He is not crazy. As the Minister of War, he needs to control all the defense lines in the entire Tang Dynasty. If his strategic support can be a day's journey away, then the number of garrison troops currently needed by the Tang Dynasty will be greatly reduced.
Based on the extent of the expansion of one day's journey, if it is a thousand miles, Datang can reduce the number of soldiers by at least 200,000.
Thinking about it from another perspective, these 200,000 soldiers can be used in other places.
The units of length in the Tang Dynasty are inches, feet, steps, zhang, yin, and li. Ten inches is one foot, five feet is one step, two steps is one zhang, eighteen feet is one yin, and ten yin is one li. That is, one thousand eight hundred feet.
One mile. According to Tang rule and modern calculations, one mile is almost 576 meters.
Hou Junji repeatedly asked to build the railway. He did not do it for economic reasons, but only for war.
When Wang Jishan rushed to the palace, Hou Junji was in Li Er's study, constantly talking about the benefits of building the railway.
Li Er was sitting on the throne, holding a watch and looking at it.
It seemed that he was listening to Hou Junji's theory, but in fact the seal on Li's second hand was not from Hou Junji. It was the Ministry of Industry's budget book on the Jiangning Yangtze River Bridge. This budget book no longer has that nonsense.
It was formulated completely in accordance with the budget forms and budget sheets taught by Wu Zhao for future generations.
Immigration, land occupation, etc. are all trivial matters.
Cement can be produced in Zhengzhou, which is not a big deal.
Labor is nothing. A large number of Goguryeo slaves and Silla and Baekje laborers can completely solve the manpower problem.
The most troublesome thing may be the special stainless steel.
Thirty thousand tons, based on the fact that each train can transport about 1,500 tons of fine steel. In other words, it can be transported in twenty special trains. But the account seems not to be calculated this way. First, we must gather high-quality ores from all over the country, and then add in good quality steel.
Coal, this occupied railway and shipping would require at least a hundred special trains.
You know, Datang now only runs a special train from Xuzhou once a day.
It affects several trade transportation between Chang'an and Xiangdong in the Tang Dynasty. This cost is huge, and the transportation cost alone is quite a lot.
Li Er is thinking about building a bridge.
There was also a very powerful figure in the Tang Dynasty who was sleeping in the side room of the study.
Li Yuanxing knew that Hou Jun gathered here for the railway. If he were the Minister of the Ministry of War, he would not allow Datang to have the millions of kilometers of railway network for later generations overnight, instead of just a few railways. But in fact, resources.
It’s limited and the manpower is limited, so we can only do it one by one.
As soon as he heard that Hou Jun had entered the palace, Li Yuanxing immediately suggested that the news should be spread as soon as possible. Then he hid in a side room and slept.
Li Er continued to flip through his watch and seals. He waited until Li Jing, Fang Xuanling, Wang Jishan, Du Ruhui, and Liu Chongchong came in. Then he put down his watch and seals.
Originally, Li Jing had no intention of coming. But when he heard Wang Jishan and Liu Chong rushing into the palace, he hurried in too.
Li Yuanxing, who had not slept well, woke up when he heard the footsteps. The first question in his mind was: How much impact does the railway have on the interests of various aristocratic families? Hou Junji is not a bachelor, he also has his own family.
.The Hou family’s greatest power is in Binzhou.
(Binzhou is modern Xianyang, Hou Junji was born in Sanshui, which is Xunyi County)
If it was purely to gain political reputation, Hou Junji would not be so eager to ask for the construction of this railway.
The biggest advantage of this railway is not for military use, but for commercial use!
"No!" Li Yuanxing shook his head gently. Speaking of commercial use, it is more practical to transport it by sea from Youzhou to Guangzhou. So who is the biggest beneficiary of this well-repaired railway?
The Tang Dynasty is said to be an imperial empire, but in fact it is a feudal political group composed of countless powerful officials and the royal family. In a broad sense, the interests of the Tang Dynasty are the interests of the people of the Tang Dynasty. In practical terms,
It is the interests of various clans in the Tang Dynasty.
The current Tang Dynasty is under the control of Li Yuanxing, with national interests first and family interests second.
But this second one is not irrelevant.
On the basis of safeguarding national interests, it is still very important for aristocratic families to strive for sufficient self-interest.
"Your Majesty, I believe that what Hou Shangshu said is true, but this railway is the national bloodline." Wang Jishan scolded Hou Junji as a lunatic before entering the palace, but after entering the palace, he immediately expressed his support. This reaction was actually
Li Er was a little surprised, but he just smiled and motioned to Wang Jishan to continue.
"It's just that this railway consumes a lot of money and can be included in the plan. It can be started next year, or the year after that."
Is Wang Jishan objecting?
Li Yuanxing and Li Er are both asking this question. In fact, if you really have money, this railway will still be extremely important.
"Your Majesty, you must not do it. If the treasury does not have accumulated savings, I am afraid it will not be able to cope with the slightest possibility!" Liu Chongchong objected.
Fang Xuanling said without hesitation: "The Yellow River Bridge is the difficulty!"
Du Ruhui said, "How many coins does it cost to build one mile of railway?"
Li Er stood up at this time and whispered to the right: "Wu Lang, are you awake?"
