Qin Ming smiled and nodded, then spread his palms to signal Ma Zhou to eat something first.
Ma Zhou understood and immediately took the cake from Li Tai's hand and swallowed it whole.
"The pastries at the Secretary's house are indeed delicious."
After speaking, Ma Zhou looked at Qin Ming eagerly.
Qin Ming rolled his eyes, pointed at Ma Zhou, and said helplessly:
"There's really nothing I can do against you."
"Then let's get down to business first. From what you just said, I'm just worried that the nobles and families in Chang'an City will have doubts about contracting the cement road because of the war on Longyou Road, right?"
Ma Zhou nodded and said:
"That's right, before the war started, there were many officials from aristocratic families, or noble families, who found their subordinates."
"If you want to inquire about the contracting of cement roads from your subordinates, your subordinates will follow the director's instructions and use various reasons to send them away one by one."
"But since the news from Lanzhou has spread to Chang'an, in recent days, only one official, a member of the Bolingcui family, and his subordinates have expressed their willingness to contract cement roads."
Qin Ming nodded when he heard this, then looked at Li Tai and asked:
"Artai, have any officials visited your house recently to talk about this matter?"
Li Tai was stunned for a moment when he saw Qin Ming suddenly asking him questions.
After frowning and thinking for a while, Li Tai said:
"If you didn't ask, I would have really forgotten that my uncle went to the mansion two days ago to find me."
"My uncle seems to want to contract the cement road from Chang'an to Weinan."
"However, I also made it clear to my uncle that you are solely responsible for this matter, and it must be done with your consent."
Ma Zhou hummed when he heard this, and looked at Li Tai with particularly resentful eyes.
When Li Tai saw this, he scratched his head in embarrassment, smiled coquettishly at Ma Zhou, and said:
"The Changlan cement road will be completed in the next two days. I have been checking the accounts recently and forgot about it for a while."
Ma Zhou sighed, cupped his hands and said:
"I am a lowly official, but I have the intention of blaming His Highness."
"It's just that in the future, when it comes to the political affairs of the Roads and Bridges Department, I hope His Highness can inform this official so that he can be mentally prepared."
Li Tai returned the gift and said:
"sure."
On the other side, Qin Ming probably had a clear idea after listening to the two people's stories.
In fact, Qin Ming had already made plans for contracting cement roads overseas.
After all, when I brought this matter up, I didn't want to follow him to the Lanzhou battlefield, and I wanted to take revenge on the aristocratic family and certain nobles.
Originally, he wanted to wait until he came back from Lanzhou before taking the next step.
But now it seems that if he doesn't finalize this matter before he leaves,
I'm afraid that when I come back, I don't know, the aristocratic family and some nobles will take advantage of me.
As for what Ma Zhou was worried about, in Qin Ming's opinion, it was simply impossible.
Today is the early years of the Tang Dynasty, a time when fierce generals are like clouds and advisers are like rain.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that even if they borrow Tuyuhun and Dangxiang's cavalry, no matter how powerful they are, they may still reach Chang'an!
Moreover, the Qinghe Cui family, the Taiyuan Wang family and the Xingyang Zheng family just spent a lot of money to buy the cement formula from him last month.
I think their cement workshop has also been built, and now they are waiting for the court to sell the contracting rights for the cement road!
They and Qin Ming have common interests regarding the cement road, and presumably they will also secretly promote this matter.
Therefore, as long as the Department of Roads and Bridges spreads the word, the Changluo Cement Road can be contracted soon.
As for the situation Ma Zhou mentioned, it is probably just a strategy thought up by some families in order to gain greater profits.
After thinking about these things, Qin Ming picked up the tea cup, took a sip, and said:
"In fact, it is not difficult to contract out cement roads."
Hearing this, Li Tai and Ma Zhou turned their attention to Qin Ming.
Ma Zhou looked forward to:
"What good ideas does the director have?"
