Let’s see what the British government does next.
Chapter 138 The construction of the Grand Canal and the British government’s move
Li Qiao was waiting for the British Duke's new moves, but the British Duke definitely didn't have any new moves for a while.
In gambling houses, the British government can't think of more interesting ways to play than mahjong and landlord fighting.
Duck shop, like him, the British government does not raise ducks at home. If you want to sell ducks, you have to buy ducks from others.
He raised the duck's purchase price regardless of the cost, and naturally he would not lower it.
He doesn't mind entering into a price war with the British government.
He can start a price war, but can the British government do it?
Although Li Qiao didn't know how rich the British government was, in terms of cash, the British government was definitely not as good as him.
If he doesn't steam the steamed buns to fight for reputation, he is willing to continue the price war.
But it's hard to say how long the British government can persist.
For now, the British government is probably out of options.
The joke of the British government has been decided this year.
However, he cannot put too much energy on the British government. He still has to continue living his own life.
Every day of the twelfth lunar month passed very quickly, and soon it was the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the day of worshiping the stove.
Today we are going to worship the Stove Lord and eat Stove Candies.
Li Qiao's homemade candies are made by Li Dashan and are very crispy. Every time you take a bite, crumbs will fall out all over the floor.
This kind of stove candy is very delicious, but after Li Dashan took a few bites, he suddenly sighed.
"I think my parents still have Xiaoshan Xiaolan."
Kitchen candy is maltose, which makes him miss his family.
Although Li Xia's father came when he got married this year, the rest of his family didn't come and they haven't seen each other for a year and a half.
Hearing this, Li Qiao was silent for a moment, and then said: "Next time the Han family's caravan returns to Sanliu Village, write them a letter and ask them to follow the Han family's caravan next year."
"It's really a pity that my sister-in-law didn't come last time."
"I'm just afraid that my mother won't want to come because there are many things at home."
Li Dashan took another bite of the stove candy as he spoke, and then sighed: "It seems that there are indeed few people in our Li family, and there is simply not enough."
"No." Li Qiao nodded in agreement.
The Li family seems to be quite large, but who makes him have so many properties now?
However, Shengjing is indeed too far from Sanliu Village. Even a normal journey will take a month and a half. If the weather is bad in the meantime, the walking time on the road will be even longer.
If the road is repaired, the time spent on the road will be shortened a lot.
But the road was too long. If he built an adobe brick road like Sanliu Village, it wouldn't be enough for him to put all his family property in it.
It would be great if the cement could be torn out.
He knows how to make cement and learned it after the apocalypse, but he currently doesn't have the right opportunity to tinker with it.
Since the land route failed, he focused on the water route.
The waterway is flatter and faster than the land road. More importantly, Shenghong wants to build the Grand Canal.
When he was taking the imperial examination, Sheng Hong had already begun to survey the locations that the Grand Canal passed through. As for the funds needed for the Grand Canal, it was funded by wealthy people in Dasheng according to the method he wrote during the imperial examination.
He only heard it once from Xin Zhi. Xin Zhi said that many people wanted to take out the money, but he didn't think about getting involved at the time, so he just listened and didn't take it seriously at all.
But now.
If the Grand Canal can pass through Hexi Prefecture, no, even if it passes through the original He Province, it will definitely be much easier for the Li family to come to the capital again.
Not only the Li family, but also the merchants who go to Pingcheng to buy vermicelli will definitely choose to combine water and land routes.
By then, there will be more merchants heading to Pingcheng.
If you want to be rich, you must first build roads. Nowadays, roads cannot be built for a while, but Sheng Hong is determined to build the Grand Canal.
I just don’t know if the route of the Grand Canal has been determined...
If you have doubts in your mind, you naturally have to find someone to inquire about it.
It happened that the New Year's gift for Mr. Zhao had not been sent out yet, so Li Qiao took it upon himself to prepare the New Year's gift. This year's New Year's gift was still duck products and cakes, and the strawberries he planted this year were quite successful, so this year he gave it to Mr. Zhao, the Seventh Prince Xin. The cake I prepared is strawberry cake.
In this twelfth lunar month of winter, this cake can be sold for a hundred taels of silver, which is very affordable.
The New Year's ceremony was ready, and on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Qiao and Tao Zhu went to the Zhao Mansion together.
Mr. Zhao is the Minister of Industry, so it would be right to ask Mr. Zhao to inquire about this matter.
When I arrived at the Zhao Mansion, I met Mr. Zhao. Because Zhao Shen and Li Xia were married, the relationship between the two families became much closer.
When Mr. Zhao heard about Li Qiao's intention, he knew everything he wanted to say.
Li Qiao's timing was clever. After a year and a half of surveying, the Grand Canal was about to formally determine its route map.
But anyone who is not a fool can see the huge profits and various benefits brought by the various docks after the Grand Canal is repaired. Therefore, during the survey process, some ministers secretly approached the Ministry of Works and tried to change the route. .
The Ministry of Industry withstood the pressure and provided the best route map based on the actual situation. Currently, there are several sections of canals from south to north. Connecting these canals and digging them through is the most convenient and trouble-free way.
