In January, with the exception of some southernmost provinces, almost everywhere in the country is extremely cold, even if it is called the south, in fact, the north and south of Anhui Province.

However, even in winter, some places are still in full swing, such as construction sites that are in a tight schedule.

For example, the railway located between Dangtu and Xiangshan...

In Dangtu County, one of the most important cities for the Anhui Military Government, dozens of officials, large and small, including Yan Shao, gathered in the Anhui Military Government at this moment, and even Li Guoyun and Zong Wu, who were still in Nanjing not long ago, hurried back.

The importance of railways to a country can be imagined, and in fact, not only in this era, even in later generations, railway transportation is extremely important, and the importance is even higher than that of air transportation.

After all, in the case of large-scale transportation, air transport can not be compared with railway transport, not to mention the difference in cargo capacity between the two, but the high cost of air transport and extraordinary preparation time can not be compared with railway transport, not to mention that air transport has very high requirements for the weather, and railway transport is just a way with the lowest requirements for weather.

These are obviously extremely important advantages for a country, especially a country with a large area.

It was precisely because of the importance of the railway that not long after the establishment of the military government, Yan Shao invited Zhan Tianyou, the most famous railway engineer in China, to serve in Anhui, and even made him the deputy minister of the Ministry of Communications and the chief engineer of the Anhui railway project.

And he did not live up to Yan Shao's expectations of him, after some exploration. It took less than a month to complete the construction of the railway between Dangtu and Xiangshan.

"This railway, thanks to you..." stood by the platform of the train. Looking at the neat 4 railways under his feet, Yan Shao said to Zhan Tianyou beside him with a little excitement. "Thank you for your hard work!"

The importance of Xiangshan Iron Works to Yan Shao can be imagined, after all, Yan Shao plans to build it into one of the largest iron factories in the country, even in the world. If this were the case, it was clear that road transport alone would not be able to meet the needs of the iron works.

Therefore, when Zhan Tianyou was asked to repair the railway, Yan Shao put forward a request to build a four-line railway at the beginning.

Four-track railway, also known as double-track railway. Refers to the fact that the railway has two parallel tracks in the same direction. The so-called "double line" is defined according to the concept of road roadway, that is, there is one track in each direction of the route. So so on. A section of the route with three tracks in each direction can be called a "six-line railway" or a "three-track railway". The route with 4 tracks in each direction is the "8-line railway" or "4-line railway".

Four-lane railways and larger railways are generally found in urban areas and are very busy sections of the railway traffic to cope with the high passenger volume entering the urban area from all directions from the suburbs. The first four-line railroad in this world appeared in the United States, when it was operated by the New York Central Railroad.

The benefits of a four-line railway are numerous. First of all, a four-track railway can easily accommodate twice the traffic volume of a double-track railway. Secondly, because the four-track railway has one more track in a single direction than the double-track railway, only one pair of tracks needs to be closed when the maintenance work is carried out, which has less impact on the train service and is easier to arrange.

Naturally, there are advantages and disadvantages, but the main disadvantages compared to four-track railways and double-track railways are focused on cost. And money is exactly the least important thing for Yan Shao now, after all, with his net worth of 1.8 million more, it doesn't matter at all. So the four-track railway has that little more money than the two-track railway. It wasn't taken seriously by Yan Shao at all.

But then again, 4 railways were built at a distance of more than 10 kilometers. In the eyes of many people, it seems to be a bit of a waste, at least in terms of the current production capacity of Xiangshan Iron Works, two railways are more than enough, but Yan Shao's goal in the future is to build it into a super large iron plant of five million tons, or even ten million tons, by that time, the non-4-line railway may not be able to meet the needs of the iron plant at all, so this is only an investment in advance...

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In fact, not only Yan Shao, but even Zhan Tianyou was very excited. Standing on the platform, looking at the 4-line railway below, Zhan Tianyou's heart was full of satisfaction.

The reason is simple, because this is the first four-line railway in China.

In the early days, China's railways were all single-track railways, and even double-track ones were rare, let alone this kind of four-track railway, which was rare even abroad. So although the whole railway is only more than 10 kilometers, that is, a distance of more than 15 kilometers, Zhan Tianyou is still very satisfied.

"This also requires the support of the Governor, if it weren't for the Governor's support, there would be no way to build this railway..."

Looking at the railway under his feet, Zhan Tianyou really became more and more satisfied.

Of course, what he is most satisfied with is Yan Shao's support, especially in terms of financial support.

In the past, Zhan Tianyou's biggest headache in building railways was not anything else, but money. After all, it costs a lot of money to build a railway, and it costs tens of thousands of yuan per kilometer, sometimes even tens of thousands of yuan.

Tens of thousands of yuan per kilometer, China is so big, it will take tens of millions to build more than 1,000 kilometers, if it is more than 10,000 kilometers, it will need hundreds of millions, if it really wants to build 100,000 kilometers, it will take at least billions, this is obviously not what China's financial support can do.

