The reason why we should put the relationship between the railway and the "use of soldiers" in the first place is that Guan Zhuofan used to set up a telegraph in the name of "military prosperity" before, which was quite handy, and he knew the taste of the marrow, and he repeated his old skills when running the railway.

After the Battle of Atlanta, Guan Zhuofan reported the victory to China, and Libin entered the palace to "explain" the two palaces. At that time, Guan Zhuofan was in the excerpt, and Libin was in his words, hyping up the railway as a "first-class militaristic weapon", and the two palaces and military aircraft were very impressed by it. Therefore, although the queen mother of the two palaces still doesn't know what the railway looks like, Guan Zhuofan's "railway is especially indispensable for the use of soldiers", they naturally and fully agree.

Not only that, "in the future, the military power and the salary power will be in the imperial court, and it will not be controlled by the Xinjiang ministers", which also made the two palaces and the central princes excited.

Hongyang chaos, the governor sits big, and gradually has the tendency of the tail to be big, the central control of the locality, the more hard it feels, if the railway is completed, the state power, and the court is reunited, it is really good, and it is considered to be a thousand years of merit!

Guan Zhuofan also added his own private goods to this excerpt, that is, the sentence "cut troops and pay and become a strong force".

As explained earlier, Guan Zhuofan's plan is to drastically reduce all kinds of local troops, including the Green Battalion, the Banner Battalion, the Hunan Army, and the Huai Army, and only a few capable troops will be reorganized into public security forces; At the same time, the Xuan Army was expanded, and the National Defense Force was established on the basis of the Xuan Army, that is, the field troops and the security forces were completely separated, and the regular army and the "armed police" were completely separated.

This plan is already being implemented, and now Guan Zhuofan wants to take advantage of the east wind of the railway to speed up its progress.

The empress dowager of the two palaces and the princes of the military aircraft were all in favor of the construction of the railway, but only Zhuo Fan knew. This railroad is really working. What kind of obstacles will be encountered. Therefore, it is not possible to make a base in advance.

Guan Zhuofan said: "The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces, running a railway is no better than running a telegraph, you always have to requisition some land and relocate a few people, but the imperial court will give appropriate compensation to the relevant people - there is no need to worry about this layer; But it is inevitable that there will be foolish husbands and fools, or people with ulterior motives, in the name of the railway damaging the feng shui of their family and clan. Obstruction of the project is excessive. I am afraid that there will be disagreement on the way of words, and when the time comes, I must always ask the two palaces to be arbitrary. ”

Cixi smiled and said, "Aren't you just afraid that our sisters will have soft ears?" Don't worry, this railway, even if you let it go, whatever basket goes out, it will be carried by our sisters. ”

The words of the Queen Mother of Our Lady were put out, Guan Zhuofan was certainly pleased, and the rest of the military ministers were also in high spirits. The superior is willing to take responsibility, this is the atmosphere of the country's great governance!

However, Guan Zhuofan said in his heart: Of course it's good if you are willing to say so. But sister, don't you know how many moths will grow underneath this railway when it is really built, and will you be able to resist it then? We'll have to wait and see.

Li Hongzhang, Liu Mingchuan, Xue Fucheng and others in the original time and space asked for the construction of the railway, and the two palaces and the military aircraft were all willing, but they were issued with a fold, "the words and officials were sparse", but they said that the railway had "three major drawbacks", "nine disadvantages", and "five harms", which were not only useless, but simply a flood beast. The words were turbulent, which frightened the two women in the deep palace, and the discussion of building a railway was over.

What Yan Lu criticized was mainly that the construction of the railway would cut out the "veins" of many people's ancestral graves, destroy the feng shui of many people's families, and harm the children and grandchildren of many families, and so on.

The construction of the railway will be the first real conflict between Guan Zhuofan and the conservative forces - this kind of conflict is no more than giving the little emperor a lesson in "foreign affairs", and is limited to the level of concepts. Although "Feng Shui" is also a "concept", because there are many people who believe in it, it becomes a matter of good and evil, and the difference between digging money directly from other people's pockets is not too big.

Guan Zhuofan's strategy is still: first, the relevant recital is not discussed by the court, and the edict is directly issued, that is, it does not follow the self-seeking procedure of "combining words and officials"; Second, if someone comes forward to oppose it, they immediately slam it on the head, first "refute it", and if it doesn't work, they will come to the hard, demote, dismiss, and drive back to their hometowns, and see how hard the bones of the late Qing Dynasty officials were.

As for how to "refute", that is, how to occupy the moral high ground, Guan Zhuofan has already made up his mind. Damn, Lao Tzu grew up in modern civilization, and when he was in college, he even participated in the department's debate team - can't you guys talk about it?

