Li Hao picked up a handful of water and rubbed it on his face. The smooth feeling was like the softest silk, flowing down his fingertips. Huaqing Pool was indeed well-deserved, with the hot spring water washing away the fat. Unfortunately, the skin on his body was dark and thick.

Especially those calloused feet, they don't look like those of a 21-year-old young man, but like those of an old farmer.

There was no way! In order to build the railway from Hanzhong to Chengdu, Li Hao walked along the Ziwu Valley, Baoxie Road, Qishan Road, Chencang Road, and Tangluo Road.

Looking at the map drawn by Li Hao, Li Xiao couldn't help but admire this young brother. In order to build the Shuzhong Railway, this child didn't even have time for a blind date. He traveled through mountains and ridges all day long, just thinking about connecting Shuzhong and Guanzhong as soon as possible.

Connect in one.

Among the provinces of the Ming Dynasty, Shuzhong is somewhat special. It is isolated from the Central Plains all year round, making it seem like a paradise. The Guanzhong land is full of corn, but the people in Shuzhong are still growing rice.

Low productivity led to extreme poverty in Shu. Zhang Xianzhong's disaster made it worse. Men were either captured as soldiers or as grain. Anyway, many people were captured, but not many came back.

Not many.

Many women have settled their homes in the river valley. Only here can there be a little land for them to carry out poor farming. Now you can see people working in the fields.

It's very simple. Use a wooden stick to poke a hole in the ground, then throw in a few grains of rice and step on it with your foot. Yun Ye is sure that they are planting rice, not corn.

God, shouldn't you plant rice seedlings? I've never seen someone sowing seeds, only transplanting rice seedlings. If you sow seeds like this, you'll get a harvest?

The county magistrate's explanation left Li Hao helpless. They were all people who had escaped from the city, and they really didn't know how to farm. Those women who were working in the fields with hoes were probably rich ladies in the past.

The imperial court has a policy that when returning to the city, the family's original house and land will be returned. But no one will go. The evil deeds Zhang Xianzhong did in the city have made them live in a terrifying nightmare for the rest of their lives. As long as they close the door

The eyes and the big, blood-red mouth that eats people will appear in the most terrifying dreams.

They would rather stay in the ravines and live a miserable life than take a step closer to the city. They even plan to stay in the river valley for the rest of their lives. Since Zhang Xianzhong is so vicious and has not harassed this river valley, then other ferocious wolves should

No. The river valley gives them peace of mind, but the outside world frightens them.

Li Hao stood on the mountainside and just looked at the group of women who were wrapped in coarse cloth and exposed their withered breasts. Farming like this is just a gourd and two gourds are harvested. No wonder people always starve to death here!

Starving to death is a rare thing in today's Ming Dynasty, but it is not uncommon in Shu. Especially Chengdu and Fuling, which were seriously harmed by Zhang Xianzhong!

Women and children were working in a small field. The little children, with their huge bellies, were practicing digging holes in the ground behind their mothers. Li Hao saw more than once that the children dug out seeds from the ground.

, stuffing the dirt into the mouth and eating it, it will naturally lead to a severe beating. Even after being beaten, he does not cry, he is just looking for the next opportunity to steal seeds and eat them.

A big belly is definitely not caused by eating too much. Li Hao knew what was going on. He took out a rice ball wrapped in bamboo leaves from his arms, placed it in front of the child and turned around to leave. He didn't want to see the child eating, then

It would make him sad, but he was wrong. It was even more sad not to see it than to see it. The sounds of "woo", "woo" and "woo" coming from behind were like wild dogs grabbing food.

Eat while making threatening noises to protect the food.

There is no enemy more formidable than hunger in the world. Food and clothing are no longer a problem outside of Sichuan. Even in places like Liaodong, food prices are astonishingly low, and people are feeding pigs with tons of corn.

But in Shu, a large number of people still starve to death every year.

Roads that have been damaged by war cannot withstand the crushing of heavy grain trucks. No matter how much grain you have outside, it is impossible to transport it in to solve the problem of feeding the people in Sichuan.

Things from the outside can't come in, and of course things from the inside can't get out. There's no way to form a circulation of goods, making the people of the Land of Abundance even poorer.

Railways, railways are so important. With railways, the outside world will open to Shu. People no longer have to live in hunger and cold. The imperial court will transport food in from outside to feed the people in Shu. Of course.

, there are not many people left in Shuzhong now.

