Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 564: Lao Zhu, you can't die too quickly! (Subscribe please!!)
"Ouyang Lun, tell us again what you just said!"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice, his voice trembling with excitement.

"Uh..." Ouyang Lun was a little surprised to see Zhu Yuanzhang so excited, and asked with some confusion: "What did you say?"

"That's exactly what you said at the end. Hurry up and say it again!"

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke again.

"What was that last sentence?" Ouyang Lun suddenly realized, "You meant this sentence! What I meant is that if you work hard, you still have a chance to see the railway from Beijing to Beiping while you are still alive, provided that you don't die too quickly!"

"Your Majesty, you are not going to punish me for what I said, are you?"

"Good!" Zhu Yuanzhang applauded, "Ouyang Lun, remember what we said today. We will work hard to live longer, and you will do us a favor!"

"If you can handle this well, we will let Biaoer reward you well. It won't be a problem to make you a king or a prime minister!"

"Biao'er, what do you think?"

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, he looked at Zhu Biao, seemingly asking a question, but actually wanting Zhu Biao to express his opinion.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will give you my full support. I also want to see what the first railway in the Ming Dynasty will look like!" Zhu Biao expressed his opinion immediately.

Listening to the conversation between Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao, Ouyang Lun rolled his eyes.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you two are too kind. You just make empty promises to us. There will be rewards only after the repairs are completed. Can you be more practical?" Ouyang Lun said unhappily.

"Ahem." Zhu Yuanzhang coughed awkwardly twice, then asked, "What reward do you want?"

"It's very simple. From now on, we will work from home and don't have to go to court when we have nothing to do! As long as you agree to this, we will immediately approve the railway project from Beijing to Peking! We will try to let the emperor see it with his own eyes and sit on it to experience it for himself!"

Ouyang Lun did not hide anything and directly put forward his conditions.

Now that he has reached the highest official rank, there is no point in moving up further, and he is really not interested in official positions.

In this case, it is more practical.

"it is good!"

"We promise you!"

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang himself had also thought about what kind of rewards to use to stimulate Ouyang Lun, to promote his official position and title. These had just been used, and there were not many official positions and titles that could be conferred on Ouyang Lun, so they had to be left to Zhu Biao, otherwise it would be difficult for Zhu Biao, the emperor, to confer them in the future.

The condition proposed by Ouyang Lun was not too excessive, and Ouyang Lun himself was not enthusiastic about attending court. It would be better to go with the flow and give Ouyang Lun this freedom.

Ouyang Lun put forward conditions and Zhu Yuanzhang agreed to them.

The whole process can be said to be quite smooth, and the conclusion was reached before Zhu Biao could even react.

Zhu Biao was also quite surprised when he saw this.

He never expected that Zhu Yuanzhang and Ouyang Lun would dare to propose and agree to it.

But if you think about it carefully, this is the case. Although the civil and military officials have some complaints about Ouyang Lun not attending the morning court on time, Ouyang Lun's achievements and prestige are there. If someone dares to mention this matter, just say "If you can have Ouyang Lun's achievements, I will not let you attend the morning court!"

Then you can shut everyone's mouth!
This matter had never been made public before, but now it is officially announced to all officials. This can be considered a kind of honor for Ouyang Lun.

As Ouyang Lun and Zhu Yuanzhang reached an agreement on building the railway, the atmosphere on the scene was greatly eased and the tense atmosphere at the beginning was gone.

This made Zhu Biao breathe a sigh of relief.

"Ouyang Lun, we'll give you what you want, but you have to give us what we want!"

"But I still don't understand you. The Taiji Palace is the dream place for countless officials, but they may not be able to stand in the palace in their entire lives! And you are trying every possible way to escape!"

"If someone didn't know you, they would think you were a great official from the Ming Dynasty?!"

The more Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, the more crooked the corners of his mouth became. Zhu Yuanzhang knew Ouyang Lun well. He was full of bad intentions!
If Ouyang Lun was an honest official, there would be no corrupt officials or bad people in the Ming Dynasty!

Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to give Ouyang Lun a good ideological lesson so that he could get rid of this bad habit, but reason prevailed in the end. He had finally gotten Ouyang Lun to agree to build the railway. If Ouyang Lun changed his mind later, where could he go to seek justice?

