The first two railways built by the Ming Dynasty in the disaster area were all proposed railways laid directly on flat ground, laid directly on the ground, or only simply leveled, this kind of railway, often only when the railway was built, was used to transport materials to the railway line, and now it is used for disaster relief, but after it is connected, it can still be used to support the construction of new roads. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Of course, at present, this road is still mainly for transporting disaster relief materials, to be precise, food, grain, food, in addition, other materials can be sent less, and if they can not be sent, they will not be sent.

In this way, the construction materials that need to be transported by this disaster relief railway, the basic mountain is the railroad tracks and steel beams, and even the sleepers are produced from the disaster area as much as possible, and the disaster victims are organized to enter the barren mountains to cut wood, and the distance is not considered, and the labor cost at this time is zero, and the use of these manpower is a kind of charity in itself.

The materials for laying the roadbed are even more locally used, and the mud and sand in the river and the rocks on the mountain have all been turned into materials for laying the roadbed with the simple tools of the victims.

The construction itself, there is no mechanical equipment at all, the vast majority of the work, is carried out by the victims using simple tools, even ordinary stone grinders are not enough, most of the tamping work, that is, the disaster victims use wood, stone to make their own tools, large stones and logs, lift up and smash down, is the tamping equipment.

Even with such a simple tool, the speed of railway construction is not slow, mainly because there are too many people, and the railway company has organized more than a million people to work on it, but this is because the project cannot be paved, otherwise they will use more people. Another reason is that the railway company is almost in full bloom, along the disaster relief railway, on the section of more than 1,000 kilometers, I don't know how many sections were divided into construction at the same time, and later found that many sections were repaired wrongly, causing a major waste, but the speed was not delayed at all.

The railway company estimates that in this way, the track laying work of the flat road section can be completed within one year, but the technical work such as tunnels and bridges will take at least three years to complete, but as long as the flat road section can be repaired, the famine will not be a problem at that time. The premise is that there is enough money, and Daming has actually borrowed enough money, so he will do whatever it takes, so that Daming's image in the international community is very good.

As for the anti-railway wave set off by the Manchu Dynasty and the opposition at the same time, on the contrary, there was no splash, and the local government, which had already tasted the sweetness of the railway disaster relief, was not willing to oppose the railway at this time, and if the railway was demolished at this time, no matter what the attitude of the Ming Dynasty was, the victims would be the first to stand up and destroy the government.

Therefore, this anti-railway wave is just a simple war of words, and there is no substantive action at all.

In the public opinion of Westerners, there are also concerns about the Ming infiltration of the Manchu territory through the railway, believing that in time, the Ming Dynasty will control the entire Manchu Qing Dynasty, and as in Chinese history, this region will be unified into a super-state again, and then this country, which has introduced modern technology and management methods from the West, but has not fully accepted the Western moral civilization, will pose a huge threat to the Western world.

This argument was immediately refuted by some elites with a strong sense of morality, especially among the missionaries who were in China for disaster relief, who kept sending back first-hand information that proved that the Ming Dynasty was really focusing on disaster relief and did not expand politically or territorially. And they believe that even if the Ming Dynasty unified the region, it would be a good thing, and that the Chinese region would be fortunate under the management of a responsible government. As for whether it will pose a threat to the West, as long as the West does not pose a threat to China, this peace-loving country is willing to maintain peace with the West. When the time comes, the convenience of trade brought by efficient management is the greatest luck of the West.

But there is a more neutral voice, supported by the majority, that the Daming built these two railways, for whatever purpose, and the expansion of their influence in the Manchu territory will become a fact, and if Western countries want to maintain their influence in northern China, especially in the northern interior, they must either cooperate with Daming to use these two railways, or they can only build the same railway line themselves to the Chinese mainland.

This kind of pertinent attitude is often the attitude of the government, and the ministers of various countries who have nothing to do with it in Beijing have successively proposed to the Qing court their own wishes to build railways, although they are all through inducements, telling them how much benefit it will be to build railways, and how much support they will give, but not only did not let the Qing court accept it, but instead produced a great panic, and they all thought that the countries wanted to use the railway to divide the Qing Dynasty.

The diehards vigorously refuted it, not only saying that the great powers could not be allowed to build railways, but that even those railways that had been built by the Ming Dynasty should be demolished.

At this time, Li Hongzhang stood up, taking advantage of this panic of public opinion, he told the imperial court that he wanted to dismantle the Ming Dynasty's railway, unless he started a war with the Ming Dynasty, and in the case of no war, he was coerced and lured by the foreigners.

Instead of being forced by foreigners to let them build roads, it is better for me to build roads by myself, and I can still keep the right of way and not be controlled by others.

Under the panic of the diehards, Li Hongzhang's proposal was approved for the first time, and the Empress Dowager Cixi asked Li Hongzhang to preside over the matter.

The Beijing-Hankou Railway, which the Russians hoped to build from Tianjin to Hankou in the south, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway from Yunnan through Sichuan, and the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, which the British hoped to build, all made Li Hongzhang prepare for the construction.

Unexpectedly, an anti-railway wave helped Li Hongzhang obtain permission to overhaul the railway.

At this time, Li Hongzhang's status also faintly surpassed Zeng Guofan and became a new generation of leaders of the Westernization faction.

As for Zeng Guofan, like Yi Xin, he has become the two banners of the Westernization faction in the imperial court and the local government, and the symbolism is getting stronger and stronger, and the actual driving force of the Westernization movement has shifted to Li Hongzhang's faction.

Power is money, power is status, and even foreigners began to treat Li Hongzhang as a guest.

Immediately, he went from asking the Qing government to build the railway, to currying favor with Li Hongzhang, and visited him one after another, expressing his willingness to provide financial support and technical support for Li Zhongtang to repair the railway, and so on, which was completely the image of an international friend.

And promised that as long as Li Hongzhang accepted their loan, the assistance they had promised before would be in place immediately, which would greatly support Lord Li's disaster relief operations.

After weighing it, Li Hongzhang decided to choose to cooperate with the Americans, because among the nations, only the Americans did not persecute them, and only the Americans fulfilled their promises early and unconditionally, so Li Hongzhang felt that among the great powers, the Americans were particularly kind.

What he didn't know was that in this famine, the Americans actually benefited the most. The millions of dollars in aid given by the Americans are only a drop in the bucket compared to the benefits they have obtained, but the benefits received by the Americans are not taken from Li Hongzhang, so Li Hongzhang does not feel the pain at all.

But for Da Ming, who bears this heavy burden, it is not so easy.