Chapter 1784, it is difficult for Shu Dao to ascend to the sky
At the Mingyue Gorge on the Jinniu Road from Guangyuan to Chengdu in Sichuan, a group of officials from the Ministry of Industry arrived here, displayed on a mountaintop, and looked at the surrounding terrain with telescopes.
"The road to Shu is as difficult as going to the blue sky!"
Sun Pan, the right minister of the Ministry of Industry, put down the telescope in his hand and sighed again and again.
Among the two ministers of the Ministry of Industry, Zhong Fan, the left minister, was responsible for going to the Yangtze River Basin to urge the management of the Yangtze River. Sun Pan, the right minister, came to the Land of Abundance and was responsible for building the Changcheng Railway from Chang'an to Chengdu, Sichuan.
In order to explore the feasibility of building this railway and come up with a mature and feasible plan, Sun Pan came here in person and walked the Shu Road himself.
After walking it himself, Sun Pan even felt that it was too difficult to build a railway connecting Sichuan.
Look at the Mingyue Gorge in front of you and the Jinniu Road you walked on. The roads here in Mingyue Gorge are all plank roads. What is a plank road is that there was no road originally, and then a plank road was built among the cliffs using wood and the like. Such a plank road is very
It's narrow and unsafe.
Because below the plank road are tens of meters or even hundreds of meters of cliffs, and because the plank road is built with wood, no one knows whether the wood you step on will rot or collapse.
There is no way to build such a road, let alone a railway, even a highway. You have to be careful when walking. You may fall if you are not careful. It is really too dangerous.
"Sir, if you want to build a railway, it is simply impossible. No matter how much money you spend, it is impossible to lay a railway."
Qiu Ye, an official from the Ministry of Industry who came with him for inspection, couldn't help but shake his head.
There is only one shortest road to Sichuan, which is to build a railway from Chang'an Prefecture to Hanzhong, then build a railway from Hanzhong to Guangyuan, and then build a railway from Guangyuan to Chengdu.
In this process, two mountains need to be climbed, one is the Qinling Mountains between Chang'an and Hanzhong, and the other is Daba Mountain between Hanzhong and Guangyuan.
And even after repairing to Guangyuan, the narrow road from Guangyuan to Chengdu is still the Jinniu Road. It can be said that there are countless mountains and precipitous valleys along the way.
In Qiu Ye's view, it was simply impossible to build a railway.
Of course, not only Qiu Ye, but also the officials who came with him thought it was impossible, because the terrain was so steep that building a railway might not be possible even with money.
"Yes, sir, this road is really dangerous."
"It's too difficult. It's simply impossible."
"It's hard to even walk, let alone build a railway."
Other officials also spoke one after another.
"I also know that it is difficult, but it is precisely because of the difficulty that we need to do it. In Liu Gong's words, this is a major event that will contribute to the contemporary era and will be established for the future. Once the railway can be built, Sichuan will be opened.
Once you have the connections, traveling to and from Sichuan will become easy."
Sun Pan let out a long sigh.
Looking at the mountains and rivers in front of us, they are undulating and steep, with clouds and mist lingering, empty valleys echoing, mountain streams ringing, and apes crying. It is incredible to think about building a railway in a place like this.
"But sir, how to build a railway in a place like this? We at the Ministry of Industry are really at a loss what to do."
Qiu Ye was about to cry. One sentence above and one sentence below would break his legs.
Sun Pan just came here to inspect and inspect. From now on, Qiu Yelai would still be responsible for the specific construction of the railway. Thinking of this, he wanted to resign.
Building a railway in a place like this is simply sick and crazy.
Qiu Ye thought that he should bring Liu Jin here to have a look and walk the Shu Road. In this case, maybe Liu Jin would change his plan to build a railway to Chengdu, Sichuan.
Damn, where is the place where the railway is being built? You think it is the Beijing-Tianjin plain area, or the hilly area. This is the Shu Road. Look at the mountains and rivers in front of you. They are not made of soil, but are all rocks. There are a lot of rocks and mountains. Can you tell me how to build this railway?
"Yes, sir, let alone cultivating to the level of Sichuan. Even if you cultivate from Chang'an to Hanzhong, it will be a huge difficulty to cross the Qinling Mountains."
"I guess it won't be able to be repaired within ten or eight years."
"It will be even more difficult to repair from Hanzhong to Chengdu, Sichuan. It may take decades or hundreds of years to complete the repair."
