The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 371 Industry, Markets and Canals
Zhu Jianxuan couldn't make up his mind about changing his name. The key point was that he couldn't think of a good name at the moment.

Just put this matter aside for now and don't continue discussing it on the spot. Let the Ministry of Rites study it first, and you and others can deal with other things first.

In recent days, there has been a festive atmosphere in the court, and most officials, regardless of their rank, are in high spirits.

Private business owners and managers, and even ordinary city residents, as long as they are literate and often read newspapers and listen to the radio, are mostly in a good mood and in high spirits.

The people of the Ming Dynasty who are now able to understand the general situation of the world through news, newspapers, and radio basically have the same mentality as "Our Ming Dynasty is truly invincible in the world."

The wars that the Ming Dynasty has participated in over the years have all been fought within its capabilities, and the wars have not put any obvious pressure on the Ming Dynasty's homeland.

The demand generated by the war can actually stimulate the continued development of industry and commerce.

The direct interests of ordinary people will not be harmed by the war, but will benefit from it. Of course, they can support it from the bottom of their hearts.

The healthy state of the Ming Dynasty’s internal market is also due to the correct guidance of Zhu Jianxuan, the helmsman.

Zhu Jianxuan himself also refers to and summarizes his past life experiences, and actually verifies and summarizes them again in this world.

Now Zhu Jianxuan has also formed a set of simple and practical experiences, and basically follows a three-step strategy for industrial construction and market construction.

The first step is for a single state-owned manufacturer or an office directly under the imperial court to concentrate its efforts on completing the industrial infrastructure construction of a specific industry and provide the necessary industrial environment and products.

The second step is to establish multiple independent state-owned manufacturers that are not subordinate to each other and build a complete industry production system that can operate independently as the core basic force of this industry.

The third step is to open the industry to the private sector, guide private resources, manpower and talents to join the industry, and inject impetus for the industry to continuously innovate and upgrade itself.

It also allowed this industry to become truly popular and become an indispensable basic social environment, rather than an exception that was forcibly maintained by the court and could be cut off at any time.

While Zhu Jianxuan actively guided the Ming Dynasty to repeatedly practice this three-step strategy in multiple industries, he was also promoting the construction of equally important infrastructure.

Build more railways, roads, docks, and airports; build more power plants and power supply networks; build water plants and water heating networks.

Build a large number of oil refineries, fuel warehouses, and gas stations, and build more post offices, telegraph offices, radio stations, and supply and marketing cooperatives.

At the same time, a strict basic wage system, basic labor protection system, regular vacation system, and even a retirement system have been established.

The direct function of these systems is to protect workers and ensure that the industry and market environment are in a better state from the very beginning.

For the imperial court, its indirect effect is more important, which enables it to accumulate a sufficient number of urban population with consumption power as quickly as possible.

A sufficiently large and stable consumer population is the basis for the formation and development of a good market environment.

Without a consumer population, the products produced by the factory cannot be sold, the factory will go bankrupt and close down, and the entire industry will not be able to continue to exist.

In history, early industrial countries, when they were achieving industrialization on their own, basically did not care much about market construction or the accumulation of consumer population.

They all make use of the existing market and existing consumer population. If there is a market and users locally, they will sell locally. If there is no market locally, they will sell abroad.

They sell their products wherever there are people in the world. They basically only think about harvesting the existing market but never think about building the market.

Early industrial products were also very simple, basically the cheapest textiles, and even agricultural societies would have corresponding demand.

So for a long time, for early industrial countries, there were plenty of existing markets around the world, it was just a matter of whether they were easy to open.

For the Ming Dynasty, there were basically no foreign countries in the world, and the market was within the Ming Dynasty's already vast enough Celestial Empire.

The key point is that the Ming Dynasty's industrial development and upgrading were too fast, and its products were getting further and further away from the original agricultural society.

To sell cars, you need relatively smooth hardened roads and to build gas stations in major cities.

At the same time, it also requires some people to have enough money, time and ability to understand and learn the technology of driving a car.

For an old farmer who works in the mountains, this kind of thing is unimaginable.

Without specialized training and guidance, and without a citizen class with sufficient skills, cars cannot be sold even if they are produced.

The same logic applies to various electrical appliances. Of course, they cannot be sold if there are no wires.

People who can’t learn to use electrical appliances won’t buy them.

Therefore, while carrying out industrial construction, we must also carry out infrastructure construction, market construction, and cultivate consumer population.

