Feng Yunshan nodded rarely, he was deeply impressed with Shen Guifen's opinion and agreed with it very much.

In later generations, there is a well-known saying, called "If you want to get rich, you must first build roads". This sentence very bluntly illustrates a truth, that is, the importance of transportation for economic development, and nowadays, if you want to develop industry and commerce, especially industrial development, it is inseparable from the circulation of trade. And this trade, in addition to the international foreign trade with foreigners, the most important thing is actually the internal trade generated by the internal consumption of the country, and the prosperity of this internal trade is inseparable from transportation. Even in the modern society of later generations, the development of transportation and the promotion of logistics can accelerate the circulation of internal goods, effectively promote the decline of prices and the development of consumption, which makes the economy active.

Therefore, the role of transportation in promoting trade is very obvious.

And later generations have a saying, called "Science and technology are the primary productive forces!" Feng Yunshan has been able to recite this sentence backwards since he was a child, and when he grew up, he also deeply felt the power of this aspect. Almost good industrial companies, especially manufacturing enterprises, have their own core technology, which is the mastery of patents or technologies on the one hand, and the mastery and training of core talents on the other hand. For this point, Feng Yunshan himself is a technician of the enterprise, so he naturally has a deep understanding.

In later generations, it was called science and technology, but in today's world, it is the new technology that Shen Guifen said. And about this, almost the entire upper echelons of the empire understood. From the founding of the empire to the successive defeats of the British expeditionary force, it has been proved that the advanced nature of weapons far outweighs the role played by the number of troops in warfare. In the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the quality of British foreign cloth was better than that of homespun cloth, but the price was much cheaper, and the tens of millions of weavers in the Manchu Dynasty produced cloth but not a fraction of the number of hundreds of thousands of British textile workers, the fundamental reason was still textile technology and machinery, especially textile machines, advanced machines, and dozens of handmade textile workers.

"Shen Aiqing said it very well!" Feng Yunshan praised: "In terms of transportation, I have asked the Ministry of Communications to make detailed plans, and official roads, railways, as well as inland shipping and sea shipping are all in full swing. And the new technology, in this regard, doesn't seem to have much eyebrows, what does Aiqing think? ”

"Your Majesty, if we want to develop rapidly towards industry, we must pay attention to the application of technology! It seems that the British once put forward the concept of technology and capital, and Wechen feels very reasonable. In terms of technology, we must first strengthen education and train a large number of technical personnel. In this regard, the Empire, under the decree of His Majesty, has begun to introduce basic education, and higher education has been established. It's just that because the time is too short, there are not enough technical talents trained. As the follow-up continues to advance, presumably the technological power of the empire will become stronger and stronger.

Your Majesty, Wei Chen thinks that we can also start from the following aspects:

The first is to follow the example of the United States and implement a specialized layout of industry and economy. For example, the area south of the Yangtze River is a traditional silk industry belt, which can vigorously focus on the development of silk reeling industry; The coastal port area can vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry; Along the railway line and in the river port area, the basic industry is convenient for development, and the basic industry can be developed in a concentrated manner; Tea producing areas in Fujian. A layout like this can be formed slowly.

In terms of the policy of the imperial court, several major banks have been established, paper money has been issued, and private capital, especially the capital of the local gentry, has been absorbed and invested in industry; At the same time, scientific and technological progress was encouraged, patent laws were implemented within the empire, and so on. In particular, the monopoly industries of our Chinese Empire, such as the porcelain industry, the oil refining industry, the holy fertilizer industry, the tea industry, the silk industry, and so on, the whole world is now completely controlled by our Chinese Empire, and we can give full play to it, defeat all the competitors of other countries, and grasp the pricing power.

Today, China's Chinese Empire is already the world's largest country, and it must fully participate in the economic and trade of the entire world and occupy the world market. In particular, after the empire defeated the British, it carried the aftermath and squeezed the European market, as for the rest, according to the current power of the empire, we can completely seize the lion's share of the markets in North America, India, Persia and other places.

This is the international trade, the domestic aspect, more can fully tap the market. With such a large population, the villagers now have a small amount of surplus money, which drives their consumption and concentrates their capital to invest in industrial production again, which will surely usher in greater development. Especially now, Wechen has noticed that the establishment of the Ministry of Minerals and Metallurgy, as well as the Ministry of Communications, as well as the Ministry of Industry where Wechen is located, these heavy industries must usher in great development.

Mining, iron and steel smelting, oil extraction and refining, fertilizers, railways, machinery manufacturing, shipbuilding and other industries are in high demand, as long as there is capital investment, it is bound to usher in rapid development, and the heavy industry of the entire empire will show a prosperous scene. In terms of light industry, among other things, the huge consumer market of the empire's population of 500 million alone is enough to support the basic development of light industries such as the textile industry. ”

Feng Yunshan didn't expect Shen Guifen to think so deeply and so thoroughly, especially when the other party had just received the order to become the Minister of Industry, so he did his homework on industrial development so much, which shows that during his tenure as the governor of Fujian, Shen Guifen had already paid enough attention to and studied industry.

Regarding Shen Guifen's opinion, Feng Yunshan also agrees. He looked at Li Hongzhang next to him and asked, "Shen Aiqing said it very well!" Li Aiqing, looking at your appearance, you should be very inspired, right? What does Li Aiqing have to say? ”

Li Hongzhang praised: "Back to Your Majesty, Weichen is ashamed!" Weichen became the vice premier of the cabinet, although he thought about it every day, but he was too stupid, and he didn't think so far-reaching as Minister Shen thought at all, what a shame! After listening to Minister Shen's analysis, Wei Chen felt a sense of surprise, and at the same time he was ashamed.

Indeed, as His Majesty said, Wechen was very inspired and deeply touched. Touched by what Minister Shen said, Weichen has already written it down, and he will formulate a detailed plan and fully implement it.

Wechen only added one point, do a good job in the development of frontiers and remote lands, so as to promote the development of industry!

The first is to set off an upsurge in railway construction, through railway construction, a series of railway repairs, the manufacture of passenger and freight locomotives, for the development of the iron and steel industry, especially the rail rolling industry to provide a huge market and forced power. The second is to apply new technologies and rapidly put into the application of internal combustion engines and generators, so as to promote the tremendous development of petroleum refining and power industries. ”