Chapter 57 1. Brother Xiangtao, do you want to be the number one governor in the world?

Since ancient times, China's transportation has relied on chariots and horses by land, and boats by water. Although there are records in the history books that Zhuge Liang built wood, cattle, horses, and grain, it is quite automated. Unfortunately, for more than a thousand years, countless extremely smart people follow No matter how you fiddle with the size rules mentioned in the book, you can't make the spelled cows and horses walk; changing the size and finding another way is also unsuccessful.As a result, human and animal power, water power and wind power can only be used to reduce human fatigue. As for the idea of ​​converting other energy instead, few people have thought about it, let alone tried it in reality.

In the 19th century, the birth of the steam engine enabled mankind to obtain an effective way of energy conversion.Its wide application has changed the way of human existence in many fields.The appearance of ships and trains has enabled human beings to find means of transportation that are many times stronger than boats and horses in water and land transportation. For China, which boasted a 5,000-year-old civilization, the process of replacing artificial ships with steam ships did not seem to have encountered much trouble.In the first month of the first year of Tongzhi, when the war in the south of the Yangtze River was at its most intense, with the approval of the imperial court, the first foreign-made steam engine ship bought by Zeng Guofan entered the wharf of Anqing Port.Half a year later, the first Chinese-made steam engine ship designed and manufactured by Hua Hengfang and Xu Shou successfully sailed on the Anqing River.For this reason, Zeng Guofan wrote a very proud sentence in his diary: "I like the ingenuity of foreigners, and I, the Chinese, can do it too. They can't be proud of me because they don't know what they don't know."

However, the introduction of trains to China was far from smooth sailing. The twists and turns of this journey are really deplorable! Almost at the same time as the purchase of foreign ships, twenty-seven foreign firms, including Jardine and Qichang, including Britain and the United States, suggested to Li Hongzhang, then Fu Fu, to build a railway from Suzhou to Shanghai.Li Hongzhang refused due to sovereignty issues.The following year, British engineer Stevenson came to China and proposed to the Qing government to build six main lines, namely Hankou to Shanghai, Hankou to Guangdong, Hankou to Sichuan, Shanghai to Fuzhou, Zhenjiang to Beijing, and Guangdong to Yunnan.It was also rejected on the grounds of sovereignty.In the fourth year of Tongzhi, an American businessman built a mile-long railway outside Xuanwu Gate in Beijing, hoping to attract the attention of the imperial court as a sample. As a result, the Chinese had never seen this monster before, and were attracted by its roar and running Frightened by the strong vibration, the yamen of the infantry commander was demolished within a few days.In the first year of Guangxu, Jardine Matheson built a railway from Shanghai to Wusong.The train running on the railway still aroused unanimous opposition from the government and the people. Finally, it was ordered to stop running on the grounds that the train ran over and killed a soldier. Soon it was bought with 280,000 taels of silver, demolished and thrown into the sea.In the second year, Zhili Kaiping Mining Bureau was established. In order to facilitate coal transportation, Li Hongzhang asked the court to build a railway for coal transportation, but was opposed by many ministers of the court, and the matter failed.It was not until the sixth year of Guangxu, when Li Hongzhang appealed again, and specifically stated that the locomotive would not be used, but donkeys and horses were used for hauling, that the imperial court reluctantly agreed.A year later, the first railway run by the Chinese was completed in China.This railway starts from Tangshan and ends at Xugezhuang, with a total length of only 22 miles, and the carriages are dragged by donkeys and horses on the rails.This is a unique initiative in the history of world railways.Another year later, British engineer Jinda used the old boiler to renovate and finally built China's first steam locomotive.The traction force of this steam locomotive is only more than 100 tons, the total length is 18.8 feet, and it can only travel five kilometers per hour. Although all indicators are pitifully small, it is the first Chinese-made locomotive with a complete concept train.

