When Zhang Canghai heard this, he asked Song Yingxing, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, a few words, and immediately showed a look of shock, and said to the Son of Heaven: "Your Majesty, the minister just asked Song Butang and learned that this wooden track needs more than 50,000 taels of silver per 100 miles. From Beijing to Shenyangwei and Zamutu, the total is nearly 2,000 miles. In other words, it will cost at least one million taels to repair the wooden tracks in these two places!

"This, the household department can't take out so much silver at the moment......"

"A million taels?" Zhu Linmiao shook his head, "This is the price of building a wooden track in the Guan, I estimate that the cost of repairing it outside the Guanguan will be doubled, and it is appropriate for the imperial court to prepare two million taels first." ”

When Zhang Canghai heard that Mount Tai was pressed on his shoulders, he gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, the ministers will do their best to squeeze out this silver from the treasury within two years, not a year and a half!" ”

According to what the Son of Heaven said, this is a hundred-year plan to determine the northern border troubles, and the whole process must have been planned in five or eight years, so Master Zhang thought that it would be extremely fast to be able to raise the required silver taels in a year and a half.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Linmiao smiled and said: "There are still Henan and Shanxi in Jiangbei that have not been settled, and there are also chaotic armies in Hunan. It is not easy for Zhang Butang to get into the house, and the Northern Expedition can no longer use the money of the ministry. ”

Zhang Canghai's eyes are straight, two million taels! If you don't take a penny of silver from the household, is the private money of the Son of Heaven so thick?!

Zhu Linmiao then looked at Huang Zongxi, "Huang Butang, I want the Ministry of Commerce to come up with 1.7 million taels within half a year, can you do it?" ”

He pondered that for the two-thousand-mile wooden rail project, it should not be difficult to raise four or five hundred thousand taels of shares and silver from the people, and for the sake of safety, it should only be counted as 300,000 taels.

Huang Zongxi immediately stepped out and said: "Back to Your Majesty, the current profit of the ocean-going caravan is 1.23 million taels in half a year. The flying clippers built on the side of the Longjiang River have gone to Luzon, and they are flying like skimming the sea, and the time to go back and forth is forty percent shorter than in the past! The minister estimated that if a large number of ships were used to transport goods in the future, it would not be a problem for the caravan to earn 1.5 million taels a year.

"In addition, there has been a significant increase in the number of merchant ships from the private sector and the number of people who have come to the sea, and the annual income from import and export tariffs has exceeded one million taels. There are also colonies in Guinea, where four or five hundred thousand taels of gold, copper, and iron ore are mined every year. In this way, it is not difficult for the Ministry of Commerce to draw 1.7 million taels before the end of the year. ”

In fact, he did not mention Taiwan's timber and mineral income, because Taiwan has not yet established a political envoy and a yamen, so this piece is temporarily under the control of the Ministry of Commerce, and it is 500,000 or 600,000 taels a year.

There is also a newly developed colony in Australia, although it has made great progress at present, but it has not made much profit in a short period of time, so he did not count it.

The sea is definitely a cornucopia of the seventeenth century, and once you look at the ocean in a big country like the Ming Dynasty, gold and silver will roll in immediately.

Zhu Linmiao nodded with satisfaction, "Okay, then the Ministry of Commerce will allocate two silver taels to the Ministry of Industry on a monthly basis to replenish the funds for building wooden rails." At the same time, the household department should also cooperate with the organization of the people, and the prisoners on the side of the military department are closely called by the Ministry of Works, and the east and west wooden rails will start construction together, but the first priority is Liaodong, and the section to Ningyuan must be completed within half a year! ”

Huang Zongxi, Zhang Canghai, Yu Xin, Song Yingxing and others immediately said solemnly: "Minister, receive the order!" ”

The other courtiers in the palace saw that the Son of Heaven was so resolute in his intention to build a wooden track and go on a northern expedition, and they didn't say anything more.

However, Zhu Linmiao seemed to think that the "stimulation" of the ministers was not enough, and continued: "When the wooden track is paved to the Great Wall, the Shanhaiguan and Xuanfu sections will be demolished."

"In the future, the Ming Dynasty will never hide behind the Great Wall to defend the throne! If you dare to offend my enemy, you will be punished! ”

Demolition of the mountain customs?! Dig up the Great Wall?! Never defend?!! The ministers were shocked.

If his peers had just regained most of the lost territory when the country had just regained it, they would have made bold statements about taking the initiative to destroy the Tartars who had been powerless by the Ming Dynasty, they would have scoffed at them.

But who is this person in front of you?

3,000 men and horses raised troops from an inconspicuous small county town in the southwest of Jiangxi, swept through the south of the Yangtze River, recovered the north of the Jiangbei, killed hundreds of thousands of prisoners like lost dogs, and retracted back to Liaodong and did not dare to move.

If he said that he would eradicate the border troubles in one fell swoop, no one would have the slightest doubt!

Everyone couldn't help but have the same thought in their hearts, perhaps, when the Son of Heaven will not only bring Daming Zhongxing, but the unprecedented glory!

Dozens of people immediately knelt down and said in unison: "Holy Wisdom! ”

In fact, Zhu Linmiao calculated very clearly, spending a lot of money to build a wooden track connecting the customs is definitely a sure profit.

Not to mention the significance of the wooden track as a major artery that can stabilize the imperial court's rule over Saiwai, just the various minerals, furs, horses and other materials in Mongolia and Liaodong can earn two million taels in a few years.

More importantly, he knew that after a hundred years, the main threat to the Ming Dynasty would no longer come from the north, but from the sea.

The emerging Western maritime powers have completed the division of interests in the whole world and have begun to eyeing the huge country of East Asia, and in the end they will not be able to hold back and will attack with huge ships and cannons, bringing shame to China for a hundred years.

Therefore, before that, he must first solve the problems of the northern henchmen once and for all, and then concentrate on expanding the navy and snatching the rich resources and powerful national power of the Americas and Africa from the mouths of the Western powers.

Then we have to complete the industrial revolution before the Western countries, so that the Ming Dynasty will always stand at the top of the pyramid of the world's nations!