China's railway construction was fast. In addition to spending a lot of effort and money on the introduction of British technology, as well as the establishment of the Ministry of Railways and the Railway Academy for special research and personnel training, there was also a "small breakthrough" in technology, which was the use of thermite.
Aluminum powder and ferric oxide were mixed and ignited with magnesium strips. After a violent reaction, very pure molten steel was formed. In this era, the effect of this kind of welding was quite good. The track was short, and many problems arose. The train wheels passing through the rail joints would have a significant impact on the rails and sleepers, which required a large number of targeted solutions, including reinforcement and tight docking. These measures increased costs and wasted resources. If the track was long enough, many problems were eliminated. The cost of making long rails was extremely high, and the cost of welding long rails was very low.
At this time, aluminum was a luxury in Europe, and the market was very small. China's aluminum easily dominated the European market. The British would never have thought of using this "precious metal" for welding. China's sense of secrecy and security measures had become stronger in recent years. Although thermite was only a small technology, the British couldn't figure it out.
But this wasn't important. The British cared about China's purpose in building the railway in the north. If China sent tens of thousands of cavalry to the Far East to fight with Russia, the British would only be very happy. But just after the Franco-Prussian War, all countries were evaluating why Prussia, which was widely recognized as weak, easily defeated France, the number six army in Europe. Railway troop transport was recognized as one of the main factors in Germany's victory.
The British consulate took the Beijing-Zhangjiagang railway and gave a report full of praise for the level of construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiagang railway. Thousands of meters of tunnel, a large span of railway bridge. The steep slope of the mountain route, the Chinese actually used a human-shaped track intersection, using the front and back of the train to solve the problem. This demonstrated the high level of railway construction in China.
Russia's army in the Far East was still using front-loading rifles. Using this kind of rifle against China's rear-loading metal-shell rifle, the Russians had no chance of winning. China colluded with Germany and vigorously built railways to the north. Did China pay such a huge cost just to retake the Sino-Russian border delineated by the Treaty of Nerchinsk? The British wouldn't believe it in any case.
Originally, the British wanted to discuss it with Vézé directly, but time did not allow for it. China's Tripartite Conference was held. During the Three Meetings, as long as there were no sudden incidents, China would not communicate with other countries and would focus on solving its internal problems. The Tripartite Meeting this time was especially important, as it involved a comprehensive change in personnel.
The party had a general election every five years, and after the general election came the election of the government. In the second year of the five-year plan, Vézé also had his own ideas, which was to carry on the past and open up the future. Two years was enough to prove the previous leader's execution ability and level of knowledge. If they were not suitable, they should be replaced immediately. Whether or not the next leader could carry out the plan left behind by the previous leader was obviously a huge test. They couldn't just change their orders after changing the person in charge. That wasn't suitable either.
The First Plenary Session of the Fourth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was relatively united. The tasks in each province were not small, and the difficulty began to decrease. With the improvement of the system and the strengthening of the scientific and technological team, a lot of things that the leaders needed to do had been taken care of by specialized departments. Except for the two provincial cadres who were so greedy for power that they tried to control the departments directly under the state, the other provincial party secretaries and governors were successfully appointed for the next term.
Every province had made some progress. The southern provinces had a good foundation to begin with, and their progress was more in the improvement of the system. Among the northern provinces, Liaoning's performance was the most outstanding. The immigration was an unprecedented success. It wasn't that there weren't immigrants who committed crimes, but these people were dealt with with with a strict stance. After eradicating the black sheep, Liaoning had already opened up 10 million mu of farmland, and the average yield per mu was over 26 kilograms, an increase of almost 30%. Mechanized production was indeed very efficient during reclamation, but this was the efficiency of the ratio of input to output. Because the technology wasn't up to standard, the consumption of parts was too fast, and the internal combustion engine industry fell into a period of stagnation. Even if the daily support of the internal combustion engine couldn't be obtained, after China's farmers' ability to take care of the crops was exerted, the yield per mu of the black land rose sharply.
During the slack season, a large number of farmers invested in the construction of the railway. The railway left Beijing, passed through Shanhaiguan, and went straight to Shenyang. The two railways from Lushun to Shenyang were completed before the first snow fell in Liaoning in 1871. After these two railways were officially opened next year, the entire situation in the northeast would be completely new.
In 1871, the decision to continue to immigrate 20 million households to the northeast was passed. From Shenyang to Changchun, Shenyang to Vladivostok, and Zhangjiakou to Baotou, including these three important railways, China would also build a total mileage of more than 4,000 kilometers in 1872. This mileage was similar to that of the United States.
