Chapter 1282 Changhua County
Liu Shang continued to fall asleep after lunch. When he woke up, it was already afternoon. He stood up and walked to the porthole to look out. He could vaguely see the shadow of the land. Judging from today's route, it should be Hainan. The west coast of the island. However, the ship is still several miles away from the coastline at this time, and it seems that it will not dock for a while.
Liu Shang didn't have much experience in sailing, so he couldn't rely on natural reference objects such as the sun and ocean currents and wind directions to judge his position on the sea. He immediately asked other people and learned that he was still about half a mile away from his destination. The voyage of time.
Liu Shang said casually: "I hope today will not be like the day before yesterday, blocked outside the port and unable to enter."
Someone next to him responded: "That's hard to say. Changhua Port is also famous for congestion. There are many small boats in the port, and they might be blocked outside. You can see black smoke rising from the shore in the distance. It’s Changhua County.”
Sure enough, when the ship they took arrived at Changhua Port, they found that the situation here was exactly the same as when they entered Yinggehai Port the day before yesterday. A large number of cargo ships were parked outside the port waiting for passage. However, these ships were not loaded with white salt, but with black coal. And the plumes of black smoke rising in the sky not far away are all highlighting the uniqueness of this place.
A few years ago, Changhua was just a small county with a small population on the west coast of Qiongzhou Island in the Ming Dynasty. Even within the scope of this island, it had no reputation. But now it is known as the City of Steel in Haihan. In just a few years The magnitude of the changes is staggering. However, Liu Shang did not know the past history of Changhua. He only knew that the Haihan people discovered an iron mine somewhere inland here, and then established a large-scale smelting workshop in Changhua. Now it is the main steel industry in Haihan. Origin. The cargo loaded on these cargo ships waiting to enter the port at the seaside is fuel shipped from Annan Black Earth Port for the local smelting industry.
Changhua Port was originally just a small fishing village port at the mouth of the Changjiang River. Its location was just within the mouth of the river, and the width of the channel entering and leaving the port was almost the same as that of Yinggehai. Although several cargo terminals have been expanded on the bank of the Changjiang River in the past two years, due to the serious sedimentation conditions at the estuary of the Changjiang River, ships with deeper drafts still need to be careful when entering and leaving Changhua Port. Therefore, the local The port's navigation capacity is still far inferior to large ports with deep water and wide ports such as Victory Port, Sanya Port and Danzhou Port.
With Haihan's current engineering capabilities, it is still beyond its capabilities to complete projects such as dredging river estuary channels. Therefore, although the construction scale and supporting facilities of Changhua Port have been unable to keep up with actual demand, at this stage it is still only I can make do with it for now. However, the Ministry of Construction has currently included the expansion of Changhua Port on its agenda, but the specific implementation time and construction scale have yet to be decided upon by the Executive Committee after discussion.
Liu Shang looked at the cargo ships loaded with coal on the shore, and secretly admired Haihan's generosity. He actually established a transnational shipping route specifically for this purpose to provide coal for the smelting industry here. I think the Annan Kingdom across the sea could bear it. Haihan just took over a large coal mine, and it could still pretend that nothing happened and continue to be on good terms with Haihan for so many years.
But Liu Shang then thought about it, and the local governments in the southeastern part of the Ming Dynasty were not like this. Qiongzhou Island had been separatist by Haihan armed forces for several years. How could the officials of Guangdong and Guangxi have ever tried to take back the sovereignty here? In the end, it all comes down to who has the biggest fist. The armed forces that are confronting Haihan have basically suffered more or less. After seeing Haihan's terrifying military strength, it is indeed difficult for people to resist again.
What Liu Shang doesn't know is that Haihan's overseas mining operations have long been carried out in more than just Heitu Port. The Miaoli Chusangkeng Oil Field in Taiwan Island, the Jinguashi Gold Mine in Jilong Port, the Fushan Copper Mine in Dengzhou, Shandong, and the Nanhai A large number of overseas mines are currently mining the tin mines in Bangka-Belitung Island. After rough processing is completed locally, the tin mines are then transported back to Hainan for refining and purification. Most of the coal transported back to Changhua from Heitu Port will be made into coke locally and then used for smelting.
