Zhan Tianyou said that five million taels of the Yangtze River Bridge is enough, but Yang Rui does not believe in his heart, in the case of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, Zhan Tianyou's estimate of the cost is always underestimated, at that time the British engineer Jinda said that the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway will cost seven million taels to repair, and he said that the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway can be repaired with five million taels, and the words are so, but in fact, the budget of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is seven million two hundred and twenty thousand taels, and it really cost seven million taels, because the budget began to be reported, and the last two million taels were reported by Yuan Shikai in the name of purchasing locomotives. Otherwise, this Jingzhang would not have been able to be repaired.

Yang Rui understood Zhan Tianyou's hardship, at that time, it was like grabbing business with the British, he didn't report two million taels on his side, and those people in the Manchu Qing Dynasty might not repair it for him, this was really no way. Now he said that five million taels could repair the Yangtze River Bridge, and Yang Rui was also afraid that he would also deliberately report low like the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, in case the imperial court handed over the railway to foreigners for repair, thinking of this, he said: "The military city, they are all their own people, is this five million taels enough?" If it is not enough, and the household budget is raised again, then it will not be able to increase at that time. ”

Yang Rui said it tactfully, but Zhan Tianyou still understood what this meant, he calmed down a little at the moment, and thought: "Five million is just a rough estimate, and if you really want to make a budget, I am afraid that you will not be able to make a decision after a specific survey." The Yangtze River is not as deep as the Yellow River, and it is impossible to drive piles at a depth of more than 40 meters by the pneumatic caisson method, and other methods must be used, and it is not known how much the budget will increase. Prime Minister, the cost is uncertain for now, and then we can determine a more accurate figure. ”

Zhan Tianyou began to be pragmatic, and Yang Rui nodded. Then he asked another thing that made him not excited, "Then can we Chinese build this bridge by ourselves?" ”

Zhan Tianyou was stunned when he heard this, and said, "Prime Minister." The water of the Yangtze River is too deep, and the bridge deck is too long, so I am afraid that it will not be repaired without inviting foreign engineers. Besides, there are too many things involved in building bridges, and we are afraid that we will not be able to repair them alone. ”

"Oh." Yang Rui replied in a low voice, he wanted to put a big satellite, but he still knew what the reality was. And he actually hates to hang this kind of thing with national pride, but how can he stir up the enthusiasm of the people in this way? Therefore, he did not give up and said: "If this bridge is prepared for ten years." What about repairing it in 10 years? ”

Yang Rui cared so much about whether this bridge was built by the Chinese themselves, Zhan Tianyou understood what he was thinking in his heart, and he was stunned for a long time before he said. "That day you can give it a try. But the Longmen Bridge is better to change the plan, but also to create the appearance of the Fox Bridge, so that you can accumulate experience for the Yangtze River Bridge, as well as the Zhengxian Yellow River Bridge on the Jinghan Line, the Belgians in order to save money, only the pillars of the bridge stand on the mud instead of the rock, which makes the bridge very unstable, and now it is estimated that the bridge will be broken in ten years. The Yellow River Bridge in Zheng County needs to be repaired, and the prime minister is also asked to hand it over to the Ministry of Industry to repair it himself. With the experience accumulated in these two bridges, half of the Yangtze River Bridge can be repaired. ”

Zhan Tianyou said it safely, but Yang Rui still agreed, and said at the moment: "Then you go back and discuss it with the Sheng people, and then come over after the specific plan is done, in fact, whether the Yangtze River Bridge is repaired by ourselves is not the point, the key is whether we can train a group of engineers and technicians who can build bridges on the Yangtze River Bridge?" It is impossible to build only one bridge on the Yangtze River, and the Jiujiang River and the Pukou side of Nanjing will all build bridges in the future. ”

After Yang Rui finished explaining, he sent Zhan Tianyou out, and Wang Jinzhi, who was waiting for him outside, saw Zhan Tianyou come out with a solemn face, and immediately asked, "Father-in-law, what did the prime minister say?" ”

The prime minister said......" Zhan Tianyou wanted to reveal a thing or two about what was said in it, but remembering the secrecy law of the latest training, he swallowed the words back at the moment, and only said: "Go back, it's all good." ”

After Yang Rui sent Zhan Tianyou away, he was looking at the map again, China is so big, but the railway is only more than 9,000 kilometers, which also includes the Dongqing Railway in the northeast, and this railway is far from enough for such a big country. In fact, the three vertical and three horizontal lines are still not enough, Guangxi still has no railways into the province, and some branch lines in the provinces are still not repaired, and it is really necessary to improve the national railway network, I am afraid that it will not be completed without 30,000 kilometers.

