Infrastructure Throne

The artificial section between Moon Lake and Pearl Lake is completed in the first month of winter.

With several steam excavators at both ends of the voyage, the boom was lowered far away, and the temporary waterproof artificial dam was dug, and the long-silent water of the two lakes rushed out, from south to north, and from north to south, like two happy couples. The children meet each other in the middle of the [-]-kilometer-long artificial river.

The pouring water perfectly conceals the traces of man-made construction. The long river bank is like a natural formation. The river is gentle and clear, like a slowly flowing crystal ribbon, flowing in the vast wilderness.

This artificial canal, which lasted nearly five months, was officially declared open to navigation, pushing the waterway from the Northland to the Southern Blue Sky Merchant Alliance forward by a full [-] kilometers, saving time as long as ten days.

On the day of the opening of the voyage, the nobles of the Northern Cities Alliance were speechless collectively. They stood on the towering towers of Moon City, overlooking Beiyuan’s continuous steel fleet swimming in front of their own gates, and sent brand-new steam excavators to New Zealand one by one. River section, start the next phase of construction.

They can only watch these crazy decisions that were once laughed at become reality one by one, and they can't even destroy them.

There was once a whimsical nobleman who tried in vain to mobilize slaves and commoners to go to the artificial river channel dug by Beiyuan and secretly fill in the soil under the cover of night.

However, after one night, the sand carried on the boat was exhausted, and the peasants were so tired that their waists and backs ached. Compared with those wide tunnels, the filled part was almost negligible. At the other end, the steam excavator worked all night and moved forward. up hundreds of meters.

Before the dawn of dawn, the patrolling orcs and human escort soldiers came first. The ships and civilians were all confiscated, and they were forced to become members of the construction team.

After mobilizing the huge fleet formed by the alliance forces and being beaten and fled by the Beiyuan fleet, the nobles of Moon City fell into despair. The further the Beiyuan excavation and construction team dug south, the farther away they were from their sphere of influence. It is more difficult to stop.

With the experience of the first artificial section, the subsequent excavation efficiency has improved a lot. The Beiyuan Kingdom divided the construction team into several detachments, and successively excavated the remaining sections of the river at the same time.

The further south you go, the closer you are to the Blue Sky Business Alliance. With the care of the elves and mermaids, food and materials can be purchased directly from the nearest city of the Blue Sky Business Alliance and delivered directly to the construction site. On the contrary, the construction of the project is smoother than in the Northland.

It took a total of nearly ten months. At the end of the second year after the Beiyuan Fleet officially dug the artificial canal, this Grand Canal, which has been manually excavated for a total length of more than [-] kilometers, was finally completed!

The canal is at the southern end, connected to the tributaries of the southern water system, and flows into the sea from the delta in the southeastern part of the mainland. It has become the first canal in the Shuguang Continent that runs through the north and the south!

This artificial canal connects Chiyuan River to the north and Blue Sky City to the south, completely opening up the direct commercial and trade flights between the north and the south. Coupled with the use of steam ships, the two-month journey between the north and the south has since come to an end.

His Majesty the King of Beiyuan personally named it the Beiyuan Grand Canal. The name of the Beiyuan Kingdom will be engraved in the history of the Shuguang Continent forever along with this endless river.

All the cities and regions benefited by the canal, no matter what thoughts they have in their hearts, can no longer ignore this "Pellet Kingdom" in the desolate north.

Even the two great empires of the East and the West had to pinch their noses and add an unprecedented touch to the geographical map of mountains and rivers, admitting in amazement that this is a great miracle.

So far, the so-called "blockade across the entire territory" of the Beiyuan Kingdom by the Northland has been completely reduced to a display.

After all, the Chiyuan River is not covered, and the Beiyuan Steel Fleet can come and go freely. Entering every tributary is like wandering in the back garden of your own home. Even the water bandits flooding in the south of the Chiyuan River have been wiped out, and they washed their hands and went ashore to behave Farming is much safer than robbing in water.

Under the black and gold banner of Beiyuan's steam cargo iron ship, no one with a short eye would dare to rob it. Coupled with the black muzzles opened in the cabins on both sides, even the tax collection checkpoints along the Beiyuan Canal were exempted.

