Xu Da listened and nodded.
He has the most say on whether he can ride a horse on the stone slab. He prefers to go to court on horseback, but every time he rides on horseback and walks in small steps. He has never galloped in the capital. The roads in the capital are all paved with stone slabs. Firstly, it is because I am afraid of hurting others by riding the horse, and secondly, it is for my own safety.
When a horse is galloping in the capital, if a horse's hoof steps down and steps on a piece of moss, it will end up flipping over. In serious cases, it may lead to death.
Therefore, it is just an unfounded speculation of later generations that the sons of princes set horses and injured people in the capital. If any Zizhen brother dares to ride a horse like this on the stone road, his father-in-law will break his legs first to avoid future consequences without anyone else taking action.
The horse gallops and gallops wildly, only in the grassland outside the city.
"And what this gentleman said that the cement road will facilitate the Bei Yuan's movement south is simply nonsense. The cement road will only facilitate the Ming Dynasty's attack on the Bei Yuan. It will have hundreds of benefits and no harm."
Han Du refuted the official's points one by one.
The official was naturally dissatisfied with Han Du, but he couldn't find anything to say to refute Han Du, so he could only look at Han Du bitterly.
But Han Du had no intention of letting him go. "Since your lord thinks that Han's construction of the Straight Road was wrong, I dare to ask you, after Qin unified the world, why did he spend a lot of manpower and material resources to build the Qin Straight Road? Is it possible that your lord's Is his vision even more far-sighted than that of Qin Shihuang?"
"You, you spit on people." The official was furious, and the fingers pointing at Han Du were trembling.
The ancients said that the king of heaven and earth is his teacher. It is the duty of ministers to fear the emperor. Even if Qin Shihuang is the emperor of the Qin Dynasty and he is an official of the Ming Dynasty, he must respect Qin Shihuang in the same way as he respects Lao Zhu.
Not to mention that he didn't have Qin Shihuang's talents and strategies at all. Even if he did, he couldn't despise Qin Shihuang in front of Lao Zhu.
The majesty of the emperor is maintained by the emperor and must not be offended.
"The Qin Dynasty used hundreds of thousands of civilians and a lot of manpower and material resources to build the Straight Road. It took two years to complete. The Qin Straight Road is crisscrossed and stretches for more than a thousand miles. The purpose of building the Straight Road at such a high cost is to resist the attack from the north. Huns.”
Han Du continued: "Your Majesty, this straight road is like a sharp knife inserted into the grassland. The reason why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was able to attack the Xiongnu in the north was that the straight Qin Road that reached Yinshan Mountain was indispensable. In fact, judging from the past dynasties, We can also discover the huge role of straight roads. Any Central Plains court that can attach importance to straight roads and reuse straight roads can basically take the initiative to attack those in the north; courts that do not pay attention to the role of straight roads, or even waste straight roads, are basically facing When there is a threat from the north, it is more vulnerable than attacked, and it is just a passive defense."
Those present were all people who had read poetry and books.
Even Lao Zhu, although he was an emperor born as a cowherd boy, he was diligent and eager to learn, and his knowledge was not inferior to that of ordinary people.
Regarding Han Du's words, everyone naturally knew that what he said was accurate as soon as they recalled it.
Regardless of the Han, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties, those who could take the initiative to conquer the north almost always relied on Qin Zhidao.
"Your Majesty, I think what Han Du said is reasonable." Xu Da stood up at this time and spoke for Han Du.
"Although it is also important to strengthen city walls and consolidate border defenses, the old minister seems to think that building cement roads is more important." Seeing the superior looking at him, Xu Da stroked his beard and said, "We and Beiyuan have always been strong and weak. Facing the Ming Dynasty, Beiyuan has always defended more and attacked less. Even if Beiyuan launches a surprise attack, the current city defense is enough to withstand it, and there will be no situation where Beiyuan will enter the pass again."
"But building cement roads is different. Once completed, Daming will be able to mobilize a large number of troops and supplies in a short period of time. Whether it is an attack from Bei Yuan or an active conquest of Bei Yuan, we can handle it with ease."
Lao Zhu thought carefully about Xu Da's words and finally nodded, "I have the same idea."
Xu Da said seriously: "Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty can conquer Bei Yuan five or ten times, and can even completely wipe out Bei Yuan. But even if Bei Yuan dies, the threat from the grassland tribes in the north of Ming Dynasty will not disappear. The grasslands that Ming Dynasty can conquer will not disappear. The tribe won’t be able to lift it up in twenty or fifty years, but what about one hundred years from now?”
"I am old," Xu Da looked lonely, with the sadness of a hero in his twilight years. "Whether I can live for ten years or twenty years is unknown. Every time I return to my dream in the middle of the night, I am awakened by the worry in my heart. I am deeply afraid that a hundred years from now, my descendants will have to face the iron hooves of the grassland tribes, and they will have to fight in armor and wrap their bodies in horse leather just like I did."
