On the twenty-first day of July in the third year of the Chu calendar, at noon, Bai Tuzheng was eating lunch with Xiahou Juan and Lu Lingqi, and Bai Qing and Lu Yan were accompanied by their wet nurses.

The "imperial kitchen" of the Chu Palace, which has just recently developed a new dish - braised lion's head.

"Lao Zhao's craftsmanship is getting better and better, when his apprentice brings it out, he will be sent to Hefei to open a new store!" Bai Tu said after a lot of food.

"Well, now the seven branches of Baiyanlou show that a new store has a net profit of at least 100,000 yuan a year." Lu Lingqi's eyes lit up when she heard this, and then she saw Xiahou Juan on the side acting indifferently, so she added: "It is equivalent to Xiao Juan's remuneration for several years!" ”

Xiahou Juan: ......

The purchasing power unit of Chu coins is still very strong, although the weight is about the same as the Han five-baht coin, but the purchasing power of Chu coins is at least three times that of five-baht coins, even if Liu Xie jumps for this, and bans the circulation of Chu coins everywhere in Guanzhong cannot change this.

As for the "big money" mentioned by Lu Lingqi, it refers to "worth ten Chu coins", the face value is ten, and the copper is also ten times, which is called "big money" by the people.

For example, before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, more than 200 yuan and a stone of rice, and now the price of grain in Chu has been raised to more than 400 yuan because of the Pan Zhenqi plan, but it is ...... As far as Chu coins are concerned, as long as they are around one hundred and fifty coins, only Chu coins are circulated in the Chu State.

In terms of "being ten dollars", the number of senior members of the DPRK and China, craftsmen of the Ministry of Engineering, and doctors of medical schools is theoretically only a few hundred per month.

On the small table on the side, Zhang Chunhua, who was eating a "working meal", pouted when he heard the words - compared with Emperor Huan, King Chu is really "drilling money"!

Not to mention the level of the palace, not to mention, the cultivation mechanism of the "imperial kitchen" is actually to bring out a few apprentices after the cultivation is mature, and then ...... Just let it out and go to the restaurant wholly owned by the Chu Palace?

Generally speaking, the imperial kitchen should not be the best to keep improving, how did he get the king of Chu here, but it has become the master training system of foreign restaurants?

But the effect is really good, firstly, it is the imperial kitchen released outside the palace of the king of Chu, and the craftsmanship is indeed unique, and secondly, it is ...... This is also blessed by the reputation of "Chu Palace" and "Imperial Kitchen", and it can easily become the restaurant with the loudest and highest (slaughter) file (guest) of the brand, and there is no fear of any malicious competition.

It's really a lot of money!

Because Zhang Chunhua's "Shang Shulang" is already at the level of a life assistant, she can feel that Bai Tu is seriously saving money for future generations, that is to say...... Bai Tu's promise of "only take what if" is indeed serious.

It's just that......

The dignified King of Chu, always feels like a food test? The imperial chef has just been cultivated, and he is sent out?

Such a fragrant braised lion's head, it is estimated that I will not be able to eat it next month, and I will have to wait for the next batch of imperial chefs to mature - Zhang Chunhua's working meal is actually the same dish, but it is just a split meal.

Other than that...... The restaurant or something, it's just Bai Tu's own small business, and Chu has a "big business" recently, which has also begun to be implemented.

That is the sea ship deal with the Wei State, and finally stopped playing Liu Ye's ball, and the Chu State promised to pay the first batch of fleets first, about 20% of the total transaction volume.

What Wei valued was originally "samples", and the quantity was secondary, so ...... The state of Chu made Wei pay eighty percent of the money first!

After all, the project of ironclad ships has been launched, and although wooden ships will still be produced, especially iron-clad wooden ships, the new ships must be driven by real gas.

Bai Tu naturally didn't mind trading the old-fashioned sail warship to the Wei State - for the sake of these two hundred million Chu coins, the Wei State had sold a lot of resources, and even ...... Indirectly "sold" many of the population.

Now Bai Tu has also understood that the reason why Wei is so wealthy is that he mobilized the family to "subscribe".

At the same time, the large-scale Chu currency transactions also further consolidated the legal status of Chu currency, especially after the rise of maritime trade in the Wei State, many large households in the Central Plains and Hebei began to have the habit of exchanging part of the hoarded gold and silver for Chu coins to hoard.

Although Wei restricted the direct circulation of Chu coins in the country, the Wei State was unable to supervise the transactions between the Dashi clan.

As the state of Chu became stronger and stronger, the scholars of Chu gradually crushed the scholars in other regions in terms of financial and material resources, making the resistance to the innovation of other princes much less - the local scholars could also feel that the gap between themselves and the wealthy families of the Chu country was widening!

However, in the final analysis, it is still necessary to take care of each other, and it is impossible to sacrifice their own interests to promote innovation.

In contrast, at the beginning of the development of the Chu State, it used the right of development to "lend" out a part of the private rights of each family, so there is now a smooth government decree, although there are also private transactions that take risks, but at least in the Chu State, the imperial court is really strictly investigating and cracking, unlike other princes, who must turn a blind eye and close an eye.

The 200 million yuan from the far north also made the start-up capital of Chu State's True Qi Ship and True Qi Train plan relaxed.

After Bai Tu took the courtiers to "experience", there were actually quite a few differences of opinion among the parties - after all, this was not the same as testing guns.

