Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 588 That's all my money!!
Seeing that the two were looking at him, Lu Jin then said, "My original plan was to postpone the construction of these three bridges."

"The southern starting point of the Liangjing Railway can be placed at Wujiang (the place where Xiang Yu committed suicide) opposite Jiankang, or Jiangpu, or Liuhe. All three points are acceptable. From Jiangpu, it runs northwest through Quanjiao, Chuzhou, Dingyuan, Fengyang, Haozhou, Suzhou, and Xuzhou. This is the first section."

"After arriving in Xuzhou, get off the bus, take a boat across the Huai River, and then change buses on the other side to Yizhou (Zaozhuang), Tengxian, Yanzhou, Tai'an, and finally Jinan. This is the second part of the journey from Xuzhou to Jinan."

"We got off the train in Jinan, changed boats to cross the abandoned Yellow River, went ashore again, and then changed trains all the way to Dadu. This is the third section."

"We will not build a bridge to connect the three sections of railway for the time being. We can build it later when we have the money and technology."

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong exchanged a glance. Li Shanchang immediately said, "Wouldn't that be very troublesome? We'd have to transfer twice along the way, which would greatly reduce the efficiency of the railway."

"There will definitely be some discounts, but something is better than nothing, isn't it?" Lu Jin said helplessly, shrugging his shoulders.

At this point, it was Feng Guoyong and Li Shanchang who were unwilling to accept it. They had such a good transportation channel, but they couldn't make full use of it. Wouldn't that be a huge loss?

Feng Guoyong immediately added, "Then the method I suggested—building a bridge across the abandoned Yellow River first, and then letting the Yellow River return to its original course—can't be implemented now either?"

Lu Jin thought about it carefully before saying, "According to your method and with the current technology, as long as cost is not a concern, it is certainly possible to build a railway bridge. However, at most, it can only be a stone arch bridge or a reinforced concrete bridge, and it can only be a continuous arch bridge. You cannot build other styles for the time being."

"But there is a problem here. With the current technology, when building a continuous stone arch bridge, the span of each arch cannot be too large. It is possible to build it this way, but after it is built, the river will be densely packed with bridge piers."

"The Yellow River carries a huge amount of sediment every year. If you build so many bridge piers in the middle of the river, it will probably be silted up by the Yellow River's sediment in ten or twenty years. At that time, the Yellow River will be blocked by the bridge. Then either the Yellow River will wash away the bridge or it will breach its banks and flood Shandong and Hebei."

The two fell silent upon hearing this. They had never thought of this issue before; they hadn't realized that such a problem needed to be considered when building a bridge over the Yellow River.

To be precise, it's not that this issue needed to be considered when building a bridge across the Yellow River, but rather that it was only necessary to consider this issue 'under the technological conditions of ancient times'. Modern bridges can easily span hundreds of meters, so this issue is no longer a concern, but it wasn't possible in ancient times.

Of the three famous bridge articles in the textbook, only Mao Yisheng's Qiantang River Bridge is relevant, as it is a steel-framed bridge from the Republican era. The remaining two articles describe the Lugou Bridge, which has a total span of 266 meters and a maximum span of only 16 meters, and the Zhaozhou Bridge, which has a larger span but only a main span of 37 meters.

The Yellow River in the Jinan section is 500 meters wide on average. If you build it according to the Lugou Bridge standard, you would need 33 piers. If you build it according to the Zhaozhou Bridge standard, you would need about 15 piers. The key is that the train is so heavy. If you have too few piers, can it support the train? Too many piers will cause siltation, which was an unsolvable problem in ancient times.

Li Shanchang then asked, "I didn't expect that building a bridge over the Yellow River would require such considerations. It is thanks to Your Majesty's thorough thinking that building a bridge arbitrarily could have caused a great disaster. So, according to Your Majesty's original intention, what kind of bridge did you plan to build? What conditions are still lacking that prevent its construction?"

Lu Jin immediately said, "If you want to build a bridge over the Yellow River, the first thing is that there can't be too many piers, so as not to block the silt from the Yellow River. But if there are fewer piers, the span of each section will have to be larger."

