The cabinet hall, in the past, was a place where Fan Yongdou could only look up and hear from afar.

Although before, he had also been in and out of the homes of some cabinet auxiliary ministers countless times, paying money in exchange for many benefits, and in this process, the true faces of these sanctimonious bigwigs were also revealed at once, so that he had to despise these scholars and this court more and more.

Generally speaking, all kinds of transactions and bribes are traded through those brokers, but there are always some things that even those cabinet bigwigs don't like to fake their hands on others, so Fan Yongdou has indeed been in contact with Wen Tiren, and other high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, he knows that the huge influence of these cabinet bigwigs on Daming, just a word can determine the net worth of tens of millions of people, happiness and well-being, this kind of contempt and envy, and a little inferiority complex, with the fall of Daming, and the subsequent changes, has slowly faded.

Still, entering the Cabinet Hall is an exciting thing.

Although the change of dynasty has passed, the people guarding the door in the harem are still dominated by the brocade guards, of course, it is just a few gates, after all, the remaining people are no longer enough to protect the huge Forbidden City, and the elders will take the approach of placing full detectors on the city wall, if someone tries to climb the wall to enter the Forbidden City, the direct police are more reliable than human patrols.

Fan Yongdou noticed that there was originally a smoke outside the door, all of which were carriages and sedan chairs, looking at each other from a distance, looking at those horses and sedan chairs, as well as the sedan chair drivers who were not badly dressed, all of which showed that there were already many big merchants who also received the invitation letter and had come to the imperial capital.

Of course, he behaved very indifferently, and he still did so, he got out of the sedan chair and went inside, with a few eunuchs leading the way in front of him, walking towards the cabinet hall of the so-called venue.

Along the way, he wanted to get close to the eunuch several times, but he didn't have the guts, in this palace, but where people like him have never reached into the place, even in the most arrogant era, he didn't dare to approach, the legendary Jinyiwei is not a vegetarian.

Anyway, that's what happened, in the end, it's a hundred-year-old foundation, although the Jinyi guards stationed in the local area all look like wine bags and rice bags, but the Jinyi guards in the imperial capital, whether it is the north and south towns, it doesn't sound simple.

The venue seems to be very simple, there is nothing too grandiose decoration, in fact, it is not like a house at all, but a big tent, a piece of iron-like things, supporting those two-person high ceilings, it looks like the material is not ordinary, and it can actually be brightened, but the space is much larger than the temple and even other rooms, I am afraid that it is not the size of an acre of land?

This set of open-air tents is an emergency made of emergency goods, after all, they have to find a place to install more than 100 people at one time, and they can't look crowded and ugly, and it's best to be majestic and show their technical strength.

The natives of this era are afraid that they can't understand any polymer composite materials or the good things of controllable nuclear fusion, but the projection projector and some simple product displays are enough to deal with these turtles.

At this time, it was just morning, under Fan Yongdou's observation, they are all middle-aged and wealthy businessmen, and there are younger ones, and there are actually many fellows who know each other in the Shanxi Guild Hall.

Fan Yongdou tried for a while, and then communicated with a few, while talking about the recent rice shop business in the imperial capital, the panicked but happy citizens, the newly appeared movie theater, the spaceship in the sky, the prince in the palace, such and such gossip, this is something that the common people often say, of course, there is nothing useful.

"Brother Fan, you were born in the West Exit, let's take a look at this thing."

A leather merchant from Shanxi pulled his hand and said: "This is the big railway that those elders said were going to be built, that is, to lay iron bars on the ground, and then you could run a car, I think this is feasible, but I should ask you what you mean first." ”

"What?"

"Haha, that's it, you look at the things around you, it's all the things that the elders want to talk about today, let us see for ourselves."

The leather merchant said slowly: "You see, those shadow plays, not only can be played, but also can have product introductions, but what I am most happy about is this, the railway." ”

He pulled Fan Yongdou and came to a very large table, on which was a large model, if you looked closely, it was the things that Li Xiangqian and Zhao Jiaren had pointed out repeatedly, but a lot of them were removed, only in the northern provinces, but these things had already made these guys who had never seen standardized maps start chattering.

"From the imperial capital, all the way to Zhangjiakou, and then to the old name of Sanniangzi City, along the way, along the line, it is necessary to use iron bars to even the past, without leaving a single seam, and it will not take a few hours to get to the place, you say, is there a head."

Fan Yongdou looked at this place, he often runs to the border, naturally knows some of these place names, it seems that this is really this, he has already received some rumors, saying that there will be this so-called railway, but he always can't believe it, although he says that the elders will be omnipotent, but he always feels that such a change, for a businessman like him who has already achieved an advantage, the change is not good.

"This is the same as the Great Wall, thousands of miles away, it is so long to build, how to walk in the middle, and also, outside the exit, it is the place of people, how can this be repaired."

The merchant said casually: "Brother, you can't see it, these elders are determined to call the shots for us, in previous years, we went outside to pour leather goods, not to be careful of horse thieves, to worship those Mongolian Bayan, now, if there is such a thing, you don't have to bother to collect so many families, you can check so much luggage, and you can pay more." ”

Fan Yongdou asked: "Freight, ah, it's time to collect freight, by the way, how to calculate the money." ”

"A wagon, it's 1,200 but, guess how much."

Fan Yongdou flattered: "You also know that my brother doesn't understand these big accounts, I am all in small business, how much do you say." ”

"One thousand two hundred, only three hundred taels of silver, from the city of Sanniangzi to the imperial capital, I also asked, this wagon, is exactly counted together, as long as it is not heavy, but the size of the wagon, you can load it inside, brother, can we have a discussion, the leather I want to transport every year, if you go in batches, you can't use it so much, how about we partner with each other, one person on one side, it's easy to use."

