"What, blow up the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge!" He Haifeng looked at Lin Zhenhua, his eyes widened wider than the copper bell.

This has been more than a month after Lin Zhenhua and Xie Youshan's talks, and for more than a month, Lin Zhenhua has been busy chattering around all over the place, starting to solve the water transportation problem in Xunyang.

Industrial development is inseparable from the support of transportation, from the perspective of land conditions, Xunyang is not a convenient transportation area. The Beijing-Kowloon Railway, which runs through the north and south, will not be opened to traffic until a few years later, and at present, Xunyang can only connect the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway, the east-west artery of southern China, through a Nanxun Railway, and the capacity is quite limited. As for the highways, they are even more unreliable, the roads in China were of very low grade at that time, and they could not support massive transportation at all. What's more, the cost of road transportation is prohibitively high, and unless it is a high value-added product, the freight alone can completely wipe out your competitive advantage.

Lin Zhenhua chose to build Hanhua Heavy Industry in Xunyang, because Xunyang is close to the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River is a world-class golden waterway, with six times the volume of the Rhine. As early as a few decades ago, there was a saying that "one Yangtze River is equivalent to 17 Beijing-Guangzhou railways". Water transport is the lowest cost of all transportation, according to the comprehensive cost calculation, the cost of water transport on the Yangtze River is equivalent to 1/2 of the railway, equivalent to 1/6 of the road.

In addition, water transport also has an advantage over land transport, that is, the ability to transport extra-large and extra-heavy items. If you want to transport a 1,000-ton component by road or rail, the load-bearing capacity of vehicles, roads, bridges, etc., are all dead knots. But for water transport, 1,000 tons is just a breeze.

With the continuous expansion of the production scale of Hanhua Heavy Industries, Lin Zhenhua increasingly felt the convenience brought by the water transportation of the Yangtze River. Hanhua's main products are chemical machinery and equipment, and those large tanks weighing dozens of tons and with a diameter of more than ten meters or even tens of meters are transported by cargo ships on the Yangtze River, and then drifted across the ocean to reach destinations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Hanhua Home Furnishing Company's home appliances, bicycles and other products, as well as the refrigerators of Jiangshi Electric in the future, are also loaded into containers and shipped through the port of Xunyang.

Nowadays, in addition to Hanhua Heavy Industry, Xunyang is also vigorously developing export-oriented industries, aiming to build Xunyang into an export-oriented industrial base, which puts forward higher requirements for Xunyang's water transportation.

The leaders of Xunyang City, such as Hong Yu'an and Xie Youshan, are also economically minded and have a clear understanding of the Yangtze River water transportation problem. After discussing together, they came to a conclusion that other places are "if you want to get rich, you must first build roads", and for Xunyang and even the entire Jiangnan Province, if you want to develop the economy, you must vigorously develop the Yangtze River water transport, and extend it to the main river in the province, Zhangjiang, so that the economy of the central and northern parts of the province can be fully revitalized.

During this period of time, Lin Zhenhua and Xie Youshan partnered and were busy with two major events. First, the expansion plan of Xunyang Port was finalized, including the construction of a 5,000-ton container berth, and the space for the subsequent construction of new large-tonnage berths was reserved. Second, it signed a river-sea transshipment agreement with Shanghai Port at the mouth of the Yangtze River, whereby containers shipped from Xunyang Port will first arrive at Shanghai Port through river ships, and then move to ocean-going ships to countries around the world.

The liaison with the port of Shanghai went very smoothly. At that time, Pudong had not yet been developed, the export-oriented economy of the Yangtze River Delta region was far less than that of the Pearl River Delta, and there were not many foreign trade enterprises in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Yangtze River shipping was in a very deserted state. Hearing that Xunyang hopes to establish a long-term river-sea transshipment agreement with itself, the leaders of the Shanghai port area can be said to be unable to ask for it. Lin Zhenhua originally expected that the other party was willing to sign a five-year agreement with him at most, but as soon as the other party opened his mouth, he agreed to 20 years of cooperation, and the price was so preferential that Lin Zhenhua felt embarrassed.

As a person who has traveled back from the 21st century, Lin Zhenhua knows how busy the transportation on the Yangtze River will be in 20 years, although he does not know how high the price of renting berths and freight yards will rise at that time, but he is convinced that the agreement signed by Shanghai Port today with him will be denounced by all the staff of Shanghai Port as "losing power and humiliating the country" after 20 years.

