Chongzhen and I became partners

Chapter 314 Trading
Every year on the first day of March in the lunar calendar, grain transport ships from Northern Zhili, Henan and Shandong provinces arrive at Tongzhou along the canal.

After that, Anhui in April, South Zhili in May, Zhejiang and Huguang in June, and continued until October. The boat gangs from various provinces and regions arrived in Tongzhou one after another according to the stipulated days.

This is the day when the grain from the provinces arrived in Tongzhou and then transported to the capital as stipulated by the Ming Dynasty.

Although the materials purchased by the Jiangnan procurement office under the leadership of Zheng Sen have all been purchased by sea, the original grain is not affected.

From Tongzhou to the capital, it was possible to take the Tonghui River.However, the Tonghui River has not been dredged for many years, resulting in serious silting.By the end of the Ming Dynasty, grain ships and the like could not go by water at all, they had to go ashore in Tongzhou and then go to Beijing by land.

It is about forty miles from Chaoyangmen in the capital to Tongzhou. Of course, it cannot be a cement road. If the original historical development is followed, it will not be until the Yongzheng period that this road will be expanded and built on a large scale and changed to a stone road.

At this time in the late Ming Dynasty, the imperial court had no money at all, and even the most important military salary was in arrears. Naturally, it was impossible to spend money on road construction.Therefore, when heavy vehicles such as grain vehicles walk for many years, some damage will be caused to the dirt road, resulting in a low-lying situation.

This road from Tongzhou to the capital is fine on weekdays, at most it is just ashes; but if it catches up with summer rain or winter snow melts, the wheels will often get stuck in the mud and it is difficult to move forward.

If a car gets stuck there, it will take dozens of people to pull it out, and it will also block the travel of the cars and people behind. It can be said that it is very inconvenient.

Emperor Chongzhen selected the first real railway, which was built on the [-]-mile road from Tongzhou to the capital, in order to solve the problem of inconvenient transportation from Tongzhou to the capital.

In order to build this railway as soon as possible, it is really necessary to use the captives to their death. Except for one day off on New Year's Eve, in other weathers, no matter it is windy or rainy, they are building this railway.

This is really not to allow the prisoners to celebrate the New Year, but to supervise and guard the prisoners, as well as the people of the Railway Department, just need to celebrate the New Year.

Up and down the Ming Dynasty, these captives were not treated as human beings at all, or even if they were treated as human beings, they were enemies.If the imperial court hadn't won the battle of Jizhou, these captives would have been the executioners who brought disaster to the pass!At least when I entered the customs a few times before, the tragic scene in the customs was vivid in my mind.

Besides, this railway will be built along the original official road, parallel to the original official road, but a fence will be built between the official road and the railway.

By the end of the new year, because there are enough people to build it, it will be almost done.

Travelers who pass the official road to and from the capital and Tongzhou can clearly see the construction of the railway.In this regard, they naturally talked about it and were very curious.

"The way this road is built is too strange. It's impossible to walk in a carriage. Even walking is very inconvenient. What kind of road is this?"

"That's right, have you seen it? It's gravel, wooden sticks, and the iron bars on it! It is said that it seems to be made of fine steel produced by the Military Bureau. There is a notice from the court, who Dare to steal this fine steel privately, that is a felony of family robbery!"

"This is really a waste! What kind of road is not good to build such a strange road, is this still a road?"

"..."

Most travelers don't know anything about railways, so their first reaction after seeing the railway is regret and confusion.

Even some censor officials have questioned this, saying that although the Railway Department belongs to the palace, it is such a waste, is it better to consider using manpower and material resources to renovate the official road?
Regardless of whether they wanted it or not, under the personal attention of Emperor Chongzhen, the construction progress of this railway was not interfered in the slightest.Soon after, the railway was basically completed, leaving only the construction of the railway stations in Tongzhou and the capital.

At this time, at the end of the [-]th year of Chongzhen, that is, after the victory of the Battle of Jizhou, Liu Weichao gave Emperor Chongzhen the method of firing cement.

Therefore, the construction of the railway station is mainly based on cement materials.

In addition, after consideration, Emperor Chongzhen used the captives who built the railway, and then conscripted part of the labor, and decreed to build the official road from Tongzhou to the capital and replace it with cement paving.

Because of some truths that Liu Weichao told Emperor Chongzhen before, this time the conscripts do not require the people to bring their own dry food, but are provided by the imperial court.

The benefits of cement construction have already been seen in some places.Therefore, this concrete official road is more acceptable to the world than the railway.Everyone praised it and thought it was a good governance.

During the Yongzheng period, this official road took about ten months to build. However, after Emperor Chongzhen switched to cement road construction, it is expected to be completed in about two months.It was repaired by the capital and Tongzhou together, and finally closed.

Regarding the feedback from the people, as well as some memorials from the censor, the Emperor Chongzhen was not angry after reading it. Instead, he revealed intentionally or unintentionally in all formal or informal scenes that the construction of this railway was really costly.

