Take the mall to Datang

Who said that when you are an official, you can't leave the business to the family members. Isn't everyone doing sneaky things like this? Thinking of this, I'm not curious that Su Zhennan helped to speak, but Yuan Shan didn't know Su Zhennan yet.

It was just a one-time relationship, and then several businessmen came to accept the bid, Yuan Shan didn't say much, Bingzhou Wu's family was the focus of his attention, now it is the fifth year of Zhenguan, and there may be many more in a few years He decided that he should make preparations in advance, perhaps starting with making good friends with the samurai Xun. If he could help cure his depression and madness, then the history of Datang might be different.

In addition, Yuanshan also learned a lot about Samurai Yi from Li Xiuning. When Samurai Ji funded Li Yuan, a large part of the money was spent on the establishment of the Detachment of Women. It can be said that it would be impossible without Samurai Yi The legendary princess Li Xiuning, and the relationship between Li Xiuning and the warrior Xun is also quite good. After Li Xiuning withdrew from the court, the warrior Xun has been working hard for the development of the Tang Dynasty, so Yuan Shan's evaluation of the warrior Xun is quite high.

A group of people just saw the people talking about something on the stage, but they couldn't hear them still discussing the products at the auction just now, and the prince had already gone out at this moment, he was not interested in doing business or anything, But his interest was lifted when he heard that the steam locomotive had been parked outside.

As a result, a large circle of people crowded around except the first floor, and then a steam locomotive was parked in front of the door, and there were several Yuanjia Workshop employees waiting beside the car.

"Is this a steam locomotive? Let the prince try it." Li Chengqian couldn't hold back and said immediately.

"Brother, Lizhi also wants to take the car." Lizhi who was at the side also followed out at some point, surrounded by a group of maids.

Now Li Chengqian couldn't wait even more, but he heard the workshop staff next to him say: "His Royal Highness, the operation of steam locomotives requires some learning before driving. This is what the Lord Hou ordered. Even His Royal Highness cannot directly use steam locomotives." locomotive."

"His Royal Highness, let's call someone to study." The staff in charge of teaching said.

Li Chengqian also lost his temper, thinking that he didn't know how to drive the Iron Gada, so he honestly found a servant by his side and began to study while he was really listening.

The person who explained it was very responsible, and did not ignore any minor problems, including some maintenance items, and also prepared an operation query manual.

The key brake was explained in great detail and repeated several times. After listening to it, Li Chengqian couldn't wait to experience it.

The thick smoke on the tidy car began to billow out, and then the cylinder made a big noise. This movement directly attracted the attention of many people in the auditorium on the first floor, and was surrounded by many people.

Sitting in the car, Li Chengqian suddenly felt that he had more face.

Chapter 501 The Expectation of the Train

"Rumble..."

"It's moving." Li Chengqian shouted excitedly.

The onlookers were all watching the excitement, and many people had already exclaimed.

"Look, it's the same as the carriage made by the Yuan family. It has four wheels. Look at the strange wheels. What are those black and gray things on them? Could it be animal skin?" Some people began to discuss.

From time to time, they say that their imagination is not enough, but at this time, it is not a very clever thing to wrap animal skins on wooden wheels, and this precedent of using animal skins was also made when Yuanjia Workshop produced bicycles. The test product, to be honest, is leather after all, and needs to be replaced after wear and tear, so this kind of bicycle can only be used by rich men.

So it's no wonder that these people think about animal skins, but they are destined not to guess the answer, because thick synthetic rubber is used on steam car tires, and this is also the first batch of experimental products to be applied.

The steam car started slowly, and Li Chengqian and Li Zhi were very happy sitting in the car. They knew a little about the steam car now, and they didn't panic when they sat on it. The speed was not too fast. , followed by a large group of people.

Li Chengqian said to the driver: "Can you go faster, this speed is too slow."

