Zheng Deshui remembered that he hung the stone tower of the Quarry Rock Guangji Temple, and every time he saw Li Congyi, he asked when he would let him go to the Quarry Rock, and he always had to see the situation on the spot before he could give countermeasures.

Of course, Li Congyi is not in a hurry, according to the historical trend, Zhao Kuangyin will not kill Tang until October this year, this is only April, and there is still half a year. If you want to do something to the stone tower, it is better to do it later, so that Fan Ruoshui can find out that there is a mistake as late as possible.

In the past few days, Li Congyi has been soaking in the ferry every day. Zheng Deshui was dual-minded, building an iron furnace and improving the waterwheel at the same time, but he didn't care about harassing Li Congyi, and he didn't know what Li Congyi was doing. This will be called by Li Congyi, but he sees a novelty.

I saw that on the ground in the courtyard, there were wooden sleepers, and a long log was embedded at both ends of the wooden sleeper, and a four-wheeled carriage was erected on the long wood, and the wheels of the carriage were also special, and there was a larger wheel on the inside of the wheel, but it was directly stuck with two long logs.

Zheng Deshui thought about it for a while, and then he understood the truth. In fact, the long wooden sleeper is used as the roadbed for a special carriage to gallop on. The two horses were on the right and left of the wooden sleeper, and the empty car was demonstrated, and the vehicle was very light; Coupled with the heavy load, it is the usual 3,000 catties of heavy carriages, and the two horses pull it, and it is not difficult.

"Lord Guogong wants to build this special road and use this special carriage for the coal mine to which Xuanmei belongs?" Zheng Deshui asked.

"How?"

"The Lords should consider connecting several or even a dozen specially made horse-drawn carriages in a string and then pulling the wagons with multiple horses, so as to greatly improve the efficiency of land freight transportation. However, from the perspective of subordinates, there are three problems with this policy: first, although there are sleepers, another foundation must be built, otherwise the ground will sink deep and the long wood will inevitably deform; Second, the long wood is the base, and the heavy-duty carriage runs on it, which may be difficult to last, and must be maintained from time to time and replaced with damaged long wood in time; The third is that the train is inconvenient, and the subordinates think that either they will build a compound road, or they need to build a station every few miles to implement sectional control. ”

Li Congyi was also moved when he heard this. Zheng Deshui has just seen the prototype of this railway, and he has already considered the key to it.

Explain one by one: after tamping the bottom roadbed, it is paved with gravel, and the sleepers are paved on top of the gravel. Long wood and wheels can be wrapped in iron sheet for added durability. A station is built every few miles along the line, where trains are met, and vehicles are controlled and released at each station, the road section is maintained, and the vehicle condition is observed.

Li Congyi wants to build this real "road", and it does not stop at coal mines. Li Congyi also wanted to build one in Xuanyao, from Xuanyao to Dongmendu, so that the new army could also use this road and be able to maneuver from the barracks to the bank of the Shuijiang River more quickly.

After the completion of the first batch of three reservoirs, three new reservoirs were built around the Jianhe River, and an additional stone quarry reservoir was built for Xu's business. At the same time, Zheng Deshui also sent a group of people to Ningguo County to select a site for the reservoir. Then it was to build a new barracks for Li Congyi in Bajia between Dongmendu and Xuanyao kiln, and to build a new town for Li Congyi at the Shuiyangjiang ferry in Xuancheng County (especially the iron-making furnace and large waterwheel), fortunately, in addition to the reservoir, other projects could be completed on the spot, alleviating the company's cash flow hunger problem.

But Li Congyi's cash hunger has never been resolved. The 300,000 taels of silver "looted" from Su Anping were used exclusively for the use of the new army, but the cost was extremely large, and the saving was only used until the outbreak of the war between the Song and Tang dynasties.