Forget it.

Although Ouyang Lun was not a good official in the traditional sense, he was not an unforgivable corrupt official either.

Besides, the railway matters have to be handled by Ouyang Lun.

"Forget it. I know you won't like it if I say too much. It's rare for me to say anything to you!"

"But you have to do the railway work for us!"

Zhu Yuanzhang reminded again.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt so happy when he thought that he could board the train to Peking while he was still alive.

When the time comes, we will catch Bei Yuan off guard and let them know what dimensionality reduction attack means!
At this time, Ouyang Lun spoke again, "Your Majesty, I did agree to build the railway from Beijing to Peking, but I have just made it very clear how difficult it is to build a railway. There may be all kinds of accidents that will happen!"

"For example, the quality of the rail steel is not up to standard, or a certain section of the road does not meet the conditions for building a railway, and there are not enough manpower and various equipment!"

"I'll be frank with you. If the progress is slow, Your Majesty, please don't be anxious!"

"Come on, don't give me a shot. Since you can't give me an accurate time, I can't guarantee you anything. If you can't do it, I really can't be sure that you won't do something incredible!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly.

What the hell!

Okay, you, Old Zhu, can directly counterattack us!
Hearing Zhu Yuanzhang say this, Ouyang Lun also understood that Zhu Yuanzhang's patience had reached its limit. If he dragged it on any longer, there was no guarantee that this guy would not go berserk. Zhu Yuanzhang and Ouyang Lun were in a stalemate again, and the atmosphere naturally became tense.

Seeing this, Zhu Biao quickly spoke up, "Father, since Brother-in-law Ouyang has agreed, there will be no problem with the railway. Over the years, I have never seen Brother-in-law Ouyang fail. You can rest assured! Besides, I am here!"

"I have learned a lot from my brother-in-law over the years. I will definitely support him fully when the time comes. I will strive to build the first railway in the Ming Dynasty as quickly as possible to enhance the prestige of the Ming Dynasty!"

After talking to Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao said to Ouyang Lun: "Brother-in-law, you know the temper of our father. His words were a bit harsh, but he also wanted to get the railway built as soon as possible to benefit the people of our Ming Dynasty!"

"Although I don't know much about building railways, my brother-in-law, you also said that the principle is similar to building highways. Since we have already built highways, the same goes for railways!!"

"If we two brothers work together, this railway will definitely not be a problem for us!"

"Biao'er said it well!" Zhu Yuanzhang greatly appreciated Zhu Biao's words!
"For Biao'er's sake, Ouyang Lun, I promise you that as long as you don't deliberately slow down the progress, I will never interfere. Not only will we not interfere, but when the time comes, you can even let me carry a hoe and build the railway for you!" Zhu Yuanzhang shouted.

"No, no, forget it. If you were twenty years younger and made this request, I would definitely satisfy you, but you are now..." Ouyang Lun said as he looked at Zhu Yuanzhang and shook his head repeatedly.

"." Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth twitched, and he wanted to slap Ouyang Lun, but he finally held back.

"Of course, I am doing this out of consideration for my brother-in-law, the emperor." Ouyang Lun added.

"You" Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that his beard began to tremble.

"Father, brother-in-law, how about we talk about the details of building the railway? If we start preparing now, what should we do first?"

Seeing that the atmosphere between Zhu Yuanzhang and Ouyang Lun was not right, Zhu Biao quickly stepped forward and spoke.

"The first step is naturally to set up a project department! This department is different from the Sixth Department. It is a temporary one, specifically responsible for the construction of the railway from Beijing to Beiping. Once the railway is completed, this project department will complete its mission and disband!"

Ouyang Lun said.

"Okay, then I will announce the establishment of the project department later, and its authority level will be the same as the six ministries!" Zhu Biao said.

"There's no need to set such a high level. Just place the project department under the Ministry of Industry." Ouyang Lun was also shocked. This was the first time he saw a project department on the same level as the six departments!
"It has to be at this high level!" Zhu Yuanzhang stood up and made the final decision, "Otherwise others will not know the importance of this matter!"

"Brother-in-law, since our father has spoken, let's do it this way!" Zhu Biao said.

"I have no objection." Ouyang Lun spread his hands.