At the same time as the Tangxu Railway was born, a debate about whether to build the railway was also unfolding. In the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Liu Ming, a former general of the Huai Army, published a famous saying "Preparing to Build Railways for Self-improvement", explaining to Empress Dowager Cixi the importance and necessity of building railways.Liu Mingchuan pointed out that its importance is firstly reflected in the military. It can quickly deploy troops and transport salaries to defend the frontier. It is also beneficial to water affairs, relief services, business, mining, and travelers. From Beijing to Gansu, from Hanzhong to Henan, and from Qingjiang to Shandong.Considering the simultaneous development of the four main lines and the shortage of funds, the line from Beijing to Qingjiang can be built first.If the money is not enough, you can borrow foreign debts.This memorial is well-reasoned, detailed in planning, and sincere in words, which attracted the attention of Empress Dowager Cixi, military aircraft, and cabinet ministers, and was sent to courtiers and Xinjiang officials for discussion.

Zhang Jiaxiang, a cabinet scholar, was the first to express his objections, criticizing Liu Mingchuan for making trouble out of nothing and making bad talk about the government. He pointed out that the construction of the railway had three major disadvantages: first, foreigners coveted it; Li Hongzhang, then governor of Zhili, clearly supported Liu Mingchuan's opinion, analyzed in detail the benefits of building the railway in nine aspects, including defending the capital and preparing for coastal defense, and refuted Zhang Jiaxiang's objections one by one. As soon as Li Hongzhang's paper was handed in, he was violently attacked by another group of people, the most representative of which was Liu Xihong, the Secretary of General Administration.This person once served as the deputy envoy of Guo Songtao, the Chinese chief minister to the UK.Although he worked with Guo Songtao, he opposed all of Guo's ideas, and later impeached Guo's various wrongdoings to the court, which finally made Guo Songtao dismissed and investigated.Liu Xihong thus won the praise of the conservatives in the ruling and opposition parties.Liu Xihong firmly opposed the construction of railways, saying that although trains are used in the West, China must not follow suit.Liu Xihong opposed the construction of the railway as a deputy envoy who had seen the world, and he was very convincing.Therefore, Liu Mingchuan's suggestion was put aside as "no need to discuss".

However, facts speak louder than words, and many stubborn and old-fashioned people are gradually waking up to the facts.In the past few years, an important figure in the imperial court has finally come to his senses, and this person is Chun Wang Yisu.Through the Sino-French War, especially after the Minister of Naval Yamen personally inspected the navy and presided over the grand ceremony of the North and South Naval Parade, Yizhen's views on foreigners and Western affairs have fundamentally changed. Amidst the opposition, Yizhen supported Li Hongzhang to extend the Tangxu Railway to Lutai, and at the same time set up the Kaiping Railway Company.In the thirteenth year of Guangxu, the extension section was completed, and the entire railway was renamed Tanglu Railway, and then continued to extend to Tianjin.Due to Yizhen's reasons, the court agreed to this plan.Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Hongzhang changed the name of Kaiping Railway Company to China Railway Company, as if he was the governor of China Railway.In the 14th year of Guangxu, the Tangjin Railway with a total length of 260 miles was completed.At this time, a Guangdong businessman expressed his willingness to build the railway from Tianjin to Tongzhou.After Yi's mistaken request, Shanghai newspapers soon published an advertisement for the China Railway Company to raise shares for Jintong Railway.When the news came out, it caused fierce opposition from a group of people.