"Three hundred taels ......" Fan Yongdou quickly calculated in his heart and said, "Is it really three hundred taels?" Isn't there anything else to spend? ”

"Well, I estimate that the foreman of the train and others still have to pay homage, but usually, if you want to transport so many things, which one doesn't cost thousands of taels of silver, but also a large team of people to manage, this, you only need to put things on this, and you can live."

Fan Yongdou's heart moved, he secretly asked someone to help calculate the time and capacity of the Millennium Falcon flying from Nanjing to the imperial capital, in fact, he had already been convinced, and said: "Then from the imperial capital, you can also transport things to Sanniangzi City?" ”

"yes, yes, that's right."

"Is there a price for that?"

"Ah, I asked, the increase is the same, but, Brother Fan, how many things can be sold on this grassland, mainly to bring those skins back."

Fan Yongdou blushed for a while and said, "I mainly think that if I can transport things, I can transport people." ”

"Yes, there are seats, and it's not expensive, there are so many first-class tickets, the first-class ticket costs one or two silver, presumably it is the best, and the second-class seats, the third-class seats, but, Brother Fan, what do you think is the use of this."

"Nothing, nothing, that's it...... If you can sit on people, you can transport troops over, and if you want to come to Mongolia, you and I are people who often run outside the mouth, and most of the herdsmen and others are also bitter men who seek a way to survive, and they are the heads of those Mongolian tribes above, who are insatiable, so they instigate the Mongolian people to embarrass us, that's it, the people also understand very well, after all, how many years, even if they desperately robbed us, in the end they became the head of the people to take the big head, the real ordinary herdsmen, are all bitter. ”

At this point, I didn't think about it, the leather merchant frowned, and said: "I shouldn't be very good at fighting each other, the elders are all stars in the sky, and they are naturally very merciful, they should have a way." ”

Fan Yongdou sighed, for what Sanniangzi City, he naturally coveted its superior address and easy wealth, but if the train could go to Sanniangzi City, wouldn't that mean ...... Can you go to Horqin?

He said quietly: "Just looking at such a big work, I don't know how much people will be levied, the people are suffering, and I don't know how busy it will be until what year and month." ”

God is pitiful, if this railway thing has been busy for ten or eight years, it is better to let the queen mother of Horqin recover, at least, so that he can have time to find a way to slowly wash the ground, and slowly kill the people who know their own affairs, little by little, fortunately, he can know that it is the person he is secretly contacting with the Manchu Qing, either a noble person among the Manchus, or a subordinate on his side.

However, it seems that this man was born to destroy his hopes: "How can it, have you heard, I heard that an elder personally said that before the end of the year, the railway from the imperial capital to Tianjin Wei will be repaired, and then you can go to see the ribbon cutting." ”

Ribbon......

"Okay, that's good, that is to say, not only do you want to go to Mongolia to repair, but you can also go to Tianjin Wei."

"Jinan, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, that's a good place for flowers, if this train really comes out, it's more profitable than that spaceship."

Many people know that Fan Yongdou wants to do the business of the spaceship, so he also jumps up and down in the imperial capital, which can be regarded as a crooked cover for him to inquire about the news, hoping to find Duoduo and Azig, and never tell these people about his secret Manchu behavior.

However, after all, there are only a few spaceships, at least they have not yet shown real capacity, and the Elders will always regard the spaceship as a strategic weapon, which is to transport troops to attack the enemy's troops at any time, and also to consider the life of the spaceship.

The train, although not as flexible as the Millennium Falcon, is definitely a more convenient choice in terms of cost and total volume, and he can still accommodate a large number of silk population, not to mention, as long as the railway is built to one place, then it means that their industrial products, cultural civilization, and even influence can almost control there, not to mention that it is more convenient to mobilize troops, although the flow of personnel will also be more troublesome, but, after all, in the future, they will have countless silk exiles, which may have endangered the safety of the dynasty. Or the landless peasants, go directly to the colonies, give farm tools, and bully the natives.

Fan Yongdou was very yearning and sighed, "So that's the case." ”

Fan Yongdou finally understood a little, the purpose of this elders' meeting, they don't send people, just put things here, let you figure it out for yourself, this is not a "Hongmen banquet" that eats big households and asks big businessmen to pay money to save their lives, but a test, how smart people will naturally use their brains.

If, if there is really such a railway, Fan Yongdou is even willing to "contract" directly, even if he has to pay hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year, but with such a huge amount of transportation, he is confident that it is not impossible to monopolize the north and south of the Great Wall, and even from the south of the Yangtze River to the north.

His eyes scanned a circle, carefully looked at the railway line, and there was a line flowing out of Tianjin Wei, which went directly to Shanhaiguan, and went directly to the south across the Yellow River, extending in all directions, but he was also very excited in his heart, if it was really so convenient, only three hundred taels could be bought from Sanniangzi City to the imperial capital, and the cost of his business would be completely reduced, after all, in this era, in addition to the expenses of various local figures, all kinds of officials, bandits, are all to be honored, this is a cost problem, It is also a question of social benefits.

Spending 1o yuan to feed someone who may be in your way, so that he doesn't make trouble casually and make you lose 1oo yuan, this is the best of both worlds in Fan Yongdou's view, but now, he is a little different, yes, if, he thinks to himself if, if the elders' council really does it, and the logistics system is in such a state, then, the so-called small captain of the border pass, as well as the officials who enter and exit the city gate, are all at once useless?

That's not something that can be compensated for by just three hundred taels of silver.