This son-in-law is wicked in a good way!

"Lord Xing, are you after the management rights of this road? You're clearly after the toll collection rights!"

Lu Zhanshan, the Minister of Works, sneered repeatedly.

"Your Majesty, our Ministry of Works was involved in the construction of this road, and the management rights of this road should rightfully belong to our Ministry of Works!"

"Furthermore, our Ministry of Works can take care of future repairs, which won't affect the Ministry of War's troop deployment speed—a win-win situation!"

Lu Zhanshan stroked his three-inch goat beard and smiled smugly.

At this moment, the Minister of Revenue also stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, the national treasury is empty, and the Ministry of Revenue is in charge of money and grain. I do not want the management rights of this road, but the right to collect tolls should belong to the Ministry of Revenue."

Lu Zhanshan's face immediately changed. If I've lost the right to collect fees, what use is the right to manage them? Am I supposed to pay your Ministry of Revenue to repair them?

"Your Majesty, you mustn't! The repair and maintenance of this road will cost a fortune in the future. Once we lose the right to collect tolls, who will be willing to manage this road?"

In his anxiety, Lu Zhanshan blurted out the truth.

The Empress watched coldly from the sidelines.

Watching these self-righteous ministers argue so fiercely over the right to collect tolls on this road was no different from those street thugs who fight tooth and nail over territory.

Finally, unable to reach a conclusion after arguing back and forth, the ministers had no choice but to seek the Empress's judgment.

"Your Majesty, please tell us who should have the toll collection rights for this road!"

"If you give us the right to collect fees, we are willing to take responsibility for daily management and maintenance."

The Minister of Works, panting heavily, clasped his hands in a salute, glaring fiercely at the Minister of Revenue and others as he spoke.

He simply gave up management rights altogether and stated directly that he wanted the right to charge fees.

The Minister of Revenue also bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the power to collect fees must belong to the Ministry of Revenue. This is the law of the court and must not be changed."

"Furthermore, my Ministry of Revenue is also willing to assume the responsibility for daily maintenance."

Minister of War: "Your Majesty, our Ministry of War is the same!"

"Your Majesty, don't forget about our Ministry of Rites!"

"And the Ministry of Personnel."

The six powerful figures all stepped in, handing the choice over to the Empress.

The Empress frowned inwardly. No matter who she handed over the management to, she would offend several others.

What was supposed to be a dog-eat-dog drama suddenly turned into six dogs biting her?

The Empress looked at Zhang Ping'an with a questioning gaze.

Zhang Ping'an smiled slightly. The desired effect had been achieved, and now it was his turn to step down.

"Your Majesty, the reason I repaired this road is not because of the toll fees, but to show Your Majesty and all the officials its true value."

"As for the toll rights for this road, the money is so little that, to put it bluntly, it's not even enough to fill a tooth gap."

"This road will be almost finished in a few days. Then, it's time for me to start building the real road."

"A true project that will last a century!"

After saying that, Zhang Ping'an suddenly took out a map that he had prepared in advance and spread it out.

"Your Majesty, please look!"

Zhang Ping'an pointed to two points on the map.

"Countless caravans traveled between Shangjing and Wuling every day, and the journey was long."

"The government also needs to expend a huge amount of manpower and resources to transport supplies."

"If I were to build a stone-paved road connecting the two capitals and then set up a tollbooth, what would Your Majesty think?"

Shangjing was the capital of the Great Wu Dynasty, while Wuling was known as the secondary capital and was the former capital of the Great Wu Dynasty.

Commercial exchanges between the two capitals were very frequent, making them the two most prosperous cities in the Great Wu Dynasty.

Moreover, the secondary capital Wuling is close to the southeast coast and radiates throughout the entire southeast region. Almost 80% of the caravans in the country would use Wuling as a transit point.

Once a convenient and fast high-speed stone-paved road is built from the capital to Wuling, the travel time between the two capitals can be shortened by half.

The time it took for caravans to travel back and forth was greatly reduced, and the losses along the way were also greatly decreased.

If this road is truly repaired and tolls are set up in the future, it would be no exaggeration to say that it would bring in a fortune every day.

More importantly, the 200,000 refugees gathered in the capital will now have a real purpose, and it will still be far from enough.

This move can be described as achieving multiple benefits in one fell swoop.

It not only solved the disaster crisis, but also created a century-old project that would benefit all people and future generations.

The Empress's eyes lit up; this project was absolutely feasible.

"Build a road connecting the two capitals!"

The Left Prime Minister was shocked. This little beast was simply too much!

Moreover, once this road is completed, as he said, it will be a money tree that brings in a fortune every day.

Those present were all important officials of the imperial court, well-informed people who knew very well how congested the official road between the two capitals was.

If such a stone-paved road really existed, almost everyone would be willing to pay to walk on it.

However, the amount of money spent to build such a road is astronomical!

Even the current imperial court probably can't afford this money.

Without money, everything is just empty talk.

The Empress looked at Zhang Ping'an: "But where did the money come from to build such a road connecting the two capitals?"

Zhang Ping'an smiled and said, "This is precisely the issue I wanted to discuss with Your Majesty."

"Once this road is completed, it will undoubtedly become an important source of tax revenue for the Great Wu Dynasty. Therefore, everyone certainly wants to obtain the management rights of this road."

"To avoid putting Your Majesty in a difficult position, I have come up with a solution. That is to implement a shareholding system for the management of this road."

The empress and her ministers all looked bewildered.

"What is a shareholding system?" the Empress asked curiously.

"The meaning of the shareholding system is that if the management rights are divided into one hundred shares and equally distributed among the various departments of the imperial court, at the end of the year, the total tax revenue from this route, after deducting maintenance and labor costs, will be distributed according to the number of shares held by each party."

"For example, if the annual tax revenue of this road is 11,000 taels and the labor and maintenance costs are 1,000 taels, then the total profit is 10,000 taels."

"This ten thousand taels will be distributed according to one hundred shares, with each share being one hundred taels."

"Of course, this is just an example. The annual tax revenue from this road will definitely be an astronomical figure, and the shares cannot possibly be only one hundred."

"However, the distribution method will not change; profits will still be distributed according to the shareholding ratio."

Zhang Ping'an explained it in words that everyone could understand.

The Empress nodded: "I understand. The shareholding system is an excellent method!"

"All departments of the imperial court will benefit equally and will have no further complaints."

Officials in the Ministry of Revenue, in particular, were utterly astonished by Zhang Ping'an's shareholding system.

Some previously unresolved issues regarding allocation and distribution suddenly seem to have become clear.

Zhang Xuanling's eyes flashed with surprise as he gazed intently at Zhang Ping'an.

How did he come up with such a brilliant way of allocating resources?

"Is this really that good-for-nothing?"

The Minister of Revenue gave Zhang Xuanling a cold look: Hmph, if this guy weren't blind, such a genius would be one of my Ministry of Revenue's people!

It's all Zhang Xuanling's fault!

At this moment, the Left Prime Minister suddenly said in a sarcastic tone, "If I'm not mistaken, how many shares you get depends on how much silver everyone contributes, right?"

Ha, Prime Minister, I know you've figured it out, but what can you do even if you have?

If I can swindle you with a house once, I can swindle you with stocks a second time!