"With current technology and materials, it is impossible to make a bridge with a large span, whether it is a stone arch bridge or reinforced concrete. Therefore, my original plan was to build a steel frame bridge."

"Steel truss bridges are both lightweight and sturdy, and the key is that they can span hundreds of meters. This will reduce the number of piers needed and greatly reduce the amount and difficulty of underwater work. At that time, only four or five piers will be needed to cross the Yellow River and the Huai River."

"A steel frame bridge?!" The two exchanged a glance and exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes."

"How much steel would that require?" Feng Guoyong asked again.

Lu Jin thought for a moment and realized that when the new China built the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, it seemed that more than 60,000 tons of high manganese alloy steel were used. Anshan Iron and Steel Group was responsible for smelting the steel, and the Shanhaiguan Bridge Factory in Hebei Province processed it into semi-finished steel beams, which were then transported by train to the Nanjing construction site for installation.

The Yellow River and the Huai River are only about half the width of the Yangtze River, so a bridge for them would weigh at least 40,000 tons.

Then Lu Jin said, "Each bridge over the Yellow River and the Huai River requires at least 40,000 tons of steel, which is about 80 million catties. And it can't be ordinary refined steel. At least the carbon steel used to make rails won't do. It must be high manganese alloy steel."

"Now, if we want to build bridges across the Yellow River and the Huai River, it's not a question of how much money we need. Even if we had the money, and you could spend 30 million on a single bridge, we still couldn't build it now. The main problem is that we don't have the materials and technology."

"So what I originally thought was that we had already found a manganese mine in Xiangtan, Hunan last year, and I also had the science class design a new blast furnace with an annual output of 50,000 tons of pig iron. Now the steel blowing converter has also been made. In this way, we can start mass production of high manganese steel within three years at the earliest, and start production capacity in five or six years."

"By then, the new blast furnaces will have been extended to at least two ironworks in Dangtu and Luzhou. With the addition of the eight ironworks in the north, we will have the capacity to produce 150,000 to 200,000 tons of steel per year. The production of alloy steel will depend entirely on demand. Even if we only produce 50,000 tons a year, we can still make it."

"So what I'm thinking is that once the Dangtu Ironworks can produce high-manganese steel, we can produce some in small batches and build some small bridges. This will allow students in the science class to learn while exploring the technology. After a few years, when steel production increases significantly, we will have accumulated enough technology and experience in bridge construction."

"It won't be too late to build those bridges ten years from now. Moreover, with the increase in steel production, the cost of our bridges will be even cheaper. I estimate that a Yellow River iron bridge can be built for less than 200 million silver dollars."

Upon hearing this, the two exchanged a glance, their expressions saying, "I knew it." They had guessed that the emperor before them had an exceptionally long-term vision, making plans that started three to five years in advance, and clearly outlining matters ten or twenty years into the future. His thinking was remarkably clear.

Most importantly, although Lu Jin's goals sometimes seem radical, they are actually very stable after careful analysis. He knows what the country can and cannot do with its current strength, and what preparations are needed to achieve his goals. Then he moves forward step by step with determination. This is what makes him the most terrifying. Who can think about things decades from now and make reasonable plans decades in advance?

And this is precisely Lu Jin's greatest advantage: he's a time traveler; he's witnessed how countries have developed.
Absolute centralization, coupled with an enlightened monarch, can definitely lead a country to great heights. However, the pitfall of monarchy lies in the hereditary nature of the throne and the fact that emperors can be good or bad. A good emperor can lead to rapid growth, while a bad one can lead to utter ruin.

After the two had digested Lu Jin's plan, Feng Guoyong asked again, "Your Majesty is only talking about the Huai River and the Yellow River. How about building a bridge across the Yangtze River, and how much will it cost?"

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "Building a railway bridge over the Yangtze River is even more difficult than building one over the Yellow River or the Huai River. It requires not only the capacity to produce tens of thousands of tons of alloy steel annually, but also more than 300,000 tons of cement annually."

