Under Hu Weiyong's urging, the efficiency of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Household Affairs has been significantly accelerated.
Needless to say, the Ministry of Revenue allocated the money and grain early. After all, Hu Weiyong was bought with real money, so the Ministry of Revenue was naturally happy to give him food.
Although the work of the Ministry of Industry was tedious, under the supervision of Hu Weiyong, the route of the expressway between Yingtianfu and Songjiangfu was finally determined within three days.
After deciding where to start building the expressway, Hu Weiyong excitedly found Zhu Yuanzhang and reported the results of the past few days to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed and naturally praised Hu Weiyong full of praise.
Just in time for Queen Ma to return from Shanghu County, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Queen Ma to discuss the matter together.
When Queen Ma rushed to the study, her expression was not very natural.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not notice Queen Ma's expression, and said happily to Queen Ma:
"Sister, come on, take a look at the road map planned by Hu Weiyong."
"Construction will start at six locations including Yingtian, Huating, and Shanghu County."
"If this continues, I'm afraid it won't take half a year to complete the highway."
Zhu Yuanzhang was in a good mood. He did not expect that things would go so smoothly. In this way, if all highways could follow this speed.
Then it may not even take ten years for him to build highways all over the country.
Hu Weiyong also smiled, cupped his hands towards Zhu Yuanzhang and said:
"This is all thanks to the great help of the Emperor Hongfu and the Empress."
"Otherwise, I'm afraid this highway will be delayed for a long time."
"I wonder where the slaves brought back by the Queen are now? If they have already arrived at Yingtian City, then Weichen can take them to start construction tomorrow."
Hu Weiyong looked at Queen Ma expectantly, hoping to hear good news from Queen Ma.
Queen Ma's face was slightly red at the moment, and she was a little hesitant in speaking, and said:
"These slaves have arrived, but... there are only five thousand of them."
"Five thousand?"
Before Hu Weiyong spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't sit still.
According to Hu Weiyong's plan, six locations were started at the same time. Even 10,000 people were a bit stretched, and a large number of refugees had to be recruited.
It may even be necessary to hire a group of local people after the farming season, so that it can be enough.
As a result, the originally promised 10,000 people were gone, and they were cut off in the middle, and the number became 5,000. This made Zhu Yuanzhang furious.
"What happened to Li Jin? It was clearly promised to be 10,000 people, but why did he suddenly change his mind?"
"He is bullying the emperor!"
Hu Weiyong was also shocked. If there were really only 5,000 slaves, it would have a huge impact on his plan.
When the time comes, let alone six places starting construction at the same time, I'm afraid if there are three places that can start construction at the same time, he will be grateful.
"Mother, what happened?"
"Why did Li Jin suddenly change his mind?"
"Li Jin couldn't help it. He didn't expect that his people would be so harsh on the Japanese slaves."
Queen Ma was also helpless. Everything had been planned well.
As a result, when accepting the slaves, it was discovered that there were so few male Japanese slaves in Shanghu County.
Li Jin estimated that there were at least 15,000 Japanese slaves in Shanghai County, but after counting, he found that the number of male and female Japanese slaves added together was only a little over 10,000.
There are even more female Japanese slaves than male Japanese slaves.
Perhaps due to Li Jin's influence, the people in Shanghu County were attriting male Japanese slaves to an alarming level.
Their attitude towards male Japanese slaves is that as long as they can't be used to death, they will use them to death.
Shanghu County has no good impression of these Japanese pirates. Anyone who buys these slaves will make them do the most painful and tiring work, and at the same time eat the worst food.
Even if the owner is unhappy, beaten and scolded at every turn, and starved for three days, some people with explosive personalities will be beaten to death.
In Shanghu County, if you kill your own Japanese slave, you will not have to pay with your life, but you will have to pay money.
In such an environment, it is a miracle that these five thousand Japanese slaves can survive to this day.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Hu Weiyong were dumbfounded when they heard Shanghu County's attitude towards Japanese slaves.
There were more than 10,000 male slaves, and 5,000 of them were forced to death in this way. It is also conceivable how poor the health of the remaining 5,000 people was.
"Empress, may I ask, can the five thousand people you brought back do heavy work?"
Hu Weiyong carefully asked about his worries. After hearing this, Queen Ma looked a little embarrassed, but she still replied:
"Don't worry, Mr. Hu. These people can definitely be used."
