In Li Huan's opinion, the cost of building a railway is only a few thousand taels of silver per mile. The cost is actually not high at all. However, in the eyes of many people, the cost is not low at all. This mile of railway is at least
It’s worth the cost of more than ten miles of cement road.
And although the speed of the railway is not slow, it is not very fast either. With this speed and carrying capacity, when everyone compares it to the cement road, spending so much silver to build the railway does not seem cost-effective at all.
Li Huan naturally saw the changes in everyone's expressions, and he could figure out what everyone was thinking without having to guess.
If he didn't know the future development prospects of steam engines and railways, he might not be willing to invest such a large amount of money in railways.
One person coughed lightly and said: "This railway is very expensive. The imperial court has so many cement roads. It seems that there is no need to spend a lot of money to build such railways in terms of transportation. After all, this railway is no better than a cement road."
How convenient.”
You must know that the imperial court has invested a lot of money in the past few years to build cement roads connecting all parties. With more than 20 years of continuous road construction, today's daimyo dare not say that transportation is convenient, but even if they are included
Annan, Champa and other places in the Ming Dynasty had cement roads connecting them to the Central Plains.
The imperial court continued to build roads and invested so much money, which naturally promoted the great development of the Ming Dynasty's private economy. This was obviously fed back to the Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue. It can be said that the fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty court has continued to grow in these years.
The long roads and convenient transportation definitely played a huge role in this.
Just like the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which connects the north and the south, it directly promoted the development of towns along the canal and developed the south, making it a prosperous place.
Similarly, the extension of cement roads may not drive the economic development of both sides of the Taiwan Strait as obviously as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, but it has also brought about great changes in many places.
The imperial court saw that several main roads in the world had been repaired, and there was no need to invest a lot of money in building roads every year. As a result, Li Huan built this railway again.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this railway does have certain advantages compared to cement roads. The key advantages are advantages. However, if you want to popularize it like cement roads, the investment will make people moved just thinking about it.
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I dare not say too much. Considering that the Ming Dynasty now stretches thousands of miles from north to south and east to west, if we really want to build a few railways, if there are too many, I am afraid that 30,000 to 50,000 miles will not be enough, so we will calculate it as 100,000 miles.
If so, one mile would cost three thousand taels of silver, and one hundred thousand miles would cost thirty million taels of silver.
However, the Ming Dynasty's annual fiscal and tax revenue has not exceeded 10 million taels of silver. Even if it empties the national treasury, and then empties the emperor's inner treasury, it is afraid that it will not be able to raise so much road construction funds.
Zhu Houzhao coughed lightly, his eyes fell on Li Huan and said: "Li Qing, this railway is very expensive. If the court really wants to invest, I don't know how much money will be invested in it. Is it really necessary to spend so much money on it?"
Build railroads?”
It’s no wonder that Zhu Houzhao thought this way. You must know that all the people present are the elites of the era. Even they were frightened by the cost of the railway. Therefore, limited by the times, everyone was subconsciously unwilling to invest a lot of money.
It is not surprising that funds were used to build railways.
Li Huan glanced at the crowd and slowly said: "If the imperial court does not intend to invest a large amount of money to build the railway, then I would like to ask your majesty to allow private companies to build the railway and allow private companies to have certain rights to operate the railway."
Zhu Houzhao couldn't help being stunned, looking at Li Huan, a trace of thought flashed in his eyes. Based on his understanding of Li Huan, if the railway was really useless and unprofitable, then Li Huan would definitely not
This request was made when everyone showed their disapproval of the construction of the railway.
The right to operate roads is not an unfamiliar term to everyone present. Ming Dynasty invested so much money in building roads, so naturally it cannot be used by people in vain. Not to mention other things, it is just a road.
The subsequent maintenance investment is a considerable amount of money.
Therefore, Ming Dynasty established a department early to collect tolls.
The imperial court collected tolls according to the amount per mile. It was free for ordinary people to travel, but all carriages and horses had to pay tolls according to the rules.
