In the morning, Yu Wenwen, who was dressed in casual clothes, was drinking in a wine shop in the port area. As the saying goes, "The drunkard's intention is not about wine, but about mountains and rivers." He was actually listening to the chats of the drinkers.

The opening of the two Beijing Railways means that the transportation between Chang'an and Luoyang has improved greatly. Rich people can choose to take the train when traveling, but because the two Beijing Railways currently only have passenger transportation, bulk cargo still has to be shipped.

This was a decision made by the court to take care of the interests of the shipping industry. Even if a train is opened between the two capitals, a "buffer period" must be given to allow the ship owners engaged in shipping to protect their interests.

But the system is dead, and people are alive. How is this system of "passenger transportation takes the railway and freight transportation takes the water" implemented? Yuwen Wen felt that it is necessary to listen to the people's statement.

Then you have to go on a tour in a condom, come to Mengjin to take a look, and listen to the comments of passers-by.

This is the most important shipping port in Luoyang. Whether it is freight or passenger transport, a large number of ships enter and exit the port area every day, and a large number of passengers pass by.

The business of various tea shops, wine shops and restaurants in the port area is booming, and passers-by from all over the world are indispensable.

In order to prevent local officials from specially organizing people to come here to act, Yuwen Wen made corresponding arrangements in advance to ensure that everyone who comes here today is normal passengers, not "actors".

However, what the drinkers in the restaurant are talking about is the Yi (zhou) and Qi (zhou) Railway, rather than whether anyone transports the goods privately on the two Beijing Railways.

The Yiqi Railway refers to the railway from Chengdu, Yizhou to Luoyi, Qizhou, which is the railway version of the "Shu Road". It was built for three years and was completed and opened to traffic at the end of spring this year.

This railway is a new important road from Guanzhong to Shu and Shu to Guanzhong. It replaced the plank road since ancient times. It is about 1,400 miles long. The train will take one way (including adding coal and water to stop at stops along the way, and getting on and off passengers). According to the time announced by the government, it is 30 hours.

If it were the past, it would take more than a month to walk from Chengdu to Luoyi.

It is obvious that the completion and opening of the Yiqi Railway has instantly narrowed the distance between Shu and Guanzhong. As everyone walked far away and walked forty miles a day, Chengdu seemed to be a county town seventy or eighty miles outside Chang'an City.

Since ancient times, the road of Shu, which is intimidating, has now become a flat road, which is almost amazing and a little unbelievable.

There are so many mountains and ridges, valleys and ravines, but they are crossed by railways one by one. It is hard for the drinkers to imagine how this railway was built.

A drunkard said that "I heard" that the imperial court adopted "human sacrifice" in order to build this railway. Every time he went to a dangerous place, he had to use people to sacrifice to the mountain gods in exchange for the railway to pass safely.

The number of human sacrifices is so large that under each sleeper, there is a life.

The drunkard said, "It is said that one mile of railways are 700 sleepers. The one-400-mile-long railway is...it's about one million, so..."

As he spoke, his voice lowered: "So, maybe I might have sacrificed almost one million people to build the Yiqi Railway."

Someone retorted: "Let's talk, one million people have sacrificed so many people, so the government and the people will not be upset. The court can do such a thing."

The drinker Nene who revealed the inside story: "Didn't I hear that..."

Someone interrupted again: "I heard that it is not to sacrifice living people to the mountain god, but to replace them with small dough people. When pinching the dough people, you have to cut your fingers and dip some blood on the dough people. Moreover, there must be stuffing in this dough people, pork stuffing."

When others heard this, they found it strange: "Pork filling? Why is it pork filling, not mutton filling?"

To make noodles, you need to add some human blood to a living person. This makes sense. As for why the meat filling requires pork, everyone doesn’t understand.

The news revealed spread out: "You ask me, how do I know? Perhaps the Taoist priest who casts the spell is calculating, but how can outsiders know?"

Others asked again: "The Taoist priest who casts the spell? Why isn't the monk who casts the spell?"

"Don't ask me why it's like this, I heard it too."

Yuwen Wen was a little amused when he heard this unreliable so-called "insider news". The construction of the Yiqi Railway did indeed fill a lot of lives, but it was not a human sacrifice, but casualties caused by various accidents during the construction process.

It is too exaggerated to describe a sleeper as a life, but it is not an exaggeration to describe a life as a one-mile railway.

