On this day, Du Zhongxiao was sitting in the back office, and the officials came to report, and Ma Zun, the judge of Jianghuai shipping, came to visit. Du Zhongxiao listened, hurriedly tidied up his clothes, and greeted him. When they saw Ma Zun, they saluted and greeted them to the Yamen Flower Hall.

Although he is also a road-level supervisor and judge, the status of the Jianghuai Shipping Department is much higher than that of the Transshipment Department, and Ma Zun's status is higher than that of Du Zhongxiao. At this time, the transfer of seniority order, the transfer judge is higher than the governor, and then the relocation can be a sentence, and then you can enter the third division. The judges of the three divisions are about to be equivalent to the transshipment envoys, and the deputy envoys of the three divisions are equivalent to the Jianghuai shipping envoys. As for the higher level of the three envoys, they are already second only to the important ministers of Zaizhi, and they are beyond ordinary officials.

However, in terms of this official, Du Zhongxiao is much higher than Ma Zun's supervision of the imperial history. Ma Zun's ministry is heavy, Du Zhongxiao is a high official, and the two have equal status.

When they arrived at the flower hall, Du Zhongxiao gave his hand: "Come here, I don't know what's going on?" ”

Ma Zundao: "In this year's agricultural slack season, several states on Jingnan Road recruited people to lay a railway from Tangzhou to Xiangzhou. After a few months of people's lives, it has now been paved to Xinye City. A few days ago, there was an official document from the Baiting Supervisor, saying that the old steel was exhausted, and the iron supervisor was busy, and if the railroad tracks there were used again, the price would increase. The transshipment envoy couldn't scrape together the money for a while, so Deputy Envoy Li discussed with me and asked the shipping department to help. ”

The official name of the shipping department is Huainan, Jiangnan, Jinghu, and Liangzhejiang to set up tea and salt alum tax and the capital of the big shipping envoy, which is in charge of the transportation of the six southeast roads to Beijing. If the railway leads to Xiangzhou, then Jinghu and Jiangnan two roads, you can take the Yangtze River to Xiangzhou. The shipping department understands the convenience of the railway, actively participates, and wants to divide a part of the transportation from Xiangzhou to Kaifengfu. Unexpectedly, just after the repair to Xinye, the accumulated steel in the iron prison was exhausted, and the price was raised, otherwise the rails would not be sent over. The Forwarding Division had no choice but to ask the Shipping Division for help.

In fact, the iron supervision is sunrise steel, where is the backlog of steel exhausted this time. The steel used in important purposes must be aged, and it can be placed for a long time after refining to ensure stable mechanical properties. There has always been a large amount of smelted steel piled up there in the iron prison, and this time it is just an excuse to raise the price. Ye Qingchen was transferred from the post of the third envoy, and the current third envoy is Zhang Yaozuo, who was in a hurry to make political achievements and took over the power of the iron supervisor from the hands of the transfer department. The three divisions are directly in charge, and the iron supervisor has to hand over not only the iron tax, but also the tax money, and he has to settle accounts with the transfer envoy Si Ming.

Zhang Yaozuo is Zhang Guifei's uncle, Zhang Guifei wants to raise the family, and in the past few years, she has been constantly asking for officials for her uncle, and she has risen rapidly. As a relative, in terms of status and official position alone, in fact, Zhang Yaozuo is not outrageous. The Zhang family is thin, just one Zhang Yaozuo can get his hands on it, he was born as a Jinshi, and he has both the status of a relative and his own qualifications. Zhang Yaozuo's status at this time was not much higher than that of Empress Cao's father, brothers, sons and nephews.

But when officials at this time talked about their relatives, they often praised the people of the Cao family and constantly attacked Zhang Yaozuo. Zhang Yaozuo was also very distressed, obviously he was cautious in doing things, and he didn't dare to publicize it, so no matter what he did, it was wrong. This time, as the third envoy, I am determined to make achievements and not make my niece too embarrassed. The three divisions want to increase the money and food in their hands, and what is more suitable than the iron supervisor.

