The morning light gradually rises from the distant horizon, sprinkling thousands of light on the flat east bank prairie. The grassland is as green as a beautiful carpet, which is dotted with sparkling rivers and lush artificial woods, but more neatly planned red brick and blue-tiled buildings will appear every distance, which are houses in the east bank rural areas.

At this time, if you look down from the air, you will find that in the endless field, there is a winding railway extending to the distance, and on the railway is a Mercedes-Benz train. The train strives forward at a speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour, bringing about 70 tons of various materials loaded in the carriage and passengers from one town to another, which facilitates the lives of the residents of the villages and towns along the line. It is like the arteries of the human body, which continuously delivers nutrients to all nodes of the country and supports the operation of the entire system.

This is the Luomei Line, the busiest transportation trunk line in the East Coast Republic of China. On this railway line with a length of only 150 kilometers, there are seven towns of all sizes, spanning three counties. The total population along the route is close to 40,000, which can be regarded as the most elite area in the country.

With the development of the economy and the increasing heavy transportation tasks, the frequency of train driving on the Luomei Line was no longer keeping up. For this reason, the State Administration of Railways had to purchase steam locomotives, car wagons, train drivers and mechanics many times, and at the same time, it also constantly modified the departure timetable and increased the number of trains so that it could effectively undertake the transportation tasks that are now several times better than before.

From the latest train schedule adjusted in late March, we can see that the current Luomei Line Railway runs three trains every day, and more than 200 tons of materials can be transported from Luoqia Port to Meilin Port in one day. It effectively supplements the shortage of maritime transportation. If calculated according to the speed and cargo loading, a train is worth more than three 72-ton inland/offshore general-purpose steamships. Through these trains, the grains and industrial products in the northern Yazihu ​​area can be transported to the south very quickly to load and go to sea, while the livestock, soybeans, building materials, metal tools, and seafood in the south can also continue to travel north, effectively adjusting the commodity markets in various places and reducing the cost of material circulation.

According to the survey of the Bureau of Statistics, the seven townships along the Luomei Line are currently very frequent in terms of material and personnel flow. Prices in various places tend to be consistent, and a unified market is gradually taking shape. Some merchants who were originally active between these three counties also lost their business due to the opening of trains, and they had to drive the big trucks westward. They went deep into Ningjinbao, Onuma Township and other places in the Yihe area, and sold cheaper goods in coastal areas at relatively high prices to earn some hard money.

Moreover, the factors that prompted these merchants to go elsewhere to look for opportunities were not just the only thing that trains were opened. In fact, there was another very important reason. As the Spanish army at Santa Fe, the last battle site in the La Plata region, gradually defeated, a large number of militias or masters began to return home. Especially those militias, who had received a large amount of cash from the spoils. If subsidies were added, these militias who had been out of the war for one year received an average of more than 140 yuan per person. This was already more than the principal of some small merchants.

After these people returned home, even if only a very small number of them took money to do business, it would push the intensity of local business competition to a new peak. A large amount of hot money was surging among the people, and under the government's desperate control, the price index, except for a few basic consumer goods that were price-controlled, all of them set new highs. All this made the Executive Committee and the bureaucrats of the State Council begin to realize that the capital power of the people in China is forming except for the time travelers.

Only a very small number of these private capitals have completed their original accumulation from agricultural production, which is the so-called agricultural capital, accounting for about 15%. In addition, the amount of capital that has made a fortune due to commercial trade is far greater than the income from agricultural accumulation, accounting for about one-third; and the rest is the capital "created" by the government, that is, the huge amount of cash held by the returning soldiers.

Of course, the regular non-commissioned officers have the most money. The few of them are three or four hundred yuan, and the more are five or six hundred yuan, and the per capita capital has exceeded 420 yuan. Even if ordinary soldiers and militiamen are not as much as non-commissioned officers, the average amount is about 200 yuan. These huge capital, which may be as high as two million yuan, has accumulated among the people in this way, as if a time bomb, will at any time make the already fragile and narrow domestic market on the east coast.