However, some people did not give up and still wanted to build a new route. Recently, they took advantage of the Chinese New Year to directly approach Sheng Hong.
Shenghong will officially start building the Grand Canal in a few years. Now is the time when money is needed. Mr. Zhao feels that if someone is willing to provide enough money, then this best road map may really take a detour.
Li Qiao is most concerned about whether the Grand Canal passes through Yuanhe Province.
According to the current route map, the Grand Canal passes through a county seat adjacent to Yuanhe Province and Dongshan Province. This county seat is called Weiqing County. Because that county seat has a Weishui Lake and a Qinghe River, the county seat was named Weiqing County. Qing County.
Weiqing County has plenty of water and a relatively suitable terrain, so it is included in the best route map for the Grand Canal.
Although there is only a small section of Weiqing County, the Grand Canal does pass through Yuanhe Province.
However, it is hard to say whether this best route map can be preserved before construction of the Grand Canal begins. To build the Grand Canal, Sheng Hong advanced money to wealthy people in Dasheng. Whoever paid for it would have a greater say.
Mr. Zhao could not give Li Qiao a guarantee.
In order to let Li Qiao intuitively feel the distance between Weiqing County and Pingcheng in Yuanhe Province, Mr. Zhao specially took out a map from the Ministry of Industry, whose level of detail was not accessible to the outside world.
According to what is drawn on the map, Weiqing County is separated from Pingcheng by a prefecture, so it is not close. However, if the Grand Canal really passes through Weiqing County, then when the time comes for traders to go to Pingcheng, they will definitely go through Weiqing County.
Li Qiao looked at the map and knew what was going on. After returning from Zhao's house, he immediately sent a message to the Seventh Prince's Mansion. He wanted to go with Tao Zhu to deliver New Year's gifts to the Seventh Prince tomorrow.
On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Qiao and Tao Zhu went to give New Year's gifts to the seventh prince.
The Seventh Prince's Mansion is quite large, but also very empty. In appearance and behavior, the Seventh Prince is completely masculine. There are no maids in the Mansion, and all the servants are men. Plus a bunch of guards, and there is a yang atmosphere in the Mansion. Extremely prosperous.
Li Qiao couldn't help but praise Meng Yue in his heart.
The seventh prince was surrounded by men, but Meng Yue didn't care. This alone was enough to show that Meng Yue was a good person.
However, he saw no hope for this pair.
I met the Seventh Prince in the flower hall, saluted, sat down, and served tea and snacks.
After Li Qiao and Tao Zhu exchanged a few words, they expressed their intention to come. They wanted to find out whether the Weiqing County section of the Grand Canal could be saved?
The seventh prince was a little surprised when he heard Li Qiao's words.
"It's a coincidence that you asked. I was hesitant to talk to you. Yesterday I went to the palace to talk to my father about the case of the Ministry of Punishment, and I met Fifth Brother."
"When I went there, he was talking to my father about the Grand Canal. I overheard it. He wanted to dig out money to reroute the site identified by the Ministry of Industry. He wanted to bypass Weiqing County so that the Grand Canal could pass through Dazefu in Dongshan Province passes by.”
"Daze Mansion is adjacent to the British Duke's hometown, Yuanshan Prefecture, and it also belongs to the British Duke's territory. The British Duke has many good land shops in Daze Prefecture."
"If the Grand Canal is really moved to Dazefu, then the price of land in Dazefu will definitely increase, and the passenger flow will also increase a lot."
"But I thought Weiqing County had nothing to do with you, and if you intervened, you would be directly confronting Fifth Brother, so I didn't notify you as soon as possible."
"Now you ask, but you want to get involved in the Grand Canal?"
Li Qiao: "..."
Good guy.
Were you waiting for him here?
No, no, not really.
Before Li Dashan said he missed his parents, siblings, he had never thought about the Grand Canal.
According to the British Duke's mind, he should be purely based on the interests of the British Duke's government, so he focused on Weiqing County.
The British Duke directly asked the fifth prince to come forward. If he went to find Sheng Hong, he would really confront the fifth prince directly.
"Then what does the emperor say?"
Tao Zhu on the side was a little anxious and immediately asked: "Has the Emperor agreed?"
"My father said he would think about it, but he didn't agree. But, as for this matter, because Fifth Brother is willing to pay, if Li Qiao doesn't get involved, then most likely my father will agree. Because that's what happened in Daze Mansion. The terrain is also suitable, and it is feasible for the Grand Canal to bypass Dazefu, but it will cost more money."
The seventh prince said.
Tao Zhu: "..."
He turned to look at Li Qiao.
Li Qiao smiled bitterly: "Then how much money is the fifth prince willing to pay?"
"As far as I know, the highest bidder gets it, right?"
"Yes, the one with the highest price will win, but who in Weiqing County dares to compete with Fifth Brother? Even looking at the entire Yuanhe Province, no one dares to offend Fifth Brother."
When the seventh prince said this, he paused for a moment, and then pointed at Li Qiao: "Except you."
"No, no, no, I just offended the British government, not the fifth prince directly."
Li Qiao quickly denied it.
This time he was going to confront the Fifth Prince directly, and he hadn't decided yet whether to get involved.
