To let Yongli make a decree to condemn Wang Yu, Yongli really didn't dare to make an order, he knew that it was easy for the southern army to destroy himself, and the south could also set up a new emperor, but there was no excuse. If it is decreed, wouldn't that give the South an excellent excuse? Yongli hesitated.

The eunuch of the celebrant palm seal whispered in Yongli's ear: "Your Majesty should retreat from the court first, and the matter of the decree will be discussed separately." ”

"If you have something to do, you have nothing to do!"

With the eunuch's ugly male duck shouting, Yongli stood up, ignored the hundred officials in the court, and retreated first.

Yongli returned to the imperial study, and Wu Yingqi and Li Sixing were heard.

"Li Aiqing, tell me what you saw and heard when you went to the south." Yongli Road.

Like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, Li Sixing told in detail everything he had seen and heard in the south, talking about the trains, steamships, steamships, giant cannons, and other new means of transport and weapons he saw, as well as about the many factories and agricultural production in the south.

"KitKat!" The celebrant and eunuch beside him snorted coldly.

Li Sixing said solemnly: "Gonggong Zhang's words are wrong, that is technology. If it weren't for Nanwang having such technology, how would he defeat the Tartars, Zhongxing and my Ming? ”

Wu Yingqi asked: "With such technology, the soldiers are strong." If the king of the south has the heart of disobedience and initiates a rebellion, who can resist the court? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, back to the Lord!" Li Sixing bowed his hand respectfully and said, "The king of the south and Weichen are brothers-in-law, Weichen went to the south, the army of the king of the south is about to march south, there is no extra strength to care about the north, he has no intention of chasing the Central Plains, he just wants to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty with peace of mind." ”

Yongli turned his head to look at Wu Yingqi and asked: "Wu Aiqing, the king of the south is flying and domineering in a small overseas country, and he is full of complaints, which really damages the face of my big country. ”

Wu Yingqi said: "Your Majesty should issue an edict listing several major sins of the Southern King, and the key is to grasp the one that the Southern King brutalized the people of the feudal country, so that he can get the support of the scholars of the world." However, His Majesty only issued an edict and fined the King of the South for three years, and did not send troops to levy. Weichen thought, King Nan didn't care about the three years of the imperial court at all. ”

The so-called three-year penalty, Wang Yu didn't care at all, since he was canonized by the imperial court to the present, except for a little reward, he has never received a penny of copper plates, and all the money was earned by himself.

After Wu Yingqi listened to what Li Sixing said about what he saw and heard in the south, he actually wished that Wang Yu would send troops south as soon as possible, and he also knew that the Western colonists in various parts of the South Seas were not so easy to deal with.

"Okay, then it's up to Wu Aiqing." Yongli nodded.

The capital issued an edict and sent it to the south. The content of the edict is nothing more than a list of various crimes committed by Wang Yu in Nanyang, such as massacring local people, plundering local people as slaves, not allowing local people to believe in Heavenly Religion, sending troops to bloody suppression, causing the people of Nanyang countries to complain and other crimes.

Wang Yu scoffed at receiving such an edict and continued to discuss the matter of the Western Expedition with Wang Yuyou and others.

"The cities of the countries of the Western Regions are strong, they are all castles of the Taixi and the Great Cannibal style, the top of the castle is sealed, there are shooting holes, and there are fortresses around it, and the Western Expeditionary Army lacks heavy artillery, so it is difficult to conquer the castle. If it is attacked by manpower, I am afraid that it will suffer heavy losses. Yao Qisheng read the letter sent back by Li Guangdi.

Wang Yuyou sneered: "Li Laiheng's monk Zhixin is not a good type, and they must have done nothing less about holding the local Heavenly Sect people hostage to attack the city!" But they came to cry out what was the lack of heavy artillery? The journey to the Western Regions is long, and there is no water transportation, how can heavy artillery be transported? ”

"It is still necessary to build a railway to the Western Regions." Wang Yu pointed to the map and said.

The current operation of the Beijing-Shanghai Railway (Shanghai-Nanjing Railway) economic benefits are excellent, this is a railway that makes a lot of money, from Shanghai to Nanjing along the way, not only the dignitaries and nobles have chosen a comfortable and fast railway travel, even the ordinary people, poor scholars who enter Beijing to take the exam have gradually accepted this railway.

The passenger trains running on the Beijing-Shanghai Railway not only have comfortable and luxurious soft sleeper cars, but also relatively cheap hard sleeper cars, first-class and second-class cars that provide comfortable travel for short-distance passengers, and third-class cars that are acceptable to ordinary people. The so-called third-class car, which is equivalent to the hard-seat car of later generations, is very crowded in the car, not only sells seat tickets, but also stands tickets, although the comfort of riding is not high, but the ticket price is very cheap.

The Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway and the Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway have also been opened, and the economic benefits of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway are not much worse than those of the Beijing-Shanghai Railway.

Seeing the huge economic benefits brought by the railway, the Jiangnan Company, which was invested by the Jiangnan gentry, was also ready to move, planning to let the Jiangnan Bank give the railway a loan and invest in the construction of the railway. Now Jiangnan has begun to invest in the Xiaoyong Railway, that is, the railway from Xiaoshan to Ningbo on the south bank of the Qiantang River. In addition, Jiangnan also plans to build the Zhejiang-Jiangxi railway from Xiaoshan to Changsha, the Nanjiu railway from Nanchang to Jiujiang, and some branch railways from Jiangnan.

Hankou, on the north bank of Wuchang, is also building a railway, and a railway from Hankou to Zhengzhou is being built. However, in order to connect the great northwest, the amount of work is very huge, and the railways leading to the great northwest pass through poor areas, and from the perspective of economic benefits, the railways to the northwest are money-losing railways.

Even from Zhengzhou to Xi'an, it is a money-losing route, because of the war, the population of the entire Henan and Shaanxi has plummeted, and it has not recovered from the end of the Ming Dynasty to the present.

"Even if it is a loss, we must build a railway to the northwest! It's not just a matter of silver, with this railway our heavy weapons will be able to send to the northwest. There is also ammunition, the machine gun of the future will consume bullets like drinking water, and there is more than 100,000 troops of food and grass, without railways, we will not be able to control the northwest. Wang Yu said categorically.

According to the plan, Nanyang Company and Jiangnan Company will cooperate to invest in the construction of the Longhai Railway and the Lanxin Railway, and the Lanxin Railway will end in Dihua. After arriving in Dihua, the Northern Xinjiang Railway will be built to extend to the Western Regions.

"At present, the weapons, ammunition, food, and salaries provided to the Western Expeditionary Army all rely on camels for transportation, and the roads in the northwest pass through the Gobi Desert, making it difficult for even vehicles to walk, and they completely rely on camels to carry them, and the transportation capacity is low, heavy artillery cannot be transported, and ammunition consumption cannot keep up at all." Wang Yuyou nodded and said.

"But when will the railway be completed in these two days? At least five years, right? Maybe ten years. Yao Qisheng said.

"I have to repair it in ten years!" Wang Yu said.

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