Since the steam cargo ship sails day and night, it is several times faster than sails and manpower, which greatly shortens the voyage time. In addition, it has a high carrying capacity and requires fewer sailors, so there is almost no need to stop at the shore to replenish supplies.

The cities on both sides of the strait could only watch iron freight ships pass by under their noses, and Baba stared blankly.

As the transportation lifeline of the Beiyuan Canal began to play a role, a large number of light industrial goods manufactured by the Beiyuan Kingdom were continuously imported into the Blue Sky Merchant Alliance.

Then, through the commercial center of the whole continent, the Blue Sky Business Alliance, through its transportation and distribution network all over the mainland, it radiates to both ends of the mainland.

Just being popular in the Northland is far from enough to satisfy Shen Qingze's appetite. It is his ultimate goal to make "Made by Yuanliu" sell well in the Dawn Continent, and even to the Beastman Grand Canyon.

Compared with the three extremely wealthy empires, the Northland is too poor, and its purchasing power is very limited. Once the transportation line is fully opened, this wave of sweeping the mainland can no longer be stopped. The orders from the Azure Sky King City alone will Enough to feed any factory near Yuanliu City for ten years.

The first branch of Yuanliu Bank in Bikong Wangcheng was officially completed, and Yuanliu coins began to quietly enter the financial market across the continent. A large number of gold and silver boxes were piled into the Yuanliu Bank's treasury.

Even a treasury was so full that it couldn't fit, and a treasury close to the underground palace of the Blue Sky Royal Family had to be excavated to store gold and silver from the three empires. Finally, ship by ship, they were transported back to Yuanliu City by steam iron ship.

It is not without conditions for the Blue Sky Business Alliance to open the door to Bei Yuan so much and cooperate closely.

The shrewd Third Prince Shelley, when he first saw the huge, heavy steel steamship emitting thick gray-white smoke along the canal, together with the Mermaid Seventh Prince Fuqu, was so shocked that his scalp went numb and he couldn't speak. .

Although they had already learned about Beiyuan Nation's amazing shipbuilding technology from information, they were still deeply moved by it when they saw it with their own eyes.

Shelley immediately wrote to Shen Qingze, hoping that Beiyuan could sell a few steamships to the Blue Sky Merchant Alliance.

At that time, His Majesty Beiyuan, who was far away at the northern end of the mainland, was returning from his inspection tour of the country's first waterworks that had just been completed.

The tap water pipes drilled with a steam boring machine have been laid for the Yuanliu City's main mansion and palace after the factory has completed the anti-rust coating process. After a period of trial operation, they can be promoted to the whole city.

The ministers discussed the sale of the steamship in the conference hall. One side believed that Beiyuan needed to sell it to the Blue Sky Merchant Alliance, and the other side was worried that the technology would be stolen and cracked.

Shen Qingze put down the open purchase letter, knocked on the table, and said calmly: "Of course steamships for military use cannot be sold, but who said we can't sell them for civilian use?"

"Our R&D department has been improving technology, including steam engines. It's not impossible to sell them. As long as the income in return is sufficient, and our technology has been improving, the original civilian steamships should almost be eliminated, and the carrying capacity will be larger. Freighters with stronger armed forces are launched."

After Shen Qingze wrote down various items on the paper, such as steamship, operation training, maintenance, after-sales service, etc., he set a price that was enough to make all the ministers present stare blankly.

He added lightly: "Let the news spread about this matter, and say that we, Beiyuan, open the sale of civil cargo steamships to the entire continent. We don't sell technology, only finished products, and the one with the highest price wins."

This news spread throughout the Northland and the three empires in just one month, and was even sent to the desks of the emperors of various countries as important information.

Along the Chiyuan River, the story of a Beiyuan steel warship defeating a hundred fleets of the Zhucheng Alliance spread, and no force dared to underestimate Beiyuan. Compared with the old-fashioned wooden tall ships, steel steamships Undoubtedly, it has the advantage of crossing the era, it cannot be burned or knocked over.

Cities not along rivers and coasts are fine. Cities built near water will have to live in the nightmare of long-range strikes by steel warship artillery from now on, and have trouble sleeping and eating.

