Chapter 544: The Energy Crisis of the Ming Dynasty (Fifth Update, Please Subscribe)
What does the emperor do during the day?
What is certain is that the emperor would not carry that golden hoe and work in the fields.
In fact, the emperor's day is the same as that of an ordinary person, at least there is no essential difference.
In the early morning, at 6:30, Zhu Xianhai would get up. Unless he had slept with several concubines last night and done something a little ridiculous, this was an unchangeable rule.
However, as an emperor, he always has to be a little ridiculous. Otherwise, the carefully selected female officials in the palace would be very lonely.
Or is it not very interesting to be an emperor? Since you are an emperor, you should enjoy yourself.
This is human nature.
Wednesday was another ridiculous day as usual. At around nine in the morning, Zhu Xianhai finally got up from the soft jade pile in the land of tenderness and looked at several young women of different ethnicities lying in a mess on the bed.
Lamenting that it was not easy to control himself and choose food in South America, a melting pot of races, Zhu Xianhai forcibly suppressed the urge to continue his absurd behavior and got out of bed like a saint.
At 9:20, after washing up, Emperor Zhu did another 20 minutes of exercise - a walk on the trail along the Xin'an River, and then enjoyed a hearty breakfast in the restaurant.
When we say the breakfast is rich, it actually just consists of milk, eggs and the like, with relatively more varieties.
While eating breakfast, Emperor Zhu was reading the newspaper. Newspaper is the best channel to understand the outside world. He who listens to both sides will gain a wise understanding!
Emperor Zhu was very good at listening to the voices of the people and following public opinion from newspapers. It's a pity that the nearly three million European immigrants speaking Spanish, Italian and other languages who now live under the Ming Dynasty are increasingly eager to naturalize in China and no longer read Western newspapers. There is no Western newspaper in the Ming Dynasty anymore.
However, they can read Chinese, right? They have to learn it sooner or later anyway.
There was no news worthy of special attention in either the latest issue of the South China Morning Post or the Huangming Daily. After enjoying breakfast, he took a walk as usual before entering the study.
At this time, it was almost ten o'clock in the morning. Secretary Song Yuanqing handed over the prepared materials. It was not until this time that Emperor Zhu started his day's work.
A day's work starts with an intelligence briefing from the Imperial Investigation Department. The agents of the Imperial Investigation Bureau who submit the intelligence briefings have been waiting in the waiting room. According to regulations, the intelligence briefings must be handed over in person and cannot be delegated to others.
After opening the simple seal of the intelligence, Emperor Zhu looked through the contents of the briefing, both domestic and foreign. In short, the world was at peace. However, soon in the briefing of the Security Command, it was also seen that another group of residents living in the "Special High Technology Department" took the initiative to apply for immigration to the "Gulag".
Well, they will live happily there.
"Your Majesty, the Left Prime Minister and ministers from various ministries have arrived at the conference room, waiting for your summons."
Wednesday is also a regular state meeting. Unlike the imperial meeting on Monday, only the prime minister and the ministers of the departments who have been notified in advance attend the regular state meeting. However, everyone attends the imperial meeting.
In order to improve the efficiency of the State Council meetings, as early as when he was in the company, Zhu Xianhai would ask his secretary to organize and classify in advance the topics that each department was preparing to discuss at the meeting, and organize the topics into categories and compile a meeting summary.
Doing so can maximize meeting efficiency. Even later multinational companies will not discuss trivial matters at board meetings.
As the founding emperor, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was the de facto monarch when the imperial system was first established. As a de facto monarch, he had to bear the responsibilities of a monarch. However, he was unwilling to be like his "ancestor" Zhu Yuanzhang, who did everything himself, taking care of every detail and working diligently until his death.
Of course, a more important reason is that the Ming Dynasty also had a diligent emperor, Emperor Chongzhen, who did everything personally, no matter how big or small, and was so diligent... that he died before his country was destroyed.
Is my ability comparable to Chongzhen or Zhu Yuanzhang?
No one is sure about this matter. After all, as an emperor, it is not the first time for a young lady to ride in a sedan chair. But as an emperor, it is right to catch the big ones and let the small ones go.
If the emperor has to take care of trivial matters, what are the ministers for? Are they paid so high salaries just to eat for free?
