Zhang Bin built the railway network not only for the convenience of grain and grass transfer, but also for the convenience of the assembly of Ming army soldiers.

In fact, there are not a lot of troops in the Gyeonggi area, the Liaodong Army, the Sichuan Army, the Shanxi Army, the Qijia Army, the Tianxiong Army, as well as the Jingshi Guards and the Jingying Tunwei add up to more than 300,000, but these armies are scattered in their respective defense areas, and it is difficult to gather together in a short time, so every time Jiannu sneaks into Gyeonggi, they can come and go freely.

If the railway network is completed, these more than 300,000 troops can basically reach any area of Gyeonggi within a day or two, which is faster than the cavalry of Jiannu.

In addition, the railway network has been extended to Shaanxi, and if there are rebels in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, or even Huguang, troops from the Gyeonggi region can be quickly dispatched to encircle and suppress them.

The most important thing is that with the construction of the railway from the capital to Dagu Port, the railway network and the shipping network will be connected, so that the troops near Gyeonggi can quickly support Haizhou City and Phoenix City by sea, and the defenders of Haizhou City and Phoenix City can also quickly call back the capital by sea, and Jiannu may face more than 300,000 or even more than 400,000 Ming troops within three days of sneak attack, and rapid transfer will no longer be the advantage of Jiannu, but the advantage of the Ming army!

After Zhang Bin and Bi Maokang set the railway plan for the Gyeonggi area, Wang Zheng began to organize manpower and material resources to build, the most important of the four railways is the railway from the capital to Dagu Port, because this railway is the node of the shipping network and the railway network, as long as the railway is built, not only the transportation of grain and the transfer of troops are convenient, but also the military supplies and various train parts produced by Dongfan can also be quickly transferred to all parts of the capital.

To this end, Zhang Bin deliberately transferred tens of thousands of guards from Dongfan to expand Dagu Port, and began to build a railway from Dagu Port, extending to the direction of the capital, and starting construction at the same time with the labor force organized by the Ministry of Industry, striving to complete and open the railway to traffic as soon as possible.

It is said that the Gyeonggi area has been looted by Jiannu and is about to become a big cemetery, and everywhere is deserted, where are the people who come to build the railway?

Zhang Bin naturally had a plan for this problem, and after discussing it with Cao Jue, the head of the household department, he asked Chongzhen to ask for the relocation of the hungry people near Beizhili to build a railway, as for the grain, he did not need to be allocated by the imperial court, he found a way to raise it.

Originally, Chongzhen also wanted to fill up the barren Gyeonggi area, but he had no money, and the migration of the population was a huge project, at the very least, you had to ensure that people had food to eat after migrating to the Gyeonggi area, and they could not starve to death.

The population of the Gyeonggi area is at least one million, and if the hungry people are migrated, they must at least be guaranteed half a year's ration so that they will not starve to death, so that it is calculated as three or four million stone grain, and according to the current grain price in the north, at least five or six million taels of silver are needed, where did he get so much silver, so the Gyeonggi area has always been a large cemetery, and most places have always been deserted.

This thing is different for Zhang Bin to do, he has grain, some silver, but there has been no excuse, this time to take the opportunity of railway construction, just fill up the Gyeonggi area, can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Chongzhen naturally has no opinion on this, he doesn't want him to spend money on good deeds, he will never refuse, and he is even more happy to see it happen if he can fill the Gyeonggi cemetery.

At this time, there is a rare lively scene near the capital, and the hungry people from Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and other places gather in Beizhili, under the organization of the officials of the Ministry of Industry and the big and small shopkeepers of Dongshengtang, they open the mountain and break stones, cut down wood and materials, and are in full swing.

The villages near the capital that had been looted by Jiannu gradually became populated, but the hungry and homeless people around Beizhili became fewer and fewer, because they were all transferred to Beizhili to fill the vacancies by the cabinet and the household department.

In March, the grass grows and the warbler flies, the trees in the mountains are green, the grass on the ground sprouts new shoots, and the fields are filled with busy people, and the Gyeonggi area is full of vitality.