"My lord, in my opinion, we should write a memorial to the emperor to explain to him the difficulties of building this railway. It would be more cost-effective to cancel the plan and use the money elsewhere."
"Yes, yes, this is simply impossible."
Others also spoke one after another.
If you are a good official, who is willing to run back and forth on the Shu Road? After walking it once, you will never want to walk it a second time in your life.
They also built the railway, but if the railway was not completed, they would be dead first.
"However, this matter is decided by the emperor and the princes in the court. It is a key construction project of our Ming Dynasty in the future. How can it be canceled just because of difficulties?"
Sun Pan pondered for a while, thought about it and said.
He also felt that it was impossible to build this railway. Although Ming Dynasty's infrastructure technology had developed by leaps and bounds, and even the Yangtze River Bridge could be built, it seemed possible to build a railway to Sichuan.
However, only when you are truly on the Shu Road and feel its ruggedness, steepness, and twists and turns, will you understand why Li Bai lamented that the Shu Road is difficult to reach the sky.
Just walking on the Shu Road is already so difficult. To build the railway, we don’t know how many difficulties and obstacles we have to go through.
When the emperor and the princes of the court made this plan, they took into account the balanced development of various regions in the Ming Dynasty, but they did not actually go to Shu Road once, so how could they understand the ruggedness and steepness of Shu Road.
Before coming, Sun Pan also felt that it was still possible to build a railway, but just walking through it and experiencing the hardships of the Shu Road for himself, he was shaken.
"Mr. Sun~"
"You are the right minister of the Ministry of Industry. You are an important minister in the court and the cornerstone of the country. You should stand up and oppose some wrong policies in a timely manner."
"The purpose of the emperor and the princes in the court was good, to promote the development of Sichuan, but they ignored and underestimated the difficulty of the project, and did not fully consider the cost and difficulty of the entire project."
"After all, the emperor and the princes in the court have never come here to personally experience the difficulties and dangers here and take a look at these steep mountains and rivers."
"I have walked the Shu Road once and have personally seen how dangerous and steep the Shu Road is. Naturally, I am the most qualified to speak and understand the difficulty of the Shu Road."
"Not to mention railways, even ordinary roads are simply impossible to build. The difficulty of the Shu Road is really difficult to reach the sky!"
Qiu Ye is about to cry. He now dreams of leaving here and doesn't want to stay here for a moment.
Think about how comfortable I was when I was in the capital. All the people I took when going out were cars. No matter how bad it was, there were four-wheeled carriages. The roads were flat and it was convenient to go anywhere.
But here, in many places, you can't even ride a horse, so you can only walk on your own legs.
Thinking about how old I am, if I build a railway here, I will probably die in this mountain if I run around in the future.
"Yes, sir, this is simply an impossible task!"
"We should jointly report this matter to the emperor and the court. This is simply impossible. There is no need for the court to waste a lot of money on it."
"Sir, this is not because we are lazy and afraid of hard work, but it is simply too difficult, too difficult, and simply impossible."
Others also spoke one after another, everyone wanted to leave this ghost place as soon as possible.
Even local officials in Sichuan were silent because they agreed with this statement and it was simply impossible to build a railway.
The development of Sichuan is now much behind that of the Ming Dynasty. Due to inconvenient transportation, it is difficult for immigrants from Sichuan to leave, and Sichuan's capitalism cannot develop.
In other places, factories and workshops have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain, but here in Sichuan, there is nothing. In more than ten years, the development speed has been very slow, far less than other places in the Ming Dynasty.
But what can be done about this?
This natural barrier blocked Sichuan's external roads, thus hindering external trade and exchanges.
Although they are eager to build the railway, they also feel that it is really impossible to build the railway.
"If that's the case, then we will jointly submit a report to the emperor and send a telegram back to the capital, requesting the emperor and the princes of the DPRK and China to cancel the plan to build this railway?"
Sun Pan looked at the officials around him, thought for a while and said.
"Yes, it should be cancelled. This is simply impossible."
"My lord, we will jointly submit a letter to the emperor, asking the emperor and the princes in the court to reconsider this."
When Qiu Ye and others heard this, they immediately nodded in agreement.
It is really difficult here, the roads are difficult to walk, there are no villages, no shops, and no place to eat. The road to Shu is so difficult that it is impossible to build a railway.