In terms of guns, the generals only need to see which one is more practical and cost-effective, but the plan of the real gas ship and the real gas train is related to the development focus of the Chu State, and it is not something that can be compared ordinarily.

In the end, the result of mutual compromise and agreement was that the scale of the initial ironclad ship was cut a lot.

Originally, Baitu's plan was to build one battleship and three cruisers first, and the other destroyers and frigates that would be made of iron-clad wood first, and purely wooden transport ships and gunboats would be temporarily replaced to form a fleet.

The battleship is also commonly known as the "ironclad ship", with high tonnage, large-caliber weapons, and thick armor, which is equivalent to the evolved version of the sail main ship; The cruiser is relatively smaller, lighter in firepower, and thinner in armor, but it sails faster and is more suitable for long voyages.

However, even if it is a cruiser, as long as it is a cruiser with true gas armor, the displacement is two or three times larger than that of the current wooden main ship, and it can have about 5,000 tons in the calculation of the Chu system, and you must know that one ton of the Chu system is equivalent to 2.5 tons in later generations...... It's just that it doesn't have the momentum of the "ironclad ship" that displaces 20,000 tons at every turn.

In the end, after some controversy, even if the "fleet faction" had Bai Tu's support, they were finally persuaded to reduce the establishment to the extent that "two cruisers, and the others were replaced by iron-clad real gas ships".

In addition, the ministers involved in the experiment did not have any opinion on increasing the amount of steelmaking, and changed their previous attitude of opposition, but just wanted to invest more power in the railway.

The white picture is also seen, mainly because it is ...... People have selfish intentions!

Although the benefits of the sea route are now visible to the naked eye in the Chu State, the foundation of most of the scholars is in the inland after all.

Therefore, if you weigh the two in between, they want the railroad to be built, not to mention any ocean-going plans.

Whether it is the ocean plan or the railway plan, the party that benefits the most must be the treasury of Chu - accounting for more than half of the share.

However, the difference is that in addition to this, the income projects and departments of the voyage are basically controlled by the Jiangdong family.

Although Jiangdong is the land of the dragon of the Chu State, the dividends eaten by the Jiangdong family have long been covetous, how can they be willing to continue to invest the power of the Chu State on the sea?

To put ...... You have to stretch out everyone's hands and invest again!

There was no forced correction of this......

Although he has selfish intentions, he has no harm to the interests of the Chu State and the question of which part to develop first.

Including Lu Su, they also have a share in the ship, but they are also inclined to give priority to the railway, linking the major cities in the mainland of Chu first!

After all, at present, the part of overseas expansion, the income is only a "fraction" for Chu's domestic land.

And more importantly, Lu Su saw the hope of breaking through the peak of the former Han Dynasty from the railway and the true qi train!

In the former Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu were chased to Mobei, the wolf was sealed, and the main force of the Xiongnu was chased to the Baikal area in later generations......

At that time, the territory of the former Han Dynasty also reached an unprecedented extent, but later with the decline of national strength, the army could only gradually withdraw - after all, with the current climate of Heshuo and Mobei, it is not conducive to farming, and when the national strength is strong, it is possible to garrison the grain transportation line, but when the national strength is slightly weaker, it can only give up the land that has no output.

This is especially evident in the "wide" Han and Tang dynasties, when the territory at the peak and the territory in peacetime were like two countries.

In the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, even the "Western Regions Protectorate" could not be maintained, and was downgraded to the "Western Regions Governor's Mansion", the map area looks very large, but in fact the control over the Western Regions is very limited - looking at the administrative level, you can understand that the Western Regions Protectorate is a subordinate of the Liangzhou Thorn History Department, and the Western Regions Governor's Mansion is already a subordinate of Dunhuang County.

Moreover, whether it is the Metropolitan Protectorate or the Changshi Mansion, the greater role is not to directly rule the countries of the Western Regions, but to station troops here, stabilize the situation of the countries in the Western Regions, and be the "Great Alliance Leader" of the Western Regions with peace of mind, waiting for tribute.

Only considering the military expenses of the tributary and the Changshi Mansion is definitely a loss-making business, but the greater significance of the Changshi Mansion lies in coordinating the countries of the Western Regions, at least to ensure that Dunhuang can be at ease in Tuntian, and in the distance, there is no need to worry about the threat posed by the Western Regions to the Central Plains.

However, in terms of influence, on the contrary, the "Qianliang" during the Northern and Southern Dynasties had a much greater impact on the Western Regions, and once really included a large area of the Western Regions into its own territory, named Shazhou, and in Dunhuang it was a large-scale reclamation of official fields......

The reason is very simple, it is not that Qianliang is stronger than Wei and Jin, but because the roots of Qianliang are in Liangzhou and Guanzhong!

Although Lu Su didn't know what the two Jin and Northern Dynasties were, with his overall view, how could he not deduce the changes that the "True Qi Train" would bring after "shortening" the distance between the places?

At that time, the distance that originally "took several months to go back and forth" has become "a few days to reach", and whether it is baggage or soldiers, it can easily transport thousands of miles or thousands of miles...... No! Not only the garrison, but if it were so convenient, it would be easier for the migrants to live on the side!

Zhao Tuo, the king of Nanyue, has no need to worry about that situation at all.

What finally persuaded Bai Tu was also Lu Su's point of view - cruisers are sea bunkers for any current princes, and there is no need for stronger battleships for the time being, and when battleships are needed, the benefits generated by the railway can already build several battleships......