Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1597, Ming's Economy
"Invest tens of millions of taels of silver to build a bridge!"

"Calculated by investing hundreds of millions in infrastructure every year, trains and railways that travel thousands of miles a day!"

Listening to Brown's words, Simon opened his mouth wide.

Incomparably shocked in the heart.

On the one hand, he was shocked by the generosity of the people of Daming, and the casual investment was tens of millions of taels of silver. On the other hand, he was shocked by the wealth of Daming.

It's an investment of tens of millions of taels of silver at every turn, and hundreds of millions of dollars are thrown into the railway construction, which is too rich.

It seems that the people of Ming Dynasty have too much money to use up, and they just throw it around.

"The people of Ming Dynasty spent such a huge price on infrastructure construction, is it worth it?"

Simon sighed and thought at the same time.

"Of course it's worth it~"

"Daming is not a European country. European countries are very small. The whole of Europe is about the same size as the mainland of Daming."

"It is not an easy task to rule such a vast territory."

"In addition to cultural unity and recognition, it is more important to continuously strengthen the centralization of power. Therefore, since ancient times, the people of Ming Dynasty have been thinking about how to strengthen the centralization of power, consolidate the rule, and maintain the situation of great unity."

"And Daxing infrastructure is also conducive to strengthening the central government's control and connection with various places. Wherever the railway goes, the traffic will become extremely convenient and fast."

"Traveling thousands of miles a day, after the construction of the railway network covering the Ming Dynasty is completed, the Ming Empire will go to any place extremely quickly, and it will be firmly connected like an iron barrel."

"What's more, the infrastructure is well established, and the communication between various places has become fast and convenient. Even if there is any disaster, food and supplies can be easily dispatched from other places for disaster relief."

"Da Ming Daily reported in detail at this time that in the past when the Yellow River flooded and famine years, it used to take ten days and a half months to mobilize grain from the Jiangnan area, but now, once the railway is connected and the order arrives, it can be done on the same day. Truckloads of grain were directly transported to the disaster area by train."

"Even the Ming Empire can quickly mobilize food from Liaodong, the Western Regions, and Hezhong to provide disaster relief."

"Beizhili, the homeland of the Ming Dynasty, used to be a large granary for thousands of miles of fertile fields, but now, Beizhili has no food at all. The huge population of Beijing and Tianjin needs all the food from Liaodong, Jiangnan, It was transported in the Nanyang region."

"All of this is due to the more and more convenient transportation in Daming, and the developed waterway transportation, which makes the transportation between various places extremely convenient."

"If you put it in Europe, it is to mobilize food from Poland in Eastern Europe to Spain for disaster relief. Do you think it is possible?"

"I'm afraid the food will be eaten before it reaches Spain."

Brown nodded solemnly.

Simon still has the idea of ​​a small country with few people in European countries, and has not yet fully realized the importance and significance of developed transportation to a huge empire.

"That's it~"

After listening to Simon, he finally understood something.

"This is why the local economy of Ming Dynasty is becoming more and more regional."

"For example, in the Liaodong region, where there is fertile black land, the vast remoteness and the sparsely populated land are very suitable for large-scale farming. Therefore, the Liaodong region of the Ming Dynasty has gradually become the most important granary of the Ming Dynasty."

"According to last year's statistics, the grain produced in the Liaodong area alone is enough for the entire Ming people to eat. The flour produced in the Liaodong region is sold well in all parts of the Ming Dynasty. It is even popular in many vassal states and colonies of Japan, Korea, and Ming. white flour."

"Liaodong Province is also vigorously developing agriculture because of this, because there is a lot of land there, so it is very popular to use mechanized farming."

Brown thought of the newspaper he read last year, and also described to Simon some things on the local side of Ming Dynasty.

"What is mechanized farming?"

When Simon heard this, he was dumbfounded. Mechanized farming?

I haven't even heard of it myself. Is this cultivated land still mechanized?

"The so-called mechanized farming refers to the large-scale use of machinery to cultivate land."

"The people of Daming used steam engines as power to invent a series of farming machines, cultivating machines, seeders, harvesters, mills, etc., a series of machines powered by steam engines, and also introduced related preferential policies. The machine can be used for interest-free loans, installment payments, government subsidies, etc.”

"After this series of measures, the agriculture in the Liaodong area has also achieved rapid development. The cultivated area is very large. Now it is said that it has been cultivated in the Heilongjiang River Basin in the far north. Mechanized cultivation is extremely efficient and only requires a small amount. Just one population can cultivate a large area of ​​farmland, so grain production increases year by year."