It was during this period of time that Lin Zhenhua heard such a statement that the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, which is a household name in China, is like an iron lock for the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, which strangled the throat of the Yangtze River and became a major bottleneck hindering the development of water transportation on the Yangtze River. The water depth of the main channel of the Yangtze River below Wuhan can reach 7 meters, and it can pass 5,000-ton ships in normal times, and it is possible to pass 10,000-ton sea vessels in the wet season. However, the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, built in 1968, has a clearance of only 24 meters, and even 3,000-ton ships cannot pass under the bridge during the wet season, not to mention 10,000-ton ships. As a result, the entire Yangtze River shipping was divided into two by the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. Below the bridge, 10,000-ton ships can be walked, and above the bridge, only 5,000-ton ships can be passed.

Don't look at this change in the tonnage of ships, it has led to the fact that ocean-going ships cannot be directly traced back to Wuhan, and the import and export materials in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River have to be transported through the river and sea transshipment, which increases the cost and time is immeasurable.

"That's right, the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge must be blown up." Lin Zhenhua sat in He Haifeng's office and said categorically.

That is, He Haifeng, if he is a person who lacks a little understanding of Lin Zhenhua, I am afraid he will not be able to stand Lin Zhenhua's whimsical remarks. He Haifeng smiled bitterly and said, "Xiaolin, do you know what you're talking about?" The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is the throat of north-south traffic, with one train passing through every three minutes and two trains crossing the bridge every five minutes. Not to mention blowing up the bridge, it is a one-hour outage, and the damage caused is also calculated in millions. ”

Lin Zhenhua said: "I know this, but for the sake of north-south traffic, the east-west traffic is blocked, where does this come from?" ”

"Isn't the east-west traffic still stuck? I've heard some people talk about the bridge obstructing shipping. However, at present, the Yangtze River shipping is not tight, and the transportation pressure of the Beijing-Shanghai railway is very large. In order to open up the Yangtze River waterway, blow up the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, only you dare to say this kind of thing. He Haifeng said, "Xiaolin, you're not joking with me, are you?" ”

Lin Zhenhua changed his tone and said: "Of course, I know that it is impossible to blow up the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge now, but the protection of the Yangtze River waterway should be put on the agenda." I would like to make a suggestion to the country, in the future, the new bridge crossing the Yangtze River in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River must have a clearance of more than 40 meters, so as not to repeat the mistake of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. Isn't that outrageous? ”

He Haifeng said: "Do you know that the increase in the clearance of the bridge will make the cost rise significantly. At present, several cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River are planning to build bridges across the river, but funds are very tight. If the headroom is raised again, they simply can't afford it. In fact, since the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is already a fait accompli, it is no longer meaningful to raise the clearance of the bridge on the river above Nanjing. ”

"It makes perfect sense." Lin Zhenhua said, "Lao He, you have to have a vision of development, we do not have the ability to demolish the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge at present, but it does not mean that we will not have such ability in the future." If we don't set the rules in advance now, the bridges on the Yangtze River will be built in the future, and it will be too late to regret it. ”

In real history, Lin Zhenhua's concerns are not unreasonable. Since the 90s, dozens of new bridges have been built on the Yangtze River, and a considerable number of the bridges have a clearance of 24 meters with reference to the standard of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. When these bridges were built, everyone thought that since the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge had blocked the waterway, what was the use of leaving more clearance upstream?

After entering the new century, due to the increasing pressure on the water transportation of the Yangtze River, the talk of dismantling the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge began to be noisy. Those who support this point of view have the same idea as Lin Zhenhua at this time, that is, to give full play to the advantages of the Yangtze River's waterway resources. An important argument put forward by the dissenting opinion is that it is pointless to simply tear down a Nanjing Bridge, because there are other bridges on top of the Nanjing Bridge that also have a clearance of 24 meters. To dismantle all these bridges, the cost is unimaginable.

Because the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge could not be demolished in the past, other bridges were built accordingly. And when it came time to demolish the old bridge, it was meaningless to demolish the old bridge because of the existence of a large number of new bridges. If someone had been able to lay out ahead of schedule 20 years ago, would this endless loop still occur?

