The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 1888

[1888. Chapter 1797 is wonderful.]

. Fortunately…for more than a year, the court had so many things to do that people couldn’t be distracted and worry about other things.

The construction of the railway has also reached a critical moment.

Sections of the railway began to be completed.

Whether it is the imperial court or local state capitals, the demand for railways has been increasing continuously. After certain sections were built and the conditions were met for opening to traffic, they began to open to traffic first. As soon as the train rang, it brought a steady stream of The constant flow of goods, naturally… also transported countless local products out, in exchange for a steady stream of wealth.

Many big merchants from the capital came almost in droves.

They followed the railway lines to various state capitals and looked at everything here greedily.

Before this, there were patches of undeveloped CHU women’s land. Even here, there was almost no so-called business at all. Compared with Jingshi and Baoding, the land price here was as low as cabbage. There were also Countless cheap labor. There may even be countless resources nearby that have yet to be discovered. In most places, people are still self-sufficient, and homespun cloth and earthen ironware have not yet suffered the impact of cheaper and better-quality workshop products.

The business competition in the capital has reached a brutal level, but this state capital is like a blank sheet of paper.

Ever since… countless ‘adventurers’ came here with countless goods and wealth to expand their business territory.

The top ten trading houses in the capital, led by Xishan, urgently need more raw material production areas, need to build new workshops, and need a large amount of cheaper labor.

Other merchants began to expand their business in the capital here.

The brokers were all-pervasive, looking for any possible opportunity to bring together people from the local prefectures to cooperate with merchants from the capital, Baoding, and Jiangnan.

It seemed like a carnival.

Those people who discovered a station appeared in front of their homes overnight and saw the huge iron lump coming with billowing smoke. After that… they found that their lives began to change dramatically.

Many places are recruiting workers to start construction.

Some merchants even recruited people in advance for short-term training and promised high wages for locals.

Some people also vaguely discovered that the mountain behind them, which was an ordinary patch of dirt, seemed to have been discovered as a treasure. Immediately afterwards, a large number of people began to appear, first using gunpowder to open the mountain, and then… established The mountain road was built, and then… pulled countless mines directly down the mountain.

Naturally, the mountain people also have benefits.

Not only was he dragged to open mountains, but he was also given a generous salary.

Sometimes in order to bribe them, it is necessary to build some houses and roads in front of the village for them.

Some smart people began to notice something, and began to blend into the ranks of these outsiders. Following their methods, they returned home in glory after a year and a half.

They rode in a carriage and swaggered through the city with a sound of silk and silk, immediately attracting curious and jealous looks from people.

Even they can do it, why can’t we?

This is probably what many people think.

Just like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang more than a thousand years ago shouted, “Princes, generals, ministers, and ministers have the right to be kind”.

Others can make a fortune, why can’t you?

People can no longer calm down.

It was like being in the middle of a torrent all of a sudden, so…one by one they plunged in without hesitation, without hesitation.

But this situation is like a plague, contagious, first in the prefecture, then in the counties, and finally, even remote villages began to be affected.

The strong men, no longer resigned to poverty, packed their bags without hesitation and embarked on the road to Beijing, the government, and the county.

Women also began to be encouraged and tried to enter the workshop.

On weekdays, they rarely go out, but the salary in the textile workshop is too tempting. In addition to the temptation of gold and silver, the new scholars seem to be trying their best to change people’s ideas and encourage women to work.

Fortunately, many measures in the workshop ensured that there would be no idle men in the workshop. Some people began to try it, and soon after, more women began to flock to it.

The woman who was supposed to be the husband’s godson, when they received their first salary tremblingly, they couldn’t help but hurriedly put the small bills and some copper coins into their bags, holding the bag in their hands. , the calloused hands were actually sweating.

It’s an amazing feeling.

All of a sudden…it seemed as if he had become his own master.

It seemed that the moment I received my salary, the whole world changed. I felt confident and my waist became straighter.

