Chapter 216 Forty

After several years of transition, in 1898, in the 24th year of Guangxu, Hu Chuyuan's workload was significantly reduced a lot, and people were much more comfortable.

In the past two years, Zhongnanhai, Fuyou Street and Nanchang Street have become the main concentrations of the Prime Minister's Office, especially in the Nanhai area, which is already a major place in the capital. Emperor Guangxu occasionally went to the Qinzheng Hall in the South China Sea to discuss major events.

Hu Chuyuan and his family live in Ziguang Pavilion, and the second assistant Zhang Zhidong and Foreign Minister Zhang Baixi also live nearby.

Because Hu Chuyuan's identity is relatively special, the Ziguang Pavilion area has been rebuilt into a separate garden called the Capital Garden.

At this time, Yanjing was also completely different from a few years ago. The biggest change was that there were too many Manchu people evacuated, many of which were forced. Only the three lines of Prince Gong, Prince Chun and Prince Su were left behind and concentrated between the North Sea and Houhai.

Living quietly in the Capital Garden, Hu Chuyuan also became particularly quiet.

People say that if you stand at thirty, you will not be confused at forty.

He is now in this period of confusion. In addition to not being able to find a breakthrough in China's future, he can already grasp the trend of the continuous rise of the whole of China.

In the stimulus of huge investment, as of December 1897, the annual output of China's coal mines reached 40.84 million tons, and the total annual output of iron and steel reached 6.27 million tons, second only to the United States and Germany, which has surpassed the United Kingdom, which almost all depends on the rapid development of China's railway industry, and China's steelmaking Almost all enterprises are lucky to enjoy the driving effect brought by the development of domestic railways.

The total length of the railway reached 73,000 kilometers, surpassing France in one fell swoop, becoming one of the top five railways in the world.

China's railway industry is basically completed under the condition of its own introduction of technology production, especially in terms of basic profiles such as steel rails, which accounts for almost 95%. If we exclude some special circumstances before 1890, such as the construction process of Jinghan Railway, outsourcing in pursuit of speed. In addition to the Americans, since then, all contracts for domestic railway construction have been firmly in the hands of domestic businessmen.

Affected by this, China's development in machinery, steel, coal mines and other aspects is also very rapid. In the south of the Yangtze River and North China, trams have begun to appear, and the length of electrical railways is also steadily increasing.

Textile, steel, chemical industry, electrical, shipbuilding, machinery, metallurgy and porcelain are the fastest-growing industries in China, especially the textile industry. At present, it has firmly occupied the status of the world's number one textile exporter and the largest textile industry country. It is undeniable that China's textile miracle is largely based on two strange In the model, that is, the price advantage of low-end textiles generated by low labor costs and the advantages of high-end silk fabrics generated by raw silk monopoly.

Over the past ten years, China has been importing woolen textiles from the United States to meet the export demand of high-end textiles. However, with the development of Shandong animal husbandry and Northeast animal husbandry, China has also gradually introduced foreign sheep breeds and used great efforts to promote them.

Around the railway, woolen products from both places can be easily imported into emerging textile industry centers such as Qingdao and Tianjin, while Shanghai stubbornly uses imported woolen from the United States. This is because textiles exported to the United States and Australia will always face greater competition, while the domestic woolen processing industry is not yet It can be very delicate like the British.

In the traditional agricultural field, with the promotion of fertilizers and mechanical farming, as well as the improvement of animal husbandry and other technologies, and large-scale agricultural basic investment, China's total agricultural output value has increased by 14 times compared with 1878... About this figure, it actually exists. In terms of the problem of price index and foreign exchange cashing rate, but to be fair, the total grain production, especially grain production, has indeed increased by about 4.5 times. The ban in Northeast China is a reason. More importantly, it is indeed the effect of smoking ban in China. A large amount of land no longer grows opium, but instead of grain and cotton. This phenomenon is particularly obvious in Shandong and Hebei.

However, all these data can actually be ignored. What really deserves Hu Chuyuan's attention is the national average income and price index.

With the implementation of the Precious Metals Control Law and the Silver Yuan Coupon Law, China has gradually replaced the silver dollar with clear yuan, which makes the domestic money supply more abundant. In Shanghai, the average monthly income of workers has reached 32.7 yuan, which is equivalent to 75% of the average standard of the United States.

With this large increase, China's prices are also rising, but the growth rate is far less than the growth of income. The per capita share of grain has also increased fourfold, and the increase in the output of other cash crops is more obvious.

Secondly, another important data is the proportion of urbanization. According to the summary statistics of the Prime Minister's Office, by the end of 1897, the number of urban residents in China had increased from 34 million to 93 million, accounting for 24.5% of the total population.

This data means that the market capacity is surging, and the people have more funds for consumption, and to some extent they must consume, which is one of the reasons for the rapid development of the textile industry.

Take Ma'anshan County as an example. This is a new county built almost entirely on rich country capital and technology. It has a history of only 15 years from the beginning of investment to today, but now it has more than 700,000 residents.

