The transportation construction in Guangzhou and even Guangdong in recent years has also been the main policy measure during Chen Lifu's administration in Guangdong.
Because the people's livelihood economic development strategy set by Chen Lifu at that time was three major policies. The first one was to rely on the geographical advantage of being close to Nanyang to develop overseas trade.
The second is to rely on the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway, Hu-Guang Railway, Pearl River and other trunk lines of transportation and coastal transportation to cover the industrial production and sales network of the Pearl River Delta to surrounding provinces and even the whole country.
The third is to vigorously develop the province's transportation network and fully mobilize the province's resources and population to better develop the industrial and commercial economy.
Under the influence of these policies, Guangdong directly promoted the local government to vigorously develop transportation, successively promoted the construction of the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway and the Hu-Guang Railway, and successfully completed them, and at the same time dredged the Xijiang River.
Within the province, a railway network and a road network, especially the road network, are being built throughout the province, covering all towns and villages. Not to mention the Pearl River Delta region, which is densely covered with railways, and in urban areas it is
Dense public carriage
Only in this way can we rely on the developed internal transportation network to integrate the resources of the entire Pearl River Delta and develop a very special flat industrial layout, thereby better promoting economic development.
After arriving in Guangzhou, Li Xuan walked around the Pearl River Delta and was dizzy by the dense rail network. He even saw a lot of overpasses with cement piers and steel structures.
This is the 16th century. You build an overpass. Although it is only a pedestrian bridge, it still makes Li Xuan speechless...
Then we came to a conclusion: Guangzhou and even the entire Pearl River Delta must have spent all local fiscal revenue on transportation in recent years.
In fact, this is indeed the case. Not only has it been spent, but the local local finance also owes a huge debt...
Accompanied by Chen Lifu, Li Xuan almost ran around the Pearl River Delta. There was no way around it. The places he wanted to inspect were all over the place. By the time he saw it, he would have basically traveled all over the Pearl River Delta.
Guangzhou, no, more accurately, it should be the Pearl River Delta. Although there are various industries, they are generally dominated by light industries. Although there are heavy industries, they are not too many.
Of course, this is not much compared with the Yangtze River Delta, Dangtu and other places. If it is compared with other places in the country, it will naturally far exceed it.
Li Xuan saw a lot of factories along the way, including ordinary textile industries, steel plants, machinery plants, etc. He also went to South China University to have a look.
South China University is a comprehensive university established by the Imperial Ministry of Rites in the early years, and it is also one of the few key universities in the country.
There are actually quite a few institutions of higher learning in the empire, but most of them are three-year colleges, normal colleges and other tertiary institutions.
There are more than 30 of these colleges and universities across the country, basically ensuring that every local provincial road has one. However, there are two or even three in the population and economically developed areas, such as Jiangnan Province. Most of them
They are all government-run schools, but there are also a few private schools.
There are far fewer four-year comprehensive universities. Currently there are only twelve, all government-run schools, all of which are famous schools. The locations of the nine universities are basically in important economic, cultural and political centers.
As the second largest industrial city in the empire, Guangzhou naturally has such a comprehensive university, and the comprehensive strength of South China University is quite strong and belongs to the first echelon of universities.
Among the twelve four-year comprehensive universities in China, there are some that are strong and some that are weak. The strongest ones are naturally Imperial College and Jinling University. These two universities cover both arts and science and occupy the leading position among universities.
Slightly weaker are the two universities that are backed by Jiangnan University in Jiangnan Province and South China University in Guangdong Province.
However, the actual gap between these four universities is not that big. Even the Imperial College and Jinling University have long been institutions of higher learning. However, Jiangnan and Guangdong have money. They directly spend money to run schools. The hardware facilities are first-class, and teachers spend money to poach teachers everywhere.
Continuously narrowing the gap with Imperial College and Jinling University.
In the minds of many students in the empire today, these four universities have been distinguished from other comprehensive universities and have become the four most famous schools in the empire.
Under these four famous universities are Chengtian University of Technology, Wuchang Huguang University, Tianjin North China University, Kaifeng Zhongyuan University, Shanghai University, Guangzhou Pearl River University, Jinling Institute of Technology, and Jinling Higher Normal University!
It is worth noting that there are a total of twelve comprehensive universities mentioned above, and Jinling City has five of them!
There are two in Shanghai, two in Guangzhou, and then there are one in the other three important cities, such as Tianjin, Wuchang, and Kaifeng. As for the other cities, sorry, there are none for the time being.
When Li Xuan was in Shanghai, he also inspected Jiangnan University. When he arrived in Guangzhou, he would naturally not forget to take a look at South China University. After all, it was one of the four most famous universities in the empire.
After inspecting South China University, Li Xuan's trip in Guangzhou also came to an end.
Immediately afterwards, his special train was bound for Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is a rather special place. Unlike Hong Kong in later generations, which was an important trading port, Hong Kong today is the most important shipbuilding base and naval base of the empire.
Hong Kong is not only the location of the Second Fleet Headquarters,
It is also the headquarters and base of Hong Kong Ding Sheng Shipyard.
