Hearing this, Li Cheng couldn't help frowning: "Want money?" Is the Iron Supervisor short of money now? ”

Du Zhongxiao said helplessly: "Deputy envoy, when the iron supervisor is built, there is only 500,000 yuan of cash allocated by the inner treasury, and then there is the grain and rice allocated by the states of the road. There are more than 20,000 people, and they have to pay money and grain every month, and the iron of the iron prison can't be sold, how can there be money? Now there are only more than 200,000 yuan in cash on the account of the iron supervisor, and it is still very little every month, and there is no surplus. ”

Song Qi said: "Yun Judgment, the iron and steel of the Iron Prison is extremely good, and the price is not expensive, everyone is rushing to ask for it, why can't it be sold?" ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "If it's good to rush, you have to ship it out!" The ministers of the town on the other side of the Li River have seen it, and it is becoming prosperous day by day, and I don't know how many foreign merchants live there. The goods they bought were piled up in the freight yard of the Iron Prison and could not be transported. Except for the nearby states, other merchants use trains to transport goods to Xiangcheng or Tangzhou, where are so many cars and ships? ”

Li Fugui listened and hurriedly said: "What the judge said is right, our dock here in Tangzhou has also piled up a large amount of goods. Some are waiting for the boat, some are waiting for the train, and I've heard that some have been waiting for months. ”

Li Cheng said: "But I see that there are not many cars on the repaired railway." I didn't come for half a day, it was empty. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Deputy envoy, where do we have so many cars now?" There are only so many people in the iron prison, it is not easy to make a car, it takes a lot of steel, there is still time, and there is also capital. Only by selling the goods of the iron supervisor can the capital be scraped together. Moreover, there is only one way to go, and you can only run in one direction. There are only a few places in the middle to stop and wait, and the two cars meet, of course, there are only so many. ”

When Li Cheng heard this, his brows furrowed more and more, and asked: "According to what Yun Ju said, if you can run cars in both directions, do you want to build another road?" ”

"That's nature. In this way, the main artery of north-south traffic must of course be paved with double lines. That is, two roads in parallel, one road to the south and one road to the north, so that there will be more cars. There is no need for a small place, but this road leads to Xiangzhou and connects Jianghan. The north side is connected to the River Joux, and I don't know how many goods have to be transported. ”

Li Cheng sighed: "In this way, it is not easy to pave the road. How much iron does that cost? How much? ”

Du Zhongxiao also sighed and stopped talking. I saw that the railroad was paved, and there were trains running on it, and there were many benefits, so I thought it would be easy. The iron supervisor uses almost free labor, has the cooperation from the road to the state and county, mines by himself, smelts iron by himself, and produces the most selected products in the world, but he has not earned a penny for a year, and he has all taken these hundreds of miles of railways. Of course, there is also the infrastructure of the iron prison, and countless various machines, but it also costs hundreds of thousands of yuan, as well as the profits of the field work.

Su Song is the prefect, Du Zhongxiao is going to Xiangdeng Yingtian, and the future accounts must be calculated clearly, there is no such good thing.

After a few rounds of silence, Yan Shu said: "By the way, we saw the farm tools made by the iron supervisor a few days ago, and they are very easy to use. If you can sell it, you should make a lot of money. There are many ways to make money from the railway, and it is not necessary to make money on the railroad rails. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Xianggong, in two or three months, I will go to the camp to organize this year's camp field, and the affairs of the iron supervisor will be handed over to Su Zhijian." The accounts must be calculated clearly, and in the past year, all the money earned from the camp has been handed over to the iron superintendent, and the accounts are all there. The agricultural tools of the iron supervisor must first be repaid to the camp and field work, and then they can be sold elsewhere after they are repaid. This year's battalion and field troops are much more than last year, and farm tools are indispensable. ”

Li Cheng nodded. Of course, the accounts must be calculated clearly, Du Zhongxiao is not counted, and the Third Division and the Transshipment Division must also be calculated. The iron supervisor is basically on the right track, and he will make a lot of money in the future, and the third division has already stared at it.

