Siheyuan: I am a trader in both worlds!

However, after only a brief mention, Ximen Lang immediately patted his chest and gave his guarantee.

"You don't need to worry about locomotives or carriages at all. Whenever your railway network is completed, I'll prepare them for you. If we say the railway is finished today, the trains and carriages will be delivered immediately tomorrow, without wasting a single second!"

What else is there to say?
"I won't say anything more! Just one sentence: Ah Lang, talking to you makes me feel so at ease!"

Do you know why it's bright?

"Our hearts are pure!"

"You don't care about yourself at all!"

Only a great rejuvenation!

"A great undertaking!" *2
As they were talking, Ximen Lang produced two more glasses of red wine from somewhere and clinked them together with a clatter.

Bai Ling and Hao Pingchuan, who were standing to the side, were both dumbfounded.

But Ximen Lang didn't care. Lao Luo, who was also becoming increasingly indifferent after spending more time with Ximen Lang, was now able to keep up with him. He held a glass of red wine and drank it all in one gulp.

Incidentally, Ximen Lang also gave Lao Luo a few more pointers.

"Old Luo, there's something you absolutely must pay attention to."

"what's up?"

"What else could it be? It's about the railway, of course. Or more specifically, it's about the railway gauge."

What's wrong with the track gauge?

"What's wrong? This is a big problem!"

Seeing that Lao Luo hadn't realized the seriousness of the problem, Ximen Lang asked.

"I'm asking you, do you want to build a railway network that can cover the whole country and radiate to all surrounding areas?"

"Of course! Now that we've decided to build it, we'll definitely build it right the first time! We may be a bit poor, but we still have that ambition! Even if it's slow, we'll definitely build an unprecedented railway network so that everyone can benefit from it!"

"Good ambition!"

Ximen Lang gave Lao Luo a thumbs-up for his ambition and continued.

"So here's the question: with the current state of track gauge in China so chaotic, what are your plans? Are you going to continue using the standards left over from the Republic of China era, or even the Qing Dynasty? Or are you going to use the track gauge standards that each of the various invaders built on our land, with almost every country having its own? Or are you going to ignore everything and just let local preferences dictate what they want?"

"How is this possible?! This is a key national project, how can we let local authorities do whatever they want?! If they have one standard here and another there, wouldn't everything be in chaos?!"

They realized the seriousness of the problem, and they were also genuinely intrigued by Ximen Lang.

Without beating around the bush with Simon Lang, Lao Luo went straight to the point and laid his cards on the table.

"Ah Lang, stop beating around the bush. Since you've brought these things up, you must already have a well-developed idea. Just tell me directly what to do. If you have an idea, just say it. I'll take care of the rest."

Since Lao Luo had already put it this way, Ximen Lang naturally wouldn't stand on ceremony with him.

To be frank.

"In short, there is only one goal: before we decide to build a railway network that runs through the north and south and covers the whole country, we must first unify the current chaotic track gauge in the country!"

"I won't go into the benefits of doing this, such as improving transportation efficiency, reducing construction costs, enhancing the connectivity of the railway network, improving safety, and enhancing the sustainability of the railway. These are all visible benefits that can be obtained after the track gauge is standardized."

"The specific standard you choose is entirely up to you. I'll just introduce you to several track gauges that are bound to become popular and shine in the future, their advantages and disadvantages, and their historical origins."

"First of all, when talking about track gauge, we have to mention the standard track gauge. That is, the 1435 mm track gauge, which is widely recognized by the international community and used by a large number of Western countries."

And speaking of the standard gauge of 1435 mm.
That's really incredible!
"Legend has it that it was actually designed based on the distance between the two wheels of an ancient Roman chariot. An ancient Roman chariot, you know, isn't that awesome?"

"Ancient Roman chariots? Really?"

"Does it matter if it's true or false? What matters is that it had the biggest fist back then! As the world's first and only superpower at the time, its word was law! Even if it said that the orbital gauge was based on the distance between the two wheels of the Sun God chariot, you still had to accept it! That's reality!"

