Chastity Layman

"It's the first time I've been sitting in this rail carriage. I didn't expect it to be so stable. It feels more comfortable than riding a boat!"

"The four-wheeled carriage is inherently more stable than the two-wheeled carriage, because the device is different. Not only is the turning device added, but more importantly, the shock absorption is also much stronger. And the driving track is more stable."

The rail carriage is also a rail carriage, which is also an invention of Qin Lang. It was first used in mines and docks. It is bigger and stronger than ordinary carriages, and can carry more things. Rail carriages can increase power and speed up efficiency. , and even reduce animal power.

Generally, a brake device is also installed, and the brake can be used to control the speed when going downhill.

It seems that it is just a carriage running on the rails, but it is actually much easier than running on ordinary roads. Horses can pull larger carriages, and even connect multiple carriages in series, which greatly improves efficiency.

Wei Chang sighed and said, "Back then, Saburo, you worked as a transport envoy from the Zhenfu Division, and you carried out these canals and water transportation, repaired roads, and built bridges. Let Datang follow the path of Yang Guang."

Qin Lang smiled.

Datang is so prosperous now, it can be said that it is not only the reform of the system such as taxation, but also inseparable from the large infrastructure that Qin Lang presided over at the beginning.

At the beginning, roads and bridges were built everywhere, reservoirs were built to strengthen dams, rivers were dredged, and canals were dug...

Not only has the transportation capacity been improved, but it has also driven a large number of people to make money. After all, under the new system, there is no need to serve for free. Participating in these infrastructure projects is paid for, and these infrastructure projects consume a lot of various resources. Materials such as wood and stone also promoted industry and commerce.

Those large and small projects gather so many workers and drive the consumption of local commodities. The nearby people can not only come to work and earn money, but also sell their own food, vegetables, pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks.

This is essentially an inner loop acceleration process.

The result is that these projects built during the slack season not only did not disturb the people, but also stimulated consumption, increased the income of the people, and promoted the development of industry and commerce.

The improvement of canals and roads has also strengthened the circulation of goods, improved the lives of the people, and brought more business to the court.

The cycle keeps getting better and better.

The same is the case with large-scale civil engineering projects. Yang Guang destroyed the country and dug canals in the east, causing anger and resentment. Zhenguan engaged in large-scale infrastructure construction, but it turned out to be the engine of Zhenguan's prosperity.

It may seem unbelievable, but in fact the way of doing it is very simple. Yang Guang engages in projects and forces the people to do labor for free. Everyone has to bring their own dry food to do the work. However, the imperial court's projects are all dominated by the government. First, it is unprofessional, and second, there is a lot of corruption.

In addition, all kinds of materials needed were allocated to the government, and finally they were all allocated to the common people, and the officials had to take the opportunity to add more fish and meat.

In Qin Lang's time, it was the official planning, and then bidding and bidding. The government was mainly responsible for planning the project and supervising the project. The actual construction and materials were all market commercial activities. Although some corruption is unavoidable, Zhenguan is at the beginning of the founding of the country. Compared with the political clarity, the officials are better.

"Does Luzon also have rail carriages?" Wei Chang asked.

"Yes, mainly concentrated in port terminals and mining areas. In addition, San Francisco and Xinjinshan have now opened urban trams."

"City stagecoach?"

"Well, the fixed line will be suspended at the station for passengers to get on and off and buy tickets on the train. The price is relatively affordable."

In capitals like Chang'an and Luoyang, there are donkey renters and of course there are car rental companies, but relatively speaking, the price is definitely more expensive than that of a public carriage.

A big city means a lot of demand.

Although the new San Francisco in Luzon is not as good as the big city in the Central Plains, its planning is relatively large, and the urban area is relatively large. If there are no cars and horses, it is sometimes very troublesome.

Luzon not only has tracked public carriages, but also non-tracked public carriages, which belong to the Qin family's investment. Qin Lang didn't plan to make any money, but in fact, after running, he hasn't lost money yet, so it can only be said that it is not a profit Many, but it provides a lot of convenience to the residents.

"There is also a passenger mail vehicle in Luzon, with fixed urban and rural lines, which not only deliver letters and small goods, but also carry passengers along the way."

This kind of mail carriage is also a four-wheeled carriage, called a caravan. In addition to the mail cargo, it can usually carry seven or eight people, and sometimes a dozen people can be squeezed together.

The fare is also not expensive.

"Sounds good."

"Luzon is relatively large, but its population is relatively small."

After several rounds of wars, the plains of Luzon Main Island are basically under the control of the Qin family. When they first arrived in the early days, there were only a few cities, and the outside of the city also existed in the form of manors and strongholds. Enclosed houses, earthen buildings and wooden fences live together.

