My life skills in Daming Liver

Tang Xianzu looked at the important ministers staring at him in the room, took a deep breath and said:

"My subordinates believe that a railway from Xuzhou to Guangzhou should be built."

Everyone took a breath, Xuzhou to Guangzhou? Connecting the southernmost and northernmost points of what is now Southeast?

This Tang Xianzu has such great ambitions!

Shen Shixing and He Xinyin both looked at this young man in surprise. Young people today are really amazing! Did you do such a big thing when you came up?

Why didn't he say that the railway would be built directly from Guangzhou to the capital?

Su Ze looked at Tang Xianzu without surprise and asked:

"Tang Jinshi, is this project too big?"

Tang Xianzu looked at Su Ze. After presiding over the construction of the Su-Songs Railway, Tang Xianzu saw the benefits of the railway.

He has even determined that railways are the future!

Tang Xianzu said: "Great Governor, the importance of the railway will benefit the future!"

Su Ze said with a smile: "The construction of the Grand Canal by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was also beneficial to the future, and it is more than contemporary."

Tang Xianzu was silent.

Su Ze patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's a good thing for young people to have ideas, but the railway needs to be repaired bit by bit."

“If you want to build a railway, which province do you think we should start building it from?”

Tang Xianzu looked at the important ministers behind Su Ze and almost blurted out: "Huguang."

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then looked at Tang Xianzu. Huguang had not yet been conquered, and it was still a frontline war zone. What was wrong with this Guanzheng Jinshi named Tang Xianzu?

Su Ze did not think that Tang Xianzu was crazy, so he said to Tang Xianzu: "Interesting, tell me why you need to build a railway in Huguang first?"

Tang Xianzu immediately said: "Grand Governor, what is a railway? A railway is a canal on land, so building a railway is not to compete with the canal for transportation capacity, but to supplement the canal's transportation capacity."

"In the opinion of my subordinates, there is no need to build a railway in the Susong area."

"Shipping is well developed here, and cargo can also be loaded and unloaded through sea transportation. Apart from passenger demand, the Susong-Songs Railway has little demand for freight."

"The same principle applies to building railways within South Zhili. Originally, South Zhili was an area with developed shipping. Currently, relying on Yangtze River and canal shipping is enough to meet demand."

Shen Shixing asked: "Isn't it the same in Huguang? Huguang has shipping on the Yangtze River. According to your statement, there is no need to build a railway at all?"

Tang Xianzu continued: "What my subordinates want to build is not the east-west railway?"

"Grand Governor, in my land in the middle of the sea, the only ones that can be called water veins are the great rivers and great rivers."

There is nothing strange about this concept. Almost all readers understand this truth.

The Yangtze River and the Yellow River are the mother rivers of Chinese civilization.

Tang Xianzu said: "Most cities in the Central Plains were built on large rivers, which are the lifeblood of our shipping in the Central Plains."

"With Wuchang as the center, a railway can be built to the north leading to Henan. This railway can combine the Yangtze River shipping belt and the Yellow River shipping belt."

"From Wuchang to the south, the Guangzhou-Wuhan Railway can be built to connect the Pearl River water system shipping belt and the Yangtze River water system shipping belt."

Su Ze looked at Tang Xianzu with admiration. It was indeed not easy for him to have this understanding.

In fact, on the historical timeline before Su Ze traveled through, Wuchang was like this. During the road construction movement in the late Qing Dynasty, Wuchang became the geographical center point of China.

Ninghan Railway (Nanjing to Wuhan), Guanghan Railway (Guangzhou to Wuhan), Beijing-Han Railway (Beijing to Wuhan), these important railways are all transit hubs in the city of Wuhan.

Later, the Chengdu-Han Railway (Chengdu to Wuhan) was built, and Wuchang was the center of the railway.

Su Ze was quite pleased that Tang Xianzu had such insight. He said to Lu Gang:

"Gang Madman, you have found a treasure."

Lu Gang grinned. If it weren't for Tang Xianzu, a capable subordinate, how could he concentrate on the steam engine?

Su Ze said to Tang Xianzu:

"Then tell me, starting from Wuchang to build the railway, which section should be built first?"

Tang Xianzu said without thinking: "The section from Xingyang to Wuchang."

Everyone was once again stunned by Tang Xianzu's out-of-the-box train of thought.

Xingyang, the future Zhengzhou, belonged to Henan Province and is still in the hands of the Ming court.

Xingyang's position is naturally very important. When fighting for the Central Plains, Xingyang is the key.

However, the provincial capital of Henan was Kaifeng at this time, and Zhengzhou became the capital of Henan. That was after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

It can be said that although Xingyang's geographical location is very important now, Xingyang is just a pass city and not a big city at all.

In fact, Zhengzhou itself is a city that only emerged after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The provincial capital of Henan has always been Kaifeng in history.

Even if a railway is built to Henan, it should also be built to Kaifeng. Why should a railway be built to Xingyang?

Tang Xianzu said: "Jialu River."

Su Ze's eyes lit up.

In the Jialu River, Su Ze's [Water Conservancy] has reached Level 14. Looking at the map, he naturally understood what Tang Xianzu meant.

Jialu River is named after Jialu, an official who controlled the Yellow River in the Yuan Dynasty.

