I am Da Song

Chapter 613 Run Through the Railway
The difficulty of stationing troops outside the Great Wall has never been at the military level, but at the level of logistical supplies.

The guard general of the Xiongnu in the Han Dynasty looked awesome, but in fact there were only more than a thousand Han soldiers.

The Anxi Protectorate's Mansion in the lobby was very prosperous at that time, with [-] troops.

For the Central Plains, most of the difficulty of ruling is not in force, but in how to ensure supplies to maintain this force.More precisely, maintaining the presence of force at an affordable and relatively low cost.

So after Zhao Huan finished speaking, Yue Fei asked Su Dai with concern: "Professor Su, if you want to garrison Mobei, how much transportation capacity can the railway provide?"

Su Dai has great admiration for this Great Song Army God.During the Jingkang period, she was still a naive child, and she had heard of the deeds of Yue Taiwei bravely winning the Sixth Army and smashing the front. From then until she entered the palace, she could hear folk stories about Yue Xianggong's battle in Tokyo every year. The allusion of turning the tide and helping the building to collapse.

So she immediately replied with a very upright attitude: "According to the current operating conditions of the train, one locomotive can transport 450 soldiers or two thousand stones of goods. It travels about two thousand miles a day and one night."

"This number is not perfect. But it can be solved by adding locomotives."

"According to conservative estimates, the Taiyuan Academy is confident that the number of locomotives will increase to more than [-] within a few years."

"And the Taiyuan Academy will continue to improve the locomotive and increase the cargo capacity of a single train."

All the ministers in the court meeting were so shocked that they couldn't help themselves. They looked around one after another until they saw the disbelief in each other's eyes before confirming that they had heard correctly.

The Taiyuan Academy studies the train project, which is well known to the senior officials of the Song Dynasty.

After all, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent every year, and such a huge expenditure is already comparable to the budget of the six ministries.

Every year, Taixue's annual audit also spends a lot of time reporting on this railway project.

Everyone knows that the railway is the country's most important weapon developed by the whole country of the Song Dynasty, and it will replace Chidao and become the most important transportation method of the Song Dynasty.

But no one thought that the railway that had just come out could have such a powerful effect.

Yue Fei was excited and said: "If this is the case, a single train can transport 450 troops, and there is no need to garrison too many troops on the front line. Ten trains can transport nearly [-] troops to Mobei in a few days. One hundred trains can even transport [-] troops. An elite field army."

"Two thousand miles a day and one night, wouldn't it be possible for the imperial court to travel thousands of miles from south to north and from east to west in half a day, transporting hundreds of thousands of soldiers?"

Zhao Huan nodded appreciatively. As expected of Yue Fei, he understood the important military significance of the railway in an instant.

In history, Germany relied on its strong railway network to dare to design the Schlieffen plan ambitiously, intending to quickly maneuver [-] divisions on the east and west sides of the border.

For the time being, Da Song doesn't need to maneuver [-] divisions, and [-] commanders are enough.

Forty thousand elite field troops with muskets and cannons are enough to destroy any nomadic cavalry.

Li Gang, the Minister of Finance, quickly calculated the logistics capacity and said: "Transporting two thousand shi of supplies at a time is enough to feed 4000 people for half a month. Even in times of war, ten trains transporting [-] shi of supplies is enough to mobilize an army. A massive attack."

Through simple calculations, Zhang Jun said: "I think that with the train tracks, it is already feasible to build a city in Mobei. A garrison of [-] troops is enough to deter the local nomadic tribes."

"Only the first-generation locomotive has this effect. The country can start with a preliminary plan and wait for the train to be further improved."

Su Dai raised her hand cautiously, and said, "Master Zhang, let me explain. In fact, you don't have to worry about the improvement of the locomotive. You can plan the road plan from the overall perspective at one time."

"The key to railway transportation lies in the rails. After the gauge is determined, basically it will not change for hundreds of thousands of years. Subsequent improvements to locomotives, although the steam engine and shape will change greatly, but the gauge will not change."

Seeing that some people still don't understand the gauge and railways, many officials looked puzzled. Su Dai summed it up in one sentence: "That is, the subsequent improved locomotives can still run on the current railway tracks."

Su Chi asked: "Isn't it possible to start building a railway to Mobei immediately? In the future, the capacity of the same railway will only increase, not decrease."

Su Dai nodded and said, "That's the truth."

Zhao Huan looked at Su Chi and asked, "What advice do you have for the first railway line?"

Su Chi said: "Since the railway track can be used for a hundred years after it is paved, I suggest that it should be built directly from Tokyo to the north, go to Hebei, where the terrain is flat, then continue north through Hejianfu and Beijing, and go west through Linhuangfu Road. Then enter Mobei."

This is not a straight line from southeast to northwest, but from southeast to northeast, and then sharply turns from northeast to west, running through the entire grassland.

Zhao Huan asked curiously, "Why did you take such a route?"

Su Chi said: "If Helin City is built in Mobei, there will be no hostile forces in the whole north. It can be said that the Western Liao, Eastern Liao, and Qin Kingdoms serve as barriers to isolate nomadic tribes from outside the territory."

"From the north to the ice ocean, everything is my court's property. In the whole world, everyone is a king's subject."

"In addition to the military significance, this road also has administrative and economic significance, and will closely connect the extreme north."

"Taking this route can connect the economic regions north of Yanyun together, and the road rarely passes through plateau deserts. From Tokyo to Helin City, there are about [-] miles of wasteland in the middle, regardless of value or maintenance. The cost can't compare to that."

The term economic region is very precise.

After leaving Yanyun North Road, there is really no economically important town in the north.

The local area is bitterly cold and the land is stiff, so there is basically no future for planting.In the past, this place was not valued by the Central Plains because it could only hunt and pluck trees.

But shipping costs are prohibitive.Even if a tiger belt is brought to the Central Plains, its value minus the transportation capacity provided by a large number of horses will not leave much wealth.

But with trains it's different.

As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, build roads first.

With the train tracks, high-quality forest trees, leather herbs, and ginseng gemstones here can be sent to the Central Plains in large quantities in the future.

Especially the tall trees, the ancient wonder buildings in the Central Plains have almost cut down the tall trees, and the giant trees either exist in Southeast Asia or in the Northeast.

Sending these resources to the Central Plains can be exchanged for a lot of wealth, which in turn improves local development.

In fact, there are quite a few ethnic minority tribes in this area. They number in the thousands. They have no ambition to fight for hegemony, and they have no sense of existence. They wander around the Arctic Circle.

The construction of the railway to the north can immediately win over them into the economic system of the Song Dynasty, engage in production with peace of mind, and improve their living standards.You can use the money you get from selling trees and leather to build new houses and buy armor.

(End of this chapter)