Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 128: South of the Rainbow Clouds, the Giant Steel Ship! [Third update, please give me your monthly vote!]

"Today, if you look down at Yunnan from space, you'll see a ravine that looks like it was carved by a knife or an axe."

"It's so huge and striking, it seems to be splitting Yunnan in half. And its location is the 'Red River Fault'."

"Yunnan can be roughly divided into two parts along this fault..."

As the video continued, Zhu Yuanzhang soon realized that the geographical content of Yunnan described by the woman was as valuable to the Ming Dynasty as the three-dimensional topographic map!

As the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, even though he had some information about Yunnan Province seized from the Yuan court and even a map, the image of Yunnan in his mind was still vague.

As the video played, the image of Yunnan in his mind became more and more specific.

There are many peaks thousands of meters high, six rushing rivers, and the magnificent sight of three parallel rivers.

There are also natural wonders such as peak forests, stone forests, karst caves, cenotes, etc.; there are beautiful red soil plateaus, star-like valleys, and nine large lakes...
The video is only about ten minutes long.

Even though Zhu Yuanzhang called for "pause" several times and carefully observed the scenery, the video came to an end after more than a quarter of an hour.

"...From mountains to rivers, from animals to plants, from ethnic groups to industries, there is no other province in China like Yunnan that concentrates such diverse elements, gives birth to such a diverse culture, and nurtures such a colorful life!"

“And this is the South of Colorful Clouds, a creation of a great folding of time and space!”

When the video ended, the viewers were stunned for a long time.

After several breaths, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, "Yunnan is such a wonderful place. No wonder the Duan family has been hiding there for nearly four hundred years and is unwilling to leave."

"Although there are many barbarian tribes and their forces are diverse, there are mountain valleys suitable for farming, as well as large trees, medicinal herbs, various wild delicacies, and a large number of furs."

"Once the Ming Dynasty takes over Yunnan, we will surely be able to export a great deal of wealth to the Central Plains!"

After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Liu Kuan couldn't help it.

It’s not that I think Zhu Yuanzhang’s idea of ​​developing Yunnan was wrong - this was the end of the 14th century, not the 21st century when environmental protection is emphasized. To develop Yunnan, one must make the best use of its resources.

Zhu Yuanzhang's problem was that he didn't grasp the key points of development.

He immediately bowed and said, "Your Majesty, in fact, the most useful resource in Yunnan for the Ming Dynasty is copper."

"As far as I know, Yunnan is very rich in copper, tin and other minerals. Four hundred years later, 90% of the country's copper came from Yunnan."

"Therefore, if we vigorously mine copper and develop the copper smelting industry in Yunnan, it will not only strengthen the connection between Yunnan and the Central Plains, but also greatly alleviate the copper shortage in the Ming Dynasty."

"When the Ming navy is completed, we can sail eastward to Japan to exploit its silver and gold mines. Within one or two hundred years, the Ming will have no shortage of gold, silver, or copper."

"With so much time, the Ming Dynasty's great voyages of exploration must have already yielded success, opening up a reliable route to the American continent. By then, there would have been no shortage of gold, silver, and copper."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Ninety percent of the copper comes from Yunnan? How could there be that much?"

Liu Kuan said, "On the one hand, there are many copper mines in Yunnan, and on the other hand, the easily minable copper mines in China were almost exhausted at that time."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded at first, then asked in confusion, "Yunnan has so many copper mines, why did it take more than 400 years for them to be mined on a large scale? Could it be that our Ming Dynasty hasn't discovered those copper mines for nearly 300 years?"

The reason he asked this was because he knew in his heart that in history, more than four hundred years later it was the Qing Dynasty, not the Ming Dynasty.

So he didn't understand why these copper mines were cheap for the Qing Dynasty.

Liu Kuan thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it's because Yunnan was underdeveloped before, and the copper mines are too difficult to mine and difficult to transport out?"

