Chapter 212 America, which is very different from the mainland
Why every household in this place has a carriage? Local officials explained to Feng Xinyuan: "Horses here in America are very cheap, and there are farms around our West Lake City, so these horses are even cheaper. In fact, this is not only the case in West Lake City,
This is true throughout North America. The number of private horses is very large, and basically every household has its own carriage when traveling."
"Moreover, our Xihu Prefecture is the largest agricultural state in the province. There are farms both inside and outside the city. In fact, the people in our West Lake City are also farmers from the surrounding farms!"
Well, Feng Xinyuan has nothing to say about this.
The urban residents of West Lake City are not the urban residents of the empire in the traditional sense.
The residents of the empire's native cities are very typical urban residents. They work to earn money to support their families.
But in West Lake City, most of the more than 30,000 people are actually agricultural people...
Surrounding West Lake City and even within the city, there are large tracts of farms, and the owners of these farms are the residents of West Lake City.
This is why the urban area of West Lake City is so huge, and you can occasionally see large areas of farmland and pasture in the urban area...
Every household in this family is a farmer, and they raise horses at home. This carriage is also simple. You can just find a carpenter to make it, and then drive it yourself.
What else can he say about this model...
It can only be said that the situation in the empire and North America is different...
Here, it seems that it is very common for people to own a private carriage, but in the empire, private carriages are standard equipment for the middle class. It is impossible for ordinary people to afford the cost of a private carriage. The main factor is that it is not about horses.
Expensive. In fact, horses are not expensive. The main reason is that if you want to own a private carriage, the maintenance cost is too expensive.
But in America, people raise horses on their own farms, find a carpenter to build a carriage, and drive around by themselves.
The whole model seems to be somewhat similar to that in rural areas of the empire, but farmers in rural areas of the empire generally raise cattle instead of horses. After decades of economic development, especially in the early years, the empire has been supporting rural areas and vigorously promoting the raising of horses.
The cattle policy provides direct subsidies.
Therefore, there are now a large number of cattle in rural areas, and oxcarts are also very common.
In the previous dynasty, cattle were strategic materials, but they did not exist in the Tang Dynasty today, because the number of cattle in the rural areas of the Tang Dynasty was very large.
This is because the farming models of the two sides are different. The empire's mainland, especially the traditional grain-producing areas in the central and eastern parts of the country, are very typical small and micro-family farms. Farmers have limited land, so they farm with cattle.
Farm deeply and carefully to maintain food production.
On the other hand, there is a lot of land in North America, and horses are used for extensive farming. It is very common for a family to cultivate hundreds or even hundreds of acres of land.
After walking around continuously, riding carriages, and taking ships, he simply circled around the Great Lakes region. After spending more than half a month, he finally had a basic understanding of the Great Lakes region under his rule.
First of all, it is a vast and sparsely populated Five Lakes Province. Its single area is larger than most of the provinces in the empire, and it is much larger.
But the total population is less than two million.
The vast majority of these two million people are agricultural people, mainly growing various crops, including wheat, corn and other types of cash crops.
At the same time, there is also a part of the urban population engaged in commercial trade, administrative work, etc.
What made him very happy was that there was not even a single modern factory in Wuhu Province!
This is a good thing!
You must know that the empire is on every possible defense, just to prevent the industrialization of North America.
After a brief inspection, he has already preliminarily determined his policy plan!
So soon, he announced through the American edition of Datang Chao Bao that Wuhu Province would officially launch a river transportation expansion plan.
The main thing is to expand the existing New South Canal!
In addition, it was also announced that the governor's Yamen has officially introduced the empire's largest machinery sales company, Yonglai Trading Company, to set up sales points in West Lake City and other places to sell steam engine tractors and other mechanical equipment.
The canal expansion plan is nothing. Anyway, the current transportation capacity of the Xinnan River Canal is very good. Using the steam barge transportation method, it can navigate barges of more than a thousand tons.
However, the sales of agricultural machinery and equipment have completely stimulated the enthusiasm of the local people.
They had known before that the empire had launched an economic development plan and approved the use of some machinery and equipment, especially agricultural equipment, in overseas areas.
So they have been waiting, and now they have finally waited!
As soon as the news was announced, a large number of farmers came directly to the gate of the newly established Yonglai Machinery Trading Company with their checks, wanting to purchase steam tractors.
The huge market enthusiasm makes the people of Yonglai Trading Company both surprised and worried!
Surprisingly, the local sales are naturally good and you can make money!
The worry is that they don’t have so much goods on hand!
After receiving a large number of scheduled orders, people from the Wuhu Branch of Yonglai Machinery Trading Company immediately sent people to the headquarters of the American Branch in Xinnangang to apply for supply of goods.
However, the people at the American headquarters of Yonglai Machinery Trading Company are also in a state of distress at this time!
Because there is huge order demand not only in the Five Lakes Province, but in the entire Americas.
After the restrictions on agricultural equipment were relaxed, farmers throughout North America set off a mechanical trend, waving checks to buy steam tractors.
Yonglai Machinery Trading Company, which is licensed to sell various types of civil machinery and equipment in North America, has been preparing supply sources and building channels since last year, but it is still unable to satisfy the huge enthusiasm of the market.
This Yonglai Machinery Trading Company is wholly owned by the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises. It was established at the end of last year. It has a license to sell civil machinery and equipment in North America. It can act as an agent to sell various types of machinery and equipment on the approved sales list. Their only requirement is
The business is agricultural machinery.
There is also Meilai Machinery Trading Company, which is responsible for selling port facilities and other infrastructure and public service equipment.
These two companies can be regarded as standard policy products, and they were officially established for the purpose of restricting the sales of machinery and equipment in North America.
In the conference room of the Americas headquarters of Yonglai Machinery Trading Company, a group of people in professional attire were frowning. One of the young people said:
"There are already orders for 2,000 steam tractors. According to our estimates, there will be orders for at least 10,000 steam tractors in the next year."