"What about the imperial court's approval for recruiting civilian husbands?"
"Xiaguan just came over from the Baochao Office. When Xiaguan left, he hadn't received it yet."
How? Is the efficiency of the imperial court so low?
Forget it, after all, it's only the first day, so it's not easy for me to ask.
He had no choice but to tell Xiong Shi, "Then wait a little longer. If you haven't arrived today, you can go to the East Palace tomorrow and ask what's going on."
"The official has taken note of it." Xiong Shi nodded in agreement.
Han Du lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Where is this piece of shit Heizi? Where did he go? Why can't he see anyone when the critical moment comes?"
"Sir, have you forgotten? Didn't you arrange for Heizi to go to the Ministry of Works to teach craftsmen how to make cement?"
Huang Lao tried to explain.
"Of course I haven't forgotten it," Han Du said unhappily, "But it's been a few days, why hasn't he come back yet? Making cement is as simple as making cement. You can do it at a glance. Does it take so long to teach him?"
"Then the little old man will send someone to urge him?" Huang Lao suggested. But I don't agree with Han Du's words in my heart, can you tell me just by looking at it? How can this be. Perhaps this is naturally possible for adults. After all, this cement is made by adults, but for ordinary people, it is not that easy. There are actually many important points in making cement. A single oversight may Will cause production to fail. Anyway, at the beginning, Mr. Huang himself thought carefully before he figured out how to make cement. This was because he participated in various attempts to make cement from beginning to end.
However, Han Du thought that Xue Gongbu was a pretty good person and there was no need to bring shame on the Gongbu for such a trivial matter.
Then he waved his hand and sighed, "Forget it, let's wait and see. Without him, it won't have much impact. It's better for us to take action first."
"become."
After things were arranged, Mr. Huang and Xiong Shi went to do their own things.
Mr. Huang went to summon the craftsmen to dig and build the kiln. More than a hundred people were digging and building the kiln in twenty places at the same time. In an instant, it gave people a lively scene.
However, Xiong Shi had to work harder. He made another trip to the Baobao Collection Department to see if the money from the East Palace had been delivered. He also had to go to the General Affairs Department to see if the approval document for recruiting civilian husbands had been issued.
As the two left, Han Du began to relax. I picked up the teapot on the coffee table and poured myself a cup slowly. I sipped the tea leisurely while looking at the busy scene outside. It felt so comfortable.
This is the advantage of being a leader. You only need to use your words. The people below will naturally do the hard work and errands.
In the afternoon, Xiong Shi came back. He brought back the news that the money and food in the East Palace were in place, and the imperial court's approval for recruiting civilian husbands.
"Sir, this is the imperial court's approval. In five days, the people will be summoned to assemble."
Han Du was slumped on the chair and reached out to take it. When Xiong Shi said this, he immediately stood up from the chair.
"Why five days later? Not tomorrow?"
Xiong Shi immediately explained, "My lord, I don't know. Recruiting civilians is not a trivial matter. The imperial court ordered that they need to set aside some time for the county government. Sir, think about it, the county government received an order from the imperial court. It's impossible to summon all those people right away. After all, these people are scattered in various places throughout the county. It takes time for the court to notify the county, and it will also take time for the county to notify the grain chief and li chief, right? The grain chief and the li chief still need to go door-to-door to determine who has completed the corvee this year and who still needs to perform corvee. In this case, five days is considered the fastest, which means that these counties are near the capital. So fast. If it were a remote place like that and wanted to recruit civilians, it would have been impossible if the imperial court had not issued an order one or two months in advance."
After listening to Xiong Shi's explanation, Han Du finally reacted.
Yes, this is not in the information age, where an order from the central government can be conveyed to the grassroots in an instant.
Now if an order from the imperial court wants to be conveyed, it must be conveyed by people on horseback. The most powerful one is the eight hundred miles of the border pass that convey urgent military information. But at this point, the order can only be conveyed within 800 miles in one day. As for the order beyond 800 miles, I'm sorry, it will have to wait until the next day or even more days.
After shaking the approval document in his hand a few times, Han Du sighed helplessly, "Okay, five days is all." After saying that, he returned the approval document to Xiong Shi.
It takes five days to recruit civilian workers, but I can't be idle here. The cement production can't stop for a moment. After the kiln is built tomorrow, firing will begin.
Five days later, after going through twenty kilns of the Banknote Bureau and firing day and night, the cement produced filled several rooms. Mr. Huang vacated all the rooms where paper-making raw materials were stored to store cement.
Before dawn, Han Du and Xiong Shi had already ridden out of the city. Behind them were fifty craftsmen carefully selected by Huang Laojing. They rushed towards the place where the civilians gathered.
