Yang Zhengbin's words also aroused great interest among many other ministers. The New World is not only extremely important to the official empire, but also of great interest to the industrial and commercial circles who have more and more say in the empire. But now The main interest of the empire's industrial and commercial circles was also focused on commercial activities that provided supplies and transportation for the empire's garrison in the New World. They were still full of doubts and fears about the New World, which was still thousands of kilometers away from the port of Sikkim in the southwest of the empire, which also affected them. The feelings of the spokesmen at the center of the empire.
"Master Yang, do you mean that a large number of minerals have been discovered in the New World, including gold, silver, copper and iron mines?" After swallowing his saliva, Minister of Commerce Zeng Guohong couldn't help but ask.
As the Minister of Commerce, the theory is that he should have some understanding of these situations, but in addition to the military, surveying and mapping teams and prospecting organizations mainly come from the intelligence department and economic development department, while the Ministry of Commerce focuses more on the development of already mature industries. economic regions, such as commercial relations with the Three Kingdoms Alliance and the Nanyang Alliance, developing commercial exchanges with the Baltic Sea and Aegean Sea coastal areas, etc. The Ministry of Commerce is not a key concern of the New World, where the commodity market is not yet mature.
But another identity of Zeng Guohong is that he is an important representative of Jiangnan merchants in the center of the empire. Jiangnan merchants have played an increasing role in the empire's economic status, and their influence in the empire's political class has also increased day by day. Jiangnan has begun to set off a new wave of technological revolution, and investment in technological transformation of traditional industries has surged. However, this does not mean that Jiangnan businessmen are only afraid of focusing on traditional industries in Jiangnan. For such industries as mining and metallurgy, They also know that the profits of quasi-resource utilization industries are far greater than those of traditional industries. However, during the Tanghe Empire, these industries have been monopolized by the central nobles, mainly the nobles of the Imperial Capital and Heshuo areas. It is very difficult for the Jiangnan business community to get involved in these industries.
But now the situation is different. The establishment of the Tang Empire announced the decline of the Tanghe Central Line aristocrats. Although the new rich were inextricably linked to the original Tanghe Central Line aristocrats through Situ Yutang, Zhu Zimei and the Huey family, etc. Strive to regain a foothold in the empire. But this is a brand-new empire after all, and it is inevitable that a large number of wealthy and prominent families who were favored in the Tanghe Empire will withdraw from the stage of history. The five major Tanghe families in the past, such as the Miao family, the Qin family, and the Boris family, have almost disappeared. They can occasionally be mentioned in historical memories. Factions such as the Luzon Clan are mainly in the industrial and commercial circles. Although they all rely on industry and commerce to make their fortunes, they have gradually differentiated into several groups with considerable influence due to their different bases and different industries. They all have considerable backgrounds in the central government of the empire, and some important ministers have gradually evolved into spokespersons for their economic interests.
After the decline of several major families that had monopolized the empire's mining and metallurgical industries, they were replaced by the wealthy industrial and commercial classes of the Northwest and New Central families. They competed with the Jiangnan merchants for dominance in these two industries, and the struggle was also It is quite fierce, and the competition has spread throughout the Indian region and Northern Luzon. And now a new resource area has appeared. As the spokesperson of Jiangnan merchants, how could Zeng Guohong not pay attention to it
"Yes. In the New World territories controlled by the empire, gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal mines have been discovered. The reserves of gold and silver mines are very large. In particular, the reserves of copper mines are said to far exceed the reserves discovered by the empire itself by several times. However, Most of the areas where these mines are located are located in inland areas. The transportation conditions in these areas are now quite backward. If you want to mine the land, you first need to solve the transportation problem. However, the water conservancy resources in that area are quite rich. If you can plan well and dig some Small canals, I believe this problem can be solved very well.”
Of course, Yang Zhengbin knew that it was not just Zeng Guohong who was listening to his introduction. Tian Yi, Lao Min, Qiu Yunhan and others were all pondering the content of his words. Behind them, they all represented a considerable group of business forces. , the reason why I want to throw out such a bait is to attract the business class behind these guys to pay attention to the New World. The basic conditions of the New World are really poor. It is really difficult to rely entirely on the central government of the empire for investment. If these wealthy industrial and commercial tycoons can be successfully introduced, the development progress of the New World will be greatly improved. This is why His Majesty the Emperor intends to leak this information to this meeting. The main reason for coming out.
