Leaving the Prime Minister's Office, Song Xin was still angry, and he was also thinking about it.

"I thought that this lord was also a wise man, but I didn't think that he had not given up his plan and was still preparing to attack the Song Dynasty? Isn't this just wanting to be a rebellious minister and thief! No, we must think of a way to spread this matter. Even if it fails, at least let the people of Lin'an prepare. ”

He already had a plan in his heart, but he saw a person in the distance hurrying, but it was Yang Chenglong.

"Brother Yang. How did you get here today? I haven't seen you for a long time since my lord transferred you from the Ministry of Railways. ”

Song Xin walked up quickly and stopped in front of Yang Chenglong.

Yang Chenglong noticed Song Xin's appearance at this time, and after his footsteps stopped, he shook his hand in Chinese: "You also know that because the construction of the railway requires a large amount of iron ore, the lord asked me to find a suitable iron ore so that I can build a steel plant and prepare for the large-scale construction of the railway." No, this is the information that has just been gathered!"

At the beginning, the Red Phoenix Army might still be able to rely on the nearby iron ore to support, but when the technology line of the railway was opened, the iron ore needed skyrocketed.

Just to build the third phase of the railway, 200,000 tons of steel will be consumed every year.

Under this urgent need, the original few small iron ore mines have long been exhausted, and only by finding suitable iron ore can we make up for this huge demand.

It is precisely for this reason that Yang Chenglong was transferred to the Ministry of Industry to be in charge of this matter.

"So that's it?"

Song Xin's eyebrows moved slightly, swept over the thick pile of documents, and said: "It's just a pity, you must know that your talent has always been good, but I didn't expect to be transferred by the lord, and you are not tired of walking around the mountains and rivers all day long?"

"Yes, after all, it's all in the wilderness, and you have to carry your own food and clothing, which is really hard. But for the sake of the great cause of the lord, it is worth it for me to endure so much!"

Although Yang Chenglong felt that Song Xin's words were a little weird, he didn't pay much attention to it, and there was a bit of tiredness after a long journey between his eyebrows, but he couldn't hide the joy in his heart.

"Thankfully, God blessed me and finally found the right iron ore. ”

Probably in a hurry, he didn't have time to change his clothes, and there was still a lot of muck left on them.

"Found it?"

Song Xin was slightly displeased, but he didn't dare to express his opinion rashly, and continued to ask: "Oh, where is the place where you found it? If the location is too remote, I'm afraid that it will consume a lot of money again." He didn't insert his dissatisfaction lightly, he only dared to say that.

Only then did Yang Chenglong notice Song Xin's expression, and continued to elaborate.

"The iron ore in Lulianglan County is also good, and there are quite rich coal resources, which can be described as a unique place, so I plan to build a new iron-smelting plant there so that we can make use of local resources on the spot. ”

When he said these words, he noticed that Song Xin's expression had obviously deteriorated a lot, and he couldn't help but feel funny, and asked again: "What do you think of, it seems that you are a little dissatisfied?" It doesn't matter, you and I have been colleagues for many years, why don't you talk to me." ”

"Well, then I'll state my opinion. But you don't have to be angry, you know?"

Song Xin felt relieved when he saw Yang Chenglong nodded, and then said, "You also know." The construction of this railway cost a considerable amount of money, except for a few railways, the rest of the railways have been in a state of loss. But the lord didn't know why, but he insisted on it, and even planned to build it everywhere? Isn't it a waste of money, you say, and Nalan County is just a remote place, with only a few thousand people, and there is not much food in the land, so it is not a waste to throw millions of dollars into it?"

When he said this, his face naturally showed anger, and it was obvious that this was a plan in his heart, not an impulse.

Of course, what Song Xin said is also based on what he said.

According to his investigation, except for the two railways from Chang'an to Tongguan and Chang'an to Hanzhong, the rest are all in a state of loss, because these two railways, one is a key line to the south of the Yangtze River, and the other is an important passage to Sichuan.

The reason why the rest of the railways are in a state of loss is because the number of connected counties is too small, and because of decades of war, the local people have lost too much, at best, only about 100,000, far less than the number of millions in later generations.

When the population is small, the demand is naturally less.

Therefore, this railway may not have one trip in a day, which led to Song Xin's doubts.

Yang Chenglong listened carefully, and couldn't help but show a little anger, and shouted: "You guy, you used to be my junior brother, why are you so blind?"

"Am I wrong?" Song Xin retorted.

"Of course!"

Yang Chenglong shouted: "Let me ask you, if there is no such railway in the past, if we want to reach Chang'an from the borderland, how much time will it take? It will take at least a month, and there will be few bandits and bandits on the road, and we will lose our lives in vain." But since the advent of this railway, the morning and night arrivals, let alone any preparations, are much safer than usual. And over the years, have you ever heard of bandits attacking the city?"

Not to mention the troubled times before, that is, in times of peace, in this vast land of China, there is no shortage of bandits and bandits, and even local farmers are directly cameos, so unless they are sure of people, where do ordinary people dare to travel?

Now that railways have appeared, travelers naturally regard them as their first choice.

Those bandits were also helpless against the train, so they naturally had to give up their usual livelihood and were forced to change careers.

And those who are interested in studying can also take this opportunity to go to Chang'an, so that they will not be able to huddle in the countryside as usual, looking for the so-called good teacher. We can also send the many students we have cultivated to various places, so that they can spread their culture in the local area and not be deceived by the local people. ”

Because after the construction of the railway, a large number of people naturally got a lot of mobility, and many scholars who were interested in learning poured into Chang'an City, with hundreds of thousands of people, and many colleges also rose up one after another, wanting to bring these scholars under their command.

Every time the spring enrollment, the scene is truly spectacular and amazed by everyone.