There was a rich and desolate flavor in Xu Da's voice, which infected Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt the same way, even more deeply than Xu Da. He is an emperor, so he naturally hopes that the Ming Dynasty will last forever. Originally, he conquered Beiyuan several times with the purpose of completely annihilating it and giving Ming Dynasty decades of peace.
But as Xu Da said, what about a hundred years later?
By then, the threat to the grasslands will surely resurface. At that time, were there still wise and mighty kings like him, and commanders as skilled in warfare as Xu Da?
If there is, then the Ming Dynasty can be stable, and perhaps it can once again enjoy peace for decades. But what if there is none? Wouldn't the iron hoof of the grassland be about to move south again, and wouldn't the Ming Dynasty be in danger?
Xu Da bowed to Lao Zhu, "I implore the emperor to build a cement road, restore the Qin Straight Road, and forge a sharp knife on the grassland that reaches the heart of the grassland."
"Brother, get up quickly, we're awake." Lao Zhu helped Xu Da up with both hands.
Han Du was very happy to see this, but he was not moved by the relationship between king and minister. But, since Lao Zhu has agreed to build cement roads, his skills in making cement can be sold at a good price.
Ten thousand guan, this is a great supplement for the treasure banker.
Xiong Shi has mentioned this to Han Du several times in the past few days, saying that the money for the Baochao prosecution case is about to be spent. Originally, the treasure bank transfer department was located in a yamen in the capital, and it was definitely a very fat and oily yamen.
But as soon as Han Du took office, he paid salaries to the craftsmen, opened a canteen in the banknote bureau for the craftsmen to eat and drink, and dug kilns to burn lime and conduct various experiments. As a result, the money was naturally spent like running water. .
The small amount of money in the Baobao Lifting Company disappeared as visible to the naked eye, and it was about to bottom out, and it was in urgent need of funds to replenish it.
Lao Zhu comforted Xu Da, and then turned to Han Du, "Cement is good."
Han Du responded with a smile.
"However, ten thousand guan is still too much."
The smile froze on his face, and Han Du had no choice but to explain again: "Your Majesty should know that the technical value of making cement is worth more than one million guan. I only want 10,000 guan, which is already a very low price."
"Of course I know," Lao Zhu nodded, suddenly looked around a few times, took Han Du's arm, walked a few steps forward, away from everyone, "but the court is not easy, it is poor."
"Your Majesty, please don't joke." Han Du laughed angrily at Lao Zhu's words.
As the saying goes, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. No matter how poor the court is, it will not be able to afford even 10,000 guan.
This is clearly because Lao Zhu is stingy and bullying himself because he doesn't want to spend so much money to buy the cement formula.
"To tell you the truth, the imperial court has been unable to make ends meet these years, otherwise I wouldn't have issued treasure notes to make up for the shortfall." Lao Zhu sighed, "Although the imperial court has money, where does it not cost money up and down? As for your cement, if I want to buy it, I have to squeeze out part of it from my own expenses."
"Let's do this. I'll work harder. For one thousand guan, you can sell your cement skills to the court." Lao Zhu said pitifully.
After hearing this, Han Du looked at Lao Zhu in disbelief, "You are an expert at bargaining. You can easily eat up 90% of your own price with just a few words."
Shaking his head, Han Du said categorically: "I won't sell it for a penny less than ten thousand guan. Your Majesty, if I sell it for a low price, I'll be sorry for the craftsmen who have used all the secret skills passed down from their families."
Han Du raised his head and faced Lao Zhu's gaze without any selfishness in his eyes.
Lao Zhu looked at Han Du, and the warm smile on his face gradually disappeared.
"It seems that it's too soft, and it's about to be hard." Han Du's heart froze. So what if it's tough? From Han Du's point of view, you and I are willing to deal fairly, and he has nothing to be afraid of.
While he was cheering himself up, he suddenly heard Lao Zhu say quietly, "I heard that some of your craftsmen here shouted long live a few days ago. Is this true?"
"Your Majesty, you don't have martial ethics." Han Du's heart tightened and his eyes widened. He couldn't believe that Lao Zhu could do such a shameless thing.
However, Lao Zhu did it.
Han Du had no choice but to bite the bullet and explain to Lao Zhu: "Your Majesty, it is the craftsman's expression of inner joy, and there is absolutely no other intention."
After pinching Han Du seven inches, the smile on Lao Zhu's face returned to his face, and he said unhurriedly: "What exactly does it mean? I have to find out what it means. How can I listen to your words?"
"My lord, my lord..." Han Du was sweating profusely.
What Lao Zhu said sounded nice, what to find out.
How to check? Shouldn't we start investigating among the craftsmen?
Which craftsmen should I start investigating? Han Du could guess with his toes that Lao Zhu was definitely going to take away those craftsmen who knew how to make cement.
Zhu Yuanzhang was clearly telling Han Du that either you obediently sell me the cement skills with Qian Guan, or I take away your craftsmen, and I can still get the cement skills, but you Han Du But he couldn't get a penny.
The matter of shouting long live, to put it mildly, as Han Du explained, is just to express inner joy; to put it seriously, it is suspected of bullying the emperor.