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"If a bank is set up, where a bank is deposited in a bank, the bank will give corresponding interest according to the different periods; If the bank issues a loan to the company, the annual interest rate will be taken as one cent, and the intermediate interest rate difference will be the income of the bank. The deposit of silver in the prefecture and county is put into the bank, and the silver money of each company is also put into the bank, and the tax payment or capital exchange between the companies is paid by the bank or the bill of exchange, and the settlement and settlement of the bank can be done without the delivery of the bank. Li Congyi introduced the idea of Qianzhuang to Xuanzhou Governor Shi Tang Puze, Gao Jingtong, who joined the army, Du Zhengchu, who joined the army, and Hou Hongye, the magistrate of Xuancheng.

"When someone else sets up a bank, he has to pay a fee for saving money; The loans granted are all usury, and the monthly interest rate is one and a half cents, even three cents. Lord Guogong's money bank seems to be very different. Du Zhengchu pondered for a while, and then grasped the key, "But when the Lord Guogong issued a loan, I am afraid that even other people's savings have to be loaned abroad, right?" ”

"Exactly. The bank only needs to keep a certain amount of cash to protect daily withdrawals. In the future, if the market gradually accepts the bank's silver bills, the bank's demand for cash can be further compressed. However, in order to prevent the failure of the bank's operation from causing huge losses to the depositors, I intend to stipulate in the articles of association that the size of the loan issued by the banker shall not exceed 10 times the principal amount of the bank. ”

"Who is this loan for?" Tang Puze asked.

"For example, Xuanzhou Coal Industry now has to expand the scale of production, but also to build a road from the mine pit to the ferry, and also want to explore in Shezhou and Jiangxi and other places, and expand the market to various places, and the more capital required is really the better." But it was Xu Shiming who explained. "Not only Xuanzhou Coal, but also other companies, namely Daqiang Wood, are also limited by insufficient production capacity, but if they want to expand production, this capital is the first constraint. If the company's own profits are accumulated, the speed of development will be greatly limited. ”

Except for Hou Hongye, the officials knew little about the company's operations, and they were quite shocked when they heard this section.

"In this way, the lower official suggested that the Lord Guogong should use another alias to show the difference between the money and the village." Du Zhengchu suggested.

"The new bank is a business that deals in silver, so it is called a 'bank'." Li Congyi is as good as a stream.

After everyone finished discussing, Tang Puze followed Li Congyi out and sighed, "I didn't expect Lord Guogong to be really worried about money." It's just that there are slightly fewer rich and noble people in Xuanzhou, and the Guogong is unwilling to use the strong, and the principal of this bank, if only Xuanzhou is a place, it may be insufficient. ”

"However, Jinling may not recognize the signboard of this father." Li Congyi also sighed.

"You have to give it a try. In this way, Lord Guogong still has to go to Jinling. Tang Puze said, "My subordinates will find a way to facilitate the return of Lord Guogong to Jinling." ”

Xu Shiming on the side also asked: "Then Wang Wei is in Ningguo County, Zhang Luo, a group of kiln owners, want to establish Ningguo Lime Co., Ltd., Lord Guogong really doesn't care about him?" ”

"Dong Shi imitates the wind, and it is very important." Li Congyi sneered. "If you only want to do it for your own selfishness, how can you convince the public, and how can it last for a long time? If the company can't reduce costs and increase efficiency, but it is like a group of small sampans tied together, what are the benefits? And if Wang Wei can really build the Ningguo Lime Company, I will buy lime from him, so what's the matter? ”

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"Lord Guogong, my subordinates don't understand, why do you have to go to such great lengths?" Zheng Deshui listened to Li Congyi's request for the construction of the bank building, and couldn't help but ask.

