Daming: I help my wife be the empress

Chapter 636 Disposal of Dutch Captives, Ming Dynasty Bicycle

Listening to Gerd's rational and shocking analysis, Owald thought of another question.

"A capital city of Ming people has a population of over one million. How many people does the entire Ming country have?"

Delong did understand this issue, and heard the words: "The Ming Dynasty has only experienced 30 to [-] years of internal strife and foreign invasion-in the past ten years, many farmers revolted because of famine, and some local nobles (chieftains) ) took the opportunity to launch a mutiny.

It is said that their Beijing was captured by an army composed of farmers and rebels a few years ago.

In addition, a powerful barbarian tribe rose up in the northeast of them. They fought with them for nearly 30 years. wealth.

Even this group of barbarians defeated the group of rebellious farmers and occupied Beijing in the Ming Dynasty for about a year.

In short, in the past 30 to [-] years, many natural disasters and wars occurred in the Ming Dynasty, which caused huge population losses.

But today they still have a population of more than 1 million. If it was 30 years ago, their population would probably be more than [-] million!
To be honest, when I got this information, I was stunned. How could the company choose to go to war with such a huge empire so stupidly? "

Owald, Connor and others were stunned again after hearing this.

An empire with a population of more than 1 million or even more than 2 million?

This is beyond their imagination!
Looking at all the countries in their European history and now, there has never been a country with a population of over [-] million, and there are only a handful of countries with a population of tens of millions.

Even before the Thirty Years' War, the combined population of all the countries in Europe was estimated to barely exceed 30 million, or maybe not.

During the subsequent street parade, Owald and other Dutch captives discovered that not only the vast territory and large population of Ming Dynasty shocked them, but also the prosperity of the city was beyond their imagination, and they were amazed.

"I used to think that Amsterdam was the most prosperous city in the world, but compared with the capital of the Ming Dynasty, it's like a countryside."

"I wonder if everything in this world can be bought in this huge and bustling city."

"God, I can't imagine how much commercial tax this extremely prosperous super city will contribute to the Ming country in a year. Maybe it can be worth the commercial tax of some European countries."

"Sure, you have to know that many small countries in Europe don't have as many people as this city."

"How I wish I hadn't come to this city as a captive, so I might be able to live here."

"If I can be redeemed to be free, I might really come to Ming to seek life."

"···"

After the Dutch captives were paraded, they were placed (imprisoned) in a proper place.

Three days later, more than [-] Dutch captives and [-] representatives of the Ming army who participated in the battle to recover Dongfan Island participated in the prisoner offering ceremony at the Taimiao.

It is mainly to select one thousand soldiers who have made meritorious service in the battle from the four towns of the Nanyang Navy and the four towns of the Fujian and Guangdong Garrison.

After the Taimiao Prisoner Presentation Ceremony, of course more than a thousand Dutch captives were not offered food and drink, but were sent to build roads in the southern Zhili area.

Cement has now begun to be supplied to local governments for repairing city walls, closing the city, and building roads.

Of course, it is not free supply, but paid for by the local government.

Now the gentry and merchants in many places know the benefits of cement roads—not to mention that they are flat, and the mud cannot be replaced in rainy days. The key is that the construction progress is quite fast and durable.

Therefore, many local gentry and businessmen donated money to the local government to buy cement from government-run cement factories for road repairs, for the convenience of their own travel and business, as well as for gaining a good reputation and local prestige.

Among them, the prefectures of Zhili in the south were most affected by Nanjing, the place was the wealthiest, and the road construction was the most active.

Although Daming is not short of manpower at present, it takes money to hire migrant workers, and the wages of common people have risen quite rapidly in the past two years.

That's why Auntie Zhu handed over a thousand Dutch captives to the Ministry of Communications to be used as road-builders without wages.

That is to say, the standard of food is the same as that of the hired peasants, and at the same time, they are only allowed to build the roadbed instead of participating in the construction of the cement road, lest some of them spy on the secrets of the cement.

Whether it is Aimee Zhu or Hao Guangming, they have never underestimated Europeans.For all their deficiencies, the nations of Europe are not without wits and wise men.

Therefore, it is necessary to guard against it first-hand, after all, cement production is not a sophisticated technology.

Maybe sooner or later the cement production technology will be leaked or deciphered, but one day later is one day later.

end of July.

