The five major merchant gangs actively responded to the call of the imperial court and enthusiastically donated silver taels, and finally raised more than one million taels of military expenses higher than Zhang Bin's budget.

With this silver, you can naturally start recruiting troops and buying horses, but Zhang Bin doesn't need to take care of this matter, because the so-called recruits are actually the soldiers of the East Fan Nine Guards, and they have all been assembled in the East, as long as they are transported over.

Moreover, Zhang Bin also asked Chongzhen to transfer Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao's uncle and nephew from Liaodong, and let them serve as the general and deputy general soldiers of Fuguang, responsible for "recruiting" and "training" the new army, and even, even the general Zhang Bin was ready for them, that is, Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu.

The next day, Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao's uncle and nephew also came to Yuegang, Zhang Bin pretended to explain to them about the recruitment and training of the new army, this trip to Fuguang seems to be a successful end, and then Zhang Bin can take the prince Zhu Cihong back to Beijing to wait for the recruitment and training of new recruits, and then mobilize a large army to encircle and suppress the thieves.

Of course, he could also choose to stay in Fuguang to personally preside over the recruitment and training of recruits, but it seemed that His Majesty the Crown Prince did not need to stay.

However, he did not take the prince back to Beijing, nor did he let the prince return to Beijing alone, because he still had an important matter to deal with, and he meant to take the prince back to Beijing after dealing with this matter.

Zhu Cihong naturally had no opinion, so Zhang Bin took him to Fuzhou to visit a capable minister.

This capable minister is Wang Zheng, in fact, Wang Zhengzhi's ability is not in governing the place or leading the troops to fight, his specialty is mechanical design and manufacturing.

This mechanical design and manufacturing is a strange thing to Zhu Cihong, Zhang Bin showed him Wang Zheng's "Illustration of the New Making of Instruments" and "Illustration of Strange Artifacts in the Far West", he realized that there is such a complex thing in this world, that is, what Zhang Bin said about machinery.

And Zhang Bin's so-called important thing is to go to Wang Zheng to help design a four-wheeled chariot, because the biggest feature of anti-thieves is that they have many horses, they can run, and according to the configuration of officers and soldiers and horses, they will definitely not be able to catch up with the main force of anti-thieves, for this reason, Zhang Bin thought of chariots.

Of course, this kind of chariot does not refer to a heavy chariot like the Wuhan Iron and Steel Vehicle, but a light chariot with a wooden structure, a light four-wheeled chariot with a wooden structure, so that the war horse is pulled, it is not a problem to sit three or four people, and even all the grain and grass baggage can be put on the car, so that the movement speed of the imperial army will be faster, and it will be possible to pursue the main force of the thieves.

Zhang Bin can actually design such a chariot by painting casually, but he pretended not to, and insisted on going to Wang Zheng, a capable minister, to help, in fact, he took Zhu Cihong to find Wang Zheng not for this wooden chariot, but for the train.

Wang Zheng is a henchman of Zhang Bin who was ignored by the remnants of the eunuch party, because he basically doesn't care about things, his position is not very high, and he rarely appears in front of outsiders, so he is ignored that the real number is normal.

At this time, he is a left senator, a local official from the fourth grade, subordinate to the Fujian Chengxuan Political Envoy Division, this senate is similar to the political participation from the third grade, if the left and right political envoys do not arrange anything specific for them, they are idlers, idlers who have nothing to do.

Wang Zheng is such an idler, he has nothing to do, it seems that he is idle there for a day, in fact, he is very busy, he is busy all day and night, busy designing and manufacturing trains, busy designing and manufacturing warships, he is the chief engineer under Zhang Bin, however, there is no engineer at this time, and the technical things don't seem to have much to do with the imperial court, so he seems to be very idle.

Now, Zhang Bin doesn't plan to let him be idle, because he needs to make great efforts in the next plan to exterminate the thieves, Zhang Bin just wants Zhu Cihong to take this opportunity to get to know him, and see some things, and then go back to mention the train to Chongzhen.

Wang Zheng was in Fuzhou Mansion at this time, "developing" the train, testing the railway from Houguan to Minxian County, it seems that he is preparing to build a railway from Fuguang to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but in fact it is not, Zhang Bin did not plan to let him build this section first, but wanted him to go to other places to repair, the reason why the construction of this small experimental line from Houguan to Minxian County is also to show people.

It is unlikely that Zhang Bin will let people see the railway in the east, because the railway of the master is connected to his large military factory Kaohsiung, if those military factories in Kaohsiung are seen, then he will be in big trouble, do you want to rebel or how to drop, so crazy to make warships and weapons!

