The autonomous region is currently building power distribution stations, which will not only be used for lighting but also for industrial use.

If various industrial and mining enterprises in the area can use electric motors, their labor productivity can be increased several times or dozens of times.

And these machines all need electricity.

With power electricity, miners can go up and down in the mine, coal trucks can be pulled out of the mine, mine ventilation, water pumping, and coal drilling rigs can all be used. Production safety and labor productivity can be improved by ten times.

In addition to mines, building materials factories such as limestone factories and marble factories also have many imported machine motors available.

Telephone lines are also run along the entire railway line, and telephone cables are installed in the administrative center, military camps, and central hospitals of the autonomous region.

With the phone, it is much easier to pass down instructions.

At the celebration venue, Chen Tianhua, the Governor-General of the Meiguang Autonomous Region, Xu Yunyuan, Liao Yunpeng, Zheng Kun and other government officials from the District Government Affairs Committee, as well as the garrison commander Li Xinghong, Chief of Staff Ji and senior military officers, all attended the celebration ceremony.

There were tens of thousands of officers, soldiers and people watching.

In the north of Yanwangpo, a newly built autonomous region new city has been basically completed.

In addition to the district administrative center, central hospital, primary and secondary schools, posthouses and other buildings, there are also supporting auditoriums, theaters, churches, and various temples.

It looks like a beautiful green garden. Except for buildings and roads, the rest are all green spaces and woods, which is pleasing to the eye.

Opposite the administrative center is a commercial street, which includes a shopping street composed of department stores, clothing stores, etc., and a food street composed of restaurants, snack bars, and teahouses.

The hardware and grocery street consists of hardware stores, local product stores, etc., as well as a specialized vegetable market to facilitate residents' daily needs.

Of course, in addition to strictly prohibiting smoking dens and brothels, there are also large and small casinos.

However, these casinos and brothels are under the unified jurisdiction of the district comprehensive management office and the gendarmerie brigade. Employees need to register, abide by laws and regulations, and operate in accordance with regulations.

Autonomous regions need to charge high taxes.

Although most of the shops are currently unrented, everyone knows that it will only be a matter of time.

The first phase of construction will provide thousands of jobs. What about the second phase and the third phase? How big of a consumer group will this place become?

"It's very good. The work of your autonomous region government is still very effective." Chen Tianhua is satisfied with the opening of the new city and the recent work on people's livelihood.

"Thank you for your full support, Mr. Supervisor. Now the people in the autonomous region live and work in peace and contentment, and their living standards and environment have changed a lot!" Liao Yunpeng and Zheng Kun said with a flattering smile.

Now that the railway is open to traffic, the Road Construction Corporation exists as a government-supervised and commercial enterprise, but the Changniu Railway Construction Headquarters has come to an end.

Chen Tianhua's title has changed again. Some people call him the Supervisor, because he is the Governor-General of the Meiguang Autonomous Region.

Some people in the army call him Major General because he is the deputy chief of staff of the first town of the New Army in Zhejiang Province. He is at the same level as Xiongtong and was awarded the rank of major general.

With the military position of deputy chief of staff, his leadership in the military has become more legitimate.

…

A few days after the celebration, Chen Tianhua received a telegram from Mr. Zhang Zhidong.

The content is to build the Guangdong-Han Railway, and the imperial court has issued a decree to allow Zhang Zhidong to take charge of the construction.

It can be said that Zhang Zhidong devoted his whole life to the Westernization Revolution. In addition to running schools, engaging in military affairs, and developing industry, he also attached great importance to the construction of railways.

He believed that the railway was the first step towards self-improvement. If the railway failed, other aspects would be irrelevant. This was especially true for the prosperity of the West.

His view coincides with the view of later generations during the period of large-scale infrastructure construction, "If you want to get rich, build roads first."

He not only suggested but also personally supervised the construction. In addition to the narrow-gauge special line, he and Sheng Xuanhuai built a very important railway artery, the Beijing-Hankow Railway.

From its construction in the 24th year of Guangxu's reign to its completion in March of the 31st year of Guangxu's reign, the Beijing-Hankow Railway has left a precious and blessed site for future generations.

This time, Zhang Zhidong was ordered to supervise the construction of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway.

However, although the Qing government approved the construction of the Guangdong-Hankou Railway, with a total length of more than 1,000 kilometers, some localities raised their own construction funds.

Chen Tianhua made a rough calculation and found that the completion of the entire Guangdong-Hankou Railway would require at least one billion taels of silver.

Because this section of the railway has to dig through too many mountain tunnels, especially in Hunan, a Yangtze River Bridge needs to be built.

Wow, this investment is really astronomical, it's scary. Even if Jiangnan and South China are rich in China, it's hard to come up with so much money.

You know, the war compensation that the Qing Dynasty needs to return to the Eight-Power Allied Forces every year is 200 million taels of silver.

Of course, the national treasury does not have it, and it all depends on local allocation and crowding. Therefore, if you want to build the Guangdong-Hankou Railway, funding is a problem.

The Guangdong-Hankong Railway involves Hunan, Hubei and Guangdong, and Zhang Zhidong's Huguang happens to include Hunan and Hubei provinces.

Therefore, the highlight of this railway is the Lianghu region.

The content of Zhang Zhidong's telegram was to establish the Hu-Guang Railway Administration and appoint Chen Tianhua as the director of the Hu-Guang Railway Administration, in charge of the construction projects of the Guangdong-Han and Sichuan-Han railways.

After receiving this telegram, Chen Tianhua couldn't laugh or cry.

Letting Chen Tianhua serve as the director of the Huguang Railway Administration is not just to take care of a fat and beautiful job. At present, this is a hot potato.

Chen Tianhua is uniquely endowed with rich experience in railway construction, a management and technical team, and a road construction engineering company with tens of thousands of people.

This is just superficial, but the underlying issue is still construction funds. Zhang Zhidong is cunning and cunning. He is not interested in drinking. He wants Chen Tianhua to advance the money to build the road.

This idea is the same as the advance capital operation in later project contracting.

Zhang Zhidong knew that Chen Tianhua had ripped off Zhengyuan Co., Ltd., and that he had confiscated many things before, such as the Gong family, Yaojin Mining, etc. The total amount would be a small amount of 20 million taels of silver, right?

The richest man in Jiangnan.

Letting Chen Tianhua advance funds will be beneficial to both parties in the long run, but there are many difficulties at the moment.

Zhang Zhidong could not have imagined that the Japanese were eyeing his Hanyang Iron Works.

Chen Tianhua could not make the decision personally, so he returned to Hangzhou to discuss with his father-in-law Li Cunzhi.

After learning from the Ministry of Industry of the Imperial Court and Sheng Xuanhuai, the road construction and operation rights of the Guangdong-Han Railway were controlled by the American consortium Hexing Company as early as the 26th year of Guangxu.

At that time, Sheng Xuanhuai, as the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, was in charge of the railway and mineral construction of the entire Qing Dynasty. He advocated the construction of a railway artery that could connect the north and the south, with a total length of more than 2,000 kilometers, and the project specifications were magnificent.

This north-south railway was named the Beijing-Guangdong Railway at that time, which was also the famous Beijing-Guangzhou Railway in later generations.
Chapter completed!