Hongshuiwan Railway Station.

The Yu King's special train came from Xijin City. After arriving in Baku, he boarded a train ferry and arrived at the Hongshui Bay port on the east coast of the Caspian Sea. This port is the Krasnowodsk in Turkmenistan in later generations. Its original meaning is the Hongshui Bay, hence the name.

When he arrived here, he parked on the official track. The person who took the special train was Li Zhaoyu, the eldest son of Prince Yu's mansion. He went to Tibet according to his father's order. Of course, it was a secret mission, and it was still the errand of the Zhongting Court - the inspector.

The eldest son finished his tour of America, and it was natural to visit the border on his way back to Beijing.

However, unlike the last time he got on the bus and then made up for the ticket, this time, Li Zhaoyu was a serious inspection and with Li Su's support, the noise was very loud.

Chen Changhe, the minister of the Western Xinjiang, had been waiting here for a long time. He personally got on the car to welcome the patrol envoy, but found that the car was so lively that it was very lively. As soon as he entered, there was a thick smoke in the cabin, which felt like a cloud of fog. In the smoke, there were all foreigners, and they said different things, such as French, English, etc.

Fortunately, Chen Changhe found an acquaintance, the son of Li Yongzhong, the governor of Xijiang, Ata, so under the leadership of Li Yongzhong, he entered the train car where Li Zhaoyu lived.

There were books piled up inside. Li Zhaoyu was sitting on a chair and was reading a book. The name of the book was "Rural Economic Survey of Hezhong Appeasement Zone". Li Yongzhong walked up and introduced: "Grand Prince, this is Lord Shen, Chen Changhe, and the minister from afar."

"Mr. Shen, please sit down, please sit down. Yongzhong, serve tea for Mr. Shen." Li Zhaoyu said.

Chen Changhe nodded, Li Yongzhong served tea and whispered in Li Zhaoyu's ear: "Grand son, many officials in the Hezhong Appeasement Zone are waiting outside."

"Is the counselor of the Hezhong Pacification Zone here?" Li Zhaoyu asked.

Chen Changhe said: "Here you come, Counselor Huang Ming is outside. Will the eldest son summon him?"

"No, you ask him to entertain foreign guests. Among the foreign guests, there are consulars from several countries and many business representatives, so they should be treated equally. In addition, if Counselor Huang coordinates the four passenger compartments, I really didn't expect there were so many foreign guests who were followed. I thought they were just official representatives, but I didn't expect there were so many businessmen." Li Zhaoyu ordered.

Chen Changhe quickly explained his secretary, and then asked: "What is the arrangement of the eldest son's itinerary? Let me understand it and let the people below prepare in advance."

Li Zhaoyu put away the book, took out a plan from the table and handed it to Chen Changhe and said, "Stay today. Tomorrow, you will take your foreign guests to visit the New Port of Hongshuiwan Port and give a detailed introduction to the three-sea intermodal transport. The day after tomorrow, the train went directly to Wancheng or Xijicheng, and it was not stopped along the way. You can discuss with the other side and arrange several projects."

Wancheng and Xijicheng were the later generations of Haohan and An Jiyan. They were originally renamed Wancheng and Xijicheng. At that time, they believed that the land in the river was the westernmost territory of the empire. Who knew that when King Yu fought westward, he fought all the way to the Black Sea, and Xiji was renamed Xiji.

Chen Changhe carefully read this brief plan and found that the entire inspection plan revolves around one thing - cotton.

But after carefully looking at the projects, Chen Changhe found that it was better to be a visit to the cotton industry in Hezhong Appeasement Zone than to say that the eldest son was here to inspect the Hezhong Appeasement Zone. Now he felt much more relaxed, and what the eldest son did in Panama spread throughout the country.

Since the establishment of the empire, I have never seen such a serious royal member. I was so petty, which put a lot of pressure on the officials below. I knew that Li Zhaoyu came to inspect and rectified the land in the river, and I had to investigate for a long time. Chen Changhe even inspected all the way from Xiji to Hongshuiwan, but everyone knew that if you pick a trick, you could always pick it out.

If it is just an inspection, it will be much easier. Moreover, all inspection projects require the reception of foreign guests, so Chen Changhe was even more happy.

The reason is very simple. No matter how selfless the eldest son is, the royal family always wants to save face. He will never do anything excessive in front of foreign guests.

