Seeing that Zuo Zongtang and the others did not quite understand, Feng Yunshan said more thoroughly, pointing to Yekaterinburg and Orenburg, as well as Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn (later known as Volgograd or Stalingrad) newly occupied by the Western Expeditionary Army, and finally landed on the town of Baku on the west coast of the Caspian Sea and the small town of Azov in the Gulf of Azov in the northeast corner of the Black Sea, and said: "My idea is like this, Zhong Aiqing can think about it carefully and see how to realize it."

For example, Yekaterinburg and Orenburg in the Ural Mountains should be connected to railways no matter what method is used, preferably with the western railways Kokand or Bukhar that are already being built, and at the same time with the northern city of Beihai on the shore of Lake Baikal.

Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn, on the other hand, can dredge the Volga River and open up a channel that can smoothly navigate large warships, so that Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn can be navigable through the Volga River to the Caspian Sea, and through the waterway of the Caspian Sea, it can be connected to Orenburg in the middle reaches of the Ural River, and at the same time it can be connected to Baku, an oil-producing city on the west bank of the Caspian Sea. This is water transport, but the winter is cold there, the Ural River is not only frozen but also in the dry season, the water flow is insufficient, and at the end of the year, it is estimated that only half of the year can be navigated, so in addition to water transport, it is necessary to open a railway between Orenburg and the mouth of the Ural River into the Caspian Sea, so that the road will not be affected by the season, and the road will be unblocked. ”

Cheng Hengsheng, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Communications, suddenly pointed to Tsaritsyn on the map and said, "Your Majesty, this Tsaritsyn is an important inland port, and its geographical location is very unique. Wechen believes that if it is possible, the whole of Tsaritsyn will be occupied. Your Majesty, Tsaritsyn guards the turning point of the Volga River, if a naval division is stationed here, it can guard the entire Volga River and even the Caspian Sea, and this area is a network of rivers and hills, not far to the west of Tsaritsyn, less than a hundred kilometers away, is another big river, called the Don River, which flows through the destination, is the Sea of Azov, which connects the Black Sea, Wechen saw that this area seems to be full of lakes and small rivers, maybe the two rivers can be connected with a little guidance, In this case, a canal could be dug to connect the Volga and Don rivers, so that the oil produced by Baku could be sold directly through the Black Sea to European countries, or transported back to the eastern mainland of the Chinese Empire. ”

Feng Yunshan was stunned for a moment, and seemed to remember that the Soviet Union in later generations seemed to have built a Volga-Don River Canal, which is also as famous as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, which is one of the top ten canals in the world, so that all the native minerals in the entire Caspian Sea and the Volga basin can be transported overseas by water. It seems like a good idea.

Feng Yunshan nodded: "Not bad!" Cheng Aiqing, the construction of this canal is also the responsibility of your Ministry of Communications, this is now a newly occupied area, there are no Chinese people living there, and there are no water conservancy facilities, so it has nothing to do with the Ministry of Agriculture, and your Ministry of Communications will lead the matter. Send people to find out what natural rivers and lakes can be used, and try to build the canal by the shortest and most economical way of construction. It is estimated that it is enough to build a few tens of kilometers, which is better than building hundreds or thousands of kilometers of railways.

Of course, the main responsibility of your Ministry of Communications is what I just said, to build railways to Orenburg and Yekaterinburg as soon as possible, and if possible, to Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn, and even to the city of Elista in the Kalmykia region, which is mentioned in the report of the Western Expeditionary Army, but this will be done after the region east of the Ural Mountains has been completely stabilized. How about it, Cheng Aiqing, is it expected to be able to complete this important task in a few years? ”

Cheng Hengsheng froze there, he couldn't answer, and glanced back at Prime Minister Zeng Guanlan.

Seeing this, Feng Yunshan immediately understood what was going on, and it was right to think about it, how could the Ministry of Communications alone decide to build a good railway within a few years? This progress fundamentally depends on the cabinet, especially the Ministry of Finance and Taxation, there is no financial support, no people can be hired, no steel rails can be bought, and Cheng Hengsheng of the Ministry of Communications is just in a hurry even if he is capable.

So, Feng Yunshan said to Zeng Guanlan: "Zeng Aiqing, I still have to tell you, the chief steward of the cabinet, that I want to build the Trans-Siberian Railway to Orenburg and Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, can you fully support it?" If you don't open your mouth, Cheng Aiqing has no bottom in her heart at all! ”

Zeng Guanlan hurriedly responded: "Your Majesty said that you are laughing, Master Cheng is confident, he will now preside over the Ministry of Communications, especially in the new railway, so that the empire has undergone earth-shaking changes, the empire's various water and land transportation has made a great leap, the cabinet and the people are very satisfied, grateful for Your Majesty's kindness, saying that Your Majesty's eyes are like a torch, appointing wise and practical ministers."

Your Majesty's holy will, as soon as Chrysostom comes out, even if it is a great difficulty, it must be resolutely completed! All the ministries of Weichen's cabinet are going all out, and if they can't complete the task, they will be at the disposal of His Majesty!

However, Your Majesty, as the prime minister of the cabinet, Weichen also has to shout for the adults in various ministries. The Ministry of Finance and Taxation is okay, and the treasury is still full for the time being, but because since last year, Britain has declared war on our Chinese Empire, resulting in the foreign trade of our Chinese Empire, especially the trade with Europe, which has inevitably been greatly affected. With the recent expansion of the army and the expansion of the ranks of local basic officials, the increase in the income of these people is an astronomical amount, and the expenditure on equipment and logistics in the army is extremely huge every year; There are also recent large-scale construction and development, especially the infrastructure construction of the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Public Works and the Ministry of Agriculture, and the expenditure on resettlement, which are all costly. These are the big ones, and other investment in education and medical care is also very costly.

Your Majesty, although the treasury is full, the specific figures are declining every month, and it is only recently that it has eased a little, and the rate of decline has slowed down. If this continues, in a few years, the treasury of the empire will be empty, and it will be difficult to maintain it by then.

In addition, with the increase of immigration policies, fewer and fewer people are willing to migrate, and everyone can live a full life in the local area, and the number of people who are willing to toss has begun to decrease. The people who built the project also began to slowly lose, and the original group of brothers of the Guangdong Tiandi Association had more than 30,000 people turned into the engineering army to build railways, roads, factories and mines, and other facilities, and now these people have worked for several years and have savings, and they began to want to leave the team and return to their hometown to live their lives in peace. All these will become difficulties in the construction of railways in the future. ”

Feng Yunshan was a little unhappy, and said directly: "There will definitely be difficulties, but how to overcome them is the responsibility of your Aiqing." I can delegate whatever policies and powers are needed, as long as they are reasonable. The condition is that the task is successfully completed.

Cheng Aiqing, tell me, if I were to build these two Trans-Siberian Railways, how much money and time would it take? ”

.......... PS: I recommend a book written by a female author of the history group "Jiang Bai", Ma Limit is recommended for free, and I am interested in collecting it quickly.