(When I wrote this, I suddenly remembered Sun Yat-sen's plan of 10 years and 100,000 miles, and it is said that this 100,000 miles refers to 100,000 miles?) If that's the case, it's 160,000 kilometers. During this period, a kilometer of railway also needed at least tens of thousands, about 2 or 30,000 if it was less, and 100,000 yuan if it was more.

This mainly depends on the complexity of the terrain, if you take the middle, in 50,000 yuan to calculate, not to mention what China's steel production at that time, 10,000 kilometers is more than 500 million silver dollars, and in 1911 China's fiscal revenue was only more than 300 million taels of silver, that is, more than 400 million silver dollars, in other words, even if the central government does not eat or drink, a year's fiscal revenue can not build 10,000 kilometers, 10 years. Let's not count by miles, even kilometers are not enough, not to mention that a country's income cannot be thrown on the railway. Take care of the rest, right?

In fact, with the financial revenue of the central government at that time, it was already the limit that 10 million yuan could be allocated a year, and this was only enough to build a few hundred kilometers, and this was still calculated according to the single-track railway, if it was according to the double-track railway or even the four-track railway, the cost would be doubled, not to mention that after the Xinhai Revolution, the local government did not submit the finance and taxes to Beijing at all. And that plan. That is, the strategy map of the founding of the country, can we not just draw lines on the map to play? Always consider the topography, and it is no wonder that Sun Yat-sen will be called Brother Cannon later. Well, double meaning... ）

As I said earlier, the most important thing in building a railway is the problem of money, and Zhan Tianyou often had a headache when he built a railway in the past. What's more, this time it is still a 4-line railway. It is calculated according to 50,000 yuan per kilometer of each railway. 15 kilometers is 750,000 yuan, and 4 railways are 3 million silver dollars.

In terms of railway engineering, this money is not much, but it is definitely a lot, not to mention that Yan Shao also asked him to complete the construction within a month. When he first started, Zhan Tianyou was really worried that something was wrong with Yan Shao's side.

As a result, as soon as he completed the exploration of the railway, Yan Shao had already purchased all the equipment needed to build the railway from a Bank of England according to his requirements. In addition, there are multiple locomotives, and the most lull even gives 3 million at a time. Let it be used, and directly tell him "The extra ones should be regarded as a reward for the big guys...".

Of course, these rewards cannot be given to Zhan Tianyou alone, but to everyone, including Zhan Tianyou, which also includes workers.

Yan Shao admires Zhan Tianyou very much, and believes that he builds the railway for the country, but he also knows very well that people's hearts are greedy, and he knows even more about the power of sugar-coated cannonballs. That's right, Zhan Tianyou is upright now, but no one dares to guarantee that he will be upright in this life, and after reading all the history books, you can find that there have been countless upright people in history who have been corrupted by sugar-coated shells.

At present, Yan Shao's net worth is about more than 120 million pounds, that is, 12.3 billion silver dollars, and if you count the automobile factory, the annual income can at least exceed 100 million, and 3 million is really just a fraction for him. Don't say that you just treat the rest as a reward, even if you directly give the three million to Zhan Tianyou, it's nothing.

The question is, what if Zhan Tianyou is corrupted like many people in history because of his pampering?

The rest of the fraction is given to Zhan Tianyou, if people raise the cost of the railway in the future, or cut corners in the process of construction—————— Yan Shao plans to let him repair the whole of China's railways in the future, this kind of thing has to be considered.

However, the problem of corruption must be worried, and the issue of rewards should also be considered, after all, Anhui is not only one railway between Tu and Xiangshan, and there are many railways to be repaired.

That's why Yan Shao will let the rest be used as a reward for everyone, including Zhan Tianyou, so that the possibility of problems will be much less. On the other hand, Yan Shao is also preparing to set up a clean government department based on the supervision agency within the group, which is responsible for the work of clean government, but he has not yet found a good candidate, after all, the person in charge of the clean government department must not only be honest himself, but also smart enough, otherwise if he finds a person who is honest but has a dull head, there is no difference between this department and not, but unfortunately, such a person is too difficult to find.

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Standing next to him, Yan Shao and Zhan Tianyou were polite to each other, and it was at this time that a train suddenly drove not far away, and then stopped in front of the platform.

"Governor, my lords, please..." Seeing that the train had stopped, Zhan Tianyou raised his hand and smiled at Yan Shao and Li Guoyun.

"Let's go, let's go up and sit down..."Seeing the train stop steadily in front of him, Yan Shao also felt a little itchy, so after greeting him, he took the others to board the train together.

Soon, under Zhan Tianyou's orders, the train began to operate again.

In fact, it should not be said that it is a train, but an electric locomotive, just for the sake of the words.

In order to improve the operational efficiency of the railway, Yan Shao specially purchased more than 10 electric locomotives from Germany. Compared with the steam locomotive, the electric locomotive is undoubtedly much stronger, the electric locomotive has the advantages of high power, strong overload capacity, large traction, fast speed, short maintenance time, less maintenance, low operating costs, easy to realize multi-engine traction, regenerative braking and energy saving. The use of electric locomotives to tow trains can increase the speed and carrying weight of the train. As a result, the transportation capacity and passing capacity of the railway will be greatly improved.

