"Smack!"

"Your Majesty's Divine Marksmanship!"

In the smoke of gunpowder, Hong Xi arrived as scheduled, and Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing on the shooting range of the Taixue Ordnance Academy, put away the rifle in his hand, ignored the compliments of the people next to him, and waited for the soldiers who reported the target in the distance to respond.

"Nine Rings!"

The soldiers in the distance sang, and Zhu Gaoxu bowed his head when he heard this, and handed the rifle in his hand to the scholars beside him.

"Although this rifled flintlock pistol is good, it is not suitable for equipping troops now."

Standing beside Zhu Gaoxu, Yang Zhan, who followed, also bowed his head and said:

"The 680,000 troops of the dynasty, two-thirds of which are equipped with flintlock pistols and one-third are equipped with arquebuses.

The fleet of the imperial court was very fast, and in just half a month, the two armies began to change the armies and military attaches from north to south.

"Okay, I got it." Wang Ren's eyes lit up, and then he pretended to be calm:

"The gold, silver, and copper ingots in the warehouse are enough to set sail, and in a few days the new ambassador will arrive, and I will return to the court with the gold and silver and hand them over to the treasury."

In late June, when Jiang Gui arrived at Ximen Port with a full 5,600 people, Wang Ren had already packed everything.

Half a month later, as Wang Ren left Ximen City with a load of gold and silver, Jiang Gui began to familiarize himself with the situation in Dongzhou with confidence.

In simple words, the two sides decided on the navy's picketing system.

"How many of these people do you think can do practical things?"

Even when he Jiang Gui was in Luzon, he secretly hid a lot of seized tujin.

Judging from last year's situation, as long as the local areas of Daming do not suffer disasters, the population of this year's Ming Dynasty should soon exceed 96 million.

"I have also heard a little about Jiang Xuanwei's envoy in Luzon, and now that you have come to this Dongzhou, I can rest assured that I will hand over this place to you."

With his system, as long as there are no problems in the rule of officials, there will basically be no major problems.

His old subordinates in Luzon were transferred to Cochin, and the army he led was the original Shangzhilong Xiangwei.

"Keep it up."

"The more national debts are saved, the more money and food the court can mobilize for emergencies."

Although he is the governor of the navy, he does not need to go overseas, or in other words, Zhu Gaoxu also feels more and more lonely and wants to keep him by his side, at least a few friends who can talk.

“……”

"These can be built, only the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway ......"

After the investigation of the Southwest Railway, it is clear that there is no technical level that can cross the Qinling Mountains, or repair from Xuzhou to Longchuan.

The Dongzhou Propaganda Envoy stationed 1,000 soldiers and horses here, and there were also 1,600 craftsmen who traveled frequently.

The officials truthfully explained the output of this quarter, with a total value of about 1.8 million yuan.

"The Navy has set up a thousand picket offices to conduct full-time pickets."

"Back to Your Majesty, thirty-four thousand seven hundred and twenty-four people." Liu Mian responded, and Zhu Gaoxu leaned back in his chair and asked again:

Not only Wang Ren, but at this moment, almost most of the military attaches in Ximen City are trying to hide the gold, silver and copper ingots they have accumulated over the years.

Yishaha comforted Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu also chuckled, not seeming to take these views seriously.

Wang Ren bowed his head when he heard this, but he said carefully: "Can these gold and silver be placed in the watertight cabin?" ”

Although it shows that natural disasters in the early days were not frequent compared with the end of the Ming Dynasty, as a person who had seen many natural disasters in his previous life, Zhu Gaoxu had also seen the great drought that had not been seen for 60 years when he was on a business trip to Yunnan in his early years.

At the end of the report, the official lowered his voice: "Some other fruits have been delivered to the consolation envoy's house." ”

It is precisely because of the lack of on-site investigation that he is worried.

"Liu Mian, how many people are there in Jinyiwei right now?"

"As for the Central Plains, Kaihan Railway and Huguang Railway, the cost is 6 million, 6 million and 15 million respectively, and the construction period is four years, four years and 20 years respectively."

"You don't have to blame yourself for this, then the Ministry of Industry will continue to survey the railways in other regions, and all the railways that can be built will be registered, and the three railways in Beijing, Northeast and Northwest will be completed, and then the Beijing-Tianjin, Central Plains and other railways will be built from south to north."