The most core enterprise in the local area is Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Machinery Factory. Its annual total output of pig iron, cooked iron, steel and special steel is about 2.2 million tons, of which steel and special steel account for half, and directly employs 27,000 workers.

This data is roughly the same as that of the Carnegie Steel Plant in the United States. Around the mining site of this factory, there are 40,000 miners employed at the same time. The Ma'anshan Power Plant, which provides power for the factory, the workers who provide transportation services for the factory, and more than 60 downstream production knives, agricultural machinery, steel, chains, There are more than 100,000 workers in steel cables, hardware and other processing factories and mold factories in the upstream.

In Ma'anshan, there is also another giant state-owned enterprise - Ma'anshan General Factory of Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration, involving shipbuilding, firearms, steam engines, steam turbines, boilers and other factories.

In addition, there are cement factories and glass factories with comprehensive utilization of power plants, as well as textile factories and silk reeling factories to solve the marriage problems of local workers, chemical plants and fertilizer plants supporting coal mines and other ores.

In the aggregation effect of these two giant factories, Ma'anshan County has become an industrial town second only to Shanghai and Fuzhou in the six provinces of the south of the Yangtze River in just 15 years, with as many as 300,000 workers, and the rest of the population is generally accompanied.

Correspondingly, very similar cities are Newcastle and Pittsburgh, both of which are industrial cities that rely on the rapid rise of local minerals.

A similar situation is not the same in China, including Laiwu, Daye, Zibo, Anshan and Xuzhou, which are all rising in a rapid way. In Huzhou, the annual coal mining volume has also reached 3 million tons. In Yongchun, Dehua, Longyan, Quanzhou and other earlier Fuzhou cities, mining Mining is becoming the most important economic lifeline in the region. The annual mining volume of iron ore in Fujian Province has reached 3.5 million tons, supporting the development of the entire industrial system in Fuzhou.

In Fuzhou, the overall industrial economy is much larger than that of Ma'anshan, and it has a larger textile industry, tea industry and furniture industry.

From point to point, we can see the changes of the economy of the late Qing Dynasty at this qualitative level.

This change is also reflected in taxation.

In 1897, after the implementation of the new tax policy, the revenue of the Qing government surged, with a total of 492 million yuan, but the overexpenditure was as high as 370 million yuan. It mainly relied on the sale of official stocks to maintain the new growth of expenditure, while the main expenditure was concentrated on the investment in infrastructure, and the expenditure of national education expenditure was issued for the first time. Now, 34 million yuan was spent in that year to prepare for the construction of volunteer schools and schools in various places, and all official schools and schools adopt the compulsory education system.

In this year, the total amount of full-person maintenance, clan-preparation and internal affairs-pres-presition expenses suddenly dropped to 25.8 million yuan, the military expenditure of the navy was 62 million yuan, and the expenditure of the Eight Banners Battalion was almost disassembled. The total army military expenditure of the whole green camp, training and the new army was 74.2 million yuan.

At this stage, China's total military expenditure is generally maintained at the standard of previous years, but the expenditure of the navy has further increased, and the army's military expenditure has been reduced on the surface, but the efficiency has increased significantly.

With the gradual death of the old demons of the Xiang Army and the Huai Army, Hu Chuyuan also survived to the spring and built the Huguang Corps and the Jianghuai Corps. The original Xiang Army and the Huai Army were abolished one after another. After Mei Qizhao's death, the Jiangxi Army was further merged into the Jianghuai Corps.

The land battalion of the Fuzhou Marine Division, which is part of Ye Boyun, has gradually grown and expanded into the Fujian and Zhejiang Corps. In addition, the Qingxu Corps maintained by Zhang Zhidong's hands is collectively known as the Four New Army Corps.

The four major regiments began to adopt the division and brigade system, with a total of 17 main divisions and 5 reserve divisions, each of which was between 10,000 and 14,000. The number of artillery columns increased, and almost all of them were close to the strengthening of a regiment.

Hu Chuyuan is not in a hurry to expand, but has begun to form the Shaanxi-Ganning Corps, the Liangguang Corps, the Southwest Corps and the Northeast Corps.

Therefore, Hu Chuyuan can finally be more leisurely during this period... Although the rapid growth of the economic aggregate will inevitably cause price instability, lack of maintenance for the long-term development of the economy, and may have greater negative effects, but at present, Hu Chuyuan is not in a hurry to consider these problems.

Zizheng Garden, another spring is coming, the willows are blooming, and the garden is purple and red, and the blue waves are rippling.

Today, the Seniority Park welcomed a very special VIP. Queen Liliukalani and Princess Kaorani of the Kingdom of Hawaii came to visit. Yesterday, a state banquet ceremony was held in Yingtai.

Great powers always have the temperament of great powers. Unlike before, in recent years, the diplomatic ceremonies of the Qing Empire have begun to become more out of the system, fully demonstrating the momentum of a world power.