"Brother-in-law, what's next?" Zhu Biao continued to ask.

"After setting up a project department, we naturally need to recruit people, starting with management personnel. We have to organize the decision makers and managers," Ouyang Lun said with a smile.

"Then how do we recruit this person?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked curiously.

"It's simple. We can just borrow from other departments. The Ministry of Works will definitely have to send people to participate in such a big project as building a railway, right? The Ministry of Works will have to recruit and train craftsmen, and then do the specific construction. Oh, and the Ministry of Works will also be responsible for the preliminary exploration! The Ministry of Revenue will also have to send people to manage the allocation of money, etc."

"According to the level you gave, at least one assistant minister from each of the six ministries will be assigned to the project department. Then the management team will be formed!"

"In fact, the establishment of the management team is just to facilitate the mobilization of resources. What is really important is the middle-level management and various technical personnel. These people are extremely rare in Daming at present. We plan to select a group of talents from all over the country and arrange them to study in the Institute of Science and Technology. Let my think tank lead them first. In this way, when everything is ready, Daming will also have its own first batch of engineers!"

"Siege Lion?!"

Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang were both stunned when they heard this term.

"I've heard of siege ladders and battering rams, but this is the first time I've heard of siege lions. Are they very powerful for sieges?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked with amusement.

"Uh..." Ouyang Lun's face immediately turned black when he heard this.

"Cough cough."

"Engineers, not siege lions. We mean people with high professional skills. They have higher knowledge than ordinary craftsmen, can think about more problems, and can handle and solve many problems. If we want to build the railway from Beijing to Peking, we need at least tens of thousands of engineers, and training an engineer costs at least a thousand taels of silver!"

Ouyang Lun explained in detail.

"One engineer needs thousands of taels of silver? Tens of thousands of them would cost ten million taels. Isn't that too expensive?" Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked when he calculated the price.

"Your Majesty, I have said it before. Road construction itself is a money-eating beast, second only to the cost of war. If you are not mentally prepared to spend a large amount of money, then it is best not to build this road. Otherwise, I am afraid that you will be heartbroken!" Ouyang Lun said directly.

"Uh..." Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned after hearing this, but he quickly said, "You, Ouyang Lun, are not a money-loving person, but I, Zhu Yuanzhang, am. Repair it! Repair it for us no matter how much it costs!"

"Your Majesty the Emperor is so courageous!" Ouyang Lun said with emotion.

“Hehe, don’t think that you, Ouyang Lun, are the only one who knows how to calculate. No matter how expensive this road is, as the first railway in the Ming Dynasty, its significance alone is extraordinary, because it is the crystallization of Ming Dynasty’s technology and an improvement of Ming Dynasty’s strength!”

"We can guarantee that if foreigners come to Ming, they will definitely be shocked by the Great Wall, the highways that extend in all directions, the iron-clad warships, and the well-built railways! Only then will Ming's reputation as the Celestial Empire be firmly established!"

"In addition, the transportation capacity of railway trains will bring huge fiscal revenue to the Ming Dynasty every year. Even if the construction cost cannot be recovered in a short period of time, the transportation capacity of the trains and their ability to drive the economy along the railway will be powerful!"

"In our opinion, although building this railway is not a sure win, it is definitely a sure win!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said with full confidence.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang had something else to say. For example, after the railway was completed, it would be the time for him to destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty. By that time, the money for building the railway could be snatched back from the Northern Yuan Dynasty, so it would be impossible to lose money!
After hearing what Zhu Yuanzhang said, Ouyang Lun couldn't help but praise Zhu Yuanzhang in his heart.

No wonder Zhu Yuanzhang was the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. His accounting skills were really amazing. How could he do a business that would lose money?

Never underestimate Zhu Yuanzhang!

Of course, after battling wits and courage with Zhu Yuanzhang for so long, Ouyang Lun had a better understanding of Zhu Yuanzhang's character.

"Father-in-law, you are right, but there is one thing you may have overlooked. If this Beijing-Pingcheng railway is completed, it also means that our Ming Dynasty has mastered the railway construction technology. With the first railway, there will be a second, a third, and even more!"

"And in the process of construction, many excellent craftsmen and engineers will be trained. These are the most valuable assets!!"

(End of this chapter)