This group of people is represented by Weng Tonghe, the new minister of household affairs.It turned out that Yan Jingming had left the household department a year ago.Since the construction of the Summer Palace started, Yan Jingming has contradicted Empress Dowager Cixi several times because of the appropriation of funds, which made Empress Dowager Cixi unhappy.So Yan Jingming was dismissed with excuses and stayed on.The Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, admiring the interest, simply bypassed the remaining Yan Jingming and continued to allocate funds to the garden workers, which made Yan Jingming very annoyed.The stubborn old man, who is over seventy years old, is finally completely tired of the officialdom, and asks for a vacancy to return home for the third time.Cixi is not only an arbitrary empress dowager, but also a woman with clear grievances and grievances.She was not only very dissatisfied with Yan Jingming's uncooperative attitude towards the garden workers, but also had a kind of affection for the veterans who helped her tide over the difficulties during the Xianfeng years, especially Yan Jingming, who was appointed by her again, and he these few days In the same year, it did make a great contribution to the rectification of the Ministry of Households and the enrichment of the national treasury.Therefore, when Cixi received Yan Jingming's opening report, she couldn't help feeling a little sad in her heart.On the one hand, she accepted his pleading and allowed to open the vacancy, and granted Weng Tonghe, who had been idle for three or four years, to be the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs. He made a diagnosis and treatment, and it won't be too late to return to Xiezhou when he recovers.Yan Jingming has suffered from wind disease for more than 20 years. In the past few years in the capital, he has long heard that Xiao Changzhi from the Imperial Hospital is very good at treating wind disease.Yan Jingming was a cautious person, even though there were some high-ranking officials in the capital privately spending a lot of money to treat their illnesses, he was unwilling to do so.Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager showed her kindness, Yan Jingming was grateful, and obeyed the order to rent a house in the capital.As for the big and small matters of the household department, he will never ask.Weng Tonghe, together with Wenzhi, a cabinet scholar, Sheng Yu, Jijiu of the Imperial College, and Kuijian, Minister of Rites, wrote a letter saying that the railway was unprecedented in development and uncreated by his ancestors. Li Hongzhang's actions of harming the country and the people should be stopped immediately to relieve the country's troubles.

A group of governors, represented by Liu Kunyi, governor of Liangjiang, fully advocated the construction of railways in China, and regarded railways as a public benefit for tens of millions of people and a great benefit for all generations. Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, who has always claimed himself to be a businessman, naturally paid close attention to this fierce debate.Today's Zhang Zhidong is already a rising star in the political arena with great confidence and a broader vision.In his mind, there are not many governors in the world who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him.Those who rely on decades of accumulated funds to climb up the ranks are mostly mediocre and old, and have become the sunset of the Western Mountains, so naturally there is no need to theory.Those ZTE heroes who started their careers with military exploits, such as Liu Kunyi, Zeng Guoquan, Liu Mingchuan, Liu Jintang, Cen Yuying, etc. Zhang Zhidong still had a three-point awe for them in the early years, but now, this awe no longer exists.Their military feats are nothing but to the long hairs of gods and ghosts and the mob's twisters. Can they compare with defeating the French who have the most powerful naval gun weapons in the world?Zhang Zhidong sometimes thought that if he had been born twenty years earlier, maybe the long-haired twigs would not have been allowed to run rampant for so long; God knows how many of those so-called generals are really good at using soldiers, and they are just a few. It's just a matter of fortune!There are no heroes in the world, so Zhuzi became famous.After erasing the halo of martial arts of these people, their literary side can hardly be mentioned.Not to mention the salt smugglers Liu Mingchuan and Qiu Ba Liu Jintang, even Liu Kunyi, Zeng Guoquan, Cen Yuying and others who are known as scholars have not achieved fame.When Zhang Zhidong, who was born in Tanhua, thought of this level, he felt that he was a head above them.

Among the famous Zhongxing officials, Zhang Zhidong really respected his mentors Hu Linyi, Zeng Guofan, and Zuo Zongtang.It's a pity that Hu Linyi died young, Zeng Guofan was only sixty years old, and even Zuo Zongtang, who never changed his true qualities as a hero, passed away the year before last. Zhang Zhidong's views on Li Hongzhang, who was recognized by the world as one of ZTE's famous ministers, who led the world's governors for more than 20 years and regarded himself as the leader of the ministers, were much more complicated. To be honest, Zhang Zhidong still admires Li Hongzhang.At that time, Li Hongzhang, as a Tsinghua Hanlin, could see the general trend of the world clearly, resolutely left the comfortable and quiet Hanyuan and returned to his hometown to run a group training, and took the initiative to join the fierce battle. Confucian scholars and literati.Later, he personally formed the Huai Army and commanded an army that was accustomed to fighting until he completely wiped out the Nianzi who were running around in all directions.Over the years, Li Hongzhang was able to clearly see the need to learn from the strengths of foreigners, and he set up a machine gun factory in Zhili, a naval academy, a large purchase of boat guns for Beiyang, and then a telegraph office to repair railways, and opened a generation in China. The atmosphere first.This journey of foreign affairs made Zhang Zhidong, who had changed from Qingliu to a governor, admire him even more. He had to admit: this student of Zeng Wenzhenggong is indeed outstanding.

