The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 199 Style
On October 1728, 10, at 25:6 pm, the train Qi Zexuan took arrived at Nandu Station nearly an hour later than expected.

When a freight train loaded with grain and coal was passing through Xiakou (now Shepparton, a city in southern Australia), several carriages derailed and rolled over due to an operating error by railway workers, forcing all trains passing the station to make an emergency stop. , waiting for the incident to be handled.

The local military and political officials of Nandu Prefecture who came to welcome the arrival of His Royal Highness had to wait boredly for more than an hour in the VIP room of the station.

After the English envoy Baron Spencer Compton said a brief farewell to Qi Zexuan, he saw him riding a carriage towards the city, surrounded by many welcoming officials.

When we arrived, because Britain and Qi were still at war, they took English merchant ships along the traditional Eastern route and made a long circuit along the coast of the Indian Ocean before arriving at the mainland of Hanzhou.

Now that the two countries are about to achieve peace, then when returning to Europe this time, you can naturally follow the advice of the Qi people. Starting from the southwestern port of Hanzhou, take their steam passenger ship directly across the Indian Ocean. After arriving in South Africa, you can follow the African Atlantic Ocean along the coast and back to London smoothly.

A rough estimate shows that the return distance is one-third less than the original one, and the time is saved by more than half.

"Technology has changed life!"

Baron Compton couldn't help but think of what the Qi royal heir said, and he immediately resonated with it.

Qi is really a country favored by God!
Nandu is the largest city in southern Hanzhou and the capital of Hannan Province. It has more than 450,000 permanent residents. If all kinds of floating population are included, the number may reach more than 500,000.

The prosperous Nandu City is not all filled with tall buildings and bright streetscapes. Many dilapidated blocks and old houses still appear on both sides of the road from time to time.

Nandu is located to the east of Dadongshan (Great Dividing Range). It is affected by the South Pacific Warm Current all year round. The temperature changes throughout the year are relatively gentle and the precipitation is evenly distributed. However, due to the influence of the cold wind from the Indian Ocean, the daily temperature difference in the city is large, exceeding 10 degrees. Summers are warm and relatively dry, and high-temperature weather is rare. Winters are warm, slightly wet, and snowy—the last snowfall in the area since temperature records were kept dates back two decades. However, there are many mountains around Nandu. During the cold weather in winter, there will be a lot of snow on the mountains, adding a bit of winter fun to the place.

Look at the miserable citizens of the Qin Kingdom on the mainland. They are all sick, malnourished, and mentally numb. The residents of European countries are also very similar to the same appearance. They are well-dressed and strong in the cities of Qi. They work all day long for Compared with people who strive for a more comfortable life, it will make people feel that these are people from two worlds.

The local business, finance, transportation, etc. are also relatively developed. The headquarters of Southern United Bank, the fifth largest bank in the country, is located on the banks of the Mingyue River in Nandu (the Yarra River flowing through Melbourne). Major domestic banks and insurance companies are also located there. All have branches in the city.

Yes, there are still many old houses in Qi’s big cities like Nandu, most of which were built decades ago. It is still full of people. It is normal for five or six people to live in an ordinary old house. Don't be surprised if eight to ten people live there, and many of them rent.

Nowadays, with the widespread use of steamships, traders traveling between the two places no longer choose the "roaring westerly belt" route, but have shifted their route north and sailed on the gentler South Pacific route - although they will encounter The long windless zone caused excessive coal consumption, but at least the risk of destroying both people and ships was avoided.

Cities often mean the accumulation of money, the deepening of industrialization, the collection of knowledge, and the expansion of modern lifestyles.

Nowadays, housing prices in the city are already very high, costing hundreds or even thousands of yuan, which is beyond the reach of workers who have just arrived in the city. Therefore, they basically can only choose to rent a house, then find a job to make a living, save and live frugally for several years or ten years, and finally realize their desire to buy a house (house) of their own, and officially become a decent person. city ​​dwellers.

As an important industrial town in the south, Nandu has relatively complete industrial categories, including steel, coal, shipbuilding, machine tools, heavy machinery, military industry, textiles, food, ceramics, glass, papermaking, chemicals, metal processing and many other industries.

