Chapter 39: Railway Dispute
He Xi brought many things to Ming Dynasty.
There is no consensus on most things.
There are many things that some people think are excellent and others think they are bad, but railways are something that everyone agrees with.
Without him, transportation in ancient times would have been too difficult. No matter how conservative you are, you cannot refuse the convenience of trains. And the benefits of railways can be seen by everyone.
It can be said that wherever the railway passes, it will immediately become wealthy. It has an immediate effect. It would be fine if Hebei Province didn't raise the matter. Once it was raised, the matter immediately became uncontrollable.
First of all, due to geographical reasons, it is more convenient to build railways in the north than in the south, because there are far fewer bridges to be built.
Secondly, there are many rivers in the south. There is no ice all year round and water transportation is developed.
There are many alternatives to railways in this regard.
But these reasons are not the reasons why these provinces should not strive to build railways.
It seems that the water conservancy dispute and other activities to compete for the court's resources made these people realize a rule, that is, the good things of the court can't be given away to others even if they don't want them.
If others get it but you don't get it, it means you suffer a loss. Children who cry are fed by milk.
Although railways are built in various places, each has its own problems due to different geographical issues. For example, in the southwest region, He Xi wants to build railways. Can it be done? It is simply impossible, at least with today's railway construction technology, it is absolutely impossible.
Climbing Yanshan Mountain consumes many people’s brain cells.
And it is simply impossible to get through the 100,000 mountains in the southwest.
It is a gap that is difficult to bridge with current engineering technology.
But that doesn't stop them from crying a few times first.
As a result, there are many provinces competing for the right to build railways. Almost every province has its own plan, and He Xi wants them to give this plan. They do it very simply, draw a line on the map.
Others are not considered at all.
The more particular ones are just avoiding some mountains and rivers.
As a result, He Xi was shocked by the demand for railway construction that came to He Xi's hands. It felt like Sun Dapao's 100,000 yuan railway plan, which was not reliable at all. It seems that with a single stroke, one can cross rivers, lakes, seas, and mountains.
or. The infrastructure capacity of future generations will be capable of this. No matter how you draw the line, it can generally be built. But now it is completely different.
It's simply impossible to do.
Moreover, the total railway mileage far exceeds 100,000, and even reaches 200,000 miles.
It is dozens of times that of the current railway. If it is really built successfully, it will be much larger than the railways before the liberation of China.
He Xi originally thought that Dingguo would eliminate some unreliable plans. But I never expected it. Because each province has its own ideas, even the nobles from various places have hometowns. When people from home come to visit, it’s hard to ignore them.
The entire railway plan was the only one approved by more than 50%. It is the Beijing-Beijing Railway built along the canal from Beijing.
On the one hand, the importance of the Beijing-Beijing Railway is extraordinary, and the double-track project is almost parallel to the canal. Most of them are on flat land on the Huanghuaihai Plain. Although they may be threatened by floods, overall construction is not difficult. There are canals for transshipment, and there are enough railroad tracks and sleepers in the north. It is not difficult to build.
Today, Beijing and Nanjing are both the capitals of the Ming Dynasty.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the future capital of the Ming Dynasty may not be Nanjing. Because the resources near Beijing are too abundant.
Soldiers, iron, food, these resources are there, not to mention that His Majesty is the one who raised the army from Beijing and swept across the world. Moving the capital back to Beijing is also the idea of many nobles and high officials from the north.
Of course, this is all for later. Even if you don't move back. It is impossible for the imperial court to free Beijing from control. The Beijing-Beijing Railway is so important. It is a hub project connecting the two Beijings.
It has extremely profound political connotations.
Naturally, many people from both the government and the public
support.
Another aspect. It's just a matter of popularity.
The group of founding heroes can be called the Huaixi Group. Because most of the heroes are from between the Huaihe River and the Huaihe River. As for the Beijing-Beijing Railway, it naturally had to contact the Huaixi area, and the founding heroes could easily be persuaded to come forward to support it.
Among the nobles of Longwu, there are many from Huaixi. But there are also few people in Hebei and Liaodong. Although many *** may not be from Hebei and Liaodong. But among the second-level princes, there are also a considerable number of people from Hebei. Of course, among the civil servants coming from the north, there are more people from Hebei.
In this case, it is very natural for them to work hard at the same time and pass the Dingguo meeting very easily.
But except for the Liang-Beijing Railway, other railways did not have many supporters. But they all have staunch supporters, and there is no final conclusion on this matter. Naturally, I handed it over to He Xi.
He Xi called people from the cabinet to come over for discussion, and especially asked Ge Tiangong to come over to analyze so many railway plans.
After Ge Tiangong saw the whimsical thoughts below.
