"Invest tens of millions of taels of silver to build a bridge!"
“Hundreds of millions are invested in infrastructure every year, and trains can travel thousands of miles a day!”
Simon opened his mouth wide after listening to Brown's words.
Extremely shocked in my heart.
On the one hand, I was shocked by the generosity of the people of the Ming Dynasty, with their casual investments amounting to tens of millions of taels of silver. On the other hand, I was even more shocked by the wealth of the Ming Dynasty.
Investments often amount to tens of millions of taels of silver, and hundreds of millions are invested in building railways. It’s so rich.
It's as if the people of Ming Dynasty had too much money to use up, and they just threw it everywhere.
"The people of Ming Dynasty spent such a huge price on infrastructure construction. Is it worth it?"
Simon sighed and thought at the same time.
"Of course it's worth it~"
"The Ming Dynasty is not a European country. European countries are very small. The whole of Europe combined is about the same size as the Ming Dynasty itself."
"It is not an easy task to rule such a vast territory."
"In addition to cultural unification and recognition, what is more important is to continuously strengthen centralization. Therefore, since ancient times, people in the Ming Dynasty have been thinking about how to strengthen centralization, consolidate rule, and maintain a unified situation."
"The massive infrastructure construction is also conducive to strengthening the central government's control and connections with various localities. Wherever the railway goes, transportation will become extremely convenient and fast."
"With thousands of miles traveled every day, after the construction of the railway network covering the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Empire will be able to travel to any place extremely quickly, and it will be as tightly connected as an iron barrel."
"What's more, once the infrastructure is built, travel between places will become faster and more convenient. Even if there is a disaster, food and materials can be easily dispatched from other places for disaster relief."
"Da Ming Daily has reported in detail about this time. In the past, when the Yellow River overflowed and there was a famine, it used to take ten days and a half to mobilize food from the Jiangnan area. But now, as soon as the railway is connected and the order comes, it can be done on the same day.
Transport truckloads of grain directly to the disaster area by train."
"Even the Ming Empire can quickly mobilize food from Liaodong, the Western Regions, Henan and other regions to provide disaster relief."
"The Beizhili region in the Ming Dynasty was originally a large granary with vast fertile fields, but now, Beizhili no longer produces any grain. All the grain needed by the huge population in the Beijing-Tianjin region comes from Liaodong, Jiangnan, and
It was transported from the Nanyang region."
"All this is due to the increasingly convenient transportation in Ming Dynasty and the developed water transportation, which makes transportation between various places extremely convenient."
"If you look at it in Europe, it would be to mobilize food from Poland in Eastern Europe to Spain for disaster relief. Do you think it is possible?"
"I'm afraid this food will be used up before it reaches Spain."
Brown nodded solemnly and said.
Simon still had the mentality of a small European country with few people, and had not yet fully realized the importance and significance of developed transportation to a huge empire.
"That's it~"
After listening to this, Simon finally understood something.
"This is why the local economy of Ming Dynasty has increasingly developed regional characteristics."
"For example, the Liaodong region has fertile black soil, vast remoteness, sparsely populated areas, and is very suitable for large-scale farming. Therefore, the Liaodong region of the Ming Dynasty has gradually become the most important granary of the Ming Dynasty."
"According to last year's statistical data, the food produced in Liaodong alone is enough for the entire Ming Dynasty. The flour produced in Liaodong is sold well all over the Ming Dynasty. Even Japan, Korea, and many vassals and colonies of the Ming Dynasty are popular in eating Liaodong.
of white noodles.”
"Liaodong Province also vigorously develops agriculture because there is a lot of land there, so mechanized farming is very popular."
Brown thought of the newspapers he read last year, and also described to Simon some things in the Ming Dynasty.
“What is mechanized farming?”
When Simon heard this, he was dumbfounded. Mechanized farming?
I have never heard of it, but this farmland is still mechanized?
"The so-called mechanized farming refers to the large-scale use of machinery to cultivate land."
"The people of the Ming Dynasty used steam engines as power and invented a series of farming machines, cultivators, seeders, harvesters, mills, etc., a series of machines powered by steam engines, and also introduced relevant preferential policies to purchase
The machine can be purchased with interest-free loans, installment payments, government subsidies, etc.”
"This series of measures has also led to rapid development of agriculture in Liaodong. The cultivated area is very large. Now it is said that it has been cultivated as far north as the Heilongjiang River Basin. Mechanized farming is extremely efficient and only requires a small amount of
The population can cultivate large areas of farmland, so food production increases every year."
