PFC Chapter 842 Loulan Privileges.
Chapter 842 Loulan Privileges.
Jincheng is Lanzhou in later generations.
It was truly unprecedented to travel from Zhuo County to Jincheng in five days.
Ye Kun smiled and said, "It's a pity that the Western Region Railway cannot be fully connected due to the terrain. Otherwise, after the train speed is further increased, it will only take five or six days to travel from Zhuo County to Loulan in the Western Region."
Ayiman asked: "Can the entire line be completed in another 20 years?"
"It's hard."
Ye Kun shook his head and smiled, "But I know that a hundred years from now, there will be high-speed railways. It will only take about a day and a night to travel from Zhuojun to Loulan."
Ayiman curled her lips and said, "In one day and one night, running thousands of miles, isn't that catching up with the speed of wild geese?"
"Future high-speed railways will be faster than wild geese."
Ye Kun smiled.
Before the crossing, high-speed railways were already very developed.
Speeds of over 350 kilometers per hour are common on high-speed trains.
In one day and one night, the high-speed rail can travel 8,000 kilometers.
The distance from Zhuojun to Loulan is only 8,000 kilometers.
"A hundred years from now, I won't be able to see it."
Ayiman shook his head and asked, "Your Majesty, there is no railway ahead. Should we take a horse carriage instead?"
"There is a car."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "In two days, we will take a car to visit Loulan New City, and then go to Loulan in the Western Regions."
Before this trip, Ye Kun sent out twenty cars to go ahead and wait at various stations along the way so that they could be used at any time.
There are ten cars here in Jincheng.
Ayiman nodded and toured Jincheng with Ye Kun.
Jincheng is considered an important town in the west, and its strategic position is second only to Chang'an.
This is also a barrier on the west side of Chang'an, complementing Chang'an.
Ye Kun had been to Jincheng many times before.
But now Jincheng has changed a lot.
The population has grown from the initial 50,000 to the current 200,000.
The total economic value also increased rapidly.
The development of Jincheng was mainly supported by commerce, transportation and the imperial court's military farms.
Many of the supplies for the Western Regions were also provided by Jincheng.
Moreover, Jincheng can radiate to the north, and its influence can reach as far as the prairie.
That night, Ye Kun reviewed Jincheng's work report overnight, put forward some ideas, and pointed out some directions for Jincheng's future development.
After staying in Jincheng for three days, Ye Kun took Ayiman to the new city of Loulan.
The new city of Loulan is two hundred miles west of Jincheng.
There is a loess plateau here.
In order to support the development of Loulan New City, Ye Kun also specially ordered the construction of a national highway between Jincheng and Loulan New City.
The national highway is winding, but flat and open.
In order to welcome Ye Kun's journey west, the Ministry of Transport and local authorities urgently reinforced and hardened the 200-mile road. Now cars can pass through and it will not be affected even on rainy days.
Sitting in the car, Ayiman held Ye Kun's arm and said with a smile: "The car is shaking and bumpy, it's really not as comfortable as the train. Your Majesty, why don't you build a railway for our Loulan New City?"
"Loulan New City has too few people, so it's not cost-effective to build a railway. Because the railway needs maintenance, and the trains also need maintenance."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "When the population of Loulan New City reaches 100,000, I will build a railway."
Ayiman curled her lips and said, "At that time, there were less than 10,000 Loulan immigrants who came to the new city. It would probably take a hundred years to reach 100,000 people."
Ye Kun said: "The railway cannot be built, but I plan to replace this national highway with a cement road. Then, the road will not be so bumpy."
A two-hundred-mile cement road is no problem.
Since the roadbed is already there, just lay a layer of fist-sized gravel on it and then lay concrete.
There is a cement factory in Jincheng, and its output is not small.
Ayiman nodded: "Okay, a cement road is fine, but Your Majesty, you have to send us a batch of cars and three-wheeled motorcycles for Loulan New City..."
Ye Kun nodded: "No problem."
To ensure safety, the car drove very slowly.
It took a whole day to run two hundred miles.
There were two more cars behind that broke down due to malfunctions.
The driver for Ye Kun was still the talkative driver Chai Mi Yan.
Ye Kun asked, "Driver Chai, are these the same cars we inspected last time in the Northland?"
The driver, Chai, replied, "Your Majesty, the cars that went to the North Country are all at the auto repair shop for maintenance and inspection after they come back. These are a batch of new cars that just rolled off the assembly line, but they are the same model."
"The quality of this car is not good. It broke down after only driving a few thousand miles." Ye Kun sighed: "It seems that it will take another ten or eight years for the automobile industry to truly mature."
In the first thirty years of industrialization, all that was produced was garbage.
This sentence is indeed correct.
The driver, Chai, smiled and said, "The car used by the emperor is of the best quality. Other cars are of worse quality. However, most car failures can be repaired. Our fleet has professional repair vehicles with all spare parts. We also have professional mechanics who are on standby at any time.
The car breakdown this time was also due to road problems. If the road conditions were good, this problem would not have occurred.”
Ye Kun nodded: "The roads need to be upgraded, and the automobile technology also needs to be upgraded. Only in this way can we finally achieve mechanized transportation."
We arrived at the new city of Loulan at dark.
The officials in the city, together with the common people, warmly welcomed them at the city gate and lined the streets to welcome them.
When the Loulan immigrants saw Ayiman, their eyes were filled with tears.
Aiman also had tears in her eyes and choked up as she said, "My fellow villagers, are you all doing well here? I missed you so much that I came back to visit you..."
Several Loulan elders stepped forward and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Queen. The Emperor of Han and the court take care of us. We live well and have no worries about food and drink. Moreover, we Loulan people have privileges. We don't have to pay taxes when doing business. We are all very wealthy."
The privileges of Loulan were fought for by Ye Kun.
The Loulan people were allowed to do business throughout the country, exempt from commercial taxes and tolls.
This led to the sudden prosperity of Loulan New City and ushered in great development.
Many Han people married into the Loulan tribe and then used their identities as Loulan people to evade taxes.
The imperial court was also aware of this situation and initially turned a blind eye to it.
Because the Loulan people were too small in size and their trade volume was also small, the tax losses they caused were not worth mentioning.
However, in the past two years, there are more and more duty-free merchants in Loulan, and tax evasion has become more and more serious.
The imperial court had no choice but to impose restrictions.
Every Loulan resident was exempt from tax by 300 taels of silver per year. If the amount exceeded this, they had to pay taxes.
Even so, it is impossible to prevent the Han people nearby from evading taxes.
They paid a large sum of money to invite the Loulan people to invest in their business, and used the privileges of the Loulan people to facilitate themselves.
Ayiman looked at the prosperous Loulan New City in front of her, wiped her tears, and said with a smile: "I was worried that everyone would not be used to living here. Now it seems that everything is fine."
The elder smiled and said, "There is no wind and sand here, and the climate is not that dry. Everyone who comes here likes it very much."
Ayiman nodded and asked, "Are the Han people around here friendly to you? Do they bully you?"