I want to be emperor

The news that the entire line of the Songjiang Railway was opened to traffic and the Zheng He was officially put into commercial operation greatly stimulated all walks of life in the Great Chu Empire.

Because this high-pressure steam engine brings more convenient transportation, and convenient transportation can greatly reduce the cost of goods.

This is of great benefit not only for the output of agricultural products and industrial raw materials, but also for major factories.

This stimulus was also directly reflected in the stock price of the Jinling Stock Exchange of the Great Chu Empire.

The stock prices of many industries have risen to varying degrees. Whether it is the shipbuilding industry, the steel industry, or the machinery industry, or the shipping industry, or even the textile industry, many industries have experienced varying degrees of stock price rises.

This means that people are very optimistic about the economic benefits brought by future trains and ships.

Among them, steel and coal, two basic industries that seem to have nothing to do with steam engines, have seen the most violent rises.

why?Because whether it's trains or ships, they are big iron users, and they also burn coal...

In terms of iron, in fact, the steel directly used by steam engines is not too much. After all, a power unit is only that big, but ships and railways are big users of iron.

Ships, today's ships widely use wrought iron as the load-bearing structure, not only for ocean-going vessels, but also for inland river vessels, and the proportion of wrought iron used in the proportion of materials used is increasing.

And with the large-scale application of steam ships, more and more new ships are built, and the amount of iron consumed will definitely increase.

It is very possible that hundreds of thousands of tons of steel will be used for shipbuilding alone in the next year.

As for the railway, what is the main construction cost of the railway?It is the roadbed and rails. If it is a flat terrain, the cost of the roadbed is relatively low, and the main cost lies in the rails.

According to the empire's future railway construction plan, there are thousands of kilometers of construction plans in the early stage. How many rails will be used...

According to this rail demand, the current steel industry of the Great Chu Empire has to continue to expand production on a large scale to meet the demand.

Otherwise, there is not enough steel to produce rails, and the railway cannot be built.

The demand for steel in the future will inevitably grow explosively, so steel practitioners and investors are very optimistic about the steel industry.

So is the coal industry!

After a large number of trains and ships are put into use, the use of coal will inevitably increase.

After all, these two things are powered by coal... But when it comes to the huge demand for coal, it is actually not the ship or the train itself, but a large amount of steel is needed to build the ship or railway.

And it takes a lot of coal to produce that steel!

The steel and coal industries have always been deeply bound together, because steel is produced with iron ore and coal as raw materials. Iron ore alone can’t produce steel. You need several Coal twice as much as iron ore.

As much as the demand for steel from the railroads, the demand from the steel industry to the coal industry will increase exponentially.

In the future, the demand for coal in the steel industry of the Great Chu Empire will explode.

Not only coal for steelmaking, but also general industrial coal and private coal.

Because the large-scale application of ships and trains in the future will inevitably lead to a decline in coal transportation costs, and the decline in coal prices will inevitably increase the total sales in the industrial market and the civilian coal market, because with the decline in coal prices, More companies will choose to use steam engines as the most power, thus abandoning water power.

As for the private use of coal for heating and cooking, because the price of coal in the past was relatively high and the transportation cost was high, generally speaking, only when water transportation is convenient, or it is simply near the coal production area, will there be relatively large-scale use of coal for heating and cooking, etc. .

But if the transportation cost falls, then coal can cover more areas, so the total sales of coal will inevitably increase significantly.

The demand for coal for steelmaking, coal for power, and coal for heating will all experience explosive growth.

This means that the coal industry of the Great Chu Empire is about to usher in a big explosion...

Some optimistic practitioners believe that in the next five years, even if the domestic coal production is increased by five times, it may not be able to meet the market demand five years later.

This kind of optimistic forecast for the future has also led to the fact that major coal mining companies are now busy expanding production, building railways in mining areas, introducing trains, and at the same time contacting shipping companies to ship coal out by steam ships .

Guangdong Lianzhou Prefecture Guangning Coal Mine Company, in addition to actively expanding production, is planning to spend huge sums of money to rebuild the original mining area-marine terminal railway to wrought iron standards in order to transport a large amount of coal after the expansion to the port for loading. rail while extending the building.

The reconstructed and upgraded Guangning mining area railway is estimated to be more than [-] kilometers long, spreading across many of their mining areas.

And they are also preparing to upgrade the free coal shipping terminal to ship coal faster.

