Chapter 462: Water Conservancy Project
Our Minister of Transportation said confidently: Eight million, the Transportation Department can come up with it. However, with so many water conservancy projects being launched in various places at once, a lot of labor and materials will be needed. She suggested that Mr. Yu reconsider and not to start projects in one place, so as to avoid bidding in procurement and increase construction costs.
Yu Jie admired Ma Linger's wisdom very much, and immediately discussed with the others to implement a water conservancy project worth 6 million guan by delaying the construction of part of it until next year.
Meng Gong is very happy.
This time, the water conservancy construction will allocate 500,000 strings of cash to build the embankment of the Jingzhou section of the Yangtze River for the Jinghu . This was unprecedented in the past.
The Jingzhou section of the Yangtze River often encounters dangerous situations, and the rainy season every year is a time of distress for him. At that time, he saw the floods in the river submerging large areas, and the people were displaced. He was heartbroken but could do nothing . In the past, when repairing rivers and embankments, they would go to the flooded areas to rescue people. This is like treating the symptoms instead of the cause. There is a lack of foresight to prepare for a rainy day.
Now that everyone has gathered together to discuss how to intervene in advance to benefit the people, the situation is very different.
Meng Gong immediately proposed to learn from past lessons and have the Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Transportation send officials to each construction project site to supervise the construction and prevent local governments from misappropriating funds and enriching themselves during the construction process.
Zhao Feiyan agreed immediately and instructed the Central Financial Department to set up various inspection teams to be stationed in local areas.
All the gentlemen had no objection.
After the meeting, Zhao Yulin followed Feiyan to her office. There was a large office room in the middle of the third floor, which was divided into a study, a meeting room and a resting place. It was spacious and compact without being wasteful. Zhao Yulin was very satisfied.
He sat down casually in the small hall, and immediately a maid came up and asked him what he wanted for tea.
Zhao Feiyan waved her hand, told the maid to go away, and personally brewed the Emei Snow Bud tea and brought it over.
He pretended to be flattered and then said in fear and trepidation, "How can this be done? But the current king is really killing me."
Zhao Feiyan grabbed his ear and said: Go ahead and pretend, and I'll pull this ear off for you.
Zhao Yulin immediately cried out in pretending pain. When the woman let go of his hand and sat down, he asked with a smile: "Princess, you have ascended to the throne and are the supreme ruler. You must be happy."
Zhao Feiyan said disdainfully, "I don't care about it. Let my brother do it. I am willing to be his maid and accompany him."
He immediately smiled and said how could this be done, how could this be done.
How can the position of head of state be given away so easily?
He asked: Where are the maids in Jinguan City selected from? They are all tall, their eyes seem to be able to speak, and it feels like they are dancing when they walk.
Zhao Feiyan was proud and asked him to guess.
He shook his head and said he was too stupid to guess.
Zhao Feiyan told him that they were from Goryeo and were presented as beautiful concubines. The ruler of Goryeo was grateful for the weapons we sent them and defeated the Mongolian army. He specially sent twelve beautiful concubines and countless treasures to Chengdu. I have left one of them to serve you.
Zhao Yulin said he didn't want it and asked it to be sent to Lord Cao's residence .
Zhao Feiyan whispered that she really didn’t want it, but she was a delicate beauty.
He shook his head and insisted that he refused. He also said that his public housing was next to the king's, and if he needed anything, he would ask the king to do it for him.
The woman poked him with disdain and said that he was showing off, having a wife who was a king was so proud of herself.
Zhao Yulin was drinking tea with great pride. When he saw Shunzhidi coming in with a pile of documents, he smiled and said that they were busy and he would not bother her anymore. Then he turned around and left ...
On the official road from Chengdu to Daojiang County, three horse-drawn carriages were running with the clatter of horses' hooves. Hu Lan and Wu Jing were sitting in the lead carriage.
Seeing that her mother was listless, Wu Jing asked: "What's wrong with you? Why do we have to go to Daojiang County right after our father comes back?"
Why don't you get closer to your daddy? I'm still waiting to play with my little brother.
Hu Lan said coldly: I don’t have time. Can’t you see I’m busy?
She asked Wu Jing if she didn't want to make a lot of money. Linshui Street in Dujiangyan was in need of people right now, so how could she just think about eating and having fun?
Wu Jing nodded, then shook his head in disbelief. He muttered that his mother must have had a quarrel with his father, otherwise she would not have left for Dujiangyan so early in the morning without saying goodbye.
Indeed, Hu Lan was angry with Zhao Yulin.
After I returned to Chengdu, he barely wrote a greeting letter. He didn't go to her to spend time with her in the past two days. I must have had some thoughts. So, this morning, I used the excuse that there was a lot of things to do in Linshui Street, Dujiangyan, and took Wu Jing and the others away without even saying hello.
The year before last, Zhao Yulin asked her to bring Wu Jing and the other children back to Chengdu to study and learn how to make a living from Si Niang. After they bought the unfinished street in Dujiangyan, they left it there for a whole year before they started to tidy it up and repair it.
At that time, Yangjin mobilized the Ministry of Works to start the road renovation from Chengdu to Dujiangyan, connecting the road from Chengdu to Baoning Prefecture via Dujiangyan. This greatly facilitated the trade between Chengdu and Baoning Prefecture, and the material exchanges between Han and Tubo increased rapidly.