Then again, who but the Traveler could have foreseen the development of China's economy 20 years ago?

"So, you still have the idea of blowing up the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge?" He Haifeng understood Lin Zhenhua's logic and said to him with a smile. He Haifeng is a smart person, and he can feel that Lin Zhenhua's thoughts should have some truth. People have no foresight, but they must have near-term worries. In 1968, because we could not see the value of the Yangtze River water transport, we built this bridge with insufficient clearance, so in 1988, will we continue the original short-sightedness? , Lin Zhenhua said: "Lao He, the development of Chinese mainland is a matter of time. The policy of opening up the coast is correct, but China has a population of 1.1 billion and a labor force of nearly 700 million, and it is impossible for all of them to be concentrated along the coast, otherwise it will have a disastrous impact on the environment in the coastal areas. China's opening up will inevitably move from the coast to the interior, and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River will become an important industrial area in China. Whether the Yangtze River channel is smooth or not is directly related to whether the middle reaches of the Yangtze River can be developed.

You should know that the Great Lakes region of the United States was once the most important industrial region in the United States, and one of the key reasons for this is the water transportation advantage of the Great Lakes. If the Yangtze River channel can pass 10,000-ton ships, then from Wuhan to Nanjing, it can become China's Great Lakes. ”

"Xiaolin, that's right, you are looking at the problem more and more highly now." He Haifeng joked, "How about it, do you want me to recommend it to you and let you work in the State Planning Commission?" ”

Lin Zhenhua said with a smile: "Lao He, when you talk about the State Planning Commission, you really let you talk about it." Isn't Lan Lan now in the Department of Planned Economy at Renmin University, and she has been correspondingly with me for some time to discuss the issue of macroeconomic layout. A lot of what I'm telling you today is the information Lan Lan helped me find. ”

"Why didn't Lan Lan tell me this? It's really an outgoing girl. He Haifeng sighed, as soon as the words came out, he felt that something was wrong, and this sentence didn't seem to be used on this occasion.

Lin Zhenhua did not notice He Haifeng's gaffe, he introduced to He Haifeng: "Lan Lan is studying very hard now, and she and some classmates have established a China Economic Research Association to study China's economic development." The Huang Gang of the 86-level Industrial Economics Department of the National People's Congress, which I told you about last time, is their president. ”

"Well, I know about this, Lan Lan also asked me to help invite officials from some ministries to give them lectures." He Haifeng said.

Lin Zhenhua said: "Okay, Lao He, there are successors." ”

He Haifeng said: "The world is yours, and the development of China in the future will count on you and Lan Lan's generation." ”

"I'm also old, Lan Lan and they are the real new generation." Lin Zhenhua said.

He Haifeng said: "Being young has the benefits of being young, but there is also the problem that the mind is easy to overheat. Last time, Lan Lan brought a few people from their research group to me to discuss China's institutional reform. Among them were two students who were very radical in their thinking, and in our words, some bourgeois liberalization. ”

Lin Zhenhua's heart sank, and said: "Lao He, this is to remind Lan Lan that the thinking in society is very chaotic now, and there are a group of scholars who are desperately advocating total Westernization, and even proposed to engage in Western-style people's dominance, so that Lan Lan must not follow suit." And ......"

"What else?" He Haifeng saw that Lin Zhenhua was a little hesitant in his words, and couldn't help asking.

Lin Zhenhua thought about it and said stubbornly: "Lao He, don't be surprised if I say something. You are also on the cusp of working in the System Reform Commission, and when you collide with this kind of ideology, your standing line is very important, and if you stand on the wrong team, there will be endless troubles. ”

He Haifeng nodded thoughtfully and said, "Xiaolin, did you hear any rumors?" It stands to reason that such things should have been said to you, not to me. ”

Lin Zhenhua shook his head, of course he couldn't tell He Haifeng that he knew what kind of political turmoil would appear in a year. It is impossible for others to change the direction of this turmoil if they speak softly. Moreover, as a certain great man once pointed out, this turmoil will come sooner or later, and this is not something that individual traversers can change. All he could do was to give He Haifeng some small hints to avoid He Haifeng from making a mistake for a while.

As for Lin Zhenhua himself, he is not very worried about the impact of the turmoil on him. He was engaged in business, and he was far away from the political center, and these things did not have much to do with him. (To be continued)