Qingzhou.

Xiao Ming is reviewing the year-end summary sent by various departments of the court. Since the promulgation of the five-year plan, the most important task at the end of the year is to verify the implementation of the five-year plan.

"Emperor, since the five-year plan was promulgated, twenty-six Shangzhou thermal power plants including Dengzhou, Youzhou, Jinzhou, Xuzhou, Jinling, Songjiang, Suzhou, Lin'an, Fuzhou, Guangzhou have been completed, and the number of Shangzhou in the country is 127. It is not a problem to complete the construction of all Shangzhou thermal power plants within five years."

In the bright future, Su Liangcai reported on behalf of the Electric Power Department about the construction of the thermal power plant.

After pausing, he continued to read with the year-end report: "In addition, the Electric Power Department has also made some progress in hydropower generation this year. The Tuohe Dam is being built. In terms of the popularization of electricity, 80% of the people in Qingzhou have now connected to the households. The remaining 20% ​​are only waiting for the main line to be laid out because of their remote residence. As for the factories, all factories in the industrial zone have used power machinery. The only regret is that the current Electric Power Department is still in a loss state, and only Qingzhou can balance the income and expenditure."

Xiao Ming also had a year-end summary presented by Su Liangcai. He nodded in appreciation, "The first year's plan has been completed, which is very valuable. However, electricity is just in its infancy and the burden will be heavy in the future. As for profit, you don't need to consider the matter of profit. At present, the power facilities are in the stage of intensive construction, and profit is impossible. This loss will be borne by the court."

"Yes, the emperor." Su Liangcai breathed a light sigh. He had passed this time and could have a good New Year this year.

What the imperial officials are most afraid of now is the year-end summary. If there is a problem with their department, they will not be in a good mood for the New Year.

Su Liangcai retreated to his team and Princess Pingyang walked out in order.

Compared to her charm before, Princess Pingyang is now more capable. She has been in charge of the railway department over the years, and the complicated affairs have given her a lot of hardships.

"Emperor, by the end of this year, the railway mileage operated by the empire reached 5,000 kilometers. The main routes from Jaxa to Jinling to the south, Dengzhou to the east, and Chang'an to the west have been completed. Now the Railway Department is building branch railways between the main lines and completing the construction of the railway network. The only regret now is that the north-south railway cannot be connected due to the barrier of the Yangtze River." Princess Pingyang said.

Xiao Ming nodded slightly. Because he started his career in Qingzhou and unified the north first, industrial construction was concentrated in the north, while the south was relatively backward.

However, with the unification of the empire, the empire now needs a coastal business port, especially the southern port.

In this way, opening up north-south logistics is a problem facing the empire at present.

However, although he missed the contemporary Yangtze River Bridge countless times, he understood that with the current construction technology level of the empire, this grand project could not be built.

So, after measurement, he decided to settle for the second best.

Thinking of this, he called Zhang Liang's name, and then Zhang Liang went out and bowed and said, "Emperor."

Xiao Ming asked: "What about the railway ferry I asked your shipyard to study? At present, this is the only way to get steam locomotives to cross the Yangtze River."

When trains appear and there is no bridge on the Yangtze River, the North-South Railway relies on this kind of railway ferry.

In modern times, as early as 1850, Britain used train ferries in Furn Bay, Scotland. Even now, more than 20 countries around the world still use railway ferries.

In countries where there are many islands and no cross-sea bridges are built, this kind of railway ferry is a must.

Simply put, this railway ferry actually builds the railway tracks on a large ferry. The tracks on the ferry can be connected to the railway tracks. If a train wants to cross the river, it only needs to drive the train into the tracks on the ferry.

When the train boards the ferry, the ferry can carry the train across the sea and across the bridge. However, the prerequisite for building a train ferry is to master the technology of the steam boat.

In the past, Xiao Ming did not mention that it was because he did not have this technology. Now that the ironclad ship technology is mature, there are no technical obstacles to building large train ferries.

"Back to the emperor, the construction of the train ferry is no less difficult than that of the King's Iron Craft. Although the ministers and others have mastered the construction technology of the train ferry, it will take a year to build the first batch of train ferries. It is probably no problem at this time next year." Zhang Liang bowed and said.

Princess Pingyang said in surprise: "I didn't expect that there was such a magical thing on the railway ferry. If so, the construction of railways in the south could be accelerated."

"So, now you don't have to worry." Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Princess Pingyang responded and turned back to the queue.

Xiao Ming did not ask Zhang Liang to go back, but continued to ask: "How is the construction of the Empire Shipyard at present?"

"Return to the emperor, at present, the large shipyards in Beisha City, Dengzhou, Jinling, Songjiangkou, Lin'an, Fuzhou and Guangzhou have completed 60% of them, and a total of 42 can be put into production. These shipyards all have the ability to build ironclad ships. In addition, according to the requirements, 65 small and medium-sized shipyards can be put into production by the end of this year and have the ability to build small and medium-sized commercial steam ships." Zhang Lianghui reported.

Xiao Ming was satisfied with this data. Now the empire has basically no enemies on land. The most important task at present is to control global trade routes, because maritime power is extremely important.

For this reason, he allocated a large amount of funds to build a shipyard and cultivated shipbuilding talents.

"Since that's the case, the shipyard can build commercial steamships and sell them to the merchants of the Empire from next year. In recent years, the Empire has invested a lot of money to the shipyard, and it's time to take them back now." Xiao Ming said.

"Yes, the emperor." Zhang Liang replied yes.

After listening to the reports of three people in succession, Xiao Ming looked at Yang Chengye. He was the chief official in the empire's current industry, commerce, factories, banks and other questions, without asking all kinds of persons in charge separately.

Noting Xiao Ming's gaze, Yang Chengye walked out, holding a thick report in his hand.

He looked at the other ministers apologetically and said, "My report may have been a little longer, so I will try to speed up below."
Chapter completed!