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On September 2, 1844, Long Yufei attended a cabinet meeting held in the Prime Minister's Office, at which the cabinet will discuss the proposed national industrial development plan, which is the first stage of national construction proposed by Long Yufei. In the next few years, efforts will be made to develop several provinces south of the Yangtze River. In addition, General Niu Meng, chief of the General Staff, and General Zhao Yi, deputy chief of the General Staff and director of logistics and equipment, also attended the meeting as observers.

"Your Majesty, after deliberation by the Cabinet, the first five-year industrial plan has been preliminarily drawn up. The Minister of Industry and the Minister of Transport will introduce you to the details. Prime Minister Li Decheng said.

"Hmm!" Long Yufei nodded, industry and transportation, this is inseparable. Especially in these provinces south of the Yangtze River, the transportation facilities are very backward, and it will be quite difficult to carry out industrial construction in these provinces. Therefore, the construction of railways and highways must be carried out at the same time.

"Your Majesty, in the next five years, the Ministry of Communications plans to build six railways, the first of which is from Guangzhou to Changsha to Wuchang. The second is from Guangzhou to Fuzhou and then to Hangzhou. The third is from Guangzhou to Guilin to Guiyang, Chongqing and Chengdu. The fourth is from Guangzhou to Nanning and then to Kunming. The fifth is from Kunming to Chengdu. The sixth is the railway from Hangzhou to Jiangning to Wuchang and Chongqing. After the construction of these six railways, it can basically form a railway network. The traffic situation of the Empire. will be greatly improved. Whether it is for the mobilization of the army or for military development, it will be of great help. Minister of Transportation Zhou Zishan said.

Long Yufei frowned, the benefits of these six railways. Of course he knew. But can this be fixed in just five years? Especially in the southwest region, there is also the karst terrain of Yunnan and Guizhou high-ranking officials, and it is not so easy to build a railway. Coupled with the lofty mountains and mountains in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong, it is very difficult to build a railway. Therefore. He believes that the railway plan drawn up by the Ministry of Communications is too unrealistic.

Seeing Long Yufei frowning, the cabinet ministers. I'm a little worried. Especially the Minister of Transportation, Zhou Zishan, is even more in his throat. If this plan is denied by Long Yufei, it will be a great blow to him. It would be nice to be able to keep where we are. Not to mention ascending to a higher position.

"Your Majesty, what's the problem?" Prime Minister Li Decheng asked in a whisper.

"Lord Zhou, are you sure that within five years, these railways will be able to be built?" Long Yufei asked.

"This, Your Majesty, it is indeed difficult to build these six railways within five years, but. We'll do our best. Zhou Zishan hurriedly said.

"If there is no guarantee, why do you want to come up with such a big plan? I don't like to listen to empty words. What I want to see is a real plan that can be done, not a bunch of empty words! Long Yufei said.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" A lot of beads of sweat appeared on the forehead of Zhou Zishan, the Minister of Communications. Originally, he also wanted to take this opportunity to show himself in front of Long Yufei. But I didn't expect that the horse's fart was not photographed, but was photographed on the horse's hooves.

"I have read the plan submitted by the Ministry of Communications, first find a way to build the first, second and sixth railways, and the other three, you can put it first! We will soon wage a new war against the Manchus, and if these three railways can be built, it will be of great help to us in the next stage of the war. Long Yufei said. If we concentrate on building these three railways in five years, there should not be much of a problem. At that time, the Xinhua army would be able to transport troops and supplies by rail to the Yangtze River. This will make the logistics support of the Xinhua Army smoother.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Minister of Transportation Zhou Zishan hurriedly said. Seeing that Long Yufei did not hold him accountable, this made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Your Majesty, building a railway is not an easy task, it requires a lot of manpower and material resources. We can provide a group of labor with the Ministry of Transportation. General Niu Meng, chief of the General Staff, said with a smile: After all, the construction of the railway one day earlier will also be of great help to the military movement of the Xinhua Army. He knew what Long Yufei meant from Long Yufei's proposal to build the railway from Guangzhou to the Yangtze River. These railways were the first to play a military role. Therefore, of course, the military should give priority to the completion of these railways.

"General Niu, that's naturally the best." Zhou Zishan hurriedly said.

"Your Majesty, the expansion of the army has begun, but if those recruits want to form combat effectiveness, they still have to see the blood first. Please ask Your Majesty to approve further extermination of the natives of the South Seas. Arresting those natives can be used to build railways and roads in the country. In this way, the time required for the construction of the railway can be greatly reduced. Lieutenant General Niu Meng said.

