The next morning, the middle-aged man in this inn packed up and made his way to the palace in the south of the town. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Along the way, the mood of this middle-aged man was very calm, and there was a lot of anticipation in the calm, hoping that the king of Zhennan would not reject him like the Qing court.

After a while, this middle-aged man came to the front of the Zhennan Palace, and he watched eight strong guards guarding the palace, they did not squint and did not exchange heads.

These guards were much stronger than what he had seen in the capital, and he immediately looked up to Li Zhong, the king of Zhennan, and at the same time became more confident in what he was going to do next.

When he approached the gate of the palace, he was immediately stopped by a guard, who said very politely, "Is there anything wrong with you, this gentleman?" ”

The young man was stunned for a moment, and immediately said, "I want to see King Zhennan and talk to King Zhennan about something, can you report it?" ”

The guard smiled, "Can you tell me, your name?" I'm good to report. ”

The middle-aged man said without thinking, "I'm Zhan Tianyou." ”

The guard immediately said, "Wait a minute, I'll go and report immediately." ”

It turns out that this great talent is Zhan Tianyou, of course, Zhan Tianyou at this time is not very famous at all, but later Zhan Tianyou is very famous.

Zhan Tianyou, Han nationality, the word Chengcheng, the number Dachao, the ancestral home of Wuyuan, Huizhou, was born in Nanhai County, Guangzhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province. At the age of 12, he studied in the United States, and in 1878, he was admitted to the Department of Civil Engineering of Yale University, majoring in railway engineering. He is an expert in modern railway engineering in China and is known as China's first chief railway engineer. He was responsible for the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway and other projects, and is known as the "Father of Chinese Railway" and "Father of Modern Chinese Engineering".

This is a very talented person, when Li Zhongju received Zhan Tianyou to the palace, he immediately came out to greet him in person.

Li Zhongju ordered the guards to open the middle door to greet them, which is a very noble etiquette, generally speaking, it is only used to welcome superiors or many important people to open the middle door, which shows Li Zhongju's importance to Zhan Tianyou.

Squeak. The middle door of the palace slowly opened.

Zhan Tianyou found a very young but domineering man walking out alone, and intuitively told Zhan Tianyou that this person was Li Zhongju, the king of Zhennan.

Li Zhongju walked as fast as flying, approached Zhan Tianyou, and laughed, "I said how I saw two magpies chirping this morning, it turned out that Cheng Cheng was coming, please come in quickly." ”

Li Zhongju gave people a feeling of bathing in the spring breeze, very peaceful, and Zhan Tianyou also smiled, "Lord Wang, the grass people are disturbed." ”

Then Li Zhongju led Zhan Tianyou into the palace, and Zhan Tianyou found that the Zhennan palace was very different from the official yamen he had seen in other places, both in terms of momentum and layout, which gave people a refreshing feeling.

Li Zhongju took Zhan Tianyou to the study and invited Zhan Tianyou to sit on the luxurious sofa, and Li Zhongju personally made tea for Zhan Tianyou.

Zhan Tianyou was shocked, sitting on this kind of sofa felt extremely comfortable. At the same time, he didn't expect that as a prince, and a powerful prince, he would personally pour tea for himself. Zhan Tianyou didn't expect this, and he hadn't encountered it, even if it was a seven-grade county order, it was impossible to personally serve tea and pour water for himself.

Zhan Tianyou was flattered and had a feeling of fidgeting, Li Zhongju was a little surprised to find Zhan Tianyou's state at this time, but Li Zhongju immediately understood, after all, Zhan Tianyou at this time was not as famous as in later generations.

Li Zhongju smiled and said, "I am very happy to have come here, I don't know what is the purpose of Mr.'s visit?" ”

Zhan Tianyou suddenly said seriously, "Lord Wang, that's the case, half a year ago, I returned from studying abroad, found many officials in the capital, and proposed to them to build a railway, but they didn't agree. In desperation, I heard that the prince was independent in the south, so I came, and I wanted to realize my dream here. I don't know if the prince is willing to support me? ”

Li Zhongju immediately fell into deep thought, and after a while, Li Zhongju asked, "What kind of support do you need me to give you, and to what extent?" ”

Zhan Tianyou was indeed very pleasantly surprised in his heart, "As long as the prince allows me to build a railway within your jurisdiction, and at the same time gives enough materials and materials to build the railway, I promise the prince that the best railway will be built." ”

Li Zhongju said with a decisive word, "Cheng, from now on, you are the head of the transportation department of our Zhenwu military system, and you are specially responsible for the construction of the railway. The Ministry of Communications will be a very important department for us, and I will ask Zhang Zhidong to fully cooperate with you to build the Ministry of Communications first, and then talk about road construction. As long as there is a good organization, I believe that it will definitely get twice the result with half the effort. ”

Zhan Tianyou was almost dumbfounded, he didn't expect Li Zhongju to be so concerned about building the railway, and he didn't have the old-fashioned, forward-looking mentality of Qing court officials.

Zhan Tianyou doesn't know, doesn't Li Zhongju know?

The construction, development, and operation of the Huaxia Railway were all controlled by imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, and it goes without saying how slow its development and dismal operation were.

Of course, this is because the Qing court is short-sighted, always abiding by the ancestral rules, good ancestral rules of course need to be strictly observed, but those ancestral rules that block the development of China, they still guard, how to do this, backward will be beaten, this is also the main reason why the Qing court gradually lags behind the world.

The Qing court did not want to build roads, but it did not mean that the great powers did not intend to build roads in China, in order to further plunder the resources of China, Britain, France and other countries did not know how many times they planned to build railways in China. They can control the situation more favorably by building railways, and they can also charge a certain fee, which can really be said to be a lot of money.

Zhan Tianyou immediately stood up, "Lord Wang, what you said is true, you want to fully support me in building the railway?" ”

Li Zhongju nodded, "If the economy wants to develop rapidly, transportation must be developed, you are coming back from abroad, I believe you are also deeply touched, both the economy and transportation abroad are much stronger than our Huaxia." But all this is not a problem, as long as we pay attention to these things from now on, we in China will definitely be able to keep up with the footsteps of the world powers, and even surpass them. ”

Zhan Tianyou looked at Li Zhongju in shock, he didn't expect Li Zhongju to have such ambitions, he would definitely be able to quickly strengthen the Chinese nation by following such a heroic master.

Zhan Tianyou nodded, he felt that he had really come to the right place this time, and at the same time, Zhan Tianyou's heart was even more passionate at this time, just like an excited child, he was as happy as a child, and he was even more happy.

Li Zhongju was also very happy, originally Li Zhongju also planned to send someone to find Zhan Tianyou to build a railway, but he didn't expect the other party to find it. (To be continued.) )