The temporary driver is an employee of Yuanjia Workshop. The fastest speed of this locomotive is more than 30 mph. Now because there are many people on the street, the current speed is less than [-] mph, which makes the riders feel very slow. It is also understandable.

"His Royal Highness, there are so many people on the street and the speed is too fast, I'm afraid there will be a car accident." The driver responded immediately.

Although Li Chengqian desperately wanted to speed up the car, he thought that if something happened to him, it would have a very bad impact on him as the prince. Besides, his father and some ministers are now in his first floor. , if this caused something to happen, he would definitely not be able to get rid of it.

"Okay, safety first." Li Chengqian looked at Lizhi and said to the driver.

People in Pingkangfang were very surprised to see an iron lump moving on the street. Many people were not curious but felt a little scared. The rumbling sound was really scary, and there were no horses pulling the cart. It is really strange for people who see it for the first time.

This kind of steam locomotive does not move fast now because there are too many people, but this does not mean that the people behind can easily catch up. The running speed is okay, but such continuous running is not something everyone can bear. .

Soon Li Chengqian drove out of Pingkangfang in the car, and the speed quickly increased as soon as there were fewer people. Whenever encountering an intersection, the driver would slow down according to the record in the safety driving manual and stop before crossing the intersection. Sound the whistle to prevent someone from being touched accidentally.

"Brother Prince, this steam car is really good, it can move by itself and it is very stable." Li Zhi said.

The entire steam car was designed by Yuan Shan. There is a big chimney at the front of the steam engine, but the driver's cab and passenger compartment are covered with iron sheets and glass. As long as you don't drive, the windows will not be covered by the chimney. smoke effects.

After exiting Pingkang Square, the people behind couldn’t keep up. They couldn’t keep running like this with the steam car, so many merchants returned to the first floor. Apart from participating in the auction, these merchants also had to sit down For chatting, many businesses have reserved meeting rooms on the first floor.

The speed of business development in Chang'an is obvious. Many merchants want to take advantage of this opportunity to contact more businesses, especially after hearing that the imperial court has promulgated a decree that merchants can apply for mining iron ore. These merchants gathered in Chang'an City this time. It's all about this.

The appearance of the steam car made the merchants see another business opportunity, so after the auction ended, Yuan Shan was surrounded by a group of people.

"This steam locomotive is really a good thing, but the price is too expensive. It would be great if there is such a car in Chang'an City to attract customers." A businessman mentioned it.

Yuan Shan didn't say much, he knew that if that was the case, the traffic in the entire Chang'an city might be paralyzed, not to mention the road problem, the lack of traffic lights would greatly increase the chance of accidents in Chang'an city Increase.

Not to mention where he got so many steam cars for them to use, these businessmen are nothing more than chatting, but it is not impossible to use steam power as a means of transportation.

Yuan Shan was surrounded, and at this time Li Shimin also came over to hear what they were saying. Li Shimin was shocked by these businessmen today, especially the Zheng family spent 100 million yuan just to buy a bicycle production line. The emperor couldn't do it either. The merchants in the first floor were all commercial representatives of the Tang Dynasty, and their wealth would be a little bit jealous of him, the emperor.

I heard Yuan Shan say: "I have actually thought about what everyone said. Steam locomotives are just a kind of long-distance means of transportation. In fact, there is another type of means of transportation called trains. Trains need to run on rails. Where there are railroad tracks, trains can reach them. Have you ever thought that you can travel from Chang’an to Luoyang in an hour? Have you ever thought that it only takes three days to get from Chang’an to Lingnan? In fact, it’s all about building trains and building railroad tracks along the way. It can be realized, and the cargo capacity of the train is astonishing. One wagon can hold [-] tons of cargo. If converted into stones, it is about a thousand stones. The actual load may be less. Even so, a freight train can hang at least ten tons What do you guys think of such a carriage?"