The above-mentioned transformation measures are all to facilitate the transportation of coal to meet the increasing market demand for coal.

In addition, some mining companies have found the railway company.

Trying to get the railway company to take into account their huge freight demand when planning railway lines.

For example, Jinbei Mining Company, which owns the super-large coal mine-Datong Coal Mine, has always been suffering from difficulties in coal transportation, so that they guard the huge coal resources empty-handed, but they can't make a lot of money...

They had thought about building a Sinotrans railway before, even if it was transported by horse-drawn carriage...but it couldn't be done because of too much investment.

Now, they want to rely on the strength of the Railway Corporation to allow them to consider their coal transportation needs when repairing the railway.

Anyway, the government originally had a strategic plan for the Grassland Railway, but the main consideration in the previous planning was military needs. After the railway line left Zhangjiakou, it went straight to the grassland and went north, all the way to Xiaobeihai.

The Jinbei Coal Mine Company's idea is to find a way to promote the construction of a straight line of railway from Zhangjiakou to Datong, so as to facilitate the transportation of coal.

If it doesn't work, they even prefer to bear part of the railway construction cost.

Of course, the premise is to build a railway from Tianjin to Zhangjiakou first, otherwise the railway from Zhangjiakou to Datong is just empty talk.

The local Jinbei Mining Company, together with the local government, and even the Shanxi governor's office are about to run, trying to build the Datong-Tianjin railway as soon as possible...

To develop the rich coal in the northern Shanxi region, drive local economic development.

Otherwise, it is really heartbreaking to guard a lot of coal and not be able to transport it out and sell it to make money and develop the economy.

And these things that happened one after another are the huge impact brought by the practical application of trains and ships.

What is science and technology to rejuvenate the country?

What is Industrial Rejuvenation?

Trains and ships are the rejuvenation of the country through science and technology, and the rejuvenation of the country through industry, at least in the Great Chu Empire in the mid-seventeenth century.

The huge reaction and impetus produced by the industry after the interview with the high-pressure steam engine finally reflected in the capital market.

Not to mention that the stock prices of various industries on the Jinling Stock Exchange have risen, and more importantly, a large amount of funds have begun to enter the above-mentioned several key industries.

Steel and coal in the upstream basic industries, heavy equipment manufacturing and shipbuilding in the midstream, and shipping in the downstream.

Of course, more funds still entered the railway industry.

Even if the Great Chu Empire did not open up the railway industry, but adopted a monopoly method, it did not allow the railway company to go public or issue bonds for direct financing.

However, the railway company still obtained a large amount of investment from the capital market through bank loans.

Just in the past few months, a number of regional railway companies under the Great Chu Empire Railway Corporation signed loan agreements with several banks. The loan amount involved in these loan agreements has reached more than 2000 million Chu Yuan. huge.

And that's just the beginning!
The Great Chu Empire Railway Corporation is still planning railway lines and entering the construction stage. These railway lines will also need loans in the future.

According to estimates, in the next three years, the total loan amount expected by the Great Chu Empire Railway Corporation will reach more than [-] million Chu Yuan.

Although the [-] million in these three years refers to the total amount of loans required for the planning and construction of the railway within three years, and this money will only be obtained gradually as the construction progresses. The continuous issuance of loans may last for more than five years. It is said that [-] million will be spent in three years.

But this is still a staggering number.

Loans of [-] million within three years!

Anyone who heard this data would be dumbfounded!

But there is another statistic that is even more surprising.

In the first month after the official operation of Songjiang Railway, its profit reached more than [-] yuan!
This is only one month. According to this calculation, there will be a profit of 10,000+ in a year at least.

But the construction cost of Songjiang Railway is only 10,000+!

That is to say, it only takes five years at most for the Songjiang Railway to recover all the construction costs. After five years, it will be a net profit, and it will be a net profit of 10,000+ Lilan every year.

Although the high profitability of Songjiang Railway can hardly be replicated, because it relies on the strong industrial scale of Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou Industrial Zone, the intensive freight and passenger transportation demand brought by the permanent population of other people, and the local people also have relatively high fare consumption. ability.

The combination of these has led to the ultra-high profitability of Songjiang Railway.

But in any case, the strong profitability of the Songjiang Railway has given reassurance to the high-level empire, especially those who have invested heavily in railways and whose profit prospects are uncertain, and let them know that investing in railways can not only drive local economic development, but also Can make money!

