Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 638

"What are you talking about? Li Zicheng wants to meet me?"

There was a look of astonishment on Chongzhen's face, which was unexpected.

Gao Qiqian also said that Chongzhen did not agree, and immediately said: "The old slave also thinks it is wrong, a bandit, how can you see it? The old slave then went to reject the envoy sent by the pseudo-shun."

"Hey, don't." Chongzhen stopped him, "Why did you refuse."

"Ah?" Gao Qiqian turned around and looked back at Chongzhen in astonishment, "What does Long Live Lord mean?"

Chongzhen stood up and paced around while analyzing: "The last time the pseudo-shun envoy must have said something to Li Zicheng after he returned. Li Zicheng must have been stimulated by some kind, so he proposed to meet with me."

"If I'm not mistaken, he should have a lot to say to me."

"Of course, this may also be Li Zicheng's conspiracy. He just wants to take the opportunity to harm me."

Speaking of this, he paused for a while, and then said: "Tell the envoy of Pseudo-Shun that I can meet Li Zicheng, but the place must be in my tent. After the meeting, I promise that I will not make things difficult for him."

"Yes." Gao Qiqian received the order and ran to reply to the pseudo-obedient envoy.

"This Li Zicheng is quite good at working." Chongzhen shook his head with a smile.

Well, Chongzhen didn't take this matter to heart at all, just took it as a joke.

Do you think I'm stupid for sending a few watermelons to someone to try first, and even running to meet you?
But when he turned around to face Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi, the smile on his face gradually froze.

"Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi, 200 million is too much. It's not like when we first conquered Yunnan, the mountains were high and the rivers were long and the roads were blocked. From the south of the Yangtze River to Beijing, you can go directly to Dagukou by sea, and the next 400 miles are also Ping road, no danger, you two dare to ask for 200 million?"

Zhu Shunshui, who came here specially from Nanjing, also supported the matter: "What the Holy Majesty said is very true. 200 million is too outrageous. You only paid 100 for the previous 50 million shi. How dare you pay for 200 million shi this time?" 200 million?"

Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi looked at each other, and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, Zhu Gejian, that's not what you said. Although the mountains were high and the waters were long and the roads were blocked to transport grain to Yunnan, it only needed to transport 60 shi. However, this time to Beijing The amount of food transported was 200 million shi, which was more than three times that of Yunnan. In addition, it had to undertake the additional task of building the gun platform. There were even casualties in the event of a slave attack. The wounded needed medical treatment, and the dead needed compensation. We have to pay for all these, so 200 million yuan is really not much, and we lost the 100 million stone last time, a full loss of 40."

Hu Renzhi also smiled wryly and said: "The ministers and others have already calculated repeatedly, and 200 million can only barely keep the capital."

"Two million is impossible, I can only give you one million." Chongzhen said firmly.

Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi's faces became more and more bitter, but they were lamenting in their hearts. Sure enough, the court's business was not easy to do.

However, when the two sighed, Chongzhen said again: "However, I can give you a little extra compensation in other aspects."

Hearing Chongzhen talk about the word compensation, Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzi suddenly regained their energy. The last time they transported grain to Yunnan, it was the same. It was actually a loss to rely solely on transporting grain.

But Chongzhen compensated them with a large amount of jewelry at a low price, and they could sell it first and pay later.

At that moment Wang Pingshan asked in a low voice: "But I don't know what kind of compensation the Holy Majesty can give me?"

However, Chongzhen turned his gaze to Jiang Tianyi next to him: "Jiang Tianyi, you guys were still discussing just now, saying that it is not easy to build the city of Beijing, and I shouldn't have demolished the east wall, is there such a thing?"

"Exactly." Jiang Tian said, "I don't think the walls of Beijing should be smashed down."

After a pause, Jiang Tianyi said again: "Facts have proved that it is even more difficult to attack the city after the city wall is blown down."

In the era of cold weapons, once a gap was dug from the city wall, the infantry of the attacking side could swarm in through the gap, and the infantry of the defending side had no other choice but to block the gap with their heads.

It is obviously much easier to attack by stepping on the gap than by climbing the wall.

But after entering the age of firearms, the logic has changed.

The defender only needs a few cannons, supplemented by an infantry line array, to easily block the gaps in the city wall, while the attacker can only invest troops one by one according to the refueling tactic, and will eventually be hunted down one by one.

In this way, the gap in the city wall will not become a smooth path, but will become a meat grinder for the attacker.

On the contrary, if you don't blow down the city wall and climb the wall along the ladder, you can avoid the embarrassment of the Jiannu cannon, because the Jiannu cannon can't point the muzzle down and directly bombard the Ming army on the ladder. , the Ming army had already dug a zigzag trench to reach the root of the city wall, and it could also avoid the bombardment of Jiannu cannons.

That's why Jiang Tianyi said that it would be easier to attack without tearing down the city walls.

Because the city wall is not demolished, only the flintlock guns and traditional defense weapons of Jiannu need to be faced.

However, Chongzhen said: "I also told you long ago that the demolition of the city wall was not for the purpose of attacking the city, but only for the purpose of exerting psychological pressure on the slave-building nobles and Han officials and gentry in Beijing."

