Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

Chapter 302 The Truth About Building Roads Before Getting Rich, Zhu Youxiao’s Shock
People, many people!
This road was built directly to the toll station in Zhengxing County, and you need to pay to enter the city.

Zhu Youxiao also queued for a long time before he was eligible to pay.

There are many people here.

Quite a few of them are merchants. When they enter Yongding County, they want to purchase food, peppers, soybeans and other crops in Yongding County.

Everyone was communicating, and as soon as the road in Zhengxing County was repaired, a large number of merchants flooded in immediately.

Nowadays, many commercial workshops have been established in Yongding County, and the soybean oil, lard, chili sauce, and various commodities produced are basically sold to the capital.

From the beginning when the dog emperor started to support these refugees, until the end of the distribution of land, this Yongding County has been enjoying dividends, and the population has continued to expand, and now it has a population of 10,000+.

These people are all paid, and the products they produce sell well in the capital, and they can even be transported directly to the south of the Yangtze River along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal along Jinmen.

Yongding County has a great demand for supplies.

Among other things, the three-legged golden toad and the lucky cat now need a lot of wood. Now, logging has been banned in the vicinity of Yongding County, so they can only import wood from other areas.

However, this requires transportation and requires freight.

In the past, Zhengxing County was not without wood, but it would be a waste of effort to transport these woods to Yongding County.

The traffic in Zhengxing County can’t be said to be bad. It’s almost like there is no living. Although there are official roads, they may go once every ten or eight years. Zhengxing County is a relatively large county from Yongding County, but it still maintains The state of isolation.

It was not until last year that the imperial court allocated land to Zhengxing County to build farms, and then, under the leadership of government officials, led the labor force of Zhengxing County to build roads during the slack season.

And Yongding County is really interesting. It brought in a lot of gunpowder and forcibly opened up a road.

These naturally require the imperial court, a political system with strong administrative capabilities, to implement them.

As soon as the road opened, the feeling immediately began to change.

In the past, it was tens of miles from Zhengxing County to Yongding County, but the road was rugged, and it would take three days and three nights to go back and forth even with a horse-drawn carriage. Moreover, your horse-drawn carriage pulled so much wood at one go, and it was also harmful to the carriage. Damaged.

If you rely on people to carry the burden and carry the wood, the time will be infinitely lengthened, and it is impossible to handle it every five or six days. Moreover, manpower is also costly. How many pieces of wood do you ask one person to carry at a time?One is pretty good.

You still have to pay the laborer, and let him eat and drink along the way. All of this is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but all the money is spent on transportation. As for how much you earn, don’t ask, if you don’t lose money, it’s pretty good .

For a long time, this Zhengxing County could not be regarded as isolated from the world, but it could almost be said to be a pool of stagnant water with no liquidity at all.

Now that the road was repaired, a large number of merchants flooded in immediately. Among other things, there are still a lot of good logs in Zhengxing County. Now arrange for a horse-drawn cart to transport more than a dozen logs in one go.

However, it is more direct now. Yongding County simply established a branch company in Zhengxing County to directly process and produce the wood on the spot, and then transport it directly to Jinmen for sale through this cement road.

The price of this kind of lucky cat, the three-legged golden toad, has been getting lower and lower, and it has gradually become a thing with small profits and high sales, but it is extremely popular in the south.

When Zhu Youxiao arrived here, he couldn't help but start admiring: "This place is so prosperous? It's really similar to Yongding County!"

Nowadays, there are not a small number of merchants coming to Yongding County, and there are all over the world.

For example, the chili sauce, as soon as the imperial court and the mutual market in Datong opened, some people wanted to sell this chili sauce directly to the Mongolians. Isn't it the high-level who sold to the Mongols?

Now Zhengxing County is basically full of businessmen from Yongding County.

The second is the businessmen from the capital.

Zhang Haogu smiled and said: "Brother Xiao, these people are all looking at Zhengxing County, and they all know that Zhengxing County is profitable!"

"Why?" Zhu Youxiao asked curiously.

Zhang Haogu smiled and said: "Brother Xiao, do you know how much the grain price in the capital has increased?"

Zhu Youxiao was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head: "I don't know!"

"It's about five yuan a catty of grain, and the price of other things is still more expensive!" Zhang Haogu smiled and said, "The prices of the capital and Yongding County are at least twice that of this Zhengxing County!"

"So it will be like this?"

On the contrary, Zhu Youxiao was stunned. He really didn't care about these things during this period of time. Before, he did a grain business with Zhang Haogu and made a lot of money, but he didn't care about it all the time. these things.

Zhang Haogu smiled and said: "Firstly, the taxation of the imperial court has increased, and secondly, the wages of bureaucrats have increased. In addition, Yongding County has re-regulated the corvee of the people, which requires money. Money. The imperial court has increased taxes and started infrastructure construction, and these workers have to pay for it!"

Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly, while Zhang Haogu continued: "The chili sauce workshop needs to be paid, the textile factory also needs to be paid, and the glass factory, etc., all of which need to be paid basic wages. What was given was copper coins, although what was given was silver, and even though the land was divided, the price of goods in the capital and Yongding County still began to increase slowly, because they had money and started to consume! ”

"For example, when a commoner goes to work in a chili factory, it is the most basic thing to take care of the food. In some places, it is still necessary to be more ruthless, including food and housing. There are many people during the slack season. Even women can work. Merchants earn more, such as our Jinchan factory, which supplies flour and rice, and sweet potatoes and potatoes that are in poorer conditions."

"In this way, the problem of eating is also solved, but these 10 people, without the exploitation of the government, and with money in hand, their spending power is even more amazing."

"Is this a good thing?" Zhu Youxiao frowned: "I've only heard that the price of grain will increase in years of famine. This year's harvest should be very good, but the price has increased. I'm afraid it's not a good thing for the people of the county!"

"Brother Xiao, don't worry, in the past, these people just wanted food and clothing, but now, they want to wear new clothes, and their own people also want to consume this old godmother. Besides, they also want to study, If you are proficient in arithmetic, then congratulations, your monthly money will increase."

"Someone has started to produce pens, inks, papers and inkstones on a large scale, because these formerly poor people have money, and they want to let their children learn to read and write well. As for what you said, Brother Xiao, Jingshi and Yongding The price of food in the county has increased, Brother Xiao, let me ask you a simple question!"

Zhu Youxiao became interested and couldn't help but said, "Ask!"

"If you were a grain merchant, and you knew that the price of grain in Zhengxing County was only half of that in Jingshi and Yongding County, what would you do?" Zhang Haogu asked with a smile.

"Then I will definitely buy grain from Zhengxing County and sell it in the capital!" Zhu Youxiao said naturally, "Master, I understand, this is your purpose of building roads, right?"

Zhang Haogu laughed, nodded and said: "That's right, road construction is to get rid of the restrictions between each other, to make transportation more convenient, and also to allow poor areas around the capital to enjoy the benefits of the development of the capital and Yongding County. dividend!"

"No wonder the master wants to promote this large-scale infrastructure construction. It turns out that the real purpose is here. I was still wondering if the scale was too large. Now it seems that the scale is still bigger!"

Zhu Youxiao felt that he had received a lot of goods, so he nodded immediately and said: "It seems that this road not only needs to be repaired, but also needs to be repaired on a large scale, so that things from remote areas can be sold to the capital, Jiangnan, or even Yu sold it overseas, sold it to the Mongols, and sold it to the Jurchens!"

"Brother Xiao is right!!"

Zhang Haogu said: "Speaking of which, if Brother Xiao can really get this steam engine out, in the future, we can use the steam engine to pull more goods. In this way, it will be ten times, a hundred times more convenient than a horse-drawn carriage." more than!"

Zhu Youxiao was taken aback for a moment, but he couldn't help but think that when they first met, Zhang Haogu bragged in front of him, saying that it was Zhuge Liang's wooden ox and horse, an iron cart that could walk automatically.

At the beginning, Zhu Youxiao still didn't believe it more or less, but now, Zhu Youxiao really believed it. The steam engine he made was far from successful, but he also felt the principle of it. Thoroughly.

Although he didn't make it out, he vaguely had a strong feeling that this thing would definitely be successful.

At this moment, Zhu Youxiao started flirting instead. If it is really what Zhang Haogu said, and there are really some kind of railways all over Daming, specializing in transporting goods and soldiers, what will Daming be? look?
Speaking of which, can Zhuge Liang really compare with himself?

"He Fei, lead us to the county government office!" Zhang Haogu smiled.

"Okay, but, my lords, the county government office may be a bit busy, I wonder if the magistrate has time to see you!" He Fei said with a smile.

"Don't worry, you take us there, even if you don't have time, he will find time!" Zhang Haogu said with a smile.

Today, the county magistrate of Zhengxing County is surnamed Cui, and his name is Cui Jingyuan.

This Cui Jingyuan was not a result of the imperial examination, he was completely picked up by Zhang Haogu himself, and belonged to the acting county magistrate.

Although it is said to be an agent, the basic salary and salary are no different from those of normal officials.

When to become a regular, it depends on Cui Jingyuan's political achievements.

When Zhang Haogu and Zhu Youxiao came together, Cui Jingyuan was still meeting people, but Zhengxing County and Yongding County are different these few days. It is good to get water on the spot.

However, Zhengxing County is not good, and getting water is extremely troublesome. At this time, Cui Jingyuan's main focus is still on building reservoirs. Naturally, it is not the kind of reservoir that can regulate floods, but at most it is some reservoirs specially used to store water.

However, the construction of this reservoir is not a simple plan, and it must go through repeated discussions.

This also involves all walks of life, and you can't build reservoirs during the busy farming season. You have to wait until the slack season. In addition, Cui Jingyuan is very concerned about the disasters of the Little Ice Age that have been brought to you from time to time in the past few years. .

Now he even has an impulse to simply mobilize the people to dig a long enough canal to directly introduce the water from the Yongding River to the Zhengxing County Reservoir. Since it is necessary to be thorough, it will be a big project.

