In the Tai Chi Palace, Li Shimin fell silent after hearing what Fang Xuanling relayed.
After a long time, he finally said, "What did you say? Li Min really said that. Does he really want shares in our railway?"
Li Shimin was shocked by Li Min's request.
Why is this so?
Okay, I want his shares again.
Last time, Li Shimin voluntarily gave up his railway shares, but later the railway made some profits, so Li Shimin joined in again.
This is because Di Renjie agreed.
But why did Li Min take it back?
Is there any hidden secret in this?
Fang Xuanling immediately replied: "Yes! Your Majesty. That's what the Sixth Prince said."
As the narrator, Fang Xuanling could only follow what Li Min said as much as possible.
Li Shimin asked again: "Then did he ever say what the reason was?"
Fang Xuanling responded directly: "I didn't explain why. But this is the only condition put forward by the Sixth Prince. He only wants us to withdraw from the railway shares. He doesn't have many demands!"
"He really doesn't want a penny?" Li Shimin wondered. What is Li Min's goal in doing this?
You're not trying to trick people, are you?
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"Don't want money?"
Li Shimin murmured.
At this time, Li Shimin was still feeling strange.
why?
Because Li Min wants to go back to the railway part.
Is there something fishy about this?
He was wondering, would the railway have huge revenue this year?
Therefore, we don’t want the court to get involved.
Or are there other reasons? For example, he wanted to plot against Li Shimin.
Scheme against the imperial court?
In his opinion, Li Min can do anything.
…
A large number of questions flashed through Li Shimin's mind.
Then, Li Shimin asked: "You said this guy wants to take back his shares. Using food as a threat, what is his real purpose?"
At this time Fang Xuanling said.
"Your Majesty, the railway has been suffering losses for many years. Perhaps the Sixth Prince sincerely wants to help us tide over the difficulties, but it is difficult to provide food directly. Or maybe he sees that the court has been losing money and feels reluctant to give up. That's why he thought of this method, right?"
"What you said makes sense. But I always feel that this matter is not that simple. This kid has his purpose before doing everything. He is a person with a very clear purpose. Every step he takes, In fact, he had made plans a long time ago. So he must have thought about the railway shares this time."
"Your Majesty, I feel that between railways and food, food seems to be more expensive in comparison. Moreover, Shengtang Group not only provides food. Shengtang Group is also responsible for transportation. Transport all food to designated locations. And distribute it, so that the court can save a lot of things." Fang Xuanling added.
He is completely on Li Min's side.
He is also on the side of the people.
Otherwise, he would not speak for Li Min.
Li Shimin listened.
However, he still felt something was strange.
But I can’t say what’s wrong with it.
"Although I say that, I always feel that his purpose is not simple. Apart from railways, can he really say anything?" Li Shimin confirmed again.
"Yes, Your Majesty, the Sixth Prince only wants railway shares and nothing else."
"Let me think about it again." Li Shimin said calmly.
But Fang Xuanling was anxious.
He quickly said: "Your Majesty, there is no time to think about it anymore. This must be done as soon as possible. It is rare for the Shengtang Group to make such a big concession, and we can't let them feel cold."
"How much investment did you make in the railway's shares?"
"Probably 100 million taels."
"What about the food?"
"In terms of food transportation and quantity, because the major prefectures are very large and the demand for manpower and material resources is very large, I think it will cost a lot of 100 million taels!" Fang Xuanling said very pertinently.
Li Shimin stopped talking. He always felt that Li Min always wanted to plot against him.
Fang Xuanling added: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, the Sixth Prince's transaction this time is a loss. He still did it at a loss! Have you ever thought about a question? That is, the Sixth Prince cares about the safety of the people!"
"If he really cares about the safety of the people, he won't ask for money!"
"" But has your Majesty ever thought about another question? He is thinking about the court.
If the Shengtang Group approached the imperial court to do business, then the imperial court would provide disaster relief in the name of the imperial court.
This will be of great benefit to His Majesty's reputation. I think this is what the Sixth Prince wants to give. That's what His Majesty really wants to achieve, isn't it?
