The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 423: Development of the North American Continent

Zhu Jianxuan planned a unified basic numbering system in the capital, and Zhu Jianxuan's sons began a new round of training cycle.

The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth princes also received new arrangements at the end of last year, requiring them to go to America with their twelve older brothers.

The three of them served as prefects of Taiping Prefecture, the central capital of America, New York Prefecture, the eastern capital, and America Prefecture, the western capital, respectively. They were all special prefects of the fourth rank.

Taiping Prefecture was the original Taiping Guard, located at the confluence of the North American Great River (Mississippi River) and its largest tributary, the Ohio River.

New York Prefecture is the original New York City and its surrounding areas, and America Prefecture is located in Seattle and its surrounding areas in Zhu Jianxuan's previous life.

The three large cities are located in the middle of the Great Plains of America and on the east and west coastlines.

They are thousands of miles apart from each other, and if they were to hold corresponding local official positions normally, they might not have any contact with each other at all.

However, the three princes' positions as prefects were only nominal identities for external use; their real duty was to form a decision-making group on American affairs together with their twelve brothers.

In order to make them as familiar with each other as possible, Zhu Jianxuan arranged for them to take a ship to America via the Pacific route.

The twelve princes, who had been suffering in Guangzhou for two years, only found out that the emperor had added three more people to their group when they received the travel arrangements issued by the Ministry of Clan Affairs.

The princes had no chance to express their opinions and immediately packed up their things and took a boat to Zhoushan to reunite with their three new brothers.

So far, except for the youngest prince who went to Hanover to be king, the other sixteen princes who had visited Europe gathered together again.

This time they will travel to the New World of America together.

The Imperial Clan Court arranged two luxury passenger ships with a displacement of 20,000 tons for transportation through the Royal Shipping Company, and Zhu Jianxuan asked the navy to arrange a double aircraft carrier formation for escort.

Two passenger ships were arranged just in case one of them broke down on the way and the people could be transferred to the other one.

They can also go directly to the navy's warships, but the living environment on the warships is obviously not as comfortable as that on luxury cruise ships, and the princes are not suitable for having too much contact with the navy.

After the fleet was ready, it sailed northeast, passing through the East China Sea, the Tsushima Strait, the Whale Sea (Sea of ​​Japan), the Ice Sea (Sea of ​​Okhotsk), and took the shortest route, the North Pacific, to reach America.

Along the way, we will pass through Jeju Island, Hokkaido Island, the southern tip of the Ryuki Peninsula (Kamchatka), the North Pacific Island Chain (Aleutian Islands), and the supply points of the American Prefecture, which are mature, safe and convenient.

The entire route is just over 10,000 kilometers long. If we maintain a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, we are expected to arrive within 15 days.

Just like when they went to Guangdong, after the princes adapted to life on the ship, they started holding meetings in advance to discuss the next tasks.

Although no survey has been conducted and the current discussion is just on paper, the meeting process can allow new and old members to get familiar with each other and adapt to this method of deliberation.

The three new brothers were quite enthusiastic and wanted to take some initiative in the first few days after they got on board and started the meeting.

But after more than ten days of meetings, the three younger brothers were basically assimilated by their older brothers.

When discussing things under this system, no one can be particularly proactive and can only slowly build up the trust of others.

You also need to find the right opportunities to give full play to your actual strengths in order to be valued by others.

By the time the princes arrived at the American Palace, the fifteen-member team had completed basic internal integration, at least unifying the already established rules of procedure.

Then the princes and their entourage landed at the America Palace and began their inspection and research activities on the North American continent from the America Palace.

The entire Americas is too large, especially between the America Prefecture and the Taiping Prefecture, there are the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains of North America, with a straight-line distance of nearly 3,000 kilometers.

If the princes went to Taiping Prefecture in the Central Capital of America first and then turned back to conduct research in the Americas Prefecture, it would be a waste of time and too troublesome.

America Prefecture was originally a North American camp opened up by the Qing people. It was located in a bay deep into the land. This bay has always been called the America Bay.

This American Bay is long and narrow from north to south. In the middle is Vancouver, a city in southwestern Canada from Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, and at the southern end is Seattle, a city in the northwestern United States.

In the Gulf of America today, large-scale urban built-up areas have been formed in locations similar to those in Vancouver and Seattle.

The population of the two largest urban areas has exceeded 500,000, and with the smaller gathering areas between the two large urban areas, the urban population here has exceeded two million.

The American Prefecture has a total of ten counties, scattered on the peninsulas on both sides of the bay and the large islands in the middle.

The climate of this area is generally similar to that of western Europe. According to Zhu Jianxuan's classification method in his previous life, it belongs to the temperate oceanic climate and Mediterranean climate.

