To develop railways and trains, it is not enough to have hardware facilities alone, but also to have related "software", such as train drivers, crew members, police officers, dispatchers, railway maintenance personnel, porters, road guards, etc. It must be matched. Although a railway will destroy some people's jobs, it can also provide a lot of jobs. In any case, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
On July 12, the floods that had been flooding for many days finally receded, and the temporary pontoon bridge beside the Marco Polo Bridge was erected. Although it could only pass in one lane, it was pretty good. On the side of the pontoon bridge, a new Marco Polo Bridge was being designed and rebuilt. middle.
Due to the limited load-bearing capacity of the stone structure, the reconstruction of the Marco Polo Bridge will definitely no longer use a stone structure, but a steel structure. Moreover, the new bridge is divided into two layers, the lower layer is a railway bridge, and the upper layer is paved with stone slabs as a road bridge. And the whole The total length of the bridge is about 400 meters, the height is 17 meters, and there are nearly 40 piers. It is expected to use 4,000 tons of steel, and the construction period will be at least half a year.
"Mr. Wan, do you really want to build it with steel?" Next to Wan Lei, Kuai Fu, the chief engineer of the Marco Polo Bridge, frowned. He used to be a carpenter and had never used steel to build a bridge. Now let him be the first to eat it. A crab, he really has no idea. If the bridge collapses just after it is built, it will be really...
"Yes, the piers are based on the original piers and are spliced with steel bars. I want to build a steel bridge that can carry thousands of tons of trains." Wan Lei is ambitious. A bridge of more than 400 meters, this pair of For him, this is child's play. He has also seen cross-sea bridges that are several kilometers long.
"Now that your mind has been made up, sir, let's do as you say. It's just that these steel bars are different from wood, and I'm not sure that they can be spliced together firmly." Kuai Fu said still worriedly.
"You are very experienced in tenon and riveting skills. You can draw the illustration of the steel bar according to the proportion of wood, and we will cast the steel bar with the same specifications. In addition, we can also use screws, horseshoe nails and other large iron nails. Riveting is much stronger than splicing wood, and the strength is definitely sufficient."
"The strength of steel is high, but steel is different from wood. It is prone to rust, especially at riveted joints. Once rusted, the entire bridge may collapse." Kuai Fu.
"You don't have to worry about this. I have already planned it. We will arrange to paint the iron bridge in the future. We have a waterproof paint that can prevent rust when applied. As long as it is well maintained, there will be no problem for an iron bridge to stand for hundreds of years. "Wan Lei said, in fact, many bridges in later generations were made of steel, and they were constantly painted to prevent rust.
The main raw material of paint is rosin, which is abundant in Liaodong and Linhai. You only need to send people to harvest the resin, transport it back, process it, and add some ingredients. It is not a rare thing. On the contrary, it is used to build bridges. It would take several months to smelt a thousand tons of steel even if the steel plant was operating at full capacity, and the cost would be very high.
Due to the high cost of construction, Wan Lei was wondering whether to set up toll stations on both sides of the bridge to collect tolls from passing pedestrians. However, this was just a thought, and he really didn't dare to do it. There seems to be no precedent for charging bridge tolls. It would be bad to lose people's hearts for this little money.
Of course, obviously collecting tolls will lose public support, but the way to collect money is not just to collect tolls. You can also use more covert means. For example, after the railway is opened, charging an extra part of the freight can completely offset this. A road and bridge toll.
The railway system is completely monopolized by the government. There will be no problem if you charge a little more freight. After all, the railway system is much faster than people using horse-drawn horses. The transportation volume is large and the cost is low. The transportation cost is much lower than people using horse-drawn horses. , even if you charge more money, I believe that whether it is freight or passenger transportation, you will still choose the railway.
Seeing that Wan Lei had already made up his mind to build the iron bridge, Kuai Fu stopped trying to persuade him and took a dozen of his men to discuss the design details of the bridge drawings. Seeing that the weather was nice, Wan Lei took a group of people along the way. South, inspecting the laying of the railway embankment along the way.
In fact, the entire railway construction work is divided into two stages. First, the road base is auxiliary, and then the auxiliary rails are built. Prisoners of war are used for the road base auxiliary construction. They only provide food but do not pay wages, so the construction cost is very low. Since the beginning of the year, the construction cost has been very low. Now that the roadbed construction is almost complete, only some special areas where bridges need to be built need to be rebuilt before they can be supplemented by railway tracks.
Like the Marco Polo Bridge, although the original stone or wooden bridges along the line are still passable, they cannot bear the weight of the train and must be reinforced with steel and cement. Wan Lei took this trip to see how many bridges need to be built. , make statistics, and then calculate how much raw materials are needed so that we can place orders with steel plants and cement plants.
It has cleared up after the rain, the summer sunshine is very bright, and the weather is not too hot. The group of people are walking on the smooth road, which is very comfortable.
"Brother, the cotton grown here doesn't seem to be as good as ours in Shuntian Prefecture." Zhao Xueer looked at the endless cotton field on the roadside. It was full of flowers and looked full of life, but the plants looked a little short.
"Insufficient water and fertilizer will naturally lead to poor growth. However, the quality of Asian cotton is generally not very good. Not only is the yield low, but the fibers are thick and short. When spun by machines, they are also very easy to break, so a lot of reinforcing agents are needed. ." Wan Lei frowned.