Here, the empire built the first thousand-ton battleship, the first steam steel battleship, the first four-thousand-ton giant ship, and, well, large-tonnage luxury passenger ships for a number of shipping companies such as the Pacific Line were also built here.
of.
To put it bluntly, it is not an exaggeration to say that because of the existence of Hong Kong Dingsheng Shipyard, it has become the most important shipbuilding base of the empire. In fact, this is indeed the case. Such a small place is responsible for fifty percent of the empire.
The construction work of the above large-tonnage ships, as for the construction of ships of more than 3,000 tons, is currently only possible here.
Because so far, no other shipyards across the country have large-scale shipbuilding docks of more than 3,000 tons. Jiangnan Shipyard has invested in the construction of 5,000-ton or even 8,000-ton shipbuilding docks, and one of them is still under construction.
The 5,000-ton dock will be completed and put into use as early as June this year, and the 8,000-ton dock will not be put into use until next year.
As for Hong Kong Dingsheng Shipyard, it already has four shipyards with over 5,000 tons and can build giant ships with a maximum tonnage of 5,000 tons.
There is also a 7,000-ton shipyard that has been completed. Unfortunately, although there is a shipyard, there is no response to the order for the 7,000-ton giant ship.
Their 10,000-ton shipyard is also under construction and is expected to be completed within three years.
Three years from now, Hong Kong Dingsheng Shipyard will have the construction capacity to build 10,000-ton giant ships.
In the past, the Guiyang-class battleships built by the Navy were no more or less, just 2,800 tons, not more than 3,000 tons. This is also because apart from the Hong Kong Shipyard, the largest shipyards of other domestic shipyards are only 3,000 tons.
In order to speed up shipbuilding, and because the Malacca-class battleships did not have any revolutionary breakthroughs in technology, the construction of the Malacca-class battleships was an emergency measure, mainly to maintain the size of the fleet.
Another very important point is that the Navy is planning to go big in a few years and directly build a 7,000-ton giant ship!
Now, just save what you can.
Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, there is a 2,800-ton Malacca battleship.
After Li Xuan came to Hong Kong, he also saw the No. 4 Malacca battleship under construction. He looked around and left. There was really nothing special about this thing, which made Li Xuan not interested.
It's basically an enlarged version of the Jiangnan-class battleship, with a larger tonnage, more guns, and a slight increase in speed!
But that’s it.
Moreover, in today's era when civilian merchant ships are all running at more than 2,000 tons, and the flagships of various shipping companies are all between 4,000 and 5,000 tons, the two thousand-eight-hundred-ton Malacca battleships, to be honest, look a bit petty.
On the other hand, the dock next door has been completed and the passenger liner Pacific is about to be delivered, which greatly interests Li Xuan.
This luxury liner Li Xuan had a profound impact, because this ship was built by Li Xuan himself under the order of the Royal Industrial Department. At that time, Li Xuan's idea was to let the shipping company take on part of the maritime transportation functions.
During peacetime, these luxury passenger ships are naturally operated commercially, but during wartime, these large-tonnage passenger ships can be transformed into troop carriers immediately after a few modifications.
Such a passenger ship, the USS Pacific, could probably carry a mixed battalion for landing operations during the war.
This mixed battalion will include an entire infantry battalion, at least one artillery team, a baggage team and other auxiliary forces, with a strength of approximately 1,500 people, six five-pound or nine-pound artillery pieces, and corresponding horses, carriages, ammunition, etc.
.
If it was just transporting personnel, this huge Pacific liner could transport at least 3,000 soldiers!
In the previous series of battles such as the Tang Navy's landing in Malacca and subsequent Indian Ocean raids, landings on Ceylon and South Africa, hundreds of transport ships of various types were used almost every time.
Not to mention transport ships, even those warships are still filled with people or supplies.
Those ships were all small boats of several hundred tons, and their transportation capacity was very small. In order to ensure the operation, we could only organize hundreds of ships for transportation at every turn.
If they were large-tonnage transport ships like the Pacific passenger ship, twenty ships would be enough to transport an entire infantry division for landing operations!
To be honest, when he saw the Pacific liner, Li Xuan really felt like he was in the industrial age!
The slender and huge hull, the matching black and white paint and the huge white sail make this Pacific liner look pleasing to the eye.
The three tall and huge chimneys between the masts also indicate the power of this passenger ship. It is a sail-powered ship.
The huge sail allows the ship to save coal on the way, gaining longer range and economy.
At the same time, the ship's 1,500-horsepower power unit also allows the ship to achieve a speed of 12 knots under pure steam power. If the sails are used together, the maximum speed can reach 17 knots.
Of course, in most cases, the main power will be the sail, and the steam engine will run at low power to provide auxiliary power to keep the average speed of the ship above twelve knots.
As for running the steam engine at full speed, it is rarely used in actual navigation, because if it is used like this, it will consume too much coal and the pure steam engine range of the ship will be greatly shortened.
Just standing on the pier and looking at this slender and graceful passenger ship, you can feel the fragrance of the Industrial Revolution era!