"That makes some sense." Zhu Yuanzhang tugged at his graying beard and asked, "Yunnan is a vast territory, with many high mountains and deep valleys. Not only is mining and transporting ore, but even prospecting for it is extremely difficult. Do you remember the location of any large mines?"

Liu Kuan smiled bitterly. "Your Majesty, how could I possibly remember such specific information? I only know that the copper mines are most abundant in northern Yunnan, followed by western Yunnan, and then central Yunnan."

"By the way, the copper mines in Dongchuan and Zhaotong are the most concentrated and have the largest output."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Dongchuan should be the Dongchuan Road of Yunnan Province during the Yuan Dynasty, but where is Zhaotong?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "It's probably a name he changed later. I don't know what he's called now."

Zhu Yuanzhang was not disappointed when Liu Kuan said he didn't know. Instead, he concluded, "Since they are all in northern Yunnan, they must be not far from Dongchuan."

After saying that, Zhu Yuanzhang did not continue with this topic and signaled Liu Kuan to play the third video.

Before the video started playing, Liu Kuan gave his usual introduction.

"Your Majesty, this video tells the story of a future mega-project—the Ningbo-Zhoushan Seaport."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked: "What is a super project?"

Liu Kuan thought for a moment and said, "It's a large-scale fortification directly led by the top leaders of the country."

"The larger ones are similar to the Great Wall and the Straight Road during the Qin Dynasty, and the Grand Canal during the Sui Dynasty. Even the smaller ones are at least similar to the large-scale fortifications such as the capital and Zhongdu that Your Majesty built."

Zhu Yuanzhang was surprised. "You mean that future generations will spend the entire nation's resources to build a port?"

Liu Kuan smiled rather speechlessly and explained, "I just cited the Great Wall and the Grand Canal as examples purely because of their grand scale."

"In fact, the money spent on building this port only accounts for a tiny part of the country's annual fiscal revenue in later generations. Even before the construction is completed, part of the construction costs can be obtained from the private sector through the investment promotion model."

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately noticed the key words in Liu Kuan's words and asked, "What is investment attraction?"

Liu Kuan said, "Attracting investment is a policy used by later generations to develop and build a certain place. Let me give you an example."

"For example, the court wants to integrate the many small docks outside Jiangdong Gate and build a larger dock that is more orderly, safe, and more efficient."

"But the imperial court lacked sufficient funds and grain, so they announced the reconstruction of the area and came up with a reconstruction plan that would attract many wealthy gentry and merchants to purchase warehouses and shops there."

"If wealthy gentry or merchants believe they can make money, they can purchase a warehouse or shop from the government in advance, or buy land and build it themselves."

"If there are too many people interested in purchasing a particular piece of land, the court can also allow them to bid—that is, it will sell it to whoever offers the highest price."

"In this way, the court might not need to spend a penny, relying solely on funds raised from the wealthy and merchants to build a large wharf." Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it and asked in confusion, "It is indeed possible for the court to build a wharf without spending any money, but other than a more practical new wharf, what benefits can the court gain from it?"

"Old Zhu's economic awareness is really not good."

Liu Kuan sighed inwardly and could only patiently explain, "First of all, the land for the dock belongs to the imperial court. Is it possible that after selling all the land, not only will we have enough money to rebuild the dock, but we'll also have a considerable amount left over?"

"Secondly, while these wealthy gentry and merchants can certainly make money by doing business at the docks, it also makes the business in the dock area more prosperous, so the court can collect more commercial taxes."

“Finally, the new terminal will provide more jobs and give people more opportunities to make money.”

"If the people can earn money, just like getting a harvest from farming, it can provide their families with food and clothing, and even make their lives better day by day. Naturally, they can live in peace and stability without chaos. Wouldn't that mean the country is peaceful?"

After hearing this, Lao Zhu finally showed a look of enlightenment.

Then he exclaimed in admiration: "This policy is indeed a good one to improve the livelihood of the people in the area. The wisdom of later generations is truly admirable!"

