After seeing that the women who were on the heights could hold up half the sky, the group continued to move forward.

After all, after being in the palace all year round, Fang Zhenghua rarely walks long distances, and after walking for a while, his legs and feet are a little sore, and he can't help but reach out and hammer his legs. Liu Quan saw it in his eyes, and commanded a few words to the people around him, and after a while, the bell of "Jingle Bell" rang, and a railcar with no passengers stopped in front of them.

"Father-in-law, if you are tired of walking, get in the car and sit down." Liu Quan pointed to the railroad carriage and introduced, "This kind of carriage runs on flat ground, it is very stable, and it is not bumpy at all. ”

Fang Zhenghua looked at the carriage curiously, except that the wheels were on two rails, the carriage was also much longer than ordinary carriages, and there was an extra pair of wheels, and there was not much abnormality in it. When he entered, he found that there was a cave, the long carriage was unusually spacious, there were tables and chairs, and there were even tea and snacks on the table, which looked like the room of a large family.

He was amazed: "I heard that at that time, Zhang Taiyue's palanquin was carried by 32 people, and there were all bedrooms, kitchens, and latrines, and two small servants waiting. ”

Liu Quan said with a smile: "The villain has little knowledge, and I don't know what Zhang Shoufu's sedan chair looks like, but in Lingao, it is not difficult to make a carriage of this scale, and it does not need dozens of people to carry it. ”

Lingao's railcar technology has gradually matured, from the very beginning of the experimental nature of a few horse-drawn carriages increased to more than 20, the length of the railroad tracks has also slowly increased from the total length of a few miles to more than a dozen miles, the wharf and the urban traffic time has been shortened by more than half, and a "half-hour" economic circle has been built - originally from Bofu Wharf to the main urban area of Lingao It takes more than an hour to walk, and now it only takes half an hour to take the railroad.

In order to better play the role of this new means of transportation, under the suggestion of Lin Weiye, Xia Nan also set up a special management office, and the staffing was temporarily attached to the name of the "Lingao Technology Research Institute", and a special person was responsible for the maintenance and maintenance of the carriage and the track, and dispatched the operation of the entire railway route, so as to ensure that the carriage at different times would not have the embarrassment of "colliding" - although at the speed of the carriage, even if it hit, no major accident would occur, but it would also make the whole system stagnate or even paralyzed.

After more than a year of operation, the railcar has become the most important means of transportation between Bofu and Lingao City, although it cannot be compared with the real railway, but it is finally a serious rail transit system, in terms of loading capacity, running speed and smoothness, the traditional means of transportation in this time and space are thrown out of more than a dozen streets. With the adaptation of the people to this new gadget, different derivative models have also been developed, including passenger and freight models, the former transports people, and the latter specializes in transporting goods - the goods and commodities returned by sea are transported back to the city by railroad, and the efficiency is much higher than that of carrying a handbag - and even in order to meet the needs of high-rise travel, there are also VIP models, which remove some seats to create a Ming Dynasty version of the "luxury" RV, which is what Founder saw.

Although Fang Zhenghua is a eunuch with the court, and his political status in the entire Ming Dynasty is not low, and he is also an important figure in the Central General Office of the Forbidden City, but after all, he is a eunuch, and he is by the side of the Son of Heaven - this lord's dragon robe is patched, and you are squandering and enjoying it under his nose, aren't you looking for death-even if you make some money, how dare you touch the red line of extravagance and overstepping the system, so life is relatively simple. Now seeing this kind of thing that can be compared to the legendary 32 people carrying a sedan chair, Fang Zhenghua is naturally eager to try, and he wants to sit down and have a good time, but he is a little jealous.

He asked tangledly: "This dynasty rides on the shoulder, soft sedan chair, and eight-lift sedan chair, all of which are customized, will our family take such a carriage and will it exceed the system?" ”

Liu Quan smiled and replied: "The imperial court stipulates a sedan chair, not a carriage, besides, my father-in-law will be the eunuch of the master of ceremonies in the future, and he will be one of the best figures in the palace, how can he say that he is overstepping the system?" Besides, the entourage around my father-in-law has been branched out by me, this day is far away from the emperor, if you don't say it, I won't say it, who knows? ”

Seeing that the other party had arranged it properly, Fang Zhenghua put his mind at ease and stepped into the carriage, and Liu Quan followed into the carriage.

The carriage started slowly, and sure enough, as Liu Quan said, this carriage was extremely stable, a hundred times stronger than the carriage he took when he left Beijing. Fang Zhenghua is a eunuch, from the capital to Tianjin to the sea, the carriage bumps along the way, and suffers a lot, which is beyond the experience of a man with normal health, so it is particularly useful for such a sense of comfort.

It didn't take long for the carriage to arrive at the "terminal" Hakusuke Wharf. Fangzhenghua lifted the curtain of the window and looked out, the sails of the port covered the sun, and the people on the wharf came and went, which was very lively. He couldn't help but ask: "Our family has a doubt, and I wanted to ask it when I got off the boat, but I couldn't find anyone to answer: these maritime merchants from all over the world gathered in Lingao, and it is said that they are here to pay silver, what kind of charter is it?" In addition, the imperial court set up banknote customs along the canal, that is because the canal is the only way for ships to pass, but the sea is vast, and it is impossible to set up cards to block it, so how can you let these maritime merchants obediently come to the high sea? ”

Liu Quan coughed a few times and explained: "Father-in-law, in fact, Lingao has set up a tax customs, with the same intention as the imperial court's banknotes, that is, to levy goods tax on ships coming and going. As for why the maritime merchants obediently came to pay high taxes, it is actually simple: the naval division of Qiong Navy is invincible across the seas, and the sea is our world. In this way, who would dare to evade taxes? ”

Fang Zhenghua's eyes widened, this method was simple and rude, without scruples, it can be seen that the Qiong Navy is more unscrupulous at sea than on land. As an ally, he did not raise the "illegality" of setting up his own cards to collect taxes, but was more interested in the effect of collecting taxes.

"So, how much does it cost to collect taxes like this? The annual income of several major banknotes of the imperial court is also a lot, from more than 100,000 taels of silver in the Chenghua period to more than 500,000 taels in the Apocalypse year, the total number has been increasing, and the maritime merchants are more generous than the merchants of the inland river, but I am afraid that it will not be lower than this number, right? ”

Liu Quan was a little speechless and stopped, and said hesitantly: "This...... To tell you the truth, the income of this canal banknote for a year is about ...... for a month from the Lingao tax customs."

"One month ......" Fang Zhenghua was really shocked, the imperial court spent countless manpower and material resources to set up many checkpoints in the canal, and in a year, it was only equivalent to a month's income from the high tax customs? I only know that Qionghai Town and Xia Nan are rich, but I didn't expect that they are rich to such a point, this is the so-called rich country, right?