Chapter 239 Takeoff 1
Early the next morning, Zhang Menghuan packed up his bags and waited for Sheng Xuanhuai to leave together. Sheng Xuanhuai came to Zhang Menghuan's residence and made a lofty posture of willing to dedicate his youth to Taiwan, indicating that he would not go back.
Zhang Menghuan thought that Sheng Xuanhuai hadn't woken up from last night's wine, so he hurriedly brought Sheng Xuanhuai a hot towel. Sheng Xuanhuai pushed away Zhang Menghuan's hot towel, held Zhang Menghuan's hand in both hands, and vowed earnestly that his wine had already woken up. After a night of fierce ideological struggle, he made peace. The most important decision. Sheng Xuanhuai asked Zhang Menghuan to go back and tell the Empress Dowager and the emperor that he would open up frontiers for the Qing Dynasty, do his best for Taiwan's economic construction, and build Taiwan into the Great Wall of the Qing Dynasty!
Zhang Menghuan confirmed that Sheng Xuanhuai was not drunk, but he still thought that Sheng Xuanhuai took the wrong medicine. It was not until Zhou Charter led Taiwan officials and gentry to see him off that Zhang Menghuan realized that Sheng Xuanhuai really would not leave - he stood with Zhou Charter, stood in the send-off team and waved goodbye to him.
Zhang Menghuan is suspicious of sinuses. Sheng Xuanhuai has a great career in the mainland and is also the favorite minister of the imperial court. Why did he willingly stay in such a wild place in Taiwan overnight and carry shoes for Zhou Charter? Could it be that he was tampered with in the wine when he drank flower wine last night?
Of course, this is impossible. The only possibility is that Zhou Charter must have reached some secret deal with Sheng Xuanhuai last night!
But in any case, Sheng Xuanhuai's matter has nothing to do with Zhang Menghuan. Zhang Menghuan's trip to Taiwan has gained a lot and has long been famous. Now that he has retreated, Zhang Menghuan is too lazy to make trouble and explore any secret transactions. Zhang Menghuan knows that Zhou Charter is not easy to mess with. Why do you mess with him if you have nothing to do?
Zhou Charter sent people to blow up all the way and send Zhang Menghuan to Keelung Port, and Zhang Menghuan boarded the ship back to Beijing to return to the court.
Then, Zhou Charter's request for the court to appoint Sheng Xuanhuai as the Minister of Development of the Taiwan Dynasty also arrived in Beijing.
In his memorial, Zhou Charter elaborated on the importance of the geographical location of Taiwan and North Korea. Taiwan is located on the southeast coast of China and is an important barrier off the Chinese sea, while North Korea is located in northeast China and is an important gateway to Manchuria. The Qing Dynasty, which held two regions, could greatly curb the threat from the sea. In the 19th century, almost all the major threats of the Qing Dynasty came to the sea. The recommendations of the Zhou Charter hit the current malpractices and hit the heart of the imperial court.
In order to build Taiwan and North Korea into the frontier fortress of the Qing Dynasty, military occupation is important, but more important is to carry out comprehensive development and construction of these two areas, so as to firmly control these two areas. In the past, the Qing Dynasty's policy towards Taiwan and North Korea was left alone. The imperial court was unwilling to invest too much manpower and material resources in these two areas. In the eyes of the imperial court, Taiwan and North Korea were not worth developing. Now it is different. With the rise of modern industry, these two places already have a considerable resource base. If the Qing Dynasty is not developed, the Western powers will intervene, and once the forces of the Western powers enter these two regions, they will turn this place into a bridgehead for their attack on China!
Zhou Charter's arguments are sufficient, and the court has to admit that Zhou Charter's views are correct. However, the court is unwilling to be that these two regions are all under the control of Zhou Charter, and they need to be invested in the development of Taiwan and North Korea, and these investments are actually in the pocket of Zhou Charter. That's equivalent to the court taking money to finance its own enemies!
Therefore, when the court saw that Zhou Charter did not ask for money from the court, but only wanted a person - Sheng Xuanhuai, the court was greatly relieved. Give a reply immediately. Everything should be done in accordance with the requirements of Zhou Charter - appoint Sheng Xuanhuai as the Minister of Development of Taiwan and resides in Taiwan. At the same time, Sheng Xuanhuai is still also the Minister of Post and is responsible for the postal industry throughout the country.
Now, Zhou Charter's ambitious plan to develop Taiwan and North Korea is finally ready.
I got 300 million silver compensation from the Japanese, which is the start-up capital for the development of the two places. Taiwan has always been short of labor, which is a guarantee of human resources. According to the agreement, the Japanese sent 2,000 skilled workers and experts to Taiwan and provided technology, which is a technical guarantee. Sheng Xuanhuai is the chief designer and manager of the development of the two places, and carries out the overall planning and management of the industrial layout of the two places, which is the management guarantee.
Sheng Xuanhuai was forced to stay in Taiwan by Zhou Charter, but this person can really abide by professional ethics. Since he became the Minister of Development of Taiwan and North Korea, he wholeheartedly helped Zhou Charter to plan Taiwan's industrial and mining enterprises.
