end it all needs to be accounted for. In the cost of food production.

Then the food prices in overseas areas... are basically very low... For example, in North America, the prices farmers sell food are actually very low... There is no way, the local population is only so small, but there is so much arable land, and horses are widely used. Due to plowing or even mechanical farming, the per capita grain output is very high and the local area cannot digest so much grain. The grain will eventually be purchased by grain companies, and then concentrated and transported to coastal ports, and then shipped and transported to the local market for sale.

If farming is not profitable, and you stop farming and want to find other jobs... I'm sorry, the industries in most overseas territories, even the directly-governed territories, are very limited and can provide jobs in the secondary and tertiary industries. It's very limited.

There are many people but few pitfalls, so the salaries offered by these jobs will not be too high. Therefore, for the vast majority of people in overseas areas, they can definitely eat to their fullest, and they can eat whatever they want...

However, there is not much cash available, and the various industrial goods consumed are not cheap. Therefore, the overall living standards have their own advantages and disadvantages compared with those in East Asia.

People in overseas territories have better food than local people, but their enjoyment of other material conditions is worse.

Basra is different from other overseas territories. Its economic model is quite similar to that in East Asia.

Of course, it's just a similarity.

In many cases, living standards are not just about food and drink, but also many other aspects, such as medical care, education, entertainment, etc.

In these aspects, Basra is still a long way from the cities in East Asia.

Luo Zhixue saw oil exploration in Kuwait, then saw the refinery and some other local small industries in Basra, and also went to the farmland in the nearby suburbs... Although Basra seems to be located in the desert of West Asia, because it is located in the Mesopotamia Basin, Downstream, there is also a small alluvial plain suitable for farming and irrigated by river water, so agriculture can also be developed to grow food.

It's just that water resources are limited after all, the farmland that can be developed is also limited, and the total food output is limited.

Therefore, the local agriculture can only be said to be barely adequate to maintain the needs of the local Chu people.

After visiting the Basra area, Luo Zhixue left the Persian Gulf on the Royal Princess accompanied by other ships in the inspection fleet, and then headed around the Peninsula Province to the Red Sea.

Luo Zhixue went to the Red Sea to see the Suez Canal under construction.

Since the Great Chu Empire obtained the Suez area from the Ottoman Kingdom, it began surveying the local canal and drawing up a construction plan. Later, the Suez Canal Company was specially established to be responsible for the construction and subsequent operation and management. This canal is estimated to The total investment reached 30 million Chu Yuan.

After completing the preliminary survey, many preparatory works and the paving the way for some minor projects, the Suez Canal began to enter the large-scale construction stage on the 45th day of Chengshun.

A large amount of engineering equipment came in for construction, and in addition to thousands of Chu people such as Chu engineers, technical workers, and managers who controlled the equipment, there was also a huge group of indigenous workers that maintained a number of more than 100,000 people all year round.

In fact, these indigenous workers were not workers employed by the canal company, but workers from the Ottoman palace, the Egyptian governor, and labor companies affiliated to multiple European countries.

The canal company signed project contracts with these labor service companies, and these labor service companies recruited manpower to work on site... a very common labor dispatch model in the Dachu Empire.

This model is very friendly to Chu enterprises... Chu people don't even have to manage these indigenous workers... The labor service company itself is responsible for managing the workers, including providing meals and paying salaries to the workers.

Chu State enterprises only need to pay the contract fees to these labor service companies in accordance with the contract.

Under such circumstances, although there are many indigenous workers in the Suez Canal Company, they have not caused much management trouble and financial pressure on the canal company...

However, in order to avoid trouble and accidents, the Chu army still stationed a considerable number of troops in the canal zone all year round. Not only a large number of foreign legions, but also more than 2,000 regular Chu troops were used to protect the canal project from damage and In addition to obstruction, it is also to block the area to prevent these indigenous people from running around and passing through the canal construction area into other parts of the Peninsula Province.

You must know that Peninsula Province is a directly administered territory. According to the relevant laws of the Dachu Empire, indigenous workers are not allowed to live and work. Only labor dispatch under special circumstances can enter.

However, workers belonging to these labor dispatch companies must work within a limited range and are not allowed to go to other places. They must leave after completing their work.

But as for these hundreds of thousands of indigenous workers, the Chu people cannot control them with just a piece of legal provisions. Although the labor dispatch companies themselves have supervisors, the Chu people do not trust them, so the necessary military blockade is indispensable. of.

Because of the arrival of the Holy Driver, in order to avoid trouble, the indigenous workers in the canal military management area had stopped working a few days ago, and then gathered in the camp and were detained by the Chu army... the kind that directly set up machine guns.

Who dares to run out of the camp in the past few days, including senior managers of labor service companies, senior officials from some indigenous countries and even members of the royal family... As long as they dare to run out at this juncture, the guarding soldiers will directly He would pull the trigger of the machine gun and give them a shot.

