Zhan Tianyou said: "Lord Lin, you should ask another master, I can't do it anyway to lay the railway in twenty days." ”

Lin Yuan asked, "What's wrong?" Master Zhan, are there any other difficulties? ”

Zhan Tianyou said: "From Shanhaiguan to Panjin, no matter how you go, you have to pass through the Daling River, to let the railway cross the river, you have to build a railway bridge, you have to put the piers into the river, and you have to lay the plate beams on the piers, and the rails on the plate beams, 20 days, no matter what." ”

Lin Yuan asked, "Why can't you do it?" ”

Zhan Tianyou said: "When we were repairing the Luanhe Bridge, in order to drive the piers to the bottom, we sent divers into the water, positioned the piers, and then used a steam piling machine to drive the piers into the water. Even if it is launched, the steam pile driver is to be installed on the ship for piling, and the river is frozen in this season, how can the boat drive over! ”

Lin Yuan asked, "Then have you ever tried gravity bridge piers?" ”

Gravity piers are piers that rely on their own gravity to be fixed in the water, usually this kind of piers are made of concrete, their own weight is very large, and they will not be washed away by the current in the water and damaged by floating objects in the water.

Zhan Tianyou couldn't help but be shocked when he saw Lin Yuan's gravity pier, and thought, "It seems that this Lin Yuan is not all a layman. ”

Zhan Tianyou said: "This method works, but such a bridge pier can only be poured in a factory in Tianjin, and its dead weight can reach dozens of tons. ”

Lin Yuan said: "Dozens of tons? Does it need to be so heavy? The water depth of the Daling River section on the railway line we selected is only a little more than three meters, so the bridge pier can be made shorter, and the water flow speed in that place is not very large, so the self-weight of the bridge pier does not need to be very large, so the weight must be controlled within ten tons. ”

Zhan Tianyou saw what Lin Yuan said solemnly, and didn't understand what ten tons were for Lu, and said: "Okay, we will follow this when we design, but there is a problem, and it is also the most difficult to do." ”

Lin Yuan asked, "What?" Please! ”

Zhan Tianyou said: "We don't have any silver! There are many things that we can't produce in the Qing Dynasty, so we can only buy foreigners' rails, concrete, which don't need a lot of silver! ”

Lin Yuan asked, "How much silver do you need?" Give me a number. ”

Zhan Tianyou didn't think about it and said: "For such a long railway, let's start with 100,000 taels of silver, and if it's not enough, we have to add more." ”

Lin Yuan frowned, thought for a while, and said, "You design it first, and I will also figure out a way to deal with the silver." ”

Lin Yuan came out and walked on the road, thinking: "One hundred thousand taels of silver, it's not a small amount, you can't count on those rich merchants, who has more silver in this Qing Dynasty?" The household department is in charge of the national finances, and they have a lot of silver in their treasury, but every penny of that silver is useful, disaster relief, military salaries, if you take out 100,000 taels at once to build the railway, it is indeed a little difficult! ”

Lin Yuan suddenly thought, "Isn't there a lot of silver in the royal family?" There are tens of thousands of people living in the Forbidden City, and their annual food and clothing costs hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. ”

When Lin Yuan returned home, he finally came up with a clever plan, as soon as he entered the door, he saw Guan'er crying with red eyes and kneeling in the room.

Lin Yuan went up to pull her and asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

Guan'er said: "After the adult came back, he didn't look at the slave and maid and left, thinking that the slave and maid did something wrong and made the adult unhappy, but I couldn't think of it after thinking about it, so I waited here for the adult, please punish the adult!" ”

Lin Yuan cried and laughed and thought, "Where and where is this!" He said softly: "Guan'er, when you talk to me in the future, you are not allowed to call yourself a slave again, just say 'I'." ”

Wan'er suddenly felt as if she had heard an extremely terrible thing, her body trembled slightly, and she said, "This is a violation of the rules, and you can't do it." ”

Lin Yuan pulled her up from the ground, pressed her to the bed, sat beside her, and asked, "Do you know how many concubines and palace maids there are in the Ludao Palace?" ”

Guan'er said: "I don't know either, there should be thousands of them." ”

Lin Yuan asked again: "Then among these people, are there any who don't wear makeup and dress up?" ”

Wan'er laughed and said, "How is that possible, they are all very good at dressing up, each one is more beautiful than the other." ”

Lin Yuan suddenly said, "Guan'er, I want you to do me a favor." ”

Wan'er said suspiciously: "Help? How can a slave help? ”

Lin Yuan said: "Don't say 'slave maid' again. ”

Guan'er hurriedly changed her words and said, "Okay, I won't say that anymore, how can I help?" ”

Lin Yuan said: "Can you tell them to stop putting on makeup and give me the money they saved to build the railway." ”

Wan'er's eyes widened in surprise and said, "How is this possible!" I don't have that kind of skills. ”

Lin Yuan said to Guan'er: "We will all go to the palace in a while, I will go to see the emperor, you will go to see the Empress Dowager Cixi, and then you will ......."

After agreeing on the plan, the two entered the palace, and after Guan'er entered the palace, he went to find Emperor Guangxu's Concubine Jin, among the concubines in Emperor Guangxu's harem, it was widely known in later generations that Concubine Zhen was the half-sister of Concubine Zhen, and the two entered the palace together and were sealed.

As soon as Guan'er entered Yonghe Palace, he made a big salute and said, "Guan'er asks Concubine Jin for peace." ”

Guan'er is the favorite maid of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and she was given to Lin Yuan, so even though she is a palace maid, no one in the palace dares to underestimate her, Concubine Jin hurriedly said: "It turned out to be Guan'er, but I don't dare to call it that, now I am no longer a concubine." "It turned out that a few months ago, Concubine Zhen was reprimanded by Cixi for the gift of Henan Governor Yuchang, and Concubine Jin was also implicated, and the two were demoted to nobles together.

Although Concubine Jin said so, she was still very happy for Guan'er to call her "Concubine Jin", and the two chatted nonsense, and Guan'er said: "Guifei Niangniang, didn't you say last time that the Holy One favors precious people, let me go out and inquire if there is any way to make the Holy Lord change his mind?" ”

Concubine Jin heard Guan'er call Concubine Zhen a "precious person", and her heart was very useful.

Concubine Jin lowered her voice and said, "Have you found out how to do it?" ”

Wan'er smiled and said something in her ear, and when she heard Concubine Jin nodding again and again, at this moment, the eunuch who was passing the news outside shouted: "The emperor has arrived!" Wan'er hurriedly left.

After Lin Yuan saw Emperor Guangxu, he talked about the matter of building the railway, and Emperor Guangxu readily agreed, but as soon as he mentioned 100,000 taels of silver, Emperor Guangxu made a difficulty, and after thinking about it, the silver was not settled, and he couldn't help but feel sad.

Concubine Jin saw Emperor Guangxu's sad face, knelt on the ground and asked, "Why is the saint unhappy?" ”

Emperor Guangxu sighed and said: "The front line wants silver, but now that there are wars year after year, how can there be idle silver?" ”

Concubine Jin followed Guan'er's words and said: "Shengshang, take out the fat powder money and weaving clothes money in this harem this year, how can you have a hundred thousand taels?" ”