Song Gexing

Chapter 154 Two New Ports

Yang Wenguang and Yang Tian were shocked. How could they say this? Didn't this force the Zhe family to find another way out? They couldn't help but look at Zhe Jizu worriedly.

But what they didn't expect was that Zhe Jizu actually nodded his head and said: "Your Highness, don't worry, I have been running clan studies in the clan since the day I went back. As long as Your Highness ascends the throne, the Zhe family will give up hereditary inheritance. They also agreed.”

Yang Wenguang was better, Yang Qi was shocked, and asked in a murmur, "Could it be sure that all descendants of the Zhe family can be admitted to Jinshi?"

Zhejizu smiled and said: "Uncle Tian was wrong! It is impossible for the Zhe family to produce Jinshi from generation to generation, but if you are not good at liberal arts, you can take martial arts! The military reform in recent years has improved the status of military officials a lot. What about the future?"

This rhetorical question made Yang Tian shrink his eyes, and when he looked at Zhao Fang, he immediately understood that His Highness the Crown Prince would never stop here, and the reform of the military system would continue, but the time was not right now.

After understanding this, he couldn't help but feel his blood boil, and he looked at Zhao Fang eagerly but hesitated to speak.

Zhao Fang didn't know what he was thinking. The Yang family also wanted to pay equal attention to culture and martial arts. Although the Yang family in Linzhou had already studied literature, after all, the family of military generals for generations was really not as good at reading as they were at practicing martial arts.

Everyone is talented. For people from such a family of generals, it is more difficult to learn literature than ordinary people, but it is much easier to practice martial arts.

Understanding the importance of this matter to the Yang family, Zhao Fang nodded and said seriously: "Yang Qing forgot that the biggest change of the Qingli New Deal is that the ancestral system can be changed, but the resistance faced by each change is different. In fact, Gu has long been silent I have told everyone, but everyone has selectively ignored it, that is, Gu has been studying and practicing martial arts since he was a child, and everyone around him must do the same, including his brothers, his most beloved sister, and his wives and concubines."

Yang Tian was so excited that he bowed his head and said, "I would like to thank Your Highness for finding a way out for my military minister. His Highness's heart is as big as heaven and earth. I will die in service and I will never let down His Highness' heart."

Yang Wenguang couldn't help himself either, and he bowed down and swore an oath in tears. What happened in the East Palace soon came to Zhao Zhen.

Looking at the news in front of him, Zhao Zhen sighed, how difficult it was, and then became more determined to delegate power. This is a story for later, so let’s not talk about it for now.

After Zhe Jizu and the others returned, their disciples with missions set off quietly one by one. On the other hand, the three states in Hexi increased their mutual trade with Xixia and vigorously promoted the number of caravans.

Half a year later, a memorial came to Zhao Fang from Fujian. It turned out to be the Fuchuan construction technology collected by Liu Jisun after he was transferred to Changxi County as the magistrate.

Changxi County is located in the northeast corner of Fujian, covering the entire Ningde area in later generations, and its jurisdiction includes Luoyuan, which was later under the jurisdiction of Fuzhou.

It was the place where the Fu Ship was best built. The restoration of the Fu Ship in later generations was made by the shipbuilding craftsmen of Fu'an. At this time, Fu'an had not yet established a county, and it was not separated from Changxi County until the Southern Song Dynasty.

Of course, the Fuchuan at this time was not as mature as the Ming Dynasty, but the basic structure had already appeared, including the water-proof cabin.

After Zhao Fang studied it carefully, he went to the master craftsman of the Ministry of Industry and ordered him to build a boat for experiments and improve it. Then he wandered to Zhao Zhen's place.

"Dad, we are ready to start naval construction. Those places suitable for building ports can be started."

Zhao Zhen asked in surprise: "Do you have a plan for the sea ship?"

"Yeah! Jingwen sent us the Fuchuan construction technology from Fujian, and his son has already asked the Ministry of Industry to build it for experiments."

Zhao Zhen laughed when he heard this, nodded and said: "Let's get started. You have been talking about this for several years, and I don't know what attracts you outside. But the ministers all agree that being a father will not hold you back. If you want to do it, just do it.”

Zhao Fang smiled and nodded repeatedly, and immediately summoned the ministers and ministers to announce the matter, and soon orders were sent from the center to the localities.There are already ports and terminals on the southeast coast, so there is no need to build them, but Zhao Fang had his eyes on two places a few years ago.

One is the Qingdao of the later generations, and the other is the Shanghai of the later generations. Of course, he did not intend to develop these two places to build cities so early, but to build them as military ports.

At this time, Qingdao already had ports and docks, but they were not large in scale. Only a municipal shipping department was established in Banqiao Town, which was a transfer station for north-south navigation.

Qingdao is under the jurisdiction of Jimo County, and of course it does not have the name Qingdao. What Zhao Fang wants to do is to expand Qingdao Port and build a supporting logistics base.

Shanghai was even more desolate at this time. Even though there were two counties, Huating and Kunshan, they were far away from the sea and there was no port at all. Chongming Island still fell under the jurisdiction of Haimen County.

A large area of ​​​​the seaside is now reed marsh and muddy land. It is unrealistic to open a port here because the investment is too high.

Therefore, it is impossible for Zhao Fang to build a Shanghai as big as that of later generations. He only needs to build a port terminal and supporting logistics base in a suitable location.

As for the overall construction, it should be done slowly. As long as there is profit motivation, there is no need to worry about someone developing it, and gradually it will naturally become a market.

Besides, the most difficult thing to deal with in this area right now is the intrusion of tides. This is not only true for Shanghai, but also for Hangzhou.

But after all, Hangzhou reached scale thousands of years earlier than Shanghai, so the disaster was naturally not as big as Shanghai's.

Fortunately, the mass production of cement allowed Zhao Fang to build better dams. After giving the order, a large amount of cement was transported to the two places.

"Remember, seawalls must use large bluestones. Although cement is strong, today's technology cannot prevent seawater corrosion. It can be used to build road sections that are easy to maintain, but it must not be used in seawater."

To build a terminal in Shanghai, the amount of work is actually huge. It is not just a Shanghai problem, but the entire Jiangsu Province.

Of course, there is no Jiangsu Province now, just this general area with many rivers and lakes, almost all of which discharge water from Shanghai into the sea.

Shanghai is not just the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River is actually the northern boundary of Shanghai, and its influence is not as great as the Wusong River, Huangpu River and Loujiang River.

At this time, the largest river in Huating and Kunshan was the Wusong River, and the most destructive river was the Lou River, which was later known as the Liuhe River.

The Huangpu River was only a tributary of the Wusong River, but in later generations it became a main road, and the Wusong River shrank into the Suzhou River. This was entirely the result of human intervention.

This is because in the late Qing Dynasty, the Wusong River's estuary was higher than the Huangpu River's estuary after sediment accumulation, and the Huangpu River was diverted to flow into the sea more smoothly. Therefore, artificial dredging and diversion were carried out.

But in the Song Dynasty, the Wusong River had not become so blocked, so there was no need to waste manpower and material resources to divert it. However, dredging these three rivers was a big project.

The Loujiang River originates from Suzhou, flows through Shanghai and enters the sea, with a total length of more than 100 miles. It is said to be the most destructive because in the late Tang Dynasty, the Loujiang River had been blocked and abandoned.

(End of this chapter)