In the blink of an eye, two months passed, and the four years of Hongwu gradually came to an end.
Since Hu Weiyong took over the expressway project, he has been leaving early and returning late, putting all his energy into the expressway project.
He allocated two thousand of the five thousand slaves obtained from Shanghu County to build a highway in Yingtian Mansion.
The remaining three thousand were divided into two halves, with half placed in Huaiyin County and the other half placed in Shanghu County.
Due to lack of manpower, it was originally planned to start construction in six counties along the way at the same time, but now only three counties can start construction.
In addition, as the end of the year approaches, the weather is getting colder and colder, which is a great obstacle to the construction of railways.
Hu Weiyong originally expected the project to take three months, but now in the past two months, not even one-third of the road has been repaired.
The most serious thing is that as the weather gets colder, the Japanese slaves, who were already very thin, froze to death.
At the beginning, Li Jin sent 5,000 slaves, but now 1,000 of them have left. If this continues, I am afraid that the highway will not be repaired until next spring.
Hu Weiyong did not expect that the originally well-planned road construction plan would turn out like this.
He was so angry that he did not dare to urge the officials from the Ministry of Works, telling them to speed up the progress without delay. This kind of road construction speed was as slow as a snail.
The staff of the Ministry of Industry had no choice but to speed up the work. After all, Hu Weiyong was urging him to do something every day, and no one could stand it.
But the reality is there, the ground is frozen hard in winter, how can we start construction? Even if those slaves were whipped hard with whips, they couldn't dig.
And if these slaves continue to be oppressed like this, I'm afraid not many of them will be alive after the New Year.
Hu Weiyong didn't want to hear this. He had boasted about Haikou in front of Zhu Yuanzhang. If he didn't complete the expressway on time and was scolded by the emperor, he would be miserable.
This matter is related to his future promotion plan, and he must not delay it because of these slaves.
Hu Weiyong was about to go to the Minister of Industry to ask him to allocate more manpower to speed up the progress.
Suddenly, a young man from the Huang family came to Hu Weiyong in a hurry. Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to see him.
Hu Weiyong was shocked. He didn't expect that what he was most worried about would finally come true.
Feeling uneasy in his heart, Hu Weiyong did not dare to delay for a moment and hurriedly followed Xiaohuangmen to the study room.
After entering the study room and seeing Zhu Yuanzhang, Hu Weiyong became even more panicked.
There was no smile on Zhu Yuanzhang's face, and he had a straight face, as if he wanted to accuse himself.
"I bow to the emperor, long live my emperor."
Upon seeing this, Hu Weiyong quickly knelt down and saluted Zhu Yuanzhang.
"Um."
Zhu Yuanzhang did not let Hu Weiyong stand up, but asked softly:
"Weiyong, how is the highway repaired?"
"We went to see it the day before yesterday. Why do we feel that the progress is not going smoothly?"
"Do you remember what you told us back then?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's tone was calm, as if he was just chatting about family matters, but Hu Weiyong felt like a light on his back.
Swallowing secretly, Hu Weiyong gritted his teeth and said:
"Your Majesty, the weather has suddenly turned cold recently, making it difficult to construct on frozen soil, which has slowed down progress."
"At the same time, the physical condition of these slaves sent by Li Jin is really poor. Winter has just begun, and these people are already so cold that they can't even get sick."
"Otherwise, I will be so cold that I have no strength and will not be able to do the work at all."
Hu Weiyong directly threw the blame to Li Jin, placing the blame on him, insisting that there was something wrong with the slaves Li Jin sent.
Zhu Yuanzhang's expression changed and he said:
"You get up first."
Hu Weiyong felt relieved and stood up, feeling that Zhu Yuanzhang would let him go.
"Let me ask you, do you have clothes for those slaves? Or do you have enough to eat every day?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's words made Hu Weiyong stunned again and said:
"It is certain to have enough food. I have allocated a lot of food from the Ministry of Household Affairs just to make these slaves strong enough to work."
"As for wearing clothes, I haven't thought about it, but I shouldn't be so weak!"