Jiang Tianyi said distressedly: "Then there is no need to blast such a big gap."

Chongzhen said: "Then if I tell you that after the recovery of the capital this time, the city wall between Chaoyangmen and Dongbianmen will be completely demolished, wouldn't you feel even more distressed?"

"Why?" Jiang Tianyi asked in surprise, "Why do you have to demolish the city wall?"

Now not only Jiang Tianyi, but Xu Yingwei, Zheng Sen and other scholars also looked over.

"Because the railway is going to be built." Chongzhen said, "The railway will go directly from outside the city to the inside of the city."

"Railway?" Zheng Sen, Xu Yingwei, Jiang Tianyi and other scholars widened their eyes, "Do you really want to build a railway?"

As early as the day after Gewuke successfully built the steam engine, the Holy Master once told them about this railway, saying that a track was laid on the ground with steel bars and wood, and then dozens of hundreds of sections were dragged by the steam engine to install the steel track. The carriages with four wheels can run quickly on the track, and can run from Nanjing to Beijing in two days and nights.

At that time, all the scholars felt that the Holy Majesty was just talking.

But it never occurred to him that His Majesty actually planned to build the railway.

"Of course." Chongzhen said, "The first thing to do after the recovery of the capital is to build a railway, using the railway as a link to connect Liudu and the capital. From then on, the north and south capitals will be integrated."

The railway can greatly shorten the space-time distance and promote the integration of the north and the south.

Not only will railways be built from north to south, but also from east to west in the future.

Eight verticals and eight horizontals are too extravagant, but two verticals and two horizontals are necessary.

After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "For the convenience of the people in Beijing, the railway station must be built in the inner city, otherwise the people would have to walk a long way to go out to take a car or consign goods, which is really too troublesome."

Chongzhen will not keep the complete city walls, such as city walls and towers that witness history, out of the consideration of preserving historical sites for generations to come hundreds of years later. It should not hinder the people's going out or living.

"The Gongyuan area is the best location for the train station."

"So the city wall from Chaoyangmen to Dongbianmen needs to be demolished."

Jiang Tianyi still felt a little regretful, and said, "But in this way, Beijing's city defense will not be complete."

"City defense?" Chongzhen laughed. "You are pretending to be confused. After entering the age of firearms, can defense facilities like the Beijing City Wall still play a defensive role?"

As soon as Jiang Tian waited for several scholars, he immediately stopped talking.

Indeed, after entering the age of firearms, city walls are useless.

What can play a defensive role now are facilities such as gun platforms.

Chongzhen turned his attention to Hu Renzhi and Wang Pingshan again, and said: "The cost of transshipment of military supplies is only 100 million yuan, and there is no more money, but I can entrust you with the construction of the Nanjing-Beijing railway."

Hu Renzhi and Wang Pingshan didn't know what the railway was, so they asked, "My lord, is the railway you are talking about the same official road as the straight road built in the Qin Dynasty?"

As businessmen, Hu Renzhi and Wang Pingshan undoubtedly liked going straight.

Because of the emergence of straight roads, it greatly facilitates the business exchanges from Guanzhong to Hetao.

But there is already a canal between Nanjing and Beijing, and it seems completely unnecessary to build a straight road.

More importantly, it seems unprofitable to build such a straight road?The co-author Holy Majesty wants to beat the bones and suck the marrow of the two of them?It is not enough to let the two of them lose money to transfer military supplies, but also to make the two of them lose money to build a straight road?

"Straight road? The railway is not the same as the straight road. The straight road is just a road, but the railway is a system."

Chongzhen said: "After the railway is completed, a railway transportation company will be established. The profit prospect of this company will exceed your imagination limit. As compensation for the two of you, I will allow you to take half of the shares!"

"Half percent?" This ratio is indeed a bit low, but Hu Renzhi and Wang Pingshan suddenly thought of the steam engine factory and the machinery factory after that. The Weng family also only holds half of the shares in the machinery factory, and they haven't divided them until now. Red, but now even a fool can see the huge profit prospects of the machinery factory.

Needless to say, the Weng family will definitely be the richest man in Daming in the future.

A family property of tens of millions is conservative, and a family property of hundreds of millions is possible.

At that moment, Wang Pingshan asked cautiously: "My lord, how does the prospect of the railway company compare with that of the machinery factory?"

Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi had already made up their minds that as long as the railway company had half the profit prospect of the machinery factory, they would take it even if they paid for the resale of the jewelry.

"Machinery factory?" Chongzhen said, "The prospect of railway companies is better than that of machinery factories."

After a short pause, Chongzhen said again: "Moreover, it is impossible for you, Wang and Hu, to only invest in the construction of the railway. As long as you set up the framework of the business, follow-up funds will be injected continuously."

The Wang and Hu families certainly cannot afford such a major project as the railway construction.

Therefore, bonds must be issued to raise funds through the two exchanges.

If it were another emperor, Wang Pingshan and Hu Renzhi might not believe it.

But the two of them believed Chongzhen's words, because Chongzhen never broke his promise.

At that moment Hu Renyi patted his thigh and said, "My lord, we, the Wang and Hu families, will take over this big job!"

(End of this chapter)