I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 798 From Railways to Local Government
The train on the opposite side sped past and the carriage became bright again.

Zhu Yijun did not directly answer Hai Rui's question, but pointed to the railway line on the left: "When I got on the train just now, a minister asked what a double track is.

This is the double track. When the Beijing-Tianjin and Beijing-Luanzhou railways were being built, I instructed that a double track that could run in opposite directions must be built, also called a double track.

The double-track line is divided into an up line and a down line. The line from east to west, or from north to south, is called the down line.

The opposite is called an upward line.

When you see the train numbers departing and arriving at Beijing South Railway Station in the newspaper, you will also find an interesting mystery: the train numbers for the down line are odd numbers, and the train numbers for the up line are even numbers. "

After chatting for a few words to ease the atmosphere in the carriage, Zhu Yijun asked again.

"My dear ministers, what was loaded on the truck that just drove past? Did anyone see clearly?"

Wang Yi'e, Pan Yinglong and other ministers quickly responded: "Your Majesty, it's coal, all coal."

"Fifteen freight cars in total, all full of coal."

Hai Rui chuckled, "It's still good to be young. You all saw it, but I was dazzled. I only saw something flying past, a black patch, and I had no idea what it was.

It turned out to be coal, it was indeed a black mass.”

Zhu Yijun laughed loudly, and the others laughed along, some sincerely or some pretendingly.

"The ceremony we held today at Beijing South Railway Station Square is called the opening ceremony. What kind of trains are in operation? Passenger trains. In fact, the two railways have been fully inspected and accepted for more than four months.

This is not true either. The two railways were constructed and completed in sections.

After completing a section of the railway, the company began trial operation, with the Qintianjian's experimental steam locomotive pulling carriages back and forth in the section. The first operation was in October last year, right, Minister Zheng?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, Your Majesty remembered it correctly."

"Okay, the previous one is called a test run, to check if there are any problems with the railway line, verify the perfection of the operation system, and find out the omissions and fill the gaps. Three months ago, the two railway companies started running freight trains, right? Director Fu!"

Fu Jinyou stood at attention immediately. "Your Majesty, yes, on the second day of February, the Beijing-Luan River and Beijing-Tianjin Railway Companies officially started running freight trains. In February, an average of five freight trains were sent from Lulong and Kaiping to Beijing South Station every day, with a total of 68 freight trains. After unloading and inspection, they were sent back along the same route.

Three freight trains were sent from Dagu and Tianjin stations to Beijing South Station, with a total of 44 freight cars.

Starting from the first day of March, the number of trains departing from Lulong to Beijing increased to eight per day, with a total of 120 freight cars; the number of trains departing from Dagu to Beijing increased to five per day, with a total of 70 freight cars.

Starting from the first day of April, the number of freight trains in the Lulong direction increased to 12 per day, and four night shifts were opened; the number of freight trains in the Dagu direction increased to 10 per day, and four night shifts were opened.

Zhu Yijun nodded, then turned sideways and asked the ministers, "Everyone, the truck has been running for three months. What do you think?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Personal experience?

It seems like nothing!

Zhang Siwei said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I am stupid and don't understand what your Majesty means by personal experience."

"Mr. Feng Pan's question reminded me. I am asking the blind for advice!
I have personally experienced whether the prices of rice, beans, meat, eggs, chicken, duck and vegetables have dropped, and whether there are more styles of floral fabrics on the market.

How can you go to the street to buy vegetables and cloth? "

Everyone laughed.

Some ministers smiled meaningfully.

The Emperor is even more shrewd than Emperor Sejong.

Previously, Emperor Shizong practiced Taoism and worshipped heaven, and built many temples, but Yan Shifan cheated him out of a lot of money. He dared to report to the emperor that a large wooden beam in the hall cost 200,000 taels of silver.

There were also those who purchased silk and satin for the palace, goods worth ten thousand taels of silver, but he dared to quote a bill of thirty thousand taels of silver.

To make a Taoist robe for Emperor Shizong, I would directly offer three thousand taels of silver.
Even so, the eunuchs were still discussing privately that Emperor Sejong was too shrewd and we dared not report too much. It was said that the Hongzhi period was a time of peace and prosperity.

During the Longqing period, the emperor ruled the country as the crown prince and managed the palace inside and outside.

Not only could he not fool the ministers in the outer court, but he could also see through the evil intentions of those in the inner court. Hundreds of corpses of eunuchs were found in the mass grave outside the city.

