At this time, Jiang He, the county keeper who represented the head of the civil officials of Yunzhou County, stood up and said:

"Even though this train has various benefits, if it wants to be put into use, it will inevitably invest a huge amount of manpower and material resources to build the railway, and the demand for iron is even greater.

Just from Yunzhou County through the Yunling Mountains to Yoel County, the total length is about 10,000 miles, according to the minister's view today, the railways that can make this train run on it are all made of stainless steel.

Lord Wang, now a pound of iron can produce 8 taels of steel, and the steel required for that step of the railway is more than 100 catties.

If you want to complete the laying of these two lines, the amount required is simply astronomical, and I don't know if Yunzhou County can afford it? ”

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Jiang Junshou is right, this rail does consume a lot of iron, according to the calculations of the masters of the Tiangong Academy, if you want to pave a mile of railway, you need at least 80,000 catties of steel alone."

And if you want to forge 80,000 catties of steel, you need at least 100,000 catties of iron, and if you only calculate the construction of the railway from Yunzhou County to Yoer County, the amount of iron needed has reached 100,000 catties!

We also need to beat these 100,000 catties of iron into 80,000 catties of steel, so that we can pave the road enough.

This is only one of the materials needed to build a railway, others such as the wood used for sleepers need five for every three feet (about one meter), and the roots should not be less than eight feet.

Every three feet of stone requires 15,000 catties of gravel the size of a fingernail to be used as ballast.

The amount of manpower and material resources required for this material is unprecedented! ”

After listening to Zhao Jun's words, everyone in the audience suddenly gasped!

At first, they didn't have an idea of the manpower and material resources needed to lay the railway, and they thought that even if it was a lot, they should be able to cope with it with the strength of Yunzhou County.

But now after listening to what the prince said, they have lost the confidence they had at the beginning.

Jiang He even smiled bitterly: "Lord Wang, not to mention stones and wood, these can be seen everywhere, and our Yunzhou County is next to the Yunling Mountain Range, and what is required is manpower and material resources, which can be overcome."

But the steel required by the railway is too much, even now, after nearly ten years of development of the iron-smelting technology in Yunzhou County, the annual iron production is about 50 million catties, and if it is refined into steel, it will be 40 million catties.

If you want to pave a road, it will cost 80,000 catties, which is equivalent to the output of my Yunzhou County for 20 years!

What's more, I still need a lot of iron tools in Yunzhou County every day, and the iron that can be squeezed out every year will not exceed 20 million catties, which will take longer to smelt, it will take forty years!

This is still the case of sufficient ore, although the iron ore reserves owned by Yunzhou County are abundant, enough for us to use for hundreds of years, but we simply do not have enough manpower to mine it, and now the iron smelting capacity of Yunzhou County every year is not even five layers, which is the reason for the lack of manpower.

To be honest, the iron ingots stored in Yunzhou County over the years are about 150 million catties.

At most, it's enough for you to build a thousand miles of land, and no matter how much Yunzhou County has, you really can't take it out. ”

After Jiang He finished speaking, the other officials immediately chimed in.

"Yes, Lord Wang, although my Yunzhou County is rich, it is not rich to this extent!

100,000 catties of iron really can't be taken out! ”

"That's right, if you don't still use manpower, even if it takes a little more manpower, it's not a big deal, it's more cost-effective than building this railway."

Agree, this railway is so slow and costly, it's completely useless to build it!

Save this money, recruit more people to complete the transportation of grain, as for the problem of soldier transportation, with my Yunzhou County's current combat effectiveness, where do you need any soldiers, as long as the army arrives, where is there an opponent in this world? ”

"Agreed!"

"Lord Wang, let's stop building this railway!"

"Lord Wang! Don't fix it! ”

……

As soon as they realized how huge the manpower and material resources required to build the railway, none of these high-ranking officials in Yunzhou County opposed it, and persuaded Zhao Jun to give up the idea one by one.

Even Ding Hongguang and Fan Zheng, who were still looking forward to the construction of the railway just now, frowned and stood aside without speaking after knowing the amount of materials that needed to be spent.

What Fan Zheng thinks is that now there is not enough manpower, and if the construction of this railway is started, not to mention the materials that will be consumed, but the huge number of people needed to build the road will have to eat, and this road will not be built in a short time.

Which is more cost-effective to build a railroad for several years or even decades to drag a large number of people and people and consume huge grain reserves, or to spend a little more grain every year to continue to maintain the original mode of transportation?

For now, it seems that the original model is more cost-effective.

But he always felt that something was wrong with the steel monster that could move on its own today, but he couldn't say it.

So I don't know whether to be for or against for a while.

And what Ding Hongguang thinks is, if so much iron is used to arm the army, and even build more muskets and artillery to form a Shenji battalion, how many firearms troops can be formed!

It seems a bit of a waste to spend so much iron on the construction of railways.

The problem of long distances is a big deal, just allocate more horses to the army.

To be honest, before seeing the true strength of the train, Ding Hongguang still preferred not to build the railway.

And Zhao Jun looked at everyone's excited opposition, and the original excitement in his heart gradually cooled down.

Only then did he realize that he was going to spend so much manpower and material resources to build a railway in this era, and these people couldn't understand it now.

The self from the previous life is fundamentally different from them in thought.

Standing on the shoulders of his actions in his previous life, he saw the importance of the future of the railway, so even if the railway cost a lot, he thought it was worth it.

But for them, this thing is now an unknown new thing, and its capabilities and its future are unknown in everyone's eyes.

Spending so much manpower and material resources for such an unknown thing, everyone feels that it is not worth it from the bottom of their hearts!

Because the manpower and material resources required are too much!

It's so much that it makes everyone feel scared!

I'm afraid that these things will end up in vain, so I will oppose it so much.

But Zhao Jun understands!

He knew how much benefit this railway would bring to Yunzhou County once it was completed, and the suffering now was for the benefit of the future!

However, although Yunzhou County is his domain, his right to speak in Yunzhou County is also supreme.

But if you don't agree with everyone, even if you force you to do it, then these people who do it will not do their best.

At that time, not only will it consume more manpower and material resources, but it is more likely that things will not be done well at all!

If people are not motivated by him, then forcing people to do it will only do half the result in the end.

Zhao Jun didn't want to do this, but looking at their current appearance, they were already scared from the bottom of their hearts about building a railway!

What to do?

Looking at everyone, Zhao Jun's eyes flashed with thought, and he put all the words of everyone's admonition in the back of his mind, and began to think quietly.

……

There is too much data that needs to be calculated, so there is no change at noon, and now it is more, I don't know if I can complete three changes today, but there will be at least two changes.

Sorry guys, but that's a big number!

(End of chapter)