"This is OK, I will arrange someone to do it immediately."

"This time, Lord Shen will accompany you in Hezhong's inspection." Li Zhaoyu took the initiative to ask.

Chen Changhe smiled and said, "That's natural, and you should be obeying the orders."

"Mr. Shen first introduces me to Hongshuiwan Port. It is both for preparation and discussion. How to introduce it to foreign guests tomorrow," said Li Zhaoyu.

"Young Master, can't you get off the bus?"

"The day after tomorrow, life will be in the car." Li Zhaoyu said directly.

Chen Changhe likes this decisive style. He wanted to get the map before talking about it, but found that Li Zhaoyu was prepared here.

Hongshuiwan Port was originally the Neihu Ferry Port in the Caspian Sea. Hongshuiwan Port was to the east, Baku to the west, and the Volga River to the north. In the early days, cargo ships were traveling, and later a train ferry was opened. The train drove directly onto the ship, so passengers and cargo did not have to get off the ship.

However, in the past five years, the role of Hongshuiwan has changed again, mainly because of the completion of the "Two Rivers Project".

The Mesopotamian project was supervised by the Imperial Court, and was implemented together by the Xijin Province and the Far Gangland Region. Most of the investment was invested by the Cabinet and the Lifanyuan. The so-called Mesopotamian Rivers are the Don River and the Volga River.

This project includes the opening of the Don-Volga Canal and the dredging of the two rivers. The canal has been opened for more than ten years, and the dredging of the river is relatively slow, which is not limited by the project capacity. The project is a special steam-powered dredger, which is quite fast.

Mainly, the upper reaches of the Don and Volga Rivers are both within Russia, especially the Volga River. Russia uses this river to export timber to the empire on a large scale, so many logging farms and timber processing plants have emerged in Russia. Those logging farms will tie wood together to form timber rafts. In summer and autumn, wood is placed in the middle and lower reaches. Many of the wood is dispersed or not under enough care, which has become an important factor affecting shipping safety in the river channel.

Since the Pei Yuanqi era, he has been committed to solving this problem, but diplomatic means have never worked. After Li Su took over Xijin, he used a quick knife to cut the mess and directly blocked the river channel at the junction of the two countries, saying that if Russia does not solve this problem, it will no longer allow Russia to use the two river channels within the empire, and then Russia's timber, food and animal husbandry exports will be problems.

Russia immediately expressed its protest because according to the agreement, the Dnieper, Don and Volga Rivers were opened to China, Russia and Poland, and Li Su immediately stated that if this problem was not resolved, the empire would give up the agreement.

In fact, Pei Yuanqi did not understand this trick, but the shipping of the three rivers was related to the interests of the imperial merchants. He did not want to offend the imperial merchants. Instead, Li Su, the new official took office as a three-way fire, so he didn't need to consider these for the time being.

As a result, the Russians surrendered and expressed their desire to jointly maintain the safety of the Mesopotamian shipping. After solving this problem, the completion of the Mesopotamian project directly led to the birth of the three-sea intermodal transport. Hongshuiwan Port became a window for the river to the outside world. The ships departing from here can directly pass through the Volga River, the Canal, the Don River, and reach the Azov Sea and the Black Sea. The unobstructed flow between the three seas was achieved.

It is just because of the freezing winter and not all year round, but it is already very convenient for the external connection between the river, not to mention that the railway from Zhenbeicheng to Hongshuiwan is also under construction.

In mid-March, the Caspian Sea had been lifted from freezing. On the next day, Chen Changhe brought all foreign guests to the New Port in Hongshuiwan. There was a dual-purpose ship with a displacement of 3,000 tons. Chen Changhe arranged for foreign guests to visit the port operation and let the Fulong conduct an inbound and exit demonstration, and said that the Fulong would transport cowhide and sheepskin and wool produced in the Hezhong Appeasement Zone to Xijin.

Chen Changhe specially arranged a sailing ceremony for the Fulong, saying that this was the first sailing this year.

But this is not a fact. The Fulong arrived four days ago and had just unloaded all kinds of machinery. The goods to be transported have not yet been loaded. However, for the promotional needs, they still cooperated to be an actor.

The captain of the Fulong also stated that the company had ordered five 5,000-ton passenger and cargo ships in Xijin, and when the construction was completed, the dredging of the river by the three-sea transport can allow the 5,000-ton ship to be opened. Of course, this is also fake. The Fulong itself is the captain's industry and there is no nonsense company at all.