More than 10,000 kilometers is close to 1 billion taels, and 30,000 kilometers is more than 2 billion, which is completely unsupportable with the current national strength, and in addition, education, the army, and industry all have to be invested, but the annual tax revenue is only 6 or 700 million, although this is much better than the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but the money will never be enough when it is used. The only advantage of building a railway is that the annual rate of return is not low, according to the current volume of goods and freight rate accounting, the general economic trunk line can have a return of about 8 percent, and the return of many longitudinal lines like the east can reach or exceed 10 percent, which is also the reason why Sheng Xuanhuai finally saw that the private railway could not be done, and finally decided to borrow money like a foreigner.

Although foreign loans are discounted, the interest rate is 5 percent, but the return is 8 cents, which is more than 10 times the interest, so borrowing to build roads is still cost-effective. The only bad thing is that the railway loans are 30-year contracts, during which the management of the railways are foreigners, and the construction of the project is also controlled by foreigners, which makes the construction cost of these railways extremely high, the Shanghai-Nanjing line is more than 80,000 taels per kilometer, the Beijing-Pudong line is more than 70,000 taels, and the Jinghan is more than 60,000 taels, and the Beijing-Zhangjiakou repaired by themselves is only more than 35,000 taels, it cannot be said that the construction difficulty of the lines built by foreigners, the amount of work is less than that of Beijing-Zhangzhou, that is, Beijing-Zhangjia, if it is really a foreigner to repair, although the British Jinda is initially estimated to be 720,000, But in the end, it is very likely that 10 million taels will be repaired, so that this line will be abandoned halfway.

When Yang Rui was thinking about a bunch of things on the railway, the next person to meet arrived, and this was Wu Tongju, director of the Department of Water Resources of the Ministry of Land, who was dressed in sackcloth. He was asked by Yang Rui to come here, and the survey, dredging, and construction of the wharves of the country's rivers were all done by professionals.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister." Wu Tongju is a tribute, and now he has become a senior official of the imperial court, he still does not forget the former Qing Dynasty, and does not wear the official uniform of the new dynasty.

Wu Tongju is like this, Pei Yili, a missionary of Tubu Shangshu, has no opinion, and Yang Rui sees that he and his son Wu Keqing are helping Yizhou repair water conservancy. I don't blame him for it, this is a person who does practical things, and too many people ask too much of him in politics. It's not a good thing. When Yang Rui saw him salute, he also said in a friendly voice, "Mr. Wu is here." Have a seat. ”

It's not the first time Wu Tongju has seen Yang Rui, when the Prime Minister's Office just opened, officials from various ministries held a meeting, and according to the reports of various ministries, Yang Rui arranged the tasks of each ministry on the spot. He, as the director, attended the meeting room. "Your Excellency, I have summoned you this time. Is it for the dredging of the Huai River? ”

"Oh, it's not for this matter, but the dredging of the Huai River is also a big deal, and now your plan has been decided?" Yang Rui asked.

"The plan is set. This time, the lower officials have also been brought. But ......" Wu Tongju couldn't help but glance at Yang Rui, who was sitting on the opposite side, and said: "Compared with the previous plan to lead Huai into the sea, the budget has increased several times, and it takes more than 60 million taels ......."