"Okay, Zhengbin, don't take the topic too far. We all know that the New World is rich. The mines are certainly one aspect. But the most important thing is that the New World is not vast and uninhabited. And the most important thing is that these lands are quite fertile. Didn’t the intelligence department and the surveying and mapping team say that they had discovered a large lake? Didn’t they say that hundreds of miles around the lake were fertile land that could not only grow rice, but could also be used to grow sugar cane, coffee, tea trees, tobacco, and cocoa? These areas It is absolutely possible to mobilize immigrants to develop it as soon as possible. I believe that area will soon become an important raw material base for our empire. The empire has not yet had a complete development plan before. The Ministry of Economic Development should consider the plan. If these unowned lands No one farming should be state-owned." Although Wu Feng said that he wanted Yang Zhengbin to get back to the topic, he himself added fuel to the fire, intending to let everyone understand that the opportunity was fleeting, and the only way to take action was to do it as early as possible .
"Yes, Your Majesty." Yang Zhengbin responded quickly: "What I mean is that in order to consolidate the empire's rule in these areas, we should increase our efforts to develop the economy of those areas where our Tang people do not have an advantage, and at the same time encourage the Tang people's industry and commerce. The Tang people should also strive to take the initiative in the New World. After all, resources and land in these areas are quite cheap. Now those Indian nobles have a very keen sense of smell and have noticed this opportunity. If I
If the local Tang merchants in our empire don't catch up, they will never have such good opportunities in the New World in the future. "
Seeing that Yang Zhengbin's words were still somewhat off-topic, Xiao Tang did not know that this was done intentionally under Wu Feng's instruction. As Prime Minister of the Government Affairs Council, he certainly had the responsibility to bring the topic back: "Your Majesty, I think that the economic and technological development of the powerful powers in the Western Continent is rapid. , our empire must not fall behind. In addition to the central government continuing to increase investment in this area, we should also introduce policies to encourage and support enterprises and private individuals to establish scientific research institutions. The imperial finance can allocate a special fund specifically to support and reward those who have Institutions and personnel who have made achievements in scientific research, or the imperial treasury can also invest in establishing cooperative research institutions jointly with enterprises and civil society. Only by establishing a set of institutions that value and encourage the development of scientific research can it become an effective mechanism. The empire's emphasis on the development of scientific research and technology has been popularized. In addition, the empire should also attach importance to the popularization, promotion and application of new technologies developed. Only in this way can the empire's economy benefit from them to the maximum extent."
"Xiao Xiangzhi's words are very reasonable. Technological leadership has increasingly become an important criterion for measuring a country's development level and comprehensive economic strength. All countries in the Western Continent have realized this. They are now ahead of us in many aspects, so I feel that we can make some appropriate adjustments in the collection direction of the intelligence department. In addition to collecting political, economic and military intelligence of these countries, we should appropriately shift the focus to the collection of their technological development. In this regard, the General Intelligence Agency should To play a special role, I think it is better to set up a special intelligence collection department on advanced industrial and agricultural technologies of various countries in the General Intelligence Agency, specifically to collect and spy on the more advanced industrial and agricultural technologies of various countries, and to transmit this technical information back to the empire as much as possible. , let this intelligence play a role in the economic development of the empire."
Su Qin considered this issue from another perspective. For example, the Leeds Kingdom's steelmaking, machinery manufacturing, shipbuilding and military production technology, and the Famini Empire's machinery manufacturing and military production technology are all ahead of the empire in many aspects. If these can be obtained technology, it can save a lot of energy and time for the empire's scientific and technological development departments, so that these industrial departments in the empire can master and apply it in practice as soon as possible, greatly improving the upgrading of industries and improving production efficiency.
Wu Feng was deeply convinced by Su Qin's words. He had never been a rigid person. As long as he could strive for greater interests for the empire, he would never be shy about his methods. The empire has encountered prying eyes from other forces in its research on glue making, mortar and gunpowder. Fortunately, the empire's strict precautions in these military-related research prevented external forces from succeeding. However, for the powers of the Western Continent, They may not realize the importance of this aspect. The intelligence sent back from the General Intelligence Agency shows that their advanced technologies are more in private companies than in the hands of the government. There are loopholes in this, and the Empire The intelligence department can definitely play a greater role in this regard and contribute to the economic development of the empire. Of course, the empire's security department should also strengthen the confidentiality of advanced technologies in various industries of the empire to prevent opponents from using the same means to deal with the empire. Then the empire But it’s really not worth the loss.