These relatives are very interesting. Zhang Yaozuo is the prototype of the villain Pang Taishi in the Romance of Later Generations, and Cao Tong, the younger brother of Queen Cao, is the uncle of Cao Guo in the legend of the Eight Immortals.

At first, Du Zhongxiao didn't understand why the officials of the DPRK and China did this, but after a long time, the officials gradually understood. Zhang Yaozuo's problem has little to do with what he did, the biggest problem is that he is a civil official and has always held important ministries. If he does a military job and goes to manage the army, Zhang Yaozuo will not say anything if he is a third-secretary envoy, even if he is an envoy of the feudal degree. But Zhang Guifei's little woman is very hard-headed, that is, she wants her uncle to be promoted in the civil official sequence. I don't know if she really doesn't understand, or if she is uncompromising because of her pampering, and desperately puts Zhang Yaozuo in those critical positions. The prophet Kaifeng Mansion, and then appointed the third envoy, the next step is to be the ruler, how can the officials of the DPRK and China tolerate him. If he goes to a big county to be a governor and is comfortably promoted, he will be promoted to the prince of the country in a few years, and there will not be so many people who will trouble him.

In the Song Dynasty, relatives could be in charge of the army and lead troops to fight, but they could not be in power, otherwise they would repeat the mistake of the former dynasty's relatives abusing power. is the prime minister outside, and the niece and even daughter in the palace are the masters of the harem, so if you pay it back, the emperor's balanced position in the center will be threatened. The prime minister, coupled with the fact that many of his relatives controlled the military power, completely changed the entire power structure.

Knowing this, Du Zhongxiao knew that the better Zhang Yaozuo did in the three envoys, the greater the resistance. No matter how many political achievements there are, the officials of the DPRK and China will not allow a foreign prime minister, nor will the emperor allow it, and no one dares to assume this responsibility and set this precedent.

Listening to Ma Zun's introduction of the situation, Du Zhongxiao said: "I see. I don't know what I want to do? ”

Ma Zundao: "The Transit Division doesn't have so much cash now, and the Shipping Division naturally doesn't have either. The idea is to mortgage alum, or directly exchange alum for rails. The iron supervisor was built single-handedly, and he also asked for a letter to be issued to let the Baiting supervisor be accommodating. ”

Du Zhongxiao listened and was silent for a while. Li Cheng, the deputy envoy for transshipment, did not come forward, and let Ma Zun, the shipping judge, come, which was a helpless move. Li Cheng's status is above Du Zhongxiao, and it is a business matter, so he can't let his subordinates come forward, and he really can't pull it off.

Du Zhongxiao's principle for the iron supervisor is to only accept cash as much as possible, no matter who he does business with. Pay money with one hand and deliver with one hand, do not do physical trade, and avoid unnecessary trouble. I didn't expect that there would be such a day when I had to break my own rules.

After pondering for a moment, Du Zhongxiao said: "Issuing a judgment, is there no way to exchange alum for cash?" ”

Ma Zun shook his head: "Jinghu is a place where alum is produced, if it is not transported to Jingshi, how can it be exchanged for money?" There are many merchants in Baiting, and they can sell the alum if they receive it. Big deal, we're going to keep the price lower. ”

Seeing Du Zhongxiao's hesitation, Ma Zun said again: "Yun Ju, the railway was also built by you at the beginning, and you know the benefits best." If you can't look at the card in Xinye City, you can't get to Xiangzhou for more than 100 miles. The shipping department can only take out salt, tea, alum, and the like, and there is really no cash. ”

After thinking about it, Du Zhongxiao sighed: "Don't hide the verdict, when I was in the iron prison, I always told the officials that they did business, and they only accepted cash regardless of who they were. It's a bit difficult to go back on your word now. In this way, I will discuss with Su Zhijian and think of a way to get the best of both worlds? ”

Ma Zun said: "What is the best of both worlds?" Time is urgent, and when the rice is harvested after autumn, it is necessary to start work. Otherwise, we will have to wait another year. I have reported to the shipping envoy that next year, the grain from Jinghu will not go to the Bianhe River, and even the transshipment warehouse will be dismantled. ”

Of course, Du Zhongxiao does not believe that the shipping warehouse will be dismantled, but it is possible to reduce manpower.

