Wen Han finally realized the meaning of not being afraid of god-like opponents and being afraid of pig-like teammates, secretly scolding this money-greedy cowboy, a hooligan who can even forget his parents when he hears the sound of the silver coin, the most humiliating thing is that as a gentleman, he still has to defend him, "I don't understand what His Highness means, where is there any gold and silver?" ”

Li Yunzhong smiled confidently, raised his head and said, "I plan to build a railway in the liberation of Shanghai, hear clearly!" It's the railway. ”

All the foreigners swallowed and spitted, and Wen Han's voice trembled, "Your Highness! You are talking about railways that are laid on the ground with iron ingots? It's the same railroad as our European! ”

Looking at Wen Han and Mai Lian, Li Yunzhong nodded affirmatively, and said: "I plan to build this railway from Shanghai to Suzhou, with a total length of about 80 kilometers, of course, if the speed and quality of your construction can satisfy me, I will also contract you to build the railway from Suzhou to Nanjing, which is 200 kilometers." ”

Wen Han tried to calm himself down, and pretended to be forced: "If Your Highness wants to build a railway, our British Empire is willing to support you." ”

Let John Bull take the lead! Bourblon hurriedly continued: "Our French Republic has better skills than England, please Your Highness hand over this section of the railway to our French Firm." ”

Mai Lian has always been immersed in fantasy: she has made a fortune building railroads, bought a large tract of wasteland in the western United States to become a farmer, bought a dozen black slaves to work in, and she always meets and chats by the fireplace, and occasionally rides out to hunt............ Feeling that Li Yunzhong was looking at him with a smile, Mai Lian rubbed her eyes and exaggerated: "Your Highness, you are really great, you must know that we have proposed to the Qing Dynasty more than once to build a railway, but they have all vetoed it, saying that it is hindering feng shui, it is me who is the first group, and it harms my Tianlu." I really don't understand, what is the matter of building a railway to my ancestors? ”

Feng Shui is easy to understand, this is what my ancestors mean, it is my first group...... It's me...... It turned out to be a danger of losing me! Your grandfather's, these foreigners don't read well!

Li Yunzhong saw Mai Lian's confused expression and explained: "This is the Qing Dynasty ruler who is afraid that you will take the train to attack them directly, and the heavily defended pass will be useless. ”

Wen Han was curious: "Your Highness, aren't you afraid of these?" ”

"Sir, you have to know that Nanjing is on the edge of the Yangtze River, if you want to send troops, you can reach our capital without taking the railway!" Li Yunzhong joked.

Wen Han successfully attracted the attention of the King of Han and took the opportunity to persuade: "The first railway in the world was built by us British, and we have the strongest strength in the Far East, and those foreign companies have the ability to solve the difficulties in capital and technology for His Highness!" ”

Mai Lian didn't care about pretending to be a gentleman anymore, and said loudly: "Hey, Your Highness, listen to me, the United States of America is your best choice, and the quality of our railroad is the best." ”

Bourblon scoffed: "Oh God, you must want to inherit the railroad and then sell it to other foreign companies, how can you Americans have time to go to the East to build the railroad now that you are too busy to take care of yourself!" ”

Mai Lian looked at him angrily and said dissatisfiedly: "You Gallic chicken, don't tear down my platform, who said that we American businessmen are not interested in railways, where there is profit, there will be businessmen!" ”

Wen Han shook his head, complaining that he had not distributed the benefits in advance, and now let the King of Han lead the way, seeing Li Yunzhong looking at Bulbulon and Mai Lian with mockery, he interrupted the dispute between the two of them shyly, "It is useless for the two of you to argue again, it is His Royal Highness the King of Han who decides who will build the railway, let's listen to His Highness's opinion." ”

Bourblon and Mai Lian no longer stared at each other angrily, and turned their heads to look at Li Yunzhong together, their angry eyes immediately became flattering, which made Li Yunzhong have goosebumps, "I originally planned to build the railway by bidding, but in order to examine your strength, I still divide the railway into three sections so that you all have interests to stand, and you spread the news that I am going to build a railway, and when I capture Shanghai, I will hold a big frightening meeting, that is, the contracting right of the railway from Suzhou to Nanjing, Of course, if I can occupy Hangzhou in this campaign, I will also build a railway from Shanghai to Huzhou and Hangzhou! ”

"Oh God! Is this true! Suzhou, Hangzhou, Huzhou are all raw silk, tea production base, we no longer have to worry about the weather in the future, every year can quickly harvest tea, raw silk shipped to China. Wen Han fantasized about the completion of the railway.