Although this overseas mining model is relatively inefficient and highly dependent on maritime transportation capacity, it is the only way for Haihan to develop. Hainan Island has certain geographical advantages in the early stages of crossing, but one obvious disadvantage is that the types of mineral resources are relatively limited. Local production alone cannot meet the needs of the Executive Committee for the development of industrialization. This kind of seizing overseas minerals for development The method is a more practical method for Haihan.
As for the resulting demand for shipping capacity, the Executive Committee believes that it is a double-edged sword. While these mineral routes occupy a large amount of maritime shipping capacity, they also have a huge stimulating effect on Haihan's shipbuilding and shipping industries. Last year, almost half of the 200-ton or above cargo ships launched by various shipyards were assigned to serve as transportation vehicles on these mineral routes. An energy export port like Heitu Port, which provides most of the coal for the entire Haihan Kingdom, is equipped with a fleet of four heavy-duty cargo ships that continuously transport back and forth between Heitu Port and Hainan Island. Now what Liu Shang sees The coal cargo ship that arrived was one of them.
The congestion situation this time seemed to be more serious than that in Yinggehai the day before yesterday. When dusk fell, there was still no sign of the fleet photographed in front of them moving. Although Yu Xiaobao had a special status, he could not directly use his privileges, so he asked Zhang Qianzhi to come forward and launch a small boat into the water. Several sailors rowed the small boat into the harbor to see if there was any accommodation.
It wasn't until the lanterns were lit on the boat that Zhang Qianzhi finally returned, followed by several other small boats. After Zhang Qianzhi returned to the ship, he informed everyone that the coal ship docking in front of the port had not finished unloading its cargo, and there were currently no vacant berths in the port. The only option was to park the large ship on the coast and then land in the port in a small boat. If you want to wait for the big ship to enter the port, you have to wait at least until dawn tomorrow morning.
When everyone heard this, they had no choice but to do so. They immediately returned to the cabin to get their belongings, then got down from the gangway to the small boat, and slowly headed towards the estuary.
By the time we arrived at the harbor, it was almost dark. Under the guidance of the lights of the staff on shore, the small boat everyone was riding in docked at a corner of the pier. After Liu Shang came ashore, he found that the soft ground under his feet did not seem to be stone. When he looked through the light of the lantern next to him, he discovered that the ground was actually made of coal. Looking to the side, I saw a mountain of coal piles on the dock, stretching to the end of the field of vision. I don't know how many millions of kilograms there are. Only then did Liu Shang realize that the place where they landed was a cargo dock used to unload coal. Liu Shang had no idea how many ships it would take to transport so much coal to this place, and how much it was worth. Anyway, in the past thirty years of his life, the coal he had seen all together was not as much as here. The coal terminal here can be said to be a symbol of Haihan's national power. For Liu Shang, the visual and psychological impact is really great.
Liu Shang followed the team in front and walked in twists and turns among the coal piles for a long time before finally arriving at the town outside the port. The towns here are obviously not as lively as Yacheng and Yinggehai that I have been to before. There are almost no pedestrians on the streets at this time, and there are not many street-side shops that are still open.
This scene is also related to the local social environment. Since the main industries in Changhua County are mining and smelting, and the products are basically digested by Haihan's industrial system, there is not a large floating population here, and the main activity areas are Concentrated near the port. As for foreign merchants, there are even fewer. Most of the goods coming in and out here are operated by the government, and there is not much cash flow. Naturally, the market is not as prosperous as the trading port. In addition, the air here is very heavy with coal ash, and many people do not like to come to Changhua to trade or settle down, so there are not even many business houses in the local area.
The commercial area was replaced by a huge smelting workshop and a residential area for steel workers. In terms of industrialization level, this area is second only to Sanya Tiandu Industrial Zone in the Haihan territory. The proportion of workers specializing in industrial manufacturing is also the highest in the country. . To exaggerate a bit, Changhua County can be said to have entered a quasi-industrial society.
Although the county town located next to Changhua Port is not prosperous, it has been developed and constructed for several years, and the facilities and institutions are complete. After everyone came to the government-run guest house, Liu Shang found that the living conditions here were not as good as The difference is that there are only two-person and four-person rooms available due to the special local social environment. However, Liu Shang didn't care about these details. After having dinner with everyone in the guest house, he returned to the room on the third floor to rest.