Although the tolls collected are not too high, the total amount is quite large. After the cost of maintaining the roads, it can even turn over millions of taels of silver to the national treasury every year.
Because of this, everyone knows what it means if the road operating rights are handed over to private commercial banks. In other words, those private commercial banks that have invested a lot of money in building railways will be able to block roads and set up tolls just like the imperial court.
When they thought that the tolls that should belong to the imperial court would flow into the hands of other people, some people subconsciously objected: "No, this is not possible. The road leads to the north and south, which is very important. The right to operate this road must be in the hands of the imperial court."
Li Huan smiled slightly and said: "Then let the imperial court invest funds to build the railway. If there is no profit motive, it is not good for people to spend money to build the road in vain."
Suddenly the man was speechless. Li Huan turned his eyes to the emperor and Wang Yangming and said, "I wonder what your majesty thinks?"
Wang Yangming looked at Li Huan stroking his beard and said with a wise look in his eyes: "Is it possible that the Duke of Qin is planning to invest in building the railway?"
Suddenly everyone couldn't help but stare at Li Huan.
Li Huan said unabashedly: "Yes, if your majesty allows it, the Duke of Qin will spend a sum of money to build a railway connecting Nanjing Road to Huating City."
It is about five to six hundred miles from Nanjing to Shanghai. If it were to build a railway, the investment alone would be at least two million taels.
It is recognized that the Duke of Qin's government has money. Let alone two million taels, even if it is doubled, the Duke of Qin's government can easily get it.
After all, no one else knows how much money the Ming Dynasty Royal Commercial Bank has earned over the years, so why don't they, who are at the top of the country, not know.
In particular, the Duke of Qin's shareholding in the Royal Commercial Bank of the Ming Dynasty was lower than that of the royal family. It can be said that a large amount of money flows into the Duke of Qin every year.
After listening to Li Huan's words, Wang Yangming looked at the emperor and bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I think it is feasible, but I have another condition."
Zhu Houzhao looked at Wang Yangming and said, "Oh, dear, please speak."
Then Wang Yangming said to Li Huan: "If the Duke of Qin wants to build a railway, the court can agree, and the road operating rights can also be given to the Duke of Qin. However, the road operating rights must be specified for a period of time, and sixty years will be taken as a period. After sixty years,
The road operating rights, including the entire railway itself, must be reverted to the imperial court. If Qin Guogong can agree to this request, Qin Guogong can plan the railway at will within the Ming Dynasty."
Everyone's eyes lit up after hearing Wang Yangming's words. If what Wang Yangming said is true, it would be equivalent to the court not spending a penny and only taking a few decades to harvest a railway. There is no more cost-effective deal than this.
It's just that this request seems a bit too much to everyone. Li Huan is not a fool. He invested millions of taels of silver in a railway, only to have it all handed over to the court decades later. This means that Li Huan has to collect tens of thousands of dollars every year.
Only by paying a fee of two, can the principal be preserved.
However, millions of taels of silver have been occupied for decades. If it is used to invest in other industries, the principal may not be doubled several times in such a long time.
So no matter how you look at it, as long as it invests in railways, the Duke of Qin will definitely lose money.
Under everyone's gaze, Li Huan chuckled and said, "Okay, it's settled. I hope you won't regret it when the time comes."
Seeing Li Huan agreeing so simply made everyone feel a little uneasy. Could it be that they were really wrong this time, or did the railway really contain value that they didn't know about?
Soon Li Huan named several roads in one breath, such as the railway connecting Suzhou and Yangzhou, or the railway connecting Zhangjiakou to the capital, or even the railway from the capital to Guangzhou.
The names of the roads came out of Li Huan's mouth, and everyone in the crowd opened their eyes wide in shock and looked at Li Huan in disbelief.
Even Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but said: "Li Qing, this...these roads together are probably thousands of miles long. Where did Li Qing find tens of millions of taels of silver to invest in them..."
Li Huan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. Since I dare to raise it, there will naturally be a solution."