When Wu Tongju said more than 60 million taels, Yang Rui was drinking tea, and the next sip of tea spewed out. The original plan was to dig a canal to divert water into the sea, and this plan was made by a foreigner named Felimon, and it cost six million dollars. Nearly 10 million taels of silver, completed in three years. It is said that this can produce 3.8 million acres of lake fields, and just selling these fields can return a lot of money; Now Wu Tongju's plan is different from Fei Limen, which is the diversion of the river and the sea, that is, the Huaishui is not only the Yellow Sea, but also the water can be discharged into the Luoma Lake, and finally into the Grand Canal, so that not only can increase the amount of water in the canal, but also irrigate the farmland along the way, although the lake field can only get 2 million mu, but 90 million mu of farmland can still benefit from it, but I don't want to invest six times the original plan.

The Prime Minister listened to the tea, but Wu Tongju, who was a tendon, still finished speaking, "...... This plan will be implemented in nine years, with no less than 8 million taels per year for the first three years and 6 million taels per year for the next six years. ”

Governing Huai is Wu Tongju's dream, which is also the reason why he became a water conservancy second knife from Haizhou, most of the people who can show talent in the imperial examination are not low IQ, this Wu Tongju is self-taught surveying and mapping, Yang Rui saw that he threw out such a large budget and did not blame, coughed a few times at the moment, and said: "The cost of 60 million is 60 million, as long as the Huai River can be governed, 100 million taels will also be out." Mr. Wu should report the project and the money to the Ministry of Households, Zhihuai has been approved before, you directly hand over the documents to the Ministry of Households, and they will approve the funds after auditing. ”

Yang Rui was so supportive, Wu Tongju couldn't help but stand up and salute, and only waited for Yang Rui to beckon him to sit down, and then he sat down again.

"Mr. Wu, I invited you here this time, not only for the purpose of curing Huai, but for other things. Now the country is building, a hundred wastes to be rebuilt, and if you want to get rich, you must first build roads, the railway is good, but the investment is too large, and the freight is one or even two times that of river transportation, so it is urgent to sort out the river and develop river transportation. Those people in the Ministry of Transportation have all drunk foreign ink, and they are full of railways and railways, and they don't know anything about river transportation, so I want to take out the matter of river transportation from them and hand it over to the Water Conservancy Department to be responsible.

That is to say, in the future, the Department of Water Resources will not only be responsible for controlling floods, but also taking into account river transportation in the process of controlling floods. I don't know how Mr. looks at the flood, in my shallow opinion, this flood is not what everyone is looking for, the upstream is constantly logged, the middle reaches continue to encroach on the river, the flood area, then the downstream will naturally suffer when the flood is heavy, so water control and dredging is the most important, but this is not enough, afforestation, returning land to the lake is also extremely important. ”

"But my lord......" Wu Tongju couldn't help but say after enduring it for a while, "If the field is withdrawn, then the livelihood of the people will be impossible." There are too many homeless, and it is not good for the country. ”

"There are too many homeless people to immigrate, isn't the countryside now registering household registration and checking the acres of land, those who really have no livelihood, then the family immigrates to Guanwai, now the population of 18 million in the Northeast is still too small, according to the estimate over there, you can still immigrate ......" said Yang Rui thought of the Outer Northeast who would return in the future, and said, "...... At least 20 million people. In addition, there are few people in the Western Regions, and 10 million people will be needed in ten years, and these 30 million people are basically equivalent to the population of a medium-sized province. ”

Yang Rui's treatment of the homeless was actually like this, Wu Tongju didn't understand the general trend after all, so he didn't ask the question of whether the immigrants would go or how much it would cost tens of millions of immigrants, but pulled the topic back to the river transportation, "My lord, this river transportation is closely related to the depth of the water and the shallowness of the water, but the depth of the water and the shallowness of the water are related to the season." There are many rivers that are more than ten feet deep during the high water season, and only three or four feet deep in the dry season......"

"Yes, it's related to the depth of the water. It is also related to the bending radius," he took out a copy of the waterway standard given by Tiantong Shipping and the shipyard and handed it to Wu Tongju, "Now it is preliminarily determined that the waterway will be divided into six levels, which are 3,000 tons, 2,000 tons, 1,000 tons, 500 tons, 300 tons, and 100 tons. Must be at least 150 meters. For the more than 100,000 kilometers of rivers in the country, the Water Resources Department still surveys them first and establishes detailed hydrological data. And then judge whether the river dredging can improve the navigation standard? Is it possible to cut a straight corner? I'd like to leave this task to you. ”

Wu Tongju took this so-called waterway standard, looked at it carefully, and said: "My lord, if you want to survey the rivers of the whole country, you need to increase the number of people. It will take years to complete. ”

"A century-old plan for water conservancy. River transportation is also a century-old plan, we can't be in a hurry if we want to, you can do it slowly. Those main rivers are well mapped in advance, and some branch rivers can be slowed down. Yang Rui arranged, and after a while, he sent Wu Tongju away again and began to meet with the representatives of the shipyard.

