Zhu Youzhen, who was about to leave, stopped, and he said to Sun Yuanhua: "You are right, the railway is an excellent inland transportation mode second only to the canal, especially suitable for the plain areas of Hebei and the Central Plains.

After the completion of the railway, it will be able to greatly share the transportation pressure of the northern section of the Grand Canal. In particular, the railway is not affected by dry periods and floods, and there is less disturbance during operation.

However, the investment and maintenance costs of the railway are extremely high, especially the construction of the railway must go as straight as possible, which will naturally encroach on a lot of fertile land. If the railway is built and only relies on the power of the imperial court, there will inevitably be a lot of trouble in various places, and even a good thing will turn into a bad thing.

And the imperial court itself lacks funds, and if it wants to invest in the construction of railways on a large scale, it will undoubtedly put itself in a predicament. However, the sooner the railway is built, the more it can connect regions and promote the rapid development of the local economy.

The railway itself can bring a huge economic return, and those businessmen and gentry cannot quickly recover their capital after investing in the construction of the railway, and they can also obtain rich benefits.

If we develop the construction of the railway to these merchants and gentry, although the imperial court has lost some control, for the Ming Dynasty as a whole, it can receive incidental social benefits and a lot of taxes. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

What's more, if the construction of railways can be developed, then the goods produced by the coal mines, iron mines, limestone mines, iron and steel mills and coking plants that we have invested in the construction will find a sales market, right? ”

Regarding Chongzhen's explanation, Sun Yuanhua couldn't find any flaws. But as a feudal scholar, he has an indescribable void in his heart, and he always feels that something is wrong.

Not long after leaving the arsenal, Zhu Youzhen, who was riding on a horse, summoned Wang Chengen and said: "Let Tu Wenfu start to buy all the iron materials in the Gyeonggi market, and when the iron materials are almost purchased, let Tang Wenzheng prepare to list the shares of the Jingxi Railway on the exchange, and the share capital is tentatively set at 200,000 yuan..."

While Beijing was busy with the triennial talent ceremony and the Ming Dynasty merchants' congress, Macao, a small coastal town in the far south, was also caught up in a fierce discussion at the citizens' meeting.

There are six members of the Macau Council, in addition to the three members of the ruling committee who entered Beijing to meet the emperor, Bishop Antonio, Pietro and Agostinius, there is also a Gonzalo who served as the first official of the royal family, and two other Portuguese merchants who were elected.

Due to the decline of the Spanish Empire's maritime power and the Thirty Years' War, the Spanish kingdom's financial and human resources were greatly consumed.

King Felipe IV of Spain, who ascended the throne in 1621, reappointed his partner Olivares, whom he had grown up with, as prime minister after deposing the former prime minister, Lerma.

The young courtiers sought to reorganize the Spanish Empire's decline and restore its hegemony in Europe in the last century.

At that time, the Spanish Empire was spending a lot of money on the most central territories, Castia, the Spanish Netherlands, and the colonies of the Americas. After successive wars with England and the Netherlands, Spain's alliance with Austria began the wars of religion against the whole of Europe.

The war was so costly that the Spanish Empire could not afford it, but Portugal and Aragon, as part of the Empire, never paid a single copper plate for this war.

Felipe IV, together with Prime Minister Olivares, turned his attention to Portugal and Aragon, hoping to extract tax revenues from these two places to support the war, which still had no end in sight.

However, the rude planning of the two men, and the corruption of the Spanish officials, caused the people of Portugal and Catalonia to pay more taxes than they could afford, and the Portuguese, who were already dissatisfied with Spanish rule, finally began to rebel.

The Catalans echoed the Portuguese independence movement, and the rebellion that broke out in both places dealt a heavy blow to the Spanish Empire's domination of both regions.

Felipe IV and his court, mired in internal and external wars, had no time to take care of the management of the colonies far away in Asia.

As a result, both the Portuguese-Indian Viceroyalty in Goa, India, and the Viceroyalty of the Philippines in the Manila Islands are now in a laissez-faire state.

It was a mixed blessing for Portuguese merchants in the Macau region who were hiding on the mainland of the Ming Kingdom.

In the past, the King of Spain always wanted to turn Macao into a direct colony of the Spanish royal family by appointing the governor of Macao and the official of the royal family.

But now, because the Spanish Empire was too busy in Europe, in addition to selling the trading rights of the government-run trading fleet, not only did it no longer try to appoint the governor of Macao, but even the royal officials were handed over to the Macao merchants to elect themselves.

As a result, the Council, which was originally formed spontaneously by Macao citizens, has been elevated to the highest administrative body in Macao. This unexpected freedom was naturally welcomed by the citizens of Macao.

But what worried them was that with the decline of the Spanish Empire's maritime power, these Portuguese merchants lost the guarantee of the security of maritime trade. The Dutch East India Company grew stronger in Southeast Asia, and the Dutch began to seek Malacca, trying to cut off the return of Portuguese merchant ships from East Asia to India.

