Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Chapter 310 Western Infrastructure (4k)

Ashikaga Takauji, who was nestled in the island country and never went out, could never know how vast the world outside was.

Just when he thought that the Ming Dynasty's new firearms were already the most powerful killing weapons in the world, Ming Dynasty's military industry quietly took another big step forward.

Breakthroughs in steelmaking technology have an impact beyond just railways and trains.

It also played a crucial role in the development of firearms.

It seemed that he was still feeling guilty for not winning the position of Prime Minister of Zhongshu Province for Yang Xian. Zhu Biao spent most of his time in Yangzhou these days.

Discuss with Yang Xian the rail train upgrade.

For Ming Dynasty, this is also a major event, which can be said to be related to the people's livelihood and the national destiny.

Zhu Biao was a little worried: "We are laying rails all over the country. Isn't it a little too hasty? According to what you just said, Yang Qing, the production of more than 160 miles of rails requires about 200 million to 1500 million kilograms of steel. And the Ming Dynasty In previous years, the annual steel output was only about million kilograms."

It's no wonder that Zhu Biaohui is so worried. You must know that if the railway is really to be laid across the country, the railway chief has estimated that it will be almost 20 miles.

"I think the first thing that needs to be opened up is the railway transportation in several western provinces."

Calculating the output of the Ming Dynasty in previous years, it would take 200 years.

In the Jiangnan area, rail trains can still be used for a while.

Yang Xian nodded and replied: "This is why I want to take the lead in opening up transportation in the west."

"I think the imperial court will develop the west next. It is precisely because the economic focus of all dynasties in the past was in the Jiangnan region, which led to the situation where the Jiangnan plutocrats could not lose their last place. Of course, it is not that the west should replace Jiangnan's status. Jiangnan has its own unique geography. The advantage is that its position cannot be replaced by anyone. What we have to do is not to let the differences between regions be so huge."

"As iron ore mining continues in these countries, steel production will only increase, and the labor problem of building railways will also be solved."

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, merchants became popular and various craftsmen went about their business, and civilization entered a period of rapid development.

That is to say, at least 32 kilograms of steel will be consumed.

Yang Xian did not answer directly, but asked rhetorically: "May I ask His Royal Highness, how many people are there in the Chief Secretary of Shaanxi Province, and how many people are there in the Chief Secretary of Zhejiang Province?"

Coupled with the developed water transportation, there is no rush.

After a brief period when a hundred flowers bloomed, Confucian scholarship became the main ideological line of civilization because it was in line with the interests of the rulers.

As a civilization developed in an agricultural society, agricultural production has always been the most important thing in this ancient country in the East.

According to general understanding, shouldn't the first railways to be built should be wealthy places like Jiangnan?

But from about 100 BC, after the Han Dynasty dominated Confucianism, Eastern civilization entered a period of consolidation in the feudal era, or it can simply be said to be a period of regression.

Regarding the situation in each province, Zhu Biao knew the situation clearly and replied directly: "The population of the Chief Secretary of Shaanxi is less than 2.5 million, which is less than one-third of the Chief Secretary of Zhejiang."

"But even if steel production increases tenfold, it will still take at least 20 years. And Yang Qing, you have to know that all the steel produced every year cannot be used to build railways." Zhu Biao said.

"Not really." Yang Xian shook his head slightly and then said. "His Royal Highness the Prince also said that the 1500 million kilograms of steel production is the figure of previous years. This year's steel production will increase at least ten times."

Yang Xian smiled and said: "The Great Wall was not built in a year, and neither were the railways leading to the whole country. Even if construction starts now, it will take ten years at best to repair the railway. And His Highness has forgotten the surrounding Annan, Occupy these countries.”

A simple Confucian grading system for scholars, peasants, industry and commerce roughly divided people into several classes, which led to the decline of industry and commerce.

What Yang Xian wants to do is to build the west into the heavy industrial zone of the Ming Dynasty.

After listening to Yang Xian's words, Zhu Biao had a puzzled look on his face and asked, "What's the reason for this?"

Over the past 1,500 years, although the Confucian idea of ​​great unity has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and created a centripetal force for the nation, social progress has always been measured at this level of change.

Even in many ideas, compared to 1,500 years ago, there is some regression.

Take the merchant class as an example. During the Spring and Autumn Period, there were many big businessmen who did business among various countries. Many ministers also earned mountains of wealth as businessmen.