"Okay, I've approved it, you guys just go and do it!" Long Yufei said. Of course, he didn't take it to heart to those natives. The Xinhua Army has never stopped exterminating the natives, but it was only after successive foreign wars were launched that the troops were withdrawn, and the extermination of the natives was suspended. Now, the construction of large-scale transportation facilities is about to begin, which requires a lot of labor, and these indigenous people come in handy.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Admiral Niu Meng nodded, ready to make a big move.

"Your Majesty, I mention yì, can use those natives in the most dangerous places, so that you can effectively reduce the casualties during road construction. As for other areas, you can recruit ordinary people in the country, which can be regarded as increasing the income of the people. Chancellor of the Exchequer Liu Mingde said.

Long Yufei nodded and adopted this Jianyi. The common people in China are very poor, and the large-scale construction of transportation facilities can just allow them to work on the construction site in the early days of farming, and can also improve their lives.

Next, Minister of Transportation Zhou Zishan introduced the planning of highway construction, the railway is the backbone, but the highway is equally important. Most of the current official roads are muddy, and once it rains, they are muddy and impassable. The Ministry of Transport plans to expand the official roads between major cities and build concrete roads. Strive to ensure that the highway leads to all counties. In the next five-year plan, it is necessary to build roads to the towns and villages below to form a complete road network.

In this regard, Long Yufei agreed. Although the automobile has not yet been invented, a little better road repair will be of great help to both pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages. It can play a role in promoting economic development.

"Your Majesty, after investigation, the Ministry of Industry plans to build a large shipyard in Guangzhou and Fuzhou. In addition, factories and mines were built along the railway line. The main thing is to guide private capital to set up factories and develop industry and commerce. Minister of Industry Wu Wending said. Until transportation facilities are improved, it is difficult to carry out large-scale industrial construction. The resources of China's southern provinces are also difficult to exploit. Before that, the Ministry of Industry can only find ways to guide private capital to develop light industry.

"Hmmm! However, the specific planning still needs to be done well. It is possible to find out the mineral resources in each region before starting to build a factory. Long Yufei said. There are many resources in southern China, but they are all in the deep mountains and old forests. The north is mainly coal and iron, while the south is mainly coal and various non-ferrous metals. With the industrialization process of Xinhua Kingdom getting higher and higher, the consumption of various resources is also increasing. In addition, large-scale railway construction is needed, and the number of rails needed is also an astronomical amount.

Long Yufei knew that Panzhihua in Sichuan had huge reserves of iron ore resources. But that place, now completely deep in the mountains and old forests, there is no way to go there to establish an industrial base. At least until the railways and roads are built, a large industrial base can be established.

"Now that Australia is under our rule, the Ministry of Industry is going to send people to the desert in western Australia to look for mineral resources, where there are rich iron ore resources, and these iron ores must be found. Then the Ministry of Transport plans to build a railway in the west of Australia to transport the iron ore to the port and back by sea in Guò! Long Yufei said. He has planned the iron ore needed by the steel industry, mainly from Australia, and only built steel bases in a few places in China where iron ore resources are concentrated. As for other low-grade iron ore with few reserves, it is better to keep it. Australia's iron ore alone is estimated to be enough for China. Besides, there is also India in front of us, which also has a lot of high-grade iron ore resources. After the Xinhua Army defeats India, will there be no iron ore?

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Wu Wending, Minister of Industry, and Zhou Zishan, Minister of Transportation, hurriedly said.

"How much steel can we produce this year?" Long Yufei asked. At this stage, steel production is still an important indicator of a country's industrial strength.

"Your Majesty, this year we expect to produce more than 300,000 tonnes of pig iron, almost one-fifth of what the UK has! Steel production is 50,000 tons, which is about the same as that of the United Kingdom. Minister of Industry Wu Wending said.

"We can plan to build a few steel mills in coastal cities, and when the iron ore from Australia is mined, it will be shipped back to China for smelting!" Long Yufei said. He had no plans to build a steel base in Australia, which was too far away from Xinhua and had a lot of pressure on its defenses, and if it was attacked, it would be doomed.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Minister of Industry Wu Wending said.

Everyone is very convinced of Long Yufei's words, Long Yufei said that there is an iron mine in Australia, then they believe that there must be! (To be continued......)