Before Zhu Yuanzhang could speak, Zhu Biao couldn't help but interjected:
"Slaves are human beings too. If it's such a cold day, if you let them work in single shirts, will they avoid frostbite?"
“It’s a blessing that so many slaves are still alive today.”
Zhu Biao's voice was fierce and his heart was very angry. Although these Japanese slaves deserved to die, Zhu Biao still felt a little soft-hearted after treating them so harshly.
Hu Weiyong was so frightened that he lowered his head and did not dare to say a word.
Zhu Yuanzhang added:
"Now tell us, how long do you need to build the highway?"
Hu Weiyong trembled all over, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He was so frightened that he did not dare to tell the specific time.
"Huh? Do you still want to deceive me?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's tone increased and he stared directly at Hu Weiyong, as if if Hu Weiyong dared to tell a lie, he would pull Hu Weiyong out and behead him.
"If I can have 10,000 more slaves, I can definitely complete the construction in three months."
Hu Weiyong changed his mind and simply stated his original plan directly.
But it's as if he didn't say it. Where did Zhu Yuanzhang get so many slaves for him?
Li Jin had no slaves, so Zhu Yuanzhang could not buy slaves.
However, this played into Hu Weiyong's wish. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang could not give slaves, so it was understandable that he could not complete it as planned.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes narrowed slightly. How could he not know what Hu Weiyong was thinking?
But Zhu Yuanzhang did not intend to follow Hu Weiyong's wishes. He sneered and said in a deep voice:
"We don't have that much time for you!"
"I asked you to come here to tell you that you must repair the road for us before spring."
"It's the twelfth lunar month of winter and it's not the farming season. You can recruit the people, and the refugees you gathered have already come into use."
"We don't care what you do these people, but when spring farming begins, the roads must be repaired, otherwise they will be severely punished."
Zhu Yuanzhang said the last sentence in a very serious tone, and it seemed that Zhu Yuanzhang meant it.
Although he valued Hu Weiyong very much, if Hu Weiyong could not do things, then he would naturally not be as important to Zhu Yuanzhang.
After all, Ming Dynasty was so talented and heroic, Hu Weiyong was not necessary.
Hu Weiyong did not dare to refute any more. At this time, there were less than two months before the beginning of spring.
During this time, Zhu Yuanzhang had given Hu Weiyong a month's grace, but now the weather is very unfavorable for road construction.
However, if it is really delayed until the beginning of spring, spring plowing will still have to be done by then, and the people will not have time to help build the highway.
As a result, the construction of the highway will be delayed again, which Zhu Yuanzhang cannot tolerate.
After Hu Weiyong bowed down, he turned around, went to the study, and went straight to the household department.
Employing people requires money and food, and Hu Weiyong's money and food are now in the Ministry of Household Affairs, so he can only ask for help from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
When you get to the Ministry of Household Affairs, you can borrow a few officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs to help you coordinate with the people.
Zhu Biao looked at Hu Weiyong's leaving figure and said with some worry:
"Hu Weiyong does things unscrupulously. My father is forcing Hu Weiyong like this. I wonder if he will force the people to do corvee work."
"It's the twelfth lunar month of winter. If Hu Weiyong really insists on doing this, I'm afraid many people will freeze to death."
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said:
"Although Hu Weiyong does things violently, he knows how to advance and retreat, and what things can and cannot be done."
"Don't worry about this. The weather is even colder than last year. Is there any movement in the north?"
This year's winter feels like it's coming much earlier than last year, which means that this year's winter is destined to be a cold winter.
Zhu Yuanzhang had predicted this just before, so he deployed a lot of informants in the north to guard against Mongolia.
If we can know the news of Mongolia going south in advance, we can make preparations as early as possible to relocate the people and reduce the casualties of the people of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Biao shook his head and said:
"I haven't heard anything. Ever since Feng Sheng went to the north, the north seems to have become much more honest."
Zhu Yuanzhang finally showed some joy on his face, and just as he was about to speak, a young eunuch hurriedly broke into the study room. His face was pale with fright, and he said to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao in horror:
"Your Majesty, there is an urgent military situation in the southeast!"