Everyone was surprised, all merchants naturally knew the meaning of this freight volume, and as Yuan Shan said, it only takes an hour from Chang'an to Luoyang, plus the freight volume, if there is such a train, they will use it for transportation between the two places when they do business The freight cost of grain will be reduced too much, and the speed is especially important, especially for some rice merchants, they no longer have to worry about the speed of grain freight.

Li Shimin was also surprised when he heard this. He, the emperor, was very aware of the situation in Chang'an. In fact, there was not much real land. Most of the food resources were transported from all over the country, which caused the area of ​​Chang'an to be affected by some factor constraints.

If there is such a thing that can transport goods quickly, then Chang'an's problem will not be a problem.

Seeing that a group of people seemed to be looking forward to something, Yuan Shan suddenly said: "Truck transportation is certainly a promising project, but the investment is huge, and it cannot be realized without the imperial court pouring the power of the Tang Dynasty. That’s it, don’t think too much about it.”

After listening to Yuan Shan's words, Li Shimin couldn't help but reflect from his thinking. Although the project is good, it is not easy to implement. He is a very practical person.

Chapter 502

When the businessmen were busy going their separate ways, Li Shimin stayed behind and asked, "Yuanshan, can the train you just mentioned really come true?"

Yuan Shan, who is interested in Li Shimin, can't be perfunctory, so he replied: "Yes, the train can indeed be realized, and it is completely achievable with the steam technology of the Yuan family, but the manufacture of this train is not easy. The locomotive needs at least refined iron. [-] tons, and each car needs at least [-] tons of refined iron, plus the rails for the construction of the railway, it is estimated that the consumption of iron cannot be satisfied now."

Yuan Shan was very frank, and his frankness shocked Li Shimin. So much iron was simply challenging the iron mine output of Datang. It can be said that all the iron from Datang was needed to make this locomotive. It is not an exaggeration. At the end of the Sui Dynasty At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the iron production was not high. By the time of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the total annual iron production in the country was only [-] tons. Of the ten tons, four-fifths of the annual iron production of the Tang Dynasty was used to build the four oxen.

But now it is the beginning of the Tang Dynasty and has not yet reached the level of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, so it is so difficult to make a locomotive with a weight of [-] tons.

Seeing Li Shimin seemed to be in a bad mood, Yuan Shan naturally knew that what he said might be too plain, so he said: "After the mining rights of iron ore are distributed, the iron production of Datang will increase rapidly. At that time, there may be no need to worry about the quantity of iron when making trains.”

This can be regarded as Yuan Shan’s consolation, but the main purpose of promoting the growth of Datang Iron Mine is to support the application of Cangzhou Shipyard, but this does not mean that the train project will be terminated, but the current conditions cannot be met, so this matter is urgent here.

While Yuan Shan was chatting with Li Shimin, Li Chengqian's steam locomotive came back and was watched by a group of people.

When Li Chengqian saw his father coming out, he stopped his embarrassment in an instant. After parking the car, he got out of the car. Seeing Li Shimin's curious eyes, he immediately said to the driver: "The steam car has been inspected and now drive back to the East Palace." Bar."

The driver of the car followed suit and went straight to the imperial city with a group of princes.

The spectators saw that there wasn't much excitement and they all dispersed. Li Chengqian didn't return to the East Palace because the first floor was his property, and he didn't want to just be a hands-off shopkeeper for such an important reception business today.

Then Li Chengqian opened a high-level meeting room for his father and the ministers.

Li Shimin came to this first floor for the first time. He had heard that His Royal Highness had built a restaurant before, but he came here today to take a look. It was really shocking. This place is still a restaurant. palace.

Li Chengqian entertained him personally. Li Shimin sat on the full-leather sofa and was the first to get used to its softness. Many ministers were also very curious about the sofa in this conference room. There is not only a conference room in this room, but also a conference room next to it. In the dining room, the reception specifications are very grand.

In addition, these ministers looked very curious. The interior style and furniture decoration were all noble and majestic. When Li Chengqian saw the expressions of these people, he knew that he was shocked by his super luxurious reception room on the first floor.