During the war, the Ministry of Finance, which issued a large amount of paper money, was worried about this. After the Executive Committee organized several economic work meetings, it finally set the tone: First, open up private capital access licenses in some industries, and allow private capital to invest and set up factories in these industries under the strict supervision of the country; Second, establish a bond market, and allow more than ten large state-owned enterprises to issue low-interest bonds to supplement the shortcomings of financing channels; Third, private roads and Heyun Co., Ltd. are allowed to be established to guide domestic funds to invest in the transportation infrastructure industry, and investment and interest can be collected in 20 years by setting up charging checkpoints; Fourth, guide domestic funds to invest in overseas territories and obtain excess returns, such as fishing in overseas fishing grounds, overseas trade, overseas plantations, etc.

It has to be said that the execution power of the East Coast government is still quite strong now, especially when those who hold a lot of cash are soldiers with good obedience, a considerable part of the funds are quickly diverted out. Among them, conservative people invest in large-scale agricultural production under the guidance of the government, that is, large-scale pioneering areas in undeveloped areas in the western part of the country. The land that has been pioneered can obtain lease rights ranging from 30 to 50 years, that is, the land reclamation can rent the land that has been reclaimed from the Ministry of Agriculture at a relatively cheap rent and then carry out large-scale agricultural production.

After the 30-50-year lease period is completed, the government can decide whether to renew the lease depending on the situation. If the lease is renewed, the previous tenant has the right to renew the lease first. If the lease is not renewed, the land will be taken back for other purposes. This policy to some extent avoids the provision that the state repeatedly promulgated that individual land ownership shall not exceed the upper limit of 30 acres, and also creates conditions for large-scale agricultural production.

Of course, at the current stage, there are still many difficulties in engaging in large-scale agricultural production. First of all, the labor force problem. In today's East Coast Republic, the government basically monopolizes labor resources, that is, the "property rights" of new immigrants every year belong to the government, and it is difficult for private individuals to intercept the labor force they have been thinking about day and night from it.

In this case, labor brokers who have been active on the East Coast for many years have come into view. These people have a large amount of labor resources at hand and are also very good in the Old Continent. Therefore, the two sides almost hit it off: that is, labor brokers are responsible for "engaging" young and middle-aged labor from the Old Continent, and then transfer their ownership to agricultural pioneer capitalists on the East Coast by signing labor contracts. This method must invest a lot of capital in advance, but once these cheap labor is available, it is possible to obtain excess profits through large-scale farm mechanization (horse-pulling harvesters, steam plows, steam threshing valleys and other machinery) production.

If the labor problem is not easy to solve, then the improvement of agricultural machinery rental and maintenance, breeding stations, veterinary stations, agricultural technical consultants and other problems that are suitable for mechanized farms will be much easier to solve. At present, in Xihu County and Zhenhai County in the north, there are four active agricultural machinery leasing companies, with more than 30 agricultural machinery (mainly horse-drawn harvesters and steam plows).

There has also been an agricultural machinery maintenance company. This company, which was jointly operated by a technician invested by a traveler and two resigned from Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, currently has considerable agricultural machinery maintenance capabilities. With the in-depth development of the national agricultural machinery going to the countryside, the domestic agricultural machinery ownership has gradually increased, and the scale of this company is also expanding. I believe that as time goes by, when domestic large-scale agricultural production activities gradually get on track, the agricultural machinery industry will surely enter a long-term upward channel.

In addition to clearing up land and operating farms, there are also some veterans who have a certain sense of adventure but dare not invest overseas. They choose to raise funds to build highways in joint ventures. The highways are mainly sand and gravel roads between townships, and can pass through various types of trucks with a certain load of cargo. These roads are expensive, but the expected returns after completion are also not low, which is very suitable for them and other stable investors. The current government's policy on this is to build county roads and township roads with private investment. After the construction is completed, they can be set up to collect taxes. After the 20-year tax period expires, they will be handed over to the Ministry of Transport for maintenance free of charge. At the same time, the tax checkpoint will be revoked and changed to free highways. The future maintenance costs will be borne by the state finance.

Road construction also faces the problem of labor shortage. Unlike farm operators who find ways to reap people from the Old Continent, these former veterans who intend to build highways have their ideas on African blacks. With the help of some old commanders traveling through time, they selected some representatives to go to South Africa to meet the chiefs of the Eight Banners tribes, Clar and other nobles, and then see if they can find some labor from them.
Chapter completed!