When Owald and other Dutch captives put on the clothes of the Ming Dynasty civilians, under the guard of the local garrison, listened to the Ming foreman yelling, gesticulating, and even threatened the construction of the cement road bed with a whip, everyone was stupid.

"I still remember when I first saw the railway in the Ming Dynasty, I guessed whether the Ming people asked us to build the road, but I guessed it right."

At the beginning, some people were unwilling to obey the command, shouting for the treatment of regular prisoners, or the treatment of high-level prisoners, and they immediately became honest after receiving a whipping education.

As for the more than 2000 Dutch captives who stayed on Dongfan Island, Daming would not keep them for nothing, and let them work as usual.

Just because Western countries have a tradition of redeeming captives, it means that these Dutch captives can be exchanged for money after the negotiation is over, so the treatment in terms of food and accommodation is not too bad, basically on par with civilian husbands, but there is no wages.

···
"Sister, the Secret Manufacturing Bureau here in Chengdu has made a bicycle!" Aunt Zhu said happily in the video, "According to what my sister told me, they first built me ​​a small bicycle. ?”

"Okay." Auntie Zhu said with a smile, "But you must have someone support you at first, so be careful not to hurt yourself when you fall."

With blueprints and the participation of Xu Tianming, who is talented in invention and hand-made, a fairly practical Daming bicycle was quickly developed.

Its shape is similar to that of the later bicycles in the early [-]th century, except that instead of pneumatic tires, they are replaced by leather-wrapped wood.

Of course, there are also pure steel wheels, which are quite strenuous and bumpy to ride.

Although it has various shortcomings compared with the bicycles of later generations, its cost is not too expensive. At least the middle class can afford it. After all, it has given the people of Ming Dynasty an additional means of transportation.

As for bicycles with rubber tires, in fact, Secret Construction Bureau has also manufactured them.

At this time and space, the rubber tree is still in South America, and its main value has not been discovered by people.However, Aimee Zhu obtained the rubber tree seeds of later generations through Hao Guangming, and they have already had people plant them in Guangdong and Guangxi.

However, it takes at least ten years for rubber trees to grow from seeds to the initial harvest of rubber; it also takes seven or eight years to plant saplings directly.In addition to expanding the planting, it will take more time.Maybe when the influence of Ming Dynasty extends to South America to harvest natural rubber tree rubber, the rubber of Ming Dynasty will not be harvested yet.

Therefore, the secret building bureau does not use the rubber produced by the rubber tree, but the rubber extracted from the fig tree and some Euphorbiaceae plants.

Among them, the fig tree originally grew in the Mediterranean area. It was introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty, and it was often planted later.

As for Euphorbiaceae, there are many kinds of plants, which generally grow in tropical and subtropical regions, so many can be found in the area south of the Yangtze River in Daming.

However, compared with rubber trees, the rubber that can be extracted from fig trees and Euphorbiaceae plants is very small, and the price is very high.

The bicycle factories in Nanjing and Chengdu will only produce a small amount of bicycles, and make them into high-quality bicycles and sell them as luxury goods to the rich.

As for the cheap and easy-to-use bicycles of the later generations, perhaps the price of rubber products will slowly come down only after Daming's influence extends to South America, and rubber trees and other plants with special value are transplanted to Southeast Asia and planted on a large scale. .

Of course, it is also possible that with the support of the knowledge and technology of later generations, Daming Chemical Industry developed rapidly and made continuous breakthroughs. Before rubber trees were artificially planted in large quantities, industrial rubber (derived from the petroleum industry?) might have appeared...
Aimee Zhu is already nine years old now, and she already has the feeling of being slim. If she was a child from an ordinary family, she would probably be able to do a lot of things.

However, Concubine Zhu still asked Fei Zhen'e to watch from the side, and asked two strong maids to support the bicycle before letting Concubine Zhu study in Chengyun Hall.

Hao Guangming also watched this scene through the video, and said with a smile: "I bet, Aimee will definitely fall, but she probably won't cry."

Aimee Zhu was a little speechless after hearing this: "As a brother-in-law, can't you hope that your sister will be better? She is a girl, what if she is injured and has a scar?"

Hao Guangming said: "Don't worry about this - don't you understand the level of medical treatment here? Ordinary scars can be repaired."

　Second more.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)