"Is it for this reason that Your Highness has invited so many families and merchants to come to watch the ceremony today?" One of the officials asked.

"Yes, the operation of the train needs profits, and the passengers of the train at the beginning must be mainly families and merchants, followed by the commodities they need to transport, and the timeliness of commerce can bring huge benefits to commodities in many cases."

"The funds earned from the operation of the train can not only supplement the needs of the Tang Dynasty for the construction of railways, the purchase of trains and other aspects, but also allow the railway to have a certain operating authority." Li Ke said with a smile.

"It looks like the treasury is going to have another profitable business." Huangfulin here said with a smile, as the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the more money the better, although the money belongs to the state, but he has money in his hands, and this status is high.

Now that there are so many departments in Shangshu Province, who can't call him Huangfu Shangshu?

"If that's the case, then Your Highness, did you want them to get involved in the construction of the railway, when you called so many families and merchants over? And then give them part of the shares, give them dividends? Fang Xuanling hesitated for a moment and said tentatively.

"Forget it, I don't want to pit them." Li Ke smiled and shook his head.

"Pit them? What do you mean by that? Fang Xuanling and the others were stunned.

Pit money? This is not a pit, who can't see the advantages of this railway? It takes at least a month or even two months for a normal trading house to transport goods thousands of miles away, but you only need three days.

Even if the freight cost of these three days is relatively high, but in fact, how much less manpower and material resources have been saved in these two months? And the most critical time for many commodities has been guaranteed, and when doing business, isn't what everyone wants is to get back the money faster?

As long as the money is returned quickly, they can do more business, and the profit in a year will naturally be higher.

So the profitability of this train is obvious, how can this be said to be a cheat?

"No, Datang's railway is destined to be a money-losing industry." Li Ke smiled and shook his head.

"Huh?" These words not only made Huangfulin dumbfounded, but also made countless ministers and Li Shimin a little stunned, losing money? How do you say that? How can you lose money?

"I know that you think that the railway can be profitable, because the railway is completely handed over to the market-oriented operation, and it is responsible for its transportation according to the relationship between supply and demand, so of course, it can make money." Li Ke smiled.

"What's wrong with that?" Isn't it normal for everyone to be a little dazed? After the construction of the railway, wasn't it for this purpose?

"No, it's not." Li Ke shook his head lightly, "Datang's railways will not be profitable for a long time, and they will even lose money for a long time, which is an inevitable factor." ”

"Because Datang's railway is not built for profit, but as an artery to activate the entire Datang behemoth."

"If Datang is compared to a person, then the railway will become the blood vessel in the body of the giant, transporting blood to all parts of Datang's body, strengthening the connection between all parts of Datang's body, the heart, and the brain."

"This is the real role of the Datang Railway."

"And in order to achieve this purpose, for a long time, whether the railway is used to transport or pull people, its fare will not be too high."

"In this way, we can strengthen the mobility of the people of Datang, especially for the future need of professional workers in all parts of the country, construction workers are very important, because for these workers who are far from home, it is very important to be able to return home once a year."

"Home is their concern."

"The future development of Datang, it is impossible for every industry to be in an absolutely dominant position, everything is in a profitable state, this is impossible, we must make choices in some aspects, and infrastructure construction such as railways is the best choice." Li Ke smiled and explained to everyone.

"And if we are just to make a profit, the advantage of the train will not be so great, and the most important thing is that the development of the railway in Datang will not be so fast, because for the largest number of Datang people, they can't afford it."

"For example, in terms of railways, we can connect the territory of Datang with a new railway connection method of three verticals and three horizontals, first build a few aorta, and then build local branch lines, and a few aortas are enough to make Datang a complete whole."

Many courtiers nodded one after another, worthy of His Royal Highness King Qin, this kind of strategic vision is the most powerful thing about His Royal Highness King Qin, which many courtiers can't compare.

Indeed, as His Royal Highness said, if all the industries of Datang are to make money, you don't have to think about it to know that it is impossible for Datang's railways to develop so fast, because there are some places where there is no need to build the past.

Because there is not enough profit.

Without profits, what did the construction do in the past? Isn't it just losing money?

But it has a very important strategic position, and that's very important.

"Your Highness, in this case, the railway we are prioritizing needs detailed planning, at least to let it pass through relatively large cities reasonably, and try to make the railway cover enough areas." Yan Lide spoke.

"Yes, Yan Shangshu is right, we can try to cover enough areas with the railway, and try to connect as many people as possible, which is the most important thing, of course, the strategic position of the railway must also be built, for example, the railway from Chang'an to Yili, this is a strategic level of railway."

"Because in the future, the Tang Dynasty will be the target of the Tang Dynasty for the Western Regions, especially the territory of the Western Turks, and these railways will also be used in the Silk Road and the war between Persia."

"Although this railway is very difficult, and even in the future, we need to build bridges when encountering water and open roads in the mountains, but even if it is a sectional construction, we must build it thoroughly." Li Ke said seriously.

All the ministers were a little enthusiastic about what Li Ke said, building bridges when encountering water, opening roads in the mountains, what kind of ambition is this! Especially what is the Western Regions? That's Tien Shan! Kunlun Mountains! Can such a mountain range be opened?

"This is not that the minister is questioning His Highness, but is there something ...... this opening Too tough? Yan Lide couldn't help but speak, no way, he had to speak, because he was the secretary of the Ministry of Construction.

After some roads are built, there will be a construction period! He's responsible!