Li Hao has never hated a person as much as he hates Zhang Xianzhong. If Zhang Xianzhong were alive, Li Hao would personally cut him into pieces. What a pity! People who commit the most evil crimes can only die once. If possible, Li Hao would discuss with the King of Hell and cut him into pieces.

A thousand and eight hundred times.

After two years of continuous investigation by Li Hao, the plan for the Xi'an to Chengdu railway was finally finalized. It takes the Qishan Road in Gansu, then passes through the Jinniu Road, and finally reaches Chengdu. The whole journey is more than 1,300 miles, and most of these roads are extremely difficult to walk.

mountain road.

It is not an ordinary difficulty to build a railway in such a place.

Railway construction is not something Li Hao should worry about. He is only responsible for coming up with plans. The real construction worker is Shi Kefa, who has many foreign coolies. "Even if it is filled with corpses, the railway from Xi'an to Chengdu must be filled in."

Those were Li Xiao's original words. They were full of blood, but there was no other way.

In these days, building railways in high mountains is a job with a high risk factor. If a landslide fails, hundreds of people will be buried. To dig them out requires the spirit of a foolish old man to move mountains.

No one from the Ming Dynasty would put himself in danger. This was what Li Xiao had specially instructed. The population of the Ming Dynasty was very expensive, but the lives of those coolies were very cheap!

I went back to my hometown during the Chinese New Year, and the graves of my parents and sister were still there. My three brothers were all fighting overseas, and only Li Hao was able to go home and burn some paper money.

Spring comes earlier in Guanzhong than in Liaodong. In Liaodong, the tree trunks are still bare, but here in Guanzhong, the mountains and fields are already colorful.

"Sir! The time is coming. If you don't go into the city, it will be too late." The old servant held the new clothes and stood outside to ask for instructions softly.

As one of the four brothers of the Li family, no one dares to underestimate the fourth son of Li. This time, he accepted Shi Kefa's invitation to give a geology class to the students of Xi'an Railway College.

After doing road surveying for so many years, Li Hao can be regarded as the first-class geologist in the Ming Dynasty. I am afraid that most people in the Ming Dynasty have never seen the topography and landforms he has seen in their lifetime.

Li Hao also has his own selfish motives. After all, one person's exploration is inefficient. If an exploration branch can be established at the Railway Academy, many promising young people can be recruited to join this difficult but necessary work. As Li Xiao's younger brother

, he still knows about arresting people for work.

Li Hao stood up from the hot spring water and wiped his face.

The beautiful maid arranged by Shi Kefa was kicked out, and the one who came to wait on Li Hao to change clothes was just an old servant. The old servant was bought by Li Hao!

Once when he was passing through Xi'an, Li Hao found someone selling himself under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda by inserting straw into his head. After asking onlookers, he found out that this guy's wife was seriously ill and needed two silver coins to buy ginseng to cure her.

Li Hao, who was well-off, threw two silver coins to the old guy. The old guy showed up at his door the next morning, saying that he was bought by Li Hao and that he would be Li Hao's slave for the rest of his life.

In any case, the old guy decided that Li Hao was his master. There was no other way, Li Hao could only take Lao Liu with him.

Wearing the new clothes handed over by Lao Liu, Li Hao felt comfortable all over. Wearing silk things on his body just felt better than coarse cloth.

Today I have to give a lecture at the college. As a visiting professor, Li Hao doesn’t want to be late. Li Hao still cares about the four words of being a teacher and a role model!

I went out and got on the carriage, which soon drove along the official road to Xi'an City.

Shi Kefa was very resourceful, and Sun Chuanting had no choice but to buy into his favor. The Railway Academy run by Shi Kefa was not far from the Drum Tower. It was a prime location in both the Ming Dynasty and later generations.

Li Hao walked inside the college, and the steward in charge of the reception was very attentive to Li Hao. Although Shi Kefa did not mention Li Hao's identity to anyone, the person who allowed the minister to personally care about his daily life was definitely not an ordinary person.

"This is a first-grade classroom. Their courses are simple. They just teach them how to apply the mathematical knowledge they have learned before on the railway. The ones you are going to give a speech today are second-grade students, and they will be more meticulous.

of sub-majors.

The college has just been established three years ago, and there is a serious shortage of teaching staff. Many students who have just graduated have stayed in the school and become teachers. Oh! In front is the small auditorium, and students are already waiting inside." The steward is a very talkative person.

While walking, I introduced the buildings passing by to Li Hao.

