After more than six months of rush for construction, on the first day of February in the fifth year of the Chinese calendar, the entire Pingbao River Railway was opened. The total length of the railway is more than 300 miles, connecting most of the prefectures and counties in the three prefectures of Shuntian, Baoding, and Hejian. There are still many needs along the line. The district can be said to be a major artery connecting the north and the south.
Considering that the transportation volume was not very high at the beginning of the railway's opening, the railway only had a single track and could only run on a single line. Although there was only a single track, there were still some branch roads between the stations to allow trains to pass through. According to the operation schedule , there are two round-trip trains every day. If there is an emergency, an additional temporary special train can be run.
On the fifth day of February, Wan Lei led a group of military and political officials to board the first train bound for Hejian County and embarked on a more than ten-day "southern tour." Wan Lei and his party first went straight to Hejian County. On the way back, we will inspect every state and county along the way.
Different from Shuntian Prefecture, the people of Baoding Hejian Prefecture do not live together in one big city, but are scattered in various states and counties. Although Wan Lei intends to encourage people to live together, the population concentration is still relatively low. Yes, this causes management inconvenience.
According to the agreement a year ago, military control will end in the two prefectures of Hejian in Baoding this year and will be taken over by governments at all levels. During this handover period, it is inevitable that there will be no problems. Wan Lei will have to give up the leisurely life of his wife and children and go out. He inspected and solved problems immediately when he found them, because as soon as spring began, he would focus on the war in the north.
Traveling with Wan Lei, in addition to Liu Yunpeng, the deputy governor of Beiping Province, there were also Li Xinghan, the new prefect of Baoding Prefecture, and Zhang Ziwei, the new prefect of Hejian Prefecture. These people are young and powerful and can be regarded as political rookies. They represent the interests of all parties and are also elites who have received strict training. They know their responsibilities and authorities clearly, what they should do and what they should not do.
In fact, after a year of military control in the two prefectures of Baoding and Hejian, order has long been in order. The new leadership team only takes over the governance and ensures the normal transfer of power. At the same time, it must also vigorously develop economic and cultural undertakings and encourage people to develop. Production and hard work lead to wealth. After all, only when the people are rich can the country be strong. The more goods the people produce, the more commercial taxes the government can receive and the more troops it can support.
Different from the Ming Dynasty's taxation method, which was mainly based on land tax, population tax and corvee, the financial revenue of Beipingxing Province is mainly commercial tax, of which customs duties are the largest. Last year, it collected more than two million silver dollars, which was almost enough for military expenses. After spending, plus the commercial taxes collected at some checkpoints, it is almost enough to cover the fiscal expenditure.
In addition, some government-owned companies also pay dividends, and last year they had a surplus of millions of silver dollars. Of course, Wan Lei would not let this money go to the warehouse, and have invested it in various large-scale infrastructure construction, which can be regarded as A kind of government investment, which can bring more revenue to the government. With more revenue, there will be greater investment. This can be called a virtuous circle.
The Ming Dynasty was in dire straits. Due to years of war, not only the central government's finances were tight, but local taxes could not be paid in full. Especially the Susong area, which was a tax-rich area in the Ming Dynasty, had just experienced the "Pirates" rebellion. Nine out of ten rooms are empty, and the taxes cannot be collected in full.
Finances were tight, and the Ming court had no other solution. On the one hand, it could only default on military pay, and on the other hand, it could only allocate more taxes and grains to the localities. The places with the heaviest increases were Sichuan, Henan, Shandong, Fujian and Guangdong. These five provinces were affected The military disaster was not too serious, so of course the court could only ask for money from these places.
Facts have proved that collecting agricultural taxes directly from farmers is more difficult than collecting commercial taxes from businessmen, and it is easier to lose people's hearts. Farmers have worked hard for a year to get this small amount of food, and the government directly takes it. This is no different from using a knife to cut meat. .The merchant pays the business tax and raises the price of the goods later, and still makes a profit.
Of course, the wool comes from the sheep, and the tax burden will eventually be passed on to the common people, but commercial taxes are relatively hidden. However, commercial taxes are not collected as much as they want. In the background, the Ming Dynasty could not collect commercial taxes and could only use the most brutal methods to exploit the people.
Not only was the method of tax collection simple and crude, but the use of tax revenue in the Ming Dynasty was also inefficient. The Ming Dynasty did not have the concept of government investment. It received more than 40 million shi in grain taxes from the people every year, most of which was retained in local governments. At the expense of the local government, the amount escorted to Jinling will not exceed five million dan.
Of these millions of stones of grain, most of it was used for the salaries of the clan and imperial officials, and the rest was used for palace consumption. Whenever the palace had spare money, it either raised more internal officials or built more palaces. All of this was a waste. type of fiscal expenditure. As for infrastructure construction related to people's livelihood, such as building river embankments and auxiliary roads, they were also recruited from the people through corvee service.
