The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 261 The Dilemma of North American Industrial Construction

Zhu Jianxuan divided the navy he brought into two parts, with half remaining in Europe.

He led the other half, carrying the remaining 30,000 army troops, across the Atlantic Ocean to the North American continent.

On May 1791, the 6th year of Emperor Xianning's reign in the Ming Dynasty (June 2, in the Western calendar), Zhu Jianxuan's fleet arrived at the Port of New York.

Coming back to New York after seven years, Zhu Jianxuan opened the cabin window with emotion and looked at the current state of New York Harbor.

Seven years ago, New York was just a small town, with only a few buildings concentrated at the tip of Manhattan Island.

But now New York is already a big city, with densely packed buildings covering most of Manhattan Island.

The prince's palace stands in the middle of the front end of the island, surrounded by Ming-style buildings of various sizes.

Now looking from a distance, this is almost a typical Ming Dynasty city.

The dock is now closed and under martial law, and the main officials and nobles of North America are waiting collectively at the dock.

However, the surrounding people were not allowed to go to the dock to watch.

After Zhu Jianxuan waited for his ship to dock, he came out of the cabin and waved to the officials and nobles below.

Then he slowly got off the boat, got on the carriage prepared in advance, and went directly to his palace.

Zhu Jianxuan assessed in his mind that the number of enemies who hated him in North America should be far less than that in his homeland, but he still did not organize any public demonstrations.

The main reason was that Louis XVI had a wild imagination, which made Zhu Jianxuan extremely vigilant.

Zhu Jianxuan ascended the throne in the Chengyun Hall of the royal palace and accepted the collective worship of important North American officials and nobles.

The ceremonial meeting ended quickly. Zhu Jianxuan returned to the harem to rest, and the nobles and officials also returned to their homes.

Two days later, Zhu Jianxuan came to the conference room of Chengyun Hall and summoned the most core officials and nobles.

Cabinet scholars and ministers headed by Liu Quanzhi and Peng Yuanrui.

Senior military officers and generals headed by Li Anbang and Zhang Beining.

Hancock, Adams, Washington, Jefferson and other European nobles of the North American Free States.

George Clinton, governor of New York, and William Livingston, governor of New Jersey.

After the greeting and formalities, Zhu Jianxuan asked everyone to sit down. Officials from various departments took turns speaking and briefly reported to Zhu Jianxuan on the current situation in the United States.

The current registered population of the United States is slightly over eight million.

Among them, there are about 3 million people of Ming descent, about 3.4 million people of European descent, about 1 million indigenous people included in the household registration system, and about 600,000 black slaves.

At this time, the total population of New York City was about 600,000, most of whom were of Ming descent.

In the history of the United States, according to the first census in 1790, there were million people in the country, and this data only included Europeans and black slaves.

The current U.S. court governs twice as many people as at any time in history.

The number of European immigrants and slaves remained basically unchanged, but there was an additional Ming Dynasty immigrant group of almost the same size.

The Ming-style court is now still conquering the indigenous people inland, absorbing their young women and children into the immigrant group, and bringing them under the jurisdiction of the court.

At the same time, officials from the US court have conducted a general and comprehensive survey of the current jurisdiction.

The scope of the main rivers and lakes has been roughly clarified.

But we also encountered several very troublesome problems, the first of which was the lack of raw materials for industrialization.

Ming Dynasty immigrants brought Ming Dynasty's industrial technology and prepared to build a steel industry in the United States, but the United States was seriously short of iron ore.

Peng Yuanrui explained to Zhu Jianxuan:

“Your Highness, the coal mines in the American region are quite abundant, and we have already developed two coal mines.

“But there are no iron ore deposits along the entire eastern and southern coastlines or coastal plains.

"We do find some small-scale iron ore deposits in the southern end of the Free State's border mountains (Appalachians).

"But these iron mines not only have low reserves, but also very low iron content in the ore, with the highest being only a few percent and the lowest being only a few percent.

"Compared to the iron ore in Australia which has an iron content of more than 60 percent, these are just rocks with a little bit of iron slag.

“Finally, we discovered several large-scale iron ore deposits around Xuanwu Lake (Lake Superior), and the iron content should be more than 30%.