Indeed, that was the case, because the British Empire at that time was just too powerful, so powerful it was explosive, so powerful it was absurd, so powerful it was almost unreal.

so.
"Very quickly, this standard was widely recognized and promoted by the international community. In 1937, it was directly certified by the International Railway Association as the internationally accepted standard gauge, which is the origin of the standard gauge."

Having explained the origins of standard gauge, Ximen Lang continued, discussing its advantages and disadvantages.

"Because many countries use this standard gauge, the entire Western world led by the United States, as well as these former colonies of the Western world, and those countries that aspire to the Western world, basically all use this standard. The benefits of using this standard are obviously obvious."

"First of all, strong versatility and wide applicability are essential. Because it can meet a variety of transportation needs, high operational efficiency is also a must! However, correspondingly, its flexibility is very limited, and the construction cost will naturally not be low."

"Secondly, there's the narrow gauge, which is the type with a gauge less than 1435 millimeters. Common gauges like 750 millimeters and 1000 meters fall into the narrow gauge category. Because the gauge is relatively narrow, its main advantages are lower construction costs and higher flexibility. However, the disadvantages are also very obvious. There is less room for increasing the train's load and speed. In terms of transport capacity, it is definitely not as abundant as the standard gauge."

"Finally, there's the issue of broad gauge. Because the Soviet Union was using this standard, the market for broad gauge is actually quite large due to Soviet influence. For example, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the countries surrounding the Soviet Union all basically use broad gauge, or even the same 1520 mm gauge as the Soviet Union."

"The advantages of doing this are that the carriages can be built wider and larger, providing a better riding experience and making them less prone to overturning. In terms of transport capacity, it can also significantly improve, and with the foundation laid by the Soviet Union, goods can be quickly transported to all parts of the world. However, the downside is that the construction costs will naturally be much higher."

"Especially for bridges and tunnels, because broad gauge is wider than standard gauge and narrow gauge. Whether it's a bridge or a tunnel, it has to be wider than standard gauge and narrow gauge! For such large-scale projects, a little more width will cost a lot more money! In addition, broad gauge also requires more space to turn, so the cost is naturally not much less."

Strictly speaking, there is another type of gauge, the meter gauge, which is even narrower than the narrow gauge and has a lower construction cost, but Ximen Lang did not introduce it to Lao Luo and the others.

However, while this track gauge standard saves money, it also reduces its practicality.

It's so low that it's hardly useful anymore.

Of course, if you put it in the city and build a light rail system, only letting it perform passenger transport duties, then it would undoubtedly be very appealing.

But to expect it to take on even more is undoubtedly overthinking things.

You don't even have that ability, do you?
However, the people in Beijing are clearly not considering passenger transport now, but rather proper freight transport. Therefore, Ximen Lang will naturally not consider it and will no longer introduce it to Lao Luo and the others.

And Ximen Lang's explanation was very thorough.

Having inherited Ximen Lang's true teachings and sharing his unwavering belief that bigger is better and bigger is more beautiful, Hao Pingchuan couldn't help but say, "Since widening the track gauge has so many advantages, why don't we widen it even further? Forget about the Soviet standard, let's just make it bigger than theirs, 3 to 4 meters wide in one go!"

"At that time, we can fit one more container than the standard gauge one. If we're feeling generous, we can even build two layers with three more containers, giving us a full three more containers than the standard gauge one! Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

It must be acknowledged that if this level of beauty could truly be achieved, it would certainly be incredibly beautiful.

With the help of later generations, it is not technically difficult to achieve.

But the problem is
"What about the money? How do you plan to solve the money problem? So many tunnels, so many bridges along the way, how are you going to solve all this? With your mouth?"

Don't say it, you really don't say it.

If the money problem can be solved and we are not bogged down by this or that, then choosing the broad gauge standard as the track gauge standard for Beijing would be the best choice imaginable!

Putting aside everything else, the increased transport capacity is absolutely real.

But the problem is still that I don't have any money!

"We simply don't have that much money. Forget about that, we don't even know where we're supposed to find the money to build a standard gauge railway."

When it comes to raising money...
"Hey, Lang, those fish you sent back to your hometown have been there for a while now. How's it going? Why haven't you mentioned the negotiations? Did they fall through? Is your other sister-in-law unwilling to pay the price?"

