Speaking from the bottom of his heart, Wu Ganlai didn't think Zhang Zhiji would have any good ideas.

A military like Zhang Zhiji kills talents, and it is not a problem at all for them to use knives to cut people or anything, and it is obviously more realistic to expect the barbarians to go crazy and cut them and go to the construction site to work as coolies.

But the Central Plains has a good old saying, it is called rushing to the doctor in a hurry, and Wu Ganlai is also like this now, and he plans to listen to Zhang Zhiji's high opinion first.

Zhang Zhiji said: "Don't hide it from Wu Butang, those killers in the guard can't be counted on, they now care most about military merit rather than reward, even if the household department raises the purchase price of labor to ten taels, it is estimated that it will not be too useful."

But there is a good saying, it is called that under the heavy reward, there must be a brave man, and there is another sentence that makes people die for money.

The price of ten taels of silver, the soldiers of the guard station don't care, but the people care very much, such as Liu Hang, Meng Fanxing, Wang Haojie and others.

Since these people dared to pin their heads to the waistbands of their trousers in the early years to plunder people, and now double the price, it is estimated that they will go north to Tsarist Russia again. ”

Wu Ganlai nodded, shook his head again, and said, "No." The old man had heard of their names before, and he knew about the big things they had done in Liaodong and Nuergandusi.

But have you ever thought about it, when they came out of the customs, they were in their twenties, and now they are in their forties, and then let them go to Tsarist Russia? ”

Zhang Zhiji covered his forehead and said: "My father's intention is not to let them go, but to follow the example of the past, and then lead the people to go to Tsarist Russia spontaneously."

Think about it, think about those good families when they were strong, and they prepared their own bows and horses to go out, how heroic they were, and my good sons and daughters of the Ming Dynasty may not lose to the ancients! ”

Wu Ganlai shook his head and said, "Still not successful."

Although I also have the rule that scholars do not teach and cannot be enlisted, and there are many people who can do this kind of thing, but these people may not like to go on expeditions now.

Whether it is farming or going to work on the construction site, you will earn the silver safely, and you will not be forced to lick the blood with the knife? Or is it that the Governor's Office of the Five Armies intends to calculate military merits for them as well? ”

Zhang Zhiji said as a matter of course: "Calculate, why don't you calculate military merits?"

It's just a matter of flexibility, their military exploits in killing people are not as cost-effective as ten taels of silver, and they will think about catching barbarians for silver instead of killing barbarians.

The military government cannot change the calculation of the military merits of the soldiers at will, but the calculation of the military merits of the people who spontaneously serve the army can be flexibly changed, after all, it is not a regular army. ”

Wu Ganlai couldn't help but feel a little painful: "Ten taels of silver, isn't it too much?" Five taels is not enough? ”

Zhang Zhiji squinted and sneered: "As Wu Butang just said, you can earn the silver safely, why do you want to lick the blood with the knife?" Isn't it because there is more silver to catch the barbarians? Who wants to do it if they give less? Do you think they're like us fools? ”

Wu Ganlai glanced at Zhang Zhiji and said: "If the British Duke is also a stupid hill, I'm afraid there are not many smart people in this world!" ”

Zhang Zhiji smiled: "That's not important, don't care about these details, just say whether you agree or disagree now." ”

Wu Ganlai shook his head and said: "These problems are not a big problem, and ten taels of silver are not a big problem, the old man agreed." ”

Of course, Wu Ganlai will not have any big opinions, anyway, the money will be shared by the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Industry in the end, and it will not be relied on to the account of the Ministry of Households.

As for whether the three will agree to share the cost, Wu Ganlai said that he is not worried about next year's budget at all.

"It's just that as soon as this opening is opened, how many people will go to Tsarist Russia to catch barbarians? Will it lead to a mess then? ”

Wu Ganlai's worry was not about the silver, but about the people rushing to grab coolies, and in the end, the already small number of people would become fewer and less sufficient.

Zhang Zhiji smiled slightly, indicating that everything was under control: "Liaodong, Nuergandusi, Leshi Grassland, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Duogansi, Wusizang, these places have simple customs and can be of great use.

In addition to these places, other places do not give road guidance, whether it is the folk rangers, or the people, even if they want to go to Tsarist Russia, they can't go, what else does Wu Butang have to worry about? ”

The folk customs are simple? Do you have any misunderstanding about the four words of folk customs and simplicity?

The old man is not worried about anything else now, is it okay for the old man to worry about the Tsarist side now?

After a small meeting in the cabinet dispersed, Zhang Zhiji hurried back to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies and began to gather his horses to discuss how to kill Tsarist Russia.

And after the news reached the people, the people boiled.

If there is no military merit at all, it is estimated that not many people are interested in catching barbarians, after all, the current people of the Ming Dynasty are not like before, no matter how they look at life, they are not bad, and there is no way to fight for their lives with their heads.

When it comes to military exploits, it's different. As long as you catch a barbarian, you can get ten taels of silver, which is definitely a good deal, especially if you can also get some military merits.

Is War Horse a problem? Is armament a problem? Is the cost of the outplug a problem?

Absolutely no problem, a lot of silver and military exploits are beckoning, what else is the problem?

……

Emperor Chongzhen was wondering if he should go out to make waves, after all, he had been staying in Daming for several months, should he go out and cut people again?

Song Yingxing's arrival interrupted Emperor Chongzhen's idea of going out and cutting people.

Although Emperor Chongzhen was just a programming ape in later generations, he basically forgot a lot of science and engineering knowledge, even in high school and junior high school, and the only programming skills that he didn't forget were useless in this era, but there is an old saying, I haven't eaten pork and haven't seen a pig run.

Emperor Chongzhen has seen many things in the afterlife.

For example, electric lights, such as radios, such as radios, such as steam engines and internal combustion engines, although I don't know what these things are, but I still know some general principles.

This has brought a lot of help to the Royal Academy, after all, it is not known how much it will save to work backwards after knowing the correct result than starting from scratch.

Just like the railroad of the Ming Dynasty, if there was no appearance of Emperor Chongzhen, it would probably be hundreds of years later that an old Zhongtang said to an immortal Lafayette: "Lafayette, foreigners are coming to build a railway for our Qing Dynasty!" ”

The current Daming is different.

Although the railway is far from reaching the speed and density of later generations, how much and fast is the same thing, and whether there is or not is another matter entirely.

Daming has it now, and it is completely possible to build railways for foreigners, although neither the Ministry of Railways nor the Ministry of Households have this plan.

The good news brought by Song Yingxing is about electric lights.

The generator thing is very difficult to do, but you really have to be willing to spend money, let alone in Daming, even if you push it forward for thousands of years, it may not be impossible to get it out of the era of the old Liu family.

The real difficulty lies in the use of electrical energy, and Emperor Chongzhen knows exactly how to use this thing.

What surprised Emperor Chongzhen was the filament.

It doesn't look like the tungsten filament of later generations, but Emperor Chongzhen doesn't know what this new metal is.

It seems that Daming's technology tree is still inevitably deviated.

According to Song Yingxing, the life of the bulb that is made now can last for about a month, which means that as long as you are willing to spend money, the concept of the city that never sleeps can appear in Daming in advance.

Of course, this kind of thing will definitely not be rolled out to the entire capital right now, because there are too many aspects involved.

For example, there are problems with the power supply lines, but also management and all sorts of other small problems.

These problems alone are inconspicuous, but when combined, they are enough for everyone to have a headache.

Emperor Chongzhen's goal is still on the train.

Installing headlights on the trains is a great benefit for night travel, at least not as before, except for the military, the rest of the trains are basically out of service at night.

In addition, it is possible to start experimenting with the use of electric lamps in a small area.

As for the telegram that Emperor Chongzhen was most concerned about, the current progress is a little unsatisfactory.

It's not that you can't see the shadow at all, but the effect is really not very good now.

Theoretically, two small telegraphs were enough to communicate from the northernmost to the southernmost part of the Ming Dynasty, and even the whole world.

But in reality, this is not the case at all.

Although there was no problem of electromagnetic interference in the Ming Dynasty, the band involved and the research on electromagnetic communication were in a state of zero, which also increased the difficulty of building telegraphs to a certain extent.

However, in any case, good news is much better than no good news, and it is good to have a little progress, which is better than zero all the time.

After Song Yingxing left, Emperor Chongzhen ran to the cabinet again.

Wu Ganlai thinks that Emperor Chongzhen is probably crazy, and the Ming Dynasty has not yet figured out his own railway, and now he is thinking about building a railway for those barbarian countries in Europe? Don't think enough money is spent?

After thinking about it for a long time, Hong Chengchou felt that he probably had a little bit of Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts.

Regarding the benefits brought by the development of the railway, everyone in the court, even including Emperor Chongzhen, may not have more say than Hong Chengchou.

In addition to all the commercial benefits, the most powerful and useful function of the railroad is the ability to move troops quickly.

If there was no railway, it would take several months to get from the northernmost point of the Ming Dynasty to the southernmost point, even if it was a cavalry on a war horse.

Theoretically, the round-the-clock railroad is capable of reducing this time to a fraction or even a tenth of the original time.

One month and ten months are two completely different concepts, and even two months are completely different concepts, especially in military affairs.

Soldiers, you are fast!

Assuming that there was a rebellion in Lingnan, it would have taken a certain amount of time for the Ming Dynasty to transfer troops from the north, and then it would take several months to reach Lingnan, and finally another month or two of counterinsurgency wars.

In the intervening months, no one can say in which direction things will develop, and it is possible that the rebellion has been put down or expanded.

And now a month is completely different.

In a month's time, even if there were some changes in the war, the court had time to respond, either to mobilize more troops to quell the rebellion, or to let the soldiers go back to their homes.

The same is true not only for the transportation of soldiers, but also for supplies.

Now Emperor Chongzhen suddenly proposed to build a railway for those barbarians, which is actually similar in nature to a false road.

First build the railway in the territory of the other party, once the Ming Dynasty and the country have a war, the other party can mobilize the army quickly, and the Ming can also use the railway in the occupied area.

The only problem is money.

After being silent for a long time, Hong Chengchou bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, I think it's a good thing to build a railway for those barbarians, but how much does it cost?" Can the barbarians afford it? ”

Wu Ganlai was worried about this problem from the beginning.

As for what benefits the railway can bring to the Ming Dynasty, Wu Ganlai is more concerned about the Ming Dynasty itself than about the overseas barbarian countries, unless those barbarians can make money from the treasury, Wu Ganlai is not interested.

Emperor Chongzhen smiled and said, "Why can't the barbarians afford it?" If you don't have cash, can you still take out a mortgage on mines and tariffs, and you can just pay back out of nine? ”

Wu Ganlai bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has a question. ”

After Emperor Chongzhen nodded, Wu Ganlai spoke: "Even if those barbarian countries are willing to build railways, can they mortgage the mines and customs duties?"

Moreover, it is not for a while that the money wants to be recovered, although the Ming treasury has a slight surplus now, but it really involves many barbarian countries, and the treasury is afraid that it will not be able to support it. ”

Hong Chengchou shook his head and said, "Wu Butang is too worried. Once the barbarian countries saw the benefits of the railroads, they would not necessarily agree to mortgage the mines and customs duties.

As for the problem of the national treasury, it is actually not a big one.

No matter how poor those barbarian countries are, there is no problem in building a few railways on key lines.

As for the tariffs and the time it takes for the mines to recover their costs too long, the fact is that private capital can be involved. ”

Wu Ganlai shook his head and said: "Private capital is absolutely not good. Once they taste the sweetness, I am afraid that the things that will become more and more troublesome and out of control. ”

Hong Chengchou said: "Subcontracting some irrelevant projects that can make some profits to the people, especially the subcontracted projects on the barbarian's side, has no impact on me at all."

They earned silver over there, which means that my Daming earned silver over there, and the money for building railways was ultimately earned from those barbarian countries.

Moreover, there is also their mine and tariff mortgage, even if they don't subcontract it out and sell the mine to the people of the Ming Dynasty, wouldn't they be able to save a lot of money? ”

Wu Ganlai was a little moved.