When Fang Xuanling said this, Li Shimin said nothing.
Fang Xuanling went on to say: "And our current treasury has invested most of the money in Shengtang Group. Now our treasury doesn't have much money. If we spend money to buy food from them, it won't be A very sensible choice.”
When Fang Xuanling said this, Li Shimin became even more silent.
Yes, what he said makes sense.
"Fang Xuanling, you are right! Could it be that that boy is really thinking about me? Is he really thinking about us?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, I think so! Everything the Sixth Prince did was for the good of the Tang Dynasty, and the court also benefited from it, didn't it?"
Fang Xuanling said again.
He spoke for Li Min everywhere.
This is also the fastest way to save people.
Now that Li Min has stated the conditions, they just agree.
Anyway, a railroad doesn't make much profit either.
But Li Shimin has been thinking about why.
Finally, Li Shimin also gave up.
He said: "Okay, okay. If he wants some shares, just give him some shares. Anyway, I just invested in it this year. I don't know when it will become profitable, and it also occupies such a large part of the branch line. It's not certain, next year it will only be There are only 50 million taels left. I might as well use it to buy food."
"Your Majesty is wise! Then I will go and talk to Di Renjie now!"
"Go, hurry up, this matter needs to be done quickly!"
"By the way, Your Majesty! The Sixth Prince said that his food will be transported every day. It will last for nearly a month!" Fang Xuanling said again.
"Why is it taking so long?"
"Because he has to allocate grain from various places to Chang'an, which takes time. There is not much grain stored in Chang'an City."
"If that's the case, then it's okay. You can do it quickly. There must be no mistakes."
"Then I'll go find Di Renjie now."
"Go, go, hurry up. Don't miss anything!"
"clear."
Fang Xuanling then left Tai Chi Palace and headed to the Tang Tower.
Fang Xuanling has a long way to go this time.
If it is not done well, many people in the north may die.
But since Li Shimin agreed this time, it is basically impossible that it will not be handled well.
It just depends on whether things go smoothly.
After he left, Li Shimin became busy again.
Fang Xuanling went to find Di Renjie to deal with some related matters.
All small details must be taken into consideration.
And these matters are also very trivial and cannot be dealt with in a short while.
But fortunately, Di Renjie was professional enough and he could quickly provide Fang Xuanling with more professional advice.
It can be said that after Fang Xuanling went there, he could only nod and shake his head, and he was unable to make constructive suggestions at all.
But that's fine, it's very safe.
A few days later, Fang Xuanling found Li Shimin again.
"How's it going? Now." Li Shimin asked.
"Your Majesty, the matters in Guandong have been dealt with more now. Now the Sixth Prince has asked the Shengtang Group's transportation brigade to go to the northern states to distribute food, and there are also people from our court there to distribute food. They have also achieved absolute fairness. . It has been recognized by the people. Not only that, people from the Shengtang Group have also dug wells in various places in the north to provide drinking water to the people in the north. Unfortunately, although there is groundwater, planting has been missed. time, but there is still some food that can be grown and some things are not too late.”
Fang Xuanling said this. After hearing this, Li Shimin couldn't help but nodded. He really didn't expect that Li Min thought so much.
What Shengtang Group did was beyond Li Shimin's imagination.
"Then what name did they come under?" Li Shimin asked.
After all, the money was spent by the imperial court. If Shengtang Group was using its own banner, then Li Shimin was taken advantage of.
"Your Majesty, they are doing things in the name of the imperial court. Please rest assured about this. Now the people in the northern states feel that Your Majesty has not let them go. Everyone is praising His Majesty's kindness, and there are a lot of articles writing about His Majesty's kindness. , saying that His Majesty is the emperor of the ages!" Fang Xuanling added.
Li Shimin was very happy after hearing this.
This is all he wants.
After all, if he did something and didn't get the reward he deserved, then why did he do it?
The Tang Dynasty is now under his rule. If the people don't listen to him, what's the point of being the emperor?
"The people are still very sensible!" Li Shimin added.