"But having these materials isn't enough; we also need more technology, such as heavy-duty concrete floating caisson cofferdams, or steel caisson cofferdams, large-diameter steam-powered deep-hole rotary drilling rigs of about three meters, heavy-duty floating steam-powered cranes, steam-powered floating transport platforms (i.e., steam barges), and other equipment like tower cranes, bridge cranes, and so on." Seeing that the two looked like they didn't understand what he was talking about, Lu Jin simply changed his approach.

"In short, the general process of building a bridge across the Yangtze River is as follows: a bamboo tube with holes at both ends is inserted vertically into the riverbed. Then, a water pump is used to drain the water from the bamboo tube. People are then sent to dig down along the bamboo tube until they reach the rock layer at the bottom of the river. After that, they have to dig down another ten zhang or so."

"Next, insert a bunch of chopsticks into the bamboo tube and stick each chopstick directly into the rocks at the bottom of the river. Each chopstick should be at least eight feet to ten feet thick. Dozens of reinforced concrete chopsticks about ten feet thick are tied together to make a bridge pier. After the bridge pier is built, the steel beam bridge on it will be similar to the one on the Yellow River, except that the amount of alloy steel used will be doubled."

"Based on my current estimate, it will take at least 20 years to build a bridge across the Yangtze River. At that time, the cost of a Yangtze River bridge will be around 500 million silver dollars, and the construction period will be about five or six years, with an investment of one million silver dollars per year."

"As for now, you can't build it even if you have a hundred million silver dollars. You have neither the materials nor the technology. In the short term, it's not a matter of money. In other words, once we have the engineering technology and capabilities, money will no longer be a problem."

"Oh right, there's another problem. When building a bridge over the Yangtze River, the clearance under the bridge can't be too low. It has to be at least 33 meters above the water level so as not to affect the sailboats on the river. But even if it's 33 meters high, I'm afraid warships will only be able to stop downstream of the bridge in the future."

“Our current main sailing warships have mainmasts of around 60 or 70 meters, so they definitely can’t sail under bridges. The same applies to the Huai River bridges. Considering future navigation capacity, they can’t be built too low. The Yellow River is fine, since not many ships sail on it anyway.”

Upon hearing this, the two were both shocked and impressed. They admired Lu Jin for thinking ahead about the navigation capacity of the Yangtze River and for taking the initiative to propose a clearance of ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) high. They were shocked that Lu Jin did not seem to find it difficult. He dared to think, and not only did he dare to think, but he also seemed to have a way and confidence to build such a bridge, which was quite outrageous.
Feng Guoyong gasped and looked up at the sky, saying, "Ten zhang high above the river, even a typical pagoda is no bigger than that. Wouldn't this bridge be like being built in the sky? Sailboats are running below, and trains weighing millions of kilograms are rushing overhead. If this bridge can really be built, it would be an incredible feat of craftsmanship, a marvel of skill. It's truly unimaginable."

"If this had not come from Your Majesty, a man of the Gongshu clan, I would not have believed a single word."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately said with delight, "Then on the day the bridge is completed, I will have someone build another temple for our ancestor Gongshu Ban at the bridgehead and enshrine him there for the world to admire."

“That’s a good idea. And building just one temple won’t cost much. Besides, according to His Majesty’s estimate, the cost of the Yangtze River Bridge doesn’t seem unacceptable. One million silver dollars a year and a construction period of five or six years is something the court can afford.” Li Shanchang nodded immediately and then asked.

"But since Your Majesty's plans are all for several years from now, what is the purpose of starting to build this railway now?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin said, "Because the cost of railway construction is quite high, I originally thought you would not agree easily, so I wanted to build a demonstration line first, which would run from Jiankang south through Dangtu, Wuhu, Fanchang, Nanling, and then to Jingxian and Xuancheng. This line is about 165 kilometers long."

"Once it's completed, it will be able to deliver coal from Jingxuan to Nanjing and also to the Dangtu Ironworks."

"I plan to allocate two million taels of silver from the imperial treasury to build this road. Firstly, it is to explore the technology and accumulate experience in road construction, giving the students in the science class an opportunity to practice and learn. Secondly, I also want to ensure that after this road is built, you and all the civil and military officials can see the tangible benefits of railways and trains, so that there will be less resistance when building the two capitals line in the future."

