Liu Bowen seemed calm and unhurried when faced with the gazes of the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty.
He straightened his clothes, walked out slowly, faced Zhu Yuanzhang's indifferent gaze, and said happily and fearlessly:
"Your Majesty, since ancient times, building roads has been a heavy labor and requires a lot of manpower."
"Not only that, the construction of official roads can take as little as half a year and as long as two or three years."
"I heard that the highway that the emperor wants to build will be two or three times wider than ordinary official roads."
"Then the time it takes and the population will grow exponentially."
"It will take four to five years at the latest. So I would like to ask the emperor, what will happen to the land of Ming Dynasty during this time?"
"If the emperor wants to build highways across the country, the manpower requirements will be astronomical."
"Now that the Ming Dynasty is in ruins, it is time to recuperate and work hard to govern. If the emperor rashly imposes heavy corvee services, I am afraid it will not be a blessing to the people."
Liu Bowen's meaning is very simple. If you want to build roads, you need people.
However, the land of the Central Plains has just experienced war for two years. The people have withered and the population has declined.
From Yangzhou Prefecture, you can see the current scenes in other Central Plains lands.
It cannot be compared with the flourishing cities like Shanghu County. The current Ming Dynasty is still riddled with holes.
Although it is full of vitality, we must not encourage it and rush for quick success, otherwise we may encounter disaster.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Liu Bowen's resolute face and knew in his heart that what Liu Bowen said made sense.
But he had to build the highway, not just for a little money.
If highways were built across the country, it would be of great benefit to the Ming Dynasty to control local areas.
Now that the Ming Dynasty has been established, wars may break out in all directions. After all, the Mongols have been entrenched in China for hundreds of years, and the Han people have lost the Central Plains in the north for three hundred years.
These people are not familiar enough with Ming Dynasty and are not loyal enough.
If high roads can be connected to all parts of the country, then no matter where a war breaks out, Zhu Yuanzhang can send troops from Yingtian and reach the war-torn place within half a month.
We can put out the riot before it has completely fermented.
Not only that, in addition to suppressing rebellions, there is also disaster relief.
Relief supplies departing from Yingtian can quickly reach the disaster-stricken areas, and people will not starve to death due to lack of rescue.
However, these are Zhu Yuanzhang's ideals, but the reality is cruel, as Liu Bowen said.
Building roads requires people, and the Ming Dynasty is currently short of people. Let alone building highways in the entire Ming Dynasty, it is very difficult to build highways in the Jiangnan region.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked away from Liu Bowen and slowly looked at Li Shanchang.
As Liu Bowen's old rival, Li Shanchang must play his role at this time.
When Li Shanchang saw Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, he immediately understood what Zhu Yuanzhang meant and stepped out and said:
"Your Majesty, I think what Mr. Liu said is not correct."
"Building highways is a great good thing that will benefit the present and future generations. How can it be abandoned just because of lack of manpower?"
"People do need to rest and recuperate, but this cannot delay the progress of major national affairs."
"I think we can do it in some areas first and see the effect."
"If the role of expressways is very huge, then we will continue to work hard and promote it nationwide."
"This waste of manpower and material resources will be minimized."
"No matter how few people there are in the Ming Dynasty, they can't even find the manpower to build a highway in one province."
"As for the farming issues that Mr. Liu is worried about, there is even more fuss. During the farming period, we can let the people go back to farming first."
"This will neither delay the farming season nor affect the construction of the highway. Isn't it the best of both worlds?"
Li Shanchang's words were completely clever.
Everyone knows that what Liu Bowen said is right. The world is in decline, and it is not a good idea to raise money and recruit people to build highways.
But Zhu Yuanzhang is determined to do it now, and Li Shanchang has no choice but to use this method.
After all, if it were only piloted in one prefecture and no highways were built nationwide, then few people in the Ming Dynasty would be affected.
If the farming season is not delayed, this impact can definitely be minimized.
As soon as Li Shanchang said this, he received a lot of echoes.
After all, it was the first time since the founding of the Ming Dynasty that highways were built and tolls were collected.
