1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3807

Among the existing industrial sectors in the East China Sea region, the shipbuilding industry undoubtedly occupies an extremely important position. It not only provides a large number of jobs and creates considerable profits, but also gradually forms an industrial system of division of labor and cooperation among various production, education and research institutions. The evolution of the industrial chain is far ahead of its contemporary countries.

Thanks to the rapid development of Hai Han’s own shipping industry and the large number of shipbuilding orders provided by the Japanese Civil War, these newly emerging civilian shipyards hardly have to worry about sales issues as they have a steady stream of orders coming to them automatically.

The number of private shipyards that have sprung up in the Donghai region in recent years shows the thriving state of this industry. This has also spawned institutions that specialize in training practitioners and engaging in ship design.

During the first Zhoushan Military Forum held at the beginning of last year, many shipyards in the East China Sea region had already won a lot of orders from home and abroad. Shi Diwen, who noticed this, subsequently formulated some preferential measures in terms of taxation and management systems to support the development momentum of this industry.

As for the companies that Shi Diwen selected from the event guests, they are the groups that benefit the most from these industrial policies, so that he can better understand the actual situation of this industry.

These people originally just wanted to take advantage of the groundbreaking ceremony of the Hangzhou-Nanning Railway to make themselves known in front of the big shots, but they never expected to get a private meeting with Shi Diwen. This is a treatment that ordinary people can hardly get. Everyone showed the utmost respect and answered all the questions raised by Shi Diwen.

After listening to their stories, Shi Diwen gradually had a clearer idea about how to arrange the shipbuilding plan of the Yangtze River Fleet.

However, he certainly would not easily entrust such a big plan to people he met for the first time. He still had to have a deeper understanding of them before making a decision.

Especially the backgrounds of these people, Shi Diwen planned to let his intelligence agencies investigate them to make sure there were no hidden dangers. They were able to succeed in their business in just a few years, maybe the backer behind them was a certain time traveler, so it was necessary to confirm whether their position was consistent with Shi Diwen.

This situation is not uncommon in Hai Han today. Whenever there is an industry with good development prospects, many time travelers will participate in it in various ways. Some industries may not be run by time travelers themselves, but it is also common to hand over the management of industries to professionals in the form of investment or behind-the-scenes trusteeship.

Industries with a high degree of industrialization, such as shipbuilding, are also areas where time travelers excel. Even if they are not so proficient in shipbuilding technology, they know what advanced manufacturing technologies and equipment should be introduced into this industry, as well as promoting standardized design solutions and manufacturing process flows, just based on the extra few hundred years of experience.

Once such a theoretical framework is in place, coupled with the abundant capital that the time travelers can invest, as well as the connections among the upper classes, development will certainly be much faster than that of their peers of this era, and it may even be possible to become an industry leader in a short period of time.

The partner that Shi Diwen wants to find must at least share the same stance as the military, that is, support the use of military means to achieve rapid external expansion, so as to more quickly promote the implementation of the Yangtze River Fleet shipbuilding plan.

Shi Diwen encouraged them gently, telling them that if they managed their business well, there would definitely be excellent development prospects. Then he served tea and sent the guests away.

After the guests left, Shi Diwen took a short rest and then asked Shi Chengxin to prepare the carriage and set off.

The groundbreaking ceremony of the Hangzhou-Nanjing Railway was held at the currently planned Hangzhou North Railway Station. The reason why it is called the North Station is that the Hangzhou-Nanjing Railway, which is currently under construction, can only temporarily set up a temporary railway station on the south bank of the Qiantang River, also known as Hangzhou South Station, because the engineering technology required for the bridge across the Qiantang River is not yet mature.

The real Hangzhou Railway Station is actually planned to be located outside the city of Hangzhou on the north bank of the Qiantang River. When the Qiantang River Bridge is completed and opened to traffic in the future, the Hangzhou-Nanjing Railway and the Hangzhou-Nanjing Railway will be able to intersect and connect.

These two railways planned around the capital city of Hangzhou can be regarded as the main land arteries of the capital region in the future. Their total mileage has exceeded the Sanya-Danzhou railway built by Hai Han along the coast of Hainan Island.

Needless to say, the Executive Committee attaches great importance to this large-scale project. Almost all senior officials in Hangzhou will attend today's groundbreaking ceremony.

When Shi Diwen arrived, there were already nearly 10,000 onlookers outside the venue. It seemed that the local villagers in Hangzhou also paid great attention to this railway station. Although most of them had never actually taken a train, this did not prevent them from learning about this epoch-making new means of transportation from various word-of-mouth news and having a strong yearning for it.

As the governor of the East China Sea region, Shi Diwen was one of the main contributors to this project, so when he arrived at the scene he was greeted with cheers from the people.

The civilian guests seated in the inner field also stood up to welcome Shi Diwen's arrival, including the four people who had just met him in Shi's house.

Shi Diwen waved in all directions, then greeted his colleagues who had arrived one by one.

According to the event schedule, the groundbreaking ceremony will first feature traditional dragon and lion dance celebrations, followed by a sacrificial ceremony hosted by the executive committee, during which animals will be offered to pray to the gods for a smooth and safe project.

Although the members of the Executive Committee may not necessarily believe in this metaphysics, for many things it is better to believe in them than not to believe in them. Moreover, many ordinary people also need to see this link so that they can feel at ease to accept the appearance of new things like trains in their lives in the future.

After the grand sacrificial ceremony, Shi Diwen, as a representative of the executive committee, had a brief speech.

Shi Diwen's voice was transmitted to everyone present through several loudspeakers facing in all directions: "...Hangzhou-Nanjing Railway is one of the most important transportation projects in the capital region in the next ten years. This railway will connect Hangzhou, Huzhou, Changzhou and Yingtianfu, greatly shortening the travel time between the two major cities of Hangzhou and Nanjing, and it is not impossible to achieve the goal of leaving in the morning and arriving in the evening!"

The people present couldn't help but exclaimed when they heard this. At that time, the official road from Nanjing to Hangzhou was more than 600 miles long. Even if you rode a horse or a carriage, it would take seven or eight days to get there. If you walked, it was common to take half a month.

The time required for taking a boat is almost the same as that for traveling by land, especially when traveling from Hangzhou to Nanjing. After entering the Yangtze River, one has to go upstream, and the speed cannot be increased even if one wants to.

Departing in the morning and arriving in the evening, for those who have never taken a train, this speed is simply unimaginable. The entire length of the Hangzhou-Nanning Railway is more than 500 miles, and the train is designed to travel at a speed of 60 miles per hour. In theory, it is indeed possible to realize the vision described by Shi Diwen.