Since today is dealing with transportation matters, Li Zilong arranged things related to transportation together, and he was the last person to meet the shipyard. Rivers need to be repaired, wharves need to be built, but boats also need to be built. Now except for the shipyards of foreigners. Then there are only the shipyards controlled by the government, Tianjin Taikoo Dock, Jiangnan Bureau Dock, Fuzhou Mawei Dock, these are all Manchu shipyards, but Tianjin and Fuzhou are coastal cities, for safety, three shipbuilding projects in the 56 projects In addition to the expansion of the Jiangnan Bureau, the two additional shipyards are placed in Hankou and Nanjing, although this is along the river, but at least there are Wusong Fort and other batteries along the coast to protect it, which is safer.

This time, Xu Huafeng personally brought the people from the shipyard to come, he was busy enough from last year to this year, and he ran all over Shanxi, the steel base must be determined, the industrial park must be determined, the electrolytic aluminum plant must be determined, and several major coal mines must also be determined. If it weren't for Zhang Kunkongzhì The National Bank rebuilt by the Daqing Bank finally guaranteed the major ticket numbers, and the national ticket numbers are estimated to be the same as the money banks in Shanghai.

The imperial merchants in Shanxi were worried because of the original sin of history, and now the revolutionary army wants to build an industrial base in Shanxi, or a national-level industrial base, and these Shanxi businessmen still want Xu Huafeng to appease; In addition, taking advantage of the Jin merchants' uncertain minds, pulling their money over, and investing it in some projects that do not matter and the rate of return is not high, it is also the proper meaning, which can not only become more money when there is no money, but more importantly, give the Jin merchants a chance to vote for the name, and the Jin merchants who do not invest in silver will definitely have to be dealt with in a separate book in the future.

Xu Huafeng came back from Shanxi just now, and as soon as he saw Yang Rui, he said: "It's done, Shanxi is really a good place!" This place is well chosen, I can't say that there are no mines in Shanxi, as long as the Pu line is repaired, and then connected to the oil in Shaanxi, I am afraid that Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces will be richer than Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the future. ”

Xu Huafeng's emotion only made Yang Rui smile, Shanxi has always been a province of resources, although there are a lot of minerals in Northeast China, it is the industrial base of later generations, but that is because the Japanese have been operating there for decades, and most of the 156 Soviet aid projects are placed in the Northeast when the railways are intensive, factories and workers are ready-made.

"It's good to have money! It's good to have money! Yang Rui is not as optimistic as Xu Huafeng, just like the opening of the company, the money that was calculated before is really not enough when it comes to use, "Mr. Huafeng, don't mention the word money to me, I don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive, and I don't have money now." Let's briefly talk about the situation in Shanxi first, and then talk about shipbuilding...... These are the ...... You also want to introduce it. ”

Xu Huafeng didn't come alone this time, in addition to the secretary he carried, he also brought a few people from the shipyard. As soon as Yang Rui asked, Xu Huafeng introduced, first two old men in their sixties, "This is Wei Han of the Jiangnan Bureau, the word Ji Qian, who was from Mawei Ship Administration earlier, and then arrived at the Jiangnan Bureau; This is Zheng Qinglian, the word Jingxi, and the former Mawei Shipmaster, and the former Pingyuan ship in Beiyang was designed and built by them. ”

As soon as Xu Huafeng said Beiyang and Mawei, Yang Rui knew that they were members of the Fujian Gang of the Navy, and he was silent when he knew it, and he was very kind to the two of them, and then Xu Huafeng introduced the young man at the end again, "This is Chen Quartz, a native of Shanghai, graduated from the Department of Hemp Physiology and Shipbuilding in the United States, and just graduated and returned to China last year." ”