We definitely can't let them sit idle. That's why we have to make the best use of them, so that we can justify the salary we pay them.
After arriving at the meeting room, there was not much etiquette, just a bow, and then the ministers spoke in turn.
After approving several issues, Zuo Zongtang, the prime minister of the empire, and Fang Zhanbo, the minister of industry and commerce, jointly reported an important matter.
There is not enough coal in the Ming Dynasty!
"…As of last month, 50% of our country's coal comes from Patagonia and the other 50% is imported. However, with the development of industry and the increase in demand for coal for civilian use, the gap is increasing. If we do not solve the problem of coal supply and rely solely on imports, it will seriously affect our industrial security."
The security of the coal supply chain is national security!
South America has everything except large coal mines. Rio Turbio in southern Patagonia is the largest coal mining area in Ming Dynasty. Almost all the industrial coal in Ming Dynasty is supplied by this coal mine. But even so, Ming Dynasty had to spend a lot of money to import coal.
There was no other way. If there was not enough coal, the steam engine would not work and the factory would not be able to operate. So importing coal became the only option.
The shortage of coal resources is an important constraint on the industrial development of Daming. Once the supply chain is affected, Daming's industrial production will inevitably suffer a major blow. This is a core issue that must be resolved!
"The production and supply of coal is a major issue concerning the national economy and people's livelihood. This issue must be fundamentally resolved!"
Zhu Xianhai thought for a while and then said.
"There are coal mines in the North Sea Governorate. We can increase our exploration efforts and build a batch of new coal mines to meet our needs."
In another time and space, British Columbia is Canada's most important coal producing region. Most of the local coal mines are open-pit mines with shallow buried layers that are easy to mine. The coal is all high-quality metallurgical coal, which can also be used as thermal coal.
"Your Majesty, the North Sea Governorate is just like Alaska, both of which are seriously underpopulated. A coal mine with a production of one million tons requires at least tens of thousands of miners. Without a sufficient population, even if there is a coal mine, it will probably be difficult to mine!"
Minister of Industry and Commerce Fang Zhanbo directly pointed out the problems of the Beihai Governor's District, saying that population is the biggest problem.
people!
So what if there is a mine without anyone? All we can do is watch!
After a long silence, Zhu Xianhai said:
"Well, there is a shortage of labor in the mine. I think we can find a solution from the Central African Company. Well, we just need labor... Let's treat them according to the labor treatment."
Emperor Zhu frowned. There was no other way but to introduce laborers. After all, someone had to dig the coal.
Since we don't have enough manpower, or we don't want to use our own people to do the rough work, we can just hire cheap labor.
Besides, there is a large amount of cheap labor available there. It would be a waste to leave the ready-made labor unused.
"What about this labor? It's called 'contract labor'. Everyone is familiar with this. You can study it and make a plan. Hmm..."
Everyone must be familiar with this term, because many of them were contract laborers. Even when they heard this term, they couldn't help but frown.
After thinking for a while, Zhu Xianhai said again.
"As for the contract for 'indentured labor', I think we can learn from the advanced experience of foreigners. After all, they are very experienced in this area, and we should be good at learning."
In fact, there are still many things worth learning from those old colonial countries in Europe, and being good at learning is the greatest advantage of the Chinese nation.
"Also, send a telegram to Beihai and tell them to complete the coal exploration work as soon as possible, strive to find the coal mine this year, and then dig out the coal next year!"
After thinking for a while, Zhu Xianhai added.
"Also, Wang Dexing, your Ministry of Transportation must immediately implement the work of transporting laborers to the north, and from now on, send all the rebels from the Special High Technology Bureau, Guantanamo and other places to those mining areas for training, and strive to have them complete their transformation as soon as possible and become qualified citizens of the Ming Dynasty. Although they are rebels, compared to those laborers, many of them are educated and can be used as foremen. Production targets can be established, and these targets must be implemented at all levels! Yes, directly link the production targets with their transformation, let them work hard to transform, and strive to become new people as soon as possible."
As he said this, Zhu Xianhai couldn't help but sigh at his own kindness.
Compared with the barbarity of Europeans, the Ming Dynasty was merciful. Not only did it not take into account the crimes they had committed in the past, but it also gave them a chance to start a new life.
In the future they may even have the opportunity to settle down on the African continent and start a new life.
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(End of this chapter)
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