Rebirth of the best emperor

Chapter 226
"Your Majesty Qizuo, this plan is indeed not just made. Although the plan was made before, the minister did not dare to show it." Shang Yang did not wait for Wang Mang to ask, and said: "The financial situation of the imperial court has not been very good. The minister's plan Regarding the development of Chang'an, although Daqin's development is good, the problem is that it costs a lot of money, which cannot be afforded by the imperial court's previous finances."

After hearing Shang Yang finished speaking, Wang Mang said with a smile: "After talking for a long time, it turns out that I also fell in love with the money I got back from Nanyang!"

In the Battle of Nanyang, Wang Mang obtained a total of 2508 million taels of silver, and Li Hong and Wang Yongji took another 120 million taels of silver from the merchants in Chang'an. In this way, the court had 3708 million taels of silver at once. The household department got silver, and now the household department has more than 400 million taels of silver in its hands.

This was unimaginable before, and Wang Mang still clearly remembers that on the first day he came here as the emperor, he was almost overwhelmed by the voices of all the ministers asking for money.

But in just a few months, the warehouse of the Ministry of Accounting was quickly filled under Wang Mang's management, and now, there are more than 400 million silver in the account of the Ministry of Accounting.

Does that mean I'm doing a good job?
Wang Mang thought to himself, you must know that the more than 400 million silver is just the money Wang Mang handed over to the household department, and Wang Mang himself still has several 10 taels of silver that can be used at any time.

The use of this money, although the court has discussed the use of money, no one has asked Wang Mang for money, but Wang Mang knew that someone would definitely ask, but what Wang Mang did not expect was that Shang Yang was the first to ask, and he proposed A reason for asking for money that I couldn't refuse at all.

Regarding Wang Mang's words, Shang Yang blushed a little and said, "I am also planning for the future of the Great Qin Dynasty."

"I know you have a fair heart, so I don't need to say more." Wang Mang smiled and said, "In that case, just tell me directly how much money you will need for this project."

"The project is divided into three phases. The first phase is to dredge the Luoshui River. The Luoshui River has been repaired and repaired for many years, and it has long been overwhelmed. The existing river can't meet the future use, so it must be dredged and widened first. According to calculations, this phase of the project will cost about 20 taels of silver. The second phase of the project is to excavate rivers from Nanyang and Xinyang to Luoshui, divert water from Nanyang River and Weihe River into Luoshui, and alleviate the shortage of Luoshui. The second phase of the project needs at least 50 taels of silver."

Shang Yang paused, and continued: "After the completion of the second phase, the third phase of the project can be completed. From the Shenshui in Shenmu County to the Nanyang River and Weihe River, the three phases of the project need at least 100 million taels of silver."

"What, why do you need so much money?" Li Hong is the most sensitive to money, so he picked it up immediately, saying: "I think this phase and the second phase of the project are acceptable, but I don't think the third phase of the project is necessary." Alright."

Li Hong now holds several million taels of silver in his hands. Li Hong doesn't pay attention to the 70 taels of the first and second phases, but Li Hong can't accept the 100 million taels of the third phase of the project, saying: "You need a total of 170 million taels of silver for these three phases of the project. How can the court have so much money?"

"Nanyang Xinyang area is also a densely populated place. Nanyang City is under planning. In the future, it will be a gathering place for various workshops of the imperial court and will use a lot of water." Shang Yang said: "We can't just ignore Nanyang in order to alleviate Chang'an's water consumption. The life and death of the people of Xinyang."

Then, Shang Yang pointed to the three counties of Shenmu and said: "There are few people here, but the water resources are quite sufficient. It is the best to use the water here to develop the Nanyang Xinyang area and Chang'an."

Facing Shang Yang's statement, Li Hong was speechless, but said: "Anyway, the Ministry of Households can't afford so much money now."

"Doesn't the Ministry of Households have a lot of money now? You said yesterday that the Ministry of Households has too much money to spend." Yu Wenkai said. He is the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, the largest contractor in Daqin, and his favorite is large-scale projects. Regardless of whether the court has money, he only cares about whether the project is big enough.

Facing the idiot Yu Wenkai, Li Hong said directly: "It is true that the household department has money, but it is useful. The war in the south requires money, the officials need money to pay their salaries, and the disaster victims also need money. Now the South-to-North Water Diversion also needs money. Everywhere It’s a place where money is used, how can we invest all the money in one place.”

Yu Wenkai was silent, he really had no say in money matters.

Seeing that the scene was a little stiff, Wang Mang said, "That's all right, let's fix the first and second phases of the project first. It's too early to talk about the third phase of the project. After all, the three counties of Shenmu are still in the hands of the rebels."

When Wang Mang said this, the atmosphere in the court immediately eased a lot. Li Hong and Shang Yang also agreed to Wang Mang's statement, and the first and second phases were repaired first.

Shang Yang opened the conversation, and was the first one to leave the money. Yu Wenkai said without hesitation: "Your Majesty Qizuo, a few months ago, His Majesty asked Weichen to study the straight way, and now Weichen has done it here."

As he said, Yu Wenkai also took out a map. On the map, eight straight lines were drawn in eight directions with Chang'an as the center. Pointing to these straight lines, Yu Wenkai said: "These straight lines are the This is the first phase of the project. After these straight roads are repaired, the Ministry of Industry will start the second phase of the project to connect all the straight roads to each other through straight roads. After that, there will be a third phase of the project, which will divide the territory of Daqin , all the large cities are connected together, and there will be four phases after that..."

Yu Wenkai described his grand vision with excitement. In Yu Wenkai's mind, he wanted to cultivate straight roads to all corners of the world.

Wang Mang has always been very interested in the ancient highways like straight roads, but Yu Wenkai's words are reliable at the beginning, and the more unrealistic they become.

Pointing to the map, Wang Mang said directly: "How many of the eight straight roads in this phase of your project are urgently needed?"

Yu Wenkai looked disappointed, and then pointed to a few straight roads on the map and said: "This is the straight road leading to Shenmu County. Shenmu County is now the place where the rebels are entrenched, and it is also the place where the Guo State is handed over. No matter where you come from On the one hand, this road needs to be repaired. This one is the road leading to Yunzhong, which is connected to the grassland. His Majesty knows this road even if I don’t mention it, and this one leads to Hangu Pass. , After Hangu Pass is South Korea, we have been hostile to South Korea for generations, there are conflicts at Hangu Pass every year, and it is necessary to build a straight road leading to here.”

"Is it just these three?" Wang Mang raised his eyebrows. The three roads Yu Wenkai referred to are indeed important roads that must be built.

Yu Wenkai nodded and said, "For now, these three are the most important."

Wang Mang glanced at the map and asked, "How much does it cost to build these three roads?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, the workers are all ready-made, no money is required, the main thing is material money." Yu Wenkai calculated with his fingers: "I just calculated, and it will take at least 100 million taels of silver to repair these three roads."

"You all thought the imperial court was rich and powerful, right? Everyone's tone is so big?" Li Hong exclaimed: "In the past, one or two mouths were tens of thousands of taels, but now they are tens of thousands of taels, one million taels. , you are not in charge of the family and don’t know the price of firewood and rice, so you don’t live according to your life, right?”

　the third
　　
　
(End of this chapter)