After thinking about it again and again, Du Zhongxiao said: "It's better to write a letter to the Baiting supervisor, and ask them to send the railroad tracks over first, which will be counted as credit." It is not appropriate to use alum to settle the account, and it will break the rules of the iron prison, and there will be endless troubles in the future. ”

Ma Zun smiled bitterly: "But in this case, we still have no money to pay the bill." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's better to be like this, the Transit Division and the Shipping Division have no money, how about raising funds from the people?" ”

Ma Zun shook his head again and again: "How to raise money from the people?" Even if the department is discouraged from selling, there is no reason. In order to build roads, you can't suppress tea and salt to the states you pass by, for fear that you will be impeached by the imperial history. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It can't be like this, since it's to build the road, let's find a way to the road." It is better to set a deadline for the railway to be completed in the autumn of this year. The transshipment department and the shipping department work together to determine how many cars will run on this road and how many goods can be transported. Sell tickets for these cars in advance now for merchants to buy. They were promised what day the truck would be loaded and what day it would be delivered, and compensation would be given for breach of contract. How about the ticket money collected and used to buy railroad tracks in the railway supervisor? ”

Hearing this, Ma Zun's eyes lit up: "This is a solution!" - But is the ticket money enough? ”

"More than 100 miles, there are not many railroad tracks left, it should be enough."

After Zhang Yaozuo took office, he immediately ordered the construction of the railway from Xiangcheng to Kaifeng Prefecture, and the rails used were counted as iron classes. The efficiency of the three divisions is not comparable to that of the transfer division, and it can be repaired before the autumn. The railway supervisor had to give priority to supplying there, so the railroad tracks on Jingnan Road were cut off.

When it was repaired to Kaifeng Mansion, it not only increased the transportation capacity, but also increased the value sharply. In a few days, from Xiangzhou to Kaifeng Mansion, it is not only the freight that is saved, but also the time. Time was saved, and a large number of goods that were not suitable for long-distance trafficking were changed at once, opening up a vast market.

In winter, some vegetables and fruits can also be produced in the Xiangzhou area, which can be directly transported to Kaifeng Province by railway. In the winter in the capital, the price of fresh vegetables is staggering, and this alone can make a lot of money, not to mention others.

With more than one million people in Kaifeng Prefecture and the state army along the way, the railway has opened up a huge market for Jinghu Road, and the business opportunities are unlimited. As long as the publicity is good and the measures are effective, there is still no businessman eyeing this piece of fat.

After listening to Du Zhongxiao's introduction, Ma Zun nodded again and again, and gradually gained confidence. Hundreds of thousands of yuan is indeed a big number, but as long as private businessmen make a move, it is not difficult to get it together. In recent years, there are still a lot of rich people in the people.

After discussing again and again, Du Zhongxiao said: "The most important thing is to have enough capacity. After the road was repaired, the cars running on it tried to transport the goods we sold tickets to. To do this, it is up to the shipping department to come forward. ”

Ma Zun said: "This matter is also easy. I will write to the shipping envoy, and the shipping department will play the court. In the future, the freight of the railway will be unified under the shipping department, such as the Bianhe River transportation. ”

The shipping department is in charge of the lifeblood of the Beijing Division, and in addition to the border marshal's mansion, it is the most important yamen in the mainland. It is more reasonable and convenient for them to manage railway transportation in a unified manner than to have it managed by various transit companies.