The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 584

"Given the length of this railway, I believe that it would be more appropriate to construct it in sections if we want to complete it as soon as possible."

In the Imperial Study, after Jiajing returned the Ministry of Revenue's accounting report, he looked at Zhou Chu and said.

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. I never imagined that Your Majesty was so knowledgeable about engineering matters."

Zhou Chu flattered the dragon.

Upon hearing this, Jiajing felt refreshed. There were plenty of people who flattered him, but they either missed the point or were not of high enough status.

But Zhou Chu was different. Zhou Chu seemed to have figured everything out. He could even come up with and implement the railway and train. Jiajing felt that Zhou Chu was sent down by heaven to assist him.

Jiajing felt extremely pleased with Zhou Chu's flattery.

"I don't really understand either, but I feel that if we build such a line, it will be very slow. I don't know when it will be completed."

Emperor Jiajing looked at the map and sighed.

"This requires the Ministry of Works to draw out the precise routes of these railways. This way, if the construction is carried out in sections, there will be no errors. Moreover, the construction of each section of the railway can be undertaken by local merchants or princely mansions. The person in charge of each section of the railway should be recorded in a register, and even the name of the person in charge should be engraved on the railway. If any section of the railway has a problem in the future, the family and clan will be wiped out. This way, the railway can be guaranteed to be safe."

Zhou Chu pointed to the map and spoke eloquently.

Upon hearing this, Jiajing realized that Zhou Chu had planned to build the railway in sections from the beginning. However, Jiajing was not discouraged by this; on the contrary, he was particularly happy because he and Zhou Chu had the same idea.

"But if we do that, won't the steel production in various places be insufficient? Are we going to have to build steel mills in every place?"

Jiajing looked at Zhou Chu and asked.

"It's quite simple at this point. Where there are iron mines, steel mills can be built on the spot. The Ming Dynasty will have a great demand for steel in the future. After all, it's not just these few railways that need to be built. The entire Ming Dynasty will need to be connected to railways in the future. The steel mills can be used for more than ten or even several decades."

As Zhou Chu was speaking, Jiajing personally poured him a cup of tea and handed it to him. Zhou Chu took the teacup, took a sip, and immediately felt his mouth water.

"If there is no iron ore, we can buy it from steel mills in other places nearby. All steel mills have a unified price so that they can make a profit, but not too much. At the same time, these steel mills can provide jobs for people from all over the country or migrants, which can support many more people."

Zhou Chu continued.

"And then there's Japan. Japan has not only silver mines, but also a lot of iron mines. His Majesty has given Wang Zhi an imperial decree to build a large steel mill, and the refined steel will be transported to the Ming Dynasty by ship."

When Jiajing heard this, his eyes lit up immediately.

He hadn't expected Zhou Chu to be so thorough, even considering the situation in Japan. If Japan were to participate in steelmaking, the pressure on the Ming Dynasty's steel industry would be greatly reduced.

Moreover, the labor force in Japan doesn't require much cost; all that's needed is to feed the Japanese. The biggest cost of the steel from Japan is transportation. However, these fleets were originally meant to transport silver and other goods; it's just that during this period, some of the ships were transporting steel instead of silver.

The Ming Dynasty now has enough silver reserves, so the demand for silver is not that high. It can transport steel first in a short period of time.

"I didn't expect the weighing instrument to be so thorough. We'll do as you say. I'll draft an edict for Wang Zhi right away."

As Jiajing spoke, he walked to the desk, picked up his brush, and began to write.

On the other side, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were not very surprised to see the emperor reject the memorial.

These cost-calculation memorials initially tended to inflate costs, but the emperor pressured them to lower them. These were all disputes between the Ministry of Revenue and the emperor, with officials in the Ministry of Revenue trying to secure greater benefits for themselves.