In this way, we move forward step by step, one link after another, and gradually transition from the agricultural age to the industrial age.

Under Zhu Jianxuan's guidance, many industries in the Ming Dynasty have entered the third stage, and private manufacturers have developed and prospered again.

Moreover, this prosperity was different from the first industrial construction. It no longer relied on war and the need for land reclamation to force growth, but gradually entered a stage of healthy self-development.

Before Zhu Jianxuan's Northern Expedition, private manufacturers in the Ming Dynasty would go bankrupt in large numbers if the court's demand was cut off.

This kind of thing will no longer happen.

The main users of this new generation of private manufacturers are the middle class who pursue cheapness and personalization, and these citizens are also the workers of private manufacturers.

The two sides were able to maintain each other within the framework of the court and would not collapse due to lack of external support.

In such an environment, the lives of the new generation of the urban middle class have been comprehensively upgraded, or even subverted for the better, compared to their parents.

The most industrially developed and socially prosperous place in the world today is the Bohai Sea region surrounding Shuntian Prefecture, the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

The lifestyle of ordinary people here is close to that of Europe and the United States after World War II in Zhu Jianxuan's previous life.

Cars, telephones, washing machines, refrigerators, radios, and televisions are rapidly becoming popular among ordinary people here.

People who are a little older, at least when comparing their lives with their childhood, will feel that the present seems like a dream.

The changes over the past few years have made the people of the Ming Dynasty generally believe that the future will be better, and they generally feel that the whole world should be truly unified under the Ming Dynasty.

The great victory on the front line, the overwhelming victory, gave people good expectations for the future.

Because people have good expectations for the future, they will make more relaxed plans. When people are in a good mental state, they will be willing to consume, which will make the market more prosperous.

In such a lively atmosphere, the autumn of the twenty-fourth year of Tiangong arrived.

A disciple of the emperor, who had been away from the capital for many years, returned to Shuntian Prefecture in a special train carriage.

Wang Lai, chief engineer of the Sanjiangze Lake, North-to-South Water Diversion Project, and Northern Water Network Project, entered the Beiyuan New Palace with a summary report.

In the communication room of the Tongzhengsi in the Beiyuan New Palace, Wang Lai directly called his teacher, the emperor, and was then asked to enter the palace to meet the emperor.

In Zhu Jianxuan's office, Wang Lai handed over the paper report with both hands, and then stood outside the table waiting for instructions. Zhu Jianxuan directly pressed the report under his hands and waved his hand to have someone move a chair for Wang Lai:

"You look like you just gave birth to a son. The water supply has finally been completed smoothly, right?"

Wang Lai was filled with a special kind of joy, which was not particularly strong but extremely rich.

Although there was a certain feeling of fatigue at the same time, there was a kind of happy and relaxed smile on her face, a bit like the look she had just had after the wedding night.

Wang Lai smiled and bowed to Zhu Jianxuan:
"Teacher, it is indeed completed. It is finally all completed. The project that lasted for 26 years has finally been successfully completed. I have no regrets in this life.

“From now on, most rivers in Northeast China, North China and the Huaihe River Basin will be able to maintain the same flow rate throughout the year.

“Of course, we will actually adjust the water flow and flow rate of the entire water network in real time according to water demand.

"It can even further control the specific flow of node reservoirs and serial rivers within the water network.

“The flow rate increases when water usage is high, and decreases during seasons when water usage is low, ensuring that the water level in the river is always stable.”

The major project of the 26 years refers to a series of super water conservancy projects including the Sanjiangze Lake, North-to-South Water Diversion, Black Water Converging into the Yellow River, and Yellow River diversion.

The main stream of the Heilongjiang River was cut off, and water was stored in the valley where the Sanjiang Swamp was located to form a lake, forming a giant reservoir with an area of ​​120,000 square kilometers.

Through the sluice gates, the water from the Heilongjiang River flows upstream along the Songhua River and flows southward in the center of the Northeast Plain.

Build dams along the Yanshan Mountains and Taihang Mountains, construct a giant canal at the foot of the mountain, and connect all the rivers in Northeast China, North China, and the Jianghuai region.

Ultimately, all these rivers, mainly the Heilongjiang River, will wash away the existing old river courses and future new river courses of the Yellow River, ensuring that the Yellow River will no longer become an above-ground river.

