The heavy snow fell more than half a foot thick, and the sky and the earth were foggy. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

As far as the eye can see, it is impossible to see the scenery between heaven and earth at all. Because the railway has not yet been completed, the only way south is to follow the gravel official road, which was renovated last year, and although the gravel road of the official road has been covered with heavy snow, you can still distinguish the road by the trees on both sides of the road.

Not far from the right side of the official road is the railway, or railway site to be precise.

Different from the Han-Guangdong Railway, the "Jiangbei Railway" from Hankou, Hubei Province to Nanyang, Henan Province was directly built by the Governor's Office, compared with the complex geological conditions of the Han-Guangdong Railway, which needs to cross mountains and mountains, the Jiangbei Railway is almost completely built on the plain, so the construction is extremely fast. Despite the speed of construction, the rail from north of Xiangyang to Nanyang will not be laid until after the Spring Festival at the earliest.

Under the heavy snowfall, there were no human figures on the railway construction site, nor could you see the construction sites scattered along the way. But even if there is no one in sight, it is still certain that there are still people working on the construction site.

For the governor's office, this Jiangbei railway is the main artery of the future Northern Expedition, and the army will advance north along the railway in the future, after all, the logistics of the army needs the railway, and now Henan is under the control of the Taiping Army, but Nanyang is controlled by the Righteous Army. The purpose of controlling Nanyang was to allow the railway to be built into Henan, and to pave the way for the future Northern Expedition.

"Now, there are more than 100 students from Hanyang Railway College who are interning here on this construction site, and more than 300 students on the Hanyue Railway! A few years ago, we didn't have a single railway engineer of our own, but in a few years, we will have thousands of railway engineers......"

Although he couldn't see the railway construction site outside the train window, Zhu Yifeng made a point of mentioning the students on the two railway construction sites. The Hanyang Railway School, the first railway school in China, was established only a few months before the Han-Guangdong Railway, and it aims to train the bridge and road construction professionals needed for railway construction.

And this railway school will be in the next few years, for China to train thousands or even thousands of railway engineers, the railway is not built, talent first, this is a basic premise of the future construction of the railway, without talent is simply impossible to make the railway the core of China's industrial policy in the next 30 years, so as to stimulate China's steel industry, while driving the development of other industries.

Of course, it is more important for China to have a modern transportation network. Talent is the fundamental premise to achieve this goal, without talent, all this is just empty talk.

"I know, but many foreigners in Wuchang call it "imperialchinarailwaycollege"! ”

Rong Minghui casually said the English name of this school, which literally translates as "Imperial Chinese Railway College". Although it is somewhat unworthy of the name, it seems that many officials in Wuchang like to use the English name "imperialchina" to refer to the name of the school or official office, and in communication with foreigners, they also use "imperialchina" to refer to themselves. It would also be forbidden to refer to the "Manchus" by this name, and even because the American consul used this name to refer to the Manchus in Tianjin, the minister had to apologize to the Foreign Affairs Department.

But who will be the emperor of "imperialchina"?

Many people don't know English, but Yung Minghui not only speaks French fluently, but also knows English, and even she can speak Portuguese. When mentioning the name of this school, she deliberately glanced at her husband beside her, and there was no doubt that in the eyes of foreigners he was the "emperor", the emperor of the Chinese Empire.

Indeed, who else could he be?

Manchus in the Forbidden City? That magic stick in the city of Nanjing?

Of course none of them are!

Only your own husband is the best choice.

"Those foreigners!"

Shaking his head and sighing, Zhu Yifeng, who knew who was the initiator, just changed the topic and said.

"It's a big ...... under the snow"

Even Zhu Yifeng, who is a northerner, feels that it is extremely rare in the face of such heavy snow, when he first came to Wuchang a few years ago, the snow was even heavier than now, and the snowstorm even made people think that he had arrived in the northeast.

How long has it been now?

It's been three years!

In the space of three years, a sea change is taking place here, and it is continuing. Not only are factories appearing on this land, but the spirit of the people here is also changing. Of course, what is more important is your own change. Three years ago, it all started with a dream, and now, that dream has become a reality. To be precise, it is about to become a reality.

