"That's right, fifty million guan. If it's not enough, you can add more."
Zhao Mengqi looked determined, stretched out five fingers, stretched them out in front of Wu Qian and waved them.
Wu Qian was shaken and was a little dizzy, "Are you adding more? Your Highness, I am talking to you about business, how can you be so joking!?"
You can't blame the old man for being angry. You must know that the imperial court's finances have been declining in recent years. The annual income is only about 100 million yuan, and that's only on the books. In fact, what is really received is 20 to 30% less, and the expenses are increasing day by day. .
When one cannot make ends meet, it is impossible to make a surplus. In the words of later generations, it is called "deficit finance." It is difficult to squeeze out even 500,000 guan, let alone 50 million guan.
If he hadn't found out that King Yan had a huge "windfall", Wu Qian would not have dared to think of such a large-scale project.
He opened his mouth and quoted a project budget of eight to nine million yuan. He originally had the intention of asking for a sky-high price, but in fact, he would be satisfied if he could get three to five million yuan.
But now King Yan opens his mouth and throws out 50 million strings. Isn't this deliberately trying to make fun of him?
That is to say, Zhao Mengqi's previous performance was pretty good and left a good impression on him. Otherwise, the old man would have pulled Zhao Mengqi's sleeves and sprayed saliva on his face.
Zhao Mengqi, however, took a tepid sip of tea and said slowly, "What I said is serious business, why are you joking?"
"Heh, I would like to hear this. How come the situation is so small, how can His Highness come up with this money?"
Wu Qian stared at Zhao Mengqi with eyes wide open, waiting for him to explain.
Zhao Mengqi sat up straight, "Speaking of which, in addition to the impact of land encirclement, the most fundamental reason for the blockage of Taihu Lake's outlet is actually caused by soil erosion in the upper reaches and a large amount of sediment entering Taihu Lake. Are you right?"
"Exactly." Wu Qian nodded with a straight face.
"In this case, just controlling the downstream water outflow will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. Frequent dredging will definitely be needed in the future to maintain the situation."
"Your Highness, I certainly understand this truth and have ideas for upstream management. However, things have priorities. With limited money and food, we can only focus on the downstream first."
"Oh? Put aside the matter of money and food. Can you first tell us what to do upstream?"
Wu Qian saw that King Yan was serious and had no intention of teasing, so he slowly calmed down and spoke carefully.
"This is what I think. There are two main entrances to Taihu Lake. One is Tiaoxi Seventy-four Du in the southwest, and the other is Jingxi Baidu in the northwest."
"Therefore, Dapu should be built in the upper reaches of the Daxi River, Daibu River, and Xixi River to store tides and water, and dams should be built in Nanhe, Nanxi, and Xuxi Rivers to collect the water from the Meizhu River and Daxi River along the line. This is used to control the amount of water flowing into Taihu Lake."
"In addition, there are six natural lakes, Tao Lake, Gehu, Dangyang, Gucheng, Shijiu, and Nanque, which can be used for water storage. The dams should be raised to increase water storage capacity."
"Between Taogei Lake and the canal are the Hexi River, Xili River, Cao River, etc.; between the canal and the Nanhe River and the Nanxi River are the Mengjin River, Wuyi River, Danjin River, Licao River, Zhaocun River, and other river systems. During the period, the north-south river channels used for flood diversion, river diversion, and navigation regulation need to be repaired and maintained..."
While Wu Qian was telling the story, Zhao Mengqi had already found the map and was marking it while listening.
Half an hour later, he had drawn dense lines and circles in the upstream area. He knew that this was a huge project without even counting it carefully.
"This is a preliminary idea established by veterans combined with the opinions of Jia Quan, Shan E, Jia Qiao, Zhao Lin and others. It is not perfect. If it is really to be implemented, water conservancy talents need to be called in to fill in the gaps and formulate a detailed plan."
"If there are really 50 million strings, no, as long as 20 million strings, I will be confident that the main project can be completed within five years, but it is a pity..."
It's a pity that you, King Yan, are just bragging!
Wu Qian glanced sideways at Zhao Mengqi, feeling full of regret.
After Zhao Mengqi noticed it, he pretended not to understand what Wu Qian was saying, touched his chin and asked, "The reason why Mr. Wu said it will take five years is probably because apart from the initial work-for-relief work for the victims, the rest of the time he hired laborers during slack times, right?" .”
"That's true, it's difficult
Does His Highness think there is anything wrong? After all, farming is fundamental and we don’t dare to delay it. "
"However, except in times of famine, the cost of hiring local laborers is not small. How much do you plan to pay?"
"This..." Wu Qian was stunned and realized that he had ignored the employment issue.
At this time, Champa rice was widely planted in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and it could produce two or even three crops in two seasons. The average yield per mu in the Taihu Lake Basin reached three stones. In addition to farming, most farmers also engaged in mulberry weaving and weaving. Side jobs such as short-term temporary work.
In other words, the individual productivity of the people in these places was much higher than that in other places in the Song Dynasty, which meant that the price of labor was higher.
At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty stipulated that farmers must be given two liters of rice a day, which was set as the standard throughout the world. Even the civilians at the border who participated in the transfer of military supplies were given two liters of rice, plus a certain amount of salt and vegetable money.
However, when Fan Zhongyan was in Suzhou, he had to pay three liters of rice to the farmers who were employed in building water conservancy projects.
Note that this is conscription, not employment. Building water conservancy projects is high-intensity labor. If you hire workers based on market wages, it will be difficult to recruit people for less than 300 cash.
Wu Qian originally thought that if he was given 100 wen per day, he could buy about a bushel of rice, which would be enough for a family of six. However, this was fine when doing work-for-relief, but not under normal circumstances.
Such a large project would require at least 100,000 laborers, and the labor cost alone would be 10 million guan per year. The 20 million guan he envisaged would only be enough for two years. Even if the construction period is shortened, it will definitely not be enough.
Immediately, Zhao Mengqi spoke, "My idea is to combine the renovation of water conservancy with the rectification of the Xiang army!"
"Xiang Army? This project will definitely require the use of part of the Xiang Army, but how can we organize it?"
"Wu Gong, you should know that the Xiang army system has done more harm than good to me in the Song Dynasty. I think that through this big project, the Xiang army from Zhejiang and Jiangjiang will be used effectively, and the labor force will be effectively utilized. The Xiang army can be reorganized and personnel distributed during the construction process to achieve the purpose of disarmament."
When Wu Qian heard this, he roughly caught something, "How to divert the traffic?"
"You said before that there will be at least 20,000 hectares of fertile land after the downstream water conservancy project is completed. If fully constructed, wouldn't there be at least 50,000 hectares? According to the standard of 40 acres for one farm family, 120,000 households can be accommodated. , of course, not everyone is willing to farm, so I also plan to establish an engineering force specifically for construction, a transportation group, and various workshops, as well as reform the county and township level administration and be able to accommodate a large number of people. "
Zhao Mengqi spoke vaguely, but after Wu Qian thought about it, it seemed quite feasible, but he still had questions, "In this case, all the new fields will be used to house the Xiang army, so how to raise money and food!?"