But Zhang Zhidong didn't like Li Hongzhang, and sometimes even hated him.This mentality was originally born out of differences in political views between each other. As an important figure in the Qingliu Party, Zhang Zhidong has always held a tough attitude in foreign relations.However, Li Hongzhang mostly adopted a compromise approach, advocating concessions and peace of mind.Zhang Zhidong couldn't understand this very much. When he was passionate, he would join his friends Zhang Peilun, Chen Baochen and others from the Qingliu Party to scold Li Hongzhang for harming the country, and he was almost a traitor.Over the past few years, although he has stepped out of the narrow circle of the Qingliu Party and has some understanding of some of Li Hongzhang's actions, he still believes that Xu Tu's self-improvement and external toughness are not contradictory.

Zhang Zhidong didn't like Li Hongzhang, also because he had an aversion to Li Hongzhang's character.He thinks that Li Hongzhang's behavior is that one likes to form cliques, and the other likes to amass wealth.When Li Hongzhang employs people, he values ​​two backgrounds the most, one is whether he was born in the Huai Army or has a relationship with the Huai Army, and the other is whether he is from Anhui.If he has these two backgrounds and has the ability, he will reuse it; even if he has no ability, he will take good care of him.When people from Anhui, especially those from Luzhou Prefecture, went to him, he ordered his subordinates to receive them well and accommodate those who could be accommodated as much as possible.He has a famous saying: "Our Lianghuai people have always had a difficult life. Now we have managed to create an army and have so many people who have made great achievements. The folks come to rely on you and find a bowl of food. Can you let him go home disappointed?" This sentence warmed the hearts of tens of millions of Anhui people, but it also caused bad things.The places under the jurisdiction of Li Hongzhang and his robes, no matter the government offices or the military camps, were mixed with good and bad, which often made the heroes short of breath and discouraged.Li Hongzhang was indiscreet about money.He himself never refuses anyone who comes, and his brothers and nephews are even more aggressive.They are officials outside, but there are countless fertile fields at home, and the beautiful houses are worthless. The Li family in Hefei is the largest rich man in Anhui.At that time, there was a folk song: "The Prime Minister is thin in Hefei." The sarcasm for him is both spicy and wonderful. These two points have always been criticized by traditional Chinese ethics, and they are also the reasons why Qingliu Party members dared to oppose Li Hongzhang.Li Hongzhang used his nostalgia and money to recruit and buy the worldly thieves, and accomplished a heroic career. He also offended the noble people in the world and earned a reputation that could not be washed away during his lifetime.This is the unavoidable helplessness of all those who do worldly affairs since ancient times. "Seeking benevolence to obtain benevolence", as far as Li Hongzhang himself is concerned, there is nothing wrong with his open-mindedness. less than. Zhang Zhidong is one of the outstanding ones among this group of people. Even though he was a small official in the capital like washing horses back then, and his seniority was completely lower, he dared to be disrespectful to Li Hongzhang, and even scolded Li Hongzhang by name. . If these two aspects did not constitute a direct conflict of interests before, then during the Sino-French battle, Zhang Zhidong really felt the scourge of Li Hongzhang to him.According to Zhang Zhidong's idea, he wanted to take advantage of the great opportunity of Lang Son's great victory to "go straight to Huanglong Mansion" and wipe out the French power in northern Vietnam.Once this matter is successful, for the country, it will be able to maintain the peace of Yunnan and Guangxi for a long time, and greatly improve its reputation in the world.For him personally, he can make greater achievements, and this page of records left in the annals of history will also be more glorious.It's a pity that Li Hongzhang was afraid that this would disrupt his peace strategy, and he accepted it as soon as it was good. In the end, instead, the victorious country asked for peace from the defeated country.Zhang Zhidong deeply resented Li Hongzhang for humiliating the country by doing so.Li Hongzhang repeatedly accused Zhang Zhidong of being self-proclaimed and overjoyed. From then on, Zhang Zhidong formed a personal feud with Li Hongzhang: Li Hongzhang not only wronged the country, but