From these students, the Red Phoenix Army naturally selected many talents and recruited them into their command, and since then there has been no possibility of a shortage of talents.

"And the most important thing is that through this railway, we can collect grain directly from the local county, and not through the hands of those squires. The bureaucrats also understand this, and naturally it is impossible to continue to cover the sky with one hand as usual, and we can also react quickly to eradicate those local tyrants and inferior gentry. Don't you know that these benefits are all brought by the railway?"

Because of the remoteness of the traffic, the county seat was naturally controlled by the local gentry and bureaucracy in the past, and even if the central dynasty wanted to do something, someone needed to carry it out after all, which was naturally taken advantage of by these gentry, and then took this opportunity to secretly transfer it to the lowest level of the people.

Even though the central government has done something, it is trapped by the distance, and by the time it reacts, the locals have already completely erased all traces and have no effect at all.

But when the railroad came along, everything changed.

What happened on the first day will be reported to Chang'an the next day, and after a maximum of three days, the corresponding investigation team will also come to the local area to investigate.

Even if the bureaucrats and gentry tried to stop it, they could not cover up their past actions.

It is also because of this that the Chifeng Army was able to establish a modern management system here, instead of being laissez-faire with the local area like the Song Dynasty.

When Song Xin heard this, although he was speechless, his face was obviously a little resentful, and he said: "Even if this is the case, it will not be possible to build so many railways? Isn't it clear to the lord how much materials will be spent to build this railway? If these materials are returned to the people, presumably the people will respect the lord even more." ”

"To the people? Yang Chenglong was dismissive.

Others may not know, but Yang Chenglong understands that the so-called return to the people is just to return it to those gentry, and the people at the bottom will definitely not be able to benefit.

Yang Chenglong knew this, and shouted again: "You better go back and think about it, don't wait until you are kicked out by the lord to know that you are wrong." ”

Song Xin's eyes turned, obviously a little unwilling, but seeing Yang Chenglong's excited appearance, he had no choice but to give up, after all, according to the other party's temperament, it is absolutely impossible to join him, since this is the case, why don't you look for someone else?

With this in mind, he departed from this place as well.

Yang Chenglong didn't pay attention to it, but he directly deducted the Prime Minister's Office.

"Are you back?"

still didn't look up, but this made Yang Chenglong feel a little disappointed, but the lord was like this, so he didn't take it to heart, and still said loudly: "Lord Qi, the task you told me has been completed." ”

"Done?"

Xiao Feng raised his head at this time, took the document and flipped through it, his expression fell into contemplation, and said, "Are you sure that this iron-smelting plant can meet our needs?"

For this, she even cares that steel is needed to build firearms, steel is needed to build railways, and even steel is needed to build ironclad ships.

Yang Chenglong frowned slightly, shook his head and replied, "If it's three or five years, maybe it's okay." But after three or five years, I'm afraid it won't work! After all, we need too much steel here. ”

He had calculated based on today's steel demand, and finally found that in five years, steel production would have to be at least one million tons to barely keep up with demand.

And with the expansion of the territory of the Red Phoenix Army, this output will only have to continue to increase.

What happened on the first day will be reported to Chang'an the next day, and after a maximum of three days, the corresponding investigation team will also come to the local area to investigate.

Even if the bureaucrats and gentry tried to stop it, they could not cover up their past actions.

It is also because of this that the Chifeng Army was able to establish a modern management system here, instead of being laissez-faire with the local area like the Song Dynasty.

When Song Xin heard this, although he was speechless, his face was obviously a little resentful, and he said: "Even if this is the case, it will not be possible to build so many railways? Isn't it clear to the lord how much materials will be spent to build this railway? If these materials are returned to the people, presumably the people will respect the lord even more." ”

"To the people? Yang Chenglong was dismissive.

Others may not know, but Yang Chenglong understands that the so-called return to the people is just to return it to those gentry, and the people at the bottom will definitely not be able to benefit.

Yang Chenglong knew this, and shouted again: "You better go back and think about it, don't wait until you are kicked out by the lord to know that you are wrong." ”

Song Xin's eyes turned, obviously a little unwilling, but seeing Yang Chenglong's excited appearance, he had no choice but to give up, after all, according to the other party's temperament, it is absolutely impossible to join him, since this is the case, why don't you look for someone else?

With this in mind, he departed from this place as well.

Yang Chenglong didn't pay attention to it, but he directly deducted the Prime Minister's Office.

"Are you back?"

still didn't look up, but this made Yang Chenglong feel a little disappointed, but the lord was like this, so he didn't take it to heart, and still said loudly: "Lord Qi, the task you told me has been completed." ”

"Done?"

Xiao Feng raised his head at this time, took the document and flipped through it, his expression fell into contemplation, and said, "Are you sure that this iron-smelting plant can meet our needs?"

For this, she even cares that steel is needed to build firearms, steel is needed to build railways, and even steel is needed to build ironclad ships.

Yang Chenglong frowned slightly, shook his head and replied, "If it's three or five years, maybe it's okay." But after three or five years, I'm afraid it won't work! After all, we need too much steel here. ”

He had calculated based on today's steel demand, and finally found that in five years, steel production would have to be at least one million tons to barely keep up with demand.

And with the expansion of the territory of the Red Phoenix Army, this output will only have to continue to increase.

"That's true, otherwise why would I want to be in Lin'an? Isn't it just to apply to the lord? After all, if this iron factory wants to be built successfully, it will need at least three million yuan. As for security, you don't have to worry! This place is adjacent to Taiyuan, which was also captured by our army a few days ago. Even if the Mongols want to invade, they have to see if I agree to the soldiers?"

Yang Chenglong smiled disappreciatively.