Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2484 Leisurely away from war ([-])

Shipu Mint, July 1703, 7.

The setting sun fell in the old courtyard, and many mottled tree shadows fell.It is already late autumn, and the impatiens planted in the corner of the courtyard have withered long ago. Only the weeds sticking out from the cracks at the root of the wall are still standing proudly, adding a touch of green to the courtyard.

There are traces of repairs everywhere on the concrete floor, and a few workers who are not young are cleaning the withered yellow leaves dancing with the wind on the ground.In the evening, Director Kong of the Precious Metals Administration and his party came over, and everyone had to deal with hygiene issues before leaving get off work, so as not to be a hindrance to the view.

The rhythmic crashing sound of machines still sounded in the workshop more than ten meters away.All the old workers know that the hydraulic machinery in the foundry is stamping coins.Yes, that's right, hydraulic machinery!The Shipu Mint, as an old minting company, is still making metal coins using hydraulic stamping equipment designed decades ago.For this reason, their factory also has a power channel connecting Shipu reservoir to drive various machines.But this canal, just like this factory, has been old for decades. Even though it is frequently maintained, repaired, and dredged, it is still irresistibly dilapidated. Hydraulic machinery is indeed seriously outdated.

The Shipu Mint once applied for special funds from the Precious Metals Administration for the modernization of the production line.They plan to import a complete steam production line from Black Mountain Industries to improve production efficiency.However, the superiors did not allow it. The factory raised it several times but was rejected, and the minting tasks assigned to them became less and less. It seems that the General Administration has concentrated all its energy on the mint in Qingdao Port, which is very surprising. depressed.

Recently, the Shipu Mint proposed to introduce a steam production line, but it was rejected without accident, and the senior management of the factory got the news that their mint is likely to be closed, because there is not so much demand for metal coins now, and the Precious Metals Administration has already He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the printing and management of banknotes.

The current Shipu Mint only mints cent coins (steel, nickel alloy) and a small amount of gold coins every month.The circulation of cent coins in the country is very extensive, and there is still some demand for the main force used by ordinary people in daily life.The gold coin minting business is purely to take care of them. The denominations of [-] yuan and [-] yuan are basically not in circulation in the market. They are mainly prepared for people who exchange gold coupons for gold. The demand is not small, but with the mint in Fangshan County The new factory (close to the gold production area) has a large production capacity. How can you do anything about the Shipu Mint?Giving you some business is purely caring. After all, there is also a cost for gold nugget transportation.

As a result, the Shipu Mint with a long history came to an end and faced the embarrassing situation of closing down.Fortunately, there are basically arrangements for where the workers will go, either to the factory in Qingdao County or to the newly built factory in Daxing County.Most people chose the latter, because it is a new factory that mainly prints banknotes and is currently in a state of preparation. Everyone has a chance, which is much better than the old factory whose personnel have already been fixed.

By the way, the production line of the Daxing Mint will be mainly driven by electricity (but a steam production line is reserved for backup), but the premise is that the large-scale hydroelectric power station under construction on the Daxing Reservoir can be successfully completed.

The hydropower station was established two years ago, and the investment in the first phase exceeded 300 million yuan in French currency. To be honest, no one knows how much additional investment will be made in the future.The East Bank has never had construction experience in this kind of project, and all the designs are theoretical, and there will definitely be countless problems in practice.Many people pessimistically predict that this project will take at least ten years to complete, and the investment of more than 1000 million yuan is small.

Of course, they also admit that electricity is the energy source of the future and represents the development direction of advanced productive forces.But they also stressed that the current national strength of the east coast is sufficient to support such a large-scale project?The east bank of the Daxing Reservoir has been under construction for 20 years, and there is only a prototype at present. The amount of funds that need to be invested in the follow-up is astonishing. If this part of the cost is also included, the cost of this hydropower station will be sky high.

Moreover, the country is still expropriating a large amount of manpower and material resources to build the Heihe (Negro River) reservoir.Is it going to be taxed again across the country?

These are very real problems.In particular, although the East Bank has not yet officially joined the War of Spanish Succession, it has been making preparations and spending a lot of money every year.Under such circumstances, if a large amount of funds are squeezed out to start the Daxing Reservoir project, even if the finances are affordable (printing money...), will it cause huge domestic inflation?War and infrastructure have always been the best drivers of inflation!

This is the opinion of the opponents, but there are actually quite a few supporters.Their reason is that the gold production in the Tuanjiehe gold mining area is growing rapidly, and the population and economic scale in the east bank have developed to a new level. Properly increasing the money supply will not cause any economic disaster.Or even if there is, it can be overcome!Moreover, investment in large-scale reservoirs began 20 years ago, and more than 1000 million yuan in capital, materials and labor costs have been invested one after another. Why not take this opportunity to increase investment and build this reservoir, which will not only reduce floods in the upstream and downstream Disasters can also adjust the water supply of reservoirs in dry seasons or dry years, reducing losses for agricultural production, which can be said to have many benefits.