The Ming Emperor unexpectedly sent someone to summon representatives of Macao merchants to Beijing, and for these Portuguese merchants, they originally thought it was a good opportunity to expand the trading location of Portuguese merchants in the Ming Kingdom.

However, the news brought back by Bishop Antonio, Petero, Agostinius and others brought back Macao completely under the administration of the Ming Kingdom, which immediately made these merchants feel dissatisfied.

In the square in front of the Senado in Macau, hundreds of citizens were standing here, listening to the three representatives of the ruling committee standing in front of the Senado and conveying to them the agreement reached with the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom.

The composition of the municipal assembly in Macau was divided into three classes, but there were no women, non-converting Chinese, and slaves.

The first estate is the clergy, nobility, senators, and their families of the Church; The second class is the wealthy, ship owners, people in public office, and their families; The third class is the person who works as an ancillary and serves the first and second classes and their dependents.

At the town hall meeting, the opinions of church members and senators often played a decisive role.

One of the ship's owners, apparently dissatisfied with the agreement brought back by the members of the delegation, involuntarily interrupted Congressman Pietro, who was speaking, and shouted: "We created Macau, and without us businessmen, this would be just a desert island."

We pay a large amount of taxes to the Ming State every year, and we also fill the pockets of those Ming officials with silver. Why can't we live as we used to be, but accept the rule of these infidels?

If we let those non-religious Chinese join the town council, let them be judges, let them occupy the batteries. Who can guarantee that they will not increase taxes on us? Won't confiscate our ships? ”

The businessman's suspicion immediately resonated with many citizens, and a huge discussion suddenly sounded at the meeting.

Pietro held the agreement in his hand, a little overwhelmed, not knowing whether to read it or not. Bishop Antonio quickly pushed him away, struck the table with a mallet to silence the citizens, and then spoke in a cold tone.

"Monsieur Diderot, I would like to ask you to be mindful of your remarks and not to try to attack non-religious Chinese in order to incite hatred.

I would like to draw the attention of all citizens once again to the following points: First, Macao is located on the territory of the Ming Kingdom, and there is a military camp of 3,000 men less than five miles from us, and there are only 1,000 Portuguese adult men in the whole of Macao.

Second, the other party to this agreement is the incomparably noble Emperor of the Ming Kingdom. The power of this emperor in Asia was no weaker than that of the Spanish king in Europe. However, the population under the rule of the Ming Emperor was about the same as that of the whole of Europe.

Third, everyone knows the East Asian pirate group Eighteen Zhi, they have surrendered to the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom. This emperor could rule the seas of East Asia if he wanted to. The Emperor's mercy can shelter us in this land, and his wrath can destroy us..."

The identity of Bishop Antonio, coupled with his threats and temptations, suddenly made these hesitant merchants begin to calm down.

Only then did they realize that whether they wanted to or not, there was no power to break the agreement.

The clergy and senators of the first rank in the town hall were reluctant to challenge the power of the Ming Emperor in this land, and only some nobles still had doubts.

Dondio, the leader of the nobility of Macao, asked Bishop Antonio: "The Sino-Japanese trading fleet will arrive in Macao in May every year, and by order of the king, the commander of the fleet, Sarmento, has the authority to administer Macao.

If we owe allegiance to the Ming Emperor, how should we explain to him when the Sino-Japanese trade fleet arrives? Will this lead the Governor of Goa to declare us a traitor and to sever Macao's trade with the Indian and Philippine colonies? ”

Bishop Antonio fell silent for a moment, and he could not afford to accept the reaction of the Governor of Goa. Agostinius suddenly stood up and cleared the siege for him.

"Maybe Samento will be dissatisfied, but for him, being able to keep trade with Ming and Japan is the first priority. He bought a three-year trade monopoly for 270,000 schelles.

If he angered the Ming Emperor, he would not be able to transport a tael of silver from Macau to Chinese goods, so would he still care if the Ming Emperor seized his power? He was in Macao from May to September a year, and in just a few months, the power to manage Macau was nothing more than a dispensable honor for him.

I am sure that Mr. Sarmento will not want to let his trade time be wasted on useless arguments over the power of the administration of Macau.

And, have you ever thought about it? Now that we have pledged allegiance to the Ming Emperor, the ban on trade imposed by the King of Spain on us has no effect.

Now we can go to that trade if we want to, as long as we hang the banner of the Ming Dynasty. This is a promise given to us by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty..."

"Oh, damn it. Yago, why didn't you say such an important condition earlier? Instead, it wastes everyone's time listening to those useless provisions..."

"Indeed, if the Ming Emperor allows us to trade at sea in his name, we should naturally owe our allegiance to him. Long live the Ming Emperor..."

The six members of the council watched in amazement, and the citizens below who suddenly became extremely loyal to the Ming Emperor.