also wronged him, Mr. Zhang!He was determined to compete with this veteran of the four dynasties, so that this person could feel the pressure of the late comer. Zhang Zhidong and his friends were undoubtedly enthusiastic supporters of the railway construction.As for how to do it, he arranged for the Westernization Division to come up with a specific plan. Cai Xiyong, the supervisor, assembled Chen Nianfeng and others to collect historical data on railway construction in Europe, America and other countries. According to the specific conditions of the country, he proposed a three-stage plan: the first stage fully supported Li Hongzhang in establishing China Railway Company, and established China Merchants Co., Ltd. The railway was built.In the second stage, the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway from Shanghai to Nanjing and the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway from Shanghai to Hangzhou and Ningbo will be built.The third stage is to build the Beijing-Hankou Railway from Beijing to Hankou.This railway runs straight through the heartland of China, like an aorta in the human body, which is of great importance to all aspects of the country.However, because the line is long, the construction is difficult and costly, and the technology and financial resources cannot keep up for a while, it should be placed in the third stage. After Cai Xiyong reported the three-step plan to Zhang Zhidong, he specifically proposed: "This is a prudent and feasible plan proposed by all the staff members of the Westernization Division after repeated research and comparison of Chinese and foreign situations. I hope Xiangshuai can adopt it and use it accordingly. Let's go up." Not long after Zhao Maochang first called him "Xiangshuai", except for a few people such as Sang Zhiping and Yang Rui who still used the old title, everyone respected Zhang Zhidong as "Xiangshuai".Zhang Zhidong was also happy to hear people call him that. Zhang Zhidong did not express his attitude, but only asked Cai Xiyong to store all relevant materials in his signing room. Two days later, Gu Hongming, director of the translation department, told Zhang Zhidong the views of several staff members of the department.They think that there is no need to divide it into three stages. The railway is too important in China, and the railway should be built quickly and on a large scale. Therefore, he suggested to build the Beijing-Hankou Railway from Beijing to Hankou first.As soon as this railway was built, the Wuchang-Guangzhou railway was built immediately, which can be called the Guangdong-Han Railway.After the two railways are built, they will run from north to south, from Yanzhao to Hunan and Guangdong, and China's major veins will be smooth, and China's vitality will soon recover.Zhang Zhidong was quite moved by Gu Hongming's words, but this is indeed an unprecedented large-scale project, and its difficulty is no less than that of Qin Shihuang's construction of the Great Wall and Sui Yang's opening of the Grand Canal. Can such a large-scale project be implemented now? Sang Zhiping has been discussing railway matters with Chen Nianfeng these days.It has been more than two years since Chen Nianfeng came to the Western Affairs Section of the Yamen of the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.In the past two years, he was not only excited about his success in his career, but also deeply warmed by his cousin's fatherly love.Nian Tou lost his father since he was a child.In the past twenty years, especially when he felt weak and weak in the face of hardships, grievances and pain, how much the young Nianchu longed for the care and support of a strong father, but he didn't!I had to stand up and carry everything on my own shoulders, brace my head against it, grit my teeth and endure it.He has never bowed his head in front of others, he has never cried in front of his mother, and he must dare to take responsibility in front of his younger brother.However, in those sleepless nights, how many sad tears Xiao Nianfeng shed alone!He never expected that when he came to Guangzhou after the age of twenty-four, he would meet such a cousin.His cousin's care and care for him are enough to make up for the lack of fatherly love in the past twenty years. How did Nian Reng know that to fill this gap is the strong desire that burst out from the depths of Sang Zhiping's heart during this period.Sang Zhiping felt guilty for indebting too much to Nian Reng's mother and son, and was also delighted to find a father and son half a hundred years later. He poured all his father's love on Nian Reng.He bought seven or eight sets of new clothes for Nian Reng, and a whole new set of