Another advantage of electric locomotives is that they can start and brake in a short time, which is much better than steam locomotives and diesel locomotives. Moreover, the traction and climbing ability of electric locomotives are much greater than those of diesel locomotives and steam locomotives, and there is no need to use multi-engine traction in the case of excessive load or large slopes. The biggest advantage of electric locomotives is that they have unlimited travel. As long as the vehicle does not leave the electrified section, it will not 'starve' (except for breakdowns) and will not need to be refueled as often as diesel and steam locomotives.

Naturally, electric locomotives also have disadvantages, such as if they encounter any unexpected situations, such as natural disasters or wars, which will cause problems in power transmission. That's a bad thing, but it's still very unlikely.

Another disadvantage is that the cost of railways will be higher for electrification.

But it's like I said. At least for now, Yan Shao will not worry about money.

Of course, Yan Shao didn't make an electric locomotive for the sake of fashion, and the speed of the electric locomotive was about 150 kilometers at this time. In 1903, the German electric locomotive even created a speed of 210 km/h. For a distance of 15 kilometers, 4 or 5 minutes is enough.

The problem is that Yan Shao did not only plan to build a railway between Dangtu and Xiangshan, but also Gushan and other places, as well as Wuhu and several other cities. Yan Shao wanted to use the railway to connect all the important cities in Anhui, and at this time, electric locomotives were useful.

In the case of electric locomotives, it is naturally much more comfortable to drive than ordinary steam locomotives. In less than 10 minutes, Yan Shao and the rest of his entourage arrived at Xiangshan from Dangtu. Such a speed was unimaginable in the past. However, it is now a reality.

While expressing deep satisfaction, officials in the junta, big and small, no longer had any objections to the appointment of Zhan Tianyou as vice minister of communications.

After inspecting the Xiangshan Iron Works and looking at the latest expansion of the factory, Yan Shao returned to Dangtu in an electric locomotive.

The completion of the railway and the official opening of the railway are naturally to celebrate, so Yan Shao directly held a cocktail party in Dangtu. It's just that this time it was not the usual Elaline or Caterina who accompanied him, but Lu Ying, who didn't appear often.

At this time, Elaline was busy with the affairs of the group, and Li Yin had already begun to assemble the assembly line of the car, and sent the drawings of the new car to Anqing. In order to be able to put into production as soon as possible after the assembly line arrives, Elaline and Ran Jinyu are busy with the affairs of the factory.

At the same time, with the expansion of the Secret Service, Caterina also had to get busy.

After all, the organization, which was originally only 1 or 200 people, suddenly expanded to more than 1,000 people, and as the director of the Special Affairs Bureau, it was impossible for Katerina not to be busy.

It is precisely because neither of them can come out of the country that Lu Ying will accompany Yan Shao to Dangtu at the last time.

And looking at Lu Ying, who was standing beside Yan Shao, who was petite but extremely handsome, almost all the gentry and local officials who participated in the reception showed expressions, even Li Guoyun and Zong Wu, who had long known about the existence of Lu Ying.

After all, Lu Ying is also Yan Shao's personal butler anyway, and when they visited Yan Shao's mansion in the past, it was naturally impossible not to have seen Lu Ying. It's just that at that time, Lu Ying's apparent identity was a housekeeper, so although they had already concluded in their hearts, they were still not sure after all, and now that Yan Shaodu had brought people to Dangtu, they naturally no longer doubted it...

"Master......" Looking at the strange expressions of the people around her, Lu Ying also became a little unaccustomed, and hurriedly whispered after finally having the opportunity for the two of them to be alone. Why don't I go back and rest first..."

"What are you resting for..."Drinking all the juice in the cup, Yan Shao laughed. Let's get used to it first, or you won't be able to rest forever, right? ”

Hearing the meaning of Yan Shao's words, Lu Ying was overjoyed, and she no longer asked to leave, but continued to stay by Yan Shao's side, in fact, this was what she hoped for.

Naturally, it is impossible for only a large number of stinky men to attend this drinking party, and many people bring their daughters to come. After determining that Lu Ying was likely to be Yan Shao's third wife, many people immediately encouraged the female dependents they brought.

So unconsciously, Lu Ying was brought into their circle by those ladies and ladies.

Unlike Yan Shao, Lu Ying usually drinks alcohol, although not much, but she can drink some more, plus today is a good day, so it is inevitable to drink a few more glasses. By the time she returned to Yan Shao's side, her slightly drunk face had already shown a charming flush.

Seeing that Lu Ying's expression was different from the past, although the cup in Yan Shao's hand was empty, he didn't realize it, but fortunately, no one around saw it, otherwise it would be a joke.

About an hour later, the drinking party finally ended, and after leaving the drinking party, Yan Shao helped Lu Ying to walk to the room, but it was not Lu Ying's room, but Yan Shao's own room.

On the other side, although she drank some wine, which made Lu Ying slightly drunk, but after recognizing the path, she suddenly understood Yan Shao's thoughts, but she didn't refuse or struggle when she was slightly happy in her heart, she just obediently followed Yan Shao to the house. (To be continued......)