Eunuchs were royal slaves, and their torture and execution did not require review by the Dali Temple.

The inner court and the outer court understood thoroughly that the emperor was shrewd and well-informed. He not only paid attention to the movements of officials, the major events of the court and the people, the national economy and the people's livelihood, but also paid special attention to market prices.

Not only does he have the East Factory, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Xinming News Agency (Commercial Investigation Department), he also has all kinds of means and channels that you can't imagine, which can help him find out the information he wants to know.

He often said that the most important thing in decision-making is to know enough and comprehensive information.

As the emperor said, he may have a deeper and more thorough understanding of the current social conditions in the Ming Dynasty than anyone here.

"I'm telling you something you all know. After the Beijing-Luanzhou Railway was opened, coal from Luanzhou was transported to the capital by train in an endless stream.

In March, the price of honeycomb coal in the capital city plummeted by one third.

In April, the price plummeted by nearly half, saving the people a lot of money.

Due to industrialized and large-scale coal mining, the price of coal in Luanzhou is not expensive. The only thing that makes it expensive is the transportation cost. The coal in Luanzhou needs to be transported to the capital by horse-drawn trucks through straight roads.

The shipping costs are more than the cost of the coal itself.”

Zhu Yijun paused, pointed at Pan Yinglong and said, "The price of honeycomb coal was initially set at six cents a piece, but it was not selling at all. Later, it was reduced to five cents, but it still did not sell.

You know why?"

Hai Rui stroked his beard and laughed, "Your Majesty, because this honeycomb briquettes are too expensive!"

Zhu Yijun smiled even more happily, "It seems that Lord Hai understands the people's feelings and knows the people's daily expenses." "Haha, I dare not deceive the emperor. Although this old minister cares about the suffering of the people, he rarely pays attention to such daily trivial matters. I am really ashamed.

It was my family manager, Shu Youliang, who heard that honeycomb briquettes were available that year and were easy to use and clean, so he rushed to buy one. When he came back, he complained that coal stoves and honeycomb briquettes were expensive.

The old minister asked him, what was expensive?
So Youliang settled accounts with the old minister.

Previously, the price of 0.6 jin of firewood in Beijing was 0.9 taels of silver*, equivalent to 0.9 silver coins, that is, one jin of firewood was equivalent to cents.

Under normal circumstances, one hundred kilograms of firewood can be used for ten days just for cooking, which means ten kilograms of firewood is needed a day, which costs nine cents.

Youliang asked, "For daily use of the honeycomb coal stove, plus cooking, three pieces of coal are needed a day. Even if the price is reduced to five cents a piece, it will still cost 15 cents a day, which is more expensive than using ten kilograms of firewood."

Youliang spread his hands to the minister and said, "Master, using honeycomb coal will cost an extra six cents a day. Our family depends on your salary for food, so we have to be thrifty. So this honeycomb coal is indeed useful, but we can't afford it."

Zhu Yijun looked at Hai Rui with a sullen face and nodded, "The Hai family is very frugal in their living."

He turned around and looked at all the ministers, "Do you know why honeycomb briquettes are so popular in the capital?"

"Because Governor Pan implemented the honeycomb coal benefit project, it is a truly benevolent policy that benefits the people!"

This time it was Zhang Juzheng who answered.

"This good policy was summarized and commended by the Cabinet and sent to all provincial governments and prefectures as a model.

Luanzhou, Shanghai, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wuchang and Changsha followed suit, but other places could not, either because they had no money or there were no coal mines nearby, and coal was too expensive.

"Master Zhang, since the cabinet has summarized it, then you can tell everyone about it."

“As you wish.

Prefect Pan first negotiated with the merchants selling coal stoves and honeycomb coal in the name of Shuntian Prefecture, and cut the price of honeycomb coal stoves by one third and the price of honeycomb coal to 0.45 cents a piece.

Then spend money directly to subsidize it.

The merchants gave the coal stoves to the people for free, but they had to sign a contract to use honeycomb coal for one year. The price of honeycomb coal given to the people was one-third of a piece, which was cheaper than firewood. After all, in winter or on rainy days, the price of firewood would rise a lot.

The money for the coal stoves, as well as the 1.5 cents discount that merchants gave on honeycomb coal, were all subsidized by Shuntian Prefecture.

