"Quick, quick, ready."

The unkempt scholar was a little nervous at this time, but also a little excited, he leaned out from the door of the car and leaned out, shouting to the front of the car: "Ready...... Prepare for ......"

Sitting in the car, Xia Yuanji was still thinking about it in his heart, and Hao Fenglou had already walked over from the aisle at the other end, sat opposite him, and said with a smile: "Sir, are you ready?" ”

Xia Yuanji frowned: "Master Hou, what is this?" ”

Hao Fenglou said: "Mr. presides over the household department, in charge of the world's economy, dare to ask Mr., what is the most important thing in the world's economy?" ”

Xia Yuanji pondered for a moment and said: "One is production, in the same place, whether it is a disaster year or a good year is the most important. ”

Hao Fenglou nodded and said, "Yes, in fact, I don't think so." ”

"Oh?"

Hao Fenglou said: "I think the way of the economy, not in the harvest, although we are watching God eat, but the world is big, there is a disaster where there is a harvest, even if a certain place encounters a disaster year, it is nothing, this is the most important, not here, but the loss ......"

"Attrition ......"

Hao Fenglou said the crux of the problem.

If a certain place suffers a disaster, the imperial court wants to provide relief, there can be two ways, one is to open a warehouse on the spot, but the local government has no surplus, and all the stored grain must be sent to Beijing, which is of course for the needs of centralized power, if the money and grain are handed over to the local officials, once they encounter turmoil, will these people immediately take the money and grain to recruit soldiers and horses? What is the difference between this and the festival envoys of the Tang Dynasty?

Since there is no food in the local area, it must be allocated by the imperial court. If the imperial court wants to allocate it, the hundreds of thousands or even millions of catties of grain must be specially recruited to deliver it. One million catties of grain, one person is at most 100 catties, which requires 10,000 idle laborers, and these people, the imperial court also needs to be supported, which means that in the next few months, the imperial court will provide rations for 10,000 people. A person eats one pound a day, and it is nearly 100 pounds in three months, so it is calculated. The imperial court has to pay an extra million catties of rations to these people, since there is an extra million catties of rations, it is still allocated by the imperial court, which means. In fact, the real expenditure of the imperial court is two million catties. In addition, these 10,000 young people, because of the service, but their fields can not be well cared for, in the next year, the grain production may be reduced by tens or even millions of catties.

This is actually nothing, for the sake of a million catties of grain, it is actually nothing to spend three or four times the loss. In the process, I don't know how many officials are staring at the grain. Layer by layer, the real disaster victims are in their hands, I am afraid that it will be good to have 300,000 catties.

In other words, the imperial court spent 3 million catties of food loss, and in the end, what was really practical was only 300,000 catties. How many disasters did it take to get rid of it?

Then the question arises again, where does the food of the imperial court come from, of course, it is sent from the state capitals, these people send the grain to Beijing, and naturally there is also a loss, this comes and goes, five or six million catties of grain, I am afraid that there are only a little bit of it when it is used, and the others are all lost.

This is true for disaster relief, the same is true for raising soldiers, and the operation of the entire government and the imperial court will always be indispensable to the word loss, and this loss is a bottomless pit, no matter how much food is filled, it cannot solve the problem.

Today's problem is never that there is not enough food to eat, in fact, even in the year of the catastrophe, the grain production of the Ming Dynasty is enough to ensure the basic living needs of the monks and lay people in the state capitals, but what is really fatal is this kind of great waste of food.

And this ...... It's just another unsolvable problem, although the canal has eased somewhat, but the loss is still there, nothing more than a loss of several million catties, reduced to one or two million catties.

Xia Yuanji has been in the household department for a long time, presiding over the world's money and grain, this kind of thing, of course, knows a lot, he couldn't help but nodded: "What Hou Ye said is good, in fact, it is not only the national dynasty, but also the Li Dynasty, the root of many problems, all in this loss." ”

Hao Fenglou sighed and said: "The problem of loss, in fact, to put it bluntly, is a problem of manpower and land, long-distance transportation, and no better solution can be found, but what if, there is a big car here, which only needs a dozen people to operate, and can easily send 100,000 catties of grain to Jinling within a few days?" ”

Xia Yuanji couldn't help but be stunned, and said: "If this is the case, then the blood is smooth, a qiē joint is opened, more than a dozen people, a few days, of course, there will be no loss, 100,000 catties of grain will be sent to Jinling in a few days, although there is also a matter of greed for ink, but there is no need to go through layers of deductions, in this way, not only greatly alleviate the shortage of manpower, but also make the best use of things, so as not to waste and waste." ”