The advantages can be summarized as warm in winter and cool in summer.

The winters here are basically not too cold, and most places will not freeze.

Vancouver is located at 49 degrees north latitude, which is further north than cities such as Hegang and Qiqihar, and close to the latitude of the central Mohe area.

But the average low temperature in Vancouver in winter is above zero degrees and it rarely freezes.

The summer is not too hot. The average high temperature in Vancouver is less than 23 degrees Celsius, and it rarely exceeds 30 degrees Celsius.

But from another perspective, it is damp and cold all year round.

In winter, there is also water vapor brought by warm currents. Although it usually does not freeze, it is cold and damp.

There is not enough sunshine in the summer either, and it is also humid and foggy.

The rainwater is distributed relatively evenly. It will rain when it is not needed, and the water supply will not increase when it is needed.

The annual precipitation in this area is close to that in the Jianghuai region, but there is more precipitation in winter than in summer.

From October of the first year to March of the second year, for six consecutive months, or half a year, it rains for more than half a month every month.

At the same time, the temperature hovers around zero degrees most of the time.

While it is true that there is no freezing most of the time, the maximum temperature usually does not exceed ten degrees.

Many people, including the British, who are born in temperate maritime climate areas have the habit of sunbathing.

Because their hometown is really damp and cold, it is a pleasure to bask in the sun when it comes out.

The sun in their hometown is not that strong, so overexposure to the sun will basically not affect their health.

At the same time, due to insufficient water and heat conditions in summer, the growth rate of crops is slow and the accumulation of fruits is also slow.

Before the popularization of chemical fertilizers, the seed-to-harvest ratio was very poor, and a ratio of one to five was considered a bumper harvest.

Such places could not support large populations in the agricultural era.

When the Qing people opened up America, they found that the surrounding area was not very suitable for farming, but was suitable for grazing.

Grass can grow all year round, livestock can easily obtain food, the weather is not too hot or too cold, and livestock are not prone to getting sick.

The Qing ruling group and its Mongolian allies came from fishing and hunting and nomadic tribes respectively, and knew how to take advantage of this environment.

After the Ming Dynasty took over the American Gulf, Zhu Jianxuan did not engage in large-scale traditional agricultural development here because he understood the local natural conditions.

However, while continuing to develop modern animal husbandry, more cash crop planting industries have also been developed.

Therefore, traditional farms are rare around the American capital, and local agriculture is mainly pastures, orchards, vegetable gardens, forestry farms, fisheries, etc.

In terms of industry, there are shipbuilding, ship repair, machinery manufacturing and agricultural product processing industries. However, the most important function of the American Capital is still the window to the North American continent and the transit point for the Pacific route to various parts of the Americas.

After staying here to rest, you can continue to take a boat south to Jinshan Mansion in Shanshu Valley, which is the California in Zhu Jianxuan’s previous life.

Or you can take a train across the Rocky Mountains, into the Great Plains, and then to other parts of the North American interior.

After the Ming Dynasty took over the east and west coastlines of North America and completed the basic development and exploration of the inland areas, it began to build inland infrastructure.

After building a steel industrial center and having the ability to produce steel rails locally, they began to lay the railway line across the North American continent.

After more than ten years of continuous efforts by local workers and garrisons, the first transoceanic railway was completed.

In addition, with the completion of the North American Great River Valley Reservoir Canals, as well as the connected Great Lakes and Old Valley Canals, the various regions of the North American continent have basically been connected.

In this transportation system, America Capital was the key node on the west coast, so America's Western Capital eventually became America Capital.

Rather than the Shanshu Valley area that Zhu Jianxuan had initially considered.

The role of this node has greatly accelerated the urbanization process in the Americas region.

A large number of people who came to America to make a living stayed here and did not leave immediately, or simply did not leave.

The fifteen princes toured the Gulf of America for more than a month and had a very good impression of the place.

The main reason was that their initial psychological expectations were too low. They originally thought that America should be a barren land.

Now I find that this place is not much different from ordinary prefectures and counties in the Ming Dynasty.

Especially the two major cities in the north and south of the Americas Prefecture are considered relatively prosperous places in the Ming Dynasty.

The eldest prince Zhu Jingkun expressed his feelings several times during discussion meetings:
“After all, this is a place with a population of more than 60 million, so there must be a few relatively prosperous places.

"If the Gulf of America can reach this level, the situation in Taiping Prefecture and New York Prefecture should be better."

The other princes did not refute, as they all had similar ideas.

The princes conducted research in the American Palace and waited until March in the Ming calendar, which was already April in the Western calendar.

