The railway project from Nanjing to Shanghai has begun. The first section of the railway is from Nanjing to Zhenjiang, with a construction period of about five years.

However, according to the current progress of the Ministry of Works, the construction period is likely to be shortened to four and a half years or even shorter. It has to be said that Jiang Jin has put in his heart and devoted twelve minutes to this matter.

This is also a natural thing. You should know that Zhu Yicheng promised Jiang Jin that once the railway is completed, he will be able to join the military aircraft. Becoming the military aircraft minister has become Jiang Jin's heart disease. For this goal, let alone a mere railway, he is willing to do even a more difficult thing.

The construction of railways is mainly related to steel. You should know that railways are run on railway tracks, and the laying of railway tracks requires a large amount of steel support. The current steel output of the Ming Dynasty has been rising steadily, which has long exceeded the Qing Dynasty's rule, and even exceeded the year with the highest steel output in the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, in history, excluding the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, the steel output of the Ming Dynasty was higher than that of the Ming Dynasty. As early as the middle of the Ming Dynasty, China's steel output peaked at nearly 200,000 tons. However, the gap was only more than 20,000 tons in the early and middle of the Qing Dynasty, and the gap can be imagined.

However, it should be explained that the steel output at that time is different from the steel output in later generations. Due to technical limitations, it is basically the overall output of pig iron and fried steel. Now the Ming Dynasty has a large number of steelmaking technologies that use blast furnaces. This technology can be said to be the most advanced in the world at present. It is also the emergence of this technology and the progress of the smelting industry that has increased the steel output of the Ming Dynasty year by year.

Now the annual steel production in Ming Dynasty has reached 230,000 tons. This number is exactly the confidence that Zhu Yicheng can promote firearms and start building railways. Moreover, this number does not include the production of small-scale steel mills and iron plants among private individuals. If these total outputs are added, it will be even higher.

This is the case with the Zhou family, which relies on the iron factory, which is the case with Daxing Family Business. The Zhou family has now won some orders for the imperial railway tracks. This order alone can make the Zhou family benefit greatly. Now the Zhou family is working with several other companies to build new steel plants to meet the needs of casting railway tracks.

However, with the continuous increase in steel production, the iron ore resources of the Ming Dynasty gradually became in short supply. In fact, China has never lacked iron ore. The total amount of iron ore stored on the land of China is not large. However, its ore source distribution is scattered, coupled with various factors such as difficulty in mining and iron content, China's iron ore is actually not suitable for smelting, and the quality of steel refined under the existing technology does not meet the peak demand.

In addition to steel, it is machinery. With the successful manufacturing of steam engines, this kind of thing has a huge demand in industry. Steam engines can be said to be an invention that changed the times. But in the manufacturing of steam engines, in addition to steel and technology, there is another thing that is indispensable, that is, the use of rubber.

The steam engine needs a complete seal. Although the Ming Dynasty has used other rubbers to replace it now, the cost is too good, and it is not as widespread as rubber in terms of use. After occupying the New World, the Ming Dynasty brought some rubber from overseas. Unfortunately, the source of rubber is still subject to others, so Zhu Yicheng must control this raw material in his own hands.

Zhu Yicheng had already thought about it before taking Luzon. Next, he would plant rubber in Luzon to obtain a source channel for rubber.

In addition to Luzon, Zhu Yicheng even set his sights on the south side. In the south of the South China Sea, crossing the middle line of the northern and southern hemispheres all the way to a continent that no one has ever set foot on, and this continent is Australia in later generations.

Now, Western countries have not discovered this place yet, so they naturally have not colonized Australia. Zhu Yicheng has long had his ideas about Australia. Now that Luzon is in his hands, Johor will return to the Ming Dynasty. After the matters between the two sides stabilize, he plans to send a fleet to explore south to find Oceania, which is where Australia is.

Australia is a good place. Although it is not as unique as the American continent, most of the central part of Australia are desert areas, and the only thing that is suitable for living is the four-sided coastal areas.

But you should know that in later generations, Australia had the most abundant mining resources, especially the iron ore with super-quality quality was the main source of raw materials for China's steel industry in later generations. As long as Australia can be included in it, it can be said that the Ming Dynasty will never lack these raw materials again. In addition, such a large piece of land in Australia is the last pure land in the Age of Discovery. How could the Ming Dynasty ignore it?

Looking through Wang Dong's memorial, Zhu Yicheng picked up the red pen and wrote a few words on it, and then placed it aside.

After taking a sip of tea, Zhu Yicheng picked up another memorial and looked at it for a moment. After thinking about it, he did not deal with it for the time being, but put it on the other side.

A few days later, Ma Gongcheng arrived in Beijing and received the order of Zhu Yicheng to summon him to the palace on the second day of entering Beijing.

After entering the palace, he followed the little yellow gate to the Yangxin Palace. Ma Gongcheng had seen Zhu Yicheng. When he saw him coming, Zhu Yicheng gave him a lot of glances and smiled and asked him to take his seat.

After saluting, Ma Gongcheng thanked the emperor and sat down. Zhu Yicheng asked him how he had recently. Ma Gongcheng respectfully replied to Taoist ministers, everything was fine. Who would have thought that Zhu Yicheng shook his head and smiled and said, "Do you have been putting him in the southeast for many years, and are you feeling a little bored?"

"I am the ministers of the Ming Dynasty. They are the same everywhere, and they are all for the service of the Ming Dynasty and the Emperor." Ma Gongcheng replied calmly.

In fact, at this time, Ma Gongcheng's heart was a little fluctuating, but he did not react on the surface, because as Zhu Yicheng said, he was indeed bored in the Southeast over the years.

As an important official in the army, especially the army, who was second only to Dong Dashan, Ma Gongcheng has indeed not achieved any results in the past two years. It’s not that he doesn’t want it, but that he can’t, because Zhu Yicheng directly placed him in the southeast, which is Fujian and Guangdong, a region in charge.

The reason for this arrangement is, firstly, because the Ming army has been monitoring the situation in Guangxi to be prepared to invade Guangxi at any time, and secondly, after the previous Fujian case, the local area was unstable, and the southeast needed a military official who could take advantage of the situation to suppress the place to avoid unnecessary turmoil.

This is precisely because Ma Gongcheng failed to participate in a series of battles such as Jiangbei, Shandong, and Central Plains. While other generals, including some of his old subordinates, Ma Gongcheng, as a military official, did nothing in the southeast. How could he have no idea in his mind?
Chapter completed!