Also, now Guan Zhuofan also has his own people on the road, and the team of the Gong Department must also support the construction of the railway. In addition, as mentioned earlier, Guan Zhuofan has already "made the bottom" on the road of words: Guan Zhuofan has tried his best to plug the benefits through different channels. These measures can reduce the pressure on public opinion to a considerable extent.

The proposal of the original time and space to ask for a railway was "strangled in the cradle", which was due to the background of the arrogance of the clear stream; The current way of speech is still far from that situation. Moreover, in this time and space, that situation should never happen.

Guan Zhuofan calculated, and his winning chance was still very big.

So, there's no time to wait, do it!

In Guan Zhuofan's classification, the "first phase of the project" of China's railway, with Beijing as the center, has a total of four, two south roads and two north roads.

The two sides of the South Road are "two verticals".

The east line of the South Road is the "Beijing-Shanghai Line", which runs from Beijing to Tianjin, enters Shandong and Jinan, and then enters Jiangsu and Xuzhou, and Jinling and Shanghai.

Guan Zhuofan said: "Jiangnan is my wealth, and this 'Beijing-Shanghai line' connects Beijing and Jiangnan, and is the key to the imperial court's grasp of the world's wealth." ”

The middle line of the South Road is the "Jinghan Line", which runs from Beijing to Baoding, enters Henan and Zhengzhou, and then enters Hubei and Hankou.

Guan Zhuofan said: "Hankou is the thoroughfare of nine provinces, and this 'Beijing-Han line' is the key to the imperial court to grasp the center of the world. ”

The two on the north road are "two horizontal".

The eastern line of the North Road, for the "Jingfeng Line", from Beijing to Tianjin - this section overlaps with the Beijing-Shanghai Line, and then from Tianjin to the north to Shanhaiguan, and finally Fengtian.

Guan Zhuofan said: "The Northeast is the place where I am going to Longxing, and this 'Jingfeng Line' is the key to operating and consolidating the Northeast. ”

The west line of the North Road is the "Shitai Line", the west end is Taiyuan, and the east end is in a place called "Shijiazhuang Village" in Zhili, which intersects with the Jinghan Line.

Guan Zhuofan said: "This line has two functions: first, to build a front station for further operation in the northwest in the future; Second, Shanxi is rich in coal mines, and the 'Zhengtai line' is the key to the export of Shanxi coal. ”

The Beijing-Shanghai line, the Jinghan line, and the Shitai line should start construction at both ends at the same time, and the dragon should be in the center.

The situation of the Gyeongbong Line is slightly special, and the middle section should be repaired first, and then extended to both ends. This "middle section" refers to the section from Kaiping in Luanzhou to Beitang in Tianjin, because there is a "Kaiping Mining Bureau" in Kaiping, Luanzhou, and this section can be transported to the sea as soon as possible.

The first railway in China, from Tangshan to Xugezhuang, was called Tangxu Railway. This railway, originally planned to be built from Tangshan to Beitang, that is, the "middle section" of the Jingfeng line mentioned by Guan Zhuofan, the purpose is the same: the Kaiping Mining Bureau produces coal and transports it abroad.

But the court couldn't get through it. As a last resort, the Kaiping Mining Bureau started from Lutai in Tianjin and dug a canal in the direction of Tangshan to transport coal. The "coal river" arrived at Xugezhuang, because the terrain was raised, and it was no longer possible to move forward, so Li Hongzhang had to play again, shorten the original planned line, and only build the railway from Tangshan to Xugezhuang.

In order to pass the customs, Li Hongzhang also claimed that this was an "express road" in which mules and horses were used to pull the carriages instead of locomotives.

In this way, after several twists and turns, and because of the real need for coal from the Kaiping Mining Bureau, the imperial court reluctantly nodded.

That was already the seventh year of Guangxu, that is, in 1881, sixteen years later.

Every time he reads history so far, Guan Zhuofan has to scold in his heart. Cixi, Yi 60, Li Hongzhang, no matter whether the work is good or bad, whether they are greedy or not, it is definitely not them who really mislead the country and the people, but those righteous and awe-inspiring "clear streams" - this group of late Qing Dynasty intellectuals who should be sent to the incinerator.

Beijing-Shanghai line, Jinghan line, Beijing-Feng line, Shitai line, "two vertical and two horizontal", four "key", in the minds of the monarchs and ministers, a magnificent railway network is about to emerge on the land of China, and everyone is excited: this is really the great cause of the ancients and the ancestors of the ancestors!

Moreover, this is only the "first phase of the project".

Cixi was especially excited in her heart, this career is not "keeping", but "creating", and when she is done, she is Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and she can catch up with the Holy Ancestor and Gaozong, which is the unique and unprecedented Holy Queen!

Her palms were sweating slightly.

Well, the ideal is very full, but the biggest problem - money, where is it?

*(To be continued......)