My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 266: Mr. Yang Siyi
"Hooking carriages behind a steam locomotive for traction, what an idea."

After expressing his feelings, Li Min began to seriously consider the feasibility of the plan.

"According to the design in the blueprint, it should be feasible to further improve the new steam engine. The new steam engine is used as a ship engine. The people in the Industry Department have calculated that it can run ships over 6,000 tons.

If it is used on a steam locomotive, it would be no problem to tow several thousand tons of cargo and transport a thousand people in one trip!"

"Minister Li, how about this project? Can it be done?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.

He had long understood Li Min's thoughts. This old minister of Hongwu was now fully focused on industry, building railways and manufacturing trains. There was no reason for him to refuse.

Li Min did not give a direct answer, but looked at Yang Siyi. It was not enough for him to think he was capable alone, he had to be certified by the God of Wealth of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, after figuring out what rails and trains were, Yang Siyi keenly felt how much of an impact it would have on the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention anything else, the cargo transportation throughput alone would probably have to increase exponentially.

Naturally, he absolutely agreed with such a good thing that benefits the country and the people.

Although they are both members of the Ming Industrial Party, his thinking is different from Li Min's. Li Min's primary consideration is whether it can be produced with the current industrial strength, while his first consideration is how much money it will cost.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Siyi slowly spoke:

"The construction of a new type of ship is now in the demonstration stage. The displacement is 6,500 tons. Due to the use of new technology, it is estimated that the cost of the first ship is about 150,000 guan."

When everyone heard this, they understood what Yang Siyi meant, that is, the construction of railways and trains must be started, and the construction of new ships could not be stopped either.

“As for this train, according to the drawings, many parts need to be redeveloped and remanufactured, such as shock absorbers, brakes, eccentric wheels, etc., and new steel materials need to be further forged.

But overall, the core lies in the engine of the locomotive. Although the engine needs to be further modified according to the drawings, it is compatible with the steam engine of the new ship. In this way, a lot of money can be saved.

Moreover, the materials used for the locomotive and the connected carriages are far less than those used for ships, so its cost should not be too expensive, and once mass production is achieved, the price will be even lower.”

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang and others breathed a sigh of relief. From Yang Siyi's tone, it shouldn't cost much money to build this train, and it could be built at the same time as the new ship.

"but……"

As soon as Yang Siyi said the word "but", everyone's heart became hanging again, and then they stared at him closely.

Yang Siyi seemed not to notice their gazes, and continued to speak to himself:

“But the construction of this railway will cost an astronomical sum that cannot be estimated!

According to the current rate of trade growth, in the Jiangnan area alone, at least one railway must be built between the prefectures. Not to mention anything else, from Yingtian Prefecture to Songjiang Prefecture alone, at least 800 miles of rails must be laid, which means that this rail alone will require more than 1,600 miles of steel!"

"Hiss~~" Everyone couldn't help but gasp. One thousand six hundred miles of steel, what a concept!

"If we want to build railways between the prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, such as Songjiang to Shaoxing, Shaoxing to Yangzhou, etc., we will need at least tens of thousands of miles of steel."

Yang Siyi continued to speak calmly, but Zhu Yuanzhang and others were feeling very depressed. Tens of thousands of miles of steel! Wow, the Great Wall was really paved with steel!
"Then according to Minister Yang, this matter cannot be done at the moment?"

Li Min looked at Yang Siyi and said cautiously.

"We can do it!" Yang Siyi said firmly.

"what?"

Li Min and Wei Zuoqian were both stunned, and Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Yang Siyi in surprise. "I heard you speaking so confidently just now, and I thought this matter could not be done."

Yang Siyi didn't care about everyone's surprised attitude at all. Instead, he continued slowly: "The railway won't be built all over the country at once. Let's build a section first and see. It won't cost much." Li Min glared at Yang Siyi. This guy, the tone of his voice just now made everyone involuntarily have an illusion that the railway must be built all over the country at once.

Why didn't you say earlier that it could be repaired in sections? But then again, the railway on the railway design map was clearly built in sections. It was all Yang Siyi's fault. He spoke in such a deep tone that he completely misled everyone.

"According to the railway design, the railway consists of rails, sleepers, ballast, and gravel. The rails need to be reforged. According to Minister Wei, which is easier, forging rails or forging gun barrels?"

Yang Siyi looked at Wei Zuoqian and asked.

As the Minister of Industry, Wei Zuoqian was in charge of steel manufacturing. He looked through the section on steel materials in the railway design again and said,

"Your Majesty, Lord Li and Lord Yang, the material of the rails needs to be high-strength and wear-resistant, while the steel of the gun barrel needs to be high-strength, high-toughness, high-corrosion resistance, and more sophisticated finishing. Therefore, the material used to make the rails is relatively easier to process."

"In that case, Your Majesty, please help me find a plan." Yang Siyi bowed to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang quickly asked someone to fetch an abacus from the palace, and then Yang Siyi began to use the abacus "clacking".

Seeing Yang Siyi quickly fiddling with the abacus beads, Li Min couldn't help but whisper, "Look at Minister Yang, he really looks like an accountant!"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Wei Zuoqian could not help laughing. Zhu Yuanzhang did not hide his smile at all, while Wei Zuoqian thought it was indecent to make fun of Shangguan, so he covered his mouth and laughed secretly.

"Mr. Accountant, you have underestimated Minister Yang. In my opinion, this is what the God of Wealth of the Ming Dynasty looks like." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, stroking his beard.

After a while, Yang Siyi stopped and said:

"Then according to the standard of gun barrel steel, the material of this railroad track, to manufacture one mile of road, is about 40 tons of steel. Adding other sleepers and the like, the cost of one mile of road should be about 5,000 strings of cash. Of course, this is just an approximate figure."

"Five thousand strings of cash!"

Several people couldn't help but say it in unison and calculate in their minds at the same time.

One mile is five thousand strings of cash, ten miles is fifty thousand strings of cash, a hundred miles is five hundred thousand strings of cash, a thousand miles is five million strings of cash, and ten thousand miles... that's simply unimaginable.

"Everyone, that's not how the account is calculated."

As if he saw through everyone's thoughts, Yang Siyi smiled mysteriously, "Please think about it, everyone. What is the purpose of building a railway?"

“Speed ​​up transportation.”

“Increase trade volume.”

“Strengthen the rule at the grassroots level.”

The three of them gave three different answers. Yang Siyi smiled and said, "You are all right. Combining your opinions, when the railway is built, will the volume of cargo transportation and trade increase?"

"Yes!" the three said in unison.

"With the increase in trade volume, will the taxes collected also increase? This does not include the revenue from railway transportation itself. After all, riding the train is not free, right?"

At this moment, the three of them suddenly realized what Yang Siyi meant.

"So, building railways is actually a long-term investment and a profitable business!" Yang Siyi made the final conclusion.

Zhu Yuanzhang clapped his hands and said, "Good fellow, Yang Aiqing, you are really the number one accountant of our Ming Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)