Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 175 Railway is the lifeblood of the country
The Ming Navy finally succeeded in sending Shen Weijing ashore. Facing the swarming Chinese and North Korean combined fleets, the Japanese never dared to act rashly. In this way, the cruise ended successfully.

However, when Zhang Xiao returned to Seoul, he received an order from Beijing, asking Zhang Xiao to hand over affairs to Yang Hao and return home first.

"Yang Jinglue, I'll leave the rest to you. If these conditions can be negotiated, we can talk about them. If they can't be negotiated, we can talk about them slowly. It's better to be at least polite to the monarchs and ministers of North Korea." Zhang Xiao said to Yang Hao said.

"Yang made a note of it. Zhang Zhan, how are you going to go back this time?" Yang Hao asked.

"We'll go back by sea this time. It shouldn't take too long."

"That's very good. The sea route is relatively safe at the moment, and there aren't any big storms at this time."

The big ship departed from North Korea and naturally landed at Tianjin Port.

In Tianjin, Zhang Xiao wanted to meet someone. At that time, it was said that the new army would be organized and trained, but Li Rusong finally decided to place the training location in Tianjin. It was rare for him to pass by, so Zhang Xiao naturally wanted to see how the new army trained by Li Rusong was doing.

Uncensored entry into the military camp was not allowed, so Zhang Xiao had to ask someone to send the greeting card in. However, Li Rusong quickly sent someone to invite Zhang Xiao in.

"Zhang Zhan, Li also heard about your incident in North Korea. How was the handling afterwards?" Li Rusong asked.

"Having said that, the grassland is vast, and only cavalry can move easily. These gunmen can only be used when defending the city. It is still difficult to use fireguns when riding horses."

"This is not necessarily the case, General Zimao, let me show you some drawings, and you can help me read the details."

"It is estimated that the Ministry of Industry's fire cannon production is not enough. When I returned to Beijing, I also went to the Ministry of Industry to ask General Zimao. But in fact, the most important thing for a fire cannon player is to train the formation well and memorize the firing process. , if the fire gun is slow to arrive, just use someone else's fire gun to practice firing the fire gun first, that's all."

"Zhang Zhan, I'd better restrain myself and practice now. The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry are not satisfied. They also suspect that I, Mr. Li, have enriched his own pockets. If tens of thousands of people use firecrackers, how much will the training expenses be in the future. "

"It's not a fantastic idea, General Li. You might as well take a look at this picture first." Zhang Xiao said and handed over a picture first.

"Originally I really wanted to ask, but I saw Zhang Zhan and you were so lively after you came back on the boat, so I guess it's okay."

"The people in the land of Yanzhao are brave and brave, and the salary given by the new army is pretty good, so there are still many people willing to recruit, and many of them are martial arts practitioners. But I also have something to ask about Zhang Zhan. Since it is the new army , So what’s new? Does it count as new if we all use fire guns? If we all use fire guns, then we won’t need to practice swords and guns in the future. Do we still need to practice archery? Did you see what happened to Zhang Zhan just now? The training is actually just a part of the new army. Now more than half of my men still haven’t received the muskets, and they are just practicing with a wooden stick. "

"You have to practice it. If you don't move skillfully on the battlefield, the loading method is wrong, and the chamber explodes, then the morale of the army is broken. In fact, if you can practice this firecracker, it will only take a quarter of an hour to go into battle. Time will determine the outcome. As long as the battle can be won, it is the biggest way to save money. Compared with horseback archery, the Mongolian tribes on the grassland can still compete with the Ming Dynasty, but if compared with this fire gun, then Mongolia. How can people get so many muskets? Even if they get them, they don’t have that much ammunition. Even if they get them, there aren’t that many people who can afford them. "

"Fortunately, the assassin I met in North Korea is not very skilled, otherwise I would be in trouble. I just watched the training of the new army, and I feel that it is still decent. It seems that the soldiers recruited by General Zimao are quite good. of."

"This is it?" Li Rusong curiously took the drawing.

"What else can we do? We can only record the matter on the Japanese country. It is difficult to investigate. Why didn't General Zimao ask me if I was injured?" Zhang Xiao replied.

"Oh? Mr. Zhang, do you have any other fantastic ideas?" Li Rusong suddenly became interested.

"This is a train, this is a railway. As long as there are trains and railways, troops can be transported thousands of miles without wasting food and grass and only wasting coal. Because this train uses a steam engine."