However, the merchant class is highly mobile and well-informed, which is not in line with the Confucian policy of obscuring the people. People have become smarter, which is not conducive to management.

Therefore, the merchant class has been severely suppressed, and the business atmosphere of the entire society, except for a brief period of prosperity in the Song Dynasty, has almost always been in decline.

But Yang Xian, who came from a later generation, knew very well the huge role that commerce and industry could play in the development of the entire society.

Compared with commerce and industry, traditional agricultural development has limitations. Spring sowing and autumn harvest are subject to natural climate changes, and there is little room for development.

Even with the emergence of hybrid varieties and chemical fertilizers in later generations, the return on agriculture will never exceed a hundred times.

Of course, this does not mean that agriculture is unimportant, on the contrary, it is the foundation.

If humans can't even fill their stomachs, other pursuits are of course just a joke.

Even in future generations, if a country's independent agriculture cannot fill the stomachs of its own citizens and relies solely on imported food from other countries, it will still be a joke. The kimchi country that later claimed to be a developed country was directly brought back to its original shape due to India's restrictions on rice exports and various international situations. Because their domestic production was completely insufficient, the people could not even afford to eat a pound of rice. The worst and cheapest one costs 19 yuan, and the average one costs more than 25 yuan, which is almost 10 times the price in our country.

One of the top ten news stories in Kimchi Country in 2023 is that the price of vegetable baskets has skyrocketed, exacerbating the burden on the people. Not only rice, but also the prices of other vegetables, fruits, and meat that ordinary people eat have soared. For the people of Kimchi Country, it’s OK to eat less vegetables and fruits, but you have to eat. If you don’t eat, can you really only eat instant noodles every day?

For this reason, many human backpackers from South Korea fly directly to our country to sell the goods brought from South Korea, and then smuggle the rice back to kimchi country for sale.

This shows the importance of independent agriculture, Yuan Gong through the ages.

This time and space Kimchi Country has no such worries at all, because the Koryo Kingdom is gone, and naturally there will be no Kimchi Country later.

But after human beings have met their basic survival needs, if they want to develop by leaps and bounds, they can only rely on commerce and industry. Agriculture alone will never be possible.

Industry and commerce are different. Industry directly surpasses agriculture and directly changes the world through qualitative changes.

Now, under Yang Xian's suggestion, the Ming Dynasty has opened up its sea ban, and with Yangzhou as an economic and cultural center, the important business responsibilities of the Ming Dynasty can be completely handed over to the Jiangnan region. As for industry, especially heavy industry, Yang Xian wanted to put it in the western provinces.

In fact, Mingji has been making many layouts in the past two years.

Yang Xian stood up and took out a document from the bookshelf and handed it to His Royal Highness.

"This is?"

"His Royal Highness will know after seeing it."

Zhu Biao took it and took a closer look, and soon discovered that what Yang Xian handed him turned out to be a detailed and complete development plan for the western part of the Ming Dynasty.

As expected of Yang Qing!

Zhu Biao raised his head and glanced at Yang Xian, his eyes full of gratitude, and then immediately lowered his head and began to study carefully.

"What is the prospectus written in Yang Qing's plan?"

"It's just about finding people to invest. When there are so many provinces in the west and conditions are so weak today, if you want to develop rapidly in a short period of time, relying on the court alone and Mingji alone is far from enough."

Yang Xian said: "So what we have to do is to attract businessmen to develop in the west and let capital flow into the western provinces on a large scale. To this end, the court can introduce some policies that are beneficial to businessmen, and we will also provide some corresponding technologies. Helping is Mingji’s social responsibility as a large enterprise.”

Anyway, the patent fee should be paid at least one point, and the more people benefited because of Yang Xian's reasons, the more merit points Yang Xian would have.

Zhu Biao and Yang Xian talked about the development of the western region from day to night. If they delayed any longer, they would miss the last train back to Beijing.

Before Zhu Biao left, Yang Xian suddenly called him.

"Yang Qing?"

"Your Highness, the next few years will be a time when Ming Dynasty will develop rapidly, even faster than you can imagine. The entire Ming Dynasty business will take off, and the old regulatory agencies will face great challenges, so we need to Make preparations for a rainy day." Yang Xian said.

"Is Yang Qing going to establish a new yamen?" Zhu Biao asked.