"Minister's Decree" Huang Fu breathed a sigh of relief, and so did Guo Zi.

Walking in Taixue, Zhu Gaoxu revealed to Yang Zhan the future railway plan of the Ming Dynasty.

After more than four years, the thermal efficiency of the steam engine has reached 12%, and the speed of the steam locomotive has also been greatly improved.

Just when Zhu Gaoxu instructed Liu Mian, thousands of miles away from here, the southern territory of Dongzhou was also in full swing to transport truckloads of gold, silver and copper ingots to the coast.

Here, a heavily guarded, cement-thickened warehouse was opened.

Time flickered, and soon it came to the wax moon.

After a few breaths of relief, Zhu Gaoxu set his eyes on Liu Mian.

Judging from the ledger alone, there is no problem with what Wang Ren did, and Jiang Gui did not want to track it down.

Regarding Yang Zhan's words, Zhu Gaoxu nodded in approval, and at the same time set his eyes on Zhao Chun, a doctor from the Ordnance Academy: "Has gunpowder not progressed?" ”

"It's useless to talk nonsense, immediately investigate the case and see what the situation is."

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, what is the number of reservations?"

"In addition, the railway in Jiaozhi is also easy to build, but as soon as I enter Yunnan, I have no confidence in my heart."

"Spread Your Majesty's will, the new Dongzhou left and right guards, Jiang Gui will take over as the Dongzhou Ambassador, the original Dongzhou Ambassador, and promote the Naval Governor's Mansion to the Governor."

In contrast, the railways that Zhu Gaoxu had in mind have not yet been surveyed on the spot.

"Build a railway to Yueyang, Changsha, Hengzhou, Chenzhou, Shaozhou to Guangzhou in Wuchang, on the south bank of the Yangtze River."

Zhu Gaoxu was also happy to see this, so he rarely troubled them.

Wang Ren said awe-inspiringly, and then asked the warehouse to be closed, walked out of the alley by himself, and returned to his mansion on horseback.

"After investigation, the railway around Wuyuan and Ningxia in the northwest can be built, but the cost is higher, because of the lack of manpower, so the cost is about 26.7 million, and the construction period is 15 years."

"Slaves obey!" In charge, he began to dispatch soldiers and horses to escort the gold and silver, and hid the gold and silver in the watertight cabin where Wang Ren went to sea to take the ship.

In case of more urgent matters, the locomotive pulls a single passenger car, and the speed can be maintained at about 120 miles per hour.

The two got up and left, and Zhu Gaoxu also looked at their backs and saw their thoughts.

Under the conventional situation of transporting troops and materials, as long as there is a railway, counting the time to stop at the platform to supply coal and fresh water, the Ming army can travel about 750 miles a day.

Half an hour later, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the Forbidden City, and Yang Zhan returned to the Governor's Mansion of the Sixth Army.

[When the minister entered Shandong, he heard the drought and there was no grain harvest, although the people in Yongle had a lot of savings, but there were hungry people who picked up grass to eat, and they were deeply pitied. When I entered the people's house, I couldn't bear to see the quail's clothes. 】

After the change, the latest version of the steam locomotive can carry nearly 300 tons of cargo, or carry 500 people at a speed of 70 miles, and if the cargo box is unloaded and only the locomotive is headed, the speed can reach 140 miles per hour.

"Less than four thousand." Liu Mian's answer made Yishuha look at him.

The forty-year-old Jiang Gui arrived at Ximen Port on a treasure ship, and the army he brought with him obviously exceeded the original size of Dongzhouwei.

"In addition, a railway will be built from Haiyang Port in Jiaozhi to Jiaozhi, Xuanguang into Lin'an, Yunnan, and Kunming."

Boxes of gold, silver and copper ingots were moved into it, and Wang Ren, who was the ambassador of Dongzhou, rarely appeared here.

Therefore, the original Southwest Railway is now the Sichuan Railway.

The savings in the bank alone are really a drop in the bucket for a country as big as Daming, not to mention that they can't all be transferred.

Faced with Zhao Chun's words, Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a long time, obviously very disappointed.

Some of the chests were small but heavy, and when they were opened, they were filled with crude gold bars.

The soldier looked greedily, but quickly suppressed his thoughts, and got out of the car to signal the carriage to pass.

"Master, it has been calculated, a total of 154,324 taels of gold, and the rest of the more than 300,000 taels of silver."

