1890 King of Southeast Asia

Hioki did not get the answer he wanted. Lin Anmin did not agree to provide free aid, but was willing to sell a batch at a high price.

The amount Japan wanted was not small, 2 million tons of rice. In this era when fertilizers and pesticides were not yet popular, 2 million tons of rice was not a small number.

Japan's grain production before the war was only more than 8 million tons of rice per year, plus the production of wheat and barley, a total of about 10 million tons - barley was a little more than 1 million tons, mainly used for horse breeding.

In the same period, before the establishment of the provisional government, the rice production of the Qing Empire was more than 120 million tons, wheat was more than 16 million tons, and barley was 3.2 million tons.

Nanhua's rice production in the same period was about 90 million tons, but there was no large-scale planting of wheat and barley, and the climate here was not suitable.

In this way, the Qing Empire still suffered from famine, and Japan did not suffer from famine. It was purely because they had been hungry for thousands of years and had less to eat.

The war began. Last year, because of the war, grain production was affected to a certain extent, but there was still a large amount of grain surplus.

These grains are used in industry and animal husbandry, processed into alcohol or other things, and used to make feed for livestock, etc.

How much money can you make from selling rice? You can make more from raising pigs!

Up to now, 2 million tons of rice, calculated at 3 yuan per 100 kilograms of rice, requires 120 million yuan, of course, this is the selling price.

And what about raising pigs? The price of 1 kilogram of pork raised in a farm ranges from 20 cents to 30 cents. A pig can only produce 100 kilograms of meat, which is considered large.

To feed such a pig, at least 400 to 500 kilograms of grain are consumed, and there are other things that can be used as supplementary feed.

Apart from bones and worthless meat, bristles, leather, etc. are more profitable things, especially now that the European war has almost no demand for these things.

Let's put it this way, if you take off the bristles of a well-raised pig and make them into brushes for brushing gun barrels and sell them, you can earn back the cost of raising pigs.

At this time, the pigs raised were not white pigs, but local black pigs, which had more and longer hair. The price of bristles rose rapidly at this time. The bristles produced by one pig could be sold for 20 to 30 yuan, which was more profitable than pork.

There was also leather, which could be made into rain boots, bags, gloves, and belts. Don’t say that European gentlemen all use cowhide. At this time, he would use rat skin if you gave him it.

Food is feed, money, and a key product. How could Lin Anmin just give it away like this?

Loans can be negotiated, anyway, that thing is used as collateral...

After being rejected, Hioki did not give up, but came to "lobby" Lin Anmin from time to time.

...

Two days later, Liu Yiming caught Jiang Wang, Xie Hui, Xu Hui, and Lin Anmin and held a meeting together, mainly to discuss the railway.

"Does the intelligence department have any information that can be used as a reference?" The meeting lasted for a while. Liu Yiming first asked Lin Anmin to tell him the information and speculation he had collected, and then asked Jiang Wang.

"The time was too short and I didn't receive a response." Jiang Wang said ashamedly.

"It's not your fault. The war has made the British start to pay attention to the issue of espionage. Let your people pay attention to safety. If you can't get it, then you can't get it." Liu Yiming comforted him.

"Anmin's guess is reasonable. I also tend to think that the British have discovered our intentions, but I can't be sure."

"This matter will stop here for the time being. Regardless of whether the British have discovered it or not, what we have to consider now is whether to go with the flow and start the railway construction."

Liu Yiming crossed his fingers and drank a sip of water.

The three people except Jiang Wang looked at each other, and finally Xie Hui stood up first.

"Your Majesty, it is better to build the railway earlier than later. The railway bridge connecting the entire continent can greatly enhance our influence in the world."

"Originally, the 6th Army set out from Java and had to pass through Malacca, bypass India, and pass through the Red Sea to enter the Persian Gulf. The whole process took ten days at the fastest and half a month at the slowest."

"If you want to go faster, you can only use high-speed cruise ships to transport it day and night, but there are not many high-speed cruise ships, and the transportation capacity is not good. The cost is too high, and it can only be used for emergency situations at most."

"At that time, the main garrison of the 6th Army was apart from Hawaii, and the farthest was Luzon or New Guinea Island. At most, the journey would be increased by 3 or 2 days."

"Now, if the border guards of the three provinces are to be mobilized, the time spent on the journey will be at least increased by 20 days. If they are mobilized from the grassland border guards, it will take 35 to 40 days."