Jialu dug the Jialu River in Xingyang with a simple intention, which was to control floods in the Yellow River.

The Yellow River overflowed during the Yuan Dynasty, resulting in a huge yellow flood area downstream. The purpose of digging the Jialu River was to release the Yellow River water in Xingyang and reduce the flood discharge pressure downstream.

But Jialu's idea of ​​regulating the river was right, but it failed in the end. The reason was also very simple. Because there was too much sediment in the Yellow River, and when it was diverted in Xingyang, the sediment in the Yellow River would soon block the mouth of the diverted river. The Jean Djalu River is often silted up.

After the construction of the Jialu River was completed, siltation occurred frequently. In order to discharge floods, a large amount of manpower and material resources are spent every year to maintain it.

Originally, the Jialu River was in ruins. Especially after the rise of the southeast, successive governors of Henan had no energy to continue to manage the Jialu River. Last year, the mouth of the Jialu River leading to the Yellow River was completely silted up and no longer connected to the Yellow River.

But nature is so magical. After the Jialu River was disconnected from the Yellow River, it no longer accepted the sediment-filled river water from the Yellow River. The tributaries of Songshan Mountain merged into the Jialu River system, and the sediment in the Jialu River became much less.

The water in the Jialu River became clear, and it began to connect to the Ying River, then to the Huai River, and was connected to the Jiangnan water network system.

Today, smuggling merchant ships from Henan often appear near the Huaihe River, and they take the channel of the Jialu River.

Su Ze looked at Tang Xianzu, he was indeed a talent!

The Jialu River connects to the Huaihe River, and Xingyang is also an important hub of the Yellow River waterway. At the same time, Xingyang can lead to Taiyuan and the capital to the north, and to Kaifeng and Xi'an to the west. This geographical location is simply amazing!

In fact, Zhengzhou later became the capital of Henan Province and quickly became a megacity in the Central Plains, also relying on its excellent geographical location.

Tang Xianzu pointed to the map and explained the important geographical location of Xingyang to the ministers. Everyone had the same idea. Young people these days are really not simple!

Su Ze asked: "You also learned water conservancy by yourself?"

Tang Xianzu nodded and said: "Back to the Governor, my subordinates believed that in order to build the railway, one must understand the geography of mountains and rivers, hydrology and water conservancy. These were summarized by my subordinates based on Hu Gong's manuscripts and the Governor's articles on hydrology. of."

Su Ze once again felt that he had found a treasure. He said to everyone:

"We have young people like this in the southeast, so why worry about not being able to defeat the Ming Dynasty!"

Su Ze said: "But these documents and maps alone are not enough. Once we capture Henan, Tang Jinshi can go to Xingyang to explore in person."

Next, the Southeast Governor Su Ze personally cut the ribbon for the Suzhou Railway Station. Amidst a burst of firecrackers, the Suzhou-Songsun Railway was officially opened to traffic.

Su Ze personally took the rail car from Suzhou to Songjiang.

In fact, before Su Ze cut the ribbon, this line had been in trial operation for some time, and its safety had been tested. It only took Su Ze four hours to arrive in Songjiang from Suzhou.

In later generations, this speed would have been like a turtle crawling, but in this era it is already quite astonishingly fast.

There is no need to sleep in the open air or drive on muddy roads. You only need to sit in the carriage and you can get from Suzhou to Songjiang in half a day.

Tang Xianzu also installed glass windows in the latest passenger carriages, so passengers can enjoy the scenery outside through the windows.

At the same time, Tang Xianzu divided the carriages into three classes in order to make profit.

The first-class carriage seats are more spacious and the carriages are more ornately decorated, so the fares are naturally more expensive.

Second-class cars also have seats, but they are connected together. All passengers have to squeeze into the seats. The price is affordable even for urban working-class people.

There are no seats in the third-class train, so you can only stand on the train, and the carriage is more crowded, but the fare is cheaper.

After Tang Xianzu used this method, the profit of passenger transportation increased significantly during the trial operation.

For the wealthy people in the Susong area, they would rather spend more money to separate themselves from second- and third-class carriages, and even first-class carriages are in short supply.

Being able to reach your destination in a sitting position is always better than a third-class carriage. Urban citizens with slightly better economic conditions will also buy second-class carriages.

Finally, for ordinary people who have to travel and are short of money, although the third-class carriage is a little more crowded, it is still more comfortable to reach the destination safely than to rush on two legs.

When Su Ze arrived at Songjiang Mansion by train, he did not go to the Shanghai Navy and Anti-Smuggling Corps, which he founded.

Su Ze also did not visit the cotton workshop in Songjiang Prefecture.

Xu Guo, the new Songjiang magistrate, was the second best student in Shen Shixing's subject and was also Su Ze's good friend in Suzhou.

Xu Guo was transferred from the prefect of Jiujiang to the prefect of Songjiang. Although they are both prefects, everyone knows that Songjiang, Suzhou is now the prefecture in the world. Being able to serve as the prefect here means that Xu Guo is highly regarded by Su Ze.

But Xu Guo didn't know where Su Ze was going this time.

Su Ze led everyone to a building on the edge of the Huangpu River without even entering Songjiang City after changing into carriages.