Bourblon blinked his eyes and said slyly: "Your Highness, please rest assured, from today onwards, we will never interfere in this war in any way, and I wish you the best possible victory!" ”

Exhausted to see off the foreigners, Li Yunzhong summoned the generals of the First Army to discuss the military situation, and the number of each division increased to more than 8,000 after the expansion of the First Army in Suzhou, plus 2,000 musket troops, 300 artillery units, 500 cavalry units, 800 people from Li Yunzhong's guard battalion, and 1,500 people from the newly recruited Suzhou garrison in Mengsheng, adding up to more than 20,000 people.

In order to cultivate the strategic vision of the generals, Li Yunzhong basically stopped speaking at the recent military meeting, allowing them to play freely, and only when the meeting was over, did he come out to supplement and correct it.

Meng Sheng saw Li Yunzhong close the curtain to recuperate, Li Xiucheng and other division-level generals stood on the side of the sand table at a loss, and stood up with excitement to preside over the meeting, "This time we must capture Shanghai at the lowest cost, Commander Li, you tell everyone your plan for staff and staff." ”

Li Xiucheng saw that the King of Han had no objection, picked up the baton and said: "The southeast of Suzhou is full of lakes and swamps, which is not suitable for marching, so we want to march into Shanghai, Kunshan is the place where we must pass, and the Qing demon Zhang Yuliang has been strengthening the city wall, so I think we must pull out the nail of Kunshan, so we can attack Shanghai with confidence, and I plan to attack Kunshan County with the second division as the vanguard." ”

Li Chunfa saw Li Xiucheng signaling himself to speak, and then said: "Kunshan is more than 50 miles away from Suzhou, and my second division can march in the early morning and enter the city in the afternoon, and the city can be broken the next day at the latest. ”

Meng Sheng nodded with satisfaction, and still reprimanded: "What I'm talking about is whether you have an overall plan to capture Shanghai, not a small Kunshan County!" ”

Li Xiucheng completely adapted to the strange atmosphere in the room, and replied calmly: "Qingpu County Heaven and Earth Society is relatively powerful, their leader Zhou Lichun has always hated the Qing court, there is an Arhat Party in Jiading County, and the leader Xu Yao often opposes the government, I think as long as they are won over, Qingpu County and Jiading County can be broken without attacking." ”

Meng Shengsheng has always been unaccustomed to the style of the Hui Party, and when he saw that Li Xiucheng opened his mouth and said that Heaven and Earth would close his mouth and that he was the Arhat Party, he mocked intentionally or unintentionally: "Is there any Hui Party in Shanghai County that can be broken without attacking?" ”

Li Xiucheng said with a smile: "Du Du guessed well, there is a small knife society in Shanghai County, which belongs to the branch of the Heaven and Earth Society, they are very powerful in Shanghai, and their leader Li Xianchi." Chen Alin and Liu Lichuan each have more than 1,000 followers, as well as countless small leaders, if they get into trouble, not to mention that Shanghai County and Songjiang Mansion will also be defeated. ”

Li Yunzhong felt that the intelligence collected during the attack on Shanghai was very sound, and asked: "Who is responsible for the intelligence of this campaign?" ”

Li Xiucheng was stunned, he didn't expect that King Han would ask about intelligence, and pointed to a middle-aged man sitting in the corner of the room: "Zhao Laoqi, the commander of the third regiment of the first division, is in charge." ”