As the minutes passed, the two people in the room were chatting happily, the cushion under Chongzhen's buttocks moved and moved, and his body was almost close to the table, hooking his head to listen to Su Baiyi's narration.

He also removed all the things on the table, and each of them had a pen, drawing while talking, and sometimes occasionally fiddling with the abacus twice to calculate.

Before you know it, it's getting darker.

People outside are also getting more and more anxious!

Zhang Zhiji paced in the hall on the first floor, walking around without stopping.

"I said Grandpa, you are walking around here, and our eyes are glazed."

"What then?" Zhang Zhiji spread his hands and walked to Wang Chengen's side: "It's been a long time since the meal was ordered, isn't Your Majesty hungry?" I said, Prince, why don't you go up and have a look, and ask, Your Majesty's body is very important. ”

"Oh, my grandfather, you can torture our family, Your Majesty specially ordered not to disturb him, he will make an order when he is hungry." Saying this, Wang Chengen was still worried, looked at the sky, and said ruthlessly: "Forget it, even if Your Majesty cut off my head, I have to ask." ”

The commander of Jinyiwei made Luo Yangxing take a deep breath and said, "I'll go with my father-in-law!" ”

"The old man will go too!" Zhang Zhiji waved his sleeves.

When Wei Zhongxian was in power, he still didn't dare to touch the Zhang family, which shows the respect of the Zhang family's status in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, as soon as Zhang Zhiji said it, everyone was relieved.

The three of them together, Zhang Zhiji was in the front, Wang Chengen and Luo Yangxing were behind, and they went up to the attic so suddenly.

Outside, you can faintly hear the whispered conversation between the emperor and Su Baiyi inside.

Zhang Zhiji arched his hand: "Minister Zhang Zhiji!" ”

"Luo Yang******** maid Wang Chengen!"

"I beg to see Your Majesty!"

Chongzhen frowned and said, "Come in!" ”

The three of them opened the bead curtain from the outside and entered, just in time to see the emperor and Su Baiyi sitting on both sides of the table, one in front of the other lying on the table to write and draw, and they were shocked.

Luo Yangxing stepped forward and shouted: "Su Baiyi, so bold!" ”

With the momentum of spring thunder, he almost pulled out his knife and ran up, and then chopped off Su Baiyi's dog head with a knife!

"You're bold!"

Chongzhen raised his head, and with a slight word, he was scared to take two steps back, and when he saw Wang Chengen and Zhang Zhiji's eyes, he waved his hand again: "I want to sit at the same table with Mr. Su, what's the matter, let's say?" ”

"Your Majesty, it's time for dinner!" Wang Chengen gave up.

"Oh...... Then you can send it, two copies. He added: "Don't worry, my companion, after I discuss with Mr. Su, I will naturally call you to serve!" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

All three bowed at the same time, then exited the room.

After a while, Wang Chengen sent two dinners, and there were no legendary big fish and meat, just two very simple side dishes and then ordinary scalding.

The two of them quickly finished eating, let Wang Chengen take the things away, and lay on the table again.

"Mr. Su, where did you just go?" Chongzhen asked.

"Your Majesty asked your minister, how much silver taels will it cost to build a road?"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" The emperor's eyes glowed again, it was a greedy color, and said: "Mr. Su, if it costs money to build such a road, the imperial court can also find a way to raise one or two!" ”

That's the desire to eat alone!

Su Baiyi sighed slightly in his heart: No way, the shore of the land is not the king's minister, the world is the emperor's, you tell him that you want to give up forty percent of the profits to the merchants, he is naturally unwilling.

However, if your court can afford this money, it will be even better!

"That's naturally the best, so as not to have ministers running around begging for help." Su Baiyi looked at Zhu Youzhen very seriously, and opened his mouth to say: "The road built by the minister is to add two feet of stones on the embankment of the ordinary road, and the stones are placed on the short sleepers, and two huge rails are parallel to the wood, and the minister calls it a railway." ”

"Railroad?" Emperor Chongzhen wondered.

"It's the railway!" Su Baiyi groped out the renderings that had been drawn a long time ago from his sleeves and spread them on the table: "This is the way, otherwise how could it be possible to carry millions of catties of grain from the sea to Shaanxi in two days and two nights?" ”

"Million-pound ......" Chongzhen gasped, and his eyes fell on the renderings drawn by Su Baiyi.

In the endless wilderness, a straight railroad track crosses the middle, very flat and straight, and above it is a long, billowing "monster" that seems to be rushing forward.

The distant mountains are like beasts, and the tension of the picture seems to break through the paper.

Not to mention the monster train that has never been seen before, the expression of this picture looks at Chongzhen's goosebumps, "Mr. Su is an extraordinary person, and this painting can also be passed down through the ages." That's the kind of car you're talking about? Don't use mules and horses, don't rely on manpower? ”

"If writing poems and painting can drive away the Tartars and calm the world, the minister is willing to be the first painter in the world! As for this kind of car, it is a big tool that has just been made by Western countries two years ago, and the minister can make it to ensure that nothing goes wrong. ”

"Good ......" Chongzhen said: "Mr. Su will get to the point." ”

"Yes!" Su Baiyi arched his hand and said: "This kind of railway, one mile needs 200,000 catties of fine wrought iron, from Xi'an to the East China Sea, a total of about 2,000 miles, and 40,000 catties of wrought iron." ”

Chongzhen listened and gasped again.