In fact, Asian cotton originates from India, and the quality is really not that good. The best cotton seeds are found in the Americas across the far Pacific Ocean. In addition, the Americas have high-yielding crops such as sweet potatoes and corn. Wan Lei has been longing for it for a long time. , but due to various reasons, I can’t take risks across the ocean for the time being.
"There is so much cotton grown here. If it were all picked for spinning and weaving, it would cost tens of thousands of cotton. As the saying goes, things are cheap when they are more. Now that the Central Plains is in constant war and the people are extremely poor, I am afraid I won't be able to sell so much. ." Zhao Xueer also frowned.
"Haha, I even understand the economic principle that more things are worthless. Xue'er is so smart." Wan Lei laughed, "Of course the domestic market alone cannot digest so many products, but the overseas market is still very broad. We only trade with Japan now, but in the future we can also trade with Ryukyu, Little Ryukyu, Luzon and other countries."
"The sea is so rough and the waves are so big. I'm afraid the gains outweigh the losses by traveling so far away to sell these cotton cloths." Zhao Xueer pursed her lips. She just liked to argue with Wan Lei.
"Who said we only sell cotton? We also sell glass products, steel products, wax products, etc. As long as they are not perishable and easy to transport, we sell them all. We are not like the Ming Dynasty, which did not impose any maritime bans, let alone What is tribute trade? All trade is based on profit."
"I see, you are a person who always looks at money and opens your eyes when you see money." Zhao Xueer rolled her eyes at Wan Lei.
"Seeing money opens your eyes. As the saying goes: money is a body, with stems and kun. Inside it is square, and outside it is round. Its accumulation is like a mountain, and its flow is like a river. There is movement and stillness, and there are knots in the movement. The market is easy, It does not suffer from wear and tear. It is hard to decay like a bamboo basket, and it is not lacking like a Tao. Therefore, it can last for a long time and is a sacred treasure in the world. Dear as a brother, the nickname is "Kong Fang". If you lose it, you will be poor and weak, but if you gain it, you will be rich and strong. You can fly without wings, and you can fly without feet. Go. Explain the Yan Yi's face and open the mouth that is difficult to speak. Those with more money are in the front, and those with less money are in the back. The former is the ruler, and the latter is the servant. The ruler is rich and abundant, and the servants are exhausted. Not enough..." Wan Lei shook his head and imitated the appearance of a scholar, and recited "The Theory of Qian Shen".
I have to say that this article is really enlightening. "Brother Kong Fang", "Money can make ghosts", "Life and death are not life, wealth depends on money", "If an army has no wealth, soldiers will not come; if an army has no reward, soldiers will not come." Don't go;" and many other wise sayings come from this sacred text. Wan Lei highly praised this sacred text and read it frequently, so that he knew it by heart.
In Wan Lei's view, loving money is not a shameful thing. A gentleman loves money, acquires it in a proper way, and uses it in a measured way. I just love Brother Kong Fang, so what's the matter? What does a gentleman mean by righteousness, and a villain by profit? , these are all bullshit.
Those who are interested in profit are villains? Fart! As the saying goes: people know etiquette when they have enough food and clothing. Only when the people are well fed and clothed can they be qualified and able to talk about benevolence, righteousness and morality. On the contrary, it is the fake Taoism of the feudal society, these guys He shouts the slogan "Money is like dung, but kindness is worth a thousand pieces of gold" all day long, but he is more greedy and shameless than anyone else.
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At the time when the Peking Province was engaged in railway development, the Ming Dynasty was still suffering from constant military disasters. In early June, the rebel leader He Miaoshun led more than 300,000 peasant troops to the outside of Jinling City and stormed Jinling by land and water. city.
As the defender of Jinling City, Xu Huizu is extremely worried because the Ming Navy was almost completely wiped out in a battle not long ago. Now he lacks the assistance of the navy and the relative lack of troops, so he can only huddle in Jinling City. Passive defense. Over the past month, although it has repelled many fierce attacks by the peasant army, it has suffered serious battle losses.
The terrible thing is that the rebels are outside the city and can continue to strengthen themselves in nearby states and counties. However, there are few responders to the Qinwang Order issued by the imperial court. Many local feudal history officials are waiting and watching. Reinforcements were sent, and they marched slowly.
"Father, the commander of the Fuzhou Guard, Wang Kegong, sent a letter saying that he has recruited 20,000 horses and is rushing to Beijing to serve the king. He will arrive in two days." Xu Qin quickly came to the city, beaming with joy, because finally someone was willing to do so. Here comes the rescuers.
"Okay, in times of crisis, you can trust your own talents. Commander Wang is worthy of being a loyal minister and righteous man of the Ming Dynasty." A rare smile appeared on Xu Huizu's old face. Speaking of which, Wang Kegong can also be regarded as the Prince Consort, and Princess Fucheng is the king of Nanchang. The daughter was adopted by Taizu, so she should be regarded as the eldest princess, and Wang Kegong could also be regarded as a relative of the emperor.
However, the love between husband and wife is different, and the loyalty between brothers is also strong. The king and his ministers are like birds that sleep together in the forest, and fly separately when disaster strikes. Now that the Ming Dynasty is facing a disaster, those who are willing to come to rescue and come to rescue sincerely are really Too little.