In November of the sixth year of the Qingli period, the imperial court recruited some civilians to build some tracks in the southern suburbs of the capital.
By December, the track had been built to a length of 20 kilometers.
There is a small steel plant in Bianliang, which is now frantically supplying rails. Tens of thousands of laborers are continuously laying roads along the line, extending it all the way south.
In Zhao Jun's design, this track is naturally not a spectacle, but part of the north-south railway.
As mentioned before, the East-West Canal in Bianliang is very convenient, but communication between the north and the south is very difficult.
If you want to take the canal, you have to take a long detour and enter Biankou from the Yellow River ferry.
Therefore, Zhao Jun has always planned to connect the north and the south, and connect the economies of Hebei, Henan, Nanyang and other places.
But unfortunately, due to limited conditions, he was unable to dig a canal.
The main reasons are cost, space, terrain and other factors.
Although it is not impossible to forcibly dig a Grand Canal connecting the north and the south like the Yuan Dynasty did.
It can be said that Zhao Jun not only possessed the knowledge of later generations, but also the maps and the knowledge stored in the notebooks became his capital.
It is entirely possible to go from Wuhan to the Han River, unload the goods in Xiangyang, and then transfer to the train all the way to Bianliang.
"I don't think so."
"As for what Old Fan said before, we should build a railway in Shaanxi and Hebei respectively. This way, when we go to war with Liao and Xixia in the future, we can quickly send troops to attack."
In this way, the Nanyang Basin, a large coal and iron mining area, can be connected with Bianliang.
At the same time, part of the goods transported by water along the Yangtze River no longer needed to enter the canal from Yangzhou downstream, then transfer to Huainan and Jingdong Road, and finally arrive in Bianliang.
"Because, to put it bluntly, is it difficult for us to eliminate the Western Xia and Liao Kingdoms now? Not at all."
This map is not a map of the Song Dynasty, but a map brought by Zhao Jun from later times. It is an atlas in a geography book.
In this way, the railways could be developed nationwide, and the national strength of the Song Dynasty would truly begin to rise.
After these operations, not only will the transportation time of goods from Sichuan, Hunan, Guangdong and other places be greatly reduced, but the connection between Hebei and Bianliang will also become closer.
After the development of industrialization, the steel and textile industries in various places will develop greatly.
Therefore, the Yuan Dynasty had to spend huge amounts of money to build canals.
He spread his hands to express his opposition to Fan Zhongyan's proposal to build the Hebei and Shaanxi railways first.
They were not burned in vain, and have now become Zhao Jun's political bargaining chip.
"So, at least for now, I think we should prioritize economic development and elevate the Song Dynasty's national strength to a higher level. This will make it easier to eliminate the Western Xia and Liao Kingdoms. The construction of railways will also make it easier for us to control remote areas."
"Because these places are important coal and iron production areas, for example, Pingdingshan in Henan is a major coal-producing city, and the Nanyang Basin is extremely rich in coal and iron ore resources. Hebei, needless to say, later became my country's largest steel production area."
To put it bluntly.
It was raining heavily outside. December was getting colder and colder, and the weather was often weird. Sometimes it was sunny for a few days and still very hot. Sometimes the temperature suddenly dropped by more than ten degrees overnight, and there was even freezing rain and heavy snow.
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "The difficulty lies in how to govern after we conquer them. Even if we eliminate the Liao and Western Xia, will these Tangut, Khitan, Jurchen, and Mongolian peoples submit to us? Will they assimilate into our ranks? I don't think it's that simple. It will take years for them to integrate."
Zhao Jun’s meaning is very simple.
It will then expand to areas with more complex terrain, such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hunan, Fujian, and Sichuan.
"First, develop the Bianliang urban area, and then gradually radiate to the entire Hebei and Henan plains."
Even if Zhao Zhen died suddenly today, and the nine-year-old Zhao Fang ascended the throne, he was deceived by a traitor and said that he wanted to drag Zhao Jun out and behead him. All the people in the Constitutional Council would have to join forces to depose Zhao Fang and replace him with the second son, Zhao Xin.
With these things, Zhao Jun's position is as stable as Mount Tai.
After careful consideration, Zhao Jun finally believed that the canal and railway should be built simultaneously.
But since the Yuan Dynasty set its capital in Beijing, the ruling class of the Yuan Dynasty needed a canal running through the north and south to connect the economic and political centers.
Therefore, there was actually no need for Zhao Jun to spend time, effort and money to dig rivers like the Yuan Dynasty did.
Although the geography book was burned by Zhao Jun, the pictures were saved on his laptop and later reappeared through his paintings.
"As the center of the world, Bianliang was naturally the first city to develop, just like London in England."
In mid-December, nearly half a month after the fleet returned, Zhao Jun was drawing and marking on the map on the table in the conference room of the Constitutional Court.
In addition, the Song Dynasty is now in the early stages of the first industrial revolution and is about to officially enter industrialization.
As for the south, a railway could be built from Bianliang, passing through Henan and the Nanyang Basin to Xiangyang on the Jinghu North Road.
The capital of the Song Dynasty was Bianliang, and the Yanyun area was not even part of the country. To connect the north and the south, there was no need to build a river directly to Beijing, as long as it connected Hebei.
"And most importantly, we can now rely on the Liao and Western Xia to act as suppliers of raw materials and dumping sites for our goods. If we destroy them, where will we get materials and sell our goods?"
But the Song Dynasty was different.
First, build the railway from Bianliang to Nanyang, and then build a dense railway network in the plain areas such as Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Huainan.
The Bianliang Canal was built northward to the Baima Ferry on the Yellow River, thus connecting the canal in Hebei. In the future, Hebei no longer needed to go upstream along the Yellow River and divert to the Bian Canal.
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