Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1806 Central Valley ([-])

"It's not that easy to replace the steam engine with electricity. Apart from anything else, the huge manpower and material resources our country has invested in the steam engine and related industries are a great obstacle. Don't say that you are completely immature in electricity now, no It has practical significance. Even if the technology is fully mature, it will be very difficult to promote. You have to know what kind of system our country is like. The central government makes overall deployment and unified command, and does not wipe out the residual value of the steam engine. , and even took the opportunity to mislead the Europeans, how could it be possible for electricity to replace steam power? Impossible!" In the office of the Maolingang District Administrative Office, a thick middle-aged man was speaking, only to hear him use a slightly He said in a helpless tone: "So, Lao Pan, what's the use of you coming to me to sell these things? You don't know that our southern Chilean region has always been poor, and we want to spend every penny in half, so you It’s absolutely wrong to come to me to ask for sponsorship, I have no money! And I’m not talking about you, the upper management allocates a lot of funds to your Institute of Electrical Engineering every year, which is definitely more than enough for your normal research and development, don’t keep thinking about reaching the sky in one step Just follow the progress given by the Ministry of Science and Technology step by step, that's great, as for those who are so anxious to get angry right now, can't they wait for full electrification in the next moment? This is unrealistic and stupid!"

The guy called "Old Pan" was also a little annoyed at being hurt so much by the middle-aged man sitting opposite him. He blushed and raised his voice and said to the person opposite him: "Commissioner Zhao, The comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of electric motors and steam engines, I don’t think I need to explain more? People at your level should understand more or less, which is greatly superior! In other words, electricity points directly to the future and represents the future. If we don’t develop now, we will regret it in the future.”

Zhao Ke felt a little dizzy when he heard it. He put the teacup on the wooden table and said in a somewhat helpless tone: "Deputy Director Pan, what I said before is for nothing? Then I will say it again, let's The country has invested so much manpower and material resources in steam engine technology. If after so many years of development, it drives a package of upstream and downstream enterprises, and countless people rely on this for their lives and livelihoods. If you say that it is completely overthrown, it will be overthrown? Is it realistic? Is it possible? "

"Now that the East Coast Electric Power Company has been established, our Institute of Electrical Engineering has also made some progress in technology, and now it's time to carry out some more in-depth actions..." Pan Yan, the deputy director of the Institute of Electrical Engineering, is still defending.The East Shore Power Company he just mentioned was secretly established by the Xuefeng Lake in the second half of last year. It is a wholly state-owned enterprise under the Ministry of Science and Technology with a high level of confidentiality. Ma Xiaopeng, the son of Ma Wanpeng, a member of the Central Executive Committee, was the first general manager of the company. , ready to start the East Coast power business.

"I have read the articles of incorporation of TEPCO, Lao Pan. It is written very clearly. It is not necessary to verify some assumptions in electrical research, integrate and produce simple electrical testing instruments, hand-operated generators, and other basic electrical equipment. Mentioned to start commercial operation. In the final analysis, this is still a closed enterprise serving scientific research, and it is not for you to do commercial promotion.” Zhao Ke mercilessly exposed Pan Yan’s old background, just listened to He said: "Besides, the East Coast Electric Power Company was not only established quietly, but also received very limited investment, right? Doesn't this explain the problem? That is Mr. Qiu from the Ministry of Science and Technology (Qiu Haiyang, formerly of Yicheng District) Commissioner of the Administrative Office, who was transferred to the Minister of Science and Technology at the beginning of this year) is not very optimistic about your Institute of Electrical Engineering and Dongdian Corporation, otherwise, why would I give you these three melons and two dates? So, I suggest that you should not think about it, old Pan That's right, go back quickly, manage your own one-acre three-point land honestly, cultivate more talents for the country, and improve technology. This is the right way. If I hear you right, your Institute of Electricity has not yet solved the pulsating current cycle The problem of overheating has not been alleviated, so let’s continue to work hard. Or, just like your brother Pan Ren, opening a company that electrolyzes saturated salt water to prepare chlorine, isn’t it also a good business? The country After three years of free and exclusive patents, it is very interesting to continue to authorize your company to use them at a preferential price. If you don’t seize this opportunity to develop your business quickly, what’s the trouble with me? Our southern Chile region You are really poor, you really have no money!"