"In the past, many of the policies formulated by Emperor Taizu Gao were very insightful, but the hereditary military attache was slightly inappropriate."

He didn't expect that after guarding Dongzhou for so many years, he would be able to be directly promoted to the Navy Governor's Mansion and become one of the few second-rank military attachés in Beijing.

In June, when the heat was scorching, Zhu Gaoxu received a report on the drought in Shandong.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but blush: "Your Majesty, this fact is the sins of the ministers." ”

"Jinyiwei is subordinate to Shangzhi, but what he is responsible for is the intelligence within the country."

"The drought in Shandong, the people pick up grass and eat, why is this matter unplayed?"

His term of office has expired, and the new commanders and officers and soldiers sent by the imperial court are expected to come to replace them soon.

"It's all good." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head when he heard this: "This is just the beginning, the bank will have more and more savings in the future, but whether it needs to be used, or how much it can be used, you have to be careful." ”

Wang Ren knelt down to accept the decree, carefully received the decree with both hands, and was excited that he could be promoted and make a fortune.

In contrast, most of the men on the street are tall and long, and they have a sense of pride that can be felt without description.

As Zhu Gaoxu spoke, two ministers entered the hall, holding a wat board and waiting for Zhu Gaoxu to speak.

"Is there anything else?" Zhu Gaoxu asked briefly, and Guo Zi did not speak again.

Zhu Gaoxu was too lazy to talk to this group of old barbarians, so he had to immediately find out the matter and give the result.

Jiang Gui's words brought Wang Ren back to reality, and Wang Ren laughed again and again when he heard this: "This is nature, this is nature!" ”

"Although it is a small scale, this phenomenon cannot be ignored, the local county official has a rating of C this year, and ordered him to quickly open a warehouse for disaster relief, or work for relief."

Huang Fu's tone was solemn: "The 800-mile road from Haiyang to Pear Blossom Horse Station can be built, but the remaining 500-mile road is as difficult as climbing to the sky......

He could be appointed with such a heavy task as Dongzhou Xuan's consolation envoy, which he could not have imagined, but since the opportunity was in front of him, he naturally would not refuse.

Time passed, and soon it was summer, and some not-so-good news was also put on Zhu Gaoxu's desk.

To put it mildly, it is normal for military attachés to fill their pockets, and as long as they do not touch the salaries of the soldiers, generally speaking, no one will think of reporting them.

Wang Ren's house is very busy, nearly 100 native maidservants and more than a dozen officials are busy carrying things, and these are the wealth that Wang Ren has accumulated over the years.

As he thought, after the summer ended, with the arrival of autumn rains, the drought in Shandong was alleviated, and local disaster relief also ensured that the victims would not be displaced.

"But one thing to say, for these railways, I am still more worried that some places are too difficult for us to open the train."

"In that case, the ministers are ...... to retire"

"Subsequently, a railway was built from Kaifeng through Nanyang and Xiangyang to Hanyang."

Thirty-two horse-drawn carriages entered the city one after another, and then headed for a heavily guarded alley.

The Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households each brought news, and the news was that Guo Zi and Huang Fu conveyed Wuyingdian.

"Wang Du Governor, please cooperate with the lower officials to take over the mining areas in various places in the next few days."

Although he did not think that the current drought in Shandong was as serious as the one he had seen, some people were deceived by concealing it and not reporting it.

Liu Mian asked in a whisper, and Zhu Gaoxu gave the answer after a little thought: "After streamlining, you can recruit again, but the number cannot exceed 20,000." ”

Looking at the warehouse full of gold and silver, although the area inside is only three thirds, if you want to fill it, you need at least tens of millions of gold, silver and copper ingots.

"As for the interest on the treasury bonds, although it is not low, it is nothing compared to the gold and silver income of the imperial court overseas."

Wang Ren turned sideways, and several soldiers carried more than a dozen boxes in front of Jiang Gui.

In this way, the daily workload has also been reduced from eight hours to about seven hours, so he can often haunt the Daming Palace and Taixue.

Zhu Gaoxu had long wanted to cut off Jinyiwei, obviously the number of people was four times that of the West Factory, but the intelligence collection was not as perfect as the West Factory.

He went to inspect the metallurgical institute and the construction institute, and the strength of the cement has increased compared with before, but it still does not meet the standard of pouring viaducts.