Therefore, Zhang Bin asked Wang Zheng to build this small section of experimental railway in Fuzhou Mansion, so that the new thing of train can really be displayed in front of the world.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Zhang Bin of the Crown Prince and Master Zhang Bin drove to Fuzhou Mansion, and a group of Fujian officials and Fuzhou officials naturally poured out to greet them, and on the morning of the same day, the port outside the south gate of Fuzhou City was very lively, hundreds of officials in Fuzhou City lined up on the wharf to wait, and tens of thousands of people who rushed to hear the news gathered on both sides of the port, and a team of guards lined up everywhere with pennants, and the scene was extremely spectacular.

Zhu Cihong is still facing this scene for the first time, he can't help but feel a little nervous, he couldn't help but pull Zhang Bin's sleeve as soon as he got off the boat, Zhang Bin was very calm, he looked at a group of officials from Fujian and Fuzhou Prefecture, and even a little lost in his heart, things are not people, almost all the main officials in Fujian were his cronies, but he didn't know a few of the hundreds of officials at this time, and the Ming Dynasty official system is really a bit fucked.

Fortunately, these people didn't make a mess of Fujian's governance, they kept it well, otherwise, he would have to clean up these guys.

A group of officials can be described as trembling in front of Zhu Cihong and Zhang Bin, these two are terrible, one is the future emperor, the Ninth Five-Year Honor, and the other is the former governor who has a deep impression of Fuguang, and the residual prestige still exists.

After a grand welcome ceremony, Zhang Bin did not take the prince into Fuzhou City, but let Jinyiwei open the way, beat his horse and went straight to the waiting official, and he did not even let a Fujian official accompany him.

They all knew that Wang Zheng, a close confidant left by Zhang Bin, was developing a train there, but they didn't know how it was developed, because Wang Zheng hadn't invited them to visit, and they were embarrassed to go over to see it, but they heard that Wang Zheng ordered someone to build a big house over there, and spread two very long square iron rods on the ground.

This thing was not originally made for them to see, Wang Zheng naturally would not invite them over, in fact, he didn't need to develop it at all, he only needed to assemble the train parts transported from Dongfan together, and then lay a circle of oval kneeling roads more than 20 miles long, he had tested them in Dongfan, and there was absolutely no problem with this train.

Zhu Cihong was stunned again when he saw the behemoth in the assembly workshop, what is this thing?

Zhang Bin also seemed to be very surprised, he even "forgot" the purpose of this trip, and after a simple salute, he pretended to be surprised: "Lord Wang, what is this?" “

Wang Zheng cooperated: "This is a train, similar to a horse-drawn carriage, it is used to pull people and things, but this train does not need to be pulled by a horse, he can run by himself, and he runs fast." ”

There is also this kind of thing, Zhu Cihong became more and more surprised, and Zhang Bin also asked in disbelief: "Really, is it really so powerful?" ”

Wang Zheng simply proposed: "Lord Zhang, do you want to sit on it and try it?" ”

Zhu Cihong immediately showed an eager expression, but Zhang Bin was a little worried: "Is this thing safe?" ”

Wang Zheng patted his chest and promised: "My lord, please rest assured, this thing is almost a steel structure, even if the cannonball can't penetrate it, it is naturally extremely safe." ”

He is obviously stealing the concept, this train is not a shield, what is the point of cannonballs not penetrating, this train is used to run, whether it will overturn, whether it will get out of control is the key.

Zhu Cihong naturally couldn't think of this, he boarded the middle planting carriage accompanied by Zhang Bin and Wang Zheng with great interest, and then ordered a hundred brocade guards to come up to accompany him, so stupidly let Wang Zheng start the train and set off!

It's really fearless for the ignorant, he wants to know that the train may also overturn and derail, so he probably won't dare to take this "just developed" sample, and now he doesn't know anything, and it's really safe to think of the train.

Of course, Zhang Bin and Wang Zheng know very well that this train is already a very mature product, as long as it doesn't go too fast, it won't overturn or derail at all, otherwise, they wouldn't dare to coax the prince Zhu Cihong up.

Zhu Cihong got on the train and set off in such a daze, and soon, he was shocked and speechless, this thing really can run by itself without a horse, and it is like a galloping horse, stable and comfortable, more comfortable than riding a carriage!

