Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 245 Submarine Cables and Meteorological Observatory Networks

In the inspection team
Deputy Prime Minister Zheng Shouxin gradually fell behind. As he walked, he asked, "Master He, seeing that our steel production is increasing, sales are a big problem. How are the business negotiations in India going?"

He was asking about the "cotton for railroad tracks" issue, and the negotiating officials sent were from the Ministry of Commerce and Culture. The minister, He Ruilin, naturally knew the first-hand information, so he asked the right person.

He Ruilin was a typical old-school scholar, about forty-six or forty-seven years old. While others wore dark Tang suits, he wore a light blue robe, dressed like an old scholar.

He Ruilin saw the Deputy Prime Minister asked, so he bowed and answered;

"The canned fruits and other products brought by the delegation were very popular in Kolkata. It is said that they contacted many sellers, most of whom were white people.

The Nanfengtang-related personnel in the delegation have already decided on the store locations in Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Cochin, and the first batch of goods has begun to be shipped.

As for other regions, they were authorized to operate to local British merchants, and the promotion of canned food and agricultural tools products was relatively smooth.

According to the news that has been brought back, there is some progress on the matters that Lord Zhongtang is concerned about.

The delegation has contacted Mr. John Michels, Secretary of State at the Viceroy's Office of India, and may enter into formal talks in the near future. The specific results are yet to be confirmed.

But it's good for both sides, and there should be good news."

"That's good." Deputy Prime Minister Zheng Shouxin nodded with relief.

He knew that the Governor-General's Office in British India was of a very high standard, and the Governor-General's Secretary was called the Secretary of State and was a member of the five-member Governor-General's Legislative Council.

The Governor-General's Legislative Council, also known as the Imperial Legislative Council, was the highest decision-making body of the Governor-General's Office of British India and consisted of five members.

In addition to the Governor-General, one was Mr. John Michels, Secretary of State for India, and the other three were nominated by the Governor-General himself, all of whom were prominent figures in the Governor-General's Office.

The Chu government also made some arrangements for the railway construction that was vigorously promoted by the British Indian Governor-General's Office.

Actually

The only two places that can carry out comprehensive railway construction are the Hainan Islands (Note: formerly the Luzon Islands) and the Tongzhou Islands (Note: formerly Mindanao Island). The Shangri-La Islands are not under consideration for the time being.

The Hainan Islands (Note: formerly the Luzon Islands) and the Tongzhou Islands (Note: formerly Mindanao Island) are both large islands with an area of ​​more than 10 square kilometers. They have many coastal cities, relatively prosperous populations and economies, and have the basic conditions for developing railway transportation.

Limited by the conditions of the archipelago

There are not many railway lines that can be planned, the project volume will not be large, and the output of rails required will not be large.

As for steam locomotives, the Chu State planned to import a small number of British steam locomotives and then imitate them in order to establish its own steam machinery manufacturing industry and prepare for becoming a maritime power.

Large steam engines are not only used on railways, but can also be used in fields such as ships and mining machinery. These are the key development areas of the Chu State, and naturally require corresponding production capabilities.

According to the King of Chu's decree;
"We cannot rely solely on imports to achieve industrial modernization. We must rely on our own strengths and, through concrete efforts, gradually realize the heavy industrial production capacity of the Chu State."

Deputy Prime Minister Zheng Shouxin was thinking about something when he suddenly noticed that the inspection team in front of him had stopped. He hurried forward and got closer to take a look.

It turned out that a large display board had been erected in front of the production workshops of No. 3 and No. 4 blast furnaces, which displayed the current construction progress, as well as the planned production areas and production processes.

The group stopped here. Factory Director Fang Weishan was standing nearby to give an introduction. King Zheng Guohui of Chu was standing in front of the display board, asking from time to time about the specific construction progress, the installation time of the blast furnace and other facilities, etc.

Stand here and look
The dozens of meters high factory buildings for blast furnaces No. 3 and No. 4 have been completed. The roofs have been painted light blue, which looks pleasing to the eye.

Tall, thick chimneys are under construction. These circular chimneys made of bricks and stones emit billowing smoke, which means the steel blast furnaces are put into production.

Batangas is more than 130 kilometers away from the Greater Manila area. The heavy industrial pollution here will not be transmitted to the Royal Capital. The heavy industrial area located on the bay side will easily be blown away by the sea breeze.

From a military perspective
The Batangas Heavy Industrial Zone is extremely safe as it is located in an encircling bay. At the entrance to the bay, there is a large island where a fort can be built to enclose the entire bay.

