The arrival of Ang Lee had completely changed the historical trend of the Tang Dynasty. Originally, the Tang Dynasty should have gradually declined during this period, but Ang Lee had successfully changed this situation through a series of efforts, especially the promotion of industrialization, which had greatly released the productivity of the Tang Dynasty, and the imperial court's financial resources had suddenly become much more abundant.
With the gradual expansion of the railway network, the transportation conditions of various personnel and materials in the Tang Dynasty had greatly improved, and the people's living standards had been greatly improved.
Due to the timely delivery of materials to the garrisons in remote areas, the cost of raising soldiers had been greatly reduced. Many delicious fruits from the south had become affordable food for ordinary people in the north. Of course, the people in the south could also eat many seasonal crops from the north.
The exchange of goods between coastal areas and inland areas had become more frequent. The great reduction of the logistics cost and the continuous shortening of the logistics time had caused the prices of goods that were originally sold in remote areas to be reduced by several times, or even more than ten times.
Many products that could only be sold in the vicinity could now be sold throughout the Tang Dynasty. The merchants had set the prices low, but the profits did not decrease at all. On the contrary, they earned more. In the past, the prices were set at high prices, so the sales volume could not go up. But now, with the great improvement of the logistics, the transportation cost had been greatly reduced, so the prices naturally had to be lowered. Therefore, many ordinary people could also afford to buy goods.
In addition, the railway was the lifeline of the Tang Dynasty, and the train was an important asset of the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty. If anyone dared to have any ideas about the railway and the train, it would be a capital offense. Therefore, a lot of money could be saved. In the past, when traveling on mountain roads and waterways, they often encountered bandits and brigands. They either had to leave money to pay for the passage, or all their belongings would be robbed. In short, it was very difficult to transport goods, and it was almost impossible to survive. If they did not raise the price by ten times, they would feel sorry for themselves.
However, as businessmen gradually tasted the benefits of railway transportation, they became more and more inseparable from the railway. However, there were only so many railway lines. It was unrealistic to want to increase the volume of transportation without limit. They could only transport one car at a time. When the volume of goods was particularly large, it was inevitable that goods would be overstocked at the station and could not be sent out.
If it was an ordinary product, it wouldn't matter if it was delayed for a few days. However, if it was a fruit product with a very short shelf life, then the situation was more serious. Once it was delayed for a few days, it was very likely that these fruits would rot and go bad. As a result, the merchant's losses would be very heavy.
However, if the Imperial Court completely prioritized the transportation of fruits, if the amount of fruits transported was too large and the situation persisted for too long, it would seriously affect the transportation of other goods, and the losses would also not be small.
Because of this, the imperial court was in a difficult position. Some merchants were even more anxious. Under such circumstances, many merchants began to learn how to pull strings. If they bribed the officials of the imperial court, they might be able to get their goods first.
However, under normal circumstances, those who could be accommodated were the rich and powerful. Ordinary small merchants could only helplessly line up and wait. Whether the goods could be sent to the destination in time was completely dependent on luck. One was luck when the goods could be loaded, and the other was luck whether the journey was smooth.
Therefore, even if the merchants took the railway, there was still a certain amount of risk. However, compared to taking the mountain road in the past, the risk was reduced by a lot.
Because of the convenience of the railway, after the rise of the railway, it had become the inevitable choice of merchants to take the railway. If they still took the mountain road in the past, such merchants would inevitably be eliminated in this era. No matter how high their capital was, it would be depleted, unless the goods they sold were not allowed by the imperial court, or they had a monopoly on this product.
It was precisely because the railway played an important and irreplaceable role in commerce, national defense, and people's livelihood that the imperial court attached great importance to the railway and tightly controlled this transportation facility in their own hands, thus obtaining a huge source of funds for the imperial court.
Among them, the problem of corruption was naturally unavoidable. All the posts related to the railway line in the imperial court were all lucrative. However, the problem of corruption in Huaxia's officialdom had been very serious since ancient times. It was the same no matter what era it was. It seemed that it would be very difficult to find a solution.