Zhang Bin also seemed to be shocked, but he was not speechless, and soon after the train departed, he asked in surprise: "This train doesn't need to be pulled by horses, doesn't it mean that it can run forever?" ”

Wang Zheng pretended to explain: "Of course this is impossible, you have to stop and add some coal and water after running for hundreds of miles." ”

How long can it take to add some coal and water to waste, Zhang Bin asked again: "How fast can this train run?" ”

Wang Zheng estimated and said: "There should be no problem in running a hundred miles in an hour." ”

Zhang Bin muttered an estimate: "One hundred miles in an hour, more than a thousand miles in one day, it only takes one day to travel from the capital to Henan and Shanxi, it only takes two days to Shaanxi and Huguang, and it only takes three days to Sichuan, by the way, how many people can this train pull at one time?" ”

Wang Zheng estimated again: "If you sit in a crowd and hang ten such carriages, it shouldn't be a problem to pull 5,000 people." ”

Zhang Bin asked again: "How much does this train cost?" ”

Wang Zheng estimated again: "The cost is not very high, a train is only a few thousand taels of silver, and the cost of a mile-long track is only a few dozen taels of silver, which is too wasteful, especially the track on the ground, I invited 10,000 people for more than 20 miles of track, and it took two months to pave it." ”

Zhang Bin muttered again: "10,000 people are more than 20 miles in two months, a month is more than 10 miles, 100,000 people are more than 100 miles in a month, and 200,000 people are more than 200 miles in a month, that is to say, as long as 200,000 people are invited to pave the track from the capital to Shaanxi in a year, right?" ”

Wang Zheng nodded slowly and said, "It should be about the same." ”

Zhu Cihong looked at these two people and asked and answered for some reason, he really couldn't understand what the master was trying to do.

Zhang Bin pretended to ponder for a while, and then said, "Lord Wang, are you willing to follow me into Beijing, lay the track from the capital to Shaanxi, and then make twenty trains out." ”

Wang Zheng pretended to be shocked and said, "Lord Zhang, this will cost a lot of money, what are you trying to do?" ”

Zhang Bin said firmly: "Silver is not a problem, I'll help you find a way, as long as you can repair the track from the capital to Shaanxi, and build twenty trains, you can transport 100,000 troops at a time, and you can arrive in two days, so that the imperial court doesn't have to worry about the resurgence of thieves, and you don't have to worry about Jiannu entering the prison, and the transportation of grain and grass will be extremely fast, if you can build the track to Liaodong again, then Jiannu will be finished, we can gather more than 400,000 troops in a short period of time, and beat them to the bottom of the blood." ”

It turned out to be this meaning, Zhu Cihong couldn't help but suddenly realize, and Wang Zheng was even more excited: "Since you can help the court to eliminate the thieves and defeat Jiannu, then I didn't say it, I will enter Beijing with you." ”

This matter was settled, and then Zhang Bin and Wang Zheng discussed the chariot matter, and drew a sketch on the same day for people to hand over to Cao Wenzhao, and the next morning, Zhang Bin took Wang Zheng and Zhu Cihong and others to the capital.

There was nothing to say all the way, after everyone rushed back to the capital, Zhang Bin couldn't wait to take Zhu Cihong and Wang Zheng to see Chongzhen, under Zhu Cihong's description, Chongzhen was also stunned by the function of the train.

Zhang Bin lost no time in listing the benefits of building trains and repairing railways, and Chongzhen was even more moved, there are too many benefits of building trains and repairing railways.

First of all, you can quickly transfer the army and grain and grass, if you can really build the railway to Shaanxi, the problem of anti-thieves is not a problem at all, the imperial court can gather a large army to encircle and suppress at any time, and it will arrive in two days, even if the anti-thieves recur, they will be extinguished just up.

Then, building the railway can also increase the income of the people in the provinces along the way, even if each person only pays one tael of silver per month, it is twelve taels a year, and the people have money and have a way to live, and who will follow the thieves to rebel if they have a way to live.

Finally, the construction of the railway can also solve a lot of people's livelihood problems, for example, in the northwest, the biggest problem is the lack of food, the drought for many years, the price of grain soars, the people's life is unsustainable, if the railway can be repaired to the south of Zhili or even Fuguang, then the grain in the south will continue to be transferred to the north, the biggest problem in the northwest will be solved.

Of course, the most important point of building a railway is to revitalize the economy and promote commercial circulation, but Zhang Bin did not tell Chongzhen about this, Chongzhen's IQ is estimated to not know what the economy is at all, and it is in vain to tell him that the above three benefits are enough.

Sure enough, after listening to the benefits listed by Zhang Bin, Chongzhen immediately made a decision and made it!

However, the problem is again, the labor and cost of repairing the railway are at least several million, and he has no money!

Now it was Zhang Bin's turn to go out again, he immediately went to "lobby" Dongshengtang, the largest business in the Ming Dynasty, and soon persuaded people to invest in the construction of railways and make trains.

This requirement is nothing to Chongzhen at all, how did he know that the railway freight and passenger transportation are rolling in and the benefits are amazing, as long as he is not allowed to pay for it, the Shenma problem is not a problem.

With a wave of his hand, he directly promoted Wang Zheng to the right attendant of the Ministry of Industry, and was fully responsible for building railways and manufacturing trains, and the trains and railways of the Ming Dynasty appeared on the stage of history.

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