"There are not enough construction machinery! What did those leasing companies do? Peng Zhicheng rode on horseback and looked at the Italian workers who were digging drainage ditches on the railway line outside the farm, and suddenly asked. He was the superintendent of the national railways, responsible for inspecting and supervising the construction of the national railways, and although the main construction tasks of the southwest railways were undertaken by the Genoese people, he and his inspection team would still come over from time to time to supervise and inspect them.

The railroad workers in front of him are working hard enough, but the efficiency is really not very high, hundreds of people, digging such a little ditch in the morning, at this speed, when will the railway be opened to the advance farm. Although this farm was not built for a long time, and both the population and output were not very large, it is also an indisputable fact that the efficiency of railway construction is not high.

"Now the Northwest Railroad is in its final stages of closing, and a lot of machines are being rented; In addition, the Government Council has formulated the "1653 Water Conservancy Battle" plan since the beginning of the year, and many machinery have also been rented to the river and reservoir construction sites in various counties and townships. Soon someone from the Prairie Railway Company came forward to report. This man was actually tempted to say that there were two steam plows working on the wealthy Qianqian Farm, but when they thought that this farm was a key investment project of the State Development Administration, and they were also seizing the time to prepare the land for sowing after the spring, they wisely did not say much.

In the early years, there may have been many people who did not realize the benefits of steam equipment, but in today's East Coast, the application of steam engines has been quite extensive: water conservancy construction sites, docks, ships, factories, railways, and other places, only you can't build them. There's nothing they can't think of. These large and small steam plants are used in an increasingly wide range of applications. It has brought about tremendous changes in the productivity of the whole society. The change is so great that everyone agrees to call it a "productivity revolution."

You see, in places like the very remote Qianqian Farm, there are always two steam plows for plowing the fields and digging ditches, and the cost of use is not high, and the fuel is mainly firewood and grass collected on the spot, and occasionally a little low-quality coal is burned. Perhaps the biggest cost is the cost of maintenance: replacing damaged parts, paraffin wax for daily use (lubrication, whale oil, seal oil for more advanced ones) and so on. But compared with the work efficiency increased by dozens of times, this maintenance cost is nothing at all.

It took more than ten years to make the whole society accustomed to and even happy with the large-scale application of machine equipment, and then as long as the education is strictly controlled and the old concepts such as feudal ideas do not return, then the whole society can be called the "first industrial revolution". This is an extremely difficult undertaking, but also a great initiative, if it is in the Ming Dynasty, it is basically impossible to enter the stage of the industrial revolution in such a short time, and once you delay for a long time. The gentry will quickly brainwash your heir into theirs and return to the status quo ante. The feudal gentry exploded the industrial capitalists.

However, the economic system under the rule of the people is not without problems, and its most prominent contradiction is the shortage of human resources. Human resources are insufficient, so large-scale application of machinery is required, but the problem is that the output of machinery is somewhat insufficient, which requires the government to deliberately guide, adjust the production structure, pay attention to market demand, and make the semi-market and semi-planned economic system on the east coast more flexible and play a greater role.

"The production capacity of Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory and the First Heavy Machinery Factory is still insufficient, and now the market demand is so strong, but their production capacity is limited to the dual constraints of raw material supply and skilled workers and cannot be effectively released; The Ping An Iron and Steel Plant and Tieling Special Steel Plant upstream of them are limited to the bottleneck of coal and iron production, logistics and transportation, and cannot increase production quickly...... "Peng Zhicheng turned his horse's head and said while approaching the railway construction site: "In the final analysis, it is still a double shortage of human resources and educational resources. Alas, look at the Ping'an Coal Mine, Changshan Iron Mine, and Tieling Coal and Iron Base have enslaved so many slaves and hired so many foreign laborers, and those people are about to be squeezed out of their bone marrow, but the output just can't keep up with the demand; Looking at the vocational schools run by major enterprises, the training of the number of students in school is far from enough, and this industrialization is indeed not achieved overnight. ”

"In the future, these people—" Peng Zhicheng said this, and suddenly pointed at the Italian laborers who were working in front of him with his horsewhip, and said, "You can't let them go back!" I finally came to the East Coast, and after a long period of work, I have a certain degree of organization and discipline, and some of my brains are flexible and have learned a little engineering technology, which can be regarded as talents. How can such talents, such a workforce, be allowed to return to that hopeless place in Sicily? The East Coast Republic of China is the most suitable stage for them, and they can only practice their values by staying on the East Coast, and after five years, they will be given nationality in a unified manner, and none of them will be allowed to be put back, and it is a big deal to give the Genoese a little compensation. ”

