I am Da Song

Chapter 618

It is no surprise that the railways in the south give priority to connecting with Suzhou.

To everyone's surprise, everyone thought that the next line should connect Tokyo and Nanjing.

The opinion given by the left minister is actually that Tokyo links Quanzhou.

Obviously, this was the unanimous opinion of the Zhengshitang. Prime Minister Zuo said: "Quanzhou is now the largest port in our dynasty and even in the whole world. It is the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road and the center of the maritime trade network."

"Connecting Tokyo and Quanzhou will significantly increase our country's trade exports. It will also facilitate the opening of the market and transport the world's treasures from overseas to Tokyo."

The Minister of the Ministry of Officials said: "Another point is very important. Most of the tribute ships land in Quanzhou. If the railway links Tokyo and Quanzhou, the expenditure on entertaining the tribute team can be greatly reduced. The tribute envoy departs from Quanzhou and takes the train directly to the Tokyo embassy. It is convenient and quick, and it can prevent someone from pretending to be a tribute team."

This is unintentional.

Once the tribute boat docks in Quanzhou, it will be arranged to board a train and sent to Tokyo, where it will directly enter Honglu Temple.

If anyone pretends to be a tribute envoy, basically all the wealth in that boat will be given to the emperor for nothing.

Moreover, the tribute envoys will be deeply shocked when they see the effect of the railway along the road, and they can't help but want to copy these railways to their own country.

For these small countries, the significance of railways is unparalleled.

For example, the Angkor Dynasty, they were in the subtropical jungle with dense trees, and even the capital did not have a city wall, and the urban area was connected with the surrounding countryside.

In this case, they don't have much wealth to develop civilization at all.

Things like improving health care, investing in education, boosting technology, building the army, and improving law and order cannot be promoted.

But if there is a railway, it will be directly connected to the Central Plains or to the sea.

They can transform their resource advantages into real wealth.

Just selling wood, ivory, ore, medicinal herbs and the like through the railways every year can sell millions or even tens of millions of sticks.

Tens of millions!This is already the same order of magnitude as the income of the finance minister of Da Song in the past.

In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the two-tax law was implemented, and the income was only more than 1000 million.

This is definitely more than enough for a small country.

Investing this money in domestic development every year is enough to quickly advance their civilization level from the tropical jungle to the level of the Tang Dynasty and even the Song Dynasty.

How big a difference is this?Before that, their lives were regarded as southern barbarians in the eyes of the Central Plains, working hard for food and clothing.But once they get into the situation of the Song Dynasty, at least there will be a lot of food surplus.Dasong Tokyo has always had a large number of vendors and restaurants, and they operate a variety of special snacks and delicacies.

Of course, you may earn blood, but I will never lose money.

The small country developed by relying on the Great Song Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty is bound to benefit from it.

The right to operate these railways must be in the hands of Da Song.

This is not a passenger line, and requires state money to keep it running.

This kind of traffic artery is also the economic lifeline for transporting goods. Every time a train passes by, there are gold coins tinkling, providing a steady stream of profits.

So Su Chi continued: "Two of the three main routes in the south are connected to important economic towns, and the third is a traffic route, connecting Xiangyang, and then going south to Shenglong City."

Xiangyang is later known as Wuhan, known as the thoroughfare of nine provinces.

Building a railway here can radiate the largest range, and the expansion of the railway network in the future only needs to be centered on him.

Choosing Xiangyang as the first city to build railways has political, economic, and military significance.

The three railways in the south are basically north-south, and the east-west is mainly connected by the Yangtze River waterway.

Once the railway is built, it will make the southern economy more prosperous.

The Ministry of Industry was ambitious, and Shang Shu personally assured Zhao Huan: "The Ministry of Industry will strive to complete all the railways within five years, linking all the major towns in our dynasty."

Zhao Huan asked: "The five railways started construction at the same time? Will it cause fatigue to the people?"

The most taboo thing about large-scale construction projects is to exceed the limit of the country's tolerance.

For example, Emperor Sui Yang also held a prosperous empire in his hands, but he built Tokyo, which lasted ten months and used 200 million people every month.The construction of the Grand Canal involved millions of people, and four to five out of ten died.

Then it used millions of troops and more than 200 million civilians to fight Goguryeo.

Successfully becoming the number one prodigal son in the history of the Central Plains, it only took a few decades to turn a prosperous empire into a withered scene with only 200 million households left.

With this painful lesson learned from the past, all later generations of the Central Plains dynasties were cautious about building large-scale projects.For fear of repeating the same mistakes.

Zhang Jun said: "The railway construction is different from the construction of the Eastern Capital and the mobilization of teachers. It has a very strong regional nature. Basically, the projects in each region are limited to their own scope."

"For example, the construction of the railway network in the north will basically not expropriate the people in the south."

"Suzhou's railway will never affect the people on Jinghu Road."

Hearing what Zhang Jun said, Zhao Huan felt that there was some truth to it.

If the railways are divided into the northern railway network and the southern railway network, the people they recruit will not overlap with each other at all.

For all directions, it is actually equivalent to only one or two railways being started.

For such a vast north and such a wealthy south, the construction of one or two railways will not have much impact at all.

The Minister of the Ministry of Industry assured: "The imperial court implements the system of conscription, and there will be no large-scale collection of corvees in the late Sui Dynasty, which will shake the hearts of the people."

The conscription system means that the imperial court pays money to recruit people who are willing to contribute to participate in the construction of the project.

This is a fair employment relationship, not forced labor.

Therefore, the tragedy of ten deaths and four to five will not happen under this system.

Zhao Huan had no doubts about the guarantee of Minister of the Ministry of Industry.It’s just that the importance of the railway has to be raised. Zhao Huan said: “The railway is the top priority of the country. We should set up a professional monastery supervisor, staffed by technical bureaucrats, and manage a large number of professional craftsmen to build the railway.”

"Your Political Affairs Hall and the Six Departments of the Nine Ministers have joined forces to mobilize elite soldiers and generals to form a railway temple, which is better than the Nine Ministers and is in charge of railway construction, operation and maintenance."

"The first minister of the temple should choose one of the two servants from your Ministry of Industry."

Although this arrangement took away part of the benefits of the Ministry of Industry, it also gave them enough compensation.

The Ministry of Industry Shang wrote a gloomy face and did not protest.

Because he was sure that he didn't need to open his mouth at all, and the most important resistance to the promotion of all these things would erupt immediately.

The operation of the railway is bound to seriously violate the interests of another large group, that is, water transport workers.

Caohe was in its heyday.The sailor of the food ship.River trackers.The poor in the market town.Take this as food and clothing.It's like millions of people.

(End of this chapter)