Fan Zhongyan said: "According to what Du Yunju said, in fact, it is not easy to build a railway? ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "Xianggong, you can't say that." Didn't the iron prison work for a year also pave hundreds of miles? As long as the imperial court is willing to spend money, the railway will be paved quickly. Now the railway has connected Xiangcheng and Tangzhou, although the Ru River and the Mihe River cannot go by big ships, after all, the water transportation is convenient. If the goods of the iron supervisor can be shipped out, they can make money. I am afraid, the imperial court is greedy for the money of the iron prison and refuses to use steel to build railways and trains. ”

The Great Song Dynasty has come to establish itself, and the finances have not been rich, and the thirst for money of the three divisions has reached the point of unscrupulous means. Even if you know that the railroad has infinite benefits, for the sake of immediate benefits, it is likely to restrict the construction of roads, give priority to the production of other products, and make money first.

Fan Zhongyan nodded, looked at Yan Shu, and shook his head helplessly. Du Zhongxiao's words are good, a few years ago, the war broke out in the northwest, and there were too many financial debts, and there have been many local incidents in the past two years. Being able to collect money is the first major thing of the three divisions, and the railway is nothing.

Most of the people in power now are those who opposed the Qingli New Deal back then, and Fan Zhongyan couldn't say anything in the court.

Du Zhongxiao doesn't care, he built an iron prison, with Su Song in charge, and steady development is not a problem. As for the distribution of capacity, the ratio of construction and profits, it has nothing to do with itself. As long as you make this start, you will go with the flow in the future and will always be able to develop.

Li Cheng sighed: "This meeting was originally to discuss the affairs of the camp. A few days ago, the envoy wrote a letter, saying that there are many advantages to the railway, let us discuss, it is best to build it to Luoyang this year. Before judging the future, we discussed, and it was not a big problem. You four states, you can pave 300 miles of roads in a few months, we concentrate the manpower of six states, why is it difficult to pave another 300 miles? Three hundred miles to the north, Henan Province, Ruzhou, Mengzhou and Zhengzhou, the four states are not difficult to pave. But I don't want to say that manpower is easy, but iron is a little difficult. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "If the Transshipment Division is the master, this year will not ask the iron supervisor to make a lot of money, and the main thing will be to pave the road, and this matter can barely be done." I'm afraid that the three divisions are unwilling. To build a road, why didn't the imperial court pave it to Kaifeng Mansion? - However, deputy envoy, there are many benefits to building the road to Xiangzhou. Now that there is some iron left in the Iron Prison, I have ordered the rails to be made into steel rails. It will be transported to Tangzhou as soon as possible, and the people from several states, plus the box army that came to the camp, can be paved in a few months. ”

Li Cheng nodded and said to Fan Zhongyan, "What does Fan Xianggong think?" ”

Fan Zhongyan asked Du Zhongxiao: "Where are you going to go to Xiangzhou?" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Go to Xinye Ancient County, pass through the territory of the Guanghua Army, and go to Xiangzhou." ”

Fan Zhongyan thought for a while and said, "Then it is not easy to cross the White River." Build a bridge, it is impossible for months. And if you don't build a bridge, it will become a dead-end road, and it will be too troublesome to use a ferry. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Don't build a stone bridge, build an iron bridge!" The Iron Supervisor has already tried, and steel bars and steel plates can be made from steel, and it is extremely fast to build bridges! ”

"Iron bridges?" Listening to Du Zhongxiao's words, several people exclaimed together.

Li Cheng said: "Judgment is an iron thing, and it has countless uses. It is used to build bridges, but it is unheard of. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Deputy envoy, the railway is paved with iron, which is unprecedented. The use of iron to build bridges is fast and laborious, and the time is short and the effort is less. Really calculated, it will not be much more expensive than the stone bridge. ”

Several people looked at each other and did not speak for a while. In the end, Fan Zhongyan said: "If you can build an iron bridge, and it is not expensive, then you can build it!" The road is repaired to Xiangzhou and the north and south are of great importance. For the rest to Luoyang and Kaifeng Mansion, the imperial court will find a way. ”