It was originally a large-scale project that could only be completed in the industrial era. It would inevitably cost a greater price to complete in this feudal era, and it also had to be helped by fierce explosives, strong explosives and various steam machinery. Otherwise, no matter how many lives were filled, it would be impossible to build this railway.

In order to build a railway, so many lives have been filled in, there must be a saying. Yuwen Wen said that the slave laborers who built the road (the ones who survived) were "released" and organized into households.

As for the deceased, monuments were erected on several of the most steepest sections along the railway, so that the world could know the contributions of the anonymous to the construction of the railway.

Seeing that the tea shops were talking about the railway, Yuwen Wen asked the followers to check out, then got up and left. When he was about to leave the restaurant, he heard the drinkers sigh how good the railway was. The court should build more railways. He slowed down and continued to walk out.

As I walked, I sighed: When everyone was talking about the stock market, the stock market was not far from collapse.

Now everyone is discussing railway construction. If you are too enthusiastic, then there will be problems sooner or later.

Of course, railways are good things, the problem is that they need to spend money to build railways. In the past six years, the court has tried its best to build railways. If the financial money is not enough, they will use the railway company that "official supervision and commercial office" to build railways.

Later, private railways (Mori South Grassland) were even allowed.

Now, the construction of railways has become a hot topic of discussion among all parties. Yuwen Wen feels that this hot topic is "overheated" and needs to cool down.

The railway built in six years has invested huge initially, and subsequent maintenance also requires money, and it takes time to recover the money. Profit mainly depends on freight, and enough cargo transportation must be transported to create profits.

Some railways that have been built or are currently under construction have to be built even if they suffer losses, because they are related to the national economy and people's livelihood; some railways will take a long time to recover, but at least they will make a profit and investors can see hope.

However, if the court was blinded by the enthusiasm of the people to build railways and indulge private capital to raise funds to build railways, once the newly built railway is difficult to make a profit, it will sooner or later usher in a "retreat".

The imperial court could endure losses in order to build railways and connect key areas, but private funds raised to build railways to make money. If the huge investment in the early stage is not profitable, the enthusiasm will fade.

Railway companies supervised by the government and operated by commercial enterprises cannot bear long-term losses. If the lines are unable to make profits, over time, the railway companies will inevitably go bankrupt one after another.

At that time, the imperial court will either take over these railways or take over them, but the financial pressure will increase sharply.

Or the court stood by and watched the railways abandoned, and then the railway tracks, sleepers, gravel were stolen, leaving only the bare roadbed.

Even if the court chose to take over, the fiscal revenue was limited and it was impossible to maintain these railways, so these railways would be abandoned later.

Will the vigorous wave of railway construction end in this way?

Yuwen Wen didn't want to see this happen.

I don’t want to see another thing happening: some people accumulate money in the name of building railways, and then squander all of them, bringing huge social problems and leaving behind a bunch of messes.

The "road protection movement" in Sichuan in the late Qing Dynasty taught in textbooks has promoted an amazing historical process. Although Yuwen Wen did not think that the "road protection movement" would take place in this era, he did not want to give people with ulterior motives the opportunity to stir up the wind and rain.

The historical significance of Sichuan's "road protection movement" is unquestionable, but the cause of the incident is somewhat complicated: the private "Shuohan Railway Company" raised funds to build the Sichuan-Han Railway. This railway is related to the future development of Sichuan, and the people of Sichuan actively invested in this regard.

As a result, someone from the Sichuan-Han Railway Company embezzled a large amount of funds to trade stocks and wanted to borrow chickens to lay eggs, but they all lost all.

The funds were gone, the railway could not be built, and the railway company was in a difficult situation. I didn’t know how to explain to the shareholders and villagers that the court had just begun to think about nationalizing the railway.

This is to forcefully acquire the Sichuan-Han Railway Company, which is very domineering, but the senior executives of the Sichuan-Han Railway Company were overjoyed: Finally someone came to pick up the hot potato.

The company's senior management wants to take the opportunity to level the deficit account and let the government pay according to the price on the book. However, the officials are not so easy to fool. They are here to eat fat and take advantage of the advantage, so how can they fill the deficit?

The result of the competition between the two sides was the outbreak of the "road protection movement", followed by the Hubei new army entering Sichuan, and then...

Yuwen Wen thought that many places are now planning to build railway companies and build railways. The court can be wary of being wary of someone using this as a means to make money, and what big things happen.
Chapter completed!