But now, the most important thing about railways is to win trust from others, rather than blindly increase the number. As long as it can run successfully, there is no need for Zhou Mengchen to speak, so naturally some people want to build a railway.

Zhou Mengchen glanced over, Han Bangqi and Zhang Yunling said to Xu Gao and Yin Zongyi, "Have you calculated the cost of the entire project?"

Xu Gao said: "The preliminary accounting has been done, but the project has not been decided yet, so the budget cannot be determined. The entire project budget is divided into three parts. The first part is the railway itself, the second part is the railway annexed buildings, and the third is the raw material cost."

"To be honest, the railway is the easiest. Just have enough sleepers and rails. As for the stones, you can use gunpowder to get gravel on the bank of the Yellow River. As for the annexes, two ports and one official road. It is about a hundred miles."

Han Bangqi said curiously: "Where is the road built for more than 100 miles?"

Xu Gao said: "It is the road from Shuozhou to Taiyuan. Actually, I don't know how to repair this road, but I know one thing, sleepers can be sourced locally. Steam engines and railway tracks must be transported from Shuozhou, and the best way to transport from Shuozhou is to take land from Shuozhou to Taiyuan, from Taiyuan to Fen River, through Fen River and into the Yellow River, and then to the port."

"To be honest, I don't know whether this route is good or not. You have to know that the steam engine is a big iron lump of thousands of pounds. The ordinary official roads cannot bear it at all. I even estimate that there are dozens of places that require dozens of Strengths to resist. A little uneven road on the road will have problems. Even if the Fen River is not good, either pass the Xishan Canal from the Sanggan River, enter the Lugou River, enter the canal from the Lugou River, enter the Yellow River from the canal, then get off the boat from Luoyang, carry over the Tongguan Road, and then transport it to Hukou by boat. Or you have to build the road all the way and fight it all the way here."

After hearing this, Zhou Mengchen couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The beginning of industrialization was so difficult. It was just a machine. Although Yin Zongyi's technology could not compress the weight. However, after a locomotive was decomposed, the steam engine could not be decomposed. The cylinders were all big guys. And when I really gave some parts, I might not be able to assemble them again when I arrived at the pot. This thing that had been assembled was also very technical.

A big guy with a few thousand pounds was moved from Shuozhou to this place step by step, and it was estimated that a year had passed. Zhou Mengchen could only sigh that he hoped that the Fen River would be smooth and there would be no trouble.

Zhou Mengchen had nothing to say about this expense.

Xu Gao continued: "The raw materials need to have enough cement, rails, a machine head, and dozens of bright cars. As for how much the front and car are, I don't know, but I can estimate the price of cement, rails, and sleepers. The railway tracks are expected to use 700,000 kilograms of iron, but now one or two hundred kilograms. However, the railway tracks use iron different from ordinary iron, and what is needed is steel, which is 10,000 kilograms. This requires 70,000 kilograms, and I estimate that the steam engine is about 10,000 kilograms, plus the freight, the overall cost is 150,000 kilograms, or even more, and it requires 10,000 kilograms of sleepers. Perhaps some surplus is also considered a spare. If I buy it locally, I don't know how much it will cost. But it will definitely not exceed 10,000 kilograms."

"In addition to this, there is also work-to-food money. This time, you only need to use more than 10,000 civilians, for up to three consecutive months. At most, 60,000 taels are enough."

"The other problem is cement. I can't give a total of this for a while. But if you add the shipping fee, it will cost at least 50,000 taels. The total is about 300,000 taels. It's just that what you'll run in the future is something else."

Zhou Mengchen nodded and smiled and said to Han Bangqi and Zhang Yunling: "I just said that this does not require two people to pay for it. The court still has money now. However, it is a major event in the court after all. If the people in Qin and Jin provinces do not support it, I will be helpless."

Zhou Mengchen was actually very satisfied with the cost of this construction.

What he was most satisfied with was not that the Hukou Railway was not expensive, it was only about 300,000 taels, and the surplus disaster relief funds he had was about 2 million taels. Of course, this was borrowed from the Yellow River Bank. There was also interest, but Zhou Mengchen never cared.

There is no problem in building the Hukou Railway from this money, and there is even no problem in building the Tongguan Railway together.

In addition to some immigration resettlement costs, I'm afraid it's more than enough.

What he was most satisfied with was that with the standards of the Hukou Railway, the railway cost in the future would be more and more. Zhou Mengchen would not forget it. Because the special geography on the banks of the Yellow River is all stones, and the foundation is saved directly. If the railway is built in other places, it may not be possible. Even overcoming the geological conditions itself, the funds required are more expensive than building the railway itself.

How much money will be at that time depends on God's will.

However, Zhou Mengchen naturally would not challenge this difficult terrain at the beginning. He had no other idea, just to build Beijing with Beijing as the center. Through Taiyuan, the railway line to Yunzhong, and build the railway line from Beijing to Liaodong. This railway is a national defense line, and then build the railway line from Beijing to Taiyuan, Kaifeng, Xi'an, Jinan, Nanjing and other places. As for the railways in the south, you can wait.

If Zhou Mengchen didn't think about it, he knew that if there was no one billion taels of foundation for such a large project, he would be embarrassed to dream.

With the pitiful fiscal revenue from the Ming Dynasty, I can't even afford to dream.

However, Zhou Mengchen was confident that he would implement this matter. Even if he might not be able to see so many railways successfully constructed in his lifetime, he would definitely make a good start.

Before, Zhou Mengchen could only hold the torch of light and persevere in the darkness. In fact, he had no confidence in his heart. He just adhered to doing good things and did not ask about the future. He took one step in front of him, and had a light in his heart, and he was just a little bit of heat. But now Zhou Mengchen suddenly felt that it seemed that it was difficult to reach the technological level of later generations, but it was not too difficult to reach the level of China in the late Qing Dynasty. If his railway network could be supported by Jiajing, he even felt that he was able to make the railway mileage exceed the Qing Dynasty and reach the level in 1949 in his lifetime. Although there might be some gap in quality, it was easy to exceed the quantity. After all, the Qing Dynasty was only more than 9,000 kilometers when it perished, and only more than 20,000 kilometers in 1949, which also included the railway construction in the Qing Dynasty.

More than 20,000 kilometers is only 200 million taels. Of course, it is a lot, but Zhou Mengchen is only in his thirties. If everything goes well, he will achieve a breakthrough in zero railway mileage this year. It is difficult to pursue these more than 20,000 kilometers in the second half of his life, but it is not far away.

Han Bangqi said: "With my husband here, who doesn't agree with the gentry in Qin Province? I will kick their ass. Please rest assured about this."

Zhang Yunling said, "Please rest assured. After all, this railway has been built in Shanxi. How can my Shanxi elders not do anything? As long as the adults have requirements, we will support everything."

Zhou Mengchen said, "I feel relieved with the words of Zhang Caishen. I have two things, one is to do you, and the other is to say hello to you."

Zhang Yunling said, "Sir, please speak."

Zhou Mengchen said, "You have heard that you have to coordinate a lot of the things you need. Of course, the court will not let the people suffer losses. I will naturally give the money I should give, but this big deal may be too big. It is not an exaggeration to ask Zhang Cai Shen to give a low price."

Zhou Mengchen understood very well that Shanxi merchants had a leading position in the commercial field of Shanxi. It would be difficult to deal with many people without saying hello to Zhang Yunling.
Chapter completed!