Chapter 605: Crawley's Fantasy Journey (8)

Roads are the foundation of a regime.

Like the blood vessels of a person, the more developed the roads, the more freely the blood flows, allowing all kinds of nutrients to be fully mobilized and utilized, and the body naturally grows strong. The reason industrial nations possess social resource mobilization capabilities far exceeding those of agricultural nations is that the ceiling is set by basic transportation infrastructure.

From the Guangzhou Old City to Macau is 110 kilometers in a straight line. For a nation spanning ten thousand li, this distance is not considered long. But to dig the foundation and pave it with gravel and asphalt for these 110 kilometers in the seventeenth century — then this road becomes far, far too long.

In ancient times, if a County Magistrate wanted to achieve some political merit, even if he only intended to build a dirt road a few li long, he still had to humble himself and go begging for alms from the great households.

In later generations it was no easier. A standard expressway on flat plains costs 30 million per kilometer. When encountering mountainous regions or water towns requiring bridges and tunnels, the cost would spiral upward by multiples.

In fact, even in the economically globalized later generations, countries that could not afford to build a single expressway were still everywhere. Among the nearly 200 countries in the world, only 80 have expressways. And among those 80 countries, the top few account for the vast majority of the total road mileage.

Yes, the mileage of all the remaining countries combined does not exceed that of China and the United States put together.

Such enormous investment in expressways is something only the new generation of citizens born after their nation grew rich and powerful would take for granted, thinking it is probably like the vegetable market at their doorstep — something a County Magistrate, or maybe the Prefectural Governor? could build on a whim. That bastard definitely awarded two contract sections to his brother-in-law.

Yet what most citizens do not know, and do not care about, is this: in many impoverished third-world countries, even mustering the strength of the entire nation, they still could not build a 110-kilometer expressway. This thing is truly expensive. They truly do not have it.

Such an expensive road, in the New World, the historical Governor-General of Liangguang, Xiong Wencan, naturally could not build either. However, as Lu Xun said, originally there was no road; when enough transmigrators came, a road was formed.

The Guangzhou-Macao Expressway, which broke ground today, is only a county-level asphalt gravel road with two lanes, but in the seventeenth century, it firmly meets expressway standards.

The benefits of road-building for a nation and for a regime are known to any person of later generations. In this era, the so-called main "official roads" connecting the nation's cities and countryside are actually just sunken dirt paths lying below the water table, their surfaces full of deep cart ruts and mud. Only within cities can one see some paved paths made of stone slabs.

Therefore, once the road is completed, in the Pearl River Delta region — the wealthiest and most populous area of the Late Ming — this "charitable act" by the Crossing Faction will serve as an indelible advertisement for themselves. Whether it be the poor who have never seen the world, or the landlord class frequently forced by officials to pay silver for building roads and bridges, all will experience a tremendous psychological shock in the future.

Add to that the road's ability to promote the regional economy, its resource-gathering capacity, its military mobilization capability, and benefits in every aspect — it will elevate the Crossing Regime's control over its base area by a major level.

Yet the same saying holds: the fruit is sweet, but the tree is hard to plant.

To be honest, the fact that the Crossing Regime could announce the groundbreaking of the Guangzhou-Macao Expressway today was the result of long premeditation by the decision-making circle, and only after multiple rounds of online and offline debate, meetings, and mobilization was the great determination finally made.

The straight-line route from Guangzhou's Great Nanmen to Macau passes through harsh natural conditions, with primitive vegetation and marshes and mires everywhere. And the most daunting obstacle of all is the Pearl River water system.

Where there is a water system, bridges must be built. In the preliminary field surveys, the dense, web-like water systems of the medieval era indicated that the Guangzhou-Macao Expressway would require the construction of far more makeshift bridges than in later generations.

In later generations, there is a saying in the engineering world: gold bridges, silver roads, copper buildings. The cost of a single bridge far exceeds that of a road of equal length.

For the construction units taking on the work, building bridges brings many benefits. But for the client paying the silver, it is an extremely painful matter.

This was also a reason for a certain faction's repeated and serious consideration. The vast number of bridges in the plan, though all makeshift bridges of the simplest structure, were still not cheap, because the design requirements mandated that these bridges at least allow the passage of Type 28 steam-powered agricultural machinery.

This passage standard had already reached the level of the farmers' uncles in later generations driving their hand tractors across a bridge.

In other words, on the basis of using construction materials like red brick, stone, and wood as much as possible, the planned bridges would inevitably require steel bars and cement — at least in critical positions like foundation piles.

A certain faction was right at the juncture of large-scale construction for a modernized city, and the price of steel bars and cement, with their touching output, had already skyrocketed. Then along came the expressway, another huge consumer of materials. Good deeds are hard to part with one's wealth. Even with the Transmigrators' usual extravagance and insensitivity to money, the final approval of this road was truly the result of countless internal quarrels.

Furthermore, besides the expensive materials, the initial stages of building bridges and roads also required, most of the time, cutting off water, diverting flows, and digging foundations. This was likewise a large-scale labor campaign that consumed extreme amounts of human resources, and was not cheap at all.

In building a road in the seventeenth century, the only thing easier and cheaper than in later generations was probably demolition and relocation.

