Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Seeing the seriousness written all over Li Yu's face, Fang Zheng bowed slightly and flipped through the books on the table, picking up a few pages. "From today onwards, Your Highness doesn't need to understand the contents of the books, just memorize them. Let's start with this much for today."

Li Yu's face turned pale, and he stammered, "Master, reading this much in one day... that must be four or five thousand words, right?"

That's four or five thousand words!

I can't finish it! I definitely can't finish it!

How am I supposed to memorize it?

"It's alright, although the content is thick and plentiful, just read as much as you can. As long as you persist and read every day, sooner or later you'll finish it," Fang Zheng comforted. "There's still a month until Yucai Academy starts. Learning more now will give you a head start at school."

"This is called sweating more in peacetime to bleed less in wartime!"

"I understand, Master!" Li Yu steeled his heart and continued to study diligently.

"Your Highness, I have something to discuss with you," Fang Zheng said, leading Li Yuanzhao outside.

Once in the courtyard, he said, "The train is almost ready. I need a train driver. Oh, I should say, a train engineer. I see that Your Highness is proficient in this field. Are you interested?"

Li Yuanzhao said in surprise, "Yes! The first train engineer must be me!"

Then, he hesitated, "However, although the engine is almost complete, the track... is far from ready. How about we lay a hundred zhang of railway in the next two months to show the court?"

Fang Zheng shook his head. "No, if we're going to show it, we must show the finished product. The railway must be long enough, otherwise many problems will arise later. I plan to build the railway from Dongjiao University to the capital, then to Taoyuan County. Right now, I need people to connect with other academies to research the railway, including geographical surveying and mapping, etc."

Taoyuan County and Dongjiao University have sufficient talent reserves. These majors existed from the very beginning of the school's establishment.

Now, they have cultivated many theoretical talents, but they lack practical experience. It would be more appropriate to entrust it to the Crown Prince.

At least the subsequent projects can be guaranteed to be free of any technical problems.

After all, such a luxurious and wasteful thing as laying iron on the ground will inevitably be heavily attacked by the court.

Explaining it won't make it clear...

It's like when he strongly promoted sweet potatoes. If he directly told the court that he had crops that could double grain production.

The courtiers and the emperor would not only not appreciate him, but would instead immediately treat him as a madman... If his popularity was a little worse, it wouldn't be surprising if he was kicked out.

Everyone knows what's going on with offering auspicious omens, but you shouldn't joke about grain production!

"What's the trouble with the railway? Just customize the rails according to the model and lay them on the road. It's not difficult," Li Yuanzhao said casually.

Fang Zheng said, "No, there are many troubles. We also need crushed stone ballast and wooden sleepers for shock absorption to prevent the rails from shifting. The knowledge involved is no less than building a train, but we have enough talent. As long as we solve the problems one by one, learning as we build, I believe we will soon have a complete method. I'll leave these to Your Highness."

Li Yuanzhao thought for a while and said in surprise, "Hey, what you said seems to make sense. You never care about technology, how do you know more than me?"

"I think about it during the day and dream about it at night," Fang Zheng said solemnly, clasping his hands. "My dad gave me a dream yesterday."

"Uh... okay, but I've also calculated the railway thing. The cost of building one li of railway is probably no less than five thousand taels, maybe even six or seven thousand taels. There are too many links involved. From the capital to Taoyuan County, I'm afraid it will take no less than one or two million taels. Do you have that much money?" Li Yuanzhao asked.

Hearing him mention this issue, Fang Zheng also felt a little troubled.

So expensive?

It's not that he can't take out one or two million taels, but this thing is a public tool, and it should be managed by the court.

If he pays for it all, how will the money be distributed in the future?

Although we are doing it for the country and the people, if we can't get any benefits, who will do it for the country and the people in the future?

It would be best to get silver from the Ministry of Revenue, with all the money coming from the national treasury, and he would enjoy the subsequent benefits of the railway, but the possibility is not high...

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng said, "Since it connects to the capital, the Ministry of Revenue will naturally allocate silver. I'll go to the Ministry of Revenue to ask for it."

"Uh, I think it's not difficult, unless you build a section of railway first and show it to the court. At that time, I think they can allocate two million to you."

Fang Zheng flatly rejected, "No! I'll try first. If it doesn't work, we'll pool our money to build it."

Railways and trains are too shocking.

Based on the knowledge of the court and the common people, I don't know what kind of arguments will arise in the future. Although the newspapers have been vigorously promoting in recent years, and the people have broadened their horizons a lot.

But superstition has always been rooted in people's hearts.

It's hard to say that in the future, there won't be some talk about shaking the dragon vein, or being ominous to the Great Jing, or digging people's graves to build railways to set up formations, or something like that.

If the public opinion expands, it will inevitably affect the decisions in the court, and many subsequent projects will be delayed.

Compared with this potentially huge negative impact, who pays for building the railway is a small matter.

Seeing Fang Zheng deny his suggestion twice, Li Yuanzhao stopped asking.

Since Lao Fang is unwilling to build a section of railway first, he must have his reasons, and there's no point in asking more.

"Okay, then I'll go to Dongjiao University tomorrow to select a group of people to start discussing."

The Crown Prince is becoming more and more reliable!

Fang Zheng said with a smile, "Your Highness, do it well. The foreign delegation is about to leave. I've decided to hold a big event at the Court of State Ceremonial. There will be a good show to watch soon. The first shovel of our railway must be shoveled by His Majesty!"

"Sounds a little interesting. But why does Father Emperor shovel, can't I do it?"

"No, the right to interpret the dragon vein is not in your hands yet."

"? ? ?"

Saying these nonsensical words again, Li Yuanzhao curled his lips in disdain. "What is this big event at the Court of State Ceremonial you're talking about?"

"Your Highness, don't ask too much about this. If it's done well, it will be recorded in history! And I guarantee you'll have fun then," Fang Zheng patted his chest and assured, "Then I'll take my leave. I still have some official duties to handle. I'll leave the rest to Your Highness!"

......

The next day, inside the Court of State Ceremonial.

Chen Hong expressionlessly took a pot of tea and poured a cup for Fang Zheng. "Lord Fang, please have some tea."

Fang Zheng took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "Lord Chen, are you so unwelcome to me?"

"I wouldn't dare, I wish Lord Fang would come every day. Not to mention anything else, I have plenty of good tea and snacks here," Chen Hong waved his hands repeatedly with a bitter face, and said, "But please don't bother with the affairs of those Western delegations, Lord Fang. Those are all troublesome matters. And...."

"And what?" Fang Zheng raised his eyes and asked.

Chen Hong twisted and said, "And I've reached the end of my career in this life. Being able to receive delegations from twenty-three countries at the same time in this position, and countries that have never been contacted before, is an unprecedented event, so I hope there won't be any mistakes before I retire..."