“However, Xuanwu Lake is far away from the deepest part of the North American continent, and our current population and cities are concentrated along the eastern coast.

"We can either transport people and materials to the inland areas near the Great Lakes to build factories and then ship the products out, or we can open mines locally and transport the ore to New York for smelting." But no matter what we do, we must have a high enough transportation capacity.

“Either building a railroad deep inland or dredging the entire Great Lakes region, both are extremely difficult.

“The long railway through the great forests was of great expense.

“The Longque Falls (Niagara Falls) between Qinglong Lake and Zhuque Lake is also difficult to cross.

“From New York to the sea, heading north around the St. Lawrence River, passing through Quebec and Montreal, and then entering the Great Lakes region, this route is 3,000 kilometers long.

“It only takes more than 500 kilometers from New York to the Great Lakes region by land.

“After more than a year of discussion and analysis, the Department of Retention has prepared several scenarios.

“Put the industrial center at the eastern end of Lake Suzaku (Buffalo), or at the southern end of Lake White Tiger (Lake Michigan) (Chicago).

“Iron ore and coal are transported by ships between the four major lakes in the west and concentrated in these two places for smelting.

"Then, starting from New York, build a canal to the easternmost end of Lake Erie, or build a railroad to bypass the dangerous falls.

"The railroads or canals carried only equipment and products, while the ore remained within the Great Lakes and was transported by ship.

“It can be said that railways and canals each have their own advantages and disadvantages.

“Railways are more expensive to build and more expensive to use, but they are more convenient and faster.

“The canal is more expensive to build, but very cheap to use, making it suitable for transporting large quantities of low-cost bulk products such as grain.

"As for whether to build a canal or a railway, the main colleagues in the Retaining Office have different opinions, so I would like to ask Your Highness to make a decision."

Regarding the naming of the five Great Lakes in North America, neither the east, west, south, north, and center proposed by Zhu Jianxuan, nor the gold, wood, water, fire, and earth that the old emperor casually asked about were used.

The officials of the North American Liaison Office were named according to the Five Celestial Officials: Azure Dragon in the East, White Tiger in the West, Vermillion Bird in the South, Black Tortoise in the North, and Purple Star in the Center.

Niagara Falls is located between the Azure Dragon and the Vermilion Bird, so naturally it is called the Dragon Bird Falls.

As a country of immigrants, the early immigrants of the United States were all in coastal areas, while resources were all in inland areas, so the early industrial conditions were actually quite poor.

Historically, the United States began its own industrialization sixty years after the founding of the United States, after Britain completed the first industrial revolution.

Mainly before that, Americans were concentrated on the eastern coast, and the inland was basically a wilderness.

In the decades after the founding of the United States, the inland areas continued to be developed for decades, settlements were built along the coasts of the Great Lakes, and relatively fixed roads were formed.

Only then can industry be developed around the Great Lakes.

The United States, now within the Ming system, is preparing to start industrialization directly while exploring the interior in depth.

Now we need to proactively plan transportation infrastructure for the transportation of industrial raw materials and products.

Historically, the United States first built a canal from New York City to Lake Erie.

The canal is only 1.2 meters deep and has more than 50 locks along the entire length, allowing only flat-bottomed boats with a carrying capacity of 70 tons to pass through.

The carrying capacity of each ship that can pass through the canal is not much higher than a freight train box.

This standard seems very insignificant in later generations.

Because the population of the early United States was so small, and the canal was built by New York State itself, the federal government did not provide any help.

The original plan for the state was to accommodate boats pulled by horse-drawn carriages.

Before industrialization, in the de facto agricultural era, the carrying capacity of this small boat, which was only equivalent to a train carriage, was already a huge improvement over horse-drawn carriages on land.

So this canal played a huge role at that time.

It has transformed New York from a simple northern seaport city into a core city with the entire Great Lakes region as its hinterland.

This in turn contributed to New York's status as a core city in North America.

After the United States completed its industrialization, New York built another railway along the canal. The more convenient railway replaced the Erie Canal, and the Erie Canal was naturally gradually abandoned.

However, the canal was later restored and used for inland sightseeing tours.

Now officials from the North American Reservoir have come up with a similar canal plan, with the additional option of building a railway directly.

Let Zhu Jianxuan, the American king, make the choice.

(End of this chapter)