Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 181: There is a traitor in the Mongols, companies and shares [Request for follow-up]

When the Mongols ruled the world, Yuan Dadu used sea grain routes as a supplement to the canal grain routes. Nahachu knew about transporting grain by sea.

But it was precisely because he knew the situation of transporting grain by sea that he found it difficult to understand.

"Transporting grain by sea is prone to capsizing, and transporting large quantities of grain is very risky. Only small quantities of grain can be transported as a supplement to canals and land routes."

"Even if Zhu Yuanzhang transported grain to Peking and Liaodong by sea, it would only take a year or two to accumulate enough food and fodder, right?"

The Han scholar immediately proposed another speculation, "Perhaps, before the Ming attacked the imperial court last time, Zhu Yuanzhang had already stockpiled a lot of food and fodder in Peking?"

Nahachu nodded and said, "That's possible."

Coming back to his senses, he saw that the other participants in the hall were silent and had strange expressions on their faces. Nahachu then realized that his behavior just now had exposed his cowardice and might have alienated everyone.

He immediately put on an expression of confidence or perhaps indifference and said, "Even if Zhu Yuanzhang had stored grain in Peking a few years earlier, he wouldn't have been able to stockpile so much."

"If he continues to accumulate food and supplies for a few more years and then attacks again, we'll have a hard time responding. But the Ming Dynasty has just fought two major battles, and now it's sending troops to Liaodong just a year later, which gives us an opportunity."

"We have two hundred thousand men, and with the imperial court in the west as our support, we can attack Hebei at any time and cut off the Ming army's retreat."

"Therefore, if the Ming Dynasty wants to gain an advantage in this battle, it will need at least 200,000 troops."

"Two hundred thousand soldiers and horses must at least have two hundred thousand civilians to transport food and other supplies, right? That's four hundred thousand men! At least twenty thousand dan of food and fodder must be consumed every day!"

"Even if Zhu Yuanzhang had stored three million dan of grain in Peking and Liaodong, it would only be enough to sustain the Ming army for five months."

"Even considering that it will take time for the main force of the Ming army to retreat back to the interior, it can be said that as long as we can hold off the Ming army for three or four months, the Ming army will naturally retreat!"

A general named Nailawu asked, "What if the Ming army doesn't retreat after three or four months?"

Nahachu was delighted when he heard this and laughed heartily, "Haha, the Ming army will surely be defeated due to lack of food and fodder! Then, perhaps we can chase them down, fight our way back to the interior, and retake the Yuan Dynasty!"

After Nahachu finished speaking, although a few generals still looked skeptical, most of the generals became happy - they felt that Nahachu's analysis just now made sense.

Two hundred thousand against two hundred thousand, they couldn't defeat the Ming army, but could they not defend themselves?

The Ming army's headquarters was in Jiangnan, and their use of food and fodder in Liaodong was undoubtedly much greater than their defense on the spot.

As long as they can hold off the Ming army for four months, the Ming army will surely be defeated if it does not retreat!
After the meeting.

Nailawu returned to his residence.

He was actually a civil official under Nahachu, and was ranked among the top five among the few civil officials.

If he were an official of such high rank when the Mongols ruled the world, he would definitely live in a mansion, drive a luxury car, ride a BMW, and have thousands of slaves to command.

But when he stayed with Nahachu in Liaodong, a cold and poor place, he could only live in a small courtyard with three entrances, and there were less than a hundred slaves in the mansion. His food, drink and other expenses were nothing compared to when he was in Dadu. It was extremely shabby.

Speaking of which, when he first defected to Nahachu, Nahachu not only occupied almost the entire Liaoyang Province, but was also able to oppress the Goryeo Kingdom and force it to provide food, fodder, slaves, etc.

However, as the Ming army went out of the pass, there were several major battles and countless small battles, and Nahachu's territory became smaller and smaller.

First, they lost western Liaoning, and later they even found it difficult to hold on to eastern Liaoning, and were forced to retreat to the northeast of Liaoning.

Nailawu finally realized that Nahachu could not even control Liaodong and would be destroyed by the Ming Dynasty sooner or later.

Therefore, he had long been loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

After entering the study, Nailawu asked a servant to serve his favorite lotus seed soup. It was not easy to eat a bowl of lotus seed soup in Liaodong. With his status, he would have to wait ten days or half a month to eat a bowl.

Soon, a male servant came into the study carrying lotus seed soup.

The male servant put down the lotus seed soup but did not leave. It seemed that he wanted to wait for Nailawu to finish eating so that he could take the bowl and spoon away.

Nailawu glanced at the servant, then ate the lotus seed soup while talking to himself about what Nahachu had discussed before.

"The king said that if we can hold off the Ming army for three or four months, they will retreat due to lack of food and grass. If they don't retreat, they will be defeated..."

After finishing a bowl of lotus seed soup, Nailawu had already talked to himself about a lot of things, including how much food and grass reserves Nahachu's army had now, and the secrets such as a certain general was dissatisfied with Nahachu for some reason.

The servant was like a deaf-mute and didn't say a word from beginning to end. When Nalawu put down his bowl and spoon, he picked them up and walked out.

···
···
Capital.

TRAIN STATION.

Liu Kuanzheng accompanied Zhu Biao to watch the train depart.

After the Zouwu was first launched, it took some time to set up the locomotive manufacturing bureau and its subordinate workshops and factories, so it was almost December before the simultaneous production of five trains began.

In addition, various problems occurred from time to time, so the five trains that were planned to be built in three months were not completed until early March.