furniture for Nian Reng.Every night he would go to Nian Chu's room to talk, and he was very interested in everything Nian Reng said.I especially like to listen to Nian Reng talk about the United States, whether it is the American industry or the American political system, or whether it is the living customs of the American people, or the contacts of celebrities in the upper class. Great fun.Sometimes when Nianchu falls asleep, he will stare at the face that looks more and more like his own, and then quietly leave after a long time.When resting and taking a bath, he either accompanied Nian Chu on a tour of Wuyang City and climbed Xiushan Mountain, or took Nian Reng to his home and entertained him with rich food and wine.During these days, he lectured to Ren Bing.In order for Nianfeng to be able to attend the lectures, he told Zhang Zhidong that Gu Hongming and Chen Nianfeng were both good at western learning but lacking in middle school, so they must make up this lesson.You don’t need to read some of the classics and history collections, but you can’t know the history of China. You should let the two of them read the Tongjian together with Ren Bing.Zhang Zhidong agreed.So Gu and Chen listened to Mr. Sang's class every afternoon with 18-year-old Ren Bing.In the conversations between Sang Zhiping and Chen Nianfeng every night, Sang Duo talked about Chinese culture, and Chen Duo talked about Western knowledge. The two complement each other and have greatly improved. From Chen Nianfeng's conversation, Sang Zhiping knew that in Europe and the United States, railways criss-cross, together with machines, ships and guns, it is an important condition for the country to be strong and the people rich.China has a vast territory and needs railways for long-distance transportation. In the future, China's largest westernization project should be railways. Whoever is the leader of the railway will be the leader of the westernization. Sang Zhiping, who believes in Guan Sang's theory, realized a profound truth from Chen Nianfeng's unintentional remarks: If Guan Zhong and Sang Hongyang used agriculture and business for more than 2,000 years to seek wealth and strength, in today's world, For China to be prosperous and strong, there is no other way than Westernization, and the biggest Westernization right now is the railway.An idea flashed through his mind like lightning.If this idea is put into practice, Zhang Zhidong can achieve a great career, and he can also repay the kindness of knowing him. In the past few days, he has been thinking about the perfection of this concept day and night, and he is excited because of this. After dinner that day, he asked Zhang Zhidong to discuss his ideas secretly in the signing room of the Yamen. "Brother Xiang Tao, do you want to be the number one governor in the world?" Sang Zhiping's out-of-the-box words made Zhang Zhidong confused. "What do you say? There is a clear rule in this dynasty that the governor of Zhili is the head of the border officials. Even if I want to be the number one governor in the world, if I don't replace Li Shaoquan, a governor of Guangdong and Guangxi will not be recognized as the governor of the border. Boss!" Sang Zhiping smiled and said: "It is good that the direct governor is the head of Xinjiang officials, but this is only a superficial statement. The real number one governor in the world is not on the surface, but on the inside. For example, Zeng Guofan was the governor of Liangjiang. At that time, was the number one governor in the world Liu Changyou, who was the direct governor at that time, or Zeng Guofan? The answer is very clear, of course it was Zeng Guofan. This is because Zeng Guofan was doing the largest business in the world at that time. When Lin Zexu was the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, was the number one governor in the world Qi Shan who was the direct governor at that time? Of course not, it was Lin Zexu, because Lin Zexu was also doing the most important thing in the world at that time, that is, banning smoking. So, in my opinion, the number one governor in the world A governor is not a patent belonging to the direct governor, but a governor who is doing the most important business in the world at that time." Zhang Zhidong suddenly realized: "You mean this kind of first governor, so of course I, Zhang, would like to. If Li Shaoquan hadn't been timid and fearful, and encouraged the court to negotiate peace in a hurry, I would have Feng Zicai, Liu Yongfu and their troops drive Hue The French were completely driven out of Vietnam, and according to what you said, I would have been the number one governor in the world." Sang Zhiping shook his head: "Even so, you