Zhu Biao was even more excited after hearing this and said, "Father, if we stick to this policy, we won't have to worry about money and food for the construction and fortification projects in many parts of the Ming Dynasty!"

"Indeed." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and smiled, then looked at Liu Kuan again, "You have a lot of useful things in your head. When you have time in the future, you should come to the palace more often to tell me about the future."

"Yes." Liu Kuan agreed obediently.

What I thought in my heart was: Serving the king is like serving a tiger, so I don’t come here often.

Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the tablet and said with great interest, "Play it! We want to see just how big this seaport, worthy of being called a super project, is."

Liu Kuan clicked on the video.

The first frame shows a red ore ship floating on the screen.

Because there was no comparison object at the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang and others were only surprised that the ship seemed to be made of iron and had no sails, which was very similar to the steamship described by Liu Kuan before.

But as the picture stretched towards the sky and then turned to a white "boat" not far away and a woman on the boat, everyone looked shocked.

Some younger princes and princesses were even stunned.

The woman's proportion to the white "boat" is like that of a cicada to a human, while the white "boat" is like that of a cat to a human to the red boat.

When the Zhu family was shocked by the size of the two ships, the woman began to introduce them.

"This is the world's largest iron ore carrier. It is fully loaded with 40 tons of iron ore, enough to produce enough steel to build six Bird's Nest buildings."

Then the scene turned to daytime, and there was another super large ship with a red background and blue edges.

"This is the largest crude oil tanker currently operating in the world..."

When three large ships loaded with ore, crude oil and containers appeared one after another in the woman's introduction and were finally in the same frame, the camera zoomed up and a huge port built on the island came into everyone's sight.

"This is the port with the largest cargo throughput in the world, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in Zhejiang!"

With the woman's words, the video entered the "main feature".

And then, the Zhu family stared in surprise almost the entire time.

The children even kept their mouths open and forgot to close them.

Obviously, compared with the magnificent starry sky and nebula in the first video and the magnificent mountains and rivers in the second video, the various man-made creations in the third video brought them another kind of shock.

This shock even exceeded the previous two.

Because no matter how magnificent the first two are, they are creations of nature.

But everything in the third video is just like the cross-river bridge, a man-made creation!

Such a huge steel ship, such a large dock port, and a crane as tall as a mountain, can humans really build them?

They can't believe it.

But I have to believe it!

After watching for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang came to his senses.

He had heard Liu Kuan say that the cost of port construction in later countries was extremely small, so he thought that it was just a little bigger than an ordinary port and was nothing special. In terms of the scale of the fortifications, it was still not as large as Zhongdu Fengyang.

But now he felt that even if it was just one of the giant steel ships, it might take the Ming Dynasty more time and money than Fengyang Zhongdu to build it.

But he also felt that even building the shell of a giant ship might not be possible.

Take the giant ship carrying 40 tons of crude oil as an example - Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know what crude oil was, nor did he know what 40 tons represented, but he understood the last sentence.

The submerged part of this giant boat alone is twenty meters high!

He had already learned about the meter, a later unit of length, from some drawings that Liu Kuan had submitted before, and knew that three meters was approximately one zhang.

In other words, the underwater part of this giant boat is nearly seven feet high!
How high is seven zhang?

The Fengtian Hall, the tallest building in his imperial city, is only eleven feet high from the ground to the roof.

It can be imagined that this giant ship of later generations, including the water surface part, even ignoring the high tower on it, may be as tall as the Fengtian Hall.

If a god were to move this giant boat to the imperial city, its entirety would certainly be several feet taller than the Fengtian Palace!
After weighing these data in his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang vaguely understood what Liu Kuan's future national super project represented.

　Third update.

　　(Today is another 10,000-word update)
　　I feel like I can't take it anymore after finishing this chapter.

　　It’s almost tomorrow, October 10st, and I’m begging all my readers and friends for a monthly vote!
　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)