"Even in the north, it's nothing more than that."

Listening to her husband's sigh, Rong Minghui, who had been suppressing her curiosity, tried to ask.

"Master, why can't you choose Jingshi?"

Since hearing that it will be the capital, Yung Minghui has always wondered why her husband chose to build a capital on that vacant land.

"Huh?"

Faced with his wife's question, Zhu Yifeng pondered for a moment before explaining.

"Jingshi is not suitable for the capital, even the grain needs to be transported from the south for thousands of miles, in the past, the Son of Heaven guarded the country, but now there is no need for this, and then it is ......"

The voice sank slightly.

"There are too many bannermen in the Beijing Division, although when the Taiping Army broke through the capital, almost half of the bannermen died in the fire, but now there are still about 500,000 people, that city is no longer a Han city since the banner people moved away the Han people in the city with knives, even if those people are moved away from the capital in the future, if you want to sweep away the bloody land in the city, how can it be done day and night? In addition, it is an old town, not only the streets are narrow, the houses are short, and there is not even the most basic sewer for the city, and the cost of renovating the capital city is too great......"

Decades later, the city was faced with the approach of desert, the drying up of rivers and lakes, the depletion of groundwater, the obscuration of sand and dust, the desperation of traffic, the deformation of the population, the massive reduction of historical sites, the continuous disappearance of culture, and the weak functioning of the city...... This is the main reason, a city needs to transport fresh water from thousands of kilometers away, is it still suitable as a capital?

Not only is he not suitable for the only child, it can be said that he is not suitable for human existence, at least not for so many human beings to survive there!

Then Zhu Yifeng mentioned Nanjing again, mentioning the original place of the heart.

"As for Nanjing, if Nanjing had not been harmed by those people, I would prefer to be there, and I would prefer to have the capital in Nanjing, which is history, and of course it is also needed. But Minghui, you've seen the model of the palace that day, and those palaces are really resplendent enough......"

The splendor is unbearable!

The Tianwang Mansion is the same as those palaces in Nanjing, all of which seem to be magnificent, extravagant and luxurious, the pillars are mud tires and gold dragon pillars, and the beams are gold beams...... Every place seems to have an air of nouveau riche, and the kind of nouveau riche style of the main hall with all the pillars of the temple and the walls decorated with red gold leaves is by no means what he needs.

“…… Of course, these are not the most fundamental reasons, the fundamental reason is that the transformation of the old city is too difficult, not to mention other places, just say that the transformation of Wuchang has been burned to pieces, and there are many problems, not to mention the hundreds of years old city? ”

If it is to be used as a capital, it is necessary to make a radical transformation of it. The underground one is easy to do, but the ground is demolished or not? Are those estimates protected or not? It is precisely because of these lessons learned that Zhu Yifeng is more inclined to build another capital.

The old city has been preserved as completely as possible, making it a historical museum, just like the old cities of Europe. China's ancient cities are undoubtedly spectacular. As later scholars said, "If this ancient city can survive to this day, it will be the only historical and cultural city in the world that has been completely preserved, the most magnificent and imposing historical and cultural city, even today's Paris and Rome are difficult to match." ”

But it is a pity that almost none of the ancient cities that will amaze the world in a few decades have been preserved, and the last few remote small cities, because the remote old cities have been preserved, have become famous attractions at home and abroad, and have become "historic sites" that have amazed the world, and even the Chinese people, while the real "monuments" have been artificially demolished.

"As for Wuchang, Wuchang is not suitable as the capital, there are too many lakes around it, compared to the lake land is too small, which directly limits its development, but the lakes around Wuchang are resolutely not filled, those lakes have the effect of flood storage, since Hunan is forbidden to enclose the lake to make land, Wuchang can not enclose the lake to make land. Moreover, because Wuchang is located at the bend of the Yangtze River, it is easy to encounter floods. ”

At present, Hunan is legally forbidden to enclose the lake to create farmland, in addition to deterring it with severe punishment, and even formulated the punishment of "encircling one and returning ten", and the lesson of the Yangtze River flood in later generations cannot but be said to be profound for the Chinese people. It is precisely because of this that Zhu Yifeng will completely ban the encirclement of the lake to create farmland, and even require the area around Dongting Lake to return the land to the lake, of course, everything must be done step by step, and now this is not a forced order.