Seeing what Li Huan said, Zhu Houzhao took a deep breath and said: "Okay, since Li Qing has such courage, then I am sure."
Wang Yangming on the side also stroked his beard and said: "The Duke of Qin ordered someone to submit a document for road construction, and the cabinet will approve it as quickly as possible."
The thirty-sixth year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty
On the road from Daohuating in Nanjing, the road construction teams that were recruited one after another are working hard to lay the foundation under the scorching sun, and then lay down the stones, sleepers, and thick and heavy steel pipes.
rail.
Duke Li Huan of Qin invested two million taels of silver to build a railway connecting Nanjing to Huating. When the news came out, I don’t know how many people were alarmed.
Especially the merchants were moved by the news. However, after seeing the railway connecting the capital and Tianjin to the port, many people were amazed by it. However, after learning its cost, they were ready to imitate Li Huan and win such a project.
Those who had the rights to build and operate one or two railways suddenly ceased their activities.
The investment is really too big. Of course, if it is just a large investment, it will not scare these merchants. After all, the richest people in the world really belong to these merchants.
The key is that these merchants can't see any return at all. After all, for such a large investment, everything will be taken back by the court decades later. Who can accept it?
Many people regarded Li Huan as a fool, but a few nobles such as Duke Ying and Duke Cheng took out a sum of money to invest in it after careful consideration. Quan thought it was to share part of the pressure for Li Huan.
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In more than a year, regardless of manpower investment, the railway from Nanjing to Huating was completed, and it was a two-way two-lane railway. A full 4.5 million taels of silver were invested.
The steam locomotive running on the railway this time has been updated for two generations. After all, at Li Huan's request, a group of skilled craftsmen headed by Luo Tong tried their best to improve the steam engine.
Along with the roar, the steam locomotive pulling nearly ten huge carriages ran at a speed of about forty miles per hour. Compared with the first steam locomotive put into use, both in terms of carrying capacity and speed,
There has been a huge improvement.
It would take several days to transport tens of thousands of kilograms of goods from Suzhou to Huating, even by waterway, and several large cargo ships would be needed.
However, with this steam locomotive, it only takes more than half a day to arrive, saving several days of time.
This kind of convenience and timeliness were naturally noticed by sensitive merchants immediately. Although the freight of steam locomotives is not low, in calculation, it is actually no more expensive than water transportation, and it is even cheaper. In addition,
With its timeliness, even a fool can see the benefits of steam locomotive transportation.
It can be said that less than a month after the railway from Nanjing to Huating started operating, a large number of businessmen came in and requested to use steam locomotives to transport goods.
When the imperial court received the news and looked at the calculated income, all the ministers in the cabinet showed disbelief.
The benefits brought by the railway are completely beyond their imagination. Wherever there is a huge pit, it is simply an endless gold mine.
The direct consequence was that some courtiers shouted that the railway should be built, and the court must build the railway.
The imperial court here immediately recruited craftsmen to start planning routes, allocating money and grain to invest in the construction of railways. The same group of wealthy businessmen obtained the construction rights and operating rights of some railways by virtue of their respective relationships. In this way, the Ming Dynasty began a vigorous and prosperous revolution.
The process of building railways.
Forty-five years after the reign of Emperor Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, more than ten years have passed
In the vast northland, the mountains are winding and undulating, like a dragon crawling on the ground. The vast land is covered by wind and snow, and the wind and snow are blown by the howling wind and snow. However, at this moment, accompanied by a long whistle
Suddenly, a black line came roaring towards us. It was a steam locomotive traveling on a long railway line.
This steam locomotive is dozens of feet long, with more than a dozen long carriages. It travels smoothly on the earth. Just looking at its speed, it is probably no less than sixty miles per hour.
In one of the luxurious carriages, several figures were looking outside through the bright and thick glass.
"I really didn't expect that this land in Liaodong would have such a vast snowy scene. In just a few days, I went from the warm spring-like south of the Yangtze River to the snowy land outside the customs. This steam locomotive is indeed what Li Qing said in the past. It is a solid foundation for me."