In this way, the high level of the empire approved a series of construction plans of the railway company, the first of which was the Jiangnan Railway.

In addition to the Su-Song Railway that has been approved for construction, other sections of the Jiangnan Railway have also obtained construction permits, and began to enter the grand occasion of multi-point simultaneous construction.

If all goes well, the first phase of the Jiangnan Railway, that is, Hangzhou-Songjiang-Suzhou-Changzhou-Zhenjiang-Jinling-Wuhu Dangtu, will be open to traffic in about 25 years or at most three years from Chengshun.

----

And just as the Great Chu Empire entered into a large-scale construction of railways and ships, and the capital market was in a carnival for it, on the vast and sparsely populated northern grasslands, the frontline soldiers who fought against Russia once again received good news.

After more than three months of continuous marching and fighting in spring and summer today, the Yenisei dispatched army under the Second Army of the Chu Army finally successfully captured the last large Russian stronghold on the Yenisei River on July [-]: Ruhansky city.

This is a city established by the Russians 49 years ago, and it is also the longest city operated by the Russians in the Yenisei River Basin.

However, because the importance is far less than that of Yenisesk, which was captured by the Chu army before, the overall defense force is not too strong.

The reason why the Chu army waited until this summer to capture the city of Turuhansky after capturing Yenisesk last year was purely because of the weather and distance.

In winter and even in spring, it was difficult to launch large-scale military operations because of the severe cold. After finally waiting for the weather to be less cold, he went down the river and ran across thousands of kilometers to kill the local Russian defenders. The important stronghold of the Tunguska River was taken.

After the Yenisei River stronghold in the north was captured by the Chu army, it was announced that the Russians had completely and permanently lost the Yenisei River Basin.

Today, the Russians do not have a medium or large stronghold in the Yenisei River Basin, and at most there are only a few small colonial strongholds that have not been discovered by the Chu army.

Siberia is too big. If some small Russian residents stay away from the big rivers and don't run out stupidly, it will be difficult for the Chu army to find them...

Not to mention the Yenisei River Basin, even in the Lena River Basin and the Far East to the east, it is estimated that there are still small Russian strongholds.

As for losing contact with most of them for a year and a half, it is not a problem at all for the colonial activities in these years.

This is why the Third Army, after taking control of the Lena River Basin, began to conduct frequent searches and patrols in the Lena River and the Far East... in order to find out the remaining Russian strongholds and then capture them.

At the same time, it is also to continue to conquer the many local indigenous people.

In the vast Siberia region, there are not only Russians, but actually the local aborigines have a larger population. Some aborigines were conquered by the Chu army or the Russians before, and now they are all under the rule of the Great Chu Empire. enlightenment.

But there are still some that have not been conquered by the two countries before, and still maintain their independence, especially in several areas in the Far East, many of which are controlled by local indigenous people, and Russia did not actually control them before.

Now the task of the Third Army of the Great Chu Empire is to continue to clean up and suppress the remnants of the Russians and the local recalcitrant natives, in order to completely control the local area.

At this time, after the Second Army took the Yenisei River Basin, it will send some troops to station and patrol in various places, pull out the remaining strongholds of the Russians, and recover the natives.

The Siberia that the empire wanted was not a Siberia shared with other races, but a Siberia that belonged entirely to the empire.

From the land to the population, everything belongs to the Great Chu Empire!
Of course, these are all follow-up matters, and there is no rush, they can be dealt with slowly.

It took the Russians decades to gradually control the central and western regions of Siberia, and the Great Chu Empire also had enough patience, spending several years or even ten years to complete the complete Sinicization of the local area.

Just like in the three southwestern provinces (Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan) and the Qingkang area (Kangba, Kangxi, Qinghai), the Great Chu Empire faced frequent large-scale rebellions from many local chieftains.

But instead of adopting a soft policy like previous dynasties, such as conferring titles, they took the toughest measures from the beginning to the end, uprooting all the chieftains and dignitaries who dared to resist, and liberating the serfs at the same time. The people are fully educated.

More than ten years have passed, and now the vast southwestern region of the empire, including Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou, as well as parts of Sichuan and Qingkang, the various chieftains and powerful forces that have been entrenched in the area for thousands of years have been uprooted.

This move not only stabilized the rule of the empire in the local area, but also liberated more than ten million low-level people in the local area... You must know that in the era of chieftains and religious dignitaries, serfs and even slavery were still preserved in these places, which is very cruel. ...