Sheng Xuanhuai can make great achievements in industrial development, not only because he has a modern industrial mind, but also because he is originally his excitement to engage in industry. This person is born to live for industry. Taiwan's living conditions are far worse than that of the mainland, but when Sheng Xuanhuai saw Taiwan's rich mineral deposits and four sea routes, he immediately realized that this is a treasure place for the development of modern industry! Sheng Xuan was excited and got into it, and it was hard to extricate himself.
Coal, steel, railway, and ocean shipping are the four carriages of the industrial system in the 19th century. Coal is energy, steel is raw materials, railways are the transportation link between energy and raw materials, and maritime transportation can transport products around the world and then return raw materials from all over the world.
Taiwan and North Korea have both these four carriages!
Northern Taiwan has always been rich in coal. When Liu Mingchuan was in power, he once opened a coal mine, but because of poor management and the lack of modern machinery and equipment, the operation of the coal mine has not been good, and the output is extremely low, but he has lost a lot of money. However, coal mines in northern Taiwan, especially in Keelung, have begun to take shape. Now, production can be expanded by introducing modern equipment and management on the basis of these coal mines.
North Korea is particularly rich in coal resources, with huge reserves of anthracite on the east coast and bituminous coal on the west coast. Relying on French investment, Park Yonglie has built three modern coal mines in the hot spring area, producing up to 5,000 tons of coal per day.
Therefore, in accordance with the principle of energy first, easy before difficult, Sheng Xuanhua first planned ten large coal mines in northern Taiwan and North Korea, using the silver provided by the Japanese, purchased a large number of modern coal mining equipment from the West and Japan to transform the original coal mines, and build new coal mines.
In the next two years, the coal industry in Taiwan and North Korea developed rapidly and its output increased sharply. Coal burning in the two places can not only fully supply local industry, civilian and military, but also exported to Japan, Russia and Southeast Asia. At the same time, providing coal for passing ships alone has earned hundreds of millions of cash income for the two places. At the same time, coal mines have recruited a large number of coal miners, providing more than 100,000 jobs for the people of Taiwan and North Korea. The income of coal miners has surged, equivalent to a surge in the income of more than 100,000 households. In addition, the service industry around the rise of the coal industry has also brought huge income to the surrounding people. The living standards of the people in the two places have improved significantly.
After the coal industry began to take shape, Sheng Xuanhuai immediately began the construction of the steel industry. Steel is the backbone of the industrial system. Without steel, there is no manufacturing industry. Without manufacturing, industry can only be a low level of making money by selling raw materials for export. To develop steel, iron ore is needed. Taiwan's iron ore reserves are relatively poor. Although there are also sand iron ore, which can be used to make iron, but not steel. However, North Korea's iron ore reserves are indeed extremely rich. Maoshan iron ore located by the Yalu River is a super mine with 3 billion tons of iron ore reserves, which can be said to be inexhaustible!
Sheng Xuanhuai planned a steel factory in Maoshan, North Korea and Xigang, Taiwan, introduced Western steel technology, used Japanese technical workers, and officially started construction in the second half of 1896. Maoshan Iron and Steel Plant took local materials, while Xigang Steel Plant relied on iron ore from North Korea. A year later, the two steel plants were completed and put into operation, with an annual output of 1 million tons of steel. Subsequently, the output increased year by year. By the year of Wuxu, the steel production of the two places reached 3 million tons, which could not only fully meet the needs of the two places, but also exported to Japan and Southeast Asia, becoming another major source of foreign exchange between the two places.
With coal and steel, the next step is the railway. When Liu Mingchuan was in power, he planned an ambitious railway construction plan. According to Liu Mingchuan's plan, a longitudinal line across the whole island of Taiwan will be built, with Taipei as the hub, leading north to Keelung and south to Tainan. However, this huge plan, due to lack of funds and the indifference of the Qing court, took six years to build only 99 kilometers from Taipei to Hsinchu. This 99-kilometer railway has been converted into one million taels of silver.
With the full support of Zhou Charter, Sheng Xuanhuai restarted the plan and further extended the original plan to Westport, which is connected to the Westport Steel Plant, known as the longitudinal line. In August 1896, the longitudinal line broke ground. With a large amount of silver as the backing, the construction of the railway was extremely smooth. It took only two years to connect the whole line. The whole line of the longitudinal line cost 50 million taels of silver, which was originally a huge amount of money. However, Zhou Charter had a lot of money in his hand, and he not only controlled 300 million taels of silver. Japan's compensation, and there are hundreds of millions of coal and steel revenues every year, 50 million taels of silver, which is a piece of cake!
At the same time, the railway from Seoul to Pyongyang also broke ground and was completed and opened to traffic at the end of 1987. North Korea finally had its own railway. Those Koreans who have been walking on muddy paths all year round got on the windy train for the first time, full of novelty.
In the year of Wuxu, the railway chiefs of Taiwan and North Korea exceeded the sum of all railways in the Qing Dynasty! It has reached 800 kilometers, which is almost the same as the Japanese railway.