Datang first village

Is Hou Junji crazy?

He is not crazy, as the minister of the Ministry of War, he needs to control all the defense lines in the whole Tang Dynasty. .If his strategic support can reach a day's journey, then the number of garrisons currently needed by Datang will be greatly reduced.

According to the degree of expansion of a day's distance, if it is a thousand miles away, Datang can reduce soldiers by at least 20.

From another perspective, these 20 soldiers can be used in other places.

The units of length in Tang Dynasty are inch, chi, step, zhang, lead, and li.Ten inches is one foot, five feet is one step, two steps is one foot, eighteen feet is one foot, ten feet is one mile.That is, one thousand and eight hundred feet is one mile.According to Tang ruler and modern calculations, almost one mile is 570 six meters.

Hou Junji asked again and again to build the railway, not for economic considerations, but only for war.

When Wang Jishan arrived at the palace, Hou Junji was in Li Er's study, constantly talking about the benefits of building the railway.

Li Er was sitting on the throne, holding a watch and looking at it.

It seemed that he was listening to Hou Junji's theory, but in fact the watch on Li's second hand was not Hou Junji's.It was the Ministry of Industry's budget book on the Jiangning Yangtze River Bridge. This budget book has no such nonsense, and it is completely formulated in accordance with the budget forms and budget sheets taught by Wu Zhao to future generations.

Immigration, land occupation and so on are all trivial matters.

It is not a big deal that cement can be produced in Zhengzhou.

Labor is nothing, a large number of Goguryeo slaves and workers from Silla and Baekje can completely solve the problem of manpower. .

The most troublesome thing may be the special stainless steel.

Thirty thousand tons, based on the calculation that each train can transport about [-] tons of refined steel, that is to say, twenty special trains can be transported, but it seems that the calculation cannot be done in this way. Coal, the railway and shipping occupied by this will require at least one hundred special trains.

You know, Datang now only runs a special train to Xuzhou once a day.

Affecting the several trade transportation between Datang Chang'an and Xiangdong, the cost is huge, and the transportation cost alone is quite a lot.

Li Er was thinking about building a bridge.

And there is also a powerful figure in the Tang Dynasty who is sleeping in the side hall of the study.

Li Yuanxing knew that Hou Junji must have come here for the railway. If he was the minister of the Ministry of War, he would not let Datang have the millions of kilometers of railways in the future overnight, not as simple as a few railways. But in fact, resources are limited. , manpower is limited, so we can only come one by one.

As soon as he heard that Junji had entered the palace, Li Yuanxing immediately suggested to spread the news quickly.Then he hid in the side room and went to sleep.

Li Er continued flipping through his watch and waited until Li Jing, Fang Xuanling, Wang Jishan, Du Ruhui and Liu Chong rushed in before putting down the watch.

Originally Li Jing didn't plan to come, but he heard Wang Jishan and Liu Chong rushing into the palace, so he rushed in too.

Li Yuanxing, who hadn't slept soundly, woke up after hearing the footsteps. The first question in his mind was, how much impact would this railway have on the interests of the various families?Hou Junji is not a bachelor, he also has his own family.The greatest power of the Hou family is in Binzhou.

(Binzhou is the modern Xianyang, and Hou Junji was born in Sanshui, which is Xunyi County)

If it was purely for gaining a political reputation, Hou Junji would not be in such a hurry to ask for the construction of this railway.

The biggest advantage of this railway is not for military use, but for commercial use!

"No!" Li Yuanxing shook his head lightly, talking about business.It is more practical to ship from Youzhou to Guangzhou by sea.So who is the biggest beneficiary of the repair of this railway?

The Tang Dynasty is said to be an imperial empire, but in fact it is a feudal political group composed of countless big clans and royal families.The interests of the Tang Dynasty are the interests of the common people in the Tang Dynasty.Practically speaking, it is the interests of the various clans in Datang.

The current Datang is under the control of Li Yuanxing, and the interests of the country come first, and the interests of the family come second.

But this second one is not irrelevant.

On the basis of safeguarding national interests, it is still very important for aristocratic families to strive for sufficient self-interest.

"Your Majesty, I think what Hou Shangshu said is true, but this railway is the national line." Before entering the palace, Wang Jishan scolded Hou Junji as a lunatic, but after entering the palace, he immediately expressed his support.Li Er was a little surprised by this reaction, but he just smiled and signaled Wang Jishan to continue.

"It's just that this railway consumes a lot and can be included in the plan. Put it next year, or start it in the year after."

Is Wang Jishan objecting?

Both Li Yuanxing and Li Er are asking this question. In fact, if they are really rich, this railway is still very important.

"Your Majesty, absolutely not. If the treasury doesn't have years of savings, I'm afraid it won't be able to handle anything!" Liu Chongchong objected.

Fang Xuanling also said without slowing down: "The Yellow River Bridge is the difficulty!"

Du Ruhui said, "How much does it cost to build a mile of railway?"

Li Er stood up at this moment, and whispered to the right: "Wu Lang, are you awake?"

Hearing Li Er's call, Li Yuanxing came out from the side room, cupped his hands at the six officials, and then came to Li Er: "Brother Huang, I have figured it out, five of the six people present All of them said that the railway was repaired to Huating, and after thinking about it for a while, I finally figured out what Hou Shangshu meant by this seal."