At this time, most provinces had their own provincial railways, and the impact of the railways on the economy had gradually become apparent. After the cities were connected to the railways, the economy would naturally develop. Even a small county town would be livelier. Cities located at transportation hubs would be even more different. Some places were originally poor, but after the railways were connected, cattle, sheep, and pigs could be raised. As long as they could be transported out, they could make money. Although the railway transportation cost money, it would cost more to drive the cattle for hundreds of kilometers than the railway charges. More importantly, if you drove the cattle out, they wouldn't want it. That would be a big loss.
4,000 kilometers seemed to be a lot, but in fact, it wasn't much when divided among the provinces. Many provinces knew that it was temporarily unrealistic to ask the country to invest heavily in the industry. In their proposals, they asked the country to support technology and the provinces to invest in the railways themselves.
Vézé rejected it immediately. Putting aside the political significance of the Sichuan Road Protection Movement, the essence of this movement was that the country and the provinces would invest in the railways together. In the end, the money that the country provided to build the railways was swallowed by the provinces. When the country was ready to accept this mess, the provinces began to oppose it. With the current desire for money in the provinces, Vézé really didn't dare to throw his body at the tiger. This was not the case where Vézé fired a group of people and punished a group of people according to the law after the incident. Once this kind of bad start was started, there would be endless disasters in the future.
Another important task was education. Vézé made a public speech. "The literacy work has been a great success. In the next ten years, we will complete the work of universal education. This is the real foundation for a country to be strong, and this is the real foundation for a country to stand on its own in the world. This is the real foundation for society to continue to move forward. Education is the right of the Chinese people, and it is also the obligation of the Chinese people. There is only room for discussion about how to do better in education. There is no room for discussion about whether or not education exists in our great motherland! "
The group of people who were enthusiastic about the investment heard this, but their interest was obviously limited. There had been a lot of investment in education over the years, and as for the output, everyone felt that it was not very good. Compared with those who could see, feel, and see the actual merits and achievements, education was more troublesome.
After the end of the meeting in early 1872, the content was published in the newspapers as usual. The Chinese people didn't care much about the content of these meetings, and their understanding was very limited. But the British upper echelons were very serious about the contents of these plans. The first reaction of London's railway stock was to appreciate.
Historically, between 1865 and 1875, the world's railway lines increased from 146,000 kilometers to 296,000 kilometers, of which the United States accounted for more than half. From 1865 to 1873, the United States invested about 20 billion US dollars in railways, of which about half were raised in Britain. Such a large-scale railway construction provided strong demand for British heavy industry, and brought the British economy out of the last round of crisis.
The situation in Britain now was different from the history. Because the tobacco trade was cut off, the East India Company's finances were greatly reduced. But the situation in Britain's heavy industry changed a lot. China joined the ranks of the large-scale railway construction, and imported many British locomotives, causing the British railway company's sales to skyrocket. The government documents from China confirmed that China would continue to build railways, which was absolutely good news.
From the East India Company's point of view, they were quite hostile to China. But in London, Birmingham, and Manchester, the heavy industry manufacturers in these cities all had deep influence in the government. After the two offset each other, the degree of hostility in Britain towards China was relatively limited.
So when the British ambassador visited Vézé, they talked about China's attitude towards Russia. In the past six months, Europe had been completely defeated. Not only the Franco-Prussian War, but Italy had finally completed its own unification.
The process of Italy's unification was very interesting. They had their own long-term struggle for unification, but the ending action was actually closely related to the German unification war. Germany defeated Austria in the Franco-Prussian War, and although Italy, who stood with Germany, was defeated, they also gained Wales. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, Napoleon III transferred the troops stationed in Rome back to his country, allowing the Kingdom of Italy's army to smoothly enter the city of Rome. The unification of Italy was formally completed, and the Pope was forced to retreat to the Vatican Palace in the northwest corner of Rome. In the past, Vézé really did not know that there was such a process in the Italian unification war, and now he finally supplemented his historical knowledge.
The British ambassador did not talk about Germany, nor did he talk about Italy. He made a suggestion, "Has China considered letting Britain coordinate the territorial conflict between China and Russia?"
After hearing such a suggestion, Vézé could not help but blink. He did not expect the British ambassador to be so straightforward. After thinking for a moment, Vézé asked, "May I ask what the British side is planning to get out of this negotiation?"
The British ambassador had seen Vézé many times, and he also knew that Vézé was a very straightforward person, but it was a little too difficult to deal with such a straightforward person. Vézé's words made his attitude clear, and that was, he refused to give up the slightest bit of dominance.
Seeing that the British ambassador was temporarily silent, Vézé said, "In our view, there is no possibility of any discussion on the issue of China's territory. We are working hard to prepare for war, and we have also begun to recover part of China's territory. If the British side wants to get a free ride from the war, I will not be surprised. Based on the friendly relationship between China and the United Kingdom, I will not refuse a reasonable request. However, no matter how other countries get a free ride, we will continue to recover our territory until we recover all of it. I think Mr. Ambassador can understand what I'm saying. "
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