As for the official land along the Guangzhou-Macao Expressway route, it goes without saying: so long as it was listed in the County Yamen's registers, whether truly barren land or fields forcibly occupied by local strongmen, all would be unconditionally reclaimed in the future.

And for truly private farmland, there would be a unified standard purchase price. Here, nail households would absolutely not appear. In this era, being a nail household was far more dangerous than in later generations.

In short, the Guangzhou-Macao Expressway, whose foundation was solemnly laid today at Guangzhou's Great Nanmen, is a crucial measure adopted by the Crossing Faction with an eye on the future, aimed at integrating and enhancing the comprehensive strength of their actual governed territory.

This is also the reason why a mere groundbreaking ceremony could invite the Governor-General of Liangguang and many Transmigrators: only Transmigrators understand the significance of this highway to the regime.

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The masters knew what they were doing; the guests might not, especially foreign guests.

Crawley and the other gentlemen sitting in the viewing stand observed the groundbreaking ceremony in a daze, then withdrew in a daze, confused the entire time.

However, Crawley and the others were still very happy, because what they cared about was not some inexplicable viewing ceremony, but the series of activities within Guangzhou City afterward.

Previously, only Portuguese merchants had entered Guangzhou City. Now, as representatives of European merchants, the viewing guests took this opportunity, as a pilot for the "Reform and Opening" policy, to gain the chance to tour Guangzhou City.

Soon, after the ceremony ended, someone came to arrange communication. Crawley and the others boarded beautiful four-wheeled carriages, nestled within the convoy, and entered Guangzhou City for the first time.

The magnificent Nanming City, in terms of scale and population alone, was not much inferior to London of this period. People like Old William were slightly better off, having visited other Chinese-style towns before. Crawley, however, was visiting a "proper" Ming country city for the first time, and the unique medieval-era southern city architecture was an eye-opener for him.

After this, the red-haired, green-eyed guests of honor, following the established itinerary, went to the famous "Immortal Gathering Pavilion" at Cloth Market Entrance for a feast.

Finally, under the curious gazes of passersby, the guests of honor were able to stroll around the cloth market. The merchants enthusiastically visited quite a few silk villages and gained some understanding of the fabric market conditions within Guangzhou City.

In the end, before the city gates closed at dusk, the guests left Guangzhou City and returned by boat to the New District.

All in all, this trip to Guangzhou City yielded some gains, but not many.

Before this, European merchants had not hesitated to fire cannons and brawl just to compete for a chance to enter Guangzhou City. Back then, a person who entered Guangzhou City represented the ability to buy Ming country specialties like raw silk and porcelain and make a great fortune.

But now, any merchant ship anchored at the New District port could easily purchase all kinds of commodities at the port's wholesale market at any time, without worrying about encountering swindlers. The port now had a notary office, a tax bureau, and an insurance company endorsed by the Transmigrators. Once a contract was stamped there and the deed tax paid in full, the Earl of the East would personally guarantee the transaction between buyer and seller.

Everything was so safe, swift, and wonderful.

Therefore, the core appeal of the Guangzhou Old City to European merchants had now vanished. What remained was, at best, just tourism and seeing something new.

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On the third day after returning from Guangzhou City, Crawley and his nephew once again received a viewing invitation.

This invitation was relatively more important, because the guest list had been narrowed down. Only Europeans listed on a certain "International Friends" roster were qualified to travel to inland Zengcheng County to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the cement plant.

Yes, after a construction period spanning a full three years, the Zengcheng Cement Plant — a project initially established as a joint-stock venture between the Crossing Faction and local progressive gentry — was finally about to officially begin production.

And on this trip to the inland Pearl River Delta, the international friends finally got a true glimpse of a portion of the Crossing Regime's hidden strength.

First, at the channel mouth where the Pearl River enters the Zeng River, the friends were able to observe, at close range, the grand fleet anchored at the Huangpu Military Port.

Among them, the newest vessel used for maintaining overseas territories, the "Kaiyuan," shocked all witnesses.

The Kaiyuan, with its enormous hull, had a full-load displacement exceeding 3,000 tons and was a proof-of-concept sail-and-steam warship primarily propelled by steam power.

In the near future, this great ship would utilize its high self-sustainability and large transport capacity to become the flagship of the fleet heading south to the Philippine Sea.

Next, the viewing procession sailed all the way up the Zeng River. Ultimately, Crawley became the first European to set foot in an inland county seat of Guangdong.

Before long, the guests saw, from the riverside, a walled city with high walls in the distance.

Entering through a tall, thick iron gate, the next moment, various exclamations of "My God" burst from the guests' mouths in startled cries.

What now entered Crawley's eyes was a castle composed entirely of steel and iron.

Crawley swore that even in his deepest dreams, he had never seen such a ferociously terrifying city of steel: all sorts of towering towers, all sorts of densely packed ladder frames, and those gigantic "iron pillars" — everything emanated a dark metallic luster. Crawley felt as if he were in hell. Only a demon could build such a steel fortress, right?

Wait, wasn't this supposed to be the smelting workshop for making "cement"? Why had it become a demon's fortress? What were the Easterners planning to do to me?

Crawley thought in Panic.