Yang Xian nodded and said, "When I have a detailed plan, I will write a secret code and send it to the Prince's East Palace."

"Having you in the Ming Dynasty is the greatest luck in the world." Zhu Biao solemnly saluted Yang Xian.

Once the western development proposed by Yang Xian is implemented, the western provinces will benefit immensely in the next few years or even decades.

Let’s not talk about heavy industrial areas.

The construction of infrastructure such as railways and urban roads alone can drive steady economic growth in the western provinces.

Infrastructure construction is also one of the important means to expand domestic demand. Ultimately, it will drive continued growth in consumption and expand total demand throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Finally, infrastructure construction can drive the development of the entire industrial chain in related fields, driving the upstream to the downstream, developing the economy and improving people's livelihood. A complete industrial chain will not only provide more jobs, but also provide workers with higher wages, which plays an important role in improving people's livelihood.

Building railways now no longer requires Yang Xian to do it himself.

Taking advantage of the current steelmaking boom across the country, Yang Xian was ready to take the next step in the development of firearms.

Today's Hongwu rifles are muzzleloaders and use paper cartridges.

Yang Xian's goal this time is to develop a breech-loading gun belonging to the Ming Dynasty, and change the bullets used to metal bullets.

The latter is even more difficult than the former.

A metal-cased bullet consists of a primer (detonator), charge, cartridge case, and warhead.

For the current Ming Dynasty, the best choice for the metal used in the cartridge case is copper, because copper has the most suitable ductility and melting point for the production tools at this time. Moreover, when charging and detonating, copper's pressure resistance is twice that of steel, it is not easy to wear the rifling and hang residue, and it can also be reloaded (compared to later generations, this was very important in the Ming Dynasty when the arsenal productivity was insufficient).

Copper itself is a very good self-lubricating material, and copper bullets will cause very little damage to the barrel.

As for copper, Yang Xian is not worried at all. If he remembers correctly, there are two large copper mines in Annan and Champa.

Yang Xian handed some of the research materials in his hands to his most loyal research team and asked them to start researching new artifacts for the country.

the other side.

Japan.

After more than a year of hard work.

Shogun Ashikaga Takayoshi finally obtained a new Hongwu rifle through his ninjas.

For more than a year, Ashikaga Zunyi continued to push their Japanese Sakura girls to the Golden Cave and Paradise Island established by Akira. Of course, it was not without purpose.

This method is exactly the same as that of later generations, after Japan's defeat in World War II, it directly established a foreign-related club, which was a "national prostitution agency" and sent tens of thousands of comfort women to the Bald Eagle occupying army. In order to achieve their goals, they did not take the people into consideration at all.

At that time, the number of prostitutes in the country was far from enough.

As a result, the Japanese government finally lost its dignity and used newspaper advertisements to recruit women from good families. At that time, Japan's economy was in recession, the unemployment rate was extremely high, and there was a "male priority for employment" practice. Many women who had lost male relatives during the war or were unable to find husbands because Japanese men were killed in large numbers were on the verge of starving to death. Therefore, it is normal for applicants to gather when seeing such an advertisement. According to statistics at the time, less than 20% of these women were allowed to provide sexual services by default when they were recruited.

However, once they fall into the trap of the tiger, most of them cannot escape the fate of becoming comfort girls due to the hard and soft tactics of the government and the sex industry bosses. In Inae Setsuko's book "Occupying Forces Comfort Stations", she described the scene at that time: "No more than half volunteered." "The war is over, but innocent women can still be driven to do it in the name of 'patriotism'" The foreign soldiers who were stationed in the country were engaged in prostitution. This was the same cruelty as dragging women to rape during the war. Today, it is renamed special comfort consolation.

The Bald Eagle soldiers deployed just after World War II were far worse than the news that broke out in later peacetimes.

For example, there was a very vicious incident in Yokohama at that time. More than a hundred black bald eagle soldiers suddenly broke into the comfort station. They used carbines to threaten them and gang-raped the 14 comfort girls inside. They screamed and howled all night, and the Japanese police did not dare to intervene. . When dawn came, we saw that all three male staff members had been seriously injured, and the half-dead comfort women lay dying on the ground with the mud marks of their leather boots.

The behavior of these women at that time was called Feng Gong by the Japanese conquerors.

(End of this chapter)