Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 496: The Great Zhou Orbit (Special thanks to the book friend 2019…0141 for the 2 monthly tickets!)

After waking up from a nap, Chai Zongxun went to the Yangxin Palace to review memorials. The eunuch outside the palace reported that Yan Su, the president of the "Royal Academy of Sciences", wanted to see him.

Chai Zongxun immediately ordered him to enter the palace.

After a while, Yan Su walked into the hall led by eunuchs and imperial guards.

After greeting, Yan Su said:
"Your Majesty, at the court this morning, I saw that Your Majesty was worried about the finances. I have an immature idea that may greatly promote the trade of our Great Zhou and increase the tax revenue of the treasury. I dare to make this suggestion to Your Majesty, hoping to share your worries."

Chai Zongxun said happily:

"President Yan is a man of science and technology, and there is no one else like him in the world.

Come quickly."

After Yan Su thanked him, he said:
"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, if we can greatly improve the transportation efficiency of our Great Zhou society, it will not only reduce the cost of goods, but also greatly increase the prosperity of commerce. To this end, I began to conceive and design a kind of "track" since August last year, which is also based on the innovation of Qin Shihuang."

Chai Zongxun became very interested and immediately listened to Yan Su's detailed explanation.

During the time of Qin Shihuang, from straight roads and chariot roads to rail tracks, the Qin Empire's ideas on transportation were truly "ahead of their time."

When Qin conquered the State of Chu, it mobilized 600,000 troops, and the demand for logistical supplies must have been huge, so this "track" was built to meet the needs of war.

The "tracks" laid by the Qin Dynasty were based on the same principles as the railways of Chai Zongxun's previous life, except that the tracks were made of wood, which was hard and had been treated with anti-corrosion.

The "tracks" were not run by trains pulled by steam locomotives, but by horse-drawn carriages.

Yan Su said:
“Your Majesty is wise and powerful. You have spent a huge amount of money to build the ‘Da Zhou Straight Road’ in all states of our Great Zhou, which now has an excellent transportation infrastructure.

Compared with the Qin Dynasty, the "track" I developed is made of iron, which is more durable. The wheels of the carriage running on it are also made of iron, which can be firmly embedded in the rails.

The carrying capacity of a carriage running on this kind of "track" will increase by 5 to 6 times, so the carriage can be connected to several sections and the transportation efficiency will be greatly improved.

It can be put into use by simply laying the "track" on the "Da Zhou Straight Road" that now connects all parts of the country.

After several months of research, I am now perfecting the method of matching the wheels with the tracks, as well as the method of connecting the carriages. I wanted to report to Your Majesty after I had completed all the ideas. "

Chai Zongxun clapped his hands in delight and said:
"Dean Yan is indeed very talented. He was able to come up with the idea of ​​a 'track' based on the reality of our Great Zhou!

I am usually so busy with state affairs that I have never thought about this. If the "track" is built, the production efficiency of our Great Zhou society will increase several times!
As business becomes more prosperous, the tax revenue of the national treasury will also increase dramatically! "

The two of them immediately started to study the "track" together. With the participation of Chai Zongxun, the famous "Zhan's Hook" in the previous life was applied to the connection of the carriages. Yan Su respectfully requested that it be named "Emperor's Hook", and later generations called it "Emperor Shizu Hook" or "Zongxun Hook".

When the Zhan-type coupler needs to be separated, the hook tongue pin is lifted upwards, the hook tongue is freed from the buckle restriction, and can swing horizontally, and the hook tongues at both ends will naturally separate. When it needs to be connected, the hook heads at both ends touch and the hook tongues collide and push in, the hook tongue pin naturally falls down, the hook lock closes, and the two carriages are firmly connected together. That is, when the two couplers are close, the hook tongue is hit and rotates. The lock inside will automatically fall down and lock the coupler tightly.

The two talked so enthusiastically that Chai Zongxun ordered the eunuchs from the imperial kitchen to deliver dinner to the Yangxin Palace for him and Yan Su to eat together. During this time, Empress Dowager Fu, Empress Fu, and the Fifth Empress each sent their personal eunuchs to greet Chai Zongxun twice, and other favored concubines, such as Zhou Nuying, Yelu and Gudian, also sent their personal eunuchs and palace maids to greet him once.

It was not until late at night that Chai Zongxun and Yan Su finally sorted out almost all the details of the "Great Zhou Track" and returned to the harem.

A dozen days later, on March 20th, the 37th year of Kaixi, there was an early morning court session.

After the emperor and his ministers discussed some important domestic affairs, Chai Zongxun ordered the chief eunuch Tang Qi to read out to all the ministers the memorial submitted by Yan Su on the overall plan of the "Great Zhou Track".

The general design is that wherever there is a "Da Zhou Straight Road", a "Da Zhou Track" will be laid in it to greatly improve the transportation efficiency of the entire society, promote commercial production, and greatly increase tax revenue for the national treasury.

The total construction cost, including the tracks and supporting carriages and laborers' salaries, was 600 taels of silver per mile. The first phase planned to build a million miles across the country, with a construction period of ten years and a total cost of 600 million taels of silver.

The Prime Minister Li Hang came out and said:
“Your Majesty, the railways built by Qin were used in the war to destroy Chu, and they were very convenient for transporting supplies.

However, now that our Great Zhou already has "straight roads" extending in all directions throughout the country, trade is very smooth, and there seems to be no need to spend so much money to build "tracks". "

Chai Zongxun said:

“Finance is the foundation of a country, and economic development is the only way to increase fiscal revenue.

Moreover, the construction of the "Great Zhou Track" will surely greatly boost the development of the national economy and benefit the country and the people.

Recruiting civilians for construction will help increase people's income and boost commodity consumption, so it has only benefits and no harm.

After the completion and opening of the "Great Zhou Track", the benefits will be long-term, and the future increase in treasury revenue will be more than 10 billion taels. Why should we be stingy with the current 600 million taels of silver for construction?

I have decided to establish the "Da Zhou Rail Bureau" and place it under the management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After the "Da Zhou Rail" is completed in the future, the operation and management of the rails and carriages will all be under the jurisdiction of the "Da Zhou Rail Bureau."

The emperor had made up his mind and his ministers had no objection. The "Great Zhou Track" project was then handed over to the Ministry of Works and the Royal Academy of Sciences, with construction to begin within one month.

In order to ultimately verify the reliability and also to promote the "track" to the people of the Great Zhou, Yan Su, the president of the Royal Academy of Sciences, discussed with the Ministry of Works and spent ten days building a "track" about twenty miles long that ran through the inner city to the outer city of Bianjing.

The "track" is exactly eight feet wide, made of fine iron, with standard huge logs underneath. The carriage running on it is pulled by eight horses. The cab is a compartment that can accommodate three people for food, accommodation and sleep. The three drivers are the first batch of drivers hired by the "Great Zhou Track Bureau" and their monthly salary is five taels.

Afterwards, twelve carriages were connected with the "Holy Hook", representing the twelve months of the year.

There are two types of carriages: passenger carriages and freight carriages. Each passenger carriage has 20 seats. The entire Dazhou rail car can carry 240 passengers, and the freight carriages can carry 50,000 to 60,000 kilograms of goods.

The people of Bian Jing had gathered to watch the construction of this trial track since its opening. Once it was opened to traffic, many people rushed to ride on it to try it out, and the track was immediately overcrowded.

Because there were too many people wanting to ride the train, the originally planned free trial run of the "railway" train from the inner city to the outer city of Bianjing had to charge 200 coins per person for carriage fare so as to avoid overcrowding.

(End of this chapter)