Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2011 Beining ([-])

On February 1688, 2, the heavy rain stopped.

He Yuan threw off his entourage, took his secretary and a guard, and went to the Beining Regional Archives to inquire about some hydrometeorological data about the Gui River Basin. Part of the investigation and exploration work is still done in the Beining area, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with checking the information here, provided that you have to apply for a permit first.

The information about the Gui River in the archives is detailed, and the Beining District Administrative Office has done a lot of work to tame this wild river.A large number of materials reveal where water conservancy projects should start and where irrigated farmland should be developed.He Yuan paid the staff of the archives to transcribe a copy, and then sent it to the Hue District Administrative Office for officials of the relevant local departments to study and use.

Of course, he also asked through the staff of the archives, where are the people who compiled and obtained the data in the materials, and said that he would hire them to work in the Hue area with a lot of money.I have to say that He Yuan's idea is a good idea, because most of the expedition teams organized in the Beining area have been disbanded, and the personnel are scattered everywhere. Some go home to cultivate land, some go further north to explore gold mines, and some even become sailors. If the Hue area offers the status of government officials hired with high wages, and is willing to give them the status of government officials after the contract ends, then it is conceivable that many people will readily agree, which is very important for the development The role of inland areas is very large.

After finishing their work in the archives, He Yuan and his party took the rail carriage of Beining Street Car Company to the hotel.When the carriage passed the newly completed Beining branch of Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Store, a typical store opening celebration was going on: a troupe that looked like it was invited from the south was setting up a stage, surrounded by some idle people ( Mostly old people and children) were attracted, they gathered around the stage, waiting patiently while chatting and laughing.

He Yuan also got out of the carriage and mixed into the crowd, watching all this with great interest.Across the street is a workshop that processes all kinds of wood products. Seeing that there is a play to watch today, the boss also suspended work and brought a few apprentices with him.He Yuan talked with them and learned that the boss originally worked in the Hue area. He was a worker in a wood processing factory at that time. Because of the hard work day and night, his arm was almost broken by a big thick saw. I am exhausted, and I often have to rest for a whole day or even longer after a job.This made it almost impossible to continue working, so he was soon dismissed by his boss and came to Beining County with money. With the help of his relatives, he bought a batch of machines with a loan, all of which were connected to the central power system. The wood processing machinery of the shaft system opened up such a wood product processing factory.

The boss's business is undoubtedly a success.With the help of steam power, his workload has been greatly reduced, and he can have more energy to process and manufacture some wood products that are not so labor-intensive. Coupled with the bonus effect of Beining regional policy guidance, the products of her workshop will soon be Marketing the whole region, profitable.Soon, he not only repaid the loan of the Brazilian Rural Financial Cooperative, which had not yet been reorganized, but also expanded the scale of production, recruiting several cheap apprentices aged [-] or [-], and his business became more and more prosperous.It is said that he is now planning to buy the land of a poorly managed grain and oil workshop next to him, and then buy a small [-]-horsepower steam engine (of course, this requires a series of complicated procedures, but it is worth it), self-sufficient, and then There is no need to spend rent to rent power from the government's central power workshop.This can save a lot of rent, and it can also save a lot of time (the renter sometimes needs to queue up), which often means that more goods can be produced.

He Yuan admired the courage of the boss very much.It has only been two years since the family repaid the loan, and they actually want to borrow money from the Public Savings Bank to buy land, buy steam engines, and expand factories. This kind of entrepreneurial spirit is indeed worthy of encouragement.Considering that he originally worked in the Hue area, this inevitably makes people feel a little regretful. Is the manufacturing environment in Hue so bad?Is it a policy reason or a market factor?

However, in recent years, there has been a wave of purchasing steam engines and promoting the mechanization of production in various parts of the east coast.Especially in the prairie on the east coast of the traditional industrial area and the Yazihu ​​River Basin, it is conservatively estimated that more than a thousand steam engines of various types have been purchased by private individuals and put into industrial production, creating extremely huge economic benefits.

He Yuan once read some materials and learned that the total horsepower of these more than 1000 steam engines has exceeded [-] horsepower, which relieved countless daily labor for the workers.Taking some small textile workshops as an example, the benefits brought by mechanized production are not only the improvement of production efficiency, but also the reduction of workers' bending over and endless unhygienic monotonous movements, which naturally greatly improves the health of the body. improve.

Although the development of Beining area is not as good as that of the south, this industrial area seems to be self-contained, with a fixed market, raw materials and funds, and technical personnel can also be hired from outside, so the economic development is relatively rapid—at least the development of the capital Beining County Yes, although many people accused it of sacrificing the industry in other places-this steam engine has gradually become popular, and it has slowly entered various small private enterprises.

