Chapter 51 Beijing Construction Department
Deng Zhen couldn't help frowning and said: "Master He, why bother? There are hundreds of thousands of troops around Beijing. It is very easy to mobilize hundreds of thousands to participate in the construction."
He Xi felt a little headache.
The differences between people's thoughts are so great that they are almost incomprehensible.
The reason why Deng Zhen said this is very simple. It’s so simple that you don’t have to think about it, because it’s been done this way before. Since the rise of the army in the Ming Dynasty, a large number of cities have been built with the slogan of building cities high and accumulating grain widely. It can be said that many ancient cities that have survived in later generations were built in the Ming Dynasty.
So many big projects are all built using this method.
Such successful experience can be replicated. What new tricks are you doing?
Sometimes, poverty leads to change. Many things cannot be changed unless they are unsustainable. The biggest obstacle He Xi faced was sometimes the booming Ming Dynasty.
Why does the prince object? Because there is no urgency. Reforms run the risk of overthrowing the country, while changes to laws can last for hundreds of years. The prince naturally wanted to figure it out slowly. Now Deng Zhen is thinking the same thing. There have been so many successful cases before, and everyone has done this before.
What new tricks are you doing?
Not to mention, whether it's recruiting people or deploying soldiers. It doesn't cost much. If you subcontract the project to a construction company, you will have to pay money. You have to pay wages. This is a significant expense.
He Xi turned around several times in her heart and said: "My lord, the court also wants to rest with the people. Before, the court had no money and had to work for the people. Now the court has money. The reason is to let the people come out to work and earn some hard money. In addition, the court has money." For the big project in Beijing, one construction company may not be enough. If the Duke is willing, he can transfer Yu Ding from the health center and set up a construction company to take over the project."
Duke Shen narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Is it okay?"
Duke Shen doesn't care whether the court has money or not. After all, Deng Zhen was the Duke of the Ming Dynasty. He didn't know the specific number of households. But generally speaking, you know how much money you have. Although the imperial court has become somewhat wealthy in recent years, the money has not reached this level yet.
However, Shen Guogong was very interested in He Xi's suggestion.
After all, there is too much oil and water in the project. Not to mention, civilians were recruited for previous projects, and at most they cut corners on raw materials. Nowadays, there are more labor costs. As long as you use your hands and feet a little, you can make a lot of money.
Duke Shen was also moved.
It has to be said that before the opening of the sea, the nobles of the Ming Dynasty were not very rich. Otherwise, there would not be many nobles who broke the law and discipline for a little money and were punished by Zhu Yuanzhang. What made a large number of nobles rich was the opening of the sea promoted by He Xi.
In the noble circle, everyone knew about the rumors that He Xi had eaten meat.
Therefore, Shen Guogong ignored some unreasonable things and asked directly, is it okay? In fact, a lot of content is omitted. What he wanted to ask was, would the court allow this? Does the emperor allow it? Is this considered a violation of law and discipline?
After all, when it comes to making money, there are too many opportunities in Xungui's position.
But there are not many opportunities to make money without being punished by Zhu Yuanzhang.
He Xi naturally understood and said, "Is it possible? Let's see how the Duke is going to make this money?" m.
Duke Deng Zhen of Shen said, "How do you say this?"
He Xi said: "For example, one penny is paid per worker today, and some projects have a total of 100,000 workers, or more. The court will give 100,000 coins. Under normal circumstances, each person can do up to ten jobs per day. If you use Better tools and advanced methods allow each person to make a profit by doing twenty jobs a day."
Duke Shen frowned and said nothing.
He Xi thought to herself: "Sure enough, I didn't understand."
It's just a matter of paying attention to some small things. Once you encounter many things that go deep, you will encounter such a situation. The six hundred years of estrangement is everywhere.
He Xi didn't know that Shen Guogong didn't understand how to improve efficiency, but why to provide efficiency? And why can't working hours be increased and so on. I don’t want to explain it either. He added: "As long as the quality of the project is not affected and the people's wages are not deducted, the court will not investigate the crime."
Duke Shen nodded and said, "I understand."
Then he made a comment in his mind and said secretly: "It's just hard-earned money."
He didn't know how much effort He Xi had put into building Beijing. As for the construction of the club, He Xi had already planned it. He Xi hopes that the Beijing city he builds will not be left behind for at least the next two to three hundred years.
This requirement is not low.
For example, in sewer projects, sufficient locations for various pipelines, such as wires, natural gas pipelines, etc., are reserved for the future.
Roads are widened to make room for future cars and more.
This also requires that we not be too backward in various technologies.
Cement has been used in Liaodong for many years. Although in He Xi's opinion, the cement still has some problems, it is enough. As for the city walls of Beijing, He Xi still uses the rammed earth brick-wrapped process. There is no other reason. A pure brick wall is actually not as strong as bricks wrapped in rammed earth.
Brick walls are relatively brittle when subjected to shelling. It’s easy to break down layer by layer. The rammed earth wall can absorb kinetic energy, and the outer brick wall acts as a buffer to ensure the integrity of the rammed earth wall.
Of course, this is far inferior to reinforced concrete. As for why the entire Beijing city wall is not made of steel concrete, there are several reasons.
First, lifespan.
The reinforced concrete buildings of later generations also have a lifespan, some say two hundred years, maybe more. But the Beijing city wall will take longer. Not to mention, today’s cement still has many areas worth improving.
He Xi didn't know how long the life of this cement was.
If it were only a few decades, that would be a big joke.
Second, cost.
This is the most important.
Although steel can already be produced on a large scale. Although it is possible to produce steel bars. Although, the price of steel bars is not expensive. However, expensive and not expensive are relative. Rather than absolute. Before He Xi came, there were still a few places where steel farm tools were popularized in Ming Dynasty. Most of the people's farm tools are made of wood. In recent years, almost no matter how poor the people are, they will also buy a pair of high-quality iron farm tools.
After all, if you work every day, you will naturally know what is good.
From this perspective, it's cheaper.
However, how many tons of steel bars and tons of cement are needed to build the Beijing city wall? This is definitely not something that Liaodong and the newly built industrial system near Beijing can support. And converted into money, it was an astronomical figure that bankrupted the Ming Dynasty.
There are so many questions. He Xi naturally wanted to let it go.
The entire city of Beijing is not without reinforced concrete structures. There are even many. But overall, it