Look, the guards are transformed into railway soldiers. I don’t know how much it will cost, and I have to raise so many railway soldiers, and I don’t know how much it will cost.
In this regard, most of the officials in the outer court pretended to be deaf and dumb, so they pretended not to hear.

Since the emperor himself proposed at the beginning that the guards should be restructured and changed to the Department of Railways, and belonged to the inner palace. Now that the words are ambiguous, and they still want the Ministry of Households to get involved again, they must not be happy. up.

Officials of the outer court, just have a little worry: the emperor complains every day, if he really has no money, will he find another rich family to ransack the house and exterminate the family?
At the beginning of February, seeing that the train station was about to be repaired, Emperor Chongzhen held an imperial meeting. In the Wenhua Hall, he first began to complain about his grievances, and settled accounts for the officials, talking about the reform of the guards. Part of it, in fact, is the capital and its surroundings, so much money is spent, and it cannot make ends meet.Under such circumstances, it can be foreseen that the reform of the whole country's guards does not know how much money will be spent. It is difficult!
The six ministries of the cabinet, the nine ministers, etc., are all in the state of a mud bodhisattva underneath. If the emperor does not call his name, he will not hear it.

Seeing their reaction, Emperor Chongzhen seemed a little unhappy on the surface, but in fact, he was already laughing in his stomach, so he bullied them for not understanding, and what he wanted was this kind of misunderstanding.

So, he changed the subject again, and then said: "The official road from Tongzhou to the capital has been rebuilt with cement. Qing and others should be able to see it. Let it be leveled, and there will be no muddy pain. Just this cement, I don’t make any money at all. Originally, I hoped that the cement I invented could make some money to subsidize the railway department. As a result..."

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen looked at Ni Yuanlu, Minister of the Household Department, and Huang Zongzhou of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and continued with a sigh: "But Qing and others said that this cement is very useful, for the country, the people, and the world. It is coordinated by the Ministry of Industry and the income is attributed to the Ministry of Households, so that it can be used to the greatest extent..."

When he said this, the officials in the Wenhua Palace all looked up at him.

That's right, as soon as cement was invented and used in the construction of the two banks in the capital, some people had keenly discovered that this kind of cement had huge benefits. The court and so on, they all played to Emperor Chongzhen, saying that now a lot of waste is waiting to be done, this cement is an excellent material, and it should be monopolized like salt and iron.

Of course, because it is mostly related to construction, I want to attribute it to the Ministry of Industry, but the income still has to go to the Ministry of Households.For, they all used righteousness to suppress Emperor Chongzhen.

In general, this is also true.If it is in the inner treasury, it is the emperor's private wealth.If the emperor is good, the money in the inner treasury will also be used for civil affairs, but if the emperor is content with pleasure, the money in the inner treasury will be used for eating, drinking and entertainment, and the outer court has nothing to do.

If all the money can be put into the treasury, it will naturally benefit the country and the people.

But the point is that at this stage, Emperor Chongzhen can't trust the integrity of these officials in the outer court.He has many things to do, and he can't do without money.If the money is in the inner treasury, he can use it as he wants, and the outer court has no right to ask.

The same is true. In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, he was arbitrary and used most of the money he got to strengthen the army.If the money is in the Ministry of Households, it is impossible to do this, even if he is the emperor.

At this time, I heard Emperor Chongzhen go on to say to the officials: "What you said, I think there is a certain truth, I can agree, or not to share, but the household department must allocate funds from the cement income, no less than Once it was sold to the Royal Academy of Sciences of Ming Dynasty. In addition..."

Speaking of this, he paused and said: "The railway department will charge for the operation of the railway, and use it to support the railway department. The foreign court can't interfere with this money! Wait, can you agree?"

In other words, he can give the money for the cement to the foreign court, but the foreign court cannot intervene in the matter of railway charges.This can be regarded as a negotiation between Emperor Chongzhen and the foreign court.

Hearing his words, to be honest, the officials of the Outer Court couldn't help but be overjoyed. They never thought that it would be such a good result.

They were also afraid that Emperor Chongzhen would hold on to the cement in his hands, so they might not have much to do.

After all, the cement was invented by the emperor, and now with the great victory in Jizhou, the emperor's prestige is so high that they dare not fight the emperor.They just saw the huge benefits brought by cement, and they just wanted to fight for it.

Unexpectedly, the emperor was so reasonable that he really agreed.As for giving [-]% to the Royal Academy of Sciences of Ming Dynasty, it is tantamount to giving to the emperor's internal treasury, of course they have nothing to say.

As for the railway department's money from the railway, that's only a few dollars!
Therefore, headed by the chief assistant He Fengsheng, he led all the civil servants under him, all of whom called the emperor Shengming, and did as the emperor said!
Even if this matter is so finalized!
(End of this chapter)