I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 521 Interlocking basic industries
It's just that, compared to relocating people to station in the supply base, using the guard to fill it will save a lot of money, but in order to ensure the life needs of the guard in the previous life, it will cost some money.

This money cannot be saved anyway.

Another point is that after those guards moved overseas, all consumption would have to rely on supplies from the Central Plains, or rely on the barter of passing ships.

In this way, there are strict requirements for supply ships.

Otherwise, it will be like the Mingjiao disciples on the island who eat everything. They may not get supplies for several months, and those who are hungry can only go to the sea to fish and eat.

Affected by the monsoon in the past, there may be half a year in a year when it is not suitable to go to sea, but as long as the steam ship officially goes to sea, this problem will naturally be solved.

On the surface, it seems that all the conditions are ripe for the implementation of this plan.

But Li Tian also knows that the steamship is still in the experimental stage, and there are still many problems that have not been perfected. It may take a lot of time to officially put it into use.

In addition, the number of steamships needed was huge, and Chen Ji's smelting workshop alone could not supply them at all. Therefore, it was imperative to expand the iron smelting workshop if we wanted to build steamships on a large scale.

The basic industry has always been a system, and any link in it will not work.

In the past, Li Tian's stall was still very small, and the scarce parts could not be seen.

But it is different now, the steamship gap is roughly estimated to be more than a thousand.

As far as each ship needs to consume more than 500 catties of refined steel, that also consumes [-] million catties of refined steel.

With so much refined steel, Chen Ji estimated that it would take more than ten years to complete.

Li Tian can't wait for such a long time.

In addition, in the future, road construction, bridge construction, reclamation, mining, and smelting will all require the powerful power of steam engines, so the amount of steel required will inevitably rise to a huge level.

Before today, Li Tian thought he still had time, so he could take his time.

But looking at it now, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is imminent.

The site selection of Zhu Gaosui's textile workshop has been completed, and large-scale construction is about to begin.

Perhaps the first batch of new cotton cloths will be sold in May or June of the next year. If the banditry in Houhai cannot be resolved by then, the impact may be more than just a loss.

On the one hand, it is several million taels of customs tax, on the other hand, it is tens of millions of taels of cotton cloth business.

This made Li Tian willing to give up so easily.

But the facts are in front of him, even if Li Tian wants to speed up, he can't do it.

After much deliberation, Li Tian also knew that it was obviously not feasible to arrange various things by himself in the early stage.

Only by mobilizing the masses and relying on the strength of the masses can we find a perfect way to break the situation.

Fortunately, the great proletarian martyr set an example for Li Tian.

Later generations of China went from being poor and white to becoming the world's second largest economy in just two to three decades, and countless people played an extremely important role in it.

Now the only thing that bothers Daming to open up a safe route is the supply problem of the guard.

Since the steamship could not be counted on for the time being, it had no choice but to issue a mission to let the non-governmental organization staff to help the imperial court get the daily supplies needed by the guard.

As long as there is money to be made, some people are even willing to be pirates who have abandoned their homes and businesses. If there is a serious business, everyone is not rushing to do it.

In addition, the exchange has been operating perfectly for a period of time now, and the news released by the court is getting more and more attention.

Adding the two together, as long as Li Tian can afford the money, then everything will not be a problem.

Although there may be certain risks when going to sea in a season that is not monsoon, but as long as the early control is good, the number and location of supply stations will greatly reduce the risk factor.

There is no problem in deploying the supply route and ensuring the safety of the coastal waterway.

After integrating everything, Li Tian immediately started to lay out the construction of overseas supply bases.

Using the highly accurate nautical chart in Zheng He's hands, together with Li Tian's East China Sea chart drawn from memory, under Zheng He's guidance, he outlined safe waterways on the nautical chart.

Then, after repeated calculations, he negotiated with Zheng He on the best location of the supply site.

Unexpectedly, the first stop on the sea was on Tongchi Island.

According to the news sent back by Zhuang Shaoyou, Chen Hong and others.

Hundreds of aborigines have settled on the island, and there are 300 Mingjiao people stationed all year round.

With these people here, it doesn't even need to send guards to continue to operate.

At that time, you only need to get some people to go to the island to build a small port that can be docked temporarily, and a warehouse for storing basic supplies, and the first supply station will be able to turn around perfectly.

The problem of maritime issues can be regarded as a temporary solution, but it is difficult for Li Tian to open a port and the location of the port.

Even Zheng He was unable to give specific suggestions at this time.

Although Li Tian remembered several famous ports along the coast in later generations.

But the situation today is very different from that of future generations.

For example, Hong Kong and Macau, the most prosperous port cities in later generations, were just a small fishing village with a population of only a few hundred people.

Even those smuggled merchant ships are unwilling to dock in such places.

Therefore, it is obviously inappropriate to use the memory of later generations as a reference for the current Ming Dynasty.

Where is the place where merchant ships often dock, and where is a natural harbor suitable for water patterns, these can only be investigated after field inspections.

Temporarily at an impasse, Li Tian had no choice but to give up.

But Li Tian is not without gains.

When sorting out the memories of the relevant port cities, Li Tian thought of several places suitable for building steel plants in the future.

The first one is Foshan.

There is not only a large amount of iron ore and coal needed for iron smelting stored there, but also the waterway near Foshan, the transportation conditions can be described as perfect.

It is one of the most suitable locations for building a large ironworks.

The second is Hainan Island, which should be called Qiongzhou Prefecture now.

The third is Baoshan, which is famous all over the world.

However, apart from Foshan, the latter two are obviously not suitable at this time.

As we all know, Hainan Island has the largest open-pit iron mine in China, and mining is very convenient.

But before the steamships went to sea on a large scale, the distance became a natural barrier, which could be given up for the time being.

The reason why Baoshan became a world-class steel production base in later generations is mainly because it has a good port.

Moreover, most of China's iron ore at that time was imported from Australia and other places, so it became necessary to build a steel factory on the spot.

(End of this chapter)