But Liu Shang slept on the boat all day, but he didn't feel sleepy at night. After his companions went to bed, he still couldn't fall asleep. He only felt hot and humid all over, so he simply got up and went to the terrace, intending to enjoy the sea breeze before going into the house to sleep. But when he came to the terrace, he unexpectedly discovered that there were many places in the distance that were faintly glowing with red light, which was very obvious in the night. Liu Shang looked around for a while before he came back to his senses. Since this place is famous for smelting steel, there must be furnaces of various sizes. The red lights in the distance should be those furnaces that never go out day and night.
Liu Shang looked into the distance and thought that based on the amount of steel needed to build railways and steam engines in Haihan, the steel output here must be very amazing, but he didn't know whether it was higher or lower than Foshan, Guangdong, known as the "Iron Capital of the South".
Foshan's two pillar industries, pottery and iron smelting, both have a long history. Ironware has been exported overseas since the Song Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, nearly 70% of the local people were engaged in the iron smelting industry, and Foshan has thus become the center of Guangdong. One of the business centers.
Liu Shang believes that there are tens of thousands of people engaged in the iron smelting industry in Foshan, and it is unlikely that Changhua County has such a large number of employees, and there may be a possibility of competition. But this understanding is also because he has no idea that Haihan's smelting method is more advanced than Ming's existing technology, and the scale of production is even different. If he knew something about Changhua's smelting industry, he would probably I won't compare the two together.
In fact, almost half of the workers living in Changhua and engaged in the smelting industry are from Foshan, Guangdong. This is naturally one of the achievements of the civil affairs department. Since the Shilu project was launched in 1629, Haihan has simultaneously recruited craftsmen proficient in smelting in Foshan. As the Shilu-Changhua coal-iron composite system gradually took shape, the number of immigrants from Foshan's smelting craftsmen also increased year by year. Haihan's great efforts to introduce skilled workers were not in vain. The arrival of these craftsmen indeed provided a great boost to Changhua's smelting industry. Almost all the furnace heads in charge of the production of each blast furnace were years to decades old. Old craftsmen with varying experience. Of course, the labor remuneration they received from Haihan after immigrating was naturally much higher than their previous income level in Foshan.
Changhua County's steel output exceeded the total steel output of Guangdong, including Foshan, as early as three years ago. Nowadays, the production cost of Changhua Steel is much lower than that of Foshan. However, the domestic demand for steel in Haihan is too large, so steel products are rarely exported. Otherwise, Foshan's smelting industry may be like the salt industry. It was completely beaten to pieces by Haihan's cheap industrial products.
Early the next morning, Qiao Zhiya, the chief official of Changhua County, also came to the guest house and met with Yu Xiaobao and his party.
Among the group of time-travelers who had the experience of joining the military, Qiao Zhiya was one of the few who switched jobs from the military to the administrative agencies. Among the North American gangs who were often entrusted with important tasks in the early days of time travel, Qiao Zhiya was originally considered a backbone and had a bright future in the military. However, except for Johnson, the surgeon who stayed in Sanya for family reasons, only Qiao Zhiya is still there. I am no longer engaged in work that is not directly related to the military. The other few people have achieved their own achievements. Wang Tom is now the commander of the navy, Roger is stationed at Xingdao on the South China Sea, Shi Diwen is guarding Zhenjiang and Zhoushan, and Morgan has gone to Dengzhou, Shandong, and they have all become generals in the army.
It's not that Qiao Zhiya doesn't have great ambitions, it's just that after working as a chief official in Changhua for several years, he seems to have gradually adapted to this relatively stable life, and he doesn't want to go out and work hard anymore. Now that he is married and has a family, with two concubines and a son and a daughter at home, he does not want to leave home to fight on a battlefield thousands of miles away.
For him personally, joining the army or politics will actually give him the opportunity to move to a higher place. Staying on Hainan Island as a local official has many benefits. In addition to the convenience of life, it is also easier to stay close to Sanya. maintain connections and information channels. What's more, the smelting industry in Changhua is an important condition for Haihan to enter an industrialized society. If he can achieve political success in this position, there is really no need to go overseas and suffer.
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