Ang Lee was not too concerned about the corruption of the officials of the Tang Dynasty, because as long as the cake was big enough, even if some pests were raised, it would not have much impact. Moreover, when necessary, some pests who were more excessive could be picked out to be punished and their properties confiscated, and then sufficient wealth for the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty would be obtained.
The corruption of the imperial court was a big threat to the imperial court, but as long as there was enough food at home, some corruption was not too serious. At least, it would be covered up by the glorious era. Raising these corrupt people was like raising pigs. As long as these pigs were fat, they would attract the attention of the owner sooner or later. If the owner was hungry, he would choose a few fat pigs to kill, and then continue to wait for the rest of the thin pigs to become fat before slaughtering them again. In short, no matter how good the fat pigs were at scheming, they would not be a match for the pig farmer. For a smart pig, the smartest way to protect itself was to not be too greedy. The more it ate, the faster it would die.
Therefore, there was a saying since ancient times, "Men are afraid of fame, while pigs are afraid of being fat." This was the conclusion of the experience of the predecessors, and it was the absolute truth.
Of course, these were not his responsibilities. Ang Lee's personal energy was very limited, and he had to devote all his limited energy to the development of various kinds of advanced equipment. As for the headaches of the officialdom, he would leave it to others to play with! Ang Lee did not want to get involved in this muddy water.
The defense of the fortress of Gibraltar and the commercial planning of the port had been completed long ago, and even several more important places had begun construction.
Lee An first took a tour around the place and acknowledged the efforts of his subordinates. Then, he made some suggestions for improvement. The main idea was to add a few more turrets to the blueprint designed by his subordinates. This would make Gibraltar's defensive capabilities even stronger.
After resting for two days, Ang Lee led the huge Tang Dynasty fleet and left the port of Gibraltar, preparing to return to the Tang Dynasty and his home.
Before leaving, Ang Lee left 500 soldiers of the Tang Dynasty to guard Gibraltar. They would be stationed for a maximum of three years, and the minimum was one year. Other soldiers would come to replace them in succession. In addition to the 500 soldiers, there were about 200 officials and technical personnel. Ang Lee left behind about 700 people in Gibraltar. Although the number was not a lot, it was enough. They would shoulder the heavy responsibility of guarding the westernmost part of the Tang Dynasty's maritime silk road.
After the fleet set off, the voyage was quite smooth. They did not encounter a single storm after more than ten days of sailing. It seemed that the sea conditions in the Mediterranean were not bad, and there were not many bad weather.
After docking at the port in the north of Egypt, Ang Lee and all his soldiers left the ships and returned all the ships to Osman. Then, they directly rushed to the north of the Red Sea.
When passing by the capital of Egypt, Ang Lee did not forget to visit the pyramids and visit his old friend Osman. After resting for half a day, he left. Returning to the Tang Dynasty as soon as possible was what Ang Lee wanted to do the most.
After another few days of difficult trekking, Ang Lee and his men finally arrived at the port on the north coast of the Red Sea. This was the northernmost part of the Red Sea, and also the southern starting point of the Tang Dynasty's canal.
The small town here was Yunhe City of the Tang Dynasty. After a short one or two months of development, the town's population had more than doubled. The construction of the port was also ongoing. The original port had expanded several times, and it could berth more ships.
Because the imperial court attached great importance to the Grand Canal that connected the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, they gradually mobilized a large number of various kinds of equipment from the mainland and along the way. Most of these equipment had been transported to Yunhe City and stored there, ready to officially excavate the Grand Canal at any time.
Before the Grand Canal was excavated, the five bridges across the Grand Canal had to be built first. This would reduce a lot of work, and the bridges would be built more firmly.
Of course, while the bridges were being built, this section of the canal would also be excavated.
"Assistant Minister Li, the imperial court attached great importance to the Tang Dynasty's canal project, and has mobilized a large number of people and machines from the mainland. Now, the five canal bridges have been started at the same time, and it is estimated that they will be completed in half a year. The opening of the entire canal will take at least five to six years based on the current machines and manpower, and this is on the premise that everything goes smoothly. If we can add more manpower and machines, the completion can be faster."