At this point, merchants' coal stoves and honeycomb coal became popular, and people also widely used honeycomb coal.

The benefits brought about are that Beijing is no longer filled with wood smoke, and the people have boiled water to drink every day, and there are fewer infectious diseases causing stomach upset.”

Henan Governor Shi Xing could not help but say: "Zhang Xiang, Pan Fu Yin, why don't you just ask the merchants to lower the price of coal stoves and honeycomb coal?"

Yes, the government should just ask the merchants to lower their prices. Do the merchants dare not listen to the officials?
Why do we need to take such troublesome measures as subsidies? It is simply taking off your pants to fart!

Zhang Juzheng pointed at Pan Yinglong and said, "Let Pan Fengwu explain it to you."

Pan Yinglong smiled and glanced at Yang Jinshui first.

The "parent companies" of these businesses are all affiliated with the Shaofujian. If Shuntianfu directly intervenes, it is hard to say whether they will buy into it. Of course, if the matter is brought to the Shaofujian Yang Jinshui, he will definitely save his face.

But in this way, my ability cannot be demonstrated, and more importantly, my profound understanding of the emperor's new policies and the guiding ideology of economic construction cannot be demonstrated!
Pan Yinglong said: "Merchants manufacture and sell coal stoves and honeycomb coal not for the benefit of the country and the people, but to make money.

Our government negotiated with the merchants and cut the price of coal stoves by one third, with each piece of honeycomb coal costing only 0.45 cents, leaving a small profit.

Small profits but quick turnover. If sales go up and the merchant can make some money, he will continue to do this business.

If Shuntian Prefecture forced them to continue lowering the price and it became unprofitable, they would not be willing to go through so much trouble to transport the coal from Luanzhou and make it into honeycomb coal.

They were also unwilling to go to Luanzhou to customize coal stoves in large quantities and then ship them to the capital for sale.

The final result is that no one sells coal stoves and honeycomb briquettes, and it is useless to lower the price.”

Shi Xing continued, "What if the government opens its own factory to do it?"

Before Pan Yinglong could say anything, Anhui Governor Wen Chun spoke up to refute him, "This plan won't work!
Merchants run businesses to make profits, so they will try every possible way to save costs and increase efficiency. If they can't make money, then those stupid people sent by the government will make even less money, and they may even lose so much money that even their own mothers won't recognize them. "

Everyone looked over at once, and Wen Chun spread his hands, "Prime Minister Zhang knows that I suffered a great loss in Anhui, and now I am in debt. The governor and the counties are also dissatisfied with me.

This time when I go to Beijing, I am ready to throw away my dignity and get a few big projects for Anhui from Zhang Xiang and Yang Gonggong to pay off the debts!"

Everyone smiled knowingly.

When Wen Chun was the governor of Anhui, he saw that neighboring Jiangsu was thriving under the governor Hai Rui, and thought that if Hai Heizi could do it, then so could he.

Therefore, he ordered the Anhui Provincial Administration to develop cotton, silk and other industries in the three counties of Anqing, Taiping and Chizhou, and launched several projects.

Because they did not do a good job of preliminary investigation and had only a superficial understanding of the market and industry, several projects were launched but were half-dead. They said they did not make money, but they could make some money when the market was good.

The key is whether the market is good or not, which is impossible to grasp, and most of the time it is a loss. For a time, it became a burden for the Anhui Provincial Government and the local government.

This matter was discovered by the Cabinet and the Examination Guidance Committee. The Cabinet issued a document severely criticizing Wen Chun and the governor, and the full text was published in the "China Political News". Wen Chun and Anhui were disgraced throughout the country.

Zhang Juzheng even suggested at the Advisory Council meeting that Wen Chun should be replaced, but Zhu Yijun spoke out to save him.

It has only been a few years since the new policy reform, and Wen Chun is willing to take the initiative to find ways to develop the local economy. At least he is better than those local officials who just sit there and do nothing.

Shi Xing asked again, "Feng Wu, the subsidy from Shuntian Prefecture is not a small amount. Where does the money come from?"

Yes, money doesn't fall from the sky. Free coal stoves and subsidized honeycomb coal will be subsidized for several years. This money is indeed not a small amount.

The capital city is rich, but there are also many places to spend money. Where did Pan Yinglong get all this money?
Among the ministers present, several were local governors, all of whom were waiting for Pan Yinglong's answer, ready to learn from it carefully.

(End of this chapter)