Just now, he was thinking that the imperial court would use money to build the railway, but now he was so frightened by Su Baiyi, and his heart suddenly lost confidence.

One mile costs 200,000 catties?

This is really a railway...... A road made of iron!

The emperor shook his head, but Su Baiyi was hehehe.

How much is 200,000 catties?

One kilometer is only 400,000 catties, which is equivalent to only 200 tons of steel? The construction of the Dalonghai Railway has been completed, and the steel used for the rails is only 200,000 tons.

"So, Your Majesty!" Su Baiyi said: "If this railway is completed, the minister will probably calculate that it will cost a total of about 1,800 to 20 million taels of silver." ”

After speaking, for fear that the emperor would not hear clearly for a while, he also wrote out the data on the snow-white rice paper next to him.

Chongzhen's face was a little ugly!

The annual tax revenue is only a few million taels, and the income cannot make ends meet every year, and the Ming Dynasty will not be able to take out 10 million taels in another 20 years, let alone 20 million taels.

But face still needs it!

nodded matter-of-factly, pouted, and said, "I still need to discuss this matter with the cabinet!" ”

That's true!

The Ming Dynasty has a rather strange system: the emperor will make a holy decree for a trivial matter, and if you don't discuss with the cabinet and seek the consent of the cabinet when it comes to this kind of national affairs, then eighty percent will be swept back and sprayed into a sieve.

"Obey the order, the minister will say the third hand next!" Su Baiyi took a deep breath: "According to the minister's observations, the severity of this drought is unprecedented in previous dynasties. After the railway is built, it is true that rice and grain from the south of the Yangtze River can be transferred to fill Sichuan and Shaanxi, but it can only meet the needs of Sichuan and Shaanxi; In the future, from the seventh or eighth year of Chongzhen, the entire north of Jianghuai will fall into a major drought, and the harvest will be less than half of usual. That's when it's the most fatal, so a railroad is not a panacea, there must be other means. ”

"This third hand is to open the sea!" Su Baiyi's words were not shocking: "Encourage rich businessmen to go to the sea, give preferential convenience, and let them go to and from the Nanyang countries, as far as the minister knows, there is no danger of a major drought in the Nanyang countries this time." If we can exchange our Ming ceramics for other countries' food, we will naturally be able to relieve the adverse effects of the ten years of drought. ”

The Ming Empire banned the sea in the early stage, opened the sea in the later period, and banned the sea and opened the sea, which repeatedly made the merchants tired. If the policy of opening the sea can be maintained all the time, Su Baiyi feels that the benefits to Daming will definitely outweigh the disadvantages!

"What Mr. Su said is reasonable, let me think about it!" Even if Chongzhen himself can take care of this matter, he doesn't care about Xu Baiyi, not to mention that he can't make his own decisions, and he needs to discuss with the cabinet after he goes back, so he said: "Let's talk about the fourth hand." ”

"Good!" Su Baiyi didn't have much disappointment: "Three years later, the minister expects that the railway industry has been operating profitably, and the benefits of opening the sea and the railway will definitely help the imperial court, but it is not enough." ”

If there is a severe drought in all the five provinces of Jiangbei, there are too many people who need to survive, and it is not enough to rely on the income of a railway and the profits from opening the sea. After all, there was not much money in the early stage of opening the sea.

"The minister will give a big gift to His Majesty!" Su Baiyi groped for a potato from his sleeve and put it on the table, "Your Majesty knows about this?" ”

"Heh......" Chongzhen picked up the potatoes and said with a smile: "I have really seen this, Xu Guangqi saw it with me the year before last, and said that it was an object from the West, and someone in Fujian has already planted it!" ”

"Potatoes, potatoes, Dutch potatoes, potatoes!" Su Baiyi said: "It's its name, this thing is native to the Americas, and it has been introduced to our China for more than ten years, and the minister likes the name potato." Presumably, Your Majesty also knows that this thing is edible, no different from rice and steamed buns. ”

"Of course I know!" Not only did he know, but he also tasted it: "It tastes good!" ”

"Your Majesty knows that this thing tastes good, but Your Majesty knows that the production capacity of this thing per mu has reached 3,000 catties!"

"Poof......" Chongzhen, who was drinking water, really squirted out a mouthful of water, and asked Su Baiyi with a flushed face: "What did you say?" He trembled and picked up the potatoes with his hands and examined them again: "Just this thing, three thousand catties per mu?" ”

Su Baiyi nodded!

This is still a conservative estimate.

In the case of sufficient fertilizer in later generations, this thing is also 3,000 per acre, but the unit is kilograms!

"The most important thing is that it is cool and drought-tolerant; The fourth hand of the minister's words is to implore His Majesty to issue an order to promote potato cultivation on a large scale in the north, so that ninety percent of the ten years of disaster can be gone. ”

"Okay, this matter is easy to hear!" Chongzhen was overjoyed, the first few methods were too mysterious, not that he didn't believe it, but he always felt a little awkward, only this method was the most helpful for him at the moment: "Mr. talk about the fifth hand!" ”。

"Fifth hand!" Su Baiyi stretched out five fingers: "It is intended to be spared, it is a method that has to be used as a last resort!" ”

"How?"

"Migrant ......"