Seeing Wu Diao Si coming up to them, Ding Guomin and Qiu Yunsheng didn't dare to entrust them to Li Zhao's confidant.
Since Li Zhao made this arrangement, they naturally would not refuse.
As for the rest of the people, Li Zhao obviously did not have time to entertain them, or Li Zhao would only entertain them when they needed to be on the same camp as Li Zhao.
The scene instantly became a little deserted, because the people present were basically people who had not made up their minds.
Li Zhao didn't push them and asked someone to take them to Longyang Township for a nice stroll.
Prince You's Mansion!
Li Zhao was dealing with official duties. As everything gradually got on track, he had more and more things to do.
"Your Highness!" Xiaohong stood at the door and reminded: "Lanling County has agreed to join us."
"Where are the others?" Li Zhao asked without raising his head.
"We are going to Longyang Township to discuss things for the time being."
Li Zhao nodded and said, "Call Qian Duoduo and the others over!"
"yes!"
Soon, Qian Duoduo, the secretary of the palace, arrived. As the new year passed, he became even fatter.
"Your Highness."
"Please take a look at the accounts on the table and estimate how much it will cost if we want to build a large reservoir?" Li Zhao had already unfolded the map and said, "Let us count our area first. If Qingyun County If Lanling County and Lanling County are all with us, then the number of reservoirs will be at least twenty."
"Yes!" Qian Duoduo broke into cold sweat when he heard this.
A large reservoir requires a terrifying amount of materials, and the location of the reservoir is also extremely particular.
The dam of the reservoir is the most important. Without cement, Li Zhao needs to use clay, sand, gravel, and wood.
"Your Highness, how big will our reservoir be?"
"The bigger, the better." Li Zhaodao: "This reservoir is a very important strategic water storage base, not just for storing water when we need water but don't have it!"
"In normal times, we can also feed fish and shrimps in the reservoir. This is also a means of survival."
“Besides, our drainage system must be good underneath the reservoir!”
"What is a drainage system?" Qian Duoduo felt like his head was spinning.
His Highness has many requests, and the price is likely to rise sharply.
"Can you think of this kind of drainage system?" Li Zhao motioned for someone to take out the model: "For example, if a mudslide occurs here, don't ask what a mudslide is. In short, it is a very serious flood."
"Before the floods came, I had a big gate here and the canals were responsible for diverting the water. But my canals were wider, deeper and better than others. The water flow would not block or wash away my canals."
"When all the water divides and then merges again, and finally enters the rivers and the sea, this is the drainage system."
Qian Duoduo: "..."
He now felt that the prince was not working on a water conservancy project, but wasting money.
Not to mention building a reservoir, the drainage system of this water conservancy project alone will not necessarily cost less than the reservoir, right?
"Your Highness, I have made a preliminary estimate. If the most basic materials such as reservoir excavation, labor, clay, gravel, silt, and wood are based on your standards, we will need at least 250,000 taels. "
"If we include the rest, it would be at least 300,000 taels."
Qian Duoduo said: "Of course, after the reservoir is dug, if the diversion, drainage, and flood discharge must be in place as you said, then an additional 50,000 taels of silver will be needed."
"In other words, a medium-sized reservoir requires at least 300,000 taels. Is it just a matter of successful construction?" Li Zhao touched his chin and nodded.
Qian Duoduo's hands suddenly trembled again, and he was almost scared to death. Is it just a medium-sized reservoir with such a large scale?
In fact, he didn't know that Li Zhao needed to use the reservoir in many places. Even if a medium-sized reservoir cost 400,000 taels, it was still worth it.
As long as this reservoir is not a shoddy project, the profit value created in the future will be far from comparable to 400,000 taels.
"Your Highness, if we need to build twenty..."
"The twenty reservoirs cannot all be medium-sized. At least half of them are small." Li Zhao was not arrogant enough to think that his financial resources were so great: "Small reservoirs are actually sufficient."
"Don't be afraid of 10,000, just be afraid of the worst. The reservoir is very useful!"
"You are helping me calculate how much it costs to dig ditches, divert canals, clean rivers, widen rivers, and repair embankments."
After Li Zhao finished speaking, Qian Duoduo was dumbfounded. He could tell Li Zhao with certainty without even calculating that your little money would be squandered.
These livelihood projects don't seem to cost much, but don't forget, this kind of rural area is the most inconvenient.
Even though Prince You's Mansion is famous now and is competing for a lot of people doing business, those who do business are not good people, and they still have to earn what they deserve.
Not to mention anything else, just talking about ditching made him feel terrible.
An ox cart is needed. Since the ox is available in Prince You's Mansion, a certain cost can be saved. However, the cost of eating the ox will increase and more people will be required to drive the ox cart.
Secondly, trenching requires the use of lime and stone. The loss of tools and labor are all included in this, which is a terrible hidden expense.
If you follow His Highness's plan and really include the entire Qingyun County, Li Zhao will have to borrow money.
How big is the entire Qingyun County?
Even if all the aristocratic families in major counties work together, the cost will be sky-high.
"Your Highness..." Qian Duoduo hesitated and looked at Li Zhao: "Are we... really going to take such a big step?"
As the secretary of the royal palace, he watched the prince's money grow from scratch little by little.
This accumulation process may only take half a year. In the eyes of others, it is just making money every day, but only if you have a lot of money, you will know that it is really not easy for Li Zhao to make money.
In order to win over the imperial court and Emperor Wu, in order to make the obstacles smaller, how many sacrifices were made?
But now, all the money had to be spent for the sake of the fiefdom, and he felt really sad.
"Not big." Li Zhao said with a firm expression, "Isn't it difficult to calculate?"
"Yes!" Qian Duoduo replied in the affirmative: "Because there is no way to estimate it at the moment, if this project is really going to start, my subordinates suggest starting with Longyang Township first."
"As for the various places in Qingyun County, the county magistrate and the township chiefs will be responsible for the time being. For other places... we can only let them seek their own happiness first!"
Li Zhao pondered. In fact, he also knew that the road was walked step by step.
Qian Duoduo silently settled the accounts.
No matter what, we have to give Li Zhao a rough numerical valuation, which will definitely be exceeded by then.
He hoped that the prince would have an idea after seeing this valuation.
"Things must be done." Li Zhao said without hesitation: "Tomorrow is the deadline, so you should prepare."
"Yes!" Qian Duoduo said no more.
Although he didn't know why the prince was so insistent, he believed in the prince's decision.
At least so far, the prince's decision has not caused any problems.