Sure enough, Queen Liliukalani and Princess Kaorani were frightened by yesterday's ceremony.

This morning, Hu Chuyuan was preparing to accompany his family for a simple two-day break, and the queen and princess couldn't wait to come to see him.

Anyway, he was an acquaintance. Hu Chuyuan did not prepare too tedious etiquette and simply entertained them for morning tea in the garden.

The beautiful scenery in the garden is beautiful, but it seems to be very inferior in front of Princess Kaorani's beauty.

Hu Chuyuan thought quietly, smiled faintly, and couldn't help but miss the scenery of Hawaii. Speaking of which, it was indeed the best place for him to spend his old age.

You can completely stay away from the world and avoid these political entanglements.

Business?

His business is large enough.

In the past two years, he has basically stopped developing in the scope and concentrated his funds on investing in heavy industry in China.

After drinking half a cup of Qimen black tea, Princess Kaorani praised with a smile, "Your Excellency, your tea will always be so good."

Hu Chuyuan said with a smile, "If your country is willing, I can ask Qihong Tea Company to provide you with special black tea for the court... In fact, I have always believed that this is also one of the best black tea in China."

Queen Liliukalani couldn't help praising: "China is really a huge empire, which makes me admire it. There are many kinds of such good tea. I'm so envious. So, Mr. Prime Minister, can we talk to you about a more important issue?

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and continued to taste Qi Hong in the cup.

Queen Liliukalani immediately said, "In fact, our country also hopes to carry out a larger-scale reform like your country to build our country more prosperous...!"

Before she finished speaking, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help frowning.

Queen Liliukalani continued: "The problem is that we lack funds and technical assistance... Over the years, with the support of your country, we have also established some navy and army, but in terms of overall strength, we may be far from protecting ourselves!"

With this, she seemed to be regretful.

Hu Chuyuan asked, "The investment scale of Chinese businessmen should be good. Before you arrived, I specially asked someone to check the figures, which was generally very good. It is really good to consider the resource situation and population of the Kingdom of Hawaii, as well as the size of its territory. The way for small countries to survive is not to expand their financial and military strength, but to maintain a policy of stable reading. Personally, I think that China's direct investment in the Kingdom of Hawaii will cause unnecessary trouble. I will give some support to the Chen family in Hawaii to help them invest better in Hawaii.

Queen Liliukalani couldn't help but be a little disappointed, but she could only thank her: "That's really very grateful!"

Hu Chuyuan smiled and didn't say anything.

After a while, Queen Liliukalani returned to her place of residence, while Princess Kaorani, as a friend of Hu Chuyuan, stayed alone and continued to chat with Hu Chuyuan about some changes in the Kingdom of Hawaii in the past few years.

Although the sparrow is small, it has all its internal organs.

In the past few years, the Kingdom of Hawaii has also gradually carried out more reforms, imitating Britain in the political framework and establishing several parties. What really occupies the main position is the Chinese-dominated Hawaiian United Party.

Due to the excessive strength of the United Party and its greatest influence on Hawaii, the political situation is relatively stable. There are officials in various departments, which is also quite effective in actual governance.

After the two talked, Hu Chuyuan understood Queen Liliukalani's real intention - to become a vassal state of the Qing Empire and obtain the protection of the Pacific Fleet of the Qing Dynasty.

After a little thought, Hu Chuyuan and Princess Kaorani said, "As the Prime Minister of the Empire, of course I welcome this, but for the Kingdom of Hawaii and you, this is definitely not the best choice."

Princess Kaorani couldn't help but be a little surprised and asked, "Why?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "In the long run, there is still a conflict of interest between China and the United States. You can't take this risk. You should try your best to maintain the reading of the Kingdom of Hawaii, increase international diplomatic activities, ensure the recognition of more major countries, and implement appropriate and loose governance policies at home. This is the future and the best way for the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Princess Kaorani was silent for a long time, and after a while, she smiled and said, "Thank you for reminding me. Now that I think of the visit a few years ago, it's really an eye-opener. In the world, more countries have known the existence of our small country."

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "With the protection of China and the United States, other countries will not dare to attack you easily. At the same time, they should also try to ensure that they neither completely defect to China nor to the United States. For Pearl Harbor, in the long run, it should be gradually turned into a sea that allows more countries. The military stays in the place of supplies and let the world share it. I think this will be a long-term path to peace.

Princess Kaorani continued to nod.

Hu Chuyuan does not want China to expand its territory, but that there are too many contradictions and conflicts in it. Even if it becomes the only suzerain country now, the relationship with the United States will no longer be as friendly as it is now.

Throughout the world, although China and Germany are natural allies, they cannot form a formal alliance, and the only remaining allies are the United States.

With the cooperation between China and the United States, the United States helps China maintain its hegemony in the Western Pacific, and the benefit of the United States is that its products have a wider Chinese market and can use China to enter China's vassal market.

Including North Korea, North Vietnam and the Philippines, these markets have also been open to the United States.

(to be continued)