golden scales

When Wu Xuan broke up with You Shiwei, he had almost reached the door of the house.He boarded the carriage symbolically, but soon had to get off the carriage, went into the inner house to change clothes amidst the welcome of the whole family, and had lunch after a nap.

While waiting for lunch, Wu Tong should have listened to the butler's report, so as to know who had been there during this time, but at this moment he excluded the servants, and closed his eyes and meditated alone.

"I'm afraid the master is tired." The family members speculated one after another.

In fact, Wu Tong didn't feel tired, but saw an opportunity vaguely.

This is an opportunity for You Shiwei to deliver it personally.

The defeat of the Syr Darya will obviously affect the empire's business strategy in the Western Regions. Whether it is fighting or appeasement, there must always be a charter.The meaning of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion is to take a break first and further increase the number of main forces in the Western Regions. Even Wang Yi's tank division or Luo Yukun's Southwest Army can be transferred there.

This may make people feel puzzled, why bother to discuss with the cabinet about troop deployment?

The key is that these soldiers have to eat and dress.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were only Haixi, Nuergan, and agricultural reclamation divisions.They are called teachers, but they are actually peasants under militarized management.Other troops besides this, whether they are the main force or the border guards, are not allowed to operate commerce or carry out reclamation.

Although the General Logistics Department of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion can dispatch supplies and supplies, this requires the cooperation of civil affairs officials.In particular, whether Long Province can carry out land planning in a targeted manner, shorten supply lines, and increase supply volume, the right to make suggestions lies with the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, but the civil servants are responsible for the operation.

If only this incident is not enough for You Shiwei to come to Wu Xin.

What You Shiwei really hoped that Wu Tong could help was the laying of Daming's first long-distance railway line.

After the national change, because Shenjing fell.A large number of people cannot be mobilized, so that there is a shortage of labor.His Majesty the Holy Son of Heaven, who was in the hidden mansion at that time, greatly promoted the techniques of the Mohist school, and used machinery to reduce manpower consumption and replenish the army as soon as possible.Chongzhen 18 years.The four-wheel heavy-duty Taiping car appeared in Shandong, and the track appeared at the same time.

The original track uses wood, which not only has high requirements on wood, but also must be fully dried in the shade.Otherwise, it will be easily deformed and damaged.Not to mention the high time cost, the carrying capacity is also unsatisfactory.Then came the railway tracks, but they were not satisfactory because of the lack of metallurgical technology.

Later, with the strong rise of chemistry, great progress was made in metallurgy, and durable wrought iron rails were finally able to be produced. Moreover, with the increase of mines and smelters, the supply of wrought iron tended to be saturated, not only being able to meet domestic demand. Military and civilian iron.There is also a lot of wealth, and even exports.

In the 22nd year of Chongzhen, after four years of research and development, the steam-powered train was successfully trial-produced, although it was slower than human walking, and because of its heavy weight, it had no practical value at all.But after all, it opened the prelude to the advent of the steam age.

Now another 11 years have passed, and with the advancement of mathematics, especially calculus, the efficiency of Daming's steam engine has reached dozens of times that of the first model, fully satisfying the laying of railways and the steam revolution that will change the world.

During the 15 years of research, the imperial court has invested a total of more than 2000 million taels, with a total of 3000 designers participating, and the participation of non-governmental capital is innumerable.As a result, the imperial court obtained nearly a thousand patents, and purchased hundreds of patents from the private sector.

October of the ninth year of Longjing.Test data show that the train has finally reached the application standard.Now only a hundred kilometers of railway is needed to perform the greatest miracle on earth.

However, where the railway was laid has become a bone of contention.

Southern ministers hope that it can be placed in the south, which can speed up logistics and create more economic value.However, the landform in the south is characterized by mountains and water.This is too difficult for the nascent railway laying engineering team.

For the same reason, the northern ministers also hoped that the railway could run from Jingshipu to their doorsteps.Not to mention revitalizing the hometown, it is also convenient for me to go home and visit relatives.Moreover, as far as the topography of the North China Plain is concerned, it is more suitable for workers to practice and accumulate experience.Now the most popular ones are from the capital to Zhangjiakou, and from the capital to Tianjin.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Line is more difficult to construct than the Beijing-Tianjin Line, and the distance is nearly double that of the Beijing-Tianjin Line.From the perspective of economy and people's livelihood, it is obviously not as good as building the Beijing-Tianjin line first.However, Zhangjiakou is an important gateway to the desert and the first line of assimilating the Mongols. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou line will be opened first to increase China's influence on Mongolia. It will undoubtedly have a strategic advantage over the Beijing-Tianjin line.

Therefore, some people support the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway first from a technical point of view, and some insist on building the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway first from a strategic point of view. The railway leading directly to Luntai.

In Wu Tong's view, this means that he wants to fly before he has learned to walk!

However, You Shiwei also offered a very attractive price. If the cabinet can support the priority of laying railways in the Western Regions, the Metropolitan Government will give up the right to supervise the roads.

In Daming, important waterways such as the Yangtze River and canals used to have Hebing and Caoding.After the liberation, these human resources were taken over by the military as a matter of course and incorporated into the logistics directly under the troops.According to such a practice, after the construction of the railway, road soldiers must be needed, and of course it will be controlled by the Metropolitan Government.