"When you deposit your money in the bank, of course, you have to believe that the bank will not lose your money, and the bank's office space will naturally make people feel solid and reliable at a glance. Not only that, but in the future, Jiangnan Bank will do business in Jinling, Nanchang and Runzhou, and all office buildings will need to be built according to this. Therefore, Li Congyi demanded that the first floor should be built entirely of stones, and the walls of the second and third floors should be made of blue bricks, but the thickness was as high as two feet. Let people feel indestructible at a glance. The silver vault is built on the second floor of the basement, locked with a three-layer iron door, in order to prevent someone from stealing the hole from the ground, the same stone wall is built, and then covered with iron plates. Even if it is the state treasury, compared with this, the degree of solidity is also greatly inferior.

"There is no technical difficulty in building the building according to this, but this requirement is to desperately rush the construction, and the construction period may not be able to stop for three months."

"It doesn't matter. Before the bank treasury is completed, it can be borrowed from the state treasury first. ”

After arranging the requirements with Zheng Deshui, seeing that it was getting late, Li Congyi went to the courtyard of the Guogong Mansion. When I arrived at the door, I saw two load-bearing carriages parked in front of the door, and Cui Feihu, the commander of the left compartment, stood aside, and when he saw Li Congyi, he saluted and paid respects.

It turned out that Cui Feihu heard that Li Congyi was going to build a Jiangnan Bank, and he actually took about 50,000 taels of silver from the kiln at home, so he wanted to buy shares.

"General Cui has a lot of confidence in his father." Li Congyi brought Cui Feihu to the reception room and teased him.

"The subordinates corresponded with Hu Yuan, presumably the Lord Guogong knew. His subordinates also secretly went to the barracks of the kiln field and spent a few days watching the military training of the Duke of the Kingdom. The subordinates thought that the Guogong Master trained the army, crowned the world, and the resurrection of Zongwu Marquis (Zhuge Liang) was not as good. In my opinion, the new army of the Guogong Lord uses pikemen as spears, and breaking the formation will make heavy armor, but there are few people in the new army wearing armor. If you want to train and build the army, it will cost you a lot of money. Today, the Guogong people are in charge of banking affairs, but their subordinates have seen the grand road of adults gathering people's assets to do big things without harming people's wealth, so they responded positively. Cui Feihu talked eloquently, like a Confucian general.

Now that the new army of the 3rd battalion has been formed, it is indeed possible to consider expanding the army, or Li Congyi has been thinking about expanding the army, and there are only two things to worry about: First, the current Ningguo army is really unusable, and if it is inherited in its entirety, these veterans have too much oil, and it may bring bad recruits. The second is that there are no high-ranking officers who can be used, theoretically, Li Congyi only asks Huangfu Jixun for help, and it is true that he can easily transfer the chief and deputy commanders of the left and right compartments, but can the high-ranking officers who are transferred in be useful?

"Hu Yuan, those veteran oils, cheating and cheating, disobeying discipline, repeatedly violating military regulations, and bringing bad recruits. It was Hu Yuan's subordinate Wang Hongda, who also sneaked out of the barracks several times in the middle of the night to buy roast chicken, if it weren't for the fact that his humanity was not bad and he had the courage to be a top soldier, he would have been fired a hundred times. Li Congyi said, "Does General Cui have any suggestions for such a situation?" ”

"Most of the soldiers in Jiangnan are generals and officials at all levels, and they are negligent in the battle formation, and their subordinates can only go with the flow, asking the prince to forgive his sins. However, his subordinates thought that like the Xuanyao barracks, the military barracks were set up in the suburbs and the soldiers were strictly trained; Strengthen the ranks of the Judge Advocate General's Department, and if those who do not obey military discipline are roded, then the unhealthy tendencies in the army can be quickly eliminated. After Cui Feihu finished speaking, Li Congyi didn't seem to be satisfied, and said: "Which battalion commanders in the left wing of the subordinates are usable and which are unusable, I know very well in my heart, it is some veteran oil, and my subordinates have also heard of it. ”

Li Congyi nodded, whispered something to Luo Zhengwen, and after a while, Luo Zhengwen took a page and handed it to Cui Feihu.

Cui Feihu looked at it, but it was written that the right chamber commander Hao Di had a bad record.