Of course, all this is because of Shengtang Group. If Shengtang Group contributes its own efforts, that is not impossible.
But Li Min didn't want to. Since Li Shimin wanted to perform, let him perform.
Besides, Li Min doesn't have the energy to care about this now.
He didn't know what the current situation was like in the north.
Also, Dongzhou needs his intervention more.
Therefore, if Li Shimin hadn't asked Fang Xuanling to find them, they wouldn't have known about it.
"Yes, Your Majesty, but this time Shengtang Group did a good job. They did not use their own banner. This is rare and valuable."
"Indeed, Shengtang Group performed well this time. How about giving them some rewards later and praising them in a report." Li Shimin added.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"Is there anything else?" Li Shimin asked again.
Because he saw that Fang Xuanling was still here and not leaving, something must have happened.
"Yes, there is one more thing!"
"What's up?"
"Now that railways have begun to invest heavily again, Shengtang Group is planning to build ten more railways in Datang to connect various states and counties."
"Oh? That cost a lot of money, right?"
"A railway costs at least 100 million."
"What? So many!" Li Shimin was shocked.
In that case, it was right for me to quit.
"Yes, Your Majesty, there are a lot of them. The railway this time is very long, and a faster train has also been launched. Oh no, it should be called an EMU."
"What does EMU mean?"
"It is a power vehicle driven by electricity. Everything has power. It no longer uses steam to run, but uses electricity. The speed can reach 800 miles an hour. In other words, the time from here to Qingzhou is based on the existing The price is halved," Fang Xuanling explained.
Now Li Min is already developing towards high-speed trains.
It was also because Li Shimin didn't pay much attention to the direction of the train, so he didn't know that the EMU had actually started testing as early as the year before last.
And it came out this year. After the speed is increased, the transportation capacity is at least doubled, people have more time, and the distance between the two places is shorter.
But Li Shimin felt that this was a bit fast.
"What! What does the Shengtang Group want to do? Can't the train speed up?"
Trains have limitations, and they are really not as good as trains.
Since Shengtang Group wants to use trains to speed up, there must be a reason for it.
Fang Xuanling quickly explained:
"I heard Di Renjie say that speeding up transportation can make the economy develop faster. They have calculated that every time the transportation speed doubles, the economic development speed can be accelerated by at least 50%!"
It turns out that the purpose of developing EMU is to speed up the economy.
Li Shimin also knew this. He knew the relationship from the beginning.
Shengtang Group did not disappoint him.
But compared to the economy, Li Shimin is more concerned about the performance of high-speed trains.
"Good guy. Let's go take a look when you have time. What does the train look like?"
"It's just that trains can only transport people, not cargo. For cargo, we still need ordinary trains."
"Is there anything else like this?"
"Yes, but there are so many things you can enjoy in the train. In addition to the high speed, you can feel as comfortable as at home on it. Moreover, they designed the speed to be 1,000 miles per hour, which may be reached in the future. One thousand two hundred miles an hour.”
"Well..." Li Shimin was shocked.
He never imagined that one day the train could go so fast.
Does that mean that trains will be able to catch up with airplanes in the future?
"As a result, the advantages of helicopters may slowly diminish."
"Indeed, but the advantages of helicopters are still there, because the direction of the train is fixed, and helicopters can go anywhere, regardless of geography, right?"
"You're right. When can they experience it?"
"I heard that there is a high-speed train running from here to Qingzhou every day for trial operation. Your Majesty, would you like to take a ride?"
"Fang Xuanling, go and get this thing done. I want to see what's different about this train in the New Year." Li Shimin got excited.
The previous train speed was about 120 kilometers per hour, but now the train can reach 200 kilometers per hour. The speed has increased a lot, and it can even reach 300 kilometers per hour in the future.
This kind of improvement is really amazing.
"Yes, Your Majesty, please go find Di Renjie now and see if you can experience it."
"Okay, we need to do this quickly. I want to go to Qingzhou to see it."
"Yes, I will do it now."
"Go ahead."
(End of chapter)