Even if they guess that participating in the expressway will definitely make a lot of money, who can say it accurately before the results come out?
It is better to follow what Li Shanchang said and experiment with a land first. If the benefits are really considerable, then continue to invest money later.
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment, with a smile on his face and said:
"Okay, you are worthy of being our prime minister. He does things in a systematic way."
"Let's do what you say first."
"This time we are going to open up the road between Yingtian Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, and build a highway between the two prefectures."
"Leave this matter to Hu Weiyong. I hope you won't disappoint us."
Hu Weiyong did not expect that this matter would eventually fall on him, and he was immediately overjoyed.
"I will never betray the emperor's trust."
Liu Bowen originally wanted to persuade him again, but when he saw Hu Weiyong's appearance, he sighed and shook his head helplessly.
The officials below also looked confused. They didn't understand why they had to open up the road to Songjiang Mansion?
You must know that among the counties surrounding Yingtian Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture is definitely the poorest.
Why did the emperor single-handedly choose Songjiang Mansion?
Li Shanchang, Hu Weiyong and Liu Bowen were the only people in the civil and military dynasties who could understand Zhu Yuanzhang's thoughts.
Next, Zhu Yuanzhang discussed other affairs with the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs, and then announced his resignation.
....
After going to court, Hu Weiyong followed Li Shanchang and walked towards Zhongshu Province.
"Teacher, now that the emperor has entrusted this kind of errand to my hands, I am really shocked and frightened."
As soon as Hu Weiyong sat down, he complained to Li Shanchang, pretending to be frightened.
Li Shanchang was very calm, and he reached out to pick up the tea cup from the table, intending to take a sip of tea first.
Upon seeing this, Hu Weiyong stood up quickly, poured tea for Li Shanchang, and kept saying:
"The Emperor doesn't know where he saw this expressway again. It's really puzzling that he insists on doing this."
Li Shanchang took a sip of tea and then said;
"It can only be that place."
"And I'm afraid things are not that simple. I haven't seen Xu Da for a long time."
Li Shanchang didn't specify anything, but he said everything.
Hu Weiyong thought of the rumors in Beijing in the past few months, and now that Zhu Yuanzhang is determined to open up the road between Yingtian Mansion and Songjiang Mansion, could it be...
Hu Weiyong was suddenly startled and asked Li Shanchang:
"My teacher is saying that the emperor plans to open a sea... in Shanghu County?"
Hu Weiyong's voice was very low. Even if there was no one around, Hu Weiyong was afraid of being heard by others.
Li Shanchang smiled and said nothing. He didn't say much on this issue. He just said:
"Don't worry about that, just do your job well."
"If you do this well, the emperor will only think more highly of you."
"I am already fifty-eight this year. In two years, I will be sixty years old."
"At that time, I will resign from the emperor. As for the position of Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, I am very optimistic about you."
After Li Shanchang finished speaking, he looked at Hu Weiyong with a smile on his face, as if he really wanted to pass his position to Hu Weiyong.
But when Hu Weiyong heard this, he quickly stood up again, bowed to Li Shanchang and said:
"My mentor is in such good health, how can he resign from the emperor? If you leave, what will happen to the Ming Dynasty's court?"
"Students are still too young and need mentors to provide guidance from time to time."
"Students cannot live without their teachers, the court cannot live without their teachers, and the people of Ming Dynasty cannot live without their teachers. Please never say this again."
Hu Weiyong stood uneasy at this moment, as if the Ming Dynasty would collapse if Li Shanchang resigned, and he resolutely retained Li Shanchang.
Li Shanchang sighed and said:
"It's not that I want to resign, but that the higher position can no longer accommodate me."
"Forget it, it's okay not to talk about this. You should do your own thing first."
"If this thing is done beautifully, I will be more confident in recommending you to sit in this position to the superiors in the future."
Seeing that Li Shanchang was unwilling to say more, Hu Weiyong could only nod and said:
"Don't worry, my mentor, the students will do their best."
"It's just a matter of collecting money from the gentry, what should students do?"