"In addition, the Ming government also has a Ministry of Agriculture that is responsible for agriculture. There are officials who search for high-yielding seeds around the world, are responsible for cultivating grain seeds, promoting good farming methods and grain seeds, etc."
"It only took them two years for the corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes introduced from Huangjin Island to be spread to every place in the Ming Dynasty, allowing the grain production in the Ming Dynasty to increase year after year, and there is no need to worry about hunger anymore.
"
"The Liaodong region is the granary of the Ming Dynasty, and the northern, western, Hezhong, northwest, and Central Asian provinces are the meat granary of the Ming Dynasty. These places have vast grasslands and water tanks."
"Vigorously develop animal husbandry to provide Ming Dynasty with a steady stream of horses, cattle and sheep. With the opening of trains, there are many special trains transporting cattle, sheep and horses every day between the mainland of Ming Dynasty and outside the customs, bringing a source of supply to the dining tables of the people of Ming Dynasty.
Constant meat eating.”
"Beizhili, Shandong and Ryukyu became the vegetable and fruit warehouses of the Ming Dynasty."
"Beizhili is backed by the Beijing-Tianjin area and has an extremely vast market. In recent years, it has become popular to grow greenhouse vegetables and develop aquaculture, providing a continuous supply of vegetables and fruits to the Beijing-Tianjin area."
"What greenhouse vegetables?"
When Simon heard this, he immediately asked again.
"The so-called greenhouse vegetables are meant to be covered with transparent glass or the popular rubber film to keep them warm, so that in the cold winter, vegetables can be produced in the greenhouse and you can eat vegetables in the winter."
Brown explained that he had never seen it, but it was reported in the newspaper. To be honest, he didn't believe it at first, how could it be possible to grow vegetables in this winter.
But later he met a Ming Dynasty man who had moved to Chixia City from Tianjin. After hearing him tell this story, he felt that it should be credible.
Even things like trains and steamships have appeared, and the appearance of vegetable greenhouses does not seem to be a strange thing anymore.
“Growing vegetables in a greenhouse in winter?”
Simon was also dumbfounded. This was the first time he heard that vegetables could be grown in winter.
"Don't believe it?"
"I haven't seen it either, and I didn't believe it at first, but it should be true."
Brown looked at Simon's dumbfounded look and immediately laughed.
"Growing vegetables in winter, the people of Ming Dynasty really thought of it."
Simon smiled and shook his head. Daming did what he never dared to think about.
“Growing vegetables in winter is nothing~”
"The people of the Ming Dynasty actually grew vegetables in Ryukyu and Nanyang areas at the beginning. These places are close to the equator and are still very warm even in winter. The vegetables and fruits they grew were transported to the north of the Ming Dynasty by fast ships for sale.
The profits are very high."
"Nowadays, ordinary vegetables cost one or two cents per catty. In winter, they can be sold for more than ten cents or dozens of cents per catty. The profit is huge. Therefore, greenhouse vegetables have been gradually developed and greenhouses have been built.
Come and grow vegetables.”
"The vegetable varieties grown by people in the Ming Dynasty also came from all over the world, and many European vegetable varieties were promoted and planted on a large scale in the Ming Dynasty."
Brown smiled and said that he likes reading newspapers more and more now.
Because you can understand the world's affairs and understand the changes in the Ming Dynasty without leaving home.
Newspapers report on various things, national events, regional economies, etc., and it is very effective to brag with people from Europe like Simon.
Of course, this is not bragging, but telling the truth.
"Grains from Liaodong, cotton and cattle and sheep from the Hezhong region in the Western Regions, horses, cattle and sheep from the northern grasslands, wine from Nanyun, sugar and fruits from Nanyang, and rice from the south of the Yangtze River. These have gradually formed a regional representative
economy."
"In the final analysis, all this is due to the strong infrastructure of Ming Dynasty. The increasingly complete and powerful infrastructure has greatly facilitated the exchanges between various places, strengthened the exchange of goods, and thus strengthened the advantages of each region.
If a certain area is suitable for the growth of a certain crop, it will be dedicated to growing this crop, forming an area, and then specializing in growing this crop, constantly strengthening its competitiveness."
When Brown talked about the economy of the Ming Dynasty, he was filled with emotion. In terms of agriculture alone, the Ming Dynasty was already leading the rest of the world in all aspects.
"But the real strength of Ming Dynasty is industry!"
