"Your Highness, Guanzhong is the foundation of the world, how can there be no railway?"

"Not there is no, it's just not repairing that quickly."

"That's not possible, Your Highness! From Weikou to Chang'an, from Luoyi to Chang'an, the transportation of goods can only be carried by land, and the Wei River is not reliable. If the railway is opened, how convenient will it be?"

"Luoyi to Chang'an, Chang'an to Weikou, it's only 600 miles of land routes, and it's not much more expensive to build a railway. After the train is opened, the products from Shu will arrive in Luoyi, and the products from Guandong will arrive in Weikou. It's great to take the railway to Beijing!"

In the Maid House, Empress Yuchi Chifan was "besieged" by a group of foreign women and listened to everyone's opinions.

All the foreigners heard that the court did not plan to give priority to the construction of railways for Guanzhong, but "make random repairs" elsewhere, so they entered the palace and "petition" to the queen:

Guanzhong is the foundation of the world, how can there be no railway?

The Zhou State established the country with Guanzhong, so the powerful and powerful people from Guanlong naturally believed that Guanzhong was the foundation of the world. Since the new land transportation such as trains were practical, then Guanzhong, where the capital was located, should have railways, and they should be given priority.

With Chang'an as the center, to the east to Weikou and to the west to Luoyi, a railway must be connected (connected into a straight line) to facilitate the import of materials from Guandong and Shu to Chang'an.

At the same time, the railway extends westward, passes Luoyi through Weishui Canyon and arrives at Shangfeng, Qinzhou, connecting Chang'an and Shangfeng, and then the connection between Guanzhong and Longyou will be closer.

Of course, the eastern section of this railway should also extend forward and go directly to the eastern capital Luoyang, and use railways to connect the two capitals. Isn’t this correct?

What's the result?

Such an important Guanzhong Railway is not built, which is said to be insufficient iron production. In order to save money, the "Yeluo Line", "Hehuai Line", and "Huangbo Line" are built. What is this?

In the past few days, the foreign wives who petitioned the queen were actually "instructed" by their husbands to take the harem route and petition the emperor through the queen, asking the emperor to give priority to the construction of the Guanzhong Railway for the sake of Chang'an as the capital.

Now, the famous women in the foreign minds actually want to say:

The three lines that were given priority were all for Huangzhou Xiyang, as if Huangzhou was the capital, and Chang'an was the capital.

I know that your whole family likes Huangzhou, but no matter how much you like Huangzhou, you can't be so biased!

Of course, the foreigners would not say these words, but their mentality is the same: Guanzhong is the foundation of the world, how can there be no railway running a train?

Regarding the petition of the foreign women, Yuchi Chifan could only explain, saying that the court has not yet finalized a plan and has not yet determined which railway to build first.

Moreover, the railway cannot be repaired just by repairing it. On-site inspection of the planned routes must be carried out. Perhaps the survey results will negate the previous plan. Therefore, it does not mean that the railway will be repaired by the court now.

The most important point is that building railways is very expensive, so good steel must be used on the blade. In areas where the original steamship shipping was originally carried, the imperial court would not consider building railways in the near future (within ten years).

For example, from Puzhou to Jinyang, you can take Fen River. Fen River shipping is in full swing now, so even if the railway from Puzhou to Jinyang is of great significance (transmitting across the Hedong region), the court will not consider repairing it now.

The focus of the imperial court's railway route was on roads such as Shu Road, which had no water transportation conditions but had very important functions.

Of course, the "Guanzhong Railway" connecting Luoyi to the west and Weikou to the east is indeed very important. Of course, the court will hear everyone's voice and make careful considerations about it.

Yuchi Chifan said similar words countless times in the past few days, not only to give positive answers to the foreign women who came to petition, but also to make the other party feel at ease.

The so-called reassurance of the other party includes two aspects. First, she wanted to emphasize that the Guanzhong Railway is also a line that the court is considering.

Second, she wanted to emphasize that the emergence of railways will not cause any existing shipping, such as Fenshui shipping.

These two points are crucial because they involve huge benefits.

Needless to say, the significance of Guanzhong Railway is, and over the past decade, several interest groups have been initially formed around the steamship shipping industry. Therefore, the court should carefully consider it to avoid serious conflicts between train transportation (land) and steamship shipping (water) and leading to "excitement".