Just after noon on this day, there is smoke curling everywhere near Zhangjiawan in Tongzhou, Shuntian Prefecture, the people who have been busy all morning are like ants returning home to the village, and suddenly there is a rumbling sound of horses' hooves in the distance, all the people are frightened to look at the official road not far away, Jiannu often come here to rob them but have already heard of it, this unlucky, but don't just come from the disaster area where there is no grass to this Gyeonggi area where the water is still abundant, and meet Jiannu!

Fortunately, the dozens of horsemen who came up on the official road were obviously not dressed as Jiannu, the leaders and those who were held back were dressed as soldiers of the Ming army, and there seemed to be a few officials in red official robes in the middle.

Soon, the group of dozens of horsemen came to the entrance of the village, the war horses just stopped, and the more than ten Ming soldiers who started quickly dismounted, gathered the war horses in one place, and then lined up neatly on both sides of the road.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Fuyuan, the governor of Tongzhou, took the lead and turned down from the war horse, waited respectfully for a while, and then led the three officials, one old and one young, to walk towards Zhang Laohan with a smile.

This Tongzhou is Zhili Prefecture, there is no county government, all places are under the control of Zhizhou, Zhizhou Xu Fuyuan often comes to the place to ask for warmth, Zhang Laohan naturally knows, not only does he know, the people on both sides also know, Xu Fuyuan just walked over, that Zhang Laohan greeted him enthusiastically and said: "It turned out that the Lord Zhizhou arrived, and he missed the welcome, forgive his sins." ”

The people on both sides also followed his example and bowed their hands: "See Lord Zhizhou." ”

Xu Fuyuan held his arm and smiled: "Old Zhangtou, they are all old acquaintances, why are you so polite to me, don't be so polite, don't be so polite, no courtesy." ”

Zhang Laohan laughed and said bluntly: "We all know that Lord Xu is approachable, but you are a member of the Wupin Imperial Court, and we can't be rude." ”

When Xu Fuyuan heard this, he smiled awkwardly: "From the fifth grade, from the fifth grade, it is not a member of the imperial court, old Zhang Tou, don't talk nonsense." ”

Immediately, his face turned grim and he said solemnly: "These adults are real court officials, come, this official will introduce you to you." ”

Zhang Laohan saw his face, and thought he was angry, he was going to introduce other officials for a long time, he didn't know the patterns on the robes of these officials, and he didn't know how many products these people were, he thought, he can walk with Lord Zhizhou so kindly, and he will be a positive five products, so he doesn't care very much, just fake and fake hands, and prepare to greet him at will, after all, Lord Zhizhou has said don't be polite.

Xu Fuyuan smiled and took his arm, led him to the eldest official, and introduced, "This Lord Hubu Shangshu Cao. ”

"Ahh , Hubu Shangshu, what a big official this is, Old Man Zhang's legs were weak, and he almost didn't lie on the ground.

He was about to kneel on the ground to salute, Cao Jian helped him and said kindly: "No need to be polite, we are here to be guests, you are so polite, we will be embarrassed to enter the door." ”

"Oops, hey." Zhang Laohan responded in a trembling voice, and was pulled by Xu Fuyuan to another elderly official and introduced: "This is a cabinet scholar, Master Wen." ”

"Oops!" , Cabinet Scholar, that's Zaisuke!

Zhang Laohan was so frightened that his knees couldn't stand up, if it weren't for Xu Fuyuan's support, he would probably have knelt on the ground.

Seeing this, Wen Zhenmeng held his arm and quipped, "What's the matter, is this official very scary?" ”

"No, no, no!"

Zhang Laohan hurriedly shook his head, and was pulled by Xu Fuyuan to the young official, this time he finally came back to his senses, the two officials in front of him were really scary, this young man should be about the same age as Lord Xu.

As a result, as soon as Xu Fuyuan opened his mouth, he was so frightened that he almost collapsed on the ground.

I saw Xu Fuyuan solemnly introduced: "This is the second assistant of the cabinet, the prince and the prince, and the secretary of the military department, Lord Zhang!" ”