He is honest, if there is such a thing, there is no question of recruiting tens of thousands of people, and there is no need to think about it, in the next few months, it is necessary to prepare rations for these people, and it can make the relief of the imperial court more timely, and it can also make the border towns because the money and food cannot be escorted in time, and lead the camp to change. Thinking deeper, since this can transport grain, why can't it transport people, tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of miles away, morning and evening, if it can really be done, the border town of Daming stretches for thousands of miles, there is no weakness, even if it is only stationed here with thousands of people and horses, and the enemy tens of thousands of people come to attack, but after a few days, here can gather 100,000 or even 300,000 troops, this town, isn't it everywhere is impregnable, the nine sides were originally stationed with 10,000 military horses, but if it can be done at dawn and evening, all over the country can gallop to the aid of the starry night, which is equal to each border town, all of them are 90,000 soldiers and horses.

How could Xia Yuanji not know how powerful this thing was, he couldn't help but be shocked: "Master Hou, you ...... car now?"

"Not bad...... Hao Fenglou smiled: "This car is the key to solving all problems, with this, you can solve countless problems that cannot be solved." It's just that this thing was made, but for the time being, it was not to transport troops and grain, but to transport goods, so many goods from south to north, the same piece of cloth was 300 yuan a horse in Langshan, but in Siam, the price was 3,000 yuan, and when it arrived in Suzhou and Hangzhou, it was 4,200 yuan, among which, in fact, it was also a loss, but if the cloth in Langshan was 300 yuan here, and in Siam, it was only 350 yuan, even so, the merchants who peddled it did not lose money, but made more profits than before, so what would happen? ”

Hao Fenglou smiled and said slowly: "This means that this is originally a luxury, people who can afford it, after all, it is limited, a city, a thousand horses a year can be satisfied, but from today on, it has become everyone's daily needs, people grit their teeth, they can afford to buy, a year down, I am afraid that we will sell 10,000 horses, 100,000 horses, this Liangshan and even Jiaozhi, I am afraid that it will not take long, it will be from oversupply, to full horsepower production, can not meet the needs of the point, you see this area, are barren land, But Mr. Xia believes it or not, three months later, this rare desolate place in Langshan will also be lined with countless workshops, and it will not be long before millions, tens of millions, and even hundreds of millions of taels of silver will become factories, machinery, and natural ...... The reason why only the goods can be transported at the moment, the key point is also here, only the transportation of goods, this car can earn silver, earn silver, in order to continue to repair, Hao someone to within three years, the railway through Jiaozhi and Siam, within ten years, repair to Suzhou and Hangzhou, Mr. Xia, do you know, the cost of this section of the railway? ”

Xia Yuanji was a little shocked, he couldn't imagine that Hao Fenglou had such big ambitions.

Hao Fenglou asked himself and answered, and said: "Every mile, it is more than 5,000 taels of silver, if you want to repair 100 miles, it is 500,000 taels of silver, if it is 1,000 miles, it is 5 million, but in the past three years, Hao someone wants to repair 5,000 miles, this silver, half of the Hao family's shares, and half of the future income, but such a big project, countless money and grain allocation, and to prevent people from filling their own pockets, but it is really not easy, Mr. Xia, with you, it is also not a deal, for Mr. Xia's ability and morality, Hao Fenglou has always admired Hao's railway bureau has been listed, the only thing missing is that he is a person with a high character and knows the details of money and grain allocation, and he must make the best use of things and make the best use of his talents. ”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thundered......

The carriage began to shake.

As soon as the boiler burned, in the front of the locomotive, laborers shoveled coal into the furnace, and the rising steam produced a huge amount of energy, urging the wheels to start walking in the rails.

This railroad track, only a few miles long, for the purpose of testing, at this time the front of the car and the carriage shook violently, and finally like an old cow, slowly moving forward, it carried the people in the carriage, as well as the first few wagons of goods up to 10,000 catties of goods slowly moved, the whole car, rattling, the speed began to speed up a little, the scenery outside the window swept backwards, the bearded scholar poked his head out and exclaimed: "It's done, it's done, it's done, Hou Ye, you see, it's done again, Hou Ye...... As I said, we've tried it countless times,"

Hao Fenglou in the carriage did not have so many surprises, in fact, Hao Fenglou was not satisfied with such a steam car, because ...... Both the speed and the comfort are just too bad.

Naturally, the rails needed to be laid, and during this time, it was enough to continue to improve the steam train, but his eyes were looking at Xia Yuanji deadly, motionless. (To be continued......)