Furthermore, so much manpower and material resources have already been invested, wouldn't it be a waste to leave it idle?Everyone is counting the cost and investment, so the cost of capital is ignored?Now that the construction of the Heihe Reservoir has not officially started, there is still time to "rein in the precipice". It is better to save the funds and invest all of them in the construction of the Daxing Reservoir.As long as it is completed, not only will the people on both sides of the Wujiang River benefit from it, but the construction of the hydropower station can also be followed up, contributing to the economic development and scientific and technological progress of the Eastern Republic.

They also pointed out that the current Shangma Heihe Reservoir project is purely a project that local officials in the eastern prairie used their huge influence in the top government to fight for the project.While this is of paramount importance to local interests, it is not the highest priority nationally.If the government has sufficient funds, then the two major projects can be launched at the same time. However, if the funds are insufficient, then the Heihe Reservoir project can be considered to be suspended and the Daxing Reservoir should be fully tackled. After all, the power generation potential here is much larger than that of the Heihe Reservoir.

As the largest and only power company in China, the East Coast Electric Power Company is looming among them, playing a huge role that many people can't imagine.As the biggest beneficiary of the promotion and application of electric power, Ma Xiaopeng really worked hard when promoting the Daxing Reservoir and Heihe Reservoir power station projects. He even mobilized many parental relationships and consumed countless human favors, and finally made this project possible. looks.

TEPCO has been tossing for so many years, and finally survived the period of hard work that could only produce batteries, power measuring instruments, and experimental power generation equipment (strictly speaking, the latter two belong to the "teaching material" category), and began to enter the application In the wonderful age of electricity, how could he not seize this opportunity tightly?He is not young anymore, and he doesn't want to wait indefinitely. He wants to see the widespread application of electricity, a new energy source, while he is alive.

To this end, he first formed an alliance with the Bright Lighting Company of the Bai family, and then cooperated in depth with mechanical enterprises such as Heishan Industrial Company, Tieling Heavy Industry Consortium, and Pingan Coal and Steel Consortium to promote the development of the electric machine tool business. The company has reached a comprehensive strategic partnership to gradually increase the share of electricity in the energy map of the east coast.

At present, there are more than a dozen small coal-fired power stations across the country (mostly established in cooperation with various state-owned enterprises). Although the total power generation is still not worth mentioning, and each power station is not connected into a network, it is already a remarkable achievement. up.

But now, Ma Xiaopeng has a bigger ambition, that is to find a way to promote the construction of a large-scale hydropower station, which is much better than the small-scale self-use power stations of enterprises.Moreover, after the completion of the large-scale hydropower station, there is another huge advantage, that is, you can build a transmission network yourself. As long as a large number of users are connected to the grid, it will be a gold machine, and its value is self-evident.

East Coast Power Company has such technical reserves.Their company has developed for decades. In addition to normal production, they also have a large-scale research and development institution. In addition to enterprises, this institution also has special funds from the "Science Spring Program" and has a close relationship with the Engineering Technology Research Institute. In terms of cooperation, the two parties have joined forces to research the technologies and equipment required for power generation, transmission and distribution, and have been verified and improved in the use of those small power stations. Their strength should not be underestimated.

Ma Xiaopeng is now very confident that as long as the large-scale hydropower project does not go wrong, his company will become the darling of the new era, and he, Ma Xiaopeng, will also become a man of the times. He has even tasted the flavor in his mind in advance For many years.

The only obstacle now is probably money.Damn, why is it so unlucky to participate in a costly global war at such a juncture?Now the army is clamoring to fill up twelve mixed regiments with full staff. The navy says we have a new idea and wants to build a few new ironclad warships. The diplomatic and intelligence departments are constantly applying for various funds so that they can maneuver freely in diplomacy. And planning all kinds of shady conspiracies, what a bunch of bandits!

And a piece of news from the Caribbean a few days ago gave him a bad premonition, that is, the new Spanish king Philip V actually sent a general to Florida with more than a thousand soldiers. The restless aristocrats attacked and suppressed the independents, which almost detonated the already tense relationship between the East and the West.

Ma Wanpeng always felt that the National Intelligence Agency might be doing something in Florida.As for the consequences of doing things, maybe the East Coast Republic will be formally dragged into the water.In that case, the reservoir and power station projects that were intended to be promoted in the leisure time before the war will be affected if they are not kept in order. What should we do?

(End of this chapter)