Chapter 51 The First Official Railway

What are the rules of firearms warfare?

That is, defense is better than offense.

As long as the firearms are fired normally and there are no quality problems, defense is always better than offense. This is especially true with the addition of suitable fortifications, which are accentuated by the advancement of firearms, the culmination of which is the trench warfare of the First World War.

But before that, not without features.

It just depends on whether the person can catch it.

Secondly, the consumption is far greater than that of the era of cold weapons, and the dependence on logistics is too heavy. Without logistics, there is no way to fight. In the era of cold weapons, it may be possible to loot on the spot and solve the problem of grain and grass, but in the era of firearms, it is absolutely impossible.

As a result, the logistical burden is too heavy.

He Xi is ready to use the railway to transport logistics, a railway can be better than more than 100,000 people to transport logistics.

Another role of the railway is to fight internally.

It is convenient to mobilize troops and quickly move from one direction to another line of defense. So as to improve the utilization rate of troops. And this is the importance of the Beijing to Yingkou railway, although it is said that Yingkou to Tianjin, from the sea road is very close, but the sea is not calm in the end, once the storm, or the visibility is very low weather, the connection between Liaodong and Beijing is very slow, from Beijing to the south, there are canals temporarily replaced, but the land route from Yingkou to Beijing is too difficult to walk.

As long as the railway is built, Liaodong will be connected with Beijing, and the 100,000 troops of Liaodong can be quickly mobilized to the Beijing Division, and the army of the Beijing Division can also be quickly transferred to Liaodong, so that the number of Liaodong troops can be reduced and more strength can be used in the south.

Similarly, after the railroad was repaired, the speed of material deployment increased. In this case, Beijing will be able to maintain greater stability with fewer supplies.

After all, the lack of food is also a hidden worry in He Xi's heart.

The people below don't know He Xi's thoughts. I only listened to Zhang Zongde explain the steam train and the railway clearly on the podium.

I've just finished speaking. Zhang Youzhi stood up abruptly and said, "My lord, the Puzhou Society is willing to serve the imperial court for free. I just ask the adults to give the Puzhou Society a chance."

He Xi said: "No, the imperial court has always had rules for doing things, and there has never been the idea of serving for free. However, now that the state affairs are difficult, the imperial court has some shortcomings, and the imperial court intends to issue treasury bonds, and will give interest. When the time comes, you can sell some, and as for the business, you can do what you have to do."

In fact, in He Xi's view, the national debt is welfare.

Without him, the banknotes will depreciate greatly. Although He Xi will control the decline, it is impossible to fall too much. But in any case, if you have a lot of cash now, you are losing money. Treasury bonds are different, they have interest, I dare not say how high, but there is no problem in outperforming inflation.

That is, all those who support the imperial court in Beijing, their property will be preserved, and they may even make a small profit, as for those who do not sell national debt. Probably a lot of losses. Of course, for the common people, the impact is not great.

Because, on the whole, near Beijing, human resources are tight.

He Xi will artificially raise wages. The price of manpower will go up a lot. First, it is affected by supply and demand factors, and second, it is intentional by He Xi. This offsets the cost of the machine, which allows the big factory owner to change his mindset from increasing manpower to leaning towards adding machines.

And He Xi's railway project, and the subsequent war preparation and consumption, will also dilute the cost of industry, so that the price of machinery will fall. There's more room for competition.

He Xi in order to promote the steam engine and transform the society, there is no one.

All sorts of means were used.

Zhang Youzhi's all kinds of things are just a small episode.

He Xi didn't think that he could settle it today. Because He Xi knows that most of these people can't be the master.

It is only after they have to consult with the back before there can be a result.

From Beijing to Nanjing, the fastest is probably from Tianjin to Nanjing. Then come back from Nanjing, which will also take a month or two. This is also the reason why He Xi said this thing in advance.

He immediately went to the north and waited for the north tour

When he came, he was right to consult with these people about important matters.

However, He Xi didn't think that most of the nobles would reject his proposal.

Without him, make money? Whose money is not earned.

