inspire-indiana Chapter 610: 3-Mixed Soil Paving the Road to Beijing
Chapter 610: 3-Mixed Soil Paving the Road to Beijing
The emperor read the letter quietly, while Ji Benchang and Yue Zhenchuan waited quietly.
The atmosphere in the palace was much better than when Yue Zhenchuan first arrived. Just by looking at the smile on the corner of His Majesty's mouth, Yue Zhenchuan knew that things were not going to go wrong.
"Okay!"
Sure enough, the emperor took the letter in one hand, patted the back of the chair with the other, and said "good" all the time.
Yue Zhenchuan felt a little sour.
He has been an official for decades, and His Majesty has praised him only a handful of times. It seems that Shen Zheng is about to surpass him!
Yue Zhenchuan felt so bitter that he didn't even realize that the emperor was talking to him. It was not until Ji Benchang couldn't stand it anymore and stepped on him that he finally reacted.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
The emperor looked at him with displeasure, then raised his chin towards the memorial in his hand, "I just said that this stone is of great use. Yue Qing, do you know what Shen Qing has discovered?"
dolomite!
Yue Zhenchuan then remembered that he had not finished reading the memorial. Just as he saw the three big words "Baiyunshi", Ji Benchang came and he had not yet read clearly what was written afterwards.
At this moment, Ji Benchang was beside him, so he did not dare to open the memorial and continue reading it. He could only bite the bullet and answer, "This old minister... I don't know."
The emperor suppressed his smile, snorted, and handed the letter out, "This thing will also be of great use to our Great Zhou."
Yue Zhenchuan and Ji Benchang looked at each other, stepped forward to take the letter, and put their heads together. After seeing the handwriting clearly, Ji Benchang became unhappy.
He muttered, "It is indeed a letter from Liang Fu..."
The "useful" one was the letter from the Ministry of Works. What on earth did Shen Xingjian write in the letter? He didn't even get the favor of His Majesty. It was really infuriating!
Yue Zhenchuan looked inside before him, and when he saw the crucial part, the man actually took the letter directly in front of him!
“Hey, you…” Ji Benchang leaned his head closer again.
The more he looked down, the wider Yue Zhenchuan's eyes widened, and the tighter he gripped the letter paper.
"It can be so..." He looked at the big words "Sanhetu" on the letter and said in amazement: "Dolomite, such a common thing, can be so useful..."
Dolomite can definitely be described as "common" in the Great Zhou Dynasty, but precisely because it is so common, it has been ignored by everyone!
So what has his Ministry of Industry been doing all these years?
Yue Zhenchuan slapped his head in annoyance, and then heard Ji Benchang exclaim: "Just burn the stones and mix them with sand to pave the road?! How much money will this save!"
As he was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, he naturally put money first and looked at things from the perspective of saving money.
Why do he and Yue Zhenchuan always conflict with each other?
It was because besides the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works was the most diligent in asking for money! They were so diligent that it was almost annoying!
The Ministry of Human Resources is there to defend the country and protect the peace of the people of the Great Zhou!
And what about the Ministry of Industry?
Half of the money the Ministry of Industry wants is used to make new things! If it succeeds, he won't say anything, but the fact is that most of the money has gone down the drain! How can he not feel bad about this?
The more Ji Benchang thought about it, the angrier he became. He couldn't help but recall that two months ago the Ministry of Works was asking the Ministry of Revenue for money under the pretext of "repairing the official straight road."
The official straight road is different from the ordinary official road.
Official roads only need to be flattened, crushed and flattened. Official straight roads, on the other hand, need to be more aesthetically pleasing. Whether it is a "road" or an "official post station", it needs to be paved with bluestone, and the emphasis is on a neat and beautiful appearance.
It looks good, but only those with an abacus know how much silver it would cost to pave the entire road with bluestone bricks!
It is true that – if you don’t manage household expenses, you don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are!
Ji Benchang looked at the letter and said in a sarcastic tone, "Master Yue, I did a rough calculation. Compared with paving the road with bluestone, if we use this 'three-in-one soil' to build the official straight road, we can save at least this much money."
Yue Zhenchuan turned his head and the old man gave him a slap-like gesture.
He thought for a moment and then asked, "Ten thousand taels of silver?"
"Haha..." Ji Benchang smiled sarcastically again: "It's more than ten thousand taels. Bluestone is very delicate. Do you know how much manpower and material resources are needed to transport bluestone slabs along the way? All of them are silver!"
Yue Zhenchuan knew that he was unhappy, so he touched his nose awkwardly and said nothing.
Ji Benchang had the upper hand, and his tail also rose up: "Your Majesty, Lord Shen is far away in Tongan County, but he always thinks about the court and the Ministry of Works. The Ministry of Works has been studying for decades but has not succeeded, but Lord Shen has come and..."
With every word he uttered, Yue Zhenchuan lowered his head. Seeing that the time was almost right, the emperor chuckled and said, "Let's talk about the important things."
As for people, you can motivate them appropriately, but you can't directly destroy their motivation.
Ji Benchang coughed lightly, "Such a wonderful thing, I feel that we cannot waste a moment, why not let Lord Yue go down and order the mining, calcine part of it and put it into use, so that we may be able to catch up with the Queen Mother's birthday..."
The emperor laughed loudly when he heard this: "Ji Qing and I have the same idea. Previously, an official from the Ministry of Rites submitted a petition to pave the entire Shangjing with bluestone slabs to show the demeanor of a great country, but I rejected it."
Why was it rejected? Even without the emperor telling him, Ji Benchang knew it.
Compared with some "showy" emperors, the current emperor is pragmatic. He saves as much as possible on many matters, as if "face" is not very important to him.
The emperor even told Ji Benchang privately that the face of a country is actually the same as the face of an individual.
——The Great Zhou Dynasty did not need to straighten its back deliberately for anyone to see. When the people's pockets became fatter and their clothes became thicker, the Great Zhou Dynasty's back would naturally straighten, and no one would dare to look down on it anymore.
If we were to ask where the emperor was most generous, it would definitely be when it came to the livelihood of the people.
Ji Benchang sighed and said sincerely, "Your Majesty is wise!"
Seeing that the two were getting along well, Yue Zhenchuan racked his brains and started to interrupt: "Your Majesty. Dolomite is common, and there are ready-made kilns. I will order people to mine and calcine it. However... the detailed calcination and mixing method of the three-in-one soil..."
The letter only gave a general idea, but did not specify how to use the dolomite after calcination, or in what proportion it should be mixed with sand, stone and loess.
He thought - if there was a way, Lord Shen would definitely be willing to give it to him. But he didn't know if there would be any conditions involved.
Just when Yue Zhenchuan was about to send someone to Tongan County for negotiations, the emperor produced another page of letter paper as if by magic.
"Shen Qing wrote it. It was hidden inside Liang's reply letter."
Mr. Shen actually gave me this method directly! What a kind man, what a kind man!
Yue Zhenchuan swallowed his saliva, like a hungry wolf seeing a fat lamb, with a green light called "greed" in his eyes.
The emperor waved his hand, and the piece of paper began to sway in his hand, and Yue Zhenchuan's heart began to sway with it. He stared at the letter, and was about to take it with both hands in gratitude, when he saw the emperor retract his hand again.