Even if the cabinet wants to fight, it is not in line with tradition, and there is no solid reason, which seems unreasonable.

Conversely, if the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion does not want this right of way, and the defense along the way is assigned to the prefectures and counties, at least a large chunk of the budget will be added.Moreover, large-scale mobilization of the army in the future will undoubtedly be influenced by civilian officials, and may even become a hindrance.

"Master, there is a young scholar asking to see you outside, and he is bringing two children with him." The butler came in cautiously and interrupted Wu Sheng's nap.

Wu Xuan raised his eyes in displeasure, and asked, "The one who celebrates Chinese New Year, who is it?"

The housekeeper stepped forward to hand over a gold-plated name card, Wu Tong took it casually, opened it, jumped up from the chair immediately, and said repeatedly: "Open the middle door to invite them in, and the middle hall welcomes guests."

Early on, the housekeeper felt that the person who came was by no means an ordinary person, that is, the two children seemed to be different.Seeing that his master was so cautious, he couldn't help beating his heart: this is not some kind of prince!

Nowadays, in the capital, there are many princes and county kings.

But when it's Chinese New Year, which prince or county king would come to Shoufu's house?Isn't this harming others and benefiting oneself?It made Shoufu feel uncomfortable during the Chinese New Year, and he also felt uncomfortable.

The one who came was the current emperor, Emperor Longjing Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Cihong walked through the front hall, led the second prince Zhu Heqi, and the third prince Zhu Heyuan, and walked into the middle hall.

Wu Xuan was already waiting in the hall, clasping his hands in greeting, not knowing how to address him.

"Happy New Year sir, everything goes well." Zhu Cihong smiled and cupped his hands.

Wu Zhen hurriedly returned the gift, and said in his mouth: "Good luck, good luck, God bless the emperor."

Zhu Cihong asked the two princes to pay New Year's greetings to Wu Sheng, then sat down in the guest of honor seat, and said: "Come to bother me for a meal, the old man doesn't mind."

"It's really full of glory!" Wu Zhen suddenly realized that the emperor was wearing a set of royal blue Taoist robes, which he often wore when he was in the hidden mansion, so he couldn't help but relax a lot.Speaking of it, I am also a hero who shared weal and woe with the emperor. During the days of Taizu and Chengzu, such a relationship was like a family.

Zhu Cihong was obviously not polite, waited for Wu Tong to sit down, and said directly: "Have breakfast with You Du this morning."

It happened that the butler came in with tea, and he trembled when he heard these words, almost knocking over the teacup.

——At such a young age, I had dinner with the general of the country in the morning, and dinner at Shoufu’s house at noon... King Ding and King Yong are now in North Korea and Australia. How can there be a prince of this age in the capital?Can't be a liar?

While serving tea, the housekeeper peeked at Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Cihong didn't mind either, but didn't continue talking.

Although there was only a two-second lag, Wu Tong let out a dry cough of dissatisfaction as if a hundred years had passed.

The housekeeper quickly backed out.

Zhu Cihong continued: "During the banquet, You Du said that the Battle of the Syr Darya was my Da Ming's Talas."

——It turns out that everyone would think so!

Wu Xuan sighed in his heart, and saw that the emperor was not displeased when he said this, and there was a smile on his face, which meant he didn't care.

"Oh, cough, if it's Talas, I think it's a glorious thing to lose." Zhu Cihong said with a smile: "Anyway, you need qualifications to fight thousands of miles away, right?"

"Exactly! Like Ruo Song, he has no chance to beat Talas!" Zhu Heqi interrupted suddenly.In fact, he still doesn't know what happened to Talas' defeat.

Wu Xuan couldn't help but smile.

The emperor also smiled, and stroked his second son's newly raised hair.Now the second prince Zhu Heqi has reached the time when he is going to tie his hair up and prepare to study. He needs to grow his hair long and comb it into a ponytail at the back of his head. It will take two years before he can put his hair up in a bun.The third prince Zhu Heyuan who came with him was only six years old and still had his hair combed, he didn't know what the adults were talking about.

"The Song Dynasty may not be really weak." Zhu Cihong explained to his son, and continued to talk to Wu Sheng: "However, the defeat this time is a bit unfair, and You Du feels very sorry."

"You Du is too harsh on himself." Wu Sheng said: "It's not a big deal for local generals and soldiers to lose a battle. Especially He Shuote and Junggar are always a bit rebellious, and it may not be a good thing to suffer some small losses."

Zhu Cilang knew that You Shiwei meant the same thing at first, so he refused to let the Northwest Army follow.To be honest, if the guards and cavalry troops in the northwest follow, it will be a problem whether Turubaihu and Sengge will fight.

"Too many people died, and it's mainly about the military flag." Zhu Cihong said.

"What military flag?" Wu Tong didn't hear You Shiwei mentioning this matter.

"After conferring Heshuote and Junggar, I also gave them the qualification to fight the Golden Dragon Red Banner." Zhu Cihong said: "This time the army is defeated, and the Golden Dragon Red Banner may have been taken."

"Our army has never been defeated or lost its flag!" Wu Tong was also quite regretful, thinking that this was a stain on the Daming Red Banner.

"Although the military flag was lost, look at it from another angle: at least he was not beheaded." Zhu Cihong restrained his smile, and said again: "Besides, the battle is not over yet, there is always a chance to get it back." (To be continued~^ ~)