Now that the main force of the Ming army had already left the border, the Liaodong War was about to begin. The court was under considerable pressure to ensure the logistics of the army. Therefore, as soon as the five trains were completed, Liu Kuan, Qiu Qichi, Zhang Jinrao and others were busy arranging the trains to run on the line.

Including the Zouwu, the six trains were dispatched over three days, two per day, minimizing the pressure on train station scheduling and train misses.

It was also at this time that Liu Kuan realized that his previous statement that one line could withstand a maximum of twelve trains was too optimistic.

If we only run on the Xu-Dan section of railway, it is estimated that three trains are the limit to ensure sufficient safety.

Even if the Pinghu Railway is fully opened, it is estimated that the number of trains in operation should not exceed eight, and several more railway stations should be built to facilitate dispatching and train switching.

If we want to truly unleash the capacity of trains, we have to wait until instant communication tools such as telegraph, radio and even telephone are developed in the future.

Zhu Biao stood in front of a large, bright window on the second floor of the train station, which was made up of sixteen small panes of transparent flat glass. He watched the last train leave the train station and disappear before he looked away.

He looked at Liu Kuan and said, "With the addition of these five trains, the pressure on transporting food and other supplies between Jiangnan and Xuzhou has been greatly reduced. My brother-in-law and the people in the Science and Technology Department have made great contributions."

Liu Kuan, however, felt regretful and said, "It's a pity that there's the Yellow River blocking the way, and the railway from Xuzhou to Peking hasn't been built yet. Otherwise, this railway could have taken on more transportation tasks."

Zhu Biao laughed when he heard this, "I didn't expect my brother-in-law to be so ungrateful."

Liu Kuan said, "The Ming Dynasty currently only has half a railway line. How can I be satisfied? By the way, Your Highness, after the Liaodong war is over, I hope to allocate some of the railway capacity for civilian use."

"So urgent?" Zhu Biao was puzzled. "Father plans to conquer Liaodong and then spend three years conquering the Northern Yuan Dynasty. He will be heavily reliant on rail transportation, so I'm afraid he won't agree to allow civilian use."

Liu Kuan explained, "Your Highness, only by allocating part of the railway capacity for civilian use can the people truly experience the benefits of railway transportation."

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Xuzhou-Beijing railway will be completed this year. As for the Dantu-Shanghai railway, it will take longer to complete because it involves several railway bridges."

"However, the Railway Bureau's railway construction technology will become more sophisticated during the renovation of the Northern Railway, and then we can try to build a new railway."

"Building a new railway requires not only government funding but also the support of local citizens. If we don't use the railway for civilian transportation, how can we make a profit, and how can we get local citizens to support the construction of the railway?"

Zhu Biao pondered and said, "The imperial court can allocate funds for the construction of the railway. As for the attitude of the local people—as long as the imperial court gives the order, the people will not dare to obstruct the construction of the railway."

Zhu Biao was not a person from later generations after all, and it was difficult for him to understand many things quickly, so Liu Kuan had to patiently explain them in detail.

"Your Highness, building railways costs a lot of money. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty still has quite a few railways to build, or even a lot. Are we going to have to rely on the court for funding from now on?"

"Let's not even talk about whether the imperial court has the financial resources. Even if it does, this is not a long-term solution."

"In addition, in order to take advantage of geographical advantages, railway construction sometimes needs to pass through fields, houses, and even cemeteries. If local people do not truly support it and only rely on the imperial court's coercion, I am afraid that the construction process will be full of obstacles."

"Even if the people don't dare to openly confront the imperial court, they can still resort to covert tactics to create frequent problems with railway construction, resulting in half the effort and twice the effort."

"As long as we open it up to civilian use and make people realize that the railway will bring them huge convenience and benefits, they will not only not hinder it, but may even provide various conveniences and support."

"Also, once the railway becomes profitable for civilian use, we can use the money from private gentry and merchants to build the railway, just like His Highness supervised the construction of the Beijing riverside docks!"

Zhu Biao was stunned at first, then asked with great interest: "What do you mean?"

The dock area can raise funds by selling land, selling houses in advance, and renting warehouses, but how can the railway raise funds in advance?

We can't sell the railway to the gentry or businessmen, right?

If it is sold, will the railway belong to the government or to individuals?

Just as these questions were emerging in Zhu Biao's mind, he heard Liu Kuan say: "The court can set up a railway company, then demutualize the company and sell some of the shares to the gentry and wealthy businessmen."

Zhu Biao was stunned again, then said, "Company? But is it the company that Confucius mentioned in his essay 'Datong', where 'gong' means to count the talents of people; si means to run things'?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is truly knowledgeable. This is what I meant by the company."

Zhu Biao would not be complacent about Liu Kuan's praise. Instead, he frowned and continued to ask, "What exactly does it mean to delist the company?"

Liu Kuandao: "It means converting the company's value into a number, and then dividing this number into many smaller numbers."

"For example, if I want to convert Sanwei Bookstore into shares, and its value is 100,000 guan, I will count it as 1,000 shares and sell them, so the value of each share is 100 guan."

"As long as I sell no more than half of my shares, I will have controlling rights in Sanwei Bookstore. Even if others buy shares, they can only wait for dividends and will not be able to affect my control over Sanwei Bookstore."

The company system and the shareholding system contain a lot of information. Liu Kuan paused here and prepared to wait for Zhu Biao to absorb the information in this passage before continuing.

Zhu Biao frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Corporatization is easy to say, but this shareholding seems to have many points worth discussing."

　Second update.

　　Historically, when Zhu Yuanzhang fought against Nahachu, he relied heavily on espionage and bribery. After the Ming army arrived, Nahachu's generals surrendered without much fighting. Nailawu even actively campaigned to persuade others to surrender as well.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)