In this way, in two years, the population of the Ming Dynasty will exceed 100 million, which is actually the peak of the unification of the Han family.

Perhaps because of his age, Zhu Gaoxu, who felt that he was lacking in energy, also began to gradually delegate the performance at the level of the government to the six ministries and the celebrant to deal with, and he only needed to check and revise it.

Leaving a sentence, Zhu Gaoxu took Yang Zhan and Yishiha to continue to explore other research institutes in Taixue.

"Yes!" The head nodded, and Wang Ren said with a bow: "Since this is the case, then you can do it." ”

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu spoke, he sent someone to summon Hu Lun and another Semu person.

"This is the book and accounts of the Dongzhou Propaganda Division in the past few years, please read it."

In Sichuan, a railway will be built from Jiangyou County in the north to Xuzhou through Chengdu and Meizhou, so that materials from northern Sichuan can reach the Yangtze River, and materials from other provinces can also reach northern Sichuan through the Yangtze River.

This section of the railway is only 800 miles, costing more than 3.4 million taels of silver, and the three-year construction period is not too difficult, after all, the places passed through are within the scope of the Chengdu Plain.

"This money can be used to build railways with confidence, but the issuance must be moderate, and the interest cannot exceed the range of the imperial court."

Jiang Gui bowed his head, and he didn't plan to investigate on the spot.

"Minister Muyang Bo Hu Lun (commander Liu Mian), see Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty......"

Under the rising sun, horse-drawn carriages entered the cement-intensive city, and the women in the streets were all locals and full of wildness.

Therefore, after instructing Yishiha and the Sixth Department to control the drought in Shandong, he continued to deal with the sparseness and kept his eyes on the officials.

They tried to add many substances to gunpowder, but to no avail.

Zhu Gaoxu's tone was slightly heavier, and Hu Lun immediately withdrew from the hall when he heard this, leaving only Liu Mian standing in place.

A few years passed, and he grew much thicker, and with him got older.

"Okay, I got it."

Taking advantage of this opportunity to streamline Jinyiwei, this will allow the West Factory to free up its hands and feet to target foreign countries.

Perhaps he was frightened by Zhu Gaoxu's determination to deal with the Confucian Mansion, but the old barbarians in the temple did not trouble him anymore, and just kept their heads down every day to deal with government affairs.

If this note was from Xichang and Jinyiwei, Zhu Gaoxu wouldn't say anything, but this note came from his good brother Zhu Gaochi, who returned to Kunming, which made him a little embarrassed.

"Back to Your Majesty, there is no progress for the time being." Zhao Chun was embarrassed, he took over the Ordnance Institute for nearly 16 years, but the research on gunpowder has been stuck in the stage of granular black powder.

Obviously it is only a seaport, but due to the perennial transportation of gold, silver and copper ingots, the development of this place has undoubtedly been highly valued by the Ming Dynasty.

"I am more confident in the section from Kaifeng to Chenzhou, but from Chenzhou to Guangzhou we need to cross the mountains, and whether we can do it is a big problem."

"I plan to start the construction of the Central Plains Railway from Xi'an via Luoyang and Kaifeng to Jining after the Northwest Railway arrives in Xi'an."

Regarding this matter, it is normal for Zhu Gaoxu to have a big temper.

"The total cost of the three railways is 27 million, and the section from Chenzhou to Guangzhou will take at least ten years."

Zhang Chun, who ended the war in the southwest, took over the Beizhou Propaganda Division, but it was Jiang Gui, who had been sitting on the cold bench in Luzon for more than ten years, who took over the Dongzhou Propaganda Division.

"Your Majesty, the bank savings have reached more than 16 million yuan, and many officials have also let down their guard and begun to deposit their money in it."

In his opinion, regardless of corruption, this group of people will be kept for the time being, and it will not be too late to act when there is a problem with the national treasury.

"Picketing has already begun in the South and East, and when these are over, the pickets will picket the troops of the Little Western Ocean."

Before that, he had to pack his things.

"It seems that the world thinks I am so happy......"

Ximen Port (Lima), as a coastal city that has only been emerging for a few years, its scale is not inferior to some large counties in the south of the Ming River.

"Long live?" Zhu Gaoxu threw the song on the ground, Hu Lun's heart tightened, and he couldn't help but pick it up and read it.

"Messenger, this is the booklet sent by the mining area this time......"