Qin Ming smiled faintly and said:
"As long as the Road and Bridge Department holds an auction specifically for this purpose."
Li Tai was confused when he heard this and said:
"Auction? What is that?"
Qin Ming explained:
"The meaning of the auction is that the highest bidder wins. From Chang'an to Luoyang, it is a total of 800 miles. A certain person divided it into six sections."
"The six sections are the section from Chang'an to Weinan, the section from Weinan to Tongguan, the section from Tongguan to Xiazhou, the section from Xiazhou to Shengchi, the section from Shengchi to Xin'an, and the section from Xin'an to Luoyang."
“Each section is sold through bidding, and whichever company pays the highest price will obtain the contracting rights for that section of road for thirty years.”
Ma Zhou heard this and said worriedly:
"Director, what if no one bids, or if the bidders negotiate the price in advance?"
Qin Ming turned the tea cup, nodded and said:
"Prince Bin's concerns are very reasonable."
"But this is something I just thought of."
Ma Zhou cupped his hands and said:
"I would like to hear the details."
Qin Ming smiled faintly and said:
"You should know that a certain house recently purchased a lot of wood in order to build a transport truck."
Ma Zhou heard this and said doubtfully:
“But what does this have to do with the contracting of cement roads?”
Qin Ming raised his palm and pressed it down, saying:
"Prince Bin, don't be impatient. Listen to what I have to say."
"Several large timber dealers in Chang'an City once expressed their willingness to contract cement roads to a certain person."
"So, in order to avoid the situation you mentioned of no one bidding, someone from the Roads and Bridges Department put up notices on the streets and alleys of Chang'an in the past two days."
"Spread the news about the auction."
Ma Zhou was shocked when he heard this, stood up and said:
"Is the director planning to sell the contracting rights to those businessmen?"
“This is absolutely impossible!”
"How can those lowly merchants deserve to be authorized by the imperial court!"
Qin Ming sighed inwardly when he heard this.
[Hey, the status of merchants these days is really low. ]
[However, this is obviously not the time to talk about the status of merchants, and it is useless to discuss these. ]
After thinking about this, Qin Ming's eyes widened, he slapped the table with his right hand and said angrily:
"Bold! The provincial government's decree on this matter has long been finalized, allowing merchants to participate. As the deputy director of the Road and Bridge Department, don't you even know this?"
"Or are you saying that you know it, but you want to take advantage of it and disobey the imperial decree?"
After all, Ma Zhou has just entered the officialdom and has not grown into a prime minister yet.
Hearing Qin Ming's scolding, cold sweat suddenly broke out, and in an instant, the robe on Ma Zhou's back was soaked.
He quickly bowed and said:
"The official is guilty. The official was negligent and forgot the imperial decree."
"I have no intention of disobeying the imperial court. I would like to ask the director to warn me."
Qin Ming sighed, walked down from the chair, stretched out his hand to help Ma Zhou up and said:
"Hey, Prince Bin, you are very talented, otherwise I wouldn't have recommended you to His Majesty."
Ma Zhou lowered his head when he heard this.
"The so-called deep love means deep responsibility."
"It is true that you are talented and willing to endure hardships, but your performance today was too impatient."
"Whether it is in officialdom or on the battlefield, the most taboo thing is to be eager to achieve meritorious service and not be able to distinguish priorities."
"I hope you will learn from this today and not make the same mistake again."
Ma Zhou's body shook violently when he heard this.
After a moment's hesitation, Ma Zhou straightened his clothes, bowed in salute and said:
"Student, thank you sir for your teaching."
Qin Ming nodded slightly and accepted the gift calmly.
"Okay, sit down, let's get back to the auction, except posting notices..."
"..."
Li Tai sat on the chair and stared blankly at Qin Ming, who was talking eloquently, as if he was meeting Qin Ming for the first time.
At this moment, he seemed to see a little shadow of his father in Qin Ming.
...
