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The first snow of the year has fallen, and the originally magnificent Daqin Palace is wrapped in silver, giving it a unique artistic conception.
This day coincides with the fifth day of the daily dynasty. As soon as the three drums are over, the civil and military ministers enter the Zizheng Hall in procession. Immediately after the emperor ascends to the throne, Sima An, the chief assistant of the cabinet, leads all the ministers to pay homage. Long live the mountain.
After the ministers returned to their seats, Sima Kai, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, was the first to come out of the class and loudly stated: "Your Majesty, since the first emperor ruled the world, our great China has spread across the sea in the east, covered with quicksand in the west, Shuonanji, and has taught all over the world. , the territory is so vast.
Since ancient times, if the post roads are open, the country will be strong; if the post roads are stagnant, the country will be weak. Looking at the past dynasties, the rise and fall of the post roads is often a sign of the rise and fall of the political power of each dynasty.
China not only has a unified territory spanning thousands of miles, but also has many ethnic groups with different cultural customs. For the imperial court to issue orders and maintain governance, smooth, convenient and fast transportation conditions were extremely important.
Therefore, all dynasties spared no effort in devoting a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources to develop and organize post stations to the best of their ability, and established an effective postal post system to achieve the purpose of the superiors and the feelings of the subordinates.
Our country, Da Qin, is no exception. From the day Your Majesty ordered the tripod, we have controlled water, dug mountains, built roads, built bridges, prepared horses, set up carriages and boats, and set up water and horse stations everywhere. Use horses, donkeys, carts, and people to deliver mail. Eighty, sixty, or thirty horses may be installed at key points. It is roughly based on the importance of the location of the post road, the number of pedestrians, and the number of water and horse carriages, boats, boats, and horses used by the post. There are generally ten people in the post, and there may be five or four in remote roads.
Nowadays, inns are not only spread throughout the hinterland, but also widely distributed in remote areas such as Liaodong, Gansu, Duogan, Uszang, Songfan, Yunnan and Guizhou. As far as I know, as of August this year, a total of 1,295 water and horse stations of various types have been set up across the country.
The post station is dedicated to delivering messengers and flying reports on military affairs. The transportation of military supplies is busy, has many uses, and has the heaviest load. It is irreplaceable in communicating politics, economy, culture, and military affairs in various places. However, it is not difficult to see from the past events of various dynasties. The inn is also a bottomless pit that is most likely to breed corruption and waste huge amounts of money.
Take the previous Ming Dynasty as an example. Officials, regardless of whether they were on official business or not, were engaged in reconnaissance rather than military affairs. There were many people who were good at using the golden drum flag. There are many matters such as Dingyou, Qifu, Jiyou, promotion, transfer, appointment, etc., all of which are included in the scope of tolerance. Passing officials and their entourage all enjoy the privilege of eating, drinking and receiving at the stations along the way under the guise of official business or business trip.
What's more, in the past, officials extorted and extorted the postmen, and when their desires were not satisfied, they deliberately pawned and mutilated the horses. Forcing the postman to pay for the disaster; or falsely claiming that the postman stole the luggage and demanding delivery for free;
Either colluding with merchants, using the inn to smuggle and evade taxes, and collect bribes; or hold Kanhe for a long time and use it for life, or give it as a favor. As a result, post service has become the most harmful and hateful heavy service to the people.
Since the founding of the Qin Dynasty, Your Majesty has been wise and wise in regulating the Qingming Festival. The disadvantages of the post station have not been obvious, but if it is not prevented early. I am worried that over time, accumulated disadvantages will eventually develop.
Now the Internal Control Research and Development Department has developed a telegraph, which is convenient and fast, and has military information on the border. It can be communicated to the court immediately; if there is a local disaster, it can be heard at any time, so that the court can take timely response measures and quickly control the situation.
And after the one-time investment of telegram. In the future, the cost will be limited. After the telegraph station is established, a large number of stations can be cancelled. It can save the court a lot of money every year.
If the civilian telegraph service is launched, it may even bring considerable income to the court. At the same time, fast and smooth information will inevitably lead to faster circulation of goods, which will play an immeasurable role in promoting the industrial and commercial development of Daqin. Therefore, I request your Majesty to set up wires in the country as soon as possible so that the telegraph network can be formed as soon as possible to benefit the world. "
Sima An, the capital city, sat at the left end of the train. After listening to his son's long speech, he looked like an old monk in meditation. He couldn't help but feel very happy. Fortunately, the emperor didn't just blindly use his son as a spearman. This time he finally got it right.