"Before they came to Yingtian Mansion, they were working in the fields, and they were doing the most tiring work."
"There's absolutely no problem with building a highway."
The more Hu Weiyong listened, the darker his face became. What kind of crooked melon is this?
I don’t know how long these people have been doing heavy work?
Coupled with the usual harsh treatment and non-stop work day and night, Hu Weiyong was worried that these people would not survive even a month.
Zhu Yuanzhang's face didn't look good either. After all, what he wanted was a slave who could work hard for him.
If they are just a bunch of sick, old, weak and disabled people, why do you want them here?
"Sister, this isn't appropriate!"
"We bought them to work for us, not to provide for them in their old age."
"What did the emperor say?"
Queen Ma rolled her eyes at Zhu Yuanzhang and said:
"These people are all good at work, and Li Jin has given me a guarantee."
"None of them are over 40 years old now, and they can definitely meet the labor demand."
"Li Jin also said that these people are all cheap. If they dare to be lazy, just give them a few severe whips and they will be able to stand up and work."
"For this nation, the harder they are beaten, the more honest they become. The harder they are squeezed, the more powerful they can be to help us build highways."
"In addition, Li Jin also guaranteed that if these people died of natural causes within a month and were not killed intentionally, he would not take any money from them."
When Zhu Yuanzhang and Hu Weiyong heard the last sentence, their expressions became slightly better.
"In that case, Hu Weiyong, please go down and make arrangements immediately."
"Manpower is limited, so instead of flying all at once at six o'clock, just pick three places and start construction."
"The starting point is Yingtian City, the end point is."
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and then said:
"Just locate Shanghu County."
"Shanghu County has built a section of expressway. Your expressway must be connected to his expressway."
Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth watered when he thought of the bustling scene of people coming and going at the pier in Shanghu County.
Connected to the Lijin Expressway, some people can be diverted from the pier in Shanghu County.
Then his highway would be able to collect more highway kilometers. Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang only felt that the future was bright.
Hu Weiyong was slightly stunned. He didn't expect that Shanghu County had already built a highway. No wonder the emperor clamored to build a highway as soon as he came back from Shanghu County.
Queen Ma next to her also interjected:
"The craftsmen I brought back from Shanghu County have now been sent to the Ministry of Industry."
"These people used to be craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry, but when they arrived in Shanghu County, they were converted from craftsmen households to civilian households by Li Jin."
"So, Mr. Hu, don't treat them as ordinary craftsmen, but treat them with courtesy."
Hu Weiyong didn't say anything, but Zhu Yuanzhang was a little dumbfounded.
Taking your own craftsmen and selling them to yourself for money, is there any royal law in this world?
"Bang!"
Zhu Yuanzhang slapped the table and was about to get angry, but Queen Ma next to him quickly stopped him and whispered:
"Li Jin gave me three hundred thousand taels of silver some time ago, saying he wanted to buy these craftsmen."
"It's just that I didn't think you were short of money, so I didn't tell you."
"Now that these craftsmen are civilians, there is no need to embarrass them anymore."
Zhu Yuanzhang's face instantly turned red from suppressing his anger, and he couldn't express his anger. It turned out that he had been stabbed in the back by his own wife.
When Hu Weiyong saw this, although he didn't hear clearly what Empress Ma said, he knew it was not a good thing when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's expression.
He quickly raised his hands and said to Zhu Yuanzhang:
"Your Majesty, I will leave first."
Zhu Yuanzhang did not speak, but waved his hand and asked Hu Weiyong to go down and do things quickly.
After Hu Weiyong left, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Queen Ma and said:
"Sister, you have to tell us about this kind of thing as soon as possible in the future."
"Otherwise, we would feel panicked if you were kept in the dark."
Queen Ma sighed and said:
"I'm doing this for your own good too. Have you forgotten the time when you spent money lavishly?"
"In less than three months, you have spent millions. From now on, I will keep the money for you to save you from spending money randomly."
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't say a word when he was retorted. Seeing Zhu Biao snickering next to him, he said angrily:
"Why are you laughing? We don't have money. Will your East Palace have money in the future?"
Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment, then looked at Queen Ma aggrievedly and said:
"Mother, sons and ministers..."
Queen Ma ignored him, turned around and left the study.