Not to mention that these nobles didn't dare to make a mistake when Zhu Yuanzhang was there. Zhu Yuanzhang attacked them, although it was a bit too much. But they are definitely not loyal servants of the Ming royal family, whether it is Zhu Xiongying or Zhu Yunwen.

So, it's one thing to be on that side, it's another thing to make money, and it's another thing to stay behind.

The war on the surface must be fought, and the war between the hearts and minds of the people in private must also be fought.

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In the Qianqing Palace in Beijing.

He Xi told Zhu Xiongying about his railway plan in 1510.

Zhu Xiongying frowned slightly and said, "In this way, the most important thing in the railway is the rails and sleepers. Is that enough?"

He Xi said: "Naturally, in fact, in recent years, the steel production in Beijing and Liaodong has been in a surplus situation, if you don't find a way out as soon as possible, all parts of the country will close the iron furnace, as for sleepers, there is not too much wood in Liaodong." That's why they've solved big problems."

Sometimes, He Xi also felt that Zhu Yuanzhang was too right.

The Ming Dynasty needs a war, and without the shuffle of a war, it is impossible to solve the problem.

The reason why He Xi was a little impatient for this war was also because the heavy industry sector began to overproduce. During the construction of the city of Beijing, cement, steel, masonry and so on were produced on a large scale. After the completion of the construction of Beijing City, He Xi has been promoting the construction of water conservancy projects in Hebei, on the one hand, it is because Beijing's water conservancy projects need to be built, otherwise it is impossible to reach the level of water conservancy in the Tang Dynasty. But more often than not, steel mills and cement plants have overcapacity.

After all, there is still a market for cloth or something. But where is the steel marketed?

As mentioned earlier, these factory owners prefer to add manpower rather than machinery. And a large number of agricultural machinery cannot be sold at all. If you can consume steel, you will be built. And war.

Where construction is not sustainable.

On the one hand, funding is limited. On the other hand, it is incomprehensible that the imperial court spends money so lavishly.

To put it bluntly, the Ming Dynasty was fundamentally a static management system of agricultural society, and he could not understand how to manage the fluctuations of various industries in industrial society.

If He Xi does not intervene, the steel industry will inevitably shrink, and Daming steel production will have a big decline. Maybe you can wait for the invisible hand to adjust naturally. But in a few years, or even more than ten years, it is impossible for steel production to return to the present.

After all, today's steel production was almost born by He Xi with the construction of a Beijing city.

It's not normal in itself.

And He Xi didn't have time to wait for the next peak.

He must want to have more drastic means to promote the industrial revolution, only in this way can we maintain the rapid development of heavy industry and drive the development of the entire Ming industry.

Therefore, this war, the north can't wait. And the South can't stand it either.

Zhu Yuanzhang also understood this, so he set up this situation when he was dying.

Zhu Xiongying understands a little, and some doesn't. Zhu Xiongying said, "I know my uncle's decision. It's just that I hope that next time I will listen to my uncle's report."

Zhu Xiongying's this is a vague indication that Zhu Xiongying is dissatisfied with He Xi's first cut and then play.

He Xi immediately stood up and apologized, and said, "Now that the cabinet is not complete, the imperial court regulations are completely absent, and there is great chaos from top to bottom, this is why there is such an omission. Please let Your Highness condemn your sin."

Zhu Xiongying said, "I know that I am in a hurry. Uncle is right, it's time to talk about the cabinet."

He Xi said, "Who does His Highness want?"

Zhu Xiongying said: "Uncle is the first assistant of the cabinet, or uncle tell me, who do you like?" I'm sure of everything."

He Xi said, "Thank you Your Highness for your trust, if the minister is in the cabinet alone, there is no way to do anything. Yang Shiqi has been in charge of all aspects of Beijing for many years and is a capable minister. In the future, industry and commerce will also be the focus of development, and only industry can strengthen the country

, the minister let Yang Zhen be responsible. The rest of the candidates will be arranged by His Highness."

Zhu Xiongying was stunned for a moment and said, "Just these two?"

He Xi said, "Just these two, plus the minister."