"This quarter produced a total of 24,327 taels of gold, 926,524 taels of silver, and ...... of copper ingots."

For them, Zhu Gaoxu did not plan to do any migration, but settled on the spot for disaster relief.

In July, when Jiang Gui successfully took over the Dongzhou Propaganda Division, Hu Lun also investigated the case in Shandong.

Liu Mian has just taken office, and he was promoted from the West Factory, so he is naturally not to blame for this matter, so only he takes the initiative to take responsibility.

Huang Fu was worried that Zhu Gaoxu would not be satisfied, and Guo Zi was worried that Zhu Gaoxu would be overjoyed and would build all these railways in one go.

Xia Yuanji and Huang Fu are not bad, but they always have a bit of a Confucian temper, and Zhu Gaoxu is okay to work with them, but he feels uncomfortable getting along.

Before he was familiar with the soldiers and horses, it was not easy for him to attack these gold, silver and copper mines for the time being, but it would be difficult to say in the future.

The inspecting soldiers opened the sealed compartment, revealing large and small boxes.

"In addition, more than 2,364,000 yuan of the three railway bonds of the imperial court have been issued, and nearly 80,000 yuan of interest has been paid for those purchased for more than one year."

Many of Daming's policies have been implemented, and now the effect is not bad, and last year's population also steadily increased by 2 million, far exceeding Zhu Gaoxu's expectations.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu set his eyes on Huang Fu, and Huang Fu brought good news to Zhu Gaoxu.

In response to the fact that the navy helped fight last year reported by Xichang and Yang Bin, Zhu Gaoxu bowed:

"You can do it yourself, and I can rest assured that you will do it."

He wore a military attache robe and stepped forward to receive the order, and at the same time said: "The minister and the king are appointed, and the order ......"

"Command!" Liu Mian responded, and saw that Zhu Gaoxu did not continue to give orders, so he cautiously left the Wuying Palace.

"The Southwest Railway can't be built, and now we have to find another way."

A manager came over with a booklet and excitedly talked about the wealth that Wang Ren had accumulated in the past few years.

If Jinyiwei continues to rot, the West Factory will be infected sooner or later.

In the event of a local rebellion, Beijing would only need two and a half days to organize troops to reach Nanjing and Xi'an, at most three and a half days to reach Guangzhou, and five days to Hami.

"I now want you to cut out the Jinyi Guard, and the Jinyi Guards who are eliminated are all equal in rank, but the hereditary rank is demoted."

"Say, hopefully it's good news."

"Command!"

He just cleaned up the Confucian Mansion last year, and if a drought breaks out in Shandong this year and causes the people to be displaced, the group of old barbarians in the temple will definitely seize this point and cite the heavens and people to impeach him.

In the next few days, he dispatched soldiers and horses to take over more than 600 large and small mines set up by the Ming Dynasty in the south, and also found out the output of the gold and silver mines of Dongzhou Xuanwei Division after investigation.

Perhaps he had already guessed the result, but Zhu Gaoxu was more happy than sad about the situation of the four railways.

"Giving ......"

To put it simply, the fact is indeed the same as Zhu Gaochi described, most of the people in Shandong have savings, but there are also many people who can't save their savings, so they are very embarrassed in this drought.

Zhu Gaoxu touched his mustache, although he was already not confused, he looked like he was only in his early thirties.

Although the Ming Dynasty's treasury was abundant enough to definitely afford the construction of these railways, in this way, once the imperial court encountered some sudden disasters similar to the drought in Shandong, it would undoubtedly appear very passive.

"Your Majesty don't worry, they will know Your Majesty's hard work in the future."

Yang Zhan listened to Zhu Gaoxu's complaints as a listener, and after a short time, when they walked out of Taixue and returned to the Forbidden City by car, Yang Zhan spoke:

Just in the face of his answer, Zhu Gaoxu agreed:

"It's a pity that the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway can't reach Kunming, but the Chenzhou-Guangzhou section of the Huzhou-Guangzhou Railway can be overcome, which has greatly exceeded my expectations."

After being checked, the carriages finally entered the innermost part of the alley.

This time is not only the time for the mobilization of troops, but also the time for the exchange of goods in various places.

He believes that the "legacy" left by Hong Xi is enough for future generations to know what kind of emperor he is.

Complaining to himself that it wasn't him, he wasn't the emperor at both ends of the rat.

(End of chapter)