Can the king's order be changed from day to day?

There was obviously a hint of displeasure in Li Er's eyes.

Li Yuanxing sat on the nearest chair and nodded to Eunuch Gao: "Old Gao, bring me a cup of tea!"

The tea was delivered quickly, and Li Yuanxing said again: "Old Gao, a map of the Tang Dynasty!"

Hearing Li Yuanxing's order, everyone sat down on the chairs according to their status. Li Yuanxing was the king of Qin, but Li Yuanxing's wisdom and insight were beyond their own belief.

Now that Li Yuanxing has made a decision, even Li Er has to listen to it.

When the little eunuchs opened the map, Li Yuanxing said to Hou Junji: "I'm afraid General Hou wants to borrow huge supplies so that you can go to the battle of Tuyuhun one day earlier. In other words, the trade difference between the north and the south can make the Ministry of War It is right to earn a huge military expenditure."

"Your Highness is wise, I have another selfish desire. The gentry of Daibei and Hedong can use this railway to increase their income by at least five times a year, and can also increase the tax revenue of at least 600 million per year for the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of War. Freight income of not less than 800 million per year."

Hou Junji is brilliant.

This was the praise in almost everyone's hearts. Since Dou Xinyan is not Li Yuanxing's opponent, it is better to tell the whole truth.Maybe he will get Li Yuanxing's support. If he fights his mind, maybe things will be more difficult.

"It takes two hundred rails to build one mile on the plain. It's cheap!" Li Yuanxing laughed.

It takes only 20 guan for a thousand miles, and 40 guan from Youzhou Xiu to Zhengzhou.However, there are bridges in the middle, and mountains need to be opened in some places, which needs to be calculated separately, and building a station is another account.

Li Yuanxing held the tea cup and said to Eunuch Gao: "Take the blue rope and connect it to Youzhou, Yizhou, and Hengzhou. Then add a double line from Hengzhou to Bingzhou, and then from Hengzhou, Xingzhou, Xiangzhou, and Zhengzhou. Among them Bingzhou plus Fenzhou, Jinzhou, and Zhengzhou lines. Add Bingzhou, Luzhou, and Xiangzhou lines."

As Li Yuanxing said, Eunuch Gao crawled on the ground with a few young eunuchs and began to connect several states with blue ropes.

"Youzhou, Yizhou, Yingzhou, Weizhou, Qizhou, Yunzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou."

Li Yuanxing just talked, no one asked questions, and no one interrupted.

Seeing that Eunuch Gao finished his company, Li Yuanxing said again: "The two lines from Chang'an to Lanzhou, and from Chang'an to Lingzhou."

After all the connections were completed, Li Yuanxing smiled and said to Li Er: "Brother Huang, if you don't count the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge, all the expenses are almost half of the Jiangning Yangtze River Bridge. The cost of that bridge is so huge. They don't Is it strange that I object to it?"

Li Yuanxing will never talk nonsense, and there must be sufficient basis for daring to say so.

That's right, Li Yuanxing has detailed information on future generations in his hands, so he naturally knows that these places are all plains, and there is not much cost at all.Compared with that, building a bridge over the Yangtze River is really trivial.

In later generations, the Whip Dynasty invited Europeans to build the railway, and the Beijing-Han Railway cost 3000 million taels of silver.

One tael of silver in Datang is equivalent to the purchasing power of 4000 yuan in later generations.One tael of braids was up to [-] yuan in later generations, but when it came time to build roads, it was only less than [-] yuan.

Compared with Datang, the purchasing power of silver was too far behind.

"What Goro means is that all of this plus the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge is almost equivalent to that bridge?"

"It can be as low as hundreds of thousands of guan. Or 100 million guan!" Li Yuanxing answered truthfully.

At the moment, five of the six officials stood up.

"Stop!" Li Yuanxing stopped these people as soon as he stretched out his hand: "Don't say stop that bridge and build these railways. Don't even think about it. You don't know the significance of that bridge and the cost of that bridge. But for the entire Tang Dynasty, the wealth created is even more a miracle."

Of the six officials, only Li Jing sat still,

The minds of the other five people were really as Li Yuanxing said, and they wanted to persuade Li Yuanxing to stop the Jiangning Bridge and rebuild this series of railways.

Li Yuanxing directly broke their minds, and made it very clear that they would never stop.This reaction did not surprise the six important ministers, and Li Er also smiled with satisfaction.He issued an imperial decree, and the bridge cannot be stopped. This is related to Datang's face, and naturally he, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, also has a face problem.

"It's not easy to repair in the south, because there are too many rivers and too many bridges are needed." Li Yuanxing continued: "But it still needs to be repaired. Let's build it to Ezhou first. The bridge in Ezhou is not much worse than the bridge in Jiangning. , so it is very meaningful to build a railway from Jiangning to the south, and similarly, it will be delayed later.”

"His Highness King Qin said so, there must be a solution?" Fang Xuanling asked.

"It's very simple, first get some money, then get some people, and just repair together." Li Yuanxing's smile made Wang Jishan a little nervous. (To be continued.)