Hearing Li Er's call, Li Yuanxing walked out of the side room, bowed his hands to the six officials, and then came to Li Er and said, "Brother, I have figured it out. Five of the six people present are here."
Everyone was talking about building the railway to Huating. I thought about it for a while and finally understood the meaning of Hou Shangshu's statement."
Can the king's order be changed overnight?
There was obviously a hint of displeasure in Li Er's eyes.
Li Yuanxing sat on the nearest chair and nodded to Eunuch Gao: "Old Gao, bring me a cup of tea!"
The tea was delivered quickly, and Li Yuanxing said again: "Lao Gao, the map of the Tang Dynasty!"
After hearing Li Yuanxing's instructions, everyone sat down on the chairs according to their status. Li Yuanxing was the King of Qin, but Li Yuanxing's wisdom and knowledge were beyond their own comprehension.
Now that Li Yuanxing has made a decision, even Li Er must listen to it.
When the young eunuchs opened the map, Li Yuanxing said to Hou Junji: "General Hou probably wants to borrow huge supplies so that you can fight the Battle of Tuyuhun one day earlier. In other words, the trade gap between the north and the south can allow the Ministry of War to
It’s better to earn a huge military budget.”
"Your Highness is wise, I have another selfish intention. The gentry in Daibei and Hedong can use this railway to increase their income by at least five times every year. They can also increase the tax revenue of at least 6 million yuan per year for the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War.
Earn an annual freight income of no less than 8 million pounds."
Hou Junji is so clever.
This is almost everyone's compliment. Since Dou Xinyan is not Li Yuanxing's opponent, why not tell the whole truth. Maybe you will get Li Yuanxing's support. If you are Dou Xinyan, things may be difficult to handle.
"It costs 200 railroads to build one mile on the plain. It's cheap!" Li Yuanxing laughed.
It only costs 200,000 guan for a thousand miles, and it costs 400,000 guan to build it from Youzhou to Zhengzhou. However, there are bridges in the middle and mountains need to be dug in some places, so this needs to be calculated separately. Building a station is another account.
Li Yuanxing held the tea cup and said to Eunuch Gao: "Take the blue rope and connect Youzhou, Yizhou, and Hengzhou. Then add a double line from Hengzhou to Bingzhou, and then from Hengzhou, Xingzhou, Xiangzhou, and Zhengzhou. Among them
Add Bingzhou, Jinzhou, and Zhengzhou lines. Add Bingzhou, Luzhou, and Xiangzhou lines."
As Li Yuanxing spoke, Eunuch Gao and several young eunuchs crawled on the ground and began to connect several states with blue ropes.
Li Yuanxing just kept talking, no one asked questions or interrupted.
Seeing Eunuch Gao finish, Li Yuanxing said again: "Chang'an to Lanzhou, Chang'an to Lingzhou two lines."
After everything was connected, Li Yuanxing smiled and said to Li Er: "Brother Emperor, if you don't count the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge, the total cost is almost half of the Jiangning Yangtze River Bridge. The cost of that bridge is so huge. They don't
Is it strange that I object to this?"
Li Yuanxing will never talk nonsense, and there must be enough basis for him to say so.
That's right, Li Yuanxing had detailed information about later generations in his hands, so he naturally knew that these places were all plains, and there was not much cost at all. Compared with building a bridge on the Yangtze River, it was really trivial.
In later generations, the Whip Dynasty invited Europeans to build railways, and the Beijing-Hankou Line cost 30 million taels of silver.
One tael of silver in the Tang Dynasty was equivalent to the purchasing power of 4,000 yuan in later generations. In later generations, one tael of silver was the highest at 700, but by the time of road construction, it was less than 200 yuan.
The purchasing power of silver is far different from that of the Tang Dynasty.
"What Wulang means is that all this plus the Zhengzhou Yellow River Bridge is almost equivalent to that bridge?"
"It can be as low as hundreds of thousands of guan. Or one million guan!" Li Yuanxing answered truthfully.
At that moment, five of the six officials stood up.
"Stop!" Li Yuanxing stretched out his hand to stop these people: "Don't say that you will stop the bridge and then build these railways. Don't even think about it. You don't know how significant that bridge is and how much money it costs.
But for the entire Tang Dynasty, the wealth created is even more of a miracle."
Of the six officials, only Li Jing sat still.
The other five people really wanted to persuade Li Yuanxing to stop the Jiangning Bridge and rebuild this series of railways as Li Yuanxing said.
Li Yuanxing directly pointed out their thoughts, and made it very clear that it would never stop. This reaction did not surprise the six important ministers, and Li Er also smiled with satisfaction. He issued an imperial edict that the bridge cannot be stopped. This is at stake.
The face of the Tang Dynasty naturally also has the problem of the face of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
"It's difficult to build it going south. The reason is that there are too many rivers and too many bridges are needed." Li Yuanxing continued: "But we still have to build it. Let's build it in Ezhou first. The bridge in Ezhou is not much worse than the bridge in Jiangning.
, so it is very meaningful to build a railway from Jiangning to the south. Similarly, we will postpone it for a while."
"His Royal Highness King Qin said this, there must be a solution?" Fang Xuanling asked.
"It's very simple. First get some money, then get some people, and we can cultivate together." Li Yuanxing's smile made Wang Jishan a little nervous. (To be continued...)