"Besides, the Ming government also has a special Ministry of Agriculture in charge of agriculture. There are officials who specialize in searching for high-yielding seeds around the world, responsible for cultivating food seeds, promoting good farming methods and grain seeds, and so on."

"The corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes introduced from the Golden Continent took only two years to spread to every place in Daming, allowing Daming's food production to increase year after year, and we no longer have to worry about starvation. "

"The Liaodong region is Daming's granary, and the northern, western regions, Hezhong, Northwest, and Central Asian provinces are Daming's meat warehouses. These places have vast grasslands and water tanks."

"Vigorously develop the animal husbandry industry to provide Daming with a steady stream of horses, cattle and sheep. With the opening of the train, there are many special trains dedicated to transporting cattle, sheep and horses to and from the mainland of Daming and outside the customs every day, bringing a steady stream of food to the dining tables of the Ming people. Constant meat."

"Northern Zhili, Shandong, and Ryukyu in Ming Dynasty became Ming's vegetable and fruit warehouses."

"Northern Zhili is backed by the Beijing-Tianjin area, and has an extremely vast market. In recent years, it has become popular to grow vegetables in greenhouses and develop aquaculture, providing the Beijing-Tianjin area with a steady stream of vegetables and fruits."

"What greenhouse vegetables?"

When Simon heard this, he hurriedly asked again.

"The so-called greenhouse vegetables are worth covering the greenhouse with transparent glass or the rubber film that is popular now to keep warm, so that in the cold winter, vegetables can also be produced in the greenhouse, and vegetables can also be eaten in winter."

Brown explained that he hadn't seen it either, but that's how it was reported in the newspapers. To be honest, he didn't believe it at first, how could it be possible to grow vegetables in this severe winter.

But later he met a Daming man who migrated from Tianjin to Chixia City, and after listening to him talk about it, he felt that it should be credible.

Even things like trains and steamships have appeared, and it seems that it is not uncommon for vegetable greenhouses to appear again.

"Grow vegetables in the greenhouse in winter?"

Simon was also dumbfounded. This was the first time he heard that vegetables could be grown in winter.

"Don't believe it?"

"I haven't seen it either, and I didn't believe it at first, but it should be true."

Seeing Simon's dumbfounded look, Brown immediately smiled.

"Growing vegetables in winter, the people of Ming Dynasty really figured it out."

Simon smiled and shook his head. Daming did things that he didn't even dare to think about.

“It’s nothing to grow vegetables in winter~”

"The people of Daming actually grew vegetables in the Ryukyu and Nanyang regions at the beginning. These places are close to the equator. Even in winter, they are still very warm. The vegetables and fruits grown are then transported to the north of Daming by express boat for sale. The profits are very high.”

"Nowadays ordinary vegetables cost one or two yuan a catty. In winter, they can be sold for more than ten yuan or dozens of yuan a catty. The profit is very large, so greenhouse vegetables have gradually been born, and greenhouses have been built. Let's grow vegetables."

"The vegetable varieties grown by the people of Ming Dynasty have already come from all over the world, and many European vegetable varieties have been promoted and planted on a large scale in Daming."

Brown smiled and said that he likes reading newspapers more and more now.

Because without leaving home, one can learn about the affairs of the world and the changes in Ming Dynasty.

Newspapers report all kinds of things, major national events, regional economy, etc., and it is very useful to brag about people from Europe like Simon.

Of course, this is not bragging, but telling the truth.

“Grains from eastern Liaodong, cotton, cattle and sheep from the Hezhong region of the Western Regions, horses, cattle and sheep from the northern grasslands, wine from Nanyun, sugar and fruits from Nanyang, and rice from Jiangnan have gradually formed a regional representative economy."

"In the final analysis, all of this is due to the strong infrastructure of Daming. The more and more perfect and powerful infrastructure has greatly facilitated the exchanges between various places, strengthened the exchange of goods, and further strengthened the advantages of each region. If a certain area is suitable for the growth of a certain crop, it will be specially planted for this crop, forming an area, and then specially planting this type, and constantly strengthening its competitiveness."

When Brown talked about Ming's economy, he was also full of emotions. Just in terms of agriculture, Ming has already taken the lead in all aspects of the world.

"But the real strength of Ming Dynasty is industry!"

PS: There is also Chapter 2~
(End of this chapter)