Chapter 1138 (2/2)
”Should we build an official road to Xiliang? The war in the western regions will last at least ten or twenty years. If there is any change in the middle, it may take decades. Building a road can shorten the distance between the capital and Xiliang City, and the information can be transmitted back to the capital more quickly. ”
Gu Jiu nodded and approved, ”we think of it together. It's time to build a concrete road from northwest to Xiliang. ”
”Where does the money come from?”
Thousands of miles of road, over the mountains, meet the river bridge, even in the hanging rock cliff road. This is a huge project.
The amount of money spent will be astronomical.
However, the road is sparsely populated and the land is barren, so the economic profit that can be obtained is actually very limited.
Let Hubu pay for road construction, and the Minister of Hubu dares to hit a column and die in the Jinluan palace.
The officials of the whole court would point to Liu Zhao's nose and scold the faint monarch.
Gu Jiu gritted his teeth, and his finger circled a large area of land on the map, ”as far as I know, this piece of land can be planted with cotton! It can just alleviate the shortage of domestic cotton and reduce the price of cotton
”To grow cotton, we must first open up the wasteland. It takes a lot of people to open up wasteland, which is not an easy thing. ”
Gu Jiu's face was cold, ”two sets of plans, one is to recruit people from the private sector, pay wages, give land. The second is to open up wasteland with prisoners and slaves. ”
Liu Zhao said bluntly, ”it is a way to use prisoners and slaves, which is easy to breed all kinds of dark side.”
”Prisoners and slaves, after ten years of service, can give them a legal identity.”
”Are you sure you want to give legal status? It's better to drive them all home and give them some money. ”
”If you drive home, you may be arrested again and become a prisoner of war again. After ten years of opening up the wasteland for ten years, I gave an identity and delineated the scope, but I tried. However, we should control the population size, live in scattered places and not gather together to avoid chaos. ”
”Try it, then.”
In ten years, Liu Zhao can afford to wait!
The problem of money is still unsolved.
”Raise funds! Ask the merchants who have been running in the western regions all the year round to raise funds. The advantage is that they will be free of travel expenses for 20 years. ”
”Even so, the cost of road construction is not enough, and the gap is very large.”
The caravan paid for it. It was a hundred thousand taels.
Maybe only a few thousand taels, tens of thousands of taels.
This amount of money, for the construction of thousands of miles of cement road, is not enough to buy food.
”Find Anxi Wang and let him make some money.” Gu Jiu thought of a way, ”Anxi Palace should at least take out 5 million Liang.”
”I'm afraid Pei Meng won't agree!” Liu Zhao knew Pei Meng. He was an Iron Rooster.
I saw him collecting wool from other people's hands, but I didn't see him generous.
Money and food are what we fight for.
In the past, money and food were insufficient, and the northwest army often suffered from famine.
Pei Meng was always nervous when he faced the problem of money and food.
Gu Jiu's domineering response, ”you have to promise, you have to promise if you don't. It's not his turn to say no to road construction. Otherwise, the palace will cut off the commercial road from Dazhou to Xiliang. ”
”That's tough! Pei Meng will obey Liu Zhao's face is happy and happy to see Pei Meng eat shriveled.
Cut off the commercial road, the loss of the little money, for the queen Gu Jiu, is only a drop in the bucket.
But for Peimeng, the king of Anxi, the loss of money was the main source of the palace's income.
Once the commercial road is cut off, Anxi palace will be paralyzed immediately!
Pei Meng's throne is not safe.
Without the tariff revenue, what does the king of Anxi take to support his army.
Without the large Zhou merchants' team continuously transporting goods to Xiliang, what did the northwest army eat and drink?
Only big week has rich tea.
For the northwest army who lived in Dazhou for the first half of their life, without tea, they would be killed.
Occasionally eating a bowl of rice is also a comfort.
It is an important means to stabilize people's minds.Once the commercial road was broken, no matter it was tea, rice, all kinds of snacks in hometown were out of stock.
As time goes on, the army must be in chaos.
This is Gu Jiu's assassin's mace. Holding the commercial road firmly in hand is tantamount to seizing the lifeblood of Anxi palace.
The shortage of funds needed for road construction can only rely on Shaofu and Sihai.
The Ministry of accounts is not to be expected.
Hubu people are born misers.
To ask them to pay for road construction is to kill them. They must not agree.
The couple decided on the general direction and made specific plans. The next step was to arrange personnel to carry out the plan.
The matter was not discussed in the court. The Ministry of war and the Ministry of works were directly informed to cooperate.
The construction of the northwest section will be started first.
When will Anxi Wang take out the money and start construction in Xiliang section.
The courtiers were in a state of uproar when they heard of this.
”Building roads in the desert, where there are few people and poor land, is clearly a waste of money and food.”
”If you have money for road construction, why don't you take it out to build a school?”
”Your majesty and the queen are mad! The sky is far away and the road is desolate and chaotic. Why build a concrete road to Xiliang? It's meaningless! ”
”The trade with Xiliang is limited every year. It's a waste to build roads for the sake of a little tariff. ”
Even if the road construction did not cost any money to the household department, the courtiers, with the spirit of daring to be the first in the world, had the responsibility to persuade the emperor and then take the right road, so they went to the capital to prevent this.
Even if it's the money of Shaofu, it's very painful, OK?
Your majesty can't be willful!
With so much money, why not build roads?
Hard work to build roads, the people of Dazhou can't use it again. It's a waste!
If your majesty thinks that there is too much money to spend, it is better to give the money to Wei Chen. Wei Chen was very poor and never thought much of money.
Wei Chen is also very poor!
All the courtiers were called poor, and they were obviously ridiculing the emperor Liu Zhao.
Liu Zhao sat on the Jinluan hall and rolled his eyes.
”I'm poor too!”
”It's ridiculous that your majesty calls for poverty, but he has the money to build a road that no one walks on.”
”What's the problem with spending my own money?”
”In name, your majesty spent his own money, but in fact he spent all his money. Salt and iron tax revenue, into the pocket of the Shao Fu. Ten taxes and one Tax went into the government's pocket. The income of the Shaofu bank also goes into the Shaofu's pocket Can your majesty say it's your own money
”It's my money when I'm in the pocket of the Shao Fu. This is the rule set in the time of Taizu. Do you want to break this rule now? You always said that we should abide by the ancestral system. Now I ask you to abide by the ancestral system. Why don't you agree? It's you who are right and you are wrong! It's up to you to open your mouth
”Your Majesty, this is not true! If a road is to be built in China and the Shao Fu pays for it, there is absolutely no objection. But the road your majesty is going to build now is from the northwest to Xiliang. It will take thousands of miles to go there. The cost of money and food will be astronomical. However, the land along the way is barren and deserted. What is the benefit of road construction? ”
”In my opinion, those who say that road construction is not beneficial are short-sighted. Why do you want to build this road? What are the benefits of building this road? I should not answer this question for you. As ministers, you should find the answer yourself. If everything needs me to show up, what's the use of your ministers? ”