What was free trade? Not only did the merchants in the north not understand, but even few people in the Revolutionary Army knew about it. For example, Wang Kai, who was in charge of commercial activities, did not understand it very well. He did not even understand why his Grand Marshal reacted so strongly to setting up checkpoints in the direction of Tongzhou to collect taxes. It was not until the internal economic working meeting of the Department of Commerce and Trade that he got the answer.
"Setting up checkpoints to collect taxes is a symbol of centralization of power. What we need to do now is to attack the central authority of the Ming court in the north and do our best to prepare for the peaceful recovery of the north. How can we just watch them collect taxes?
"Moreover, once the north and the south start trading, Tongzhou will be the trade transit point for water transportation. Not to mention collecting taxes for a year or two, even if they collect taxes for half a year, they will still make a lot of money. If the Ming court sets up checkpoints to collect taxes everywhere and we don't care, isn't that equivalent to supporting the enemy?
"We should forcibly reduce logistics costs and encourage the development of agriculture and industry among the people to obtain the agricultural products and raw materials we need. When the private enterprises develop, they will be our tax collection target sooner or later.
"At the same time, we have to screen the merchants who cooperate with us. All merchants who do not meet our interests will be our targets. When our business network is big enough, we can isolate those who violate our laws and values. We have to let the enemy realize that they have no partners. "
During the meeting, Wang Kai was suddenly enlightened. Only then did he realize that his boss had a long-term vision, or rather, a vicious mind. However, Tongzhou was only the only way from the capital to Tianjin. The population and factories of the Revolutionary Army were constantly processing all kinds of goods, so another more important land route was being planned and built.
"Where the hell is this Zhaogezhuang?" Shi Dong searched hard in the countryside with the map, sweating profusely.
Song Yingxing became Shi Dong's assistant. Although he was still at the stage of reading up on information to supplement his knowledge, some of the daily administrative and technical guidance work had been replaced by Shi Dong. Shi Dong had the time to come to the capital from Liaodong to find the legendary Kailuan Coal Mine in Tangshan.
The ancient and modern maps were very different, and the names of the places were also different. There was no satellite positioning in this day and age, and it was even dangerous to travel far. Shi Dong led the team and brought along Wang Kai. He even brought along Li Weihan, who had rushed over from the capital. Together with the people in charge of security and planning, the mighty group of two to three hundred people appeared in the territory of Tangshan.
"Let's set up camp first and find the surrounding villagers. Ask them if they've found any open coal. Mobilizing the masses will also facilitate our follow-up large-scale exploration. "Shi Dong was tired from running, so he randomly found a rock and sat down to rest.
Li Weihan, who came from the capital, chuckled and ordered the servants to come forward to serve him. He was very considerate to this big bandit chief of the Revolutionary Army. Previously at the Tiger Skin Inn, he had forged a friendship by dividing the Tatars' heads, right now this former Liaodong Xunfu could be considered as having a foot on two boats.
Li Weihan believed that he had seen through the general trend of the world, and felt that 'the body is in the camp, the heart is in the revolution' was the best way to survive. In the past three months, he had been purchasing iron materials from all over Liaodong and the capital region to ship to the Revolutionary Army. This guy was quite capable. In total, he had shipped nearly a thousand tons of pig iron, accounting for nearly half of the production capacity of the Jinzhou Iron and Steel Plant in the same period. This amount was already very large in the Ming Dynasty.
"Minister Shi, if your department wants to open a mine here, how much silver do you plan to invest?" Li Weihan shamelessly approached him, wanting to know this. He was also accompanied by more than ten dignitaries and rich businessmen who came from the capital. These people either came in person or sent their servants, all wanting to inquire about the news.
"Our exploration hasn't started yet. At present, it's only a rough choice of location. However, according to the plan of our mining department, the initial investment will not be less than 500,000 silver dollars, and the later investment will definitely be more than three to four million silver dollars. In addition, we also plan to open a light-load wooden track from Tangshan to Tianjin. The length of this track is 100 kilometers, and we'll make it a single-track track first. The investment will not be less than 600,000 silver dollars. "
Listening to the number of hundreds of thousands and millions that came out of Shi Dong's mouth, Li Weihan and the others were in an uproar. However, someone immediately asked worriedly, "Minister Shi, we all admire your department's ability to open a mine and do business. Your department has always treated the gentry harshly, how can we feel at ease? "
Shi Dong immediately sneered. "Our Revolutionary Army has always been ruthless and merciless to those who carry a blood debt, mistreat the people, and run amok. We'll never accommodate them. However, we still have to appease the enlightened gentry. Besides, whether you're willing to cooperate with us or not, that's your business. Without you, we can still get things done.
Don't complain, sign the contract, and you can supply us with goods. Soon, large-scale construction will be carried out here. Wood, bricks, livestock, and so on are all needed. If you want to make money, don't hesitate. As for what will happen in the future, it depends on how much you've contributed to the revolution. Grand Marshal Zhou is also reasonable, at least he doesn't kill his own people. "
The last sentence made everyone shudder with fear. Even Li Weihan was silently wondering if he could be considered as one of the Revolutionary Army's own people. Shi Dong, on the other hand, was extremely contemptuous of these so-called local gentry in front of him. He knew that even if these people could pass the test of Zhou Qingfeng, they could not pass the test of Xu Bing. The Ministry of Administration had already begun to ponder about a public-private partnership.
Carrying out a revolution was actually a process of wealth redistribution. The Revolutionary Army absolutely did not have the reason to let the rich of the past continue to control a lot of wealth. At most, they would let them keep a part of the property, but they would still have to spit out the majority.