By this time, the weather in North America had really warmed up, and the frequency of cold waves on the Great Plains had begun to decrease significantly.

The princes set out from the American Palace on a special train, crossed the Rocky Mountains and entered the Great Plains of North America.

The princes were in their respective carriages, looking out of the windows at the scenery outside the train, and they all saw endless stretches of farmland.

It is now the spring plowing season, and the farmlands are full of tractors spewing smoke.

The crops planted in these farmlands are basically typical traditional crops, mainly spring wheat, spring corn, and some rice.

Basically, they are crops suitable for large-scale mechanized production, and most of them are food crops or can be used as feed.

The reason these farms on the Great Plains can do this is primarily because the local natural conditions are suitable.

The Great Plains have flat and vast land, and their original vegetation is long grass prairie, which is fertile and easy to cultivate on a large scale, making it suitable for the development of large-scale farms.

At the same time, the rain and heat in summer are relatively concentrated, which is suitable for the development of planting industry.

Then, the Ming Dynasty completed basic industrial construction in America. Both New York Prefecture and Taiping Prefecture had large agricultural machinery factories that could provide agricultural machinery for local garrisons and farmers.

Finally, there are suitable transportation conditions locally, so the large quantities of crops produced here can be transported out. Otherwise, no matter how much is planted, it will be a waste.

This section of the Transoceanic Railroad basically follows the main channel of the Missouri River, but the railway line is as straight as possible, while the river channel is winding.

Therefore, the distance between the railway and the river is sometimes far and sometimes near. When it is close to the Qiaogong River, you can often see steamboats emitting smoke. Those are inland ships.

The major rivers on the Great Plains of North America have been largely unaffected by human interference throughout history and have basically developed naturally.

Under the continuous action of water flow, there are basically regular trough-shaped valleys on both sides of the river, and the river meanders at the bottom of the trough-shaped valley.

As long as a horizontal dam is built at certain intervals in these river valleys, the river valley can be turned into a long reservoir, which will also become a canal with huge carrying capacity.

Reservoirs can provide irrigation water for farmland, and water transport is large and cheap enough to transport large-scale produced food.

The Qiaogong River flows from northwest to southeast. The further downstream it goes to the southeast, the higher the overall precipitation in the basin.

The runoff of the river itself will also continue to increase, the higher the carrying capacity of the canal.

Farms are also denser on both sides of the river.

The princes watched these vibrant scenes on the train and gained a new understanding of the situation on the North American continent.

"There are so many farmlands here. There are farmlands everywhere that stretch as far as the eye can see. This is also the case in the inland northeast of China."

But these images are potentially misleading.

Whether it was the Qing Dynasty's initial pioneering sites on the Great Plains or the military settlements that the Ming Dynasty concentrated its efforts on developing, they were all distributed along the main rivers on the Great Plains.

In the real inland areas away from the rivers, most of the area is still relatively wild.

Most of the Great Plains are still grassy prairies, with tens of millions of American bison living there. From time to time, herds of bison will run into agricultural development areas.

Bison will trample on farmland and destroy crops in the fields, so of course we can't let them do whatever they want.

Therefore, each frontier area has a special hunting team equipped with patrol and surveillance aircraft and motor vehicles to deal with these bison herds.

Although the Great Plains of America and Africa are almost the most suitable places for agricultural development, even when the precipitation reaches about 800 mm, it is still grassland vegetation.

In winter, the withered grassland can be burned and used as farmland.

But America and Linzhou are new continents after all. Before Europeans arrived in the interior of America, the indigenous people here did not even have iron tools.

It will take a long time to truly develop the entire Great Plains into mature land.

In Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, even though the United States had been struggling on the North American continent for more than a hundred years, there were still many virgin forests and grasslands in the interior of the continent.

After the Missouri River turned south, the Transoceanic Railroad did not turn south in sync with the river, but slightly adjusted its direction and continued to extend in an east-southeast direction.

After the railway and the river separated, the developed area gradually became sparse and even no longer connected, so that large areas of pristine grassland appeared.

The train traveled nearly a thousand kilometers in such an environment, approaching the upper reaches of the Great River of North America (Mississippi River) and the western area of ​​the Basalt Lake (Lake Superior), before large-scale development areas were discovered again.

The railway has a branch line here, extending eastward to the Xuanwu Lake Iron Mine Development Area.

The main line train crossed the upper reaches of the North American river and continued to travel southeast for hundreds of kilometers, finally entering the development area south of White Tiger Lake (Lake Michigan).

The area south of the Great Lakes, north of the Ohio River, and east of the great rivers of North America is the largest open space in the interior of the American continent.

(End of this chapter)