After explaining the reasons why he was reluctant to choose these three places as the capital, Zhu Yifeng explained his thoughts to Rong Mingminghui.

"There are four main reasons why the capital was chosen: First, the original power was the weakest. Jingshi was the stronghold of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Huhua was serious, even the accent had changed, and its geographical location was too northern, as for Nanjing, Nanjing was established for a hundred years, although I don't believe in feng shui, but the Chinese people are convinced of it. Coupled with the situation in Nanjing, it is not very suitable for ...... In this comparison, it is more suitable there. The second is that the geographical location is moderate. Its close proximity to the railway line makes it strategically suitable and can basically be seen as the geographical center of China. Third, the construction cost of the city is low. Compared with cities such as Jingshi, Nanjing, and even Wuchang, which are already large-scale, the cost of construction there is lower, or at least the cost of land acquisition, which is easier to implement. Fourth, the social impact of the new capital is good. Compared with Jingshi and Nanjing, which already have a considerable history, the construction of a new capital can bring better political effect and influence at home and abroad. ”

After telling these reasons, Zhu Yifeng deliberately winked at Rong Minghui and said in a businessman's tone.

"And choose to build the capital there, how cheap the land is now, and after the construction of the national capital is implemented in the future, the place there will be more valuable! I have signed an order to freeze the land in a 20-kilometre radius of the future center of the national capital, prohibiting the trade......"

As if deliberately emphasized, Zhu Yifeng added.

"I have commissioned a foreign bank to measure, and it is estimated that the cost of the first phase of the project in the national capital is about 30 million yuan. The construction planning project borrowed 5 million yuan from the official bank, and the subsequent investment came from the land operation income, that is, the unified acquisition of land, and then the implementation of land "recruitment" after the appreciation of the land, and the proceeds to offset the loan, and then increase the loan for development ......"

Listening to her husband's mouth talking about the development of the national capital with that set of "empty gloves and white wolves", Rong Minghui looked at her husband in surprise, this kind of development method was completely unexpected.

"Master, isn't this taking other people's money to build the capital of the country? The official hall doesn't have to pay a penny! They were all new towns built with the money of officials and merchants. ”

"That's right!"

Nodding, Zhu Yifeng said with a smile.

"The government does not need to pay a penny, the money for land acquisition is taken by the official bank, it is expected that the first phase of land acquisition will require 20,000 mu, 500,000 yuan can be solved, and then the remaining 4.5 million yuan will be used to build the official hall, and then sell part of the secondary land......"

It is said that the development method that developers in later generations are best at - using other people's money to develop, and it is precisely because of this that Zhu Yifeng will carry out the scale and construction of the national capital now, the most fundamental reason is that it will not only not cost a penny of money in the house, but also make the house earn a sum of money. For this kind of land development, in the past three years, through the development of Wuchang, the government has long had a wealth of experience, and it can be said that as long as you are willing, you can make good use of this set of urban development methods to obtain more lucrative returns.

If all goes well, in three years' time, a new city will be erected in the middle of the Nanxiang Basin – China's largest and most modern city, which will become China's new capital in the future.

"Oh, by the way, since the rebels captured Nanyang last year, I have bought more than 16,000 acres of land in the name of a private person, and the government has quietly purchased 20,000 acres......

Surprised to see her husband talking in a smug tone about his "use of power for personal gain", Rong Minghui asked curiously.

"In what name is the lord going to build a new city?"

Blinking at Rong Minghui, Zhu Yifeng smiled and spit out a sentence.

"Jiangbei Main Railway Station!"

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Well, it's the Nanxiang Basin...... Is this place suitable for the capital? I don't know, but at least in terms of resources, it should be more suitable than Jingshi! At least the water doesn't need to be diverted, no. (To be continued.) )