The investment in the development of industry was extremely huge. A mine, a factory, would easily require an investment of millions of silver dollars. Where would this money come from? Either they would suck the marrow out of the people at the bottom, or they would harvest the original rich class. As a new force, the Revolutionary Army did not need to think much to know what to choose.
The few transmigrators of the Revolutionary Army had long come to a consensus that if the territory was too big and the population was too large, it would be easy for them to suffer from indigestion and backfire. It was better to develop the industry first and master enough production capacity. At present, the population in the territory of the Revolutionary Army was enough. There were nearly one million people in the Liaodong Peninsula, and there were more than one million people in Tianjin. On the contrary, the capital began to limit the industrial development.
Money was never enough.
Shi Dong did not worry about these things. He took a dozen mining apprentices that he had trained and wandered around the Tangshan area for half a month. With the help of the local villagers, he selected more than a dozen open and shallow mines that were more convenient to mine. They first had to mine the coal, and then they came to look for iron ore.
Tangshan was a place that was particularly suitable for the development of industry. There were rich mines, coal and iron, and excellent water resources. The terrain was flat and suitable for development. After the mine was determined, Tianjin immediately organized a team of 30,000 militia and workers to move along the way. One was to clean up the place, the second was to build roads, and the third was to carry out the construction of the mining area.
The Revolutionary Army's action to develop Tangshan was huge, and the local political power of the Ming court was completely unable to cope with it. A large number of counties directly surrendered and were taken over. A small number of stubborn people did not even need the Imperial Guard to mobilize. The militia could beat them to the ground. Next, a large number of cadres who had received half a year of education were shipped over from Jinzhou University to rebuild the local management system.
The construction of the new system was bloody. All people and forces that were considered to be obstacles to the construction of the Revolutionary Army would be purged. Ordinary green-skinned scoundrels, bandits, and bullies were the first batch to be screened and executed. Next were the stubborn gentry. However, these people often fled when they heard the news. They took some money and food to the capital or crossed the Shanhai Pass to Liaoxi.
The local people, on the other hand, welcomed the construction team wearing rattan helmets, standard homespun clothes, sitting in carriages, and holding iron rods and shovels in their hands while trembling with fear. Just the eating, drinking, shitting, and sleeping of this team caused the market to boom.
The construction team built roads and houses along the way. It was too much of a loss to transport wood and bricks from the rear. It was the most cost-effective to produce and purchase locally. Sang Carpenter's youngest son, Sang Quanlai, who was only 16 years old after the New Year, was the captain of this construction team. He was in charge of a team of 50 people. He was responsible for the statistics, acceptance, and distribution of the materials needed by these 50 people.
Building roads required exploration and planning, but the Revolutionary Army lacked people who understood civil engineering. Only a group of people under Li Shuwei had accumulated some experience in the irrigation and water conservancy construction last year.
Among them, those who excelled in the work received training at Jinzhou University last winter and learned a lot about civil engineering by themselves. Some of them stayed in school to continue their studies and engage in education, while the others were forced to build roads and open mines.
In front of Sang Wenlai, there were a few greenhorn engineers fiddling with a few topographic surveying devices made by the Ministry of Machinery. The most important one was a tripod with a telescope and a scale. It was said that this thing was produced by the newly established instrument factory of the Ministry of Machinery. Unfortunately, the few greenhorn engineers didn't seem to know how to use it. They were so busy that they couldn't measure accurate data even though they were sweating profusely.
Fifty workers were building a row of warehouses by the side of the road, which would be used to store the building materials used for road construction. A large number of hydraulic machinery produced by the Jinzhou Machinery Factory would be shipped here for wood processing. The raw materials for processing would be provided by the merchants in the north.
While the workers were working, they squinted at the greenhorn engineers who were doing the road survey. The greenhorn engineers had a salary far higher than that of the workers, and their food and drink allowances were enviable. However, they couldn't do any work as soon as they entered the field. They were ridiculed by a large number of illiterate workers.
"What's the situation?" Sang Quanlai was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. The surveyor had been working for an entire day, but still hadn't made any progress. Although he didn't know anything, he felt that he was in cahoots with these greenhorn engineers. The other party was upset, and so was he.
Seeing that they had wasted an entire day, the greenhorn engineers who had come out to work alone could only admit defeat. The leader said with a bitter expression, "This optical theodolite is a new product. It's very expensive, and one unit costs tens of thousands of silver dollars. We've only learned the principles, but we haven't really learned it, much less used it. Today, we can't understand it at all. It's really shameful. "
"One unit costs tens of thousands of silver dollars?" Sang Quanlai was speechless. He couldn't understand why this thing was so expensive. "What do you guys plan to do?"
"We can only go back to Tianjin for another round of training. If they want to punish us or scold us, we can only accept it." The few greenhorn engineers were all listless. They were all in their teens or twenties. They had come out to do construction enthusiastically, but in the end, they encountered a problem on their first task.
"I'll arrange a carriage for you guys. It should be able to reach the nearby county before dark." Sang Quanlai couldn't help them even if he wanted to, so he could only try his best.
The greenhorn engineers left dejectedly. The laborer who was building the warehouse immediately sneered, "These kids haven't done anything. They've wasted a day's wages. "
"What's the use of studying? They can't be officials, but they're here to do manual labor with us poor people. If my child were to read such useless books, I'd beat him to death. "
"You guys came with such arrogance, but now you know that you're nothing, right? You still have to rely on us poor people for a job like building roads. "
Sang Quanlai was also embarrassed in the face of the laborer's mockery. Although he was the leader of 50 men, he couldn't subdue these rough men. Most of the commoners at the bottom of the social ladder didn't have high moral standards, and they weren't broad-minded either. They didn't like the greenhorn engineers who were paid a lot but didn't show their ability. After the laborer finished mocking the greenhorn engineers, he looked at Sang Quanlai with disdain.
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