Iron Dynasty

Qingzhou.

Xiao Ming is reviewing the year-end summaries sent by various departments of the imperial court. Since the promulgation of the five-year plan, the most important task at the end of the year is to verify the implementation of the five-year plan.

Your Majesty, since the promulgation of the Five-Year Plan, twenty-six thermal power plants in Shangzhou, including Dengzhou, Youzhou, Jinzhou, Xuzhou, Jinling, Songjiang, Suzhou, Lin'an, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou, have been completed, and the number of Shangzhou in the whole country has been completed. A total of one hundred and twenty-seven, and it is not a problem to complete the construction of all of the upstate thermal power plants within five years.

In the fair and bright, Su Liangcai reported the construction of the thermal power plant on behalf of the Electric Power Division.

After a pause, he continued to read with the year-end report: In addition, the Electric Power Division has also made some progress in hydropower generation this year. The hydropower generation part is designed in the Tuohe dam under construction, which is very important in the popularization of electric power. At present, 80% of the people in Qingzhou have access to electricity and the remaining 20% ​​can only wait for the main line to be laid due to their remoteness. As for factories, all factories in the industrial zone have already used it The only regret is that the current electric power company is still in a state of loss, and only Qingzhou can break even.”

Xiao Ming also has a year-end summary presented by Su Liangcai, he nodded in appreciation, The plan for the first year has been completed, which is very commendable, but electricity is just in its infancy, and the burden in the future is still very heavy. As for profitability You don't need to think about it for the time being, the power facilities are currently in the stage of intensive construction, and it is impossible to make a profit, and this loss will be borne by the imperial court.

Yes, Your Majesty. Su Liangcai breathed a sigh of relief, he has passed this test and can have a good year this year.

Now the imperial officials are most afraid of the year-end summary. If there is a problem with their own department, they will not be in a good mood for the new year.

Su Liangcai returned to his team, and Princess Pingyang walked out in order.

Compared with the previous charm, the current Princess Pingyang is a little more capable. She has been in charge of the Railway Division for all these years, and the complicated affairs have given her a lot of temper.

Your Majesty, by the end of this year, the mileage of railways operated by the Empire has reached 5,000 kilometers, the main routes to Yaksa in the north, Jinling in the south, Dengzhou in the east, and Chang'an in the west have been completed, and now the railway department is building the main line. The branch railway between the two has completed the construction of the railway network. The only regret now is the problem that the north-south railway cannot be connected because of the barrier of the Yangtze River.” Princess Pingyang said.

Xiao Ming nodded slightly, because he started in Qingzhou and first unified the north, so industrial construction was concentrated in the north, while the south was relatively backward.

But with the unification of the empire and the establishment of maritime hegemony, what the empire needs now is the coastal ports for business, especially the southern ports.

In this way, getting through the north-south logistics is the current difficulty facing the empire.

However, although he misses the contemporary Yangtze River Bridge countless times, he understands that this grand project cannot be built with the current level of construction technology in the empire.

So, under consideration, he decided to settle for the next best thing.

Thinking of this, he called Zhang Liang's name, and then Zhang Liang came out and bowed: Your Majesty.

Xiao Ming asked: How about the railway ferry that I asked your shipyard to study? At present, this is the only way for a steam locomotive to cross the Yangtze River.

When trains appeared and there was no bridge on the Yangtze River, the North-South Railway relied on this kind of railway ferries.

In contemporary times, as early as 1850, the United Kingdom used train ferries in the Bay of Forn, Scotland, and even now, there are still more than 20 countries in the world using railway ferries.

In countries with many islands and no bridges across the sea, such rail ferries are a must.

To put it simply, this railway ferry is actually a railway track built on a large ferry. The track on the ferry can be connected to the railway track. If the train wants to cross the river, it only needs to drive the train onto the track on the ferry. Can.

When the train gets on the ferry, the ferry can carry the train across the sea and across the bridge, but the premise of building a train ferry is to master the technology of steam ships.

In the past, Xiao Ming did not mention it because he did not have this technology. Now that the ironclad technology is mature, there is no longer any technical obstacle to building large-scale train ferries.

Back to the emperor, the difficulty of building a train ferry is no less than that of the ironclad King. Although the ministers have mastered the construction technology of train ferries, it will take a year to build the first batch of train ferries. It is estimated that there will be no problem at this time next year. . Zhang Liang bowed and said.

Princess Pingyang was pleasantly surprised: Railway ferry, I didn't expect such a magical thing. If this is the case, the railway construction in the south can be accelerated.

So, now you don't have to worry about it. Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Princess Pingyang answered yes, turned around and returned to the queue.

Xiao Ming did not let Zhang Liang go back, but continued to ask, How is the construction of the Imperial Shipyard going?

Back to the emperor, at present, 60% of the large shipyards in Beishacheng, Dengzhou, Jinling, Songjiangkou, Lin'an, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou have been completed, and a total of 42 can be put into operation. All of these shipyards have the ability to build ironclad ships. In addition, according to the requirements, 65 small and medium-sized shipyards will be able to put into operation by the end of this year, and have the ability to build small and medium-sized commercial steam ships. Zhang Lianghui reported.

Xiao Ming is satisfied with this data. Today, the empire basically has no enemies on land. The most important task at present is to control the global trade routes, because the power of the sea is extremely important.

It is for this reason that he allocated large sums of money to build shipyards and cultivate shipbuilding talents at the same time.

In this case, from next year, the shipyard will be able to build commercial steam ships and sell them to the merchants of the empire. The empire has invested a lot of money in the shipyard over the years, and now it is time to get it back. Xiao Ming said.

Yes, Your Majesty. Zhang Liang replied yes.

After listening to the reports of the three people one after another, Xiao Ming looked at Yang Chengye. He was in charge of the industry, commerce, factories, and banks of the empire. Just ask him questions. There is no need to ask the various responsible persons individually.

Noticing Xiao Ming's gaze, Yang Chengye walked out, holding a thick report in his hand.

Glancing at the other ministers apologetically, he said, My report may be a little longer, so I'll try to be as fast as possible.

After clearing his throat, he said: At present, Qingzhou Bank has officially changed its name to the Imperial Central Bank, and the functions of the Imperial Central Bank have also been clarified. From now on, all banks in the Empire will be subject to the jurisdiction of the Imperial Central Bank.