Steel Dynasty - Chapter 802

[Chapter 801 Slave Frenzy]

Liang Dahai pinched his waist and looked at the slaves being loaded onto the ship.

All these slaves came from Liaozhou. After Ye Qingyun occupied Liaozhou, a large number of slaves came to Haigu City.

Because there were more than 200,000 slaves, they dispatched all ships, including warships, to transport them.

And in order to prevent the slaves from rebelling, a new army of 8,000 people came to Haigu City to escort them.

“Oh, with so many slaves, the current slave gap in Dayu has been closed.” Li Kaiyuan was also in Haigu City, and his commercial control over Goryeo was still in progress.

Liang Dahai opened his mouth wide, and the scars on his face trembled with his smile. He said: “No, the emperor may be very happy.”

“Having said that, the matter of recruiting laborers in Goryeo cannot be vague. The emperor is now very ambitious. , This slave is not afraid of too many, but afraid of too little.”

After saying that, the two looked at the slaves and laughed knowingly. In their opinion, with these many slaves, the development of the country of Chongqing will definitely rise by leaps and bounds.

…

Shanhaiguan, Lu Fei, while implementing the Guandong people policy, escorted the slave police from Pingzhou City here.

After some rest, this group of 120,000 slaves arrived in Qingzhou after a seven-day journey.

“Your Majesty, these slaves must be given to our Railway Department. The railways are in urgent need of manpower now. The few people Liang Dahai recruited from Goryeo are simply not enough.”

Princess Pingyang in the Imperial Study Room relied on the posture of not leaving. The slave came to Qingzhou like a cat asking about the fishy smell.

Xiao Ming returned to Qingzhou two days earlier than these slaves. By this time, the news of the victory of the Chongqing army had been publicized by newspapers.

When he returned to the city, almost the entire people of Qingzhou lined the streets to welcome him, which made him truly experience the majesty and heroism of returning in triumph.

With the power of victory, Xiao Ming clearly felt that the officials’ attitude towards him was more respectful than before, just as he had expected.

Coupled with the reputation of being good at fighting, his status in the Chongqing Kingdom is even more unshakable. There are even articles in newspapers comparing him to an eternal sage.

This article was written by Fan Zeng himself. Although it is obviously flattering, it also proves from the side that this defeat of the barbarians shocked the people of Dayu.

Because this is not only a national strategic victory, but also a reshaping of national confidence.

In addition, the by-product of this victory was the purpose of Princess Pingyang’s coming here, a large number of slaves from the grassland.

“Auntie, don’t worry. This batch of slaves is just the beginning. The slaves from Liaozhou will soon arrive in Qingzhou. And if we successfully capture Jinzhou, we will get more slaves.” Xiao Ming said calmly.

The reason why he came back from Shanhaiguan was to deal with the slave issue. For him, the dividends of this war were very rich.

This slave craze will bring a large amount of precious labor to the Great Chongqing Kingdom. Only with an increased labor force can he build large-scale facility projects in the Great Chongqing Kingdom.

Princess Pingzhou burst out laughing when she heard this. As the chief officer of the Railway Department, she experienced a change in mentality from coping at the beginning to her original intention to build a railway network in the Greater Chongqing Kingdom.

It’s not that she has become noble, but the magical effect of the railway and the huge profits it can bring make her feel that her position will be more stable.

“I feel relieved when Your Majesty says so.” Princess Pingyang relaxed, and she said to Xiao Ming: “Your Majesty, now half of the railway from Qingzhou to Laiwu has been built. If you give me another 100,000 slaves, it will only take one year to build the railway. It can connect Qingzhou to Laiwu and Qingzhou to Kaiping.”

Xiao Ming’s eyes lit up. One year is not long or short. If this route is opened, it will bring incredible changes to the industries of the six states.

After pondering for a while, he said: “Of course this slave came with the Railway Department, but one year is too long. I want to open the train at the end of this year.”

In fact, it is not very difficult to build a railway on a flat plain like Qingzhou Prefecture. According to the data It shows that on June 9, 1881, the construction of the Tangxu Railway, the first self-built railway in the Qing Dynasty from Tangshan to Xugezhuang, took only three months.

Although this railway is only twenty miles long, the number of workers used to build this railway is also very small.

Now, the Railway Department has more than 200,000 people building railways under its command, and the number of slaves this time is estimated to be as high as more than 300,000.

With so many people building a railway with a total length of more than 300 kilometers, even if one kilometer is built in a day, it can be completed within a year.

Of course, the Railway Department is not only building this line now, but also starting construction on the line from Qingzhou to Dengzhou.

This route will pass through Laizhou, which is rich in gold and silver production, and then reach Dengzhou and reach the port.

“Although it will be a little troublesome at the end of the year, it is not impossible, but the prerequisite is that the emperor agrees to these 100,000 slaves.” Princess Pingyang rolled her eyes.

Railroad construction was slow in the first year because the slaves were inexperienced and the production of rails could not keep up.

It is different now. They have now trained a large number of elite craftsmen who built railways. These craftsmen can independently lead the slaves to build railways.

Moreover, after the establishment of Laiwu and Kaiping Iron and Steel Works, the output of the rails has also kept pace, and now there is no need to worry about materials at all.

“Yes, I promise you.” Xiao Ming raised his eyebrows. The railway is a long-term project for the soldiers of Great Chongqing.

Nowadays, when transportation is not very developed, railway transportation will be an artifact, and it will also be more conducive to the deployment of the Chongqing army.

After asking some more questions about railway construction, Xiao Ming let Princess Pingyang leave.

Three days later, Liang Dahai successfully arrived in Qingzhou with the barbarian slaves. According to the agreement with Princess Hepingzhou, he transferred 100,000 slaves to her.

There were more than 200,000 slaves left. Xiao Ming allocated 120,000 people to the Minerals Department, and the remaining 80,000 people were given to slave plantations.

Industry is important, and food is also important. With the development of industry, more raw materials are needed, such as sugar cane, cotton, rubber and the like, which are now in great demand.

While distributing slaves, Xiao Ming also sent craftsmen from the Minerals Department and the Iron Works to Liaozhou, which is the contemporary Liaoyang. The famous Anshan and Benxi iron mines are near Liaoyang.

Anshan and Benxi are among the top five open-pit iron mines in China today, and Anshan and Benxi iron ore have proven reserves of more than 10 billion tons, making them the dominant iron ore mines.

Over the years, the barbarians have used these two mines where iron ore can be obtained casually to forge artillery.

It is precisely because of this that it is so important to conquer Jinzhou, because once Jinzhou is opened and the three points and one line are connected, these two large iron mines will be under his control, and the country of Chongqing will no longer lack iron ores in its initial development.

(End of chapter)