At the same time, it will regulate the water resources of the entire North China and Northeast China, and completely solve the problem of industrial and agricultural water shortage in the entire North China region.

The huge water network formed in this way is also a super inland waterway transportation network covering North China and Northeast China, which can provide long-term and cheap transportation capabilities for industrial and commercial development.

After the completion of this series of large-scale water conservancy projects, the natural environment of water and soil in North China has been changed overall.

Zhu Jianxuan felt that even if Wang Lai died now, he would die with a smile on his face.

He knew better than anyone how significant and far-reaching the impact of what he had done would be for the entire Ming Dynasty and even Shenzhou.

It far exceeds the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou in history.

This unimaginable super project has now been completed by manpower, the final finishing work has also been completed, and it has entered a stable operation stage.

For such a huge project, the duration of the finishing phase is actually calculated in years.

The water level of Sanjiangze Lake actually reached the standard three years ago.

If left unchecked at the time, the water from the Heilongjiang River would have officially flowed south three years ago.

However, Wang Lai did not immediately expand the scale of water release to the south, and the number of gates opened connecting the Songhua River to the Songjin Canal remained unchanged afterwards.

The amount of water supplied to the entire northern water network is still only used to maintain the basic water level for navigation.

Because before three years ago, the water accumulated in Sanjiangze over the past two decades was dead capacity in the reservoir and could not be used for storage.

The water used for regulation and storage will continue to accumulate upwards after that.

After that, Sanjiangze Lake continued to store water for two years.

It was not until the autumn of last year that Wang Lai officially ordered to increase the number of gates for releasing water, and the increase was gradual and slow.

Before the Heilongjiang River water was added to the water network, the water flow in the entire northern water network was very slow.

In order to maintain the water depth of the waterway to ensure navigability and to supply industrial and agricultural water to North China and Northeast China, most of the river water in the entire basin is retained on land through reservoirs and even rivers as much as possible.

The entire water network at that time was not like a normal circulation network, but more like a huge network of reservoirs, and the flow was maintained only to prevent the reservoir from becoming stagnant water.

When the water from the Heilongjiang River with the largest runoff volume officially enters the water network, the entire water network will be transformed from a relatively fixed state to a relatively flowing state.

This process must be well controlled as a whole, and the flow rate of this huge water network must be increased as slowly and steadily as possible, rather than in a sudden outburst.

Otherwise, it would not be replenishing water for the northern water network, but artificially creating floods in the entire river basin.

Therefore, this matter, which has huge practical significance and will have a huge impact on the present and the future, must be carried out as quietly as possible.

It won’t make any particularly big noise, nor will there be any grand scenes that will shock people.

The personnel directly responsible for executing the adjustments, as well as those responsible for observation and record keeping, and those responsible for inspection and maintenance will certainly be extremely busy.

But ordinary people in other unrelated industries will not notice that this is happening in their daily lives.

The area of ​​the lake formed by the Sanjiangze Lake and the Songhua River is still too large.

For every one-meter rise in the reservoir's water level, the capacity increases by at least 120 billion cubic meters.

In Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, the maximum water demand of the Three Gorges Reservoir at its highest water level was less than 40 billion cubic meters.

If not a single drop of water from the entire Heilongjiang River basin flows into the sea throughout the year, the water surface level of this vast area can only rise by more than two meters.

However, this only increased the water volume by more than two meters, which is more than the total water sources of the entire North China water network.

Therefore, the Heilongjiang River is the core water source of the entire water network. Before the Sanjiangze Lake is officially filled and the Heilongjiang River water joins the water network, the water network itself is incomplete.

Now Wang Lai wants to dispatch and control the sluice system within the entire system so that the water from the Heilongjiang River can flow in naturally and silently.

Factories and farmers in the basin are unaware of changes in the water level; they only know that their water use quotas have been gradually relaxed.

For this matter, Wang Lai traveled between important sluices and reservoirs in various places for a whole year, watching this transformation from its initiation to its final completion.

Ensure that the water accumulated in Heilongjiang Province throughout the year can also be released through the northern water network within one year.

After repairing the damage that occurred during this period and ensuring the normal operation of the entire water network, it returned to Shuntian Prefecture in the fall of this year.

During the entire process, Wang Lai would report to Zhu Jianxuan regularly, and would submit a separate report at each important node.

Zhu Jianxuan was fully aware of the progress of the entire project, so he didn't even need to open the final report to read it in detail, as he already knew what was in it.

(End of this chapter)