After all, there are still some old scholars in this prefecture and county, who are trying their best to denounce such various phenomena.

They are like a group of praying mantises blocking the train, eager to relieve their dissatisfaction with new things.

But at this time, no one listens to their complaints anymore. Making money is more important. Others can live a good life, why can’t I?

Other places began to urge the opening of railways.

So much so that some local and state governments couldn’t wait any longer, so they spontaneously began to recruit laborers to help on construction sites.

The imperial court had abolished corvée, but the men who had taken a break from farming could no longer bear it after hearing many tempting rumors.

They have plenty of strength.

In the past, these powers were worthless.

But if the railway is connected, strength can be exchanged for money.

The railway from Gansu to Yumenguan… is what the Zhang brothers value most.

The two tried their best to persuade the Railway Bureau not to build this railway.

On the one hand… it is difficult to build. After all, it has to travel through thousands of miles of desert, and the cost of supplies is staggering.

On the other hand, such a railway has no benefits at all.

But the railway bureau was determined to repair it, so the Zhang brothers, besides beating their chests and scolding their mothers for several days and nights, rushed to Lanzhou overnight.

You have to cultivate it correctly, right?

Since we two brothers can’t stop it, then… let’s keep a close eye on it. This money… can be saved as much as possible.

So…in the desert that is thousands of miles away, the footprints of the Zhang brothers can always be left.

They measured the dirt and gravel on the ground with their feet, looking for any way to save.

They stared at the people working in each construction section as if they had a keen eye, and they could always find traces of someone’s greed and waste.

Here… no one dares to mess with engineering materials.

No one dares to be greedy for a single cent, so that every foreman always feels uncomfortable all over, as if there are always two pairs of eyes on the back of his head, always staring at the back of his head, always making them break out in cold sweat at any time. A creepy feeling.

The Zhang brothers kept urging the progress of the project.

They took the exploration team and needed to locate and construct in the desert.

This engineering team of tens of thousands of people was tortured to death by the two brothers.

Their ragged clothes shed sweat and blood in the desert, and they continued to speed up their progress.

It took more than two years… most of the projects… have been completed.

This is almost a miracle in the history of engineering.

So much so that after the Railway Administration heard the news, their first reaction was to shake their heads.

Engineers and technicians from all over the country rushed to Lanzhou one after another.

Here… new methods to speed up construction progress, as well as reward and punishment systems, are taught one by one.

………

Yumen Pass is the westernmost pass in the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, a steam train was coming slowly against the wind, roaring loudly and roaring hysterically.

Three days ago, this train departed from Lanzhou, and today… it finally started to enter the station.

There are almost no people around this station.

Because of the need for future commercial layout, the railway bureau arranged the station dozens of miles away from the old city, far away from the original business roads.

Therefore, it is very quiet here today, with only a few station staff waiting here.

After the train stopped, the first person to get off… was Zhang Heling.

Zhang Heling was gray-faced, wearing simple clothes, even full of patches, and wearing a sun-shielding hat on his head. He was still sallow and thin.

When he got off the car, he looked up at the bright sun and felt like he was in another world.

The three-day train journey was actually not pleasant.

Fortunately… he’s used to it.

Behind him… Zhang Yanling also jumped out of the car.

“Brother, do you want to drink water and eat steamed cakes?” Zhang Yanling casually took off the package on his body.

Zhang Heling looked at Zhang Yanling angrily, slapped him in the face with his backhand, and cursed angrily: “Eat, eat, eat, you know how to eat. What are we going to eat with the things we brought with us? We have arrived at Yumen Pass now. We have to eat.” Eat at the station and wait for them to catch us.”

Zhang Yanling felt that his head hurt from being beaten by his brother. He shook his head, and his numb head seemed to regain some consciousness, and then he grinned: “Wonderful, wonderful, still. My brother knows everything.”

…………

I recommend a book called “The Fantasy of Death”

(end of this chapter).