dingdiange:
In late September, a fierce autumn wind blew across the Hebei Plain and reached the city of Bianliang.
The city is still prosperous, even more prosperous.
The war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia seemed to have no impact here at all, except that the price of grain increased slightly by a dozen cents per stone.
However, these are all normal fluctuations. The reason is that there was an accident in the canal, which caused the grain ship to arrive in Kaifeng more than half a month later than the scheduled date. It cannot be said that it was affected by the war.
This morning's court meeting on the topic of the Song-Xia War did not take up much time for discussion, except for the Ministry of War and the Privy Council reporting that another batch of supplies had been sent to Shaanxi yesterday, and reporting the situation on the front line to the court.
Because the Song army had already won, the battle report came not long ago. Since the main force of the Song army broke through the river mouth, they began to split up. One route was led by Jingtai, heading north to attack Zhuolao City. All the way to the west, they continued to attack Huangzhou.
The news just received yesterday was that Jingtai, in cooperation with the Song army in Jingyuan Road, has encircled Zhuola and the southern region of Western Xia. Zhuola City is already in a precarious situation.
The western front is also progressing very smoothly. The main force of the Song army has arrived outside Miaochuan City and is now removing the nails set by Li Yuanhao outside the city. Once the Western Xia army outside the city is dealt with, it is only a matter of time before they besiege Miaochuan City and take control of the entire Qingtang.
So in general, less than two months have passed since the war started, and less than a month since the Song army officially set out, and the Western Xia army has suffered successive defeats, lost thousands of troops, and lost strategic locations and defensive areas one after another. It can be said that they have been completely defeated.
This led to the Song Dynasty government and the people being very optimistic about the outcome of this war. Many people even felt that it was just an ordinary battle on the border and was not as important as domestic affairs.
Therefore, apart from the Ministry of War and the Privy Council reporting on the situation on a daily basis, other departments were only allowed to mention it occasionally and just do what they should do. It was really not worth mentioning it every day for a battle that was sure to be won.
"I've said it before, the Northwest can win even with a tied dog. The gap in national strength between us and Xixia is already huge. Even if they mobilize all their people and put all their lives on the line, they'll just be throwing themselves at the stake."
After returning to the Constitutional Court, the prime ministers held their regular meeting. Zhao Jun looked at the official documents on the northwest war on the table, smiled and said to everyone, "I think the Bianliang Imperial Guards who went to the northwest should have no major problems returning for the New Year."
"Well, the war in the northwest is indeed going smoothly, but let's not talk about that for now. Let's talk about today's topic first."
Yan Shu's expression was rather serious at this time.
Because today's topic is quite important, apart from some other trivial matters in the country, the biggest topic is the reorganization of the Constitutional Yuan in October.
Since Wang Zeng passed away in July, Lu Yijian has basically been on sick leave and retreated to the second line.
For someone like Lu Yijian who had an extremely strong desire for power, he only had one or two days a week to sit in the Constitutional Council. Sometimes he could not hold on for a while and had to go home to rest, which showed that his condition was serious.
Therefore, the October reorganization is a foregone conclusion, and the ministers of various ministries are all eyeing this position. The attention paid to the October reorganization by the government and the public is much greater than that in the northwest.
Hearing Yan Shu's words, Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Then tell me first."
"The Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Railways have completed their investigation of the Changcheng Railway. The report was submitted this morning. I took a quick look at it. Judging from the current situation, I'm afraid there will be many difficulties. The biggest problem is the complex road conditions. There are too many mountains and it is difficult to smooth the road."
Yan Shu said, "Should we put this railway on hold for now and discuss it later?"
The Changcheng Railway is the second railway planned by Zhao Jun. The first railway is the Bian-Nan Railway, which runs from Bianliang to Nanyang. It has now been built to Xuchang, and the progress is neither fast nor slow.
In order to complete the economic cycle proposed by Zhao Jun, the second railway must connect Chang'an in Shaanxi and Chengdu in Sichuan.
But obviously the road between Sichuan and Shaanxi.
"It can't be shelved. In fact, you should also understand that I planned this railway not only to complete the internal circulation of the economy, but also to strengthen control over the Sichuan-Shu region and pave the way for taking back Yunnan in the future."
Zhao Jun crossed his hands under his nose and said thoughtfully, "Its strategic significance is extremely important to the country. Even if we don't consider the future, we must consider the present. Currently, the Badong and Bazhong regions are full of powerful people, and the local society is almost indistinguishable from slavery. If the court wants to improve this situation, railway construction is imperative."
"What about the road problem?"
"King Huiwen of Qin spent a tremendous amount of manpower and resources to build the Shu Road. He eventually constructed a plank road southward to annex Shu, strengthening the nation. Now our productivity is far greater than it was during the Qin era. Are we still worried about not being able to build the Shu Road? When the time comes, we can just blast through any mountain with gunpowder."
"Okay, then I'll inform the authorities along the route and have them estimate the costs and investment required for the railway to pass through their area."
Yan Shu took note of this matter.
We are not going to start building the second railway directly now, but are in the planning and research stage.
For national development, some things need to be acted upon immediately, because any delay may result in missed opportunities.
But for some other things, you can't be too hasty, and you can't make a decision on a whim and then ask for money right away. You still have to go through various research and planning.
Otherwise, like a railway, if it is built immediately after it is announced, if it is not completed, the investment will be wasted, and various obstacles and difficulties as well as safety issues will be encountered during the actual construction.
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