After returning from the makeshift Jingshi Railway Station, Zhu Youzhen still couldn't hide his excitement.

For this reason, on the return trip, Zhu Youzhen specially beckoned Xue Fengxiang back and entered the palace with him.

Sit on the dragon chariot.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but think of another cross-era black technology product, that is, the warships that Penglai Shipyard is now busy with.

After comparing the warship with the train.

In general, the internal fine structure of the train... Compared with the Penglai shipyard, the problems encountered are much smaller.

Compared with steam trains, steam-powered ironclads are undoubtedly several times more difficult to manufacture.

The speed of the dragon chariot is not slow.

After a while, he returned to the palace, and Zhu Youjian followed closely behind the group and stepped into the Dongnuan Pavilion.

It was the height of summer, and the little eunuch in the palace put the ice cubes prepared in advance in a basin and placed them in the East Warm Pavilion to cool down.

Zhu Youzhen signaled.

The ministers sat down, and since Zhu Youzhen liked to discuss in the Dongnuan Pavilion, its internal furnishings have become more and more complete, and the interior has been changed into a small meeting hall.

"Regarding the steam train, I have some ideas that I want to discuss with you Aiqing."

"First of all, there is a question of scale, Xue Aiqing will first talk about the cost of this railway once it is to be laid on a large scale?"

Xue Fengxiang then opened his mouth to introduce the specific situation of the railway construction, "Back to the emperor... Nowadays, the construction cost of railways is not low, and due to the huge demand for iron, the cost remains high and there are still many material gaps. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded, the railway, as the name suggests, requires the use of a large amount of iron materials to be processed and laid on the foundation along the way, although the quality requirements for iron materials are not particularly high.

But the quantity requirements are huge.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen said: "What does the Mining Bureau say about this matter, how much iron can be provided for the construction of the railway?" ”

"The Emperor... The Mining Bureau said that although Tangshan Iron Ore has begun to be mined, due to the large demand in various places, I am afraid that the amount of iron that can be given to the construction of the railway will not be too large. Xue Fengxiang continued.

Zhu Youzhen pondered and then asked.

"Have you ever calculated how far enough railroad will be laid?"

"Back to the Emperor... I'm afraid there is a certain gap from the capital to Tianjin." Xue Fengxiang looked embarrassed, although the manufacture of trains has now begun to take shape, but without the support of the railway, he also understands... The train is also a good woman who has nothing to do and no rice, and it is difficult to really run.

Zhu Youzhen's face froze.

"Isn't it enough to go from Beijing to Tianjin?"

"Back to Your Majesty... Judging by the stock available to the Royal Mines Board and the amount of iron that can be supplied in the future, I am afraid that this is indeed the case. ”

The Industrial Revolution relied heavily on the boom in steel and coal production, and many of the problems could not be solved without the support of these two basic materials.

So Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "It is proposed to give the Royal Mining Bureau to mobilize special production funds, expand steel production, ensure a certain proportion of pig iron production, and... The construction of the railway from Beijing to Tianjin Wei will be planned immediately, and the construction will begin immediately after the planning. ”

"Obey." Xue Fengxiang was overjoyed, as long as the emperor valued this matter, then there would be no problems with the construction of the railway.

But Zhu Youzhen's next words made Xue Fengxiang's joy stagnant for a long time.

"Xue Aiqing, on the one hand, we must start the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, and on the other hand, we must plan the railway construction of the whole Ming Dynasty."

Xue Fengxiang said in disbelief: "Your Majesty... The construction of the railway in the whole of Daming? ”

"That's right! Only one day the Ming Dynasty's railways will spread throughout the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty's army, food, materials, various commodities and even information can be completely unimpeded in the Ming Dynasty. ”

It's just that in this case, in Xue Fengxiang's opinion, it is a bit unrealistic, after all, with the current steel production of Daming, there is also Penglai Shipyard, a large steel consumer.

The construction of the Ming Dynasty is also everywhere in need of steel..

Is the emperor's vision really possible? Xue Fengxiang hesitated for a while and then replied, "Your Majesty.. The minister is worried that the difficulty of building the railway of the whole Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly huge, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to achieve, so I implore the emperor to think twice. ”

After waving his hand, Zhu Youzhen saw what Xue Fengxiang was thinking.

Zhu Youzhen actually knows that the large-scale construction of railways is tantamount to a fantasy, even if it is forcibly promoted, it will only consume the steel output of the Ming Dynasty in vain, after all, for the Ming Dynasty, the priority of military manufacturing is much higher than that of the Ming Dynasty's railway construction.

However, Zhu Youzhen, who has his own Huaxia Library, knows that when the level of science and technology continues to develop.

Large-scale, industrialized, and highly concentrated steel smelting technology will make steel production continue to rise, and in later generations, there will be large-scale control and compression of steel production every year.

Compared with later generations, today's Daming is very different in terms of technology and other aspects.

However, the large number of working people is also an influencing factor that Zhu Youjian is very concerned about, after all, there are enough manpower to invest in steel smelting and production, and the cost is still very low, which is also not available in later generations.

"The issue of iron and steel smelting, the Mining Bureau must do its best to implement it reasonably, but the issues of smelters and iron ore mining must be carried out under the supervision of Daming's Development Planning Agency."

Xue Fengxiang was still puzzled: "Your Majesty, if so many factories are built at one time, I'm afraid the pressure on the imperial court's silver will not be small."

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said, "What Aiqing said is reasonable, but I tell you another thing, that is, the smelting of this steel is a matter of cost, no matter how much it costs, it must be vigorously promoted, the problem of cost..."

"Try to control it at a low level, and leave other problems to other parties to solve."

Zhu Youzhen's words made Xue Fengxiang still a little ignorant, but as a courtier, it was impossible for him to express clear opposition to the emperor's judgment, after all, since the emperor in front of him ascended the throne, the various new policy reforms he made have not failed once.

And the other way that Zhu Youzhen thought of to control costs was to transfer Daming's future source of income.

As for the way of thinking.

That is foreign wars and colonization.

Zhu Youzhen has never been a gentle character, for the means that can make the lives of the people of the Ming Dynasty better and the country stronger.

should not be set aside and actively ignored, the profits brought by colonization are enormous.

It is more than enough to compensate for the high costs of producing steel in the early stages.

"I think that's all I have to say about the construction of the railway, but now the first problem is to continue to check and fill in the gaps in the train manufacturing to ensure the safety of operation. On the other hand, the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway is the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway. ”