Chapter 97 Uses of cement: land and water schemes and trackers
Peter said without hesitation: "Confirm!"
"Ding, confidentiality is successful, time limit is one month!"
After receiving the news confirmed by the system, Peter couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at Yinvanovich with a kind expression.
Yinvanovich looked confused. He didn't know why the pressure from His Majesty seemed to have dissipated a lot.
Although the secrecy was successful, the appearance still had to be done. Peter ordered Yinvanovich:
"Create a separate confidential department that will be responsible for cement. The number of people should be between ten and thirty. Don't use too much energy."
Yinvanovich was stunned for a moment and said in surprise:
"Your Majesty, with all due respect, it should be impossible for such a group of people to keep secrets."
Peter smiled and said:
"There's no need to keep it too secret. Our Lady just sent me a holy revelation, saying that the cement formula is exclusively for Russia, and no one else can steal it even if they want to."
When they heard Peter's words, the three of them were dumbfounded.
Vorontsov and Bestudev looked at each other. Why does the Holy Mother always send holy revelations to His Majesty?
Why didn't they?
Yinvanovich was even more confused.
But when His Majesty said so, he also breathed a sigh of relief.
In this way, if the confidentiality work is carried out as His Majesty said, if something happens in the future, his guilt will be much smaller.
The meeting ended quickly. Bestutev was responsible for external affairs, while Vorontsov was responsible for formulating a plan for the popularization of cement. Where to start, how much area to cover, and how much it would cost. After formulating the plan, the midfielder reported to Peter.
After the meeting, Peter was in a happy mood. He first went to say hello to his aunt, and then returned to the palace where he lived.
"Your Majesty, are you tired?"
As soon as he came back, he was greeted by Ekaterina's gentle smile. Peter thought about the absurdity of the previous period and couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.
Secretly, it was decided that it would be good to have Ekaterina, Karl and Vorontsova, and the other romantic debts could be as few as possible.
Just like the Peter Eyre that Bella gave him, it is obvious that Bella is a loyal reader of this book. What she hopes to see is a Peter in Peter Eyre. Peter believes that the Russian people probably think the same way.
After all, who wants an emperor who wanders around and abandons his pregnant queen?
Thinking about it, Peter put his arm around Yeka's waist and said:
"I'm not tired, but you are."
Ekaterina shook her head and smiled:
"Your Majesty, it is my happiness to be able to give birth to a child for Your Majesty. This is your favor to me. I feel that the child is growing up in my belly day by day, and I am very happy every day."
Peter even expressed emotion that Ekaterina deserves to be Ekaterina. Now that he is not suppressing her, she has shown the style of a queen.
In terms of virtuousness and affection for him, Ekaterina ranks first.
At night, the stars were shining brightly, and Peter and Catherine were lying on the bed.
This palace is no longer the original one. It was specially chosen because from the position of the bed, you can see the sky full of stars through the window.
When she saw a meteor falling, Ekaterina couldn't help but exclaimed and murmured:
"Your Majesty, you are so beautiful!"
Peter looked at Ekaterina's beautiful face under the moonlight and smiled:
"Baby, you are more beautiful than the stars, and your heart is enough to make me dispel any fatigue and haze."
Ekaterina looked at Peter dreamingly, and then the two hugged each other. At this time, the silence was louder than the sound, and it was warm and cozy.
Early the next morning, Peter started working.
The main content of his office is the application of cement.
Although Vorontsov was asked to come up with a plan, Peter hoped to combine his previous life's understanding with Russia's current situation to determine a more appropriate use method for this national weapon.
Before meeting with the officials one by one, Peter thought silently.
Now, whether in Russia or other countries, it can be said that before the mid-19th century, roads in places that were not particularly important were all dirt roads.
In the 18th century, river transportation was the main mode of transportation in Russia. The total length of the river was 100,000 versts, and one-third of it was navigable.
The reason why the circulation of goods and materials mainly relies on river transportation is that there is really no good road construction technology, or it is too expensive.
For example, Augustus transformed brick Rome into marble Rome, which could not be popularized at all.
Another reason is that land roads are not taken seriously by the state. The state does not allocate funds for the construction of dirt roads. It instructs local governments and private individuals to build roads, bridges, ferries and temporary roads without paying attention to the quality of construction. This leads to very poor quality of dirt roads.
And no one maintains it.
Even forcing local residents to build roads has little effect and is often just a show.
In this case, every spring or autumn, the roads are muddy and impassable, so the current land routes are mainly dependent on waterways, which are necessary links for transportation.
But there is a problem with this, that is, once the waterway freezes in winter, river transportation will come to a standstill.
But one-third of the total rivers in Russia are navigable, including Northern Dvina, Western Dvina, Neva, Volkhov, Dnieper, Transnistria, Don, Volga and their tributaries, and the great rivers of Siberia
From north to south, while the route connecting Europe and Russia to Siberia was from west to east, Peter could not give up the advantage of water transportation.
Then we can improve the land roads leading to these water transportation nodes and replace all these dirt roads with cement roads.
But this only ensures the smooth flow of goods during river transportation.
When it freezes, you have to use the land route. For example, the Volga River thaws from late March to early April and freezes from late October to early November. Sometimes the Volga River's navigation period starts in mid-April.
The Volga River freezes for an average of 160 days a year.
The Volga River is the largest river in Europe and Russia, with nearly 40 navigable tributaries, ranging from its source to Rybinsk in the upper reaches and from Rybinsk to the Caspian Sea in the lower reaches.
This impact is too great, seriously affecting the transportation and trade of materials.
Therefore, during the freezing period, it is necessary to build a large land route that is wide enough to transport grain, salt, iron, pig iron, iron products, linen, sailing cloth and leather enterprise products, agricultural products, industrial raw materials and building materials.
There may not be many such land routes, but they must be large and durable.
And he was ready to collect tolls.
But thinking of Caspian, Peter frowned.
There is still no connection from the Volga River to the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea is the largest lake in the world, nearly five times larger than the second largest lake in the world, Lake Superior in North America.
Moreover, the Caspian Sea contains super rich oil and gas resources. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was not only Russia, but also the oil exploration center of the world. Considering the strategic deployment of steam locomotives, he must win.
Then Peter thought of the tracker again and couldn't help but sigh.
If you don't answer the question, you won't know. If you answer it, you will be shocked.
Nowadays, ships basically rely on manual labor to move ships. Trackers are the main labor force in shipping. Now they can take advantage of wind and current. Even the emergence of horse-drawn flat-bottomed cargo ships at the end of the 18th century could not crowd out trackers in river transportation.
The huge number of trackers in this period has reached 100,000. By the beginning of the 19th century, there were 600,000 trackers on all rivers in the country.
Later, with the use of horse-drawn cargo ships, winches, and steam-pulled tugs, the number of trackers decreased.
But what makes Peter feel lucky is that the living conditions of trackers are very poor now, the pay is low, the labor is extremely heavy, and there are only 100,000 people, so he can still control his digestion.
Even if concrete roads appear or steamships appear, as long as the growth of trackers is controlled, this profession will eventually be eliminated naturally and it will not cause disaster.