The subordinate of Yunhe City saw Ang Lee come to inspect the work and replied.
To be able to complete the canal in five or six years was already an extremely fast speed. After all, the western powers of the future had spent an entire eleven years to complete the construction of the canal, but the Great Tang had been able to complete it twice as fast. This speed was extremely enviable.
Of course, the premise for this task to be completed so quickly was that everything could develop according to the schedule. If there were any accidents along the way, the queen would have to delay the completion of the project. As for when it would be completed, no one could be sure.
It was said that the Western companies encountered too many technical, political, and financial problems in the process of excavating the canal. Therefore, the excavation took 11 years, which was more than twice the original budget. If everything went smoothly, it was estimated that it would not take so long.
If the Tang Dynasty did not want to repeat the mistakes of the Western countries in the future, they had to be more prepared. They might encounter technical problems often, but this problem was the easiest to overcome. The political problems were not a concern at all. The Tang Dynasty already owned the Sinai Peninsula, so they were fully capable of avoiding this problem.
As for the financial problems, as long as there was a shortage, Ang Lee would definitely find a way to persuade the imperial court to find a way to allocate funds. If there was no other way, he could borrow some funds from the surrounding countries or even ask the surrounding businessmen to support the construction team of the Tang Dynasty by giving them preferential treatment in the future. This would provide sufficient financial guarantee for the construction team.
In short, Ang Lee was fully prepared. In order to better construct the Tang Dynasty's canal, he had already thought of various situations and prepared many emergency plans. Once these problems were encountered, the officials left behind would act according to Ang Lee's plan to solve the difficulties encountered.
Although the length of the canal of the Tang Dynasty was hundreds of miles, it was dwarfed by the Grand Canal built by the Sui Dynasty. The construction of the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty was not very long. Without any machinery, it took only six years to complete the construction of the Grand Canal, which was simply a miracle in the history of human civilization. In comparison, the canal of the Tang Dynasty, which was only one-tenth the length of the Grand Canal, was very small.
However, the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty was built for inland transport ships, so the requirements for the width and depth of the canal were relatively low. On the other hand, the canal of the Tang Dynasty was built to connect the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. In the future, it would be used to transport super-large cargo ships. Therefore, in terms of draft and width, it naturally needed to be higher. Even so, the amount of work required was not as great as that of the Sui Dynasty's canal.
The reason why the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty could be built so quickly was because Emperor Yang of Sui was fond of grandiose achievements. He had mobilized five million laborers to build the Grand Canal. That was why the construction speed was so fast. In other words, as long as the manpower and material resources were sufficient, no matter how big the project was, it could be completed in a very short time.
This was because a large project could be subdivided into many areas. The more people involved, the more areas could be allocated, and the more manpower there would be in each area. In this way, no matter how large the project was, there was nothing to be afraid of. Naturally, the speed could be increased by many times.
The countries around the canal of the Tang Dynasty did not have sufficient manpower resources. Therefore, it was not realistic to mobilize millions of people. However, it was not a problem to mobilize two or three hundred thousand people. Ang Lee had negotiated with the leaders of both sides. One hundred thousand laborers from Altik had joined the work of building the bridge. More than half of Osman's labor force had arrived, and the rest were still on the way. In short, since he had promised Ang Lee, he would not go back on his word. These people, together with the technical talents from the Tang Dynasty, were enough.
In addition, the construction of the canal of the Tang Dynasty required a large number of machines, and the efficiency of machines was incomparable to that of manual labor. The gap was huge. Therefore, as long as everything went smoothly, Ang Lee had enough reason to believe that the canal of the Tang Dynasty could be completed in five or six years. If the Tang Dynasty could transfer more machines and technical talents to help, the completion time would naturally be shorter.
"Good, you did a good job. When I return to the capital, I will find a way to persuade the imperial court to transfer more machines and talents to you. Do a good job."
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