Li Hao doesn't speak, but responds with "um", "um", "ah" and "ah". Years in the wild have made him a taciturn character. When he is free, he can sit for a whole day without saying a word.

It sounds like someone with depression.

When I walked to the door of the auditorium, two people opened the door of the auditorium.

"Wow!" Li Hao was greeted with a wave of applause. The sudden applause shocked Li Hao.

After so many years of experience, Li Hao's mind has been tempered. When he was on the ship with Scar, he had seen dozens of warship battles. These hundreds of students in front of him were a small scene!

Stepping on the specially laid red carpet, Li Hao greeted the students on both sides as he walked. He was so elegant that if Li Xiao were here, he would definitely doubt his own bloodline, or maybe Li Hao's bloodline.

When I walked onto the podium, a table had already been set up. There was a microphone on the table, and Li Hao's words could be heard through the loudspeaker so that the whole audience could hear them.

"Hey! Hello!" Li Hao put his mouth close to the microphone and tried it!

Sure enough, Li Hao's voice echoed throughout the auditorium. It was obvious that Shi Kefa was now a rich man. The microphone was now worth a lot of money, and he was willing to get it for his college, which shows how much Shi Kefa attaches importance to the Railway College.

"Since the beginning of Pangu, my Chinese ancestors have been living on this land..." Li Hao wrote the speech himself. Now he doesn't read the manuscript at all when speaking, but just picks it up. His elegant demeanor makes the following people flourish.

The students pale in comparison.

After all, he has seen the world, and Li Hao explained geography knowledge in an easy-to-understand, humorous manner. Everyone listened attentively to these topics about the future of the Ming Dynasty Railway, and bursts of applause erupted from time to time in the auditorium.

Unknowingly, it was already dark outside, and the speech had just ended. When the students left, many people looked at Li Hao with enthusiasm in their eyes. They also wanted to be able to walk on the land of China like Li Hao. Let's

Daming's railway lines were laid along their own planned routes.

Shi Kefa was in the capital, and it was his nephew Shi Chun who received Li Hao!

"Brother Li is indeed the pillar of my Ming Dynasty. I have traveled to thousands of mountains and rivers over the years, and you have really worked hard for me." As the children of high-ranking cadres, the two of them knew each other in the capital.

Shi Chun's admiration for Li Hao was absolutely sincere. In the past two years, he had traveled almost all over Hanzhong, and Shi Chun couldn't bear this hardship.

"Seeing the ruins of Sichuan, I just wanted to build this railway as soon as possible. What a pity! This railway is more than 1,300 miles long, and most of the mountains in the middle are difficult to construct. It will probably take ten years to complete it.

Just fine.

I heard that Minister Shi left this matter to you?"

"It was indeed left to me. My second brother had already gone to Quanzhou to buy good Egyptian coolies and Kunlun slaves. In addition, my uncle also specially asked two generals, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, to capture many Qiang people in Qinghai.

. Calculated this way, it would be no problem to gather four to five thousand people.

If the construction is carried out in sections, the construction period will be greatly shortened. However, it will be a test for the overall scheduling of the project. Now I am also embarrassed by it. I also hope that Brother Li will not hesitate to give you some advice. After all, you have walked this road yourself.

people."

"That's natural. I will explain it to you in detail in the report to the court."

"Thank you so much, Brother Li. There will be a dinner party just for you soon. In addition to the young teachers in the college, there are also many singing girls." Shi Chun raised his eyebrows at Li Hao, and he knew at a glance that this was

Flower veteran.

Although Li Xiao disdains the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, the people still strictly abide by the etiquette that has been cultivated for many years. In these days, all the ladies can only be raised in the show building, waiting for the future husband to use the sedan chair to take care of them one day.

Carry it home.

Apart from singers, the only women who appear at such dinners are dancers. Of course, occasionally women from Jiaofangsi will make guest appearances. What a pity! Since Li Xiao came on stage, many new people have joined Jiaofangsi. Nowadays,

Relying on a group of old women to support the scene, she was gradually abandoned by the dandy circle.

"I don't like banquets very much!" Li Hao didn't like such occasions very much. Perhaps he was exhausted from the past two years, and when he was free, Li Hao just wanted to be alone.

"Brother Li! Don't you want to recruit more teachers for your exploration college? Tonight, there are many top students who are about to graduate and they will scream. Don't worry, your identity is strictly confidential and no one will want it.
Chapter completed!