In fact, to a certain extent, Zhao Ke was right.After the establishment of the East Shore Power Company, the most available piece of equipment with the highest technical content is probably a small power generation equipment called a "self-excited magnetic field generator". It is purely handcrafted and the cost is extremely high.

This new type of generator, unlike traditional mechanical generators (those can only be called toys and used in laboratories), is that this device is a masterpiece based on the principle of electromagnetic induction, that is, the current passing through an electromagnetic coil Just make the iron core of magnet obtain a small amount of permanent magnetism, make generator start.When the generator is running, a shunt of current from the permanent magnet generator passes through its own electromagnet, providing the required magnetic force.

This generator is undoubtedly a huge improvement over the past, but it is not enough to make people look at it differently.Because the Institute of Electric Sciences and TEPCO themselves know that the technology of this self-excited magnetic field generator is far from mature, and the production of various parts is extremely troublesome and the cost is astonishingly high.Moreover, many things are barely applicable in the laboratory, but once you multiply it and want to use it to build a power station (even if it is only a room-sized power station) to generate electricity, it will be very ridiculous .

Therefore, the Pan family and his son from the Institute of Electrical Engineering probably also understand that the possibility of applying to the Ministry of Science and Technology and even the executive committee to build a power station is not very likely to be approved, so they have tried their best to solicit sponsorship everywhere, but it seems that there are very few applicants so far. .After all, the state does not allow private capital to enter such things as electricity, and it is completely kept secret by state investment. If they want to get sponsors, they can only go to state-owned enterprises or local governments to get them, but so what? Difficult also.Without him, the technology is immature, and no one is willing to spend money for nothing. Zhao Ke, who was recently transferred to the Southern Chile Regional Administrative Commissioner, is undoubtedly a typical example!

Pan Yin lingered at Zhao Ke's place for a while, and after seeing that there was really no possibility, he left sadly.And after he left, Zhao Ke also sighed heavily, feeling very speechless: Southern Chile is now at the juncture of development, and he still thinks there is not enough funds, so he almost went around for alms, how could he spend money recklessly Are you going to mess with electricity?That is a bottomless pit, where a few 10 yuan in cash may be invested and there may be no output at all. Whoever goes will die.

"Yeah, the Institute of Electricity is a big hole. The largest investor in our South Chile region is actually the navy. Liucheng County has almost become a navy county now. But this is good, and it saves a lot of effort in the local area. No matter how many things, it would be even better if the South Railway Company can slow down the pace of divestment, and now the economy of several counties here is supported by them, and they really can't stand the toss." Zhao Ke from I took out a bag of "Nantie" brand spiced whale jerky from the drawer, and muttered to myself while chewing.

Speaking of the six counties in Southern Chile today, Qingfeng, Guanhai, Qinghe and Maolin County, where the regional administrative office is located, are basically supported by the Southern Railway Company.For example, in Qingfeng County, the pillar industries are whaling, fishing, and artificial salmon farming. These are the results of 20 years of intensive cultivation by Nantie Fishery Company. As a result, Qingfeng, a desolate county dominated by broken islands, has low per capita output value and per capita income. It is the number one place in Southern Chile, and it is even three points stronger than the commercially developed Maolin County.The reason is that it catches a large amount of horse mackerel every year and sells them to the Atlantic coast. At the same time, the deep processing industry (whale skin, whale oil, whale meat, whalebone and other commodities) developed by relying on the whaling fleet has also created a huge Profit, coupled with its sparse population, naturally has a high per capita income, although it is indeed desolate and the climate is cold.

The two counties of Guanhai and Qinghe are located in the north and south of Fenggu Island (Chiloe Island). They were the granaries for the people on the east coast to develop southern Chile in the early days. They are also one of the birthplaces of potatoes on earth, producing a large amount of agricultural products such as potatoes, wheat, and corn At the same time, the fishing industry and the forestry industry are also quite good.Especially for the latter, the Southern Railway Company encircled many forest farms and established many timber processing factories and special wharves, which greatly activated the local economy.It's just that now I heard that the Southern Railway Company is undergoing transformation, and many of these old industries have been sold one after another, and even those that have not been sold have begun to close slowly. The intention of withdrawing capital and leaving is quite obvious. It's depression: I haven't found someone to take over the offer, so you closed the forest farm, divested and left?Don't bring such a trick, right?

