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Chapter 707 War Preparation Highway
Fortunately, we have sufficient manpower and explosives that can easily break through rocks. After preliminary exploration by the Transportation Department, it is expected that the entire project can be completed within half a year, and no later than eight months.

But the cost was very high. The labor expenses alone required at least 360,000 taels of silver each month. With the tools, explosives, cement and a small amount of steel, it would cost almost 400,000 taels.

"Your Majesty, if the number of manpower is reduced to 20,000 and the time is extended to one year, at least half of the cost can be saved." Spending more than two million taels of silver to repair four roads at one time was considered a waste by not only the civil and military officials in the court, but even Xiong Sanba thought it was too expensive.

"If a road had been built from Milan to the East, do you think there would still be the Crusades?"

Hong Tao laughed at the strange man who wore Ming Dynasty robes and had a beard on his chin, but still did not look like a Ming Dynasty official. What kind of belief is that? As long as the temptation is great enough, the belief can be abolished and changed at any time.

Here is an example: when a Jesuit missionary learned that he could fully utilize his talents on a land as large as Europe and build one project after another that was bigger than the last, the God in his mind was gradually replaced by the client.

His real name is Sabatini de Ursice. He was born in Lecce in southern Italy, a city on the heel of a boot, and comes from a noble family with a long history.

The reason why he was given the surname Xiong is because Ulsis means bear in Italian, and Sabatini is transliterated as Sanbatini. But he was quite satisfied with this name, and even when talking with Silva and others, he insisted on using the Chinese name, and did not want to be called Ulsis or Sabatini.

"…Your Majesty, I believe that human greed is endless. The Crusades may still exist, but Jerusalem will be replaced by Lanzhou, or perhaps the capital. And the greater possibility is that Your Majesty will lead the army all the way west."

However, no matter how he makes his name, clothing, and even beard look more like the people of the Ming Dynasty, the cultural differences cannot be changed in a short period of time. For example, this sentence is very unpleasant to the ear and does not conform to the doctrine of the mean in Han culture.

"Whether going east or west, the goal is the same, profit. If you want to gain benefit, you have to walk, the farther the better. You sailed from Italy to the East, also in pursuit of benefit. There is also a road on the sea, and at the end of the road is benefit, right?" Fortunately, Hong Tao is not very consistent with the doctrine of the mean, and likes to speak very bluntly.

"...Your Majesty wants to build the road all the way to Europe?" Even if Xiong Sanba didn't understand Chinese culture, he could hear a hint of blood in the emperor's words and was immediately shocked.

"I am not the one who repaired it. You are the one who helped me repair it. When it is finished, I will personally write an article for you and use the hardest granite to erect stone tablets along the way and carve the article on them.

From now on, you can come up with a name for this road. Make sure you come up with something nice and easy to remember. Think about it for a few years, because it will be a name that will be passed down for thousands of years, so there is no need to rush."

Just understand the implicit meaning. Hong Tao is not afraid of people knowing his ambition, because behind his ambition are interests that shine like gold. Instead, he is afraid that no one can see it, so he can't make big promises.

"But... there are many countries in the west that have no relations with the Ming Dynasty. Will they agree to build the road?" Xiong Sanba blinked hard and forced himself not to touch the pancake hanging in front of him. He asked one more question, wanting to know whether there was any filling in it and whether it was meat or vegetarian.

"I will convince them. You just need to find a way to build the road faster and better so that it can transport more people and goods." Hong Tao did not give a clear answer. He only confirmed that the pie was real, and the specific filling would depend on personal efforts.

"... Actually, when I received your Majesty's order, I had a bold idea. Why not lay tracks on the road? That way, the transportation capacity can be increased several times." Xiong Sanba seemed to understand, and then he started to work hard. "You should have read the exploration report. These four roads all pass through mountainous areas. At present, the problem of rail carriages going up and downhill cannot be solved. Let's wait a little longer. In the future, we may not need horses to pull carriages. It won't be too late to lay tracks then."

Hong Tao recognized Xiong Sanba's positive attitude, but he couldn't eat a fat man in one bite, and technological progress had to be made slowly. Before the steam locomotive was manufactured, rail carriages were not suitable for traveling in mountainous areas. It was impossible to hire dozens of people to drag the carriages like trackers every time they passed a slope.

"Well... I have come up with a solution to the problem of vehicles going up and down the slope. It was inspired by the structure of a clock. But I haven't tested it yet, so I don't know how effective it is."

In fact, on the issue of how to use rail carriages, Xiong Sanba had discussed with the emperor many times when building the track to Luanzhou, and the final conclusion was that the problem of the steep slope could not be overcome.

But the emperor put the problem aside, but he was still worried, thinking that such a useful means of transportation should not be limited to the plain because of a small slope. So he worked and thought about it for the past few years, and then it was proved that there is nothing difficult for those who set their minds to it.

"……any solution?"

Even though Hong Tao was able to invent a lot of things quickly after traveling back to ancient times, and often called himself a second-hand inventor, in fact he had no talent for invention and relied entirely on plagiarism. At most, he made some minor changes based on the actual situation when copying.

"This is the blueprint I drew..."

But Xiong Sanba didn't know that he was facing a historical plagiarist. In his mind, the Ming Emperor Jingyang was an inventor, a great inventor at that. He was capable of everything from daily necessities to machinery, steel, and even food.

"...Fuck, you've given me a difficult problem!" After taking the blueprint and taking just a glance at it, Hong Tao couldn't help but blurt out his catchphrase, with one eyebrow raised high and the other low, and his eyes looked creepy.

"Your Majesty, please calm down!" This expression scared Xiong Sanba. Although he had never seen a scene where the emperor could decide life and death with just a casual word, he had heard a lot about it. To this day, there are still dried corpses hanging on several city gates.

"Yes, your random thoughts are enough to be a great achievement. What I am worried about is how to reward you. Letting you enter the Ministry of Construction as a fifth-rank doctor has already caused an uproar in the court."

Hong Tao didn't mean to scare the Italian, but because the things on the drawing hit him hard in the face, he couldn't help but look ferocious. But no matter how painful it was, he had to admit that the drawings drawn by Xiong Sanba were worth a lot of money, so it was not excessive to confer a title on him.

"I don't need a high position. Minister Li once said that if you want to do solid work, you should not get into the court. It is too deep and too dark, and I cannot handle it calmly. Your Majesty, do you think this plan is feasible?"

Hearing that the emperor wanted to promote him, Xiong Sanba stuttered a little and used the wrong words several times. He seemed really anxious. He was not in a hurry to thank the emperor, but in a hurry to refuse.

(End of this chapter)