Many impossible solutions have been eliminated. For example, those who wanted to build a bridge on the Yangtze River, a railway on the Hengduan Mountains, or a plank road in Sichuan were dismissed.
In the end a dozen plans were put together. Ge Tiangong said: "These are probably feasible. But there are also many problems, and I generally think they can all be solved. But whether it is feasible or not depends on the specific exploration."
He Xi took it and took a closer look. Each province has different railway plans, but under Ge Tiangong's selection, a railway system was formed.
The first is the Longhai Line, which goes south along the coastline from Denglai, then along the southern foot of Mount Tai to Xuzhou, then west from Xuzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Tongguan, Xi'an, all the way to Lanzhou, where it is connected to the railway from Lanzhou to Beijing. At the same time, a railway line was branched to Xining.
This is a plan that connects several identities.
Among them, the idea of going from Lanzhou to Xining was naturally Mei Yin’s idea. Mei Yin has been dormant in Xining for several years and has a deep affection for the local area. At this time, I will naturally use my own strength to benefit Xining.
Otherwise, who would remember Xining for such a thing?
In addition, there are also routes from Datong Yanmenguan, Taiyuan, all the way to Puzhou. That is the Tongpu Railway.
This is the strong local demand in Shanxi.
In fact, Shaanxi also has a route connecting Tongpu Railway to Xi'an, and there is a need for a Yellow River Bridge in the middle. But he was ruthlessly removed by Ge Tiangong. the reason is simple.
Ge Tiangong has had enough of the Yellow River Bridge.
Others would only see that Ge Tiangong built the Yellow River Railway Bridge in Dongsheng, and it was a large iron bridge. But they did not know that this iron bridge had many dangers.
There are various situations, but iron and wood are still different. It would be strange if there are no problems when arranging iron bridges with the logic of using wood.
What's more, this is the first time to build such a bridge, and the various sequelae are simply endless. Although it is said that in the various battles with the Dongsheng Railway Bridge day after day, the methods of Daming engineering and technical personnel are increasing day by day. There have also been many new breakthroughs. However, Ge Tiangong still wants to live for a few more years, and now he is determined not to build a railway bridge.
Therefore, in almost all railway construction, bridges are not built if possible. Even if bridges are built, iron bridges with small spans should be chosen as much as possible. This actually comes from some experience.
As for bridges across large rivers, I'm sorry, please change boats.
There is also the railway along the Yangtze River, starting from Nanjing, heading east to Songjiang, west to Wuchang, and even extending to Yichang.
Moreover, when Ge Tiangong was doing this, he paid great attention to some issues, namely the relationship with the iron factory.
Most of the railways in the north can be directly connected to the iron works. Even if they are not directly connected, they are connected by canals. Or shipped by sea. Dalian materials can be transported to the construction site.
The railway in Nanjing is centered on the Taiping Iron Works.
Taiping Iron Works still has its heritage and strength. It only needs to transfer some technical personnel from the north and make some modifications. The production capacity of the Taiping Iron Works is estimated to be no less than that of the Liaodong Iron Works.
Therefore, it is logical to build a railway network with Liaodong Iron Works as the core and Nanjing as the center.
In addition, it is the route connecting Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang and the railway line on the south bank of the Yangtze River. It can be regarded as a small railway network, but it is divided into discontinuous railways by large rivers.
There are still some railways on the corners.
For example, Sichuan must build a railway around Chengdu. There are some small railways along the coast of Fujian.
The former represents the entire southwest, and the railways in the southwest were all denied by He Xi. He just gave Southwest a promise to repair the official road. After all, it wasn't that He Xi didn't want to repair it, but that it really couldn't be repaired.
It’s just that a bowl of water must always be level.
Otherwise Southwest will be dissatisfied. As the leader in the southwest region, Sichuan naturally needs to be appeased. Fujian and Guangdong are not geographically connected to the railway network on the south bank of the Yangtze River. And it's close to the sea. Most of the railways built are mainly connected to major cities. Not long.
Ge Tiangong had calculated that it would be possible to transport the raw materials directly from the north by sea.
That's why we had this plan.
In He Xi's view, the entire plan, with its one block in the east and the other in the west, could not be considered a railway network at all.
At least until the Yangtze River Bridge can be built, Ming Dynasty will not have such a thing as a railway network.
He Xi sorted it out and said, "Then this is the plan. I'll submit it to Dingguo."
Not only Ge Tiangong, but also many people were shocked. Without him, the grandeur of this railway plan is simply unprecedented. Ge Tiangong made a rough calculation and found that in terms of cost, it was no less than fighting a big war.
The financial pressure is too great.
Many people never thought that He Xi would make such a decision.
Yang Shiqi couldn't help but said: "My lord, this plan is too ambitious and the court cannot support it. Please think again, my lord."
"Yes. Sir, please think twice." These people all said at once.
