After Gu Zuo entered the palace, Zhu Houzhao did not summon him in the Qianqing Palace.
Instead, he chose the pavilion by the lake and took him for a walk.
"Recently, the imperial court is mainly concerned with three things. First, some salt merchants were arrested in Yangzhou, and some of them need to be sent to the capital. However, I have ordered Han, Min, Wang and the British public to try this matter together, and then they can be convicted according to the law. .The crux of the matter is whether I, the emperor, can resolutely implement it."
"The second thing." The emperor turned to Gu Zuo and made a 'two' gesture, "It is that after the imperial court confiscated the wealth of many unscrupulous salt merchants and officials, the amount of silver they confiscated was too much. . My original estimate was five million taels, but now it seems that I have underestimated Yangzhou and those salt merchants and corrupt officials. In fact, it should be more than eight million taels."
They are really fattened up.
Just the broad, soft and relaxed officialdom atmosphere in the eighteen years of Hongzhi alone has nurtured countless wealthy people.
"...There are some words that other people don't understand. But you, Gu Liqing, should understand."
"Yes." Gu Zuo cupped his hands, "The imperial court has gathered too much silver, which may lead to a silver shortage among the people."
Zhu Houzhao showed admiration in his eyes.
In fact, this matter can indeed be ranked as one of three major events.
Others, such as the library garden and the capital planning, are not major events that affect the overall situation.
Even to provide relief to kitchen households, for this matter Yang Tinghe, the general manager, just took the money and distributed the food. As the emperor, he will carefully inspect the problems, but he will not spend too much energy.
"Once there is a shortage of money, there will be unpredictable consequences, so the money must be spent as soon as possible. Besides, if the third thing happens, more money will come in."
Zhu Houzhao reminded, "It's the salt auction."
Gu Zuoruo understood something, and he understood it completely, "...the imperial court has confiscated many big salt merchants, who will be auctioned to?"
Zhu Houzhao didn't think so. "These salt merchants are too strong. They use the big to bully the small and the strong to bully the weak in the auction, which is not beautiful. The Lianghuai Salt Farm is the first in the world's salt industry. Are you afraid that you won't be able to sell it?"
This is true.
Gu Zuo asked again: "Now that the city that never sleeps is coming to an end, I wonder where your majesty wants to spend the money?"
Zhu Houzhao sat down and said in a relaxed tone: "What do you think of road construction?"
"Building roads?"
"Yes, build a road that is wide, straight, and as flat as possible. This will promote the flow of goods and travel between the north and the south. Liu Xixian, the governor of Shandong, once told me that the transportation in the three eastern prefectures is inconvenient, and food and crops cannot be transported out in time. Outside Many merchants are unwilling to enter, leading to long-term poverty. But the West Three Prefectures are different. Because the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal passes through, there is a dense population and prosperous commerce, so they are much richer than the East Three Prefectures."
This is a vivid and accurate example,
In fact, it is not difficult to understand.
"So I thought about building a big road. First connect the two capitals. From the capital, go down through Jinan, Xuzhou, Huai'an and Yangzhou to Yingtian."
There are relatively prosperous big cities along the way.
"With such a long distance, it must be a big project, and many people will be recruited to serve. There will also be objections in the court."
Zhu Houzhao said: "First, when building roads, the court should also refer to the city that never sleeps, and choose the hiring method. Although it will cost a lot of silver, the money will be returned to the hands of the people, and it will not increase the burden on the people. Why not? Second, if the court is There are many people who oppose it, so I will use these eight million taels to expand the army, drive the Tatars to move westward, and destroy all the people's houses. I will be a king who enjoys great achievements."
"Your Majesty is joking."
Gu Zuo didn't believe it, because the emperor's philosophy was to get back the money he spent.
The political effect of conquering a large area of grassland and desert is huge, but economically it is a pure expense. Of course, as the emperor, these two must be balanced.
Therefore, the imperial court was also allocating money to the frontiers.
And since we need to balance, there is no reason to spend all the money on it?
Besides, the complex military supplies are supported by the opening of sea.
"Wei Chen just had a hunch. But when it is finally implemented, it shouldn't be too much of a hindrance. There's just one problem."
Zhu Houzhao had enough patience, "You said,"
"This is also the difficulty that Weichen encountered when he was building the city that never sleeps - it is difficult to manage. A city that never sleeps needs to recruit 20,000 to 30,000 people, and it is really a headache to manage so many people. The city that never sleeps is okay, it is in such a place, and it is difficult to build roads It is different. The distance between the north and the south requires more people, so it will be very difficult to manage it effectively."
Zhu Houzhao listened, nodded, and began to think.
"...Academies, the city that never sleeps, and so many buildings built by private merchants, are there any workshops or shops where someone can lead a group of people to work?"
Gu Zuo thought for a while, "There are some, but they are not shops. Most of them are established with the ties of fellow villagers. For example, if a person does a job and thinks it is good, many fellow villagers will join him. So gradually there will be a few Hundreds of people were moved from one venue to another."
Zhu Houzhao thought to himself that this was the case.
It seems that this phenomenon is spontaneous. No one has thought enough to undertake the project in the name of the whole.
But this is not a problem, as long as the government provides guidance.
"Li Qing, after you go back, you will create a white list in the Shaofu. This white list is not a list of individuals, but a list of workshops. For the subsequent road construction projects, the Shaofu will no longer directly recruit people, but will recruit people from Baidu. A number of companies were selected from the list to undertake the project specifically. For example, for this section of one hundred miles, the Shaofu gave full authority to "Mei Ji" to implement it."
"Mei Ji will recruit his own personnel to do the work, while the Shaofu will be responsible for supervision, management, and acceptance. Finally, Mei Ji will be paid a total price, such as 800,000 taels. The payment will be made in batches until the road is completely repaired. Then pay the money."
Gu Zuo's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but stand up, "In this way, the Shaofu only needs to manage a few or more than a dozen 'Meiji's' along the line, layer by layer, and Meiji itself. You can also break it down again."
"Yes. This has another advantage. That is, the Young Master can put forward some specific requirements for the white list, such as labor management not being too oppressive, as well as the quality, speed, and even price of the project. So for another purpose, It is also to promote these loose groups led by fellow villagers to be more standardized. In the future, in addition to escort agencies, restaurants, and teahouses, in the Ming Dynasty, there will also be another form of business organization, which can be called a construction team for the time being."
"What's more important is that the Shaofu can put forward more specific requirements, such as the materials used for road construction. Whoever has a better material formula will build better roads, and the Shaofu will entrust them with more work in the future."
From direct employment to indirect employment. This is actually because Zhu Houzhao, a latecomer, helped them grow up step by step.
As for whether cement will appear and when it will appear, no one knows.
But Zhu Houzhao established a mechanism for them to compete with each other and continuously improve.
In a way, this is actually more important.
It does not mean that with concrete technology, roads can be built everywhere. Roads are a big project, and they are not balloons that can be blown up. Among them, project organization, funding sources, and conflict resolution are all big problems. From a few shovels of concrete to thousands of miles of road, this is not something that can be done easily with just a few people.
After all, if human problems cannot be solved, just a pile of concrete will create a road with cracks every time you step on it.
What to do then? This amount of funds, do it again? How can there be so much money?
Gu Zuo has gradually become accustomed to Zhu Houzhao's forward thinking. It was as if the emperor was guiding him forward.
Through the white list, the young master still controls everything. Anyone who does not follow what is written on it will be removed. Where will he find a job then?
"With your Majesty's method, each fellow team will be transformed according to the wishes of the imperial court, and the imperial court can act like an arm and a finger without any restrictions."
"Yes. Just go and think about this matter. I know that there are hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the young man's house. When your thoughts are more concrete, you can hand the note to the palace."
"Wei Chen obeys the order!"
When Gu Zuo entered the palace this time, he didn't mention a word about what happened before.
In fact, Zhu Houzhao wanted to say something, but later he felt it was unnecessary.
Gu Zuo just said some words of thanks. As for the emperor's pragmatic and honest government affairs today, he liked it the most.
It was only through such efforts that Ming Dynasty could become stronger day by day.