are only doing meritorious service in a foreign land. In China, you still cannot replace Li Shaoquan's position." Zhang Zhidong said: "If this is not possible, then in your opinion, why can you replace Li Shaoquan as the number one governor in the world?" "Right now, there is the most important event in the world. Whoever gets it done well will have the possibility to become the number one governor in the world." After thinking for a while, Zhang Zhidong said: "If you want to talk about the first major project of the country right now, it is to build the railway. Li Shaoquan wants to build the Tianjin-Tianjin Railway. King Chun and a group of Xinjiang officials support it, and Weng Tonghe and others oppose it. I don't know the Queen Mother's preference. Which side. However, even if the Queen Mother agrees to build the Jintong Railway, it is Li Shaoquan's credit, and it is not my turn to Zhang Zhidong. Then again, the completion of a Jintong Railway is not the best in the world. Great work!" "Brother Xiangtao, brother Xiangtao!" Sang Zhiping laughed loudly, "Everyone says that you have a great vision, and you often aim to manage eight watches, but unfortunately, you are still a step ahead. " Zhang Zhidong was embarrassed by Sang Zhiping's smile: "Tell me, which step is owed?" Sang Zhiping moved his upper body half a step towards Zhang Zhidong and said, "The Jintong Railway is only more than 200 miles long, so it is naturally not a big project, but the total length of the Lu-Han Railway proposed by Cai Xiyong and Gu Hongming is 3,200 miles. The Guangdong-Han Railway is 2,400 miles, and these two railways add up to 5,600 miles. According to the plan to build two miles and 10,000 taels of silver, a total of 28 million taels of silver will be needed. The 5,600-mile line is 2,800 Ten thousand taels of silver, is such a project considered the most important event in the world?" Zhang Zhidong said: "The Lu-Han Railway and the Yue-Han Railway were proposed by Cai Xiyong and the others. They will consider it after the construction of Jintong and Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Roads. Gu Hongming thinks that the Lu-Han Railway can be built first. I think this is like Would the imperial court have the courage to accept such big projects as the Great Wall and canals in history?" Sang Zhiping nodded and said: "Your concerns are very reasonable, but the railway can't be built in one year, assuming that it can be built for four hundred miles a year, and Luhan can be built in eight years, it will cost 16 million taels of silver. , only 2 million per year. The Ministry of Household Affairs can provide 2 million as long as they are willing. At this rate, the Guangdong-Han Railway will be built in six years, and the two railways will be completed in 14 years. Whoever manages it well In this matter, who has not made the greatest contribution to the world? As a governor, wouldn't he become the number one governor in the world?" This made Zhang Zhidong laugh: "Brother Zhongzi, according to your tone, you want me, Zhang Zhidong, to do the best thing in the world. I don't know if the Queen Mother agrees to the plan of the Luhan Railway. In Guangzhou, there is no connection with this railway. The number one governor in the world is beyond my reach!" Sang Zhiping said solemnly: "It depends on whether you want to do this first. If you intend to do it, then you can do the second and third steps." Zhang Zhidong smiled and said, "So what if you did it on purpose?" "Then let's make a note to the imperial court first, to abolish Li Shaoquan's idea of ​​building the Jintong Railway, and let the imperial court accept the idea of ​​the Luhan Railway proposed by the Governor of Guangdong. This is the first step." Zhang Zhidong listened carefully without making a sound. "The second step is to ask the imperial court to transfer you from the governor of Guangdong to the governor of Lake, and preside over the construction of the Luhan Railway, and at the same time make the planning of the Yuehan Railway. Hubei is the center of these two railways. From now on, you will sit in Jiangxia and build this world steadily. The merits. The top can inherit the Huiguang of Lord Lin Wenzhong, and the bottom can inherit the legacy of Hu Wenzhong.” Zhang Zhidong clapped his hands and said happily: "Of course it's great. It's just that the consent to build the Lu-Han Railway and the shifting of the lake has to be decided by the Empress Dowager. Since ancient times, it has been said that God's will has always been difficult to ask. How can the Empress Dowager's thoughts follow our wishes?" Willing to turn?" Sang Zhiping said: "Everything is human-made. Some things seem extremely