"Nanshan Construction Engineering will be responsible for building the railway from the Workshop City to Mingdemen!"

"His Highness of the King of Chu said that the authorized production cost of the steam engine only requires one gold coin!"

"Li Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry expressed concerns about the rise in steel prices!"

...

What happened in the lecture hall quickly spread to the outside.

"Yang Yushi, what should we do now? Do we really want to go to the Datang Stock Exchange to buy stocks from related workshops? Or go to the Datang Trading Center contract trading shop to buy steel contracts?"

Linghu Wujiang lost his mind and seemed to be completely indifferent to Yang Ben.

"Did Your Highness the King of Chu say that you will conduct a steam locomotive test in Guanshi Mountain later?"

Yang Benman read the news that Linghu Wujiang had found out, and felt that he was not in a hurry to buy stocks or steel contracts now.

Because many people even heard Li Kuan’s speech, they may feel that there will be a chance for stocks and contracts, but they still cannot make up their minds to buy them.

So Yang Benman felt that it would not be too late to buy after he finished watching the steam engine experiment.

"Yes, it should start later!"

"Then let's go and have a look together."

"But, after we have finished the steam engine experiment, the price of the steel contract may have risen?"

Linghu Wujiang was afraid that he would miss such a good opportunity to make money.

This time, he was planning to study hard with Yang Benman. He would take out his spare money to buy whatever Yang Benman bought, and would never think with his brain.

Because he found that as soon as he thought about it, the money might have decreased.

This is the conclusion drawn after many painful lessons.

"The price of the steel contract will definitely rise, but I have no idea when it can rise to the next level. Because His Highness of the King of Chu obviously has some way to curb the rise in steel prices, but we don't know yet.

However, the stock prices of workshops associated with steam engines will not rise so quickly. At least they will not rise quickly until the cooperation with the Steam Engine Research Institute is officially announced. So if we buy stocks of these workshops, there is no big difference between buying a few days earlier and a few days later."

Seeing that Linghu Wujiang was running around today, Yang Benman was still willing to explain it to him.

"Well, then you can check the steam engine test. Although His Highness the King of Chu said that he would build a railway from the workshop city to Mingdemen, if the steam engine performs too poorly, everyone's expectations for this railway will become very low, so there is no need for us to buy stocks from related workshops."

Linghu Wujiang's insights have obviously improved.

After all, I am impressed every day and I will definitely understand more things.

"The railway from Zuofangcheng to Mingdemen?"

Yang Benman smashed his mouth and suddenly discovered another business opportunity.

The distance between Shufang City and Mingde Gate is more than ten miles, not particularly far, but it is definitely not close.

For ordinary people, it is actually not very convenient to go back and forth between Shufang City and Chang'an City.

After all, even if you ride a public carriage, it will take an hour or two.

But if there is a railway and a steam locomotive, can this time be greatly shortened?

Can the ride comfort be greatly improved?

Then the distance problem of the Workshop City was suddenly faded.

...

"Is this what you mean by a steam engine? It's as huge as a small house. It takes a huge amount of effort to push it forward, right?"

Li Shimin stood in front of the steam locomotive and looked at him in a little confused.

Although he also knows that the principle of the working of a steam engine is to use steam to promote mechanical movement.

However, in his opinion, the power of steam is very weak, how could it be possible to push such a large iron lump forward?

The key is that behind this iron lump, there is also a carriage to transport people or goods. Even if the strongest horses are allowed to do this job, at least hundreds of horses will be required to complete it.

"Yes, it does require a lot of force to move the steam engine and the car behind it quickly. But this is not a problem. According to Li Yan's design, the current steam engine can reach a speed of twenty miles per hour when walking at full speed. Although it is still worse than the speed of a horse, the steam engine does not need to rest and will not feel tired. It can pull a lot of goods at one time."

Li Kuan could naturally guess what Li Shimin had to worry about.

In fact, in later generations, when steam trains were just invented, they also faced this problem.

Even because he took it out when his technology was not yet mature, he was laughed at for many years.

It lasted for decades before relatively mature products were used in various countries.

"Second brother, this steam engine heats water by burning coal to generate steam, thereby promoting the movement of mechanical components, right?"

Li Zhi was next to him and couldn't help but interject.

Compared to Li Shimin, Li Zhi obviously has to know more about the situation of Guanshishan Academy.

He has read every article in "Science Journal".

What is most admirable is that Li Zhi can basically understand the above article.

This is actually quite amazing.