But the foreign guests didn't know that the true and false propaganda made them full of confidence in the navigation capabilities of the three-sea transport.

After visiting the port, these foreign guests took the train and followed the special train to Wancheng and Xijicheng. At the beginning, the scenery outside the window was mainly desert. After a day, after dawn, green appeared outside the window, followed by flat farmland. Every time they passed by a train station, the special train had to stop because each train station was very busy, and there were even many temporary stations outside the town.

This is because it is the spring plowing season, and all the land in the river are busy with spring plowing. Agricultural machinery, parts and seeds from Xijin are unloading along the way. Fortunately, these people are riding on special trains. If it is not special trains, the journey will definitely be even more tormenting, because in March, April and September and October every year, the spring plowing and autumn harvest seasons in the Hezhong Appeasement Zone. In this season, railways give priority to providing convenience for agricultural services trains.

Those trains with a cotton sign on the carriage are the ones that get the right of way now.

At the end of March, it was the busiest time in the river, and spring plowing was everywhere here. This is a fertile land, and its climatic conditions were somewhat similar to those in Shaanxi provinces in the country, so you can see various common crops, but the status of cotton among all agricultural products is unshakable.

In the river, the appeasement zone directly plans the cotton production area, and in the cotton area, other crops are not allowed to be planted. In each Zhasak, the cotton area is in a place with the best irrigation conditions, the most fertile land and the most convenient transportation.

This policy has many resistances in Zhasak, but this resistance often does not last long. Now, the newly expanded Zhasak has taken the initiative to cooperate with this policy. There is no other reason. In the past fifteen years, cotton has been the most popular among the world's agricultural products and is in a state of shortage of supply. In the river, among the large-scale crops, growing cotton is also the most profitable.

In the past three years, the price of cotton has risen again, especially after the Spanish War of Succession, Britain and France have also vigorously developed the textile industry, or major European countries have invested heavily in the textile industry. The more developed the textile industry, the greater the demand for cotton, a raw material. As we all know, there is almost no place in Europe where cotton can be grown.

The only thing that restricts the planting of cotton in the river is the population, and many solutions have been thought of for this far-reaching region. For example, the planned cotton production area is invested by the appeasement zone to introduce steam plows from Xijin, and cooperate with the local agricultural machinery institute to deeply cultivate all areas for free. When the cotton harvest is harvested in autumn, cotton pickers are recruited on a large scale from the surrounding Zasak, Xijin provinces and even the Persian Empire to pick cotton.

So, on the train, the foreign guests saw a large number of cotton fields that were plowing in spring. The steam tractor dragged huge plows, turning large areas of soil, and changing the land directly into a different color. After arriving in Wancheng, the foreign guests visited the largest private farm in the local area and saw more than a dozen steam tractors working. They sprayed thick smoke, flipped the soil, and the whole world turned brown.

There is a special color in the brown field, which seems to be cotton candy with yellow sugar, and there is a little yellow dizziness in the white. When I get closer, I see that it is a large piece of cool mat spread on the ground, full of cotton seeds on it. This is the cotton farmers drying their own cotton seeds.

This kind of snooping can improve the activity of cotton seeds and help improve the germination rate.

Shen Changhe discovered that the eldest son had been visiting the farm with foreign guests for several consecutive days, and he also asked this and that, which made Shen Changhe suspicious of his intentions.

Originally, Shen Changhe thought that the eldest son wanted to use this method of visiting and investigation to show these foreigners the strength of the empire. They saw the advanced technology, the economic development and the vast and fertile land. But if so, they could look at it in a general way. Why should we focus on details? Besides, there are not many consuls and other envoys, but why are there so many merchants? Moreover, these merchants are either engaged in trade, the textile industry, or the financiers.

"He must be brewing something." Shen Changhe thought to himself, but he couldn't understand it thoroughly, so he took the initiative to find Li Yongzhong. Li Yongzhong said he didn't know, which made Shen Changhe even more confused.

Until he left Wancheng and went to Xijicheng, Li Zhaoyu summoned Shen Changhe and asked a question that everyone in the far-season officials knew the answer: "Mr. Shen, what do you think are the main factors that restrict the cotton planting industry in Hezhong Appeasement Zone?"
Chapter completed!