Therefore, when Luo Zhixue came to the Suez Canal Zone, what he saw was not a huge construction site in full swing, but only a few people, but a construction site full of various engineering equipment and equipment.

Each of these engineering equipment is very large, especially several multi-bucket excavators powered by steam engines, which must be more than ten meters high. Because they are too heavy, and the power of the steam engines they carry is limited, in order to maneuver, this thing is even done Orbital maneuver.

In other words, when moving from one place to another, they have to lay large railroad tracks, and then use special locomotives to pull them along, and then fix the construction after arriving at the construction site.

During Luo Zhixue's inspection, the canal company also arranged for operators to conduct a demonstration. Driven by a steam engine, a huge turntable began to rotate, and then tightened the thick steel cable, which then drove the large excavator arm forward. At the same time, there are steel cables driving multiple buckets on the disk. These buckets rotate slowly, then dig up the soil, bring it out, and then drop into a truck pulled by a steam engine tractor on the side.

Even Luo Zhixue was surprised when he saw this thing... Such a large and primitive excavator will never be seen in future generations...

It was only in this era that these huge steam equipment could only be seen on large projects such as canals with special needs, or on some large open-pit coal mines.

However, this thing looks very intimidating, but in Luo Zhixue's opinion, the construction efficiency is not very good... far inferior to the ordinary excavators of later generations.

However, at the construction site, Luo Zhixue also saw a gasoline excavator that was somewhat similar in style to later excavators, but still very different.

It can be semi-rotated, and at the same time, it is more compact overall and seems to be more powerful. It can rely on its own power to move forward on complex construction sites.

However, the power transmission method for digging holes is still not the hydraulic pressure that is familiar to later generations, but still uses steel cables.

The mining efficiency of this thing is relatively high.

It seems that the development and application of gasoline engine equipment in the domestic industry is progressing faster than I expected. In just a few years, these gasoline engine engineering equipment can already be seen on the canal construction site.

At this time, management officials of the canal company also said that they were gradually introducing gasoline engine engineering equipment to strengthen the construction capacity of the canal project, striving to complete all construction in five years and make the canal navigable.

This timetable is already very fast. The Suez Canal built by the Chu Empire has a higher standard than the Suez Canal built by the French in the original time and space, and the overall construction volume is also greater... The canal built by the French, at the beginning The navigable water depth is only seven meters and can only accommodate ocean-going vessels with a displacement of 5,000 tons.

However, the Suez Canal of the Great Chu Empire requires a navigable water depth of 13 meters. After all, many of the contemporary ocean-going cargo ships of the Great Chu Empire have tonnages of several thousand tons or even tens of thousands of tons, and their drafts are often only six or seven meters... …

The ocean liner is even bigger. The Royal Princess is fully loaded with 30,000 tons, and its draft exceeds nine meters...

At the same time, the main secondary battleships in the navy are generally between 8,000 and 9,000 tons. The next generation is basically determined to be around 10,000 tons, and the draft is estimated to be more than seven meters. The Tianjin class, the top battleship currently in service, has a full row of more than 16,000 tons and a draft of more than 16,000 tons. Nine meters.

This is still talking about now. In the next few decades, it is estimated that the tonnage of those cargo ships will be larger and the draft will be deeper!

Therefore, it is impossible for the Chu people to reduce the navigable water depth of the canal to only seven meters like the French in the original time and space. In fact, the navigable water depth standard of the Suez Canal is based on the draft of the Royal Princess and the Navy's Tianjin-class battleships. depth, and at the same time leaving some margin, the navigable water depth standard of the main channel is set to 13 meters.

After all, you can't say the draft is nine meters, so you just build a canal with a water depth of nine meters... In order to ensure safety, you have to leave a margin of two or three meters.

Only this standard can meet the needs of the next few decades, instead of discovering ten or twenty years later that the canal is too shallow, the river is narrow, and the locks are small, so that many large ships and even main warships cannot pass... Then It's embarrassing, isn't it?

In addition, the technical level of the contemporary Chu people in canal excavation is mainly due to the fact that the level of construction equipment far exceeds that of the French in the 1860s. Therefore, the Chu people simply got it right in one step and directly built a 13-meter navigable canal. water depth.

The Panama Canal under construction in central America also has this water depth standard. The minimum water depth of the main channel is 13 meters.

These two canals are enough to meet the maritime transportation and naval mobilization needs of the Chu Empire in the next thirty or even fifty years.

As for the arrival of more and larger ships in 50 years, the existing canal will not be enough. It will be possible to widen it by then, or even dig a new one next to it.

The commencement of construction of these two canals has also been praised by many people in the Chu Empire as two major projects of the century... These two things are indeed huge projects and of great significance!