A large amount of brick tea, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and other goods from Shu were continuously imported into Tubo through this road. Tubo’s cattle, sheep, horses and various local specialties and dried goods were also quickly transported to Chengdu.
The number of merchants and travelers on this road increased more than three times, and wealthy families in Chengdu even rode horses to Gulugou Post Station to enjoy hot springs. Merchants, escort agencies, and carriage drivers saw that the Linshui Street in Dujiangyan was beautifully built, and they all went up to inquire about prices and wanted to buy houses to make a living. Sales on Linshui Street suddenly became hot.
As the head shopkeeper of Water Street, Hu Lan will definitely be busy.
The blood of the Toure family flows in my veins. I am efficient and effective in doing things. I also have the strong financial support of the Zhao family. Once I see the idea, I will do it. I have just repaired the unfinished street in front of me, and before I sold all the land, I started to build the street on the remaining land.
This period of time is the critical time for the completion of the entire Water Street, and she really cannot afford to be careless.
As soon as I entered the construction site on Shui Street, I became excited and asked Wu Jing to invite everyone to the office to discuss matters.
When Si Niang saw Hu Lan coming back, she asked her if she had seen Yu Lin and whether he was in good health.
Hu Lan said indifferently, "Hmm," "Let's have a meeting. The New Year is coming soon, so we have to hurry."
Zhu Fugui reported to her that the general accounting office was calculating the labor costs and that sufficient funds should be reserved for the labor costs.
Hu Lan told him that this must be done well. We can owe a certain amount of material fees, but we must not owe a penny of labor wages. If anyone goes to Chengdu to ask your godfather for wages, he will definitely not let us off easily.
Chen Liu immediately told Hu Lan not to worry, he would supervise Fugui in paying the salaries, and if it was really not enough, he would go to his grandfather to get some money and ensure that there was enough.
The uncles and brothers behind them laughed happily.
These kids just don't care about oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. Chen Liu's grandfather is the New Song winemaking master Chen Zhongshun, the invisible tycoon of the New Song Dynasty. When has he ever lacked money to spend?
However, his fourth grandmother spoke up and told Chen Liu: This is a test question given by his father, so we must not have any bad ideas and ask others to borrow money to use it. We have to find a way to solve it ourselves.
Hu Lan looked at Si Niang and hesitated for a moment before saying: She would not go back for the New Year, and would stay here to sell houses. She wanted to hold a large-scale Spring Festival Gala on Linshui Street so that everyone who moved in could feel the warmth of home.
Si Niang thought her idea was very good. There would be some gatherings and activities around the New Year in Chengdu during this period. She thought she could also make some documents about the houses in Linshui Street and distribute them at the gatherings. If more people knew about it, more people would surely come to see and buy houses.
This idea is even better and very targeted.
Wu Jing immediately became excited and told them: The jade business has a reunion party every Chinese New Year. We can go to their reunion party to present our manuscripts. There will definitely be rich people willing to buy our houses there.
Zhu Fugui proposed a bolder idea, which was to use Linshui Street for office and sell houses to chambers of commerce willing to hold annual meetings in Dujiangyan, and provide venues for these merchants free of charge. Those merchants would definitely be willing to come if they could get the free venues and visit Dujiangyan in Daojiang County. And if they came to see our Linshui Street and were interested in living or doing business here, they would naturally buy houses.
Si Niang looked at Fugui and nodded approvingly, praising him for using his brain.
The young people acted immediately. Zhao Yulin's fourth mother wrote the invitation letter personally, Wu Jing was responsible for running errands, and they took action immediately.
In Chengdu, Zhao Yulin was receiving Xie Lingyun, the Lord Xie, who came from Lin'an.
Xie Gong was urged by Shi's son to go to Jiankang Prefecture to look for someone, but not only did he not see Zhao Yulin, but even Cao Youwen had returned to Chengdu. He immediately went back to report, and Shi's son immediately confirmed that Zhao Yulin had left Jiankang Prefecture long ago and was commanding the Lingzhou Campaign in the northwest. He began to marvel at the speed of the Chengdu court.
After much deliberation, the old man decided to ask Xie Lingyun to quickly set off for Chengdu to discuss the affairs of Liangzhe in order to retain his real power to the maximum extent.
However, Zhao Yulin did not give this small group of people in Liangzhe any illusions.
He asked Shunzhidi to invite Meng Gong and Yu Jie to meet Xie Lingyun together. After Meng and Yu listed the various crimes of Lin'an in preventing and delaying Jiangdong's resistance against the Mongols, he asked him to go back and tell Mr. Shi clearly that Liangzhe must return to the new Song Dynasty and the matter cannot be delayed for long.
Liangzhe must unconditionally submit to the new Song court, with no room for negotiation.
If there is any chance, it is to accept the comprehensive governance of the new Song Dynasty court. Shi Gong and the remaining former officials in Liangzhe can no longer have any illusions. The new Song Dynasty will soon focus on dealing with Liangzhe's disobedience to the court's orders.
Then he asked Shunzhidi to see the guest off.
After everyone left, he accompanied Meng Gong and Yu Jie for tea. He believed that the affairs of Liangzhe could not be delayed any longer, as unexpected events would occur if delayed for too long, so he asked the two of them to come forward and put pressure on Liangzhe.
The two understood his idea and nodded. They all agreed that the war situation in the north was stable and the Mongolian Empire would not start a war in the short term. It was time to resolve the Liangzhe issue.