"Our army's most elite mechanized heavy troops are currently concentrating on the grassland area to do the right In order to train the army, 10 of the 20 motorized infantry divisions of our army's main mobile force are concentrated in the Western Border Guard or the Grassland Border Guard. "

"According to the conclusion drawn from the supply and transportation calculation, if Southeast Asia encounters a battle, it will take more than 40 days to mobilize troops from the Western Border Guard if the supply is sufficient. "

"If Arabia encounters a battle, it will take more than 60 days to transport personnel from the Western Region to the Arab region. "

"Here, their weapons and equipment, logistics supply, and personnel fatigue have not been calculated, let alone the problem of transportation power. Everything is estimated based on theoretical conditions. "

"If a railway connecting the continent can be built, the tens of thousands of kilometers of the Western Border Guard's journey will be shortened to less than 3,000 kilometers of railway journey. "

"According to the average speed of 50 kilometers per hour, a 3,000-kilometer journey only takes 60 hours, and the efficiency is increased by more than 24 times. "

"With only two thousand wagons and forty locomotives, we can transport a fully equipped division and its three-day combat needs to Mesopotamia in two and a half days."

"This is crucial for us."

After Xie Hui finished speaking, he glanced at the expressions of the others.

Lin Anmin and Xu Hui were obviously persuaded and were thinking silently.

"Sixty days is not enough to mobilize the Western Border Guard to Arabia. Soldiers are people, not machines." Liu Ming shook his head, but he also agreed with this statement.

The railway line is the lifeline. As Xie Hui said, this railway can increase the speed of mobilizing troops from the Western Region by 24 times. Even if troops are mobilized from Sumatra, it will take more than ten days.

And the arrival is still on the coast of the Persian Gulf. It will take several days to rest and transport to the interior.

The volume of sea transportation is larger, but the speed is indeed not fast, and Liu Ming also has to consider the problem that the navy cannot open the waterway in time.

Even if the Chinese Navy has developed to a point where its power exceeds that of the British Royal Navy, it cannot be said that it will definitely win.

Moreover, with the development of new weapons such as submarines and high-speed destroyers, the difficulty of breaking commerce will only become lower and lower.

Just like the German Navy during World War II, the surface ships were weak, and they finally had a few large-tonnage ships. The design ideas continued the ideas of World War I. They could not confront Britain head-on at all, and could only circle around the shore under the cover of aircraft.

However, German submarines of the same period achieved excellent results, sinking a total of more than 3,500 ships with a total tonnage of nearly 20 million tons, including various transport ships.

Among them, there were 3 fleet aircraft carriers, 3 escort aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 5 cruisers, 34 destroyers, 18 escort destroyers, and more than 200 small frigates.

At the same time, two escort aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 6 cruisers, and 11 destroyers were damaged.

In addition, transport ships with a total tonnage of about 2 million tons were also damaged.

Meanwhile, Germany had already achieved great success in World War I after lifting the restrictions on submarines. A total of 5,700 ships with a total tonnage of 12 million tons were sunk in the entire World War I.

Liu Ming must consider how to safely and effectively deliver supplies to Mesopotamia and Arabia in West Asia.

This railway was also born under this idea.

"The importance of the railway is unquestionable. We need this railway. This is related to our control over the main fuel production areas in our country."

"And when the railway is built, we can also build an oil pipeline along the railway to directly transport oil to the Western Regions and the inland areas to reduce costs. After all, sea transportation is too expensive."

"In the current large-scale construction, the cost of mechanical fuel has accounted for 10% of the total construction cost. Almost all of our projects are inseparable from machinery. In the future, the cost of fuel in the inland will not be too low, which will limit its development."

Xu Hui also nodded, but he thought further. In addition to the military, he also thought about people's livelihood.

In fact, China's fuel is really not expensive, even cheaper than the United States. In order to promote automobile consumption and tractor use, the price of a barrel of 100 liters of gasoline in non-oil-producing areas is about 1 yuan, and it is more expensive in remote areas.

Of course, 1 yuan is not cheap, calculated by gold content, it is 5 grams, but this is already very low, 30% to 50% lower than Europe, and this is the price of a family car.

If it is agricultural machinery such as tractors and excavators, the price will be more than 20% cheaper if it is purchased by the Construction Corps or the village.

However, if it is sent to the inland, due to poor transportation, the freight on the road has greatly exceeded the cost of fuel. The freight to the Western Regions is several times or even dozens of times the oil price.

The oil-producing areas are outrageous. In Arabia, even a farmer does not consider the oil price when driving. He only considers whether the car will have problems when the wind and sand come after driving out.

A barrel of crude oil is 159 liters. Any oil well in Arabia produces at least thousands of barrels a day, tens of thousands of barrels, and hundreds of thousands of barrels. The difficulty of mining is low. If there is no freight, the highest cost of a barrel of oil is the barrel.

The use of tools will promote social development, and the cost of using tools determines the speed of social development.

If there is a cheap supply of oil in the future, development will definitely be faster.

"The British's purpose is very clear. If we want this railway, we must participate in the war. The better we fight, the more we show our importance, and the easier it will be to negotiate this railway."

"In addition, the railway not only involves Britain. According to the planning of the transportation department, many sections of our railway are in Russia. The Russians are slower to solve and they are more stubborn."

Lin Anmin came back to his senses and saw Liu Ming looking at him, and said quickly.

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