The most arrogant in history

Ye Kun smiled and said, "There are two engines at the locomotive head, which are used to burn fire, so it is called a locomotive."

"Is that burning charcoal or firewood?"

"Burning coal."

Ye Kun chuckled: "Actually, burning firewood or charcoal is fine, but burning coal is better, it runs faster."

In fact, steam engines are very crude and can be powered by either wood or charcoal.

There are still cars that burn wood in later generations.

Jiang Yourong nodded and asked, "Where should we sit?"

"Your Majesty, this must be a private room."

Ye Kun smiled, took Jiang Yourong's hand, and got into the middle carriage.

The locomotive is in the front, and the carriages at the back are used to store coal and repair tools.

There are also rest rooms for operators and maintenance personnel, all in the front.

Xie Baochan and others were sitting in the same carriage with Ye Kun.

Ministers from nine ministries and hundreds of civil and military officials took their seats at the back.

Pang Jia drove the car.

goo goo goo...

The steam engine made a huge roar and thick smoke billowed from the chimney, rising straight into the sky.

The train started slowly, dragging its long body like a huge caterpillar, running on the rails.

Xie Baochan laughed and said, "Your Majesty is amazing. This is the first time I have seen a carriage that can run without the need for oxen or horses. It is so long and can hold so many people!"

Ye Kun turned around and said, "Trains will get better and better in the future. One train can carry 10,000 people. For example, in a war, to mobilize 100,000 troops, only ten trains are needed."

Wei Caiqin nodded: "In this way, we can save a lot of money without cattle and horses, and we won't need so much food and fodder."

Liu Yuejuan asked: "If it is used to transport grain, how much can the train carry?"

"We can transport millions or even tens of millions of kilograms at a time."

Ye Kun stood up, experienced the speed of the train, and said with a smile: "Our first railway will be built soon. From now on, it will be fast and good from Zhuojun to Central Plains!"

The Central Plains has a flat terrain and few mountains, making it the most suitable place for building railways.

The difficult parts are the Yellow River and the Huai River.

Fortunately, at this time, the mouth of the Yellow River was in Jiangsu.

If a railway is built from the north bank of the Yellow River, the Yellow River channel can be avoided.

Bridges can be built on other rivers.

"Your Majesty, I want to build a railway to Chengdu!"

"Your Majesty, I want to build a railway to Pingye County."

"Your Majesty, can you build a railway to Liaodong?"

"No problem, no problem!" Ye Kun agreed immediately and said with a smile: "But, we have to do it step by step, don't be impatient..."

The Emperor is omnipotent.

Ye Kun was too embarrassed to say that he couldn't do it, so he just tried to make everyone happy.

The train runs very smoothly, climbing, descending and turning as if it were on flat ground.

The speed is not high, but it is also 20 kilometers per hour. If you run day and night without stopping, you can run 500 kilometers in a day and a night.

The speed and transport capacity far exceed that of cattle, horses and mules.

He Tiantian came over and acted as a guide for everyone, and also talked about the hardships of developing the train.

Starting from Pingye County, He Tiantian began to study steam engines under the influence of Ye Kun.

It took more than ten years to get to where we are today.

After listening to He Tiantian's introduction, Liu Yuejuan nodded and said, "No wonder, we have to vigorously mine iron ore and smelt iron and steel. This railway requires too much steel."

He Tiantian smiled and said, "The current supply of steel is still sufficient. It's just that building roads is not easy, because building railways has higher requirements than building roads."

Ye Kun nodded: "Tian Tian has to take charge of this personally, and ask Lord Ye Qingyang to cooperate with you. If one year is not enough, then two years will do. We must build the railway!"

He Tiantian was a little timid: "If you let me do scientific research, no problem; but if you let me lead people to work, I'm afraid I can't control them."

"It's okay. I'll just send you a few capable assistants. When you have experience, you can carry out the construction according to the standards and you can get away with it." Ye Kun said with a smile.

The train went around three times, but everyone still felt unsatisfied and got off reluctantly.

Pang Jia organized a cycling team and gave a performance to everyone.

Ye Qingyang asked: "Can this bicycle be promoted vigorously?"

"In the future, when cities have cement roads, this may be possible, but there is no foundation now. Pangjia made the bicycle just to let people see it and for fun."

Ye Kun waved his hand and took everyone to see other scientific research results.

Then he asked Wu Qiong for money, one for building a railway, and the other for setting up a steam engine factory.

Back to the inner city.

Continue to hold nine department meetings.

Wu Qiong was very conservative and said, "I saw the train today. What if the railway doesn't achieve the desired effect after it's built? According to the design, it's more than a thousand miles from Puyang, north of the Yellow River, to Zhuojun. It's not a small amount of money."

Ye Kun said: "After the railway is completed, it will take five years to recover the investment. If it doesn't, you can come to me."

Wu Qiong shrugged: "In that case, let's investigate first and come up with a plan and budget. As for the money, we still have it."

International trade is very profitable nowadays.

Almost all the gold and silver from the Western Regions, Rome, and India flowed to China.

As international trade has grown, Ye Kun has begun to accept customized weapons from various countries, selling swords, guns, bows and arrows as long as they are paid.

There are also porcelain, silk, iron pots, soap and matches, which are all popular commodities in international trade.

Sang Buyi said:

"Your Majesty, we have earned too much money from foreign countries, and the amount of gold, silver and copper coins in the private sector has also increased. Therefore, prices have risen a lot recently. Some vendors and wealthy families feel that gold, silver and copper coins have become worthless, and they are hoarding iron pots, porcelain and silk, which has indirectly raised prices. If this continues, I'm afraid the currency will become chaotic..."

Ye Kun was a little surprised and looked at Wu Qiong.

Wu Qiong said: "I know this situation, but it is unavoidable. If there is too much money, it will naturally become worthless. I think as long as the price of grain remains stable, everything will be fine."

If too much gold, silver and copper coins enter the public, it will definitely cause inflation.

Just like paper money, not too many can be issued.

Ye Kun frowned and said, "The profiteers are hoarding a large amount of goods, which is disrupting the market. We still have to find a way to control it. In addition, let the Roman and Western merchants bring more young slaves to exchange for our goods. We will need a lot of labor to open mines, build roads, and dig canals in the future."

Ma Zhao frowned and said, "Your Majesty, do you really intend to build the Grand Canal? Such a major project will increase the burden on the people. If it goes wrong, it will lead to the destruction of the country."

Ye Kun has mentioned the Grand Canal many times.

Even Ye Qingyang has already come up with a plan.

However, most of the ministers among the nine ministries did not dare to agree.

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Then let's not repair it. Let's first sort out and dredge the old canals, such as the Han Canal and the Hong Canal. It won't be difficult to repair these old canals, right? As for workers, we will try to use foreign laborers so as not to affect domestic production and life."

In fact, Ye Kun was fooling people.

The so-called Grand Canal did not need to be dug from scratch, but instead connected to existing ancient canals.

If we first open up the abandoned ancient canal, the remaining construction work of the Grand Canal will be much smaller.

At that time, Ye Kun could discuss it with everyone slowly and there would be no problem.

Wu Qiong obviously understood Ye Kun's thoughts and frowned, "Your Majesty, why do you insist on building the Grand Canal?"

Ye Kun rolled his eyes: "Master Wu, I am doing this for your own good."