"Your Highness, although we have money now, we don't have to be extravagant enough to build the road into iron, right?"

Pei Zhi was puzzled, just now your kid said not to engage in a face-saving project that costs the people and money, and in a blink of an eye, he started to be extravagant and wasteful, your old man is teasing me?

Wen Chen smiled and shook his head, "There is a good saying, if you want to get rich, you must first build roads, this railway of this king is to reduce the transportation costs generated by the export of local glazed products, and save transportation time, and it is not a horse that pulls the cart, but a steam engine that this king lets you build!" ”

Steam...... Can a steam engine still pull a car?

Pei Zhi was even more dazed, the iron lump looked clumsy and heavy, it would be good not to use a car to pull it, and he wanted to use it to transport things?

But Wen Chen continued to ask, "Master Pei, how much time does it take for a businessman to travel from the local area to Fucheng on weekdays?" ”

"Fifty miles from Hekou City to Fucheng, it takes at least two days for business travelers to drive horses from there to the local area, and if you pull a cart of glass on the return trip, the time will be at least doubled!"

Wen Chen smiled slightly, "That's right, this railway that this king wants to build can reduce the one-way time to Fucheng to one hour, and the volume of goods pulled is hundreds or thousands of times that of horse-drawn carriages, do you say it is useless, and is it extravagant?" ”

The main reason why he wants to build the railway to Fucheng first is that he needs to pull back a large amount of rubber from overseas to Dasheng from the port, although this matter has not been negotiated with Reddick and others, but Wen Chen is confident that with his means and the intangible resources in his hands, once it is slightly demonstrated, these foreigners will definitely take the initiative to cooperate with him at that time!

Pei Zhi on the side was stunned when he heard this, the matter of pulling the car with an iron pimple was already beyond his own cognition, and Wen Chen even said that he could increase the efficiency of cargo transportation by more than ten times, isn't that a fantasy?

But as a local leader for many years, the most important thing to consider is financial issues.

"Your Highness, I don't know how many taels of silver you want to build this railway?"

Wen Chen touched his chin and calculated slightly, "According to the calculation of this king, the consumables and labor required for a mile of railway will be converted into silver, and it will be about 12,000 taels......"

This is not his nonsense, I think it was recorded in the history books that the cost of the first railway in the Qing Dynasty was like this, and it was not much worse if he wanted to move to the here and now.

"Twelve thousand taels?!"

Pei Zhi exclaimed, "The distance from the local area to Fucheng is fifty miles, and it is enough to build this railway, but to Pengcheng, Yizhou, there is a distance of more than two hundred miles!" After all, the total cost is at least more than three million taels of silver, where do we have so much silver?! ”

Although the city of Hekou is currently rich, but the current production load has reached the edge of the limit, no matter how many orders, it cannot keep up with the production capacity, if you want to earn so much expenses, it will take at least one to two years, and the premise is that the people do not take a penny.

"Besides, why did Your Highness want to build the railway to Yizhou? The war has just ended there, and there is no hair, what a waste of such an expensive railway to build to Pengcheng! ”

Wen Chen's eyes were far-reaching, he looked at the sky, and slowly spit out four words from his mouth, "A hundred wastes are waiting to be revived!" ”

Post-war construction is always the most urgent need of the local people, in addition to being profitable, Wen Chen also remembered the sentence of graphite in his heart, "Those who are blessed with heaven should do the right thing for heaven!" ”。

This sentence often ringed in his mind after he came to Bayou City, and it also influenced many of his decisions.

Seeing that Pei Zhi was still puzzled, he added with a smile, "Yizhou has many mines, and if the railway is built there, it can also promote the urban construction of the estuary." ”

"Besides, ......, don't worry about the silver, this king has already found investors, and Pei has to hurry up and find a group of strong men who can endure hardships!"

With the rapid development of the handicraft industry in the estuary, the young laborers who originally relied on fishing in the city have been invested in the army of glass production, which also makes the already sparsely populated estuary city more scarce in terms of labor!

As soon as he heard that he didn't have to pay for it himself, Pei Zhi's mood suddenly improved a lot, His Royal Highness the Sea King has always had a lot of ideas, he said that if there is a fat sheep investment, then there must be!

"Your Highness, if your side is really tight, you will let your city defenders ...... your subordinates."

"No way!"

Without waiting for him to finish speaking, Wen Chen directly waved his hand and refused, "Let them do whatever they want, gunnery training must not be slack, don't look at Nan Qi just made a big order with us, it doesn't mean that they have no threat to the estuary, on the contrary, those who are carrying heavy weapons, the more they must beware of villains coveting!" ”

The army of Nanqi has never been a good man and a woman, if it is because of a temporary profit, it will relax its vigilance, it will be in the hands of the other party!

Pei Zhi's heart was shocked, and he hurriedly bowed, "His Royal Highness the Sea King is still thoughtful, and he is indeed a humble attack!" ”

However, after all, the estuary city has just begun to enter the stage of rapid development, and in recent months, although there has been an influx of foreign population, the number of labor force still cannot keep up with the needs of urban development, and it is indeed not a simple matter to collect more labor.

Wen Chen looked at this Taishou Lord and frowned, and basically guessed one or two in his heart, turned around and patted him on the shoulder.

"If Master Pei finds it difficult, this king will think of a way......"

Pei Zhi's face was happy, "Please also ask Your Highness for guidance!" ”

"The government issued a document to carry out a talent introduction plan, and the government is responsible for solving the problem of accommodation and children's schooling for those who take the initiative to come to Hekou City for employment...... At least double the amount before. ”

"For high-end talents, those craftsmen who can read and write and hyphenation, or have a skill, not only have to give them two pieces of silver to meet their various reasonable needs, but this king also intends to pay five insurances and one housing fund for these people!"

"Five...... Five insurances and one housing fund? What is this again? Pei Zhi was extremely confused at this time, he thought that he had read a lot of books in the past six months and gained a lot of knowledge, but even so, he still couldn't think faster than His Royal Highness the Sea King!

Wen Chen touched his chin, "Generally speaking, it is a kind of guarantee for the people's future life, covering the insurance system in terms of medical care, employment, housing, etc., this king will write a detailed written explanation tonight, and send someone to the Taishou Mansion when the time comes, and ask Lord Pei and his officials to study it carefully." ”

When Pei Zhi heard this, he nodded again and again, this is simply bringing the rice to his mouth, just waiting for himself to swallow it, if this matter is not done well, it will be too disappointing to the good intentions of His Royal Highness the Sea King!

"Your Highness, rest assured, the humble post will definitely handle this matter beautifully!"

Wen Chen bowed slightly, looked up at the festival, "It's almost time to ......."

"Master Pei, take someone to greet the distinguished guests outside the city with this king!"

Pei Zhi raised his eyebrows, "What kind of guest is so honorable that His Royal Highness needs to greet him personally?" Wouldn't it be nice to bring someone with you? ”

Wen Chen waved his hand gently, "You don't understand, these guests pay more attention to the sense of ceremony, and they are of great use to this king, and they are even our God of Wealth, and they must be personally represented by this king!" ”

"Oh......"

Pei Zhi responded, "I will order you to go down, prepare the honor guard, and ask Your Highness to wait!" ”

"Go ahead."