But now, the people in these places can enjoy the real glory of civilization.

Therefore, the people at the bottom of these places actually have a good impression of the empire, and even support the rule of the empire.

This also made the empire's local enlightenment policy very smooth, and the acceptance of the people at the bottom was very high... Those who resisted were only some chieftains and religious dignitaries.

At present, large-scale intermarriages have been carried out in these places by changing the language, changing dress etiquette and even daily customs.

The local lower-level people, especially the new generation, have basically been Sinicized and consider themselves Han Chinese.

To some extent, there is no obvious difference between the younger generation of people at the bottom of these places and the people in other parts of the empire. There may be some older people in the area who remember some customs and traditions of the early years and can speak the local Some vernacular, but decades later?What about hundreds of years later?

These things will inevitably disappear in the long river of history.

At that time, if you want to say that the people in these places are indigenous barbarians instead of Chinese Han people, descendants of the Yellow Emperor, they will all have to turn against you!
It’s the same as you call those grassland men who are from various tribes in Monan Mongolia but have recognized their ancestors and changed their surnames to be barbarians. It's a barbarian...

If you meet someone with a bad temper, maybe I will shoot you with an arrow...

Although the empire’s policy of indoctrination in the southwestern region cost a lot in the early days, it even fought several large-scale counter-insurgency wars, with one big fight every three years and one small fight every year.

But the effect achieved is very good, which can be seen from the fact that there have been no large-scale rebellions in the local area in recent years.

And if this situation continues, it is estimated that there will be no chieftain rebellion in the southwest region in the future.

For thousands of years from ancient times to the present, only the Great Chu Empire has been able to completely solve the chieftain problem in the southwest region, and other dynasties have not done it.

Of course, this is also due to the limitations of the times.

After all, the expansion of Huaxia's territory is gradual. From the Central Plains to the eastern region, then to the northern and southern regions, and then to the southwest and northwest regions, etc., this is a gradual expansion process.

It is the turn of the Great Chu Empire, and it is time to completely solve the Southwest and Northwest issues.

In the future, the problem of northern Siberia will be solved, but it is actually easier to solve this problem in Siberia because there are not many indigenous people there.

Just such a small number of people, first through suppression and killing, then through various enlightenment policies, and then organize tens of millions of Chinese immigrants to go there, and after large-scale intermarriage with local aborigines.

After more than ten years, let alone retain the aboriginal culture, there may not even be much aboriginal blood left.

Therefore, the problem of enlightenment in the north is far less serious than that in the southwest and Qingkang areas.

Therefore, the strategic focus of the Northern Chu Army, especially the First Army and the Second Army is not to educate and suppress rebellion, but to the Russians.

Although the Russians lost the Yenisei River Basin, they still control the Ob River Basin. The Great Chu Empire naturally could not tolerate this.

The high-level empire has always wanted to push the western border to the Ob River Basin, and then enter the vast West Siberia grassland west of the Ob River.

Therefore the Ob River must be captured!
If you want to win the Ob River Basin, in addition to continuing to fight the Russians, you also need to face the remnants of Zhungeer.

Today's Zhungeer remnants are active in the northern and eastern areas of Lake Balkhash, a large area of ​​which is in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River, an upper tributary of the Ob River Basin.

If the Great Chu Empire wanted to control the Ob River, it had to take down these Jungar remnants as well.

And after these years of continuous attacks, in fact, these Zhungeer remnants are not as good as before.

They fled all the way west to these places. Although there are still a large number of people, the pastures you can control are no longer enough to support so many people and livestock.

Not to mention that the cavalry of the Chu army ran over to attack their tribes every three days. Such frequent attacks made many small and medium-sized tribes in Zhungeer very uncomfortable.

Especially those tribes who graze near the area controlled by the Great Chu Empire, instead of recovering their strength in the past few years, they have been further weakened.

Some tribes even chose to betray Zhungeer in order to survive, and then led their troops back to the Great Chu Empire.

Therefore, after 22 years of maturity, the remnant of Zhungeer has lost the 20 people who fled to these places, and at most there are only [-] to [-] people left, and the control area is also smaller than when it first started Much smaller.

At least in the large southeastern area of ​​Lake Balkhash, they no longer dare to graze... There is no way, the cavalry of the Chu Army often set off from Yining to attack their grazing tribes... and they are tens of thousands of horses when they are dispatched. They raided the Zhunge tribes and plundered their livestock.

No martial arts at all!