I want to be emperor

Chapter 690 Guanghu Railway and Shipping

Due to the obstruction of the mountainous areas in northern Guangdong, it is more difficult to build railways to northern provinces in Guangdong, and the investment will be greater.

After all, the earthwork construction capacity of the Great Chu Empire is just that way now. There is no large-scale machinery and equipment available, and the earthwork engineering has to rely on hoes and shovels, which is very inefficient. At this time, the difficulty of building a railway to Guangzhou is far from The latter can be compared.

Therefore, the railway company is more cautious in repairing the railway to Guangzhou.

But no matter what, Luo Zhixue believes that the railway to Guangzhou must be built, and it should not be too late. After all, once the railway network can be connected to Guangzhou, it will have a great boost to the overall economy of the empire.

Besides, although the railway is difficult to repair and requires a lot of investment, once it is repaired, the expected operating profit will not be low. After all, there is Guangzhou there to support it.

Guangdong, because it is located in the south, and has the convenience of the Pearl River Basin and coastal shipping, relies on foreign trade, Guangdong, Guangxi, and the coastal area market, its industrial development is quite good.

Its heavy industry includes shipbuilding, Guangzhou Shipyard, and Li's Shipyard are the second largest and third largest shipyards in China, and there are also a large number of small and medium shipyards.

There is also the coal and iron ore industry, the iron and steel industry, and Guangning County, where the Guangning Coalfield ceded from the Annan area is located.

From this, Guangzhou Iron and Steel Company emerged, a large steel company that can be regarded as one of the top ten in China.

The machinery industry is also very good. There is Guangzhou Machinery Company, which focuses on high-pressure steam engines and has almost monopolized the domestic high-pressure steam engine market. It is worth noting that Guangzhou Machinery Company is a comprehensive machinery company, and their business line is not limited to steam engines. , In fact, there are all kinds of equipment, such as textile machinery equipment, tea-making equipment, and steel-making equipment, and they are doing very well.

In addition, they also have the usual business of iron products for civilian use. Various agricultural tools and cooking utensils are not only sold to Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and other places, but also widely exported to various overseas markets.

In other places, it is very rare to have a large comprehensive machinery company, but in Guangzhou, there are actually two of them, and the remaining one is Li's Steel.

This company is the one with the highest market capitalization among the listed companies. Its business covers a very wide range. In addition to the independent shipbuilding and machine tool business, it still has a lot of various comprehensive machinery businesses directly under it.

It not only produces all kinds of machinery and equipment, but also sells all kinds of iron products for daily use all over the world.

Then there is the Guangdong-Guangzhou Arms Company. They are not the largest and most technologically powerful arms company in the empire, but they are definitely the most profitable arms company.

The business ranges from large-caliber naval guns to musket ammunition, and even cold weapons. Its series of tropical series products specially developed for coastal and tropical areas occupy an extremely important position in the army and navy.

The various weapons and equipment used by the empire's ground combat troops fighting overseas, whether it is muskets or artillery, are monopolized by their series of salt-resistant and corrosion-resistant individual weapons or mountain artillery with a lightweight design.

In addition, they specialize in various types of cold weapon business for export, plate armor business, matchlock gun business, and old-style artillery are also very prosperous, accounting for almost half of the empire's arms export market.

The above-mentioned companies are all large-scale heavy industrial enterprises. In addition to these super-large enterprises, there are actually a lot of messy enterprises of various kinds, among which the scale of light industry is very large.

The light industry in Guangdong is dominated by cotton spinning and porcelain, and these two industries are also very typical export trade enterprises. The cotton spinning industry model is very special in the empire. They all import cotton from overseas. Then it is processed into cloth and then shipped overseas for sale. The profit in this process is considerable.

Guangdong Province, which has many heavyweight enterprises and a large overall industrial scale, is second only to Jiangnan Province in terms of economic size, and even Yingtianfu, the capital, cannot compare... After all, in Yingtianfu, there is actually only one Dangtu Industrial Zone that can win After all, the others are some service-type tertiary industries.

To develop the economy these days, we still have to rely on industry, large-scale industry!
If Guangdong Province, which has a huge industrial scale, can be included in the railway network, it will not only greatly promote the economic development of Guangdong itself, but also bring great benefits to the surrounding areas.

Not to mention the many factories in Guangdong, the huge industrial workers, the industrial raw materials, agricultural products, non-staple food and other civilian products they need, which add up to an astronomical figure.

Once connected through the railway network, various resources and products from surrounding provinces can be continuously collected in Guangdong through the railway network, and then form a new market connection.

This will greatly stimulate the economy of the surrounding areas.

The biggest function of the railway is to drive the economic development along the railway line. As for the profit of the railway itself, it is not important.