"Thirdly, we need to verify the project cost. The 13,000 silver dollars per kilometer that I mentioned is just an estimate. We can't be sure how much it will cost during construction. How can we calculate the cost without actually building one? After all, words are not enough."

"The road from Jiankang to Jingxian is 165 kilometers long, which is not too long. Even if the cost is slightly over budget, it will not exceed four million at most. I can afford it myself with the imperial treasury."

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang immediately cupped his hands and said, "I see. Your Majesty has truly gone to great lengths."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin glanced at him and said, "But now that you know about this in advance, we need to make things clear. I can use the imperial treasury to pay for the construction of this railway from Kang to Jing County, but once the railway is completed, you must return this money to me, as if I sold the railway to the court."

“If the court doesn’t buy it, then all the freight revenue from this route and the travel expenses for the people will be collected by the imperial treasury. We must make back this money.”

"..." Upon hearing this, the two were both amused and exasperated. This emperor was really something. Just a moment ago, he said he would use the imperial treasury to build a road for everyone to see, but now he's immediately starting to haggle over every penny.

However, Lu Jin didn't care at all. What was face? Did you think it was easy for me to accumulate millions of taels of private money? That's all my money!!!
Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang's eyes lit up, and he immediately said, "Your Majesty, how about this: when Marquis Bowang (Wang Dayuan) returns from Lizhou this year, we will give Your Majesty a larger share of Lizhou's overseas gold and silver revenue, and that will be considered as buying this road. What do you think?"

Lu Jin was taken aback when he heard this. Well, Li Shanchang had a good plan. To put it bluntly, this money was basically picked up from overseas for free. With an annual income of nearly ten million taels, they wouldn't mind giving the emperor an extra two or three million.

To be honest, if Lu Jin hadn't insisted on building large ships back then and hadn't found Wang Dayuan to go to sea, they really wouldn't have gotten this unexpected windfall. Giving Lu Jin only a few million at a time is already considered generous of Lu Jin.

If it were a stingy emperor, he wouldn't give you a single penny. I built the ships, I found the people, and I provided the way to make money. Now that we've made money, why should the court take the lion's share?
However, Lu Jin did not refute it and immediately nodded in agreement, saying, "Last year, Wang Huanzhang said that Lizhou's revenue this year is expected to exceed ten million. If it really exceeds ten million taels, at least five million will be allocated to the imperial treasury this year. In that case, I will not ask you for the money to build the Jing Railway."

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang quickly calculated that Wang Dayuan had mentioned around 12 to 15 million taels. Even if the emperor received 5 million, the court would still have 18 million taels left, which was quite a lot. So he immediately said, "Alright, let's do as Your Majesty says."

After the three of them, the emperor and his ministers, finished dividing the spoils, Empress Zhang Yunxiu's lunch arrived. Lu Jin simply led them to sit in that train carriage and eat lunch.

After the meal, the group took a closer look at the carriages and were amazed by Lu Jin's design. One end of the carriage even had a tea room and a crew room, while the other end had a toilet and a washroom.

Considering that long-distance train journeys often involve eating and sleeping on the train, having these facilities on board would make the journey much more convenient. This design is incredibly user-friendly.

However, Feng Guoyong still felt that the hard seat was too crowded and hard, and if he sat in it all day, he would probably break his back.

So Lu Jin immediately took out the blueprints and models of hard sleeper, soft sleeper, and compartments. If you want comfort, isn't that simple? It's just a matter of paying more money. If you have money, you can just book an entire carriage. Hard seats are a bit cramped, but they're cheap, and there will always be people who need them.

After seeing the blueprints and models, the two men were even more impressed. It seemed that the emperor had already thought of the problems they could think of.

Finally, Lu Jin took out a map and explained the long-term plan to them. When he said that he wanted to build a railway from Haining Prefecture (Lianyungang) to Lanzhou, the two of them were immediately excited.

Because the entire Longhai Railway runs south of the Yellow River, with no major rivers along the way, its construction was even easier than that of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway. Moreover, this railway clearly has greater strategic value!
(End of this chapter)