Li An listened quietly, listening to the conversation of the ministers, not to mention how happy he was, the protagonist of tonight is Li An, and everyone will revolve around Li An.

"This telegraph also needs to be connected by wires, if it's a short distance, it's fine, if it's too far, it's too wasteful, or wireless, I don't know how long it will take to develop?"

"What's the point of the wires, the rails are laid so long, isn't it also laid, as long as it is of great use to the imperial court, it is nothing to invest more, and it will be good if Li Shilang develops a wireless one."

"That's right, that's right, the wired ones have been studied, but will the wireless ones be far away? At that time, no matter where you are in Datang, you can contact you in time, which is too convenient. ”

"The telegraph is ticking, only trained people can use it, ordinary people can't play at all, it's more convenient to talk directly, listen to Li Shilang said, the machine that directly talks to people thousands of miles away can also be studied, I'm really looking forward to this day!"

"Yes! Oh, yes! If you can really talk to people thousands of miles away, it will be so convenient, and I feel excited to think about it! ”

"However, such a powerful machine must be very expensive, ordinary poor people do not have this opportunity, only the important yamen of the imperial court can have this opportunity to use such a machine."

"That's right, that's right, only the imperial court can afford to use such a powerful weapon of the country, and only the imperial court has the financial resources."

The ministers continued.

Naturally, all these discussions reached Li An's ears, listening to these people's discussions, Li An had no expression on the surface, but he shook his head again and again in his heart, in the eyes of these ministers, the telegraph is very powerful, very advanced equipment, in fact, as long as it is popularized, it is nothing, and ordinary people can also use it.

Of course, the telegraph is not a telephone, not everyone can operate, ordinary people want to use it, can only spend money to shoot the telegram, in this way, the message to be conveyed will be sent to the designated person in the shortest possible time, which is much faster than the previous way of sending letters, can make the communication between the people more convenient and fast, in addition, in terms of cost, it must be much cheaper than the traditional way of sending letters, and the popularization is still very marketable.

Before the popularization of telephones in later generations, the means of communication between people were either to write letters, or to shoot telegrams, and if the matter was not urgent, it was natural to send letters, and if the matter was urgent, it was generally taken telegrams, the price was slightly more expensive, but the speed was faster, and the message could be received by the other party very quickly, and if the letter was sent, it may take more than half a month to receive it, which would be very delayed.

In fact, the reason why the cost of sending letters is lower is because a large number of letters are transported together, and there is a court in which to bear the loss, if a letter is sent alone thousands of miles away, the cost is too high, far more than the cost of sending a telegram.

Datang's letter delivery agency is not yet developed, and there are not many people who write letters, so this has caused the cost of sending letters to remain high, and it is also very delayed.

Of course, at this time, the telegraph is not mature enough, to be perfected, can be large-scale configuration, when the time comes, each county in Datang is equipped with a certain number of telegraphs, all kinds of news can be directly transmitted to each county, and by the counties to transmit the news to each village, a day is enough, unless those remote and inconvenient areas, will delay some time.

Another point is that the wireless telegraph should be developed as soon as possible, the territory of the Tang Dynasty is too vast, if the wire is pulled everywhere, not only is it a huge waste of wire materials, at the same time, the pressure on security is also very large, if someone cuts off the wire, then, communication will not be completely paralyzed, this is not tolerated by the imperial court, but the world of the Tang Dynasty is so big, it is impossible to fortify everywhere along the way, and it is difficult to cure the act of stealing wires, and as long as this situation occurs, communication will be interrupted, so, In order to stabilize communications, the premise of the large-scale popularization of telegraphs was to invent telegraphs that could transmit over long distances.

Of course, wireless telegraphs also have limitations, even the most powerful wireless telegraphs cannot travel tens of thousands of miles, at most thousands of miles, but this is enough, as long as there is a relay transfer, the message can be transmitted to the place where it is needed.

Just imagine, when every county in Datang has an organization full of telegraphs, Datang's message transmission will become so convenient, and the lives of ordinary people will reach a new level.

Li An was still looking forward to it, and a number of ministers gathered around, they moved a small bench and sat next to Li An, anyway, the emperor hadn't come yet, they came over to ask about some of the things they were interested in, which was also a pastime of life.

"Li Shilang, when will the machine that can talk directly be developed!"

Yang Guozhong asked first, and the other ministers also looked at Li An with a curious expression, with a slight expectation in their expressions.

"Well, it should be soon! I'm not sure when it will be, but it won't be for a long time, and you'll definitely be able to use it. ”

Li An replied.

For the research and development of telephones, Li An is very confident, because the telegraph has been successful, the telephone is naturally not far away, it is estimated that it will not be long before the development of the telephone, and as long as the telephone is successfully developed, Datang's communication will be further and more convenient.

And mixing the two together, to make a wireless intercom, it is even better, but I want to gradually miniaturize it, isn't it a simplified version of the mobile phone, think about it is exciting!

"If the telephone can be made soon, then there is no need for the telegraph to be popularized! Moreover, this is still wired and easy to be destroyed, so it should be better to develop a wireless machine as soon as possible, and then popularize it. ”

Chen Xilie spoke.

Li An smiled and said: "Zuo Xiang thinks too much, the output of telegraphs is limited, after the first batch of telegraphs are popularized in the cities near the capital, it is estimated that the wireless ones will be successful, and then continue to popularize, and then continue to research better machines, just step by step replacement and popularization, this is the right way, if you blindly wait, you will never be able to popularize, after all, research and development has been in progress, there will be more and more advanced machines in the future, and the best machines will never appear, because it will be better later." ”

"Li Shilang is right, while developing better machines, while properly producing the machines that have been researched, in this way, neither delay the use nor delay the research and development, it is really not delayed!"