If the railway construction is not too large, and the railway profit is needed to support the construction of the railway, Luo Zhixue would even dare to directly charge the railway transportation at an operating cost price, so as to further stimulate the development of the overall domestic economy.

Because the railway network connecting Guangdong has a great driving effect on the economy, even if it is very difficult to build railways in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong and southern Jiangxi, the investment will be greater, but Luo Zhixue believes that we must withstand the pressure and persist. Build a railway to Guangzhou.

At this traffic meeting, Luo Zhixue brought up the Guangdong railway issue for discussion.

And when Luo Zhixue personally set the tone of 'Railway construction should be bolder and faster', the people in the Ministry of Communications naturally had no objections.

The bosses of the empire said that they would build the railway to Guangdong in advance, even if they would pay a certain amount of higher construction costs for this, so what else is there to say, let’s fix it!

It is nothing more than a larger investment, which is several times the investment in railway construction in other plain areas...

Moreover, the money used to build this railway will not be paid by the government, but will be borrowed from the bank. At worst, the repayment period of the loan will be longer, and the money will be repaid slowly in the future. Anyway, relying on Guangzhou It is an important place for industry and commerce, and there is no convenient river transportation between Guangzhou, Chunan and Jiangxi. , Don't worry about the railway business being taken away by the river.

As long as the railway can be built, there is no need to worry about the source of passengers and freight business. I dare not say that I will make a lot of money in the future, but it will definitely make money.

The big boss has set the tone. After the Ministry of Communications follows the emperor's footsteps, the Railway Corporation below will naturally have nothing to say...

If the big bosses say to do it, then do it!

Even the railway planning does not need to be done temporarily. They have done some research before, and sent people to visit the terrain of southern Jiangxi and northern Guangdong mountainous areas, and formulated a basic railway line plan.

The planning is also simple. It extends directly from the mouth of the Jiujiang Lake to the south, passes through Fuzhou, Ji'an, and Ganzhou, and then goes south all the way. After entering Guangdong, it passes through the mountainous areas of northern Jiangxi, and finally arrives in Guangzhou.

In this way, by taking the railway from Guangzhou, you can go all the way north to Hukou, follow the Jiangnan Railway to Jinling City, where you can take a ferry to Jiangpu, continue all the way north to Liaodong, and you can also go all the way east to Songjiang, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, Zhejiang. , Ningbo.

At the same time, you can turn to the northwest when you are in Fuzhou, Jiangxi. You can go to Hantianfu, Changsha, Hengyang and other places via Nanchang. You can also take a ferry at Hantianfu to the north and continue to take the train all the way north to Luoyang and exit Tongguan. Then arrive in Xi'an.

Guangzhou will completely connect the entire railway network and lead to almost all the population of the empire, an economically important province.

This Guanghu Railway is expected to be very difficult to repair, because the area along the way, especially the connection between Guangdong and Jiangxi, is really mountainous.

It is very difficult to repair railways on this kind of railway, and there is a high probability that the railways that will be repaired will be winding... Not to mention the erection of railway bridges and tunnels, there will definitely be many.

At that time, the overall construction cost will also be a very scary figure. The railway company is very worried that the investment will be too large. By then, relying on the railway's own profits, it may not be able to pay off the loan in 30 to [-] years!
But... These increased construction costs are acceptable to Luo Zhixue. It is not worth mentioning that the loan will be repaid in 30 years. It is not a big deal to build a railway and pay off the debt for 30 years. People in the future will have to repay any house. More than a dozen or 20 years, and there are not a few 30-year-olds.

As long as the overall economy does not collapse, the economic benefits brought by this railway to the empire as a whole will far exceed the railway operating profit itself.

This is also the difference between Luo Zhixue and even the high-level officials of the empire, and those in charge of specific railway companies and even local officials below.

Luo Zhixue, the counselors and co-organizers in the Imperial Study, all looked at the whole country and focused on the overall effect.

But railway companies and even local officials, what they see is the good or bad of the industry or a certain place itself.

This is not to say that they are short-sighted, but that they are in different positions, see different things, and pay attention to different things.

The same is true for railway construction.

This is also the reason why Luo Zhixue wanted to make the railway construction and operation a monopoly of the central government, instead of directly opening it up, and not allowing the local government to do it.

Because once it is released, even if it is only released to the local government, many problems will arise, because they will not, and there is no need to consider the issue of railway construction from a national perspective.

They only build railways that are good for them.

People, it’s all like this, and officials are also like this. If they are not in their positions, they will not seek their own affairs. They are not co-organizers, ministers of counselors, and they don’t say whether they want to or not. It can even be said that they are not qualified to consider issues from the perspective of the whole country. ...