The larger the city, the more prosperous and dynamic the region becomes. At the same time, the gradual expansion of the city is also one of the main signs of a country's prosperity.

In many areas where railroads travel, their winding stretches have become integrated into the natural landscape, just like canals and post roads before the advent of the railroad.

Nandu City is an important fulcrum for trade between Hanzhou and South America. Every year, more than a hundred merchant ships depart from Nandu Port, loaded with various industrial products and ordnance supplies, passing through Dongzhou (now New Zealand) and the South Pacific Islands. Crossed the ocean, arrived in South America and the Spanish territory, and started trading activities with the locals.

Nowadays, more and more Qi people live in cities and towns and their radiation range. Trains, steam street cars, and rail carriages are things that many urban and rural people often see, and many people have even become accustomed to their existence.

"Southern Capital City still looks very big!" Qi Zexuan sat on the carriage and looked at this big southern city through the window, with a look of relief on his face.

With the increase in the population of Qi and the increase in job opportunities in cities, the number of urban residents is increasing almost every day. Not all of these newly added people are wealthy. Most of them are immigrants or rural people who yearn for urban life.

The layout of these old houses are basically face-to-face. Space utilization was taken into consideration when they were first built. They generally contain three rooms, a utility room and a kitchen. Most of the people living in them are shop clerks, restaurant waiters, and dock workers. , factory entry-level workers and other lower-income occupations.

There are also some old and dilapidated blocks that have been demolished by the government and replaced by beautiful and elegant apartment buildings built by "real estate developers". These apartment buildings are made of solid materials, modern designs, and have complete facilities such as running water, sewers, and even gas pipes.

The residents of the apartment buildings are mostly senior technicians from factories, middle-level managers of various enterprises and trading companies, small businessmen, academics and other people with a certain social status, which is in sharp contrast to those dilapidated neighborhoods. It is not that the local government has not thought about vigorously demolishing and rebuilding all old and dilapidated neighborhoods to prevent them from affecting the city's image too much, and at the same time to improve the living conditions of those residents who live in "overcrowded" areas.

But after calculating the local finance and expenditure, we can only hold our noses and allow these "unsightly" blocks to continue to exist.

Regardless of the fact that big cities like Nandu have millions of yuan in annual fiscal revenue, the government's efforts are also huge, including upgrading the city's sewer network, building roads and bridges, increasing public and municipal expenditures, and increasing medical care. , continued investment in education funds... Many places are in urgent need of money, and improving residents' homes does not seem to be a priority.

As for relying on the investment from the royal public housing fund to build some urban public rental housing, it is just a drop in the bucket. There are so many cities across the country and so many people with poor living conditions. Where can public rental housing be built?
The royal family doesn’t have much food left!
However, although these old houses were built many years ago and their structures are relatively crude, fortunately, they are made of solid materials and are not easily damaged, so they do not become dangerous buildings. Although the residential area is cramped and messy, it still has basic facilities such as running water, gas lights, and sewer pipes. The garbage generated is also cleaned regularly by indigenous laborers, but it is still possible to make ends meet.

In view of the problems of old neighborhoods, when large and medium-sized cities in Qi, including Nandu, developed and planned new districts, the local governments also learned lessons and put a lot of effort into the construction and layout of residential areas. They have built a large number of 2-5-story residential buildings around office areas, commercial areas, and industrial areas, which can be rented or sold to accommodate ordinary government officials, grassroots employees of commercial companies, and commercial service personnel.

These houses have basic living facilities, bright windows, independent kitchens and toilets, and simple decoration. Generally speaking, they are very good and are popular among urban residents.

For those middle-class and well-off families with good incomes, higher-end residences are provided for rent or sale. These residences usually have three to four independent bedrooms and are very suitable for family life.

As for the so-called upper class, such as middle- and high-level government officials, senior managers (senior craftsmen) of trading companies (factories), and businessmen, the demand for housing seems a bit luxurious.

Some will purchase a large piece of land from the government, then ask well-known architects to carefully plan and design it, and then let qualified construction companies come in for construction to build a luxurious compound that meets their wishes.

Others will directly purchase a luxury villa built according to standardized procedures from a "real estate developer". The walls are made of exquisite blue bricks, and there are basements, corridors, attics, stables, and a garden full of green plants. The small private garden of flowers looks warm and comfortable.