The gathering place is in the middle of this road. Since most of this road is in Jurong County, the gathering place is also in Jurong County, but it is close to the capital. And it goes without saying that the number of civilians recruited in Jurong County is the largest among several counties. of.
When Han Du arrived, it was already the end of the Chen hour and the sun had risen. From a distance, he could see a large group of people, carrying various tools, standing or sitting in a long line on the road. .
If there are ten thousand people, there will be no shore.
What's more, there are now 20,000 people gathered here.
Although the place was crowded and noisy, Han Du still saw an old acquaintance as soon as he arrived.
"Hey, Mr. Zhou, can you come in?" Han Du greeted him with a smile.
There were several government officials standing beside him, and waiting on the side of the road was Magistrate Zhou who sold the coal mine to Han Du.
Magistrate Zhou was originally unhappy. The neglected barren mountain that Han Du bought from him turned into a hot coal mine. Fortunately, he promptly submitted a letter to the court to defend himself. Although I don’t know why the court did not punish him for this, the officialdom is like a battlefield. He had lost such a big face and sold his gold for dirt. Naturally, other officials who did not deal with him would not miss this opportunity to ridicule him.
From word to word, the words of a "confused county magistrate" spread among the official circles.
Magistrate Zhou was born as a Jinshi, and he had also been named on the gold list. Otherwise, he would not have had the opportunity to be a county magistrate in the capital. He is also ambitious, and he often thinks about being able to take charge of a movie one day. Now that the "confused county magistrate" is spreading rumors all over the city, let alone other things, don't even think about his future.
Therefore, during this period of time, Magistrate Zhou's face was clouded every day.
Seeing Han Du's bright smile now, Magistrate Zhou was really angry. If he hadn't been cultivating his moral character, he might have punched this disgusting face long ago, making his eyes full of peach blossoms.
However, after careful consideration, Magistrate Zhou still suppressed the anger in his chest.
"Mr. Han really has the ability to turn stone into gold. He has bought all the coal mines in this county and left not even a piece of charcoal residue for the people of the county. I have lived half my life, and I have learned a lot this time."
Although the words were not very sharp, but in line with the expression of the county magistrate last week, the cold words made Han Du feel uncomfortable.
But Han Du knew that what he did was not very authentic, but there was no other way. How could he take care of so many wealthy people now?
If Han Du really swallowed the coal mine by himself, let alone the county magistrate this week, he might really give Han Du negative publicity among the people, turning a blind eye and acquiescing to the people looking for Han Du. Trouble.
But now the coal mine no longer belongs to Han Du himself. The bulk of it now belongs to the emperor and the prince. He dare not interfere with it if it is given to County Magistrate Zhou.
Perhaps these sarcastic remarks just now were what he could do to deal with Han Du's powerful attack.
"My lord, what you said is wrong. Although I bought the coal mine, it didn't leave any benefits to the county."
County Magistrate Zhou thought that Han Du meant that there were coal mines left in other places in the county, so he glared at Han Du fiercely and said, "This county has already sent people to look for it. Except for the ones you bought, there are no other places." No trace of coal ore was ever found. Some people even dug several feet deep into the ground, even digging out the springs, but no trace of coal ore was found."
"That's not what I'm talking about," Han Du waved his sleeves and explained with his hands behind his back, "Mr. Zhou, look, people are always needed to mine coal mines, right? I don't have many people in the treasure bank lifting department. With this small number of people, even if they die from exhaustion, it is impossible to mine enough to feed the people of the entire capital."
Magistrate Zhou laughed angrily, "What? Do you still want me to recruit civilians to help you mine? Hahaha..."
County Magistrate Zhou looked up to the sky and smiled, vomiting the depression in his chest.
After laughing, he stretched out his hand and pointed at Han Du's nose, "Other officials can't guarantee it, but I can guarantee it. As long as I am still the magistrate of Jurong County, you won't have any common people to help you quarry coal."
"Why are you doing this, sir?" Han Du saw County Magistrate Zhou snorting coldly, and he didn't care about his words, so he had no choice but to continue explaining, "Your Excellency, you have misunderstood. I said that I have left benefits for the people, so of course it is true. How about that? Sir, how about you listen to what I have to say and then make further calculations?"
Magistrate Zhou didn't even look at Han Du, and didn't want to listen to his nonsense. He snorted coldly to express his attitude. In Magistrate Zhou's view, what good shit can a person like Han Du do?
I remember that when he first came to the county government, I was so enthusiastic and hospitable to him. The results of it? Unexpectedly, he came here with bad intentions in his stomach. He pretended to buy a barren mountain that no one cared about, but in fact, he bought the coal mine at a price that couldn't be lower.