The officials of the Bureau of Statistics and Investigation of Syphilis Patients must have a headache for this situation of steam engines blooming everywhere, because they simply do not have so many people to manage them, and they cannot track the status of each steam engine.You should know that all of the above are basically on the control list of the country's export commodities, and they have the responsibility to closely supervise them so as not to cause undue losses to the country.

However, when the social economy has developed to the present stage, they really have nothing to do with it, unless the state approves them to greatly increase their manpower, or reduce other tasks, such as detecting cults, spy networks, large-scale Organized crime, anti-state elements, etc. But how is this possible?

Of course, some people pointed out that the development of steam engine technology in European countries is not slow, and the degree of practicality is getting higher and higher.Especially those produced in England have begun to be widely used in industrial production. Some early steam engine models on the east coast have little technical advantage. It is time to lift the export control. While suppressing the sales of steam engines in England, they can also earn money. A sum of money, why not do it?

It is said that the members of the Executive Committee have already considered this issue formally, and tend to agree to lift the export control of some steam engines.For example, the last time they specially approved the export of steam engines to France, they won very good feedback from the foreign affairs and trade departments. The large increase in exports to France has greatly increased the prosperity of domestic industrial production on the east coast and increased the number of jobs. Industrial profits have thickened, which in turn has further promoted the development of domestic industries.

It is believed that the government’s next step will be to fully lift the export restrictions on mid-end and low-end steam engines in overseas colonies, so as to comprehensively improve the production efficiency of the colonies, and at the same time increase the development of domestic steam engine-related industries.It is expected that the areas that will benefit the most will be New China, Far East Denglai, and the South, and it will inevitably cause some steam engine technology to flow into the neighboring areas of Qing, Shun, and the Republic of China. However, the British have already transported it all the way to Birmingham When the production of steam engines reaches the Qing Dynasty, it is meaningless to restrict the low-end models. It can only be a cocoon, allowing the market to be occupied by others in vain.

"The popularization of steam engines has really helped a lot. Works such as adding coal at the port, blasting iron smelting, pumping water for irrigation, and mechanical processing were the things that hurt our workers the most. Now these clumsy and inferior jobs have been eliminated. , even non-national laborers have left these industries and went to look for jobs on construction sites.” Maybe he felt that He Yuan’s dress and manners were different, but the boss was a little cautious when he spoke, so he continued: “In short, we The country is different from before. The same is true of Beining. Every day, chimneys are erected and there is the sound of clanging machinery. You see, this time of every afternoon is the time when industrial production is the most active, and the whole city is filled with It's so refreshing to be in the intoxicating soot."

He Yuan was stunned at first when he heard this, and then smiled wryly.Indeed, in the eyes of many people, the more chimneys, the more civilization, progress, and high income.Compared with them, the economic composition of the Hue region, which is dominated by agriculture (plantation, logging and fishing), is indeed slightly behind.Although some people from the south will be attracted to travel and recuperate in winter and spring, and the state-owned Dongfang Hotel Group has also invested huge sums of money there, it does not seem as solid and stable as the foundation of the industrial zone.However, there is no way around this. Each region has its own development model, and it is often not advisable to blindly copy it.The future of the Hue region actually lies in sticking to the previous path and focusing on the development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery.Now that the Dutch West India Company has basically decided to double its investment, and some other businessmen are also ready to move, it is not wise to change course at this time.In fact, it is better to spend more money to design some new machines to increase the production efficiency of the later deep processing, and at the same time increase the effective use of by-products. This is what he or someone should do.

The stage was quickly set.He Yuan asked someone to find a seat, and sat down comfortably to watch.With the rapid economic development of the East Coast, the progress of the cultural industry in recent years is obvious to all.There are more than a thousand performance groups, large and small, registered in China, with tens of thousands of employees, which shows the strong domestic consumer demand for this area.

Moreover, He Yuan even heard that many performing groups went abroad to perform in places including New Courland and Portuguese Brazil.Although many scripts have a profound Chinese cultural background, they may not understand them, but they are still extremely popular wherever they go. This not only reflects their superb professionalism, but also reflects the strength of the East China Republic from the side. However, because the national strength is not strong, it is actually very difficult to achieve this level of cultural output-in this regard, the Kingdom of France in Europe is an excellent example.

Therefore, whether the national power is strong or not is indeed the foundation of everything!

The strength of the national power is indeed the foundation of everything!

(End of this chapter)