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After finalizing the plan for the Guanghu Railway, Luo Zhixue didn't pay much attention to the railway affairs. With so many officials from the Ministry of Communications and the Railway Corporation, they would naturally handle the planning of the new railway line and subsequent construction matters.

Luo Zhixue turned his attention to the steamship business. The importance of steamships to the Great Chu Empire was no less than the large-scale railway network.

Even for a short period of time, steamships, especially steamships on inland rivers, were more important than railways.

After all, the scale of the current railway network is still too small, and it may take decades of continuous construction to form a main-line railway network and many branch-line railway networks all over the country.

In a short period of time, even within ten or twenty years, large-scale foreign transportation in many places can only rely on river transportation.

For example, the external transportation in Sichuan will rely heavily on steam passenger ships for many years to come.

At the beginning of this year, Chuanjiang Shipping Company used their first steam inland steamship to start from Hantianfu all the way up the river, passed through the very dangerous section of the Three Gorges, and finally arrived in Chongqing.

This time, the steam passenger ship's successful trial voyage in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, that is, in the section of the Chuanjiang River, is of great significance to the development of Sichuan.

The governor's office in Sichuan has made a very high support plan for steam inland passenger ships, including supporting the construction of modern ports and maintenance facilities for steam ships to berth, replenish and repair.

At the same time, it is also planned to dredge the section of the Three Gorges, the upper reaches of the Sichuan River, and other tributaries.

Whether it is supporting the inland river passenger ship plan or dredging the Three Gorges and other river sections, it is a very large-scale and expensive project. Naturally, the Sichuan governor's office also needs to report to Jinling.

Of course, the more important thing is to apply for central financial support.

With so much money, it would still be a bit difficult for the Sichuan family to pay for it. Jinling had to give some of it no matter what.

When Luo Zhixue looked at this report, what was missing was not only Sichuan's convenient inland steamship development plan, but also other considerations that were not suitable for the construction of a large-scale external railway network, and at the same time, steamships could also be used. Regional river transport development.

Not every place is suitable for building a railway network.

There are terrain constraints, as well as operating cost constraints caused by the local economy. There are also some local economies that are mediocre, but if they already have river transportation, then these places will be temporarily put aside when planning the railway, and priority will be given. Build railways for areas lacking river transport and difficult to communicate with the outside world.

What Luo Zhixue has to do now is to give these places some policies and financial support, and let them increase their efforts to develop steam ship transportation. Shorten the land transportation distance as much as possible.

Just like the current material transportation of the Great Chu Empire in Siberia, in fact, it is difficult to transport materials all the way to various places directly by ship. Some land transportation is still needed as a transition in the middle, including some Lianshui passages and steep river sections.

In this way, the railway network and river transport/offshore shipping can form a complementary whole. I dare not say that the national transportation network is completely and comprehensively opened up, but at least it can also open up the external communication channels of most state capitals.

To achieve this, large-scale dredging of rivers across the country is essential. As for the support for steam ships, it is second.

After all, river navigation is convenient and steam ships are easy to use. Naturally, shipping companies will purchase steam ships and put them into operation.

And there are many messy shipping companies in the Great Chu Empire, not only many government-run shipping companies, but also countless private shipping companies.

The big ones include some government-run shipping companies. These shipping companies are generally sponsored by government offices such as local provinces or state capitals, and are generally called by rivers or place names.For example, the Chuanjiang Shipping Company invested and established by the Industrial Department under the Governor's Office of Sichuan Province, the Yangtze River Shipping Company invested and established by Ying Tianfu, and the Jiangnan Shipping Company invested and established by the Governor's Office of Jiangnan Province.

There is also an industrial shipping company established by the Central Ministry of Industry. The company is mainly engaged in the transportation of large local rivers and offshore bulk cargo. The Pacific Shipping Company is mainly engaged in ocean freight. Enterprises engaged in long-distance passenger transport business such as large rivers and coastal waters.

Of course, it’s just that their business focuses are different. In fact, the three major shipping companies basically have different businesses such as freight, passenger transportation, and long-distance and short-term ocean transportation. They compete with each other.

These are still the shipping companies organized by the central government and the provincial level, but in fact there are a lot of shipping companies run by the prefectures and counties.

These shipping companies are similar to some urban public carriage companies on the ground and intercity long-distance carriage companies. They are part of the local public transportation facilities. Basically, they can be operated in every place, but most of them are limited to the local area.

This is also a major feature of many small and medium-sized government-run enterprises in many places, that is, they are basically industries that provide public facilities and are related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and rarely engage in ordinary industries directly.

As for the light industry, the higher authorities generally do not approve it... because in principle, official capital does not participate in light industry where private capital is more active.