"How much does this machine cost! Isn't it expensive? ”

"Needless to say, it's definitely very expensive."

Several ministers said.

Li An replied: "This machine has spent a lot of manpower and material resources, and the R&D cost alone is hundreds of thousands, which is really not cheap!" ”

"Hundreds of thousands, it's so expensive, it's too expensive!"

"It's a bit expensive, but this machine can send news thousands of miles away, so it's worth it, no matter how much money you spend."

"This is just the cost of R&D, and the manufacturing cost must be more expensive!"

Li An smiled and said: "The manufacturing cost is not cheap, a machine needs five thousand, however, this is because many of the parts needed in the machine are newly developed, and the output is too small, if large-scale production is carried out, the cost of these small parts will be evenly shared, and the cost will be greatly reduced, so that the cost of the whole machine will be reduced." ”

"The manufacturing cost of a machine is 5,000 yuan, if you make 100 units, after sharing the research and development costs of hundreds of thousands of yuan, the total cost of each machine needs to be about 10,000 yuan, which is really not a small number.

"Yes! Such a machine is too expensive, but it is also very practical, so, even if it is expensive, it must be developed, and large-scale mass production, especially in the border area, once there is an emergency, it will take many days to ride a horse and a car, and even, the farthest will take half a month to receive the news, with such a machine, you can get the news at any time, and you can also pass the order of the imperial court at any time, which can save time back and forth, so that greater losses can be avoided. ”

All the ministers can see that the telegraph has a very great practical significance in all aspects, in the military aspect, it can transmit the enemy's situation to the imperial court in a timely manner, in the aspect of government affairs, it can convey the latest decrees of the imperial court to remote county towns, in terms of disaster relief, it can allow the imperial court to quickly grasp the disaster situation in various places, and the application in business is even more significant.

After all, the frequency of use of the rest of the aspects is not high, and in the economic field, as long as the imperial court is willing to let go, the frequency of use will be extremely high, especially for many big businessmen who do national business, information is the most valuable thing, only by timely grasp of the business information of each city, in order to make timely adjustments, so that they can earn more money.

Li An looked at the ministers beside him and said: "You are right, the telegraph machine is extremely important to the Tang Dynasty, no matter how much money is spent, it must be popularized, and although the telegraph machine has a lot of investment, it can earn money back, and it can earn a lot of money, and it is not a problem to return to the original cost in three or five years." ”

"Oh, what are Li Shilang's plans? How do you think you can get back to your original cost? ”

Chen Xilie asked, and the rest of the ministers also opened their eyes wide and looked at Li An curiously.

Li An smiled and said, "Have you all forgotten the railway?" How much did the imperial court spend on laying the railroad tracks, and how much did it cost to make the trains? But now the railroad is making money! If it weren't for the corruption of the railway bureau, the railway would have made more money. ”

When the ministers heard this, they all seemed to understand, and with a smile on the corner of their mouths, they looked quite happy.

"Li Shilang's meaning is to make it available to merchants and ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty, and then charge them a certain fee, just like buying a train ticket."

Chen Xilie spoke.

Li An nodded in approval.

The rest of the ministers were surprised for a moment, and then nodded very approvingly, in their opinion, if the telegraph machine wants to return to its original cost, it must be used for civilian use, so that the people of the whole Tang Dynasty can pay for the research and development of the telegraph.

Among them, the most optimistic about the ministers is the merchants, because the merchants are very rich, and the merchants do business all over the country, and they do need timely contact information, in the past, the merchants to contact the news of various places, can only rely on manpower, send confidants to check the accounts in various places, and even go to the markets in various cities in person, so as to understand the situation and the demand for commodities in various places.

If a certain commodity is found in an urgent need in a region, they will immediately rush to the place where it is produced, buy a large quantity of goods, and then transport them to the cities where they need them, so as to make a lot of money.

If others find out earlier and transport the goods to the city in urgent need, then, when the businessman transports the goods to the target city, the city that may be in urgent need of this commodity is no longer lacking this commodity, and there may even be too much, which will cause the price to continue to plummet, so that the slow businessman will suffer heavy losses.

And if the businessman finds that a certain city is in urgent need of a certain commodity, he does not work hard to go to the place of origin to purchase, but takes a telegram to the past, so that the subordinates who are far away in the place of origin can go to purchase, then, you can save a lot of time, so that it is possible to take the first step to transport the goods, and even, under the origin of raw materials, when you get the instructions, you can also communicate with the merchant in time, tell the businessman, the price of the commodity in the place of origin has also risen, a lot of inventory has been swept away, and shipped to the city in urgent need, so, The merchant will immediately think that his competitor has already taken a step forward, and if he continues to buy this commodity, he will not be able to make any money, and only by giving up this business can he reduce his losses.

This is the great role of the telegraph for businessmen, with the telegraph to deliver news in a timely manner, businessmen can respond to the market more flexibly, so as to avoid suffering major economic losses, so that they can earn more money more easily.

And because an important news can play a great role, and even, it can allow businessmen to avoid tens of thousands of losses, so for the cost of shooting telegrams, businessmen will not care too much, and even a shot of tens of thousands of dollars will not frown, and how many businessmen in Datang, if all businessmen go to use telegraph frequently, then, the cost of research and development can be collected soon, that is to say, the participation of businessmen is the key factor in whether the cost of telegraph can be recovered, only a large number of businessmen are willing to use telegraph, The cost of R&D and manufacturing of telegraphs can be quickly recovered.