This is something that Yuwen Wen repeatedly emphasized with Yuchi Chifan, so that she could comfort the restless foreigners who were a little restless. Because many powerful people in the capital have interests in the Fenshui route, so at present, Fenshui shipping cannot be affected by the railway, even if it is just rumors.

In fact, this kind of worry is a bit redundant. Because the construction of railways is too expensive and consumes iron, the imperial government's finance and iron production cannot support it, so we can only give priority to the important roads that cannot be used for shipping but are very important, and build railways to increase transportation capacity.

The Shu Road is one of them. As for the Taihang Line connecting Jinyang and Yecheng, it is not impossible to consider it. However, the imperial court did not have the financial resources to build it, so it could only rely on the "railway investment bureau" which is "official supervision and business" to prepare for construction.

There is a "Shipbuilding Merchants Agency" for water transportation and a "Telecommunication Merchants Agency" for telegraphs, so it is natural for the land transportation to have a "Railway Merchants Agency".

Such an explanation is enough to make the foreigners who petitioned and stumbled into the palace to calm down, but it is not enough.

The first set of plans proposed by the prince that day included the "Changgu Line" connecting Chang'an and Guzang. This railway plan, which was very important for Guanzhong, Longyou and even Hexi, attracted the keen attention of officials from Longyou and Hexi.

Once this line is built and opened to traffic, it means that the prefectures and counties along the railway line in Longyou and Hexi will benefit. From Chang'an to Guzang, Liangzhou, it will take two days to arrive, and the telegram line can be pulled along the line.

All kinds of outputs such as cotton and wool products in Longyou and Hexi will be transported to Guanzhong at a relatively low (relative) transportation cost, and rare treasures from the Western Regions can also be transported to Chang'an through this railway.

It can be said that this planned railway only talks about "money route" and is a road to wealth, which has greatly increased the appetites of officials in Longyou and Hexi, Qiang Zongzhu's surname, planters, workshop owners and merchants.

Now I say I won't repair it...

The Guanlong and the Long are both called each other, which is not just a joke.

Similarly, the second set of plans of the prince made officials in Jingxiang, Henan and Huaihe areas cheered, because if the three railways in this plan could be started quickly and completed and opened to traffic, telegraph lines would be set up along the way, which would make personnel and material exchanges in the three regions more convenient.

Especially the "Huangbo Line", which directly connects the middle reaches of the Yangtze River to Huaixi and Henan through railways, and connects the "Hehuai Line" connecting the Yellow River and Huai River. This is also a road of wealth.

Wait until the "Yeluo Line" crosses Tongbai Mountain to connect Anlu and Xiyang, this is also a path to wealth.

If the imperial court suspended the Huangbo Line (suspended) in order to repair the "Changgu Line" first, can officials from Jingxiang, Lianghuai, Henan and "talents from all over the country" agree?

Therefore, the foreign wife who came to the palace to visit the queen these days, some petitioned for the Guanzhong Railway and even the "Changgu Line", some petitioned for the "Huangbo Line", "Hehuai Line" and "Yeluo Line".

Everyone must pass through the queen and ask the emperor for priority to build railways passing through their hometowns.

Steamer transportation is a road to wealth on the water. Now, train transportation is about to begin. Everyone realizes that railways are also a road to wealth, so they all want to benefit their hometown.

As for the widely circulated statements such as "railways will damage the feng shui along the way and disturb the people along the route", no one has mentioned them now.

Yuchi Chifan, who was about to get angry when he spoke, finally finished his statement, but the matter was not over yet. Because there was another big event that she needed to send news to the outsiders.

The envoys of Persia and Roman countries are about to enter Beijing because a year and a half ago, the envoys of the imperial envoys of Persia and Roman countries had successfully mediated the disputes between the two countries.

Now that the two countries have shaken hands and make peace, the dynasty’s Western foreign trade transactions can be opened.

No one knows how long the peace between Persian and Roman countries can last, but this winter, the Nanyang Trading Company will carry out large-scale maritime trade with Western countries.

To this end, Nanyang Trading Company is about to issue orders with huge quantity and extremely high amounts, and starts to prepare stocks in half a year, and then gathers the goods in several major coastal ports.

When the north wind blows, a large number of fleets will sail south in batches, turn to the West through the South Ocean, and launch a large-scale maritime trade that lasts for a year.

Yuchi Chifan now reminds everyone here: "The orders of Nansi are large in quantity, tight in time and high in quality requirements. Everyone is ready to take orders and deliver the goods in their respective industries?"
Chapter completed!