Your local government wants to engage in industry to develop the economy and attract business and investment. Why do you have to set up a factory and compete with private enterprises for business!

If you set up a factory directly under your territory, how can other private enterprises compete with you?

This kind of thing is too disruptive to market fairness, and the top management of the empire has always maintained a negative attitude towards it.

The textile industry was so profitable in the early years, but for the sake of the overall development of the textile industry, the top management of the empire abruptly transferred and sold a large number of government-run textile enterprises, leaving only Hantian Textile Company.

Until now, there is still only one Hantian Textile Company in the government-run capital of the Great Chu Empire, whether it is a central or local textile enterprise.

Over the years, in order to make money and alleviate their own financial difficulties, many local governments have applied for the establishment of textile enterprises, but without exception, they have been rejected by the industrial department and even the Ministry of Industry.

In the early years, the empire withdrew from the textile industry for the sake of the overall development of the textile industry. Now there is still a way for the local government to enter in order to earn some money.

This kind of situation where the country retreats and the people advance is especially common in the light industry. If this situation is from the perspective of the government-run enterprises themselves, it will be a big loss.

But from the perspective of the local economy and even the national economy, the empire has made a lot of money.

The same is true for supporting river transport this time. Luo Zhixue actually does not intend to give any special support to those government-run shipping companies. He only intends to do a good job in infrastructure, such as dredging waterways, building infrastructure such as docks, and then giving some policies to the shipping industry as a whole. on the support.

Then let these government-run shipping companies and private shipping companies compete within the business rules.

So no matter who wins or loses in the end, it is a good thing for the empire!
With this mentality, Luo Zhixue held several shipping meetings in May, and initially finalized a plan to support the development of the shipping industry.

The core of which is to dredge the river.

After all, for the inland shipping industry, the river is the biggest advantage and the biggest limitation. Some rivers with shoals and torrents need to be dredged. It is the navigation gate for navigation.

And these projects, without exception, are costly.

Therefore, in terms of funds, the preliminary plan is to follow the construction plan of water conservancy facilities in earlier years, and all levels of finance will contribute together.

Some from the county, some from the government, some from the province, and then some from the central government. Everyone contributes money to get things done.

Among the many plans, the biggest project is the river dredging project of the Three Gorges. There are many shoals and rocks in this place, and the river water is very urgent.

Therefore, sailing in this place is very dangerous. In the current age of sailing, at least 100 ships in this place are wrecked on the Chuanjiang route every year, and quite a few of them are on the Three Gorges route.

A large number of shipping accidents lead to the loss of ships, causing casualties and loss of cargo.

Of course...these risks still can't stop people from traveling on the Chuanjiang River, and there are many boats traveling on the Chuanjiang River every day.

In the early years, the Great Chu Empire organized the landless people in Huguang, Jiangxi, Jiangnan and other places to migrate to the Sichuan Basin, and organized millions of people to migrate there. These people all entered Sichuan through the Chuanjiang waterway.

Now that the Great Chu Empire wants to further improve the shipping capacity of the Chuanjiang River, it has to do dredging projects for the Chuanjiang waterway, especially the Three Gorges section.

For this reason, it is planned to set up a special dredging agency for the Sichuan River to carry out specialized research on the dredging of the river along the route, and remediation, let alone other things, at least some reefs along the route that are likely to cause shipwrecks must be cleared first.

At the same time, the dredging of rivers in other places will also enter the schedule.

At the same time, the dredging of rivers in some areas and the increase of navigation capacity should also be combined with flood control and irrigation to integrate and utilize resources more effectively and avoid wasteful construction.

After several meetings, basically all the measures have been arranged.

And just when Luo Zhixue and other high-level officials of the empire were preparing to dredge the river, the Liuhe Shipping Company in the south went a step further, using more than a dozen steam ships that arrived ahead of other competitors, and had already operated Xijiang, Dongjiang, and Beijiang. Regular steam liner flights are made to the three main waterways of the Pearl River Basin.

As the inland river steamship of Liuhe Shipping Company went north along the Dongjiang River, the people along the way, especially the people in northern Guangdong, also saw the miracle of the industrial era!

Without sails, the steamer with faint white smoke is going upstream at a speed that is unmatched by traditional sailing ships!

This steamship not only shocked the local people, but also brought various industrial products that were lacking in the local area.

At the same time, there is also Wang Tu, the newly appointed magistrate of Heping County, Huizhou Prefecture. This gentleman is very young. Standing on the bow of the boat and looking at the scenery on both sides of the strait, he is still dressed in ordinary Confucian clothing.

It looks no different from ordinary scholars!
But no one around him dared to underestimate him!

Not only because he is the newly appointed Heping county magistrate, but also because he has a great background and a strong background!

(End of this chapter)