Beyond the bay is the Mindoro Strait. Verde Island on the north side of the strait and the archipelago terrain on the south side form a tight shield for the Batangas Bay, making it easy to block the strait with artillery fire.

There is no need to even build a special artillery fortress, there are many options to choose from.

As long as heavy coastal artillery is installed in suitable areas, no one without overwhelming naval power would dare to set foot in the heavily defended Batangas Bay, and safety can be fully guaranteed.

In the factory buildings of Building 3 and Building 4, construction materials, rails, steel pipes and other objects are piled everywhere, and hundreds of workers are busy with construction.

Such a messy environment is not suitable for on-site inspection.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu stood in front of the display board and asked and answered questions with the factory director Fang Weishan. He asked very detailed questions about the specific situation and construction materials, many of which Fang Weishan could not answer.

It also requires answers from professionals in the technical and logistics departments behind us in order to explain it clearly.

Deputy Prime Minister Zheng Shouxin saw clearly that Factory Director Fang Weishan had a layer of sweat on his forehead, which he wiped with his sleeve from time to time. One can imagine how much pressure he was under.
King Zheng Guohui of Chu never liked officials who were perfunctory in their duties. When he inspected government departments and various places, he would replace such officials on the spot if he found them.

Similar incidents occurred repeatedly, which made the officials of the kingdom serious.

When recommending officials, some important officials in ministries and departments will carefully examine them and select those who are down-to-earth and have a strong spirit of hard work to recommend, so as to avoid being implicated in any mistakes.

The recommended officials performed an outstanding job, and these important officials in the ministry also looked proud.

If I were to be deposed by His Majesty the King of Chu, I would inevitably be implicated, which would be embarrassing and would also affect my future career.

Fang Weishan and others introduced the situation for more than an hour. After King Zheng Guohui of Chu understood the situation clearly, he led everyone to move forward and took a rough walk around the outside of the No. 3 and No. 4 blast furnaces.

Afterwards, we came to the planned construction sites of blast furnaces No. 5 and No. 6.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu stood on the top of a hill and watched thousands of convicts busy filling ponds, leveling foundations, and transporting stones and other building materials, working in full swing.

After King Zheng Guohui of Chu learned about it, he returned home to the two-story office building of the Batangas Steel Plant, took a rest, ate something, drank some tea, and then prepared for the meeting.

in meeting

The difficulties and problems encountered in the construction of the Batangas Steel Plant were resolved within a specified timeframe by various government departments, removing obstacles to construction and production. This meant providing materials, funding, labor, and technical support, fully supporting the progress of key projects.

I can tell
King Zheng Guohui of Chu was very concerned about the "Nanyang Heavy Industry" and announced the establishment of a preparatory office on the spot. Fang Weishan was the leader of the preparatory office and was appointed as the "Nanyang Heavy Industry Preparatory Group Leader".
This position indicates that Fang Weishan will take on a more important position in the future and have a bright career.

In the future, Nanyang Heavy Industries will be the number one heavy industry enterprise with an annual income of more than 10 million silver dollars. It will be a pillar of the country. One can imagine the status of the leader of such an enterprise, which is no less than that of a minister.

The only bank that could compete with it was the Royal Nanyang Bank, which was also a financial enterprise with an annual income of more than 10 million silver dollars and the purse of the Chu royal family and government.

The imperial meeting held at the Badayan Steel Plant lasted until late at night.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu led a large group of more than 30 carriages and left, not to mention returning to the palace.

Two days later
The King of Chu led a group of government officials to inspect more than a dozen enterprises in the Batangas Heavy Industrial Zone, learned about the relevant situations in detail, held several small meetings on the spot, and made many important guiding suggestions.

At the wire and cable factory, King Zheng Guohui of Chu demanded that the imported American cable technology be digested as soon as possible to prepare for the submarine cable laying project.

Based on the reality of being an archipelago country, the State of Chu has always attached great importance to laying telegraph lines.

Existing telegraph lines have spread across the Hainan Islands, Cebu Islands and Tongzhou Islands. Telegraph offices have been built in all prefectures and counties, greatly improving the efficiency of information transmission.

However, due to the strait barriers, telegraph lines have not yet been connected between the archipelagos, which is a pain point in the current information transmission.

As early as August 1858, 8, the first transatlantic submarine cable was laid between Britain and the United States, and Queen Victoria sent her first congratulatory message to US President Buchanan via the submarine cable.

