Chapter 563: Traffic problems

Shang Wen believes that the construction of the navy still lacks a solid foundation. This foundation is the overall economic development of the South, and this economy will be closely integrated with Chu State. Then, through the Yangtze River, the final civil navigation foundation needed by the navy is completed.

However, the development of the south is not easy said. A Qinling Mountains separates Guanzhong from Bashu. It is this insurmountable mountain that separates the development between the two places. Great geographical isolation will directly lead to great difficulties in economic development.

Traffic has become a big problem for this southern development.

Shangwen convened a small internal cabinet meeting for this purpose. The number of people in this meeting is only the temporary establishment of the transportation department. With the increasing diversification of Qin State's transportation tools, the establishment of such a department is already in great need.

According to incomplete statistics, it is conservatively estimated that there are as many as 100,000 horse-drawn carriages in Qin Guoguan alone. If railway traffic is added, there are already about a hundred locomotives. This number is increasing very fast, because the demand is very strong, the role of trains has begun to show. The number of train skins has exceeded one thousand. People have become accustomed to the existence of trains, especially after the telegraph line was erected. The number of train departures has exceeded ten times the sum of all previous time periods.

Except that the Southern Railway has not been built, Qin has already laid three major traffic arteries. Among them, the eastward can directly reach Xinzheng in South Korea. As long as Qin is willing, he can take the train to occupy South Korea.

It's not just land transportation. There is also air traffic. Yingyu established its first air transportation company, and the first air route has been opened. The direct airship flight from Xianyang to Taiyuan attracted everyone's attention. The airship adopts a rigid airship. It can take fifty passengers and more than two hundred shi of cargo. After the establishment of the first air transportation company, the royal air transportation company established by King Qin opened up multiple routes. Eastern route from Xianyang to Hanguguan, Luoyang, Xinzheng. Western route from Xianyang to Longxi. It has a direct route to the north. The riders are mainly old aristocrats, senior businessmen, wealthy businessmen, etc. on sightseeing tours.

In addition, there are river transportation temporarily suspended due to freezing. Therefore, it is very necessary to set up a transportation department.

Moreover, the transportation department has not finished the work at hand, because the number of carriages in various regions has not yet been counted, not only carriages, but also horses, and they also plan to consider bicycles to be counted. Shang Wen vetoed it. He thinks the transportation department is a little crazy. If statistics are needed, he can set up a statistics department. Instead of setting up a separate transportation department.

The meeting was held in a small room.

"First of all, our topic this time is southern development. I know this topic is a bit big. But the navy has established their naval base in the south. They really need us to support them in agriculture, industry, and commerce. Otherwise, It will be difficult for them to take root there." Shang Wen said.

"Our country has owned Bashu for a long time. And Bashu's granary has always been the last savings of our country. Therefore, Bashu is very important to us."

"But the Yangtze River is also very important. With China's targeted trade development, our trade volume with Chu is the largest. According to recent statistics, we probably earned half a million gold from the royal family of Chu. Orders. There are countless private trades. We export glass, arms, mirrors, clothing, leather shoes, and flour, etc. In addition, everyone knows that almost all the gold is in our country, Qin, so we import from Chu country. A lot of silk, duck down, wood, rhino horn, medicinal materials, and the most important thing is that sugarcane is what we call "Zhe". It is our most important sugar raw material. If there is no sugar cane, then the milk we drink will not be sweet. Our various breads will lose sugar. This is disastrous for us."

"So, the development of the South, especially the Yangtze River region, is very important for us in the future."

"But the biggest problem is transportation. Our funds in Guanzhong can't cross the high mountains to reach the south. Southern commodities are produced to reach Guanzhong. So the first step in developing the south is to solve the traffic problem." Shang Wen clearly stated on the map. The location of the Qinling Mountains is marked, and it is this mountain range. Qin cannot communicate with the land of Bashu geographically.

"My opinion is that we can bypass this mountain range and build a railway going south. From Luoyang directly south to our naval base in Daqin. Not only railways, but also highways and road networks can be built to improve, from here to here. , But it's almost flat." Meng Yi said first, his view is simple, that is, to bypass this mountain range. In fact, on the construction of the highway to Bashu, Qin encountered engineering problems that were harder than he could imagine. Although there are explosives, the overall trend of the mountain is actually where Huashan is located. The difficulty of the project has caused a large number of engineers to postpone the construction period by as much as one year. Even if a large number of slaves are sent south to participate in the project, I am afraid it will be difficult to carry on the project. The reason for the postponement is that the highway needs to be kept in a straight line. In the north, Qin can use slaves to fill the entire gully. Because the geological materials are different. But here, there is also abnormally hard granite, which is quite difficult for the engineering difficulty. In order to ensure the straight line of the road, different tunnels need to be excavated. These tunnels suddenly raise the difficulty of the project to a height. Of the ten slaves who came here, six remained there forever. The number of deaths is very high.

It is for this reason that Meng Yi believes that the quick solution is to bypass Qinling. Otherwise, there is no way for the South to develop so quickly. Especially industry. It is difficult without good transportation. It's difficult.

The Minister of Transportation also agreed to this plan for a simple reason. Everyone understands the difficulty of Qinling's engineering. It can be said that if it were not for the use of slaves, building a highway in Qinling would be no less than the manpower, material and financial resources that Qin said when building Zheng Guoqu.

Shang Wen agreed. But there is another question, that is, does the Qinling project continue? The answer is that it is in strategic security considerations. The traffic in Qinling must be repaired. And no matter how difficult it is, it must be repaired to the end. Meng Yi was talking about outside traffic. And Qinling is the internal traffic. Internal traffic is very important for Qin Guoguanzhong to directly control Bashu geographically. Now that the country is developing rapidly, the development of the southern Qinling Mountains requires high-speed access, and if necessary, trains must be connected.