"In this regard, the General Administration of National Development and the Ministry of Immigration actually have a plan, and in principle, they will continue to stay on the East Coast after five years and become East Coast citizens. Because they have built railways for several years, seen so many construction machinery, learned so much engineering and technical knowledge, and are fortunate enough to hear and witness all kinds of domestic affairs on the east coast, it is indeed not very suitable to let them go back. Of course, in order to take care of their affections, the General Bureau of Development will also find a way to bring their immediate family members to the east coast, and some of them with outstanding talents are also allowed to bring their relatives and friends to appease them a little. An official of the State Administration of Development who accompanied Peng Zhicheng said, "The Genoese have so far moved two groups of more than 2,300 Italian laborers to build railways here, and they have even chartered more than 10 sea ships for this purpose, spending nearly 400,000 lire in freight." It is foreseeable that in the next few years they will continue to transport more road builders here, and the total freight may cost one or two million bank lira, which is a cost - hehe, it doesn't matter if it is the total investment of tens of millions of lires for the railway. Of course, these sea ships they chartered can pull some goods back to Europe on the return trip, and now France, Spain, and Portugal are fighting endlessly, the Anglo-Dutch naval war is in full swing, and the Baltic Sea is also about to be launched, and the goods on the east coast can be transported back to Europe, and they can't lose money, which can more or less subsidize their expenses. ”

When Peng Zhicheng heard this, he stopped talking, and just quietly watched these people who were wearing shabby and dirty clothes and holding metal tools and working hard. There is no doubt that these people are hard-working, perhaps not as good as the Ming people at this time, but they are definitely much more industrious than the Chinese of later generations, and they are more able to endure some pain and disasters, which may be related to the relatively difficult life they had in their hometown, and they have become accustomed to this life.

At this time, Italy's industry was declining, commerce was declining, and the population was growing at a faster rate than the rest of Europe, which naturally led to a significant reduction in their standard of living. Especially in Sicily and Naples, which lived under the rule of the Spaniards, the inhabitants of a reckless and tyrannical monarch were regarded as eight lifetimes of blood mold, and many people not only had a heavy tax burden, but also had to go to war many times, which was simply unbearable.

Perhaps the huge population growth in the Netherlands has something to do with the fact that many Italians are unable to survive. From the end of the 16th century onwards, a large number of Italian merchants and artisans emigrated to the United Provinces and the South Netherlands, often bringing with them a large group of helpers from their hometowns, and this immigration wave was so large that in the seventeenth and twenties of the 17th century, one-third of Amsterdam's population was foreigners or descendants of foreigners - a considerable number of them Italians - and it is strange that Italy has left such a large number of people that it is still one of the most densely populated areas in the Mediterranean.

"With less than seven months to go this year, there should be no problem with the opening of the Southwestern Railway to Qianqian Farm, and there may be spare time to level the section between Qianqian Farm and the upcoming Victory Farm (located near the small village of Pintado in Uruguay) in preparation for the next step of full construction." Peng Zhicheng looked at the laborers who were working hard for a while, and suddenly turned to his secretary and said: "You will go and negotiate with the people of the Prairie Railway Company tomorrow, let them keep an eye on the Genoese, don't let them be lazy - of course, they will not do this on purpose, after all, they are paying for the road by themselves, and the longer the time drags on, the higher the cost, I believe they will weigh it themselves, but you better go and order it with them." ”

"I see." The secretary nodded in agreement and said, "According to the plan submitted to us by the Genoese, in two months, a group of more than 1,000 laborers from Naples will land at Jingjiang Port, and then start leveling the roadbed and laying the railroad tracks from that side, so that the construction progress of the Southwest Railway will also be greatly accelerated." They are all businessmen, very sensitive to costs, at this time in fact, more urgent than our own people, eager to not delay a day of construction. ”

"Hmph, I'm afraid I've tasted a little sweetness, I think this business is really profitable, at least higher than the annuity yield that they absorb the most idle funds in China, I heard that the annual rate of return has fallen from 1.2% to 1% in recent years, and even inflation can't win, so it's better to invest in railways." Recently, Taoyuan County was established, and the Government Council approved a large amount of funds for urban infrastructure construction, and the construction of Shengli Farm and Qianjin Farm also cost a lot of money, and no matter the personnel, supplies, building materials, or labor tools, they all had to be transported by railway from the more than 90 kilometers that had been opened to traffic. Peng Zhicheng commented, "But that's fine, everyone just takes what they need, they make money, we pick up the railway for nothing, and we don't owe anything." (To be continued......)