difficult to do, but in fact, if you go deep into them, it is not as difficult as imagined; it is to do it." "How to do it?" "This can't be done in Guangzhou. I have to go to Beijing. You give me two months, one month's journey, one month's activities in the capital, and then I will take a photo when I arrive in the capital." Zhang Zhidong said: "After arriving in the capital, of course you can go to Mr. Ziqing and Mr. Yan Dan. It's a pity that Mr. Dan is only an apartment in the capital now. You might as well go to discuss with him and listen to his opinions. " "I will visit Zhang Zhongtang and Yan Dan. In addition, I can also find Renquan to see if he has any friends who can help." "Ben Renquan is too honest and useless." Zhang Zhidong rubbed his forehead and said, "Yang Shenxiu, you can go and see him. He won the Jinshi last year and distributed it to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Yang Shenxiu is capable and knows how to do things." .” "Yes." Sang Zhiping nodded. "I haven't seen Yicun for three or four years. When I arrive in the capital, I should naturally go and see him." "There is another person, you also have acquaintance with him once, you should go to see him after you come to Beijing." "which one?" "Wang Yirong, Zhun'er's uncle. He works as an attendant in the Imperial Academy." "Oh, Wang Liansheng!" Sang Zhiping said happily, "He used to be the tail of your Qingliu Party. It is said that he has devoted himself to studying ancient characters in the past few years, and he is quite famous in the capital. I really want to visit him." Because of Wang Yirong and the Qingliu Party, another way suddenly popped up in Sang Zhiping's mind. "Brother Zhongzi, you go to visit Brother Ziqing, and bring me a present for him by the way." It is rare to see Zhang Zhidong giving gifts to others, and Sang Zhiping finds it fresh. "Liang Jie'an told me a few days ago that there is an inkstone shop opened by a Duanzhou native in Zhaowang Street. The shop has a collection of pearl inkstones presented by five bats during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty. You go with Jie'an and buy this inkstone. Brother Ziqing loves inkstones all his life, if you give him this inkstone, he will definitely like it." Duan inkstone is produced in Duanzhou, Zhaoqing Prefecture, Guangdong Province, and it is known as the best product among the four treasures of the study together with Xuan paper, Hu brush and Hui ink.The Yongle Duan Inkstone presented by the governor of Guangdong Province is naturally a worthy and precious gift. "Yan Dan always suffers from wind paralysis. Your old friend Timothy Li is familiar with Guangzhou foreign medicine dealers. Please ask him to buy some foreign medicines for treating wind paralysis. You are busy and ask Gu Tangsheng to find Timothy Li. Gu Tangsheng often complains No one speaks foreign dialect to him, for fear of losing the foreign dialect, let him speak foreign dialect with Timothy Lee for a day, so that he will have a good time." Zhang Zhidong carefully arranged gifts for the two elders, which shows that he attaches great importance to this visit to Beijing, and at the same time gave Sang Zhiping an inspiration.He thought of the other group of people he was going to meet this time, they probably needed the respect of foreign officials more than Zhang and Yan. "Brother Xiangtao, give me Zhang Wanliang's bank note. I'm going to work with the camera. Some people really need this thing." Zhang Zhidong immediately understood Sang Qiaping's intentions, and said apologetically, "It's because I didn't think carefully. It's very important to bring the bank notes. You can search carefully to see if 12,000 taels is enough. Bring fifteen thousand!" Sang Zhiping said: "Ten thousand taels is enough, it is also the fat of the people." "Whether it's ten thousand or fifteen thousand, it's all my private savings. These expenses will not use public funds, so don't worry." Sang Zhiping was moved by Zhang Zhidong's distinction between public and private: "In the final analysis, this money is not for private use, but for public use. It is naturally better for you to spend it as private money. Since it is private savings, I have to plan carefully. Specific expenses , I can’t tell right now, after I return from the capital, I will give you another list.” "The general is away, and the king's fate is not acceptable. Everything is up to you." Zhang Zhidong stroked Sang Zhiping's shoulders and said, "I wish you success!" When Sang Zhiping just turned to go out, Zhang Zhidong stopped him again: "Take my wife to the capital together, let her go back to Gubeikou to live for a while, and catch up with relatives and friends."