The people of the Ming Dynasty naturally complained about the simple and crude taxation methods and heavy corvee. In the past, the people could only endure it, but now with the example of Peking Province in front of the people, they know where it is without comparing. Heaven is not hell, so many people try their best to "smuggle" to Bac Parallel Province.
For these common people who took the initiative to surrender, Wan Lei would not refuse anyone who came. He would even send elite loyal guards to the Ming Dynasty to recruit some high-level craftsmen. Once these technicians arrived in Peiping, they would directly enjoy preferential treatment. And those who had no skills Most of them were divided into various places, and each person was assigned at least dozens of acres of land.
With the large influx of people, a lot of wasteland in the two prefectures of Baoding and Hejian has been developed. Either wheat or cotton has been planted. Many mountains of demand have been mined one after another. Along the railway, there are many mountains of coal and iron demand, waiting to be transported by train. Return to Beiping City and enter the furnace to make iron and steel.
Looking at the prosperous scene along the railway line, Wan Lei was secretly happy. The bumps along the way were nothing to him. But among the people and officials who were traveling with him, there were still many people who couldn't take the train, and several people. Motion sickness and vomiting. Of course, this small problem can't stop the torrent rolling forward.
"Sir, due to the need to transport coal and iron to the north, the transportation capacity is tight. The trains going south basically cannot carry much cargo and passengers. Most of the carriages are empty. This may cause a waste of transportation capacity." Wan Lei is next to him, who is in charge of the railway. Director of Railway Operations Zhou Henglu said.
Zhou Henglu is Zhou Tianjie's nephew, and he is also a shrewd and capable man. The reason why Wan Lei asked him to take charge of railway operations was not only for Zhou Tianjie's sake, but also to better coordinate the army and the railway department. You must know that the daily maintenance of the railway is not As long as there are road workers, there must also be road guards to prevent enemies from damaging the railways.
Zhou Henglu has Zhou Tianjie's relationship, so he can easily get assistance from the military. It is not difficult to select some people from the army to serve as road guards. Moreover, Zhou Henglu also has a shrewd mind as a businessman. No, the train As soon as it was put into operation, he found out the existing problems of capacity imbalance.
"This is inevitable. Beiping City is the center of the North Parallel Province, and materials are mostly transported from the south. And the consumption power of Baoding and Hejian Prefectures is low, so there will definitely not be much goods going south. Let's let the assembly factory prepare more. There are dozens of carriages. When going south, ten more carriages are hung at the back of the train, and an extra locomotive is pulled behind. When going north, the train is divided into two trains, so that more coal and iron can be pulled in. .”
"Well, this is the only way." Zhou Henglu nodded. He knew that this was not the only solution. Because the locomotive's horsepower was limited, it could pull up to ten fully loaded carriages, which is a load capacity of about 400 tons. Going south. Add ten empty carriages and a locomotive, which will allow one more train to run north.
However, this would require customizing several more locomotives and dozens of carriages...
The bus departed at six in the morning and arrived at its destination - Hejian County at noon. It took six hours to cover the more than 300 miles. On average, the speed was about 30 kilometers per hour. This is because the train is basically empty. If it is fully loaded, it would be considered good if it can run 20 kilometers per hour.
This is also because this trip is the first train, so you don’t have to wait for the train to meet halfway. If you have to wait for the train to meet, I’m afraid it will be even slower. Therefore, two trains a day are already very compact, and there is also a gap between the passenger car and the truck. Reasonable coordination and scheduling can ensure the maximum transportation capacity.
Of course, this is just the beginning of operation. In the future, as the transport capacity increases, a second track will be added so that trains can run in both directions. In this way, several more special trains can be run every day.
When the train arrived, Wan Lei came out of the temporarily built station and received the warmest welcome. The square in front of the station was full of people, and everyone's face was full of excitement, not just because Wan Lei The arrival of the train is also because it is the first trial run of the train. When people see this big iron "centipede" that can travel thousands of miles in a day, they will inevitably be curious. Many people want to get on it and have a good experience.
Facing the noisy crowd, Wan Lei looked at the officials responsible for the reception and saw them shrugging their shoulders and expressing helplessness. He had no choice but to stand in front of the square and preached loudly: "Dear fellow villagers, the so-called benefit of the world lies in transportation. , If the roads are open, trade will be open, and if trade is connected to all nine states, the world will be rich..."
After the lecture, the people watching became even more excited. Under the escort of Jingzhong Guards, Wan Lei and his party finally squeezed out of the station and entered Hejian County by carriage. Compared with a year ago, Hejian County It has obviously become a lot more prosperous. There are many merchants and auxiliaries, and there are many business trips coming and going. It is prosperous.
"Mr. Wan, you are finally here. Come quickly, please come to the county office." The person who came to greet him was a division commander. He has been responsible for implementing military control in Hejian Prefecture for the past year. Now not only Wan Lei is here in person. The visit also brought the new governor of Hejian Prefecture and officials at all levels, and the transfer of power between the military and the government officially began.