After all, there are all directions in the above articles.

Li Zhi knows some mathematics, agriculture, medicine, physiology, and even the chemistry and microbiology that have just been subdivided.

Actually, that's enough.

Whether as Li Shimin or Li Zhi, they don’t need to have particularly advanced professional knowledge, they just need to understand some of these things.

"That's right, although steam seems illusory and weak, once enough steam is sealed in a space, the pressure released is very huge. This pressure is enough to push the mechanical parts to reciprocate, thereby pushing the wheels of the steam locomotive to rotate on the rails."

"This rail is really too steel-consuming. Since the wheels of the steam engine can move, can it be allowed to walk directly on cement roads? This will save a lot of steel and allow steam locomotives to become popular as soon as possible."

Li Shimin seemed very ideal, thinking that it would be perfect if he could not build a railway and use the steam locomotive.

However, these words floated into Li Kuan's ears, which left him speechless.

"Your Majesty, this steam locomotive weighs more than 10,000 kilograms, and all the stress points are in the places where the wheels come into contact with the ground. Any cement road in our Tang Dynasty is not enough to support this force. As long as the steam locomotive really takes such a road, it will immediately fall into it and become a useless iron lump."

Although Li Kuan thought Li Shimin’s question was nonsensical, he still had to answer it honestly.

There is no way, who made him the emperor?

"It seems that the same is true, but do you have to build a railway?"

Li Shimin was not stupid either. He understood as soon as he heard Li Kuan's words.

It’s not that he has experienced the scene of the carriage wheels falling into the mud.

"Yes, building a railway is actually the only effective way to solve this problem. And the construction of the railway can actually drive the development of some industries. It can also make all prefectures and counties along the railway more prosperous. As for the consumption of a lot of steel, as long as the production of steel is continuously improved, it will not be a big problem."

"That's right, but building a railway requires a lot of money, right? The Ministry of Revenue cannot have so much budget to build a railway."

Li Shimin mentioned the most realistic question, that is, where does the money for road construction come from.

"Yes, second brother, although the tax revenue of the Ministry of Revenue has been increasing in recent years, the expenses of the court have increased more. So far, the Ministry of Revenue still owes more than one million yuan in loans from the Tang Dynasty Royal Money Bank."

Li Zhi felt that the court actually owed money from the money house, so where could he spend money to build the railway?

It’s impossible to continue borrowing money from the Tang Dynasty Royal Money House again, right?

"This is actually easy to solve! The railway construction requires a lot of money. The railway from Chang'an City to Luoyang alone is expected to cost nearly 10 million chunks of money. The pressure for the Ministry of Revenue is too great.

However, the solution is not without it. In addition to the loan method used to build cement roads before, another completely different solution can be adopted for the construction of railways.

The big problem in Li Shimin and Li Zhi's eyes is obviously not a problem for Li Kuan.

“What plan?”

When Li Shimin heard what Li Kuan said, he couldn't help but become more interested.

"The court used land to invest in the construction and operation of the railway to the private sector. Wouldn't this solve the problem of the Ministry of Revenue shortage of money?"

"The land needed to be used to build a railway is actually quite limited, and it is also not very valuable. Take the railway from Chang'an City to Luoyang as an example. If you invest in the land, you can only be worth hundreds of thousands of yuan at most? Otherwise, no business would be willing to do this business."

Li Shimin looked disappointed. This plan sounded feasible, but in his opinion, it was actually not very meaningful.

Unless Li Kuan is willing to build a railway for the court himself, Li Shimin can't say anything about this.

"Yes, the value of land is indeed relatively limited. However, the imperial court can take out all the land within a few miles of each station to invest in it. This way, it will be no big problem to charge one million yuan."

"Even if it is enough to recharge one million guan, it will only solve 10% of the funds. In Chang'an City, who else can take out nine million guan in addition to your Chu Palace? Even if it is able to take out so much money, who is willing to take out the railway?"

Although Li Shimin was very disappointed, he kept asking questions, obviously hoping that Li Kuan could have a solution.

"Datang Stock Exchange! Your Majesty, as long as everyone realizes that building a railway is profitable, we can set up a railway company and list it on the Datang Stock Exchange. At that time, the initiated shareholders will only collect a few million yuan and all the rest will be raised from the stock exchange."

hiss!

Li Shimin couldn't help but take a breath of air conditioning.

Can you still play like this?

It sounds like it's very feasible.

But is it really profitable to build a railway?
Chapter completed!