Maolin County was originally an important investment place for the Southern Railway Company. For example, the Southern Railway Trading Company traded with the Spaniards here and made a lot of profits.However, after the 30-year trade concession of Southern Railway expired a year ago, the company lost its biggest reliance. Although it still occupies the largest market share by relying on the old relationships and old channels accumulated before, Sheng Ji The declining trend is irreversible.Therefore, through a series of dizzying actions this year, the senior management of the Southern Railway Company sold part of the business of the Southern Railway Trading Company (the sale of these businesses was actually negotiated before the end of 1678), and a considerable amount of funds was withdrawn.At present, the company only retains part of the trading business that is still quite competitive, but the possibility of further selling these assets is not ruled out in the future, because it is said that they are also quite short of money now.

Maolin County was also affected to some extent by the turmoil of the Southern Railway Trading Company.Gein, some of the businessmen who purchased the business and channels of the Southern Railway Company, has no long-term plans to operate in Maolin County.They either went to Araucan County, the end point of the Liangyang Railway, to register their companies, or moved their business locations directly to Lima and other places of the Spaniards. This suddenly depressed the market in Maolin County a lot and reduced government revenue. , is enough to give Zhao Ke a headache.

Liucheng and Boling counties are probably the only ones that have not been greatly affected by the Southern Railway.Among them, Liucheng has become the home port of the Third Fleet of the Navy, receiving large sums of investment every year. Shipbuilding, ship repairing, weapons manufacturing and some upstream and downstream related industries have developed rapidly, supporting a large number of workers and attracting a large number of immigrants. It is the fastest growing among the six counties in southern Chile. The county government's financial revenue is close to that of the regional capital, which makes everyone in Maolin County feel ashamed.

The future development of the South Chile region, Zhao Ke calculated, still has to fall on the word "trade", that is, continue to use the geographical advantage, focus on developing trade with the Spaniards, accumulate funds through this, and then develop other aspects.This is undoubtedly an excellent idea, because in terms of the location of Maolin and other counties, it should be Lima, Quito, Guayaquil, Panama, Acapulco and other places where Spanish goods are sold in the East. An agent in China, this is the wealth that Tianzun bestowed to more than [-] people in southern Chile, and it must be held firmly.

Secondly, the replenishment of the population is also extremely critical, which involves the issue of the South Pacific route.With the urgency of the immigration department today, in fact, there are not many immigrants distributed to southern Chile. Even if there are, there are very few, which cannot meet the local needs at all.Therefore, the population replenishment of the six counties in southern Chile still has to rely on immigrant ships taking the South Pacific route.However, due to the lack of profit and the high wind and waves at sea, the shipwreck rate is too high, and the number of ships taking the South Pacific route has not been too many. Naturally, the number of immigrants that can be carried along with it is naturally not much, so it is quite a headache for Zhao Ke.He wondered whether in the future the regional administration and the county governments should take part of the scarce financial revenue to subsidize the trading companies or captains who often take this route (including, of course, the ships of the state-owned transport fleet) , and at the same time provide them with more favorable ship repair and maintenance services to reduce their risks and costs, and do everything possible to increase the immigrant population in southern Chile.

Of course, in addition to this, there is actually another way, which is to increase the intensity of receiving exiled prisoners, and this has actually been done before Liu Jianguo was in office, as evidenced by the establishment of the Slat House Prison Reclamation System.Zhao Ke is not a person with morals and cleanliness, and he has no ill feeling towards the exiled prisoners. Anyway, they are just cannon fodder for reclamation, what's the matter?

Therefore, he has also written to the relevant departments of the Ministry of Justice before, asking them to send twice as many exiled prisoners to southern Chile every year to support their local construction.Zhao Ke thinks that this problem is actually not a big one, because now many places in the mainland are picking and choosing the exiled prisoners because the population is not so scarce, and they are unwilling to accept them all. In addition, the central government also has a policy of exiling prisoners to border areas. , so the advantages of the Southern Chile region are still very large, and there is almost no competition.In this way, the regional administrative office can operate internally and detain the people who should have been sent to the north of the border river to cross the border (this is a political task, so they have to be sent) to stay in the core area and replace them with exile prisoners. Wouldn't it be beautiful? ?Well, maybe there's going to be a new prison over there besides the famous Slat House prison.

(End of this chapter)