Fortunately, the Dawn Continent is dominated by land, and the interior far away from rivers and seas does not need to worry about blows from the water for the time being.

Even so, the steam carrier that Beiyuan opened for purchase is still eagerly awaited by all major forces.

Such a large steel ship with a complex structure must have a limited annual output, and any force wants to buy as much as possible. Under the scramble, the final price is even double the unscrupulous price proposed by Shen Qingze.

As a business ally of Beiyuan, the Blue Sky Merchant Alliance obtained a share of ten steam transport ships at a "low" price of [-]% discount, which was far higher than the shares shared by the Eastern and Western Empires.

As for Beidi, except for Moon City, which bought one by selling pots and iron, the other cities only bought a few pitiful small tin sampans.

In exchange for a [-]% discount, the Blue Sky Merchant Alliance reciprocated, and without hesitation agreed to Beiyuan's request to invest in the construction of a dedicated port near the Blue Sky King City, and sold the uninhabited tidal flat near the southern port to Beiyuan at the price of wasteland. deep.

Due to the sudden emergence of a large amount of "black water" in the past few years, even the nearby fishermen have moved away. Now, Beiyuan has completely become an "enclave" at the southern end of the mainland.

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Moon City, City Lord's Mansion.

The conference hall filled with representatives of the nobles of the Zhucheng Alliance was extremely oppressive today, with some invisible pressure hanging over everyone's heads, so gloomy that they couldn't breathe.

"Everyone, do you want to continue to hesitate and let Beiyuan Kingdom go on like this?" City Lord Moon squinted his eyes, and his tone was extremely heavy.

"We put up with the matter of digging the canal, and we also put up with the matter of destroying our fleet. However, Beiyuan Kingdom, instead of accepting it as soon as it is good, has acted recklessly with those black iron lumps and made progress!"

"It's fine for their fleet to and from the Moon River not to pay customs duties to our cities along the river according to the regulations. Now, they dare to set up an interception card in the middle of the waterway and ask us to pay them tolls?!"

The meeting hall was noisy, and the nobles were all angry. For a hundred years, they were the only nobles who exploited other caravans. How could it be other people's turn to exploit themselves?

The Lord of the Moon City was so angry that his voice was trembling, and he almost changed his tune: "Are they hooligans?! When did this river become theirs? Have they already regarded the Northland as their own territory?"

Faced with the city lord's furious rage, other noble representatives remained silent. For quite a long time in the past, it was the Zhucheng Alliance who pinched Beiyuan's neck and tried every means to chase and intercept him.

It never occurred to them that within a year or so, Bei Yuan would turn their back on their veins.

"Everyone, take a look at those two empty seats!" City Lord Moon raised his voice, "There are two cities close to Beiyuan. With dignity and honor, I bowed my head to Beiyuan and begged for mercy!"

"If we don't unite and take action, sooner or later we will lose all status and wealth like them!"

A nobleman coughed lightly and showed embarrassment: "But the facts have proved that we can't beat Beiyuan together."

The atmosphere in the meeting hall was suddenly stagnant, and the nobles exchanged glances veiledly. They only wanted benefits, but they didn't want to bear the consequences of angering Beiyuan.

City Lord Moon sneered in his heart, but turned gentle on his face: "We can't beat it, but the two empires don't want to watch Beiyuan rise. The stronger Beiyuan shows, the more it will be attacked by the two empires." fear."

The nobles were dubious: "If there is not enough interest, how could the two empires easily start a war for us?"

The Lord of the Moon City smiled strangely: "As long as we wait and become an autonomous territory divided by the two empires, we will still maintain our current status. What does it matter who we serve as master?"

The nobles raised their heads in astonishment.

"A [-] army! In the name of the Zhucheng Alliance, borrow [-] strong soldiers from the two empires to force Beiyuan to withdraw the tax collection gates on the canal, and hand over the technical secrets of steam engines and steel warships!"

"I don't believe it. Beiyuan, with a total population of less than 50, can withstand the strangling of the two empires! So what about their powerful water fleet? Can they even drive steel warships ashore?!"