Again, though, it costs money, and it takes more money, bigger.

However, after discussing with a group of people, Cui Jingyuan found that instead of trying his best to build various small reservoirs, it is better to simply build a large canal and build a larger reservoir to fundamentally solve the problem of water shortage. question.

Now Cui Jingyuan is also heartbroken.

When He Fei came over, Cui Jingyuan was writing a memorial, and he had said all his thoughts, as well as various data arguments. Now you must write all these things, otherwise, the court will most likely not approve this for you project.

"Who are they? I don't see them. Where do you have time?" Cui Jingyuan snorted, "You can take them for a stroll, and just send them away!"

"Yo!" Zhang Haogu chuckled: "Lord Cui is really busy with his work now!"

Cui Jingyuan frowned, and was about to scold these two people for being so impolite, and went straight to the county yamen, but when he raised his head, he was stunned, and he subconsciously said: "Dean, vice-principal, why are you here?"

This Cui Jingyuan was in Datong College before, and he was no stranger to Zhang Haogu and Zhu Youxiao, especially Zhang Haogu, who saw each other every day for a while, and watched Zhang Haogu give lectures to himself every day.

Do not know, this is impossible.

Taking another look at He Fei, Cui Jingyuan waved his hand: "You go out first!"

After He Fei left, Cui Jingyuan immediately stood up and bowed in front of Zhu Youxiao, saying: "Your official kowtows to the emperor, long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

"Get up!"

Zhu Youxiao smiled slightly, sat down on Cui Jingyuan's chair, looked at the memorial in front of him and said, "To build a reservoir, you want to build a reservoir in Zhengxing County?"

"Exactly!"

Cui Jingyuan quickly said: "Your Majesty, I am about to report to the court, but the construction of this reservoir is of great use. I think that if it is really built up, it will not only be in Zhengxing County, but also in several surrounding areas. The counties can be connected together, on the one hand, the Yongding River, and on the other hand, the Dongsha River, as long as this reservoir is built, the irrigation of the surrounding farmland will definitely not be a problem!"

Zhu Youxiao looked at the memorial deeply, but he fell into deep thought. Then, he put down the memorial and said, "Report this memorial to the Ministry of Industry later, and let the Ministry of Industry see if it can be approved! "

Zhang Haogu smiled and didn't speak.

It is basically impossible to build a reservoir in Zhengxing County, and the location is not suitable. Later, the most suitable reservoirs for the capital were Miyun Reservoir first, then Guanting Reservoir, Huairou Reservoir third, and Huairou Reservoir third. The fourth is Haizi Reservoir. ''

Zhengxing County is obviously not suitable for building large reservoirs. However, if reservoirs in other areas are built, it is still possible to build a canal here in Zhengxing County.

However, Zhang Haogu was not in a hurry to say these words, but let the Ministry of Industry take a look and see what the Ministry of Industry judged, and then he would put forward his own views and opinions.

"I have come to Zhengxing County, and I have gained a lot!" Zhu Youxiao laughed and said: "I never thought that once the road is opened, Zhengxing County will become rich immediately!"

"Returning to the emperor, Zhengxing County is not the credit of the minister, but the credit of the court!" Cui Jingyuan said quickly: "The minister is just pushing the boat with the current!"

"Oh?" Zhu Youxiao was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "How did you go along with the flow?"

Cui Jingyuan said: "For example, this pepper, before this road was opened, Yongding County sent pepper seeds to let the people of Zhengxing County plant this pepper. Once this road is opened, Yongding County will immediately come up to buy peppers. In this way, we saved a lot of time, and the profit of this pepper is much higher than that of other grains!"

Zhu Youxiao frowned and couldn't help but said: "What if everyone is growing peppers and no one is growing food?"

Apart from other things, the food issue is still very important.

If it is to grow peppers, naturally, the food is a big problem.

"Your Majesty, this farm has also drawn a red line!"

Cui Jingyuan said: "Mr. Zhang also put forward a request for us. All farms must take part of the land to grow wheat or rice. Food security is inevitable. We must grow other things on the basis of food security. , now besides this pepper, we still spend some land to grow vegetables!"

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but glanced at Zhang Haogu: "Master already thought of it?"

"Your Majesty, the food problem is the foundation of the country. How dare I slack off?" Zhang Haogu smiled and said, "In addition, there is also the supervision of the farm. Let the people supervise the harvest of the farm's grain and whether anyone has embezzled it." Personal interests, and the second is that the owner of the farm is serious about his work, and every year he arranges inspectors to listen to the ideas of the people!"

Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but nodded: "This is a good way!"

Speaking of this, Zhu Youxiao's stomach made a sound, and he smiled wryly: "Ah, I didn't eat anything on this trip, jealous of Cui Jingyuan, but there is food here?"

"Yes, there are, but they are all vegetarian dishes!" Cui Jingyuan said quickly, "I don't know, Your Majesty!"

"Then let's have vegetarian dishes!" Zhu Youxiao nodded.

(End of this chapter)