Of course, these houses are worth a lot of money, usually in the tens of thousands, which are beyond the reach of ordinary small households.

"Yes, not only in our Nandu City, but also in other areas of the country, the urbanization process is accelerating." Nandu Prefecture Yin Wangzhixu, who was sitting opposite Qi Zexuan, said with a smile: "There are more and more factories and trading companies in the city. , various service industries have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, attracting more rural people and immigrants. Rail transit, gas lights, tap water, public carriages, and many entertainment industries have served more and more people. . Cities have higher wages, better welfare protection, and too many opportunities to change their destiny. It is unimaginable. Some scholars have estimated that in the next ten to twenty years, several hundreds of cities will be born in our country. A super city with a population of 10,000!”

Yes, a city covering hundreds or even thousands of square kilometers with a population of one million. To be honest, he couldn't imagine it. Such a huge city may require hundreds of thousands of industrial and commercial workers. What a vast market this is, and what a scale of wealth it can create!
"In the past, during the pre-Song Dynasty, the population of Bianliang in Tokyo seemed to be over one million." Qi Zexuan's eyes were filled with fascination.

According to Qi's current rapid development, Jianye will be the first city in the country to have a population of over one million.

When the census was conducted in the 1720th year of Taiping (), the population of Jianye City exceeded , reaching more than . Now it is estimated that there are more than people. If all kinds of floating population and non-national population are included, it may exceed . It seems that the distance to one million is not far away.

The large-scale accumulation of urban population has also made the city's industrial scale more concentrated, and the industrial scale effect it exerts has become increasingly powerful.

Over the past four decades, Jianye's total industrial output value has been shrinking as its share in the country as economies across the country have been booming. However, since ten years ago, Jianye's total industrial output value has continued to rise due to its superior geographical location and huge population and industrial accumulation effects, and its domestic proportion has begun to increase slowly, reaching close to 10%.

The Qi government is happy to see the progress of domestic urbanization, which will make more intensive use of infrastructure, thereby developing industry more effectively and creating more jobs and income. At the same time, the increase in population during the urbanization process will socialize family life and develop various service industries, creating more jobs and allowing more farmers to move out of agriculture and obtain higher-income jobs. job opportunity.

Qi has been undergoing continuous industrialization for decades, and the social landscape has undergone tremendous and profound changes. It may not be particularly obvious when you are in it, but after Qi Zexuan took a boat through Nanyang, Annan and other places before and traveled to Qin State, he immediately felt the completely different social scene and economic situation.

By the way, it has been more than 40 years since the founding of the Qin State. The mainland has enjoyed peace and development for decades, but it still feels poor and backward. Some old immigrants once lamented that the situation on the mainland has really not changed much, and it is still the same. It is just that the population has increased a little, and the rural areas are not as desolate as they were before the war.

In fact, it is not just the Qin State on the mainland that looks like this. Most countries on the earth are basically in this state. There is no war and they are satisfied if they can have enough to eat.

When the convoy arrived at the Guest House in the west of the city, it was already past seven o'clock in the evening, and the last rays of the setting sun dyed the glass windows of the building a blushing red. A train of steam streetcars passed by in the distance, with dull rumbles and sharp whistles intertwined. Some of the trading company employees and factory technicians who were off work frowned and rushed towards home impatiently.

A layer of black, yellow or white foggy clouds hangs over the city. In the noisy pubs and restaurants, people are surging, and the waiters loudly announce the guests' menus to the kitchen; in the teahouses and theaters, under the illumination of gas lamps Under the sky, it was extremely bright, and the dedicated artists performed hard, winning bursts of warm cheers and applause; in the elegant and exquisite buildings, businessmen reached huge deals while drinking and drinking; the ships at the port The whistle was sounded, and the goods were loaded with goods and sailed to the sea; countless students happily rushed out of the classroom with their schoolbags after the school bell rang...

In Nandu, Hanzhou, and Qi State, the entire society is undergoing profound changes, and it is still unclear where it will go.

But whether they are royal rulers, cabinet governments, or thousands of ordinary citizens, they all believe that life in the future may be better.

(End of this chapter)