"Impossible! Look who negotiated this! I, Brother Lang, personally took charge, how could there be anything that couldn't be negotiated?! Just because of my reputation, it's impossible for the negotiations to fall apart!"

This is true.

Given their eagerness to get closer to Ximen Lang in the future, even if they were to fall out with the entire world of Beijing, they would never say anything harsh to Ximen Lang or embarrass him.

Furthermore, the later generations, led by Xia Yiyi, have always considered themselves respectable people.

In fact, they do live very comfortably.

Compared to others, the world of Beijing is like a beggar.

And the goods that Simon Lang brought from the city of Beijing this time were indeed top-quality goods that couldn't be more authentic.

They were more than happy to agree, so how could they possibly refuse?

I couldn't figure out why Ximen Lang, who always loved to show off, hadn't mentioned this matter until now.

I might as well just stop thinking about it.

Luo asked directly.

"What happened? Why haven't you mentioned this before?"

Actually, Ximen Lang didn't intentionally keep Lao Luo and Bai Ling hanging, or deliberately not tell them.

There were simply too many things to deal with, one after another, leaving him no chance to speak.

In addition, although Xia Yiyi's price was fair this time, it still felt a little lacking.
It falls short in some ways, making it completely less important than the cannery, food safety, and railway track gauge mentioned earlier.

That's why Ximen Lang has been delayed until now.

Finally, Lao Luo couldn't help but ask about it.

First, he repeated the same old story, boasting to Lao Luo and Bai Ling about Brother Bo's influence.

This move immediately garnered praise from all sides and received unanimous agreement from many.

"I knew it! Ah Lang personally took charge, how could there be any problems? You're overthinking it, you're just overthinking it."

"That's right, doesn't she know who Brother Lang is? Sister-in-law, no, sister-in-law, no matter how powerful she is, would she not give Brother Lang face? Besides, the Empress is standing right here! With these two great figures here to keep things in check, no matter how powerful that little sister-in-law is, she absolutely can't cause any trouble!"

Good heavens, regardless of whether it's appropriate or not, he just showered Ximen Lang with compliments.

Ximen Lang, who had just been feeling smug for a short while, hated Hao Pingchuan so much that he wanted to skin that loose-tongued bastard alive!
Bai Ling, standing to the side, also had a sharp gaze that seemed to wish she could tear Hao Pingchuan to pieces and execute him so that he would never be able to rise again.

Seeing that Hao Pingchuan's attempt to flatter him had failed, he immediately turned to flattering the horse's legs.

Isn't this just asking for a beating?!

Therefore, if Hao Pingchuan continues to shoot so recklessly, a mixed doubles brawl is about to break out!
Whether Hao Pingchuan lives or dies, Lao Luo doesn't care.
But if Hao Pingchuan delays important matters, Lao Luo cannot accept it!
Therefore, seeing that Ximen Lang and Bai Ling were about to explode, he grabbed Hao Pingchuan by the collar and threw him aside.

One sentence.
"If you don't speak, no one will think you're mute!"

In an instant, Hao Pingchuan, who had belatedly realized what was happening, was completely sealed away.

They kicked Hao Pingchuan, that scourge, far away so that he could no longer hinder them.

Out of respect for Lao Luo, Ximen Lang and Bai Ling ultimately decided not to hold Hao Pingchuan accountable.

Instead, he picked up where he left off and pulled out a large stack of lists from his pocket.

Distribute them to everyone, let them take a good look, and give their opinions if they have any.

On the other side, Ximen Lang continued.

"The deal was agreed upon a long time ago, and it was finalized with Yi Yi the moment I got back. But this price... Lao Luo, you know, this is wholesale, and a wholesale that directly monopolizes a world, not retail."

"As for YiYi, they need to expand their sales channels and manage various relationships, which requires a significant investment. Therefore, this price is definitely not available."

I'm struggling with how to get Lao Luo and the others to lower their expectations and accept this situation.

Upon seeing these lists, Lao Luo was so shocked that his pupils dilated and he exclaimed in disbelief.

"Wow, so much money!" (End of Chapter)