But now, gradually everyone began to live apart.

Because there are few adults in Luzon, everyone has a lot of land in their hands. Even ordinary immigrants often have hundreds of acres of land, so everyone is used to living scattered in twos and threes.

In this way, you don't have to be far from your own land.

They would even persuade the later settlers not to gather and live together, but to let everyone live far away, so that the wasteland around their land would have more opportunities for development.

This is also because there is no need to worry about the attacks of the aborigines now, so everyone here and there looks at each other from a distance, and there is no need to worry about anything, and there is no need to be crowded in an enclosed house like in the beginning.

However, scattered living also has some disadvantages. For example, the population is relatively scattered, which makes it difficult to repair this road. Only a few main roads can be repaired, and other small roads cannot be repaired.

The other is that the population is now constantly radiating from the periphery of the city to the distance, and the distance is getting farther and farther.

Fortunately, it is still in the initial stage of expansion. People mainly migrate and settle along the coast and along rivers, and can use rivers and seas to transport traffic, which greatly saves transportation costs.

You must know that for long-distance transportation, the cost of sea transportation is often only about one-twentieth of that of inland transportation, and even for inland river transportation in inland areas, it is generally only about one-eighth of the cost of land transportation.

Living in the plains along the coast and along the river is the initial layout of Luzon today. Those who come first will grab the plains that are close to the city and the river and the sea. Those who come later can only continue to spread out.

On Luzon Island, the best places are of course the two cities of New San Francisco, which have excellent ports, fertile plains, and then the Central Plains.

Then there are several plains with ports along the coast of Luzon Island, Yancheng, Heisha, and Ningyuan.

As for the mountainous areas, for the time being, only some garrison strongholds or some mines have been established.

As for the outer islands, they just picked the fattest estuary plains with good ports to occupy first, and the others took their time.

At this stage, and even for a long time, the Qin family is facing the problem of large land and few people. The land is everywhere, and all the people are lacking.

The Qin family only has the Central Luzon Plain and the Ningyuan River Valley Plain, which are not smaller than the Guanzhong Plain. Although Luzon is on the sea and there are frequent storms, the weather here is good. There is no problem with receiving twice a year.

Affected by typhoons every year, the harvest will be somewhat lost, but the rain is sufficient, and the land there is much stronger than the current Guanzhong Plain by simply repairing the canals.

However, Qin Lang's position on Lu Song is not agriculture.

In terms of food cultivation, he only needs to be self-sufficient. In the agricultural policy he formulated, there is only one red line for all farmers and landlords, that is, no matter how many fields they have, they must grow a certain proportion of food. After reaching the specified proportion of grain planting, the remaining fields can be arbitrarily planted with other crops.

This is mainly to ensure food security, to prevent everyone from planting cash crops such as mulberry and hemp, which will cause Luzon to import food at that time. If it gets stuck, it will be very dangerous.

In fact, there is no way to make such a regulation. It is not profitable to grow grain. The price of grain in the Central Plains is very stable. The state reserves a lot of grain, and the grain cannot be sold at all. Even if Luzon transports grain directly from the Central Plains, the cost is not high.

Without special demand, the price of food in Luzon is of course impossible to rise.

On the contrary, the output of economic crops such as abaca, jute, and mulberry leaves is actually higher than that of ordinary rice. Just like the Suchang, Huhang area in the Central Plains, this area originally belonged to the Jiangnan granary. But in recent years, because Suzhou and Hangzhou have become the southeast silk weaving center of Datang.

So countless local people are now vying to plant mulberry trees to raise silkworms, and even mulberry planting has appeared. There is also a sheepfold on it. Mulberry leaves not only raise silkworms, but also raise sheep. Silkworm feces can also raise fish, and the ecological cycle is quite remarkable.

The imperial court can only make repeated orders every year, and the basic food planting must be guaranteed, otherwise only local officials will ask.

Money can turn ghosts around.

Of course, money can also let the people decide what to plant.

The purchase price of a stone of rice is less than 100 yuan, and the income is far inferior to that of planting mulberry or farming. Those people don't care if everyone doesn't grow rice, will there be enough food to eat?

However, as the head of Lu Song's family, Qin Lang must consider such issues from an overall perspective.

Therefore, those who draw the red line and have land in their hands must guarantee a certain percentage of basic grain cultivation, otherwise they will be fined heavily.

Regarding the future positioning of Luzon, Qin Lang still decided to rely on the Central Plains and prosper Luzon with business and trade. Agriculture is only a supplementary one, and resources and mining are supplementary.

Luzon started from scratch and had to rely on the Central Plains.

Not just the population, but all aspects.

The Central Plains Society is the largest market in Luzon, and it is also an important source of technology, manpower, and materials.