The establishment of telegraph lines not only made the transmission of messages very fast, allowing the court to grasp the situation of all parties in a timely manner and quickly deploy response measures, but also eliminated a large number of post stations and saved a lot of expenses.
Of course, no one would object to such a good thing, and the emperor asked his son to come and invite him, which was equivalent to giving his son a big piece of candy. Alas, it finally turned out to be sweet.
What Sima Kai reported immediately aroused heated discussion in the court, with ministers expressing their opinions and suggestions.
Yang Chao, the Right Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, considered the input and output aspects and suggested: "Your Majesty, if a large number of telegraph lines are set up in the country, it will be a huge expense; I think some telegraph lines might as well be handed over to the private sector. In terms of operation, places like Northern Xinjiang and Western Xinjiang are vast and sparsely populated, and it is estimated that private capital will not be interested. The imperial court will mainly invest financial resources in these places to ensure border communications. "
Xu Yingjie, the left minister, was not so optimistic. He said straightforwardly: "Your Majesty, telegraphs and transmitters are cheap to build, but generators, batteries, and even a steam engine are required, plus the installation of wires costs a lot. Later, it costs a lot. Maintenance of the lines will also be required.
In terms of investment and income, private individuals may be willing to invest in these lines from Nanjing to Beijing, Xijing, and Chengdu. Because these places have dense populations, developed commodity economies, frequent exchanges between states along the line, and telegraph services, it is expected that investment costs will be recovered quickly, but it is difficult to say for other places.
In addition, telegraph lines are long and cross states and counties. If a private operator operates a telegraph business, it is difficult to perform daily maintenance. Unless they separate maintenance personnel in each county along the way, which would significantly drive up input costs.
Therefore, I think it may be difficult to expect the private sector to make such investment. After all, this matter has to be invested by the imperial court. "
Qin Mu originally intended to leave it to private individuals, but Xu Yingjie's words were quite reasonable, so he said, "Ministers, what do you think?"
Lu Zhenfei, the second assistant to the cabinet, said thoughtfully: "Your Majesty, what Yang Shilang and Xu Shilang said have a certain truth. I believe that we cannot adopt a compromise approach and implement cooperation between the government and the people.
At present, the Ministry of Industry, Sinong Temple, Taipu Temple, etc. have many cooperation projects with the private sector and have a good reputation. In this matter, it may be better to use private capital as the initial investment and cooperate with the court in a model where the court is responsible for subsequent maintenance. I believe that in this way, there will always be private individuals willing to invest. "
Lu Zhenfei's proposal received support from many ministers.
Although the state treasury does not have this money to invest now, the telegraph business will take a long time to recover the cost. If private capital can be attracted to enter, there is really no need for the court to bet a large amount of money on it.
It is impossible to completely dismantle the existing post houses in the imperial court. In addition to delivering letters, most of the post houses also undertake many other functions. Telegraphs cannot completely replace these tasks.
Now there is basically one post every fifty miles. It would be good if the number of post houses could be reduced by half after the telegraph is installed. So with the existence of these post houses, it is much easier to go to the local government to perform daily maintenance of telegraph lines than private maintenance.
Qin Mu said in court: "I think it's feasible. Let's discuss this matter with Mr. Xu, the Minister of Household Affairs." Xu Yingjie is in charge of industrial, commercial and financial matters at the Ministry of Household Affairs, and it is natural for him to look for private capital cooperation. The manager is suitable.
Qin Mu continued: "The lines and sequence of telegraph installation must fully take into account military, political, economic and other needs. The specific location to be installed first and how much investment is required will be discussed by the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Ministry of Industry. , we will draft a plan and submit it as soon as possible, and we will discuss it together at the next meeting.”
"Yes, Your Majesty." The three ministers came out together and replied.
The establishment of telegraph lines is of great significance. It will have an immeasurable effect on strengthening rule. Qin Mu has been lamenting that it would take several months to send news back to Mobei, the Western Regions and other places. If there is a rebellion there, By the time the news came back, the day lilies were cold.
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ps: I'm in a bit of a bad mood today. I've only coded out one chapter until now. I'm really sorry for keeping you guys waiting for so long. Today is the first day of the month. I am urgently looking for guaranteed monthly tickets.
Yeah, yeah, there will always be another chapter coded out tonight, please give me your support. (To be continued...)
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