In the sixth year of Zhenguan, on the first day of the second lunar month, Yinshi, Chang'an City, Zhuque Gate
Wei Zheng, as usual, got off his carriage with a wat tablet in hand and a thick memorial in his arms.
Then he walked toward the Zhuque Gate with an indifferent expression. The ministers he met along the way bowed and greeted Wei Zheng warmly.
Wei Zheng also bowed in return, but his expression did not change at all and remained calm.
(The calm before the storm!)
After Wei Zheng passed by, many ministers gathered together in twos and threes, whispering to each other, and many of them showed expressions of watching the show.
A few days before the road construction in the palace started, Wei Zhenghui's intestines were almost green. He had known that His Majesty would suspend the court meeting on the grounds of praying for the army and refuse all courtiers to visit him.
He should have entered the palace to advise him on the day he learned that His Majesty was going to renovate the roads inside the palace!
Fortunately, he has gone to the palace many times to request an audience in the past few days, but all of them were rejected.
Now that the roads have been renovated and money has been spent, no amount of admonishment can change anything.
This directly caused him to feel even worse now!
The reason for this has to start from yesterday.
After the cement road was completely dry yesterday, Wei Zheng went up to experience it.
After the experience, Wei Zheng found that the cement road was indeed stronger and flatter than the stone road.
Wei Zheng had to admit that this new material was able to build such a road, which was indeed "a trick."
At first, Wei Zheng thought that if the cost of this new material was not high, he could slowly build such roads in Chang'an City and even between the major states and counties in the Tang Dynasty.
So after experiencing the cement road and understanding its benefits, Wei Zheng hurried to the Ministry of Industry Office to ask Duan Lun how much the cement road cost.
When Wei Zheng went there, he had thought about it, if the price was similar to the current price, or even one or two times more expensive.
He is also willing to advise His Majesty that when the treasury has money, he will try to build one or two such official channels.
When he arrived at the government office of the Ministry of Industry in a hurry, he suddenly found that several important ministers of the court had gathered there.
Among them are Dai Zhou, the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu, Hou Junji, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Li Jing, the Duke of Wei, Chang Sun Wuji, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Wang Gui, the Minister of the Ministry, and so on.
They also came to the Ministry of Works after experiencing the cement road. Since they could not see His Majesty, they all gathered at the Ministry of Works.
After a little inquiry, Wei Zheng understood the purpose of these people's visit. They were all here to inquire about the cost of the cement road.
These important officials in the court can hold high positions, and each of them is the best among the best.
Apparently they all thought together with him. If the cost of building cement roads was not high, then they would all advise His Majesty to build cement roads.
If the current official roads can be replaced with cement roads, the time of long-distance travel will be greatly shortened, and people from various places will have more frequent exchanges. In this way, the Tang Dynasty will also be more prosperous.
And at the same time, the imperial court will have stronger control over local areas, such as the Zuo Lingjun Wei sent troops to Lanzhou a few days ago.
According to the current official policy, even if the army does not encounter snow or rain, it will take at least 20 days.
But if the official road from Chang'an to Lanzhou is replaced by a cement road, the army will definitely be able to arrive in up to 15 days. After all, the cement road is too flat and strong, just like a smooth stone wall.
The most important thing is that this cement road is not afraid of flooding. According to the craftsmen, even if it rains heavily, the road will not be muddy.
Obviously, the Duke of Wei, Li Jing, and the Minister of War, Hou Junji, came here because they saw the importance of the cement road to the imperial army.
As long as the official roads in various states and counties in Chang'an City are replaced by cement roads, the army of the Sixteenth Guards in Chang'an City can quickly rush to all battlefields within the territory.
This is exactly what the book of war says about the importance of war and speed.
So all the ministers in the court, including Wei Zheng, asked Duan Lun, the Minister of Industry, who had arrived late, the question that everyone was most concerned about, and they all looked at Duan Lun, the Minister of Industry, with anticipation.
But when Duan Lun stroked his long beard and said with a smile that the construction cost of one mile of cement road was 500 yuan, everyone's hearts were filled with excitement.
Everything is cold!
Because the cost is too expensive, let alone building an official road from Chang'an to Lanzhou, even building a cement road connecting Chang'an and Lantian County is unrealistic.
The treasury really can’t afford so much money!
In the end, Wei Zheng and others could only leave the Office of the Ministry of Industry in anger.
Wei Zheng didn't get over his depression until he returned home from his shift.
It wasn't until he was lying on the bed that his wife's accidental words made him break out in a cold sweat. Wei Zheng didn't bother to explain, and immediately got up and went to the study, where he started writing furiously.
Even when I was writing the memorial, my wife's words were still echoing in my mind.
"This cement road is so expensive. Doesn't that mean that His Majesty spent more than two thousand dollars to renovate the road this time?"
Yes, I have been regretting this day, why the cement road was so expensive to build, causing Datang to miss the opportunity to usher in a prosperous age.
I just ignored His Majesty. What if His Majesty saw how good the cement road was and decided to replace all the roads in the palace with cement roads? That would be terrible!
How many days has Datang been living in peace now?
You can't be so extravagant and lustful!
While writing the memorial, Wei Zheng encouraged himself!
No, absolutely not, I will never allow this to happen!
This tendency must be nipped in the bud.
So Wei Zheng stayed up almost all night and kept writing furiously. In the memorial, Wei Zheng cited classics and wrote about the tragic situations of emperors in the past dynasties after they indulged in extravagance and lust.
There is only one purpose, and that is to ask His Majesty to decree that cement roads will be banned nationwide and to establish an ancestral precept that future generations will not be allowed to build cement roads!
It wasn't until he was ugly that Wei Zheng was able to finish writing the memorial. After checking that there were no omissions, he copied it again, and then carefully put the memorial into his arms.
Then there was the scene at the Suzaku Gate this morning.
Wei Zheng's current position is that of Secretary Supervisor of the third rank. His status is the same as that of ministers of various ministries. His rank is lower than that of the second rank's minister and minister.
So Wei Zheng quickly walked to the second row in front of the civil servants.
During the Zhenguan period, there was no official position of the first rank, because during the Wude period, Li Shimin once served as the minister of the second rank, equivalent to the prime minister.
After Li Er ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, the imperial court abolished the position of Shangshu Ling, leaving only Shangshu as a servant.
Therefore, there was no prime minister in the Tang Dynasty, and the power of the prime minister was divided among three positions: the left and right servants of Shangshu Province and the ministers of Menxia Province, which are the current positions of Fang Xuanling and Wang Gui.
After Wei Zheng joined the crowd, a carriage slowly stopped on Zhuque Street, and then stepped down, a listless young man wearing a green official robe.
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