Buchanan then called Queen Victoria back, but due to the immature technology at the time, the call was interrupted after a few days.

Just last year, in 1866, the technologically mature transatlantic submarine cable was laid again with the strong support of the British government and has been operating stably for more than a year.

The relevant submarine cable technology is no secret. It is mainly made of 8 copper wires wrapped together, with a steel wire added in the center of the cable. Technicians can tell it at a glance.

The relevant submarine cables were cut into countless small sections and sold as souvenirs.

The Batangas Wire and Cable Factory has many such submarine cable souvenirs, which can be imitated and built without any patent obstacles.

What we need to do now is mainly related equipment, which needs to be specially developed and manufactured, including copper wire extension equipment, winding equipment, etc., and we are organizing research and production.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu was very concerned about this and personally inquired about the specific situation. He instructed that elite troops be dispatched to solve production and technical problems and to meet the standards and start production as soon as possible.

From the current point of view

There are no technical problems in laying submarine cables connecting the archipelagos, and the economic pressure is not great. It is a communication problem that needs to be solved urgently.

According to the government budget

The main line of the submarine cable connecting the Hainan Islands, Cebu Islands and Tongzhou Islands is about 720 kilometers in total, with a total investment of about 55 to 60 silver dollars. The main cost is the copper wire, as well as processing and laying fees.

This is the project budget calculated based on the British cost. The British 600-kilometer submarine cable line costs about 10 pounds.

The Chu State plans to fully lay wired telegraph lines from the royal capital Manila to the prefectures and counties of the three major archipelagos by the end of next year, including Mindoro Island, Palawan Islands and surrounding major islands. Solving the breakpoints of the submarine optical cables is the top priority.

According to the estimated mileage of the laid submarine cables, the total investment is less than one million silver dollars and will not exceed this figure.

The benefits are obvious. By then, the scattered prefectures and counties in the archipelago can quickly upload and download information through the telegraph office and connect into a whole.

Of course, the more distant Shangri-La Islands (note: formerly the New Guinea Islands) are not included in the recent submarine cable laying plan, but are included in the medium- and long-term plan two years later.

There are currently no plans to lay submarine cables to the more distant offshore islands of Guam, Saipan and Wake Island.

After all, the distance is too far, and it is not cost-effective from an economic point of view.

If the laying of submarine cables across the entire Hainan Islands is successfully completed, the next step, building weather forecast points, will be very smooth.

Typhoons are frequent in the Nanyang region, causing great inconvenience to large-scale immigration and cargo transportation, as well as production and life.

Drawing on Europe's advanced experience, the construction of weather forecasting points was a plan personally proposed by King Zheng Guohui of Chu, but its true power could only be demonstrated after the laying of the submarine cable.

As early as the mid-19th century
Le Verrier, director of the Paris Observatory, studied past Atlantic storms. He sent letters to meteorologists from various countries to collect weather reports before and after the storms.

After that, Le Verrier filled in the weather conditions of various places at the same time on a map, and analyzed the maps at different times in connection.

According to research,

The Atlantic storm moved from west to east and affected coastal cities in Spain and France two days before reaching the Black Sea, and then affected inland areas.

Le Verrier's analysis suggests that

If there were weather stations in Europe, storm information could be transmitted in a timely manner via telegraph, and the naval fleet would play an important forecasting role.

In March 1855, Le Verrier of the French Academy of Sciences suggested organizing a meteorological observation network to quickly concentrate observation data in one place, analyze and draw weather maps, and thus form a weather forecast network.

Based on this advanced experience, King Zheng Guohui of Chu instructed the government to establish meteorological observation stations in various places. Each station should not have too many people, three to five people would be enough, seven to eight people would be enough, and more than ten people would not be too many.

Meteorological observation stations are being established in various prefectures and counties one after another. Once the submarine cables are completely laid, a weather observation station network of more than 2,000 kilometers will be formed from south to north, enabling more accurate prediction of the areas affected by typhoons generated in the South China Sea.

If the Shangri-La Islands are paved in the future, Shangri-La Island will be more than 2400 kilometers long from east to west, and its area will be even larger.

Then it is more than 5600 kilometers from south to north and more than kilometers from east to west, which can more accurately predict the typhoon path and impact range.

The influence of this scientific and technological achievement will accumulate over time, over 10, 20, or even or years. As data sampling becomes more and more numerous and more accurate, its social and military benefits will become increasingly significant.

(End of this chapter)