"Oh," Yang Rui looked at the young man with some joy, and said, "Is it sent out by the Education Society?" ”

Yang Rui's question only made Chen Quartz's heart hot, and said: "Yes, my lord, Quartz was funded by the Education Association and sent abroad. ”

His excitement Yang Rui could see it, and said immediately: "Okay! Good! If you learn well, it's good to come back, you have to learn from the old-timers, build the boat well, build the boat well! ”

After a brief greeting, Xu Huafeng couldn't wait to start reporting on the situation in Shanxi, "...... There are a lot of coal mines in Shanxi, and they are all good coking coal, the quality is better than Huainan coal mine and Northeast coal mine, but there is no coal mine, but it can not be transported, although the Zhengtai line was repaired a few years earlier, but it is a narrow gauge, and the Jinpu line is not open to traffic, not only is it not open to traffic, the two stations are also very far apart, and the coal can be moved to the Jinpu railway station only after a short barge, which is not only troublesome, but also the transportation of things is short, not to mention, those lumps of coal often become the end of the coal, which is not worth ....... ”

Xu Huafeng thought that Yang Rui didn't want to mention money, so he left the last word for money, "...... If the Tongpu Road is repaired, then the coal mine can be detoured, from the Beijing-Zhangjiakou line, so that although the bypass, but the Zhengtai line freight is higher than other lines, plus the cost and loss of the short barge, the overall calculation is still cheaper to take Beijing-Zhangzhou.

…… Coal mine worry-free, iron ore is also a lot, Wutai Mountain area of large iron ore reserves of more than 100 million tons, buried is also very shallow, the only deficiency is that the iron ore taste is not high, only about 37 to 45 percent, so before the iron smelting to select, or sintering, although this solves the problem, can increase a lot of costs, the iron is more expensive than Ma'anshan, but Shanxi is inland, Ma'anshan's iron to be transported to Shanxi, accounting is not much.

There are coal and iron, limestone and other small mines, and then on the side of Luliang, the proven reserves of aluminum ore are extremely abundant, where should the electrolytic aluminum plant be placed in the plan; As for the electricity needed, you can transport the coal through the guò railway, or do not transport the coal, directly pull the high-voltage power line for long-distance transmission, although this is not the case in the world, but it is completely feasible to increase the voltage, and then reduce the voltage in the place of use, which can reduce the road loss by 80 percent......"

Xu Huafeng talked about the situation in Shanxi with great interest, almost completely forgetting that this time he was going to talk about shipping, not Shanxi's industrial base, only after he roughly introduced the situation in Shanxi, Yang Rui began to ask about shipbuilding, "Now the main thing is to build three shipyards, Jiangnan to expand, Nanjing, Hanyang to build new, these three shipyards, each factory must have 60,000 tons of slipway, based on the nine-month construction period of merchant ships, after the completion of the three shipyards annual shipbuilding capacity of not less than 200,000 tons......"

As soon as Yang Rui's words began, Wei Han, Zheng Qinglian and Chen Quartz were in a trance, even if China now adds up to the shipyards of foreigners, the total annual shipbuilding volume is less than 30,000 tons, and now it has suddenly increased by seven or eight times, which only makes it feel that this is not true.

They were in a trance, and Yang Rui continued: "This is still peacetime, if the wartime production of standard ships, the time for the ship to step down will be shortened, the Industrial Coordination Department believes that if it is the production of standard ships, then the slipway period can be shortened to three months, that is to say, the annual output can be tripled, reaching an annual shipbuilding scale of 600,000 tons......"

Watching Yang Rui's great leap forward, Wei Han couldn't help but say, "Your Excellency, this ...... Are there so many of us? At present, although the steel plate used in our shipbuilding is from the Ma'anshan factory, the steel used in the boiler is extremely high because of the air pressure, but it is necessary to use low-carbon and high-strength steel, especially the steel for steam water pipes...... These are all imported, adults say that ships are built in wartime, but these steels must not be able to be bought in wartime, and then I am afraid that there will be slipways and ships will not be able to build ships. (To be continued......)