"Oh? Are there such artifacts?" Li Rusong took the drawings and looked at them seriously.

"Actually, the battle with Japan was so strenuous this time, not because Japan was so strong, but mainly because the navy couldn't keep up at the beginning, and the logistics couldn't keep up. If we had this train, it would be different. "It looks good, but Mr. Zhang, has this steam engine ever been built?"

"I have given the drawings to the Ministry of Works before. I don't know how the work done by the Ministry of Works is going. Even if the steam engine cannot be repaired immediately, the railway tracks can be repaired first. As long as the road to the grassland is clear, we can then imitate the castle of Xiyi. If the fortress builds several large fortresses on the grassland, the Mongols will be in a dilemma. Building trains is nothing more than using coal and iron. There are many coal and iron mines in the Kaiping City area. There is no need to worry. ”

"It's so true. If there is such a magical weapon, dealing with the Mongols will be a piece of cake." Li Rusong was also in a good mood.

"In fact, if you want to build a railway, the first one should be built from the capital to Tianjin. The more important railways later are to be built to Liaodong, Jiangnan and other places. So this time I want to discuss with General Li this time. If the railway to Tianjin City is really to be built, I am afraid that it will require your strong support. After all, building a railway now will cost money, and only if it is used for military purposes can it be passed by the imperial court. "

"Mr. Zhang, it's okay to build it as far as Tianjin. It can be said that it is built to Liaodong to prepare for war. If it is built to the south of the Yangtze River, will it affect the interests of water transportation? It will be difficult to handle if millions of water transport companies start making trouble. "

"The most important thing about water transportation is to transport grain. Even if the train can be built now, I'm afraid it won't be able to transport too many things. It shouldn't compete with water transportation for too much business for the time being. I still believe in your majesty's decision. After all, the Ming Dynasty is as big as Land, if the troops are not mobilized quickly enough, it will be very dangerous. If the soldiers are short of food and clothing on the way to the expedition, there is no telling what the consequences will be. "

"Mr. Zhang, if you want to build this train and railway for the imperial court, Li will strongly support it. If possible, it would be better to build this railway all the way to North Korea. But although I have not actually seen this The railway looks like it, and the cost of building it must be quite high. So much iron is needed to make the rails, and so much wood is needed to make the sleepers. If you encounter mountains and rivers, you have to cut mountains and build bridges. This cost is It’s too big.”

"This expense is indeed high, but once it can be built, the convenience and benefits it will bring are also great. The railway is also slowly being built. Building the railway from Beijing to Tianjin will be a later matter. The first thing to do is to build a ten-meter-long railway. Looking at the distance of several miles, if there is no train at the beginning, it will be pulled by horse-drawn carriages," Zhang Xiao explained.

"Then this won't be easy. Now that the court has so many places to spend money, I'm afraid it won't be so easy to agree to the construction of this railway."

"You have to give it a try. General Li, you said before that you wanted to recruit instructors. How is the recruitment going?"

"We have sent people to Macau. But Mr. Zhang, I also heard that you came back from Nanyang and you still have a grudge against the Folangji people. Why are you still willing to learn something from the Folangji people and even proposed to hire a Buddhist monk?" Lang Jiren becomes an instructor in the army? "

"General Li, the Folangji people are now able to dominate the oceans, occupy many sacred places, and monopolize the maritime trade routes between continents. They must be relying on something. The changes in Zhang's family must be in Nanyang This is by no means an isolated case, but if you want to fight against the Francois, you must know their details so that you can take the right medicine. In fact, the Franconia of the Ming Dynasty mainly refers to Spain and Portugal in Europe. Because the king died in the war, the country was cut off and annexed by Spain. However, the Portuguese nobles were still unwilling to accept it. It was the Spanish Governor of the Philippines who dealt with my family, and it was the Portuguese who occupied Macau. The two were still at odds. The same thing. Then Macao can be used as a window to learn a lot about the current situation in Spain and Portugal, and we can wait for opportunities.”

"Oh? I didn't expect Mr. Zhang to still have such deep thoughts. This Franji country was unheard of before, and now it has indeed come under the eyes of Da Ming. However, Daming really knows too little about Franji country, and so do I. After reading several books written by Mr. Zhang, I have a general understanding of this country."

"Actually, this is good. It shows that the Folangji Kingdom is far from being a serious problem now, and the Folangji Kingdom is also in danger now. As long as the court operates properly, it may not be impossible to tear off a large piece of flesh from the Folangji Kingdom. "

"Mr. Zhang, when you came to the Ming Dynasty, did you also have Wu Zixu's ambition and want to use the power of the Ming Dynasty to defeat the power of the Fo Langji Kingdom in Nanyang and avenge your family?" Li Rusong asked.

"The Fo Langji Kingdom is used to running rampant in Nanyang, and the massacres they have committed are not limited to Zhang's family. I just hope that the imperial court can restore its stronghold in Nanyang and allow the Ming Dynasty's navy to sail in Nanyang again, so that the people of China can Living a stable life in Nanyang is also Zhang’s long-cherished wish.”

"If that's the case, Li will understand what's going on. It turns out that Mr. Zhang, you have been advocating the establishment of an ocean-going navy for this purpose. As long as the ocean-going navy is established, the Ming Dynasty will have the opportunity to go to war with the Folangji people. Mr. Zhang, you can get what you want," Li Rusong said.

"General Li, I advocate the establishment of a navy. Although I do have my own selfish motives, it is indeed in line with Ming Dynasty's strategy. The navy is different from the army. If the army is not strong enough, it can at least be defended. If the navy is not strong enough, it cannot become the world's No. 1 navy. If a navy cannot defeat the opposing navy in a decisive battle, then this navy will lose its most important value, which is to ensure sea control. Just like North Korea, once the main force of the navy is wiped out by the Japanese country, the Japanese country can march straight in. Although North Korea's General Yi Sun-shin led his navy to win some battles, it did not help the overall situation. On the other hand, in Europe, the British relied on their own elite fleet to directly defeat the French Armada. Not to mention the Langji people who landed on the British mainland, their own fleet was basically wiped out. The Langji troops that were able to land on the British mainland were quickly killed by the British. "

"Now in the southwest, the Ming Dynasty has fought many wars with the Burmese country, because there are really high mountains and dense forests. Many of the brave warriors of the Ming Dynasty did not fall under the enemy's sword, but were buried in the miasma of the deep mountains and jungles. In fact, against the Burmese The country is not that troublesome. As long as there is a powerful ocean-going navy that can land directly on the coast of Myanmar, the Burmese people will definitely be brave and there is no need to worry about the problem of the Myanmar army. General Li can look at the map. In fact, on this earth. "The ocean occupies most of the land. As long as the ocean is controlled, most countries will obey the Ming Dynasty," Zhang Xiao explained.

"Then if you want to deal with the barbarians who are not on the coast, you have to use this method of railways and fortresses, right?"

"General Zhang, you can actually build a fortress first. The railway is just to facilitate transportation. From ancient times to the present, the most difficult thing about border defense is not fighting the enemy, but logistics. Whether it is offensive or defensive, the losses are huge. Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall , The corvee was greatly promoted, and the people of the world were not in peace. They were either assigned to guard the border or to transport grain, which made the people unstable. Just after the death of Qin Shihuang, the world broke out into chaos. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to use it. The war washed away the shame of the Baideng siege and sent Wei Qinghuo Qubing to attack the Xiongnu. Although they achieved a complete victory, they suffered countless losses in cattle, sheep and horses, and the depletion of various military supplies was unimaginable. Emperor Chengzu visited this dynasty many times. Expeditions to the grasslands have cost the imperial court an unknown amount of money, but the Mongolian tribes have resurfaced every time and are still facing border troubles. How can this be solved?" Li Rusong asked.

"So to deal with the enemies on the grassland, the most important thing is to solve the intelligence problem and the logistics problem. So at present, it is getting more and more difficult to just think about making military achievements by luck. The Mongols are following After so many years of dealings with the Ming Dynasty, the victory of Yuerhai was just one time. It was impossible to suffer such a loss and just stay in place and wait for the Ming Dynasty to gather troops to conquer him. However, although the grassland is vast, it is not actually suitable for nomadic pastures. There are many, and they are all concentrated in the south. Therefore, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took away the land of Hetao and the Qilian Mountains from the Huns, the Huns already suffered heavy losses and could no longer compete head-on with the Han army. That is to say, as long as they occupy the few grasslands they occupy, they will either have to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, or they will have to avoid the Ming Dynasty, or they will have to risk the war with the Ming Dynasty. However, once the fortress is built, the grasslands will The Mongols don't have any decent engineering equipment, so they may not be able to attack the fortress built by our army," Zhang Xiao explained.

(End of this chapter)