After more than a month, Zhang Bin came to Datong Town again, this time, he didn't even bring the Fuguang army, he brought 50,000 Guanning iron horses, but this time, there were many court officials who came with him.

For example, Cabinet University Scholar Frank Brown Brown.

Another example is the newly promoted Ministry of Industry Shangshu Wang Zheng.

He did not come to negotiate with the leaders of the Chahar tribes this time, he mainly came to see the construction of the Dacha Railway, and at the same time, he had a bigger plan to implement.

Dacha Railway is the railway from Datong Town to the Chahar Grassland, this Zhang Bin put forward it with the leaders of the Chahar departments last time, because the ore is not dug out a little, it is counted in thousands of catties or even 10,000 catties, if it is transported to the station near Datong by manpower or animal power, it will be time-consuming and laborious, not to mention, the cost will double.

As the cost increased, the profit decreased, and the amount of money he paid to these chiefs correspondingly decreased, and these tribal leaders naturally strongly supported the construction of the railroad for their own benefit.

They don't know what the specific principle of the railway and the train is, they only know that this thing seems to be broken as soon as it is dug up, and it doesn't take much effort, if it turns the other cheek with Daming again, just dig up the railway to people, and it has no impact on them at all.

The Dacha railway began to prepare for opening, when Zhang Bin came over, the railway was built out of more than 100 miles, and the next day he arrived in Datong Town, he took 50,000 Guanning iron horsemen along the railway all the way to the north, and after about an hour, they came to the end of the railway.

In fact, this place is close to the edge of the Chahar grassland, and after more than ten miles, you can see the Yitan Plain.

At this time, tens of thousands of Shanxi Tunwei are busy with their work, after more than a month of actual operation, they have obviously done quite familiar with the work of building railways, quarrying mountains, transporting timber, building roadbeds, laying tracks, doing their own thing, division of labor and cooperation, in an orderly manner, the Dacha railway is extending to the north at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Zhang Bin looked at it for a while, then waved his hand and led the Guanning Iron Cavalry all the way to the north, knowing that he had stepped on the slightly yellowed grass, he ordered the whole army to stop and camp on the spot, while he himself led a group of accompanying officials and hundreds of guards straight to the highest dirt slope nearby.

He took a group of accompanying officials up the dirt slope, took out his binoculars and looked north for a while, and then turned around and asked: "Liangfu, how long do you estimate it will take to build a thousand-mile-long railway on this grassland?" ”

When Wang Zheng heard this, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded and said: "Cultivating on the grassland, can the people from the Chahar Department agree?" To tell the truth, now I am looking at this section of the railway, and as soon as the Chahar Department turns its face, the railway will be repaired in vain. ”

Zhang Bin said confidently: "Don't worry, the Chahar Department will not turn its face, you just need to repair, tell me how long it will take to repair until the junction of the Chahar Grassland and the Horqin Grassland?" ”

Wang Zheng looked at the withered yellow grassland helplessly, and then estimated: "With the current manpower, on this flat land, it should not be a problem to repair him for a hundred miles a month, if it is calculated by 1,000 miles, not to mention that it can definitely be completed this year, it will definitely be no problem to complete it in early February next year." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "No, it's too slow, it must be completed before October this year, and if the manpower is not enough, continue to recruit the guards, even if the guards from Beizhili and Henan can be recruited." ”

When Wang Zheng heard this, he couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "Shuangquan, recruiting people is not a problem, the main thing is that you are too wasteful, you know, now you have recruited almost 50,000 guards, this is rations, and salary, it is more than 100,000 taels a month, and if you double the recruitment, it will be more than 200,000 taels!" If it is to build a railway in the Guan, it will be fine, you have invested so much manpower, material and financial resources outside the Guan, and when the Chahar Department turns its face, the loss will be millions of taels! ”

Zhang Bin said indifferently: "This money doesn't need to be paid by the imperial court, it is all from Dongshengtang, third brother, you say, are you afraid that this money will be wasted?" ”

Zhang San, who was respectfully accompanying him, couldn't help but smile when he heard this: "We can still afford this amount of money in Dongshengtang, Lord Wang, if you are afraid of the damage to the dividends at the end of the year, I can contract this railway, not counting the main hall, even if it is my Shanxi and Shaanxi branches." ”

Wang Zheng rolled his eyes, and said angrily: "What are you talking about, am I a person who cares about personal gains and losses, I am afraid that this railway will be repaired in vain, do you know, this is more than a thousand miles, how good it is for Dongshengtang to invest this money in Liaodong or Guangdong, those places are in urgent need of repairing the railway, because there will definitely be a lot of surplus grain in those places this year, if it can't be transported out, I don't know how many granaries to build to store grain, Liaodong is better, Qiongzhou Mansion is so hot, even if there is a granary, it is estimated that the grain will not last long." ”

Seeing this, Zhang Bin couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly: "Okay, Liangfu, don't worry, the railway between Liaodong and Guangdong will be repaired this year, aren't I mining coal and iron ore here, if there is no iron ore, what do you use to lay railroad tracks, if there is no coal mine, what do we use to drive a train?" ”

At this time, Bi Maokang on the side couldn't help but interject: "Shuangquan, why are you so sure that the Chahar Department will not turn its face?" Now that you've stabilized them with silver, they'll still turn their faces once they've earned enough money! ”

Yes, why is Zhang Bin so sure that the Chahar Department will not turn his face, even Zhang San thinks so, these two brothers will not take the wrong medicine!

Zhang Bin naturally didn't take the wrong medicine, he said confidently: "Meng Hou, do you know, the last time I led Guan Ning Tie to ride over, the Chahar Department was like a great enemy, and it gathered seventy or eighty thousand cavalry to come over, this time, did you see it, there was not a shadow of a single cavalry." ”

Bi Maokang glanced at the empty grassland, then shook his head and sighed: "I said it, this is only temporary, these leaders of the Chahar Department are not idiots, they know that you are in urgent need of coal and iron ore now, and they will not turn their faces against them, so why are you prevented?" ”

Zhang Bin smiled and shook his head: "No, no, no, it's not this reason, at least not the main reason, guess what the main reason is?" ”

This is also a dumb riddle, Bi Maokang spread his hands and said: "I just came over, can I know what the reason is, you can say it, I will listen to it." ”

Zhang Bin said proudly: "I'm afraid you can't think of it, most of their cavalry and foot soldiers have gone to mining, and now they are afraid that they won't be able to gather 10,000 horses, hahahahahaha." ”

When Bi Maokang heard this, he was stunned, these guys, just said that they are not idiots, they didn't expect such a simple thing, to Zhang Bin to launch a surprise attack at this time, these 50,000 Guanning iron cavalry are enough to sweep the Chahar Department, they simply want money and don't want to die!

Bi Maokang was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but propose: "Shuangquan, why don't you take this opportunity to level the Chahar Department in one fell swoop!" ”

Fengyun Reading Network M.