Chapter 536: Five Years of Development (Second Update)
War is always very damaging to a country. . . com. . com Decades of natural disasters have left several northern provinces riddled with holes.
In this unification war, the Chinese Empire has been very careful not to bring greater disaster to the disaster-ridden Chinese nation.
But after a war, the regular troops of the Ming Dynasty, the peasant army, and the gentry class organizations in various places resisted. The death toll exceeded one million, and even more were injured.
One million deaths means that millions of families have lost their main labor force. If this were left in the past, it would mean that a large proportion of these families would be completely broken.
However, after the Chinese government entered the country, it released a plan to support families in need. The government came forward to organize several funds to support families in need, and used these funds to provide certain assistance to families that had lost their main labor force.
With the active cooperation of Xiao Mingqian and several other high-level industrial and commercial personnel with huge assets, hundreds of millions of funds were invested in this plan, thus enabling this policy to benefit hundreds of thousands of families.
In addition, the Immigration Fund has officially changed its identity to a poverty alleviation fund, specifically providing interest-free financial assistance to needy families in restoring their livelihoods. Although they have to be repaid, such interest-free loans are like rain from heaven to ordinary people.
Beginning in 1855, the Chinese Empire began to deliver countless supplies to various parts of the Central Plains. This brings the total number of manpower employed by the Chinese Empire to transport materials in the entire Central Plains to more than 2.3 million.
The import of these materials quickly restored the vitality of the entire Central Plains region, and the lives of the people exceeded the most prosperous period of the Ming Dynasty in just one year.
Except for the absence of extremely wealthy families, the entire Central Plains can be compared to the prosperous Song Dynasty. And this is just the beginning.
According to imperial government statistics, in 1955, the population of the entire area formerly ruled by the Ming Dynasty reached more than 98 million people. The number of manpower employed in the Chinese Empire in material transportation, road construction, water conservancy construction, etc. has reached more than 6 million, accounting for one sixteenth of the total population.
In the next five years, these more than 6 million manpower built more than 200 million kilometers of roads, built 15 large-scale water conservancy projects, and allocated more than 80 million tons of materials.
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????: ??????????????????????????????????????? Especially in coastal and riverine areas, the income of ordinary people has reached 60% of that in Taipei.
Don¡¯t underestimate this 60%, you must know that this 60% represents more than 200 yuan! In the past, ordinary people could not even think about this, and even small landowners and merchant families could not reach this level.
The increase in the income of nearly 100 million people has caused the consumption power of the entire continent to grow like a rocket.
The consumption in mainland China has gone from being only 20% of Taiwan Island¡¯s in 1955 to three times that of Taiwan Island in 1959. Individuals can only imagine how much such changes will drive the development of industry and commerce.
And this is just the beginning. In just five years, the huge market in the Central Plains will make other regions a fraction of the domestic market of the Chinese Empire.
Although in these years, large-scale infrastructure construction has always put the finances of the Chinese Empire under great pressure, so that within five years, there was no power to expand the army.
On a vast land of more than 22 million square kilometers, there are only more than 1.2 million army and navy troops, making it impossible for the Chinese Empire to expand its territory.
But it was all worth it. In five years, the national strength of the entire Chinese Empire doubled. Moreover, in 1959, fiscal revenue had already begun to show a surplus. In other words, when the year 60 begins, the Chinese Empire will be able to carry out large-scale military expansion again.
At that time, it was the time when the Eastern dragon soared into the nine heavens.
After five years of construction, the entire land of China is glowing with vitality. After Xiao Mingqian established a large-scale steel industry base in the Northeast, he also established several large-scale industrial bases in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu along the rivers, and the Bohai Bay coastal areas.
Although the industrial types of these industrial bases are very single, mainly steel, cement, and machinery and equipment. It is not as complex and diverse as that of later generations. Coal chemical industry has only just started, and petrochemical industry is still in the laboratory. However, the establishment of these industrial bases has greatly supported the construction of the entire Central Plains region.
Take steel and cement as an example, five or eight years ago,Almost all of it needs to be imported from Taiwan, but since 1959, more than 70% of the steel and cement needed in the Central Plains region have been provided by these industrial bases.
At the same time, Xiao Mingqian also built four large shipyards along the coast of the mainland. Among them, on Chongming Island, Xiao Mingqian established the largest shipyard in the entire Chinese Empire, dedicated to the construction of large battleships and the research of new steam-powered ironclads.
In the past five years, although the number of naval warships has not increased by one, but has decreased due to the elimination of old ships, with the emergence of larger, stronger and more professional warships, the strength of the navy has not decreased but increased.
Now even if five new warships appear in front of Sun Xin, Sun Xin is not completely sure that he can defeat them.
As long as the financial pressure disappears, the shipbuilding industry that has been accumulated for a long time will inevitably explode with unimaginable energy, allowing the flag of the Chinese Empire to fly on all oceans.
All of these are just achievements in large-scale basic industry. Private factories with small investment and quick returns are blooming everywhere.
With the advancement of infrastructure and the improvement of transportation in various parts of the Central Plains, nearly 100,000 factories of various types have been established in various places within five years. Moreover, due to the rapid rise of the economy and the rapid expansion of the market, very few factories have closed down.
With the establishment of these factories, tens of millions of laborers were attracted to the factories, and some of them were completely separated from the land and became real industrial workers.
Especially in the Yangtze River Delta region, near Guangzhou, light industry is developing rapidly because of its geographical advantages. The scale of light industry in these areas has completely surpassed that of Taiwan Island, becoming the largest industrial area in the entire Chinese Empire.
Although the prosperity of these places and the wealth of the people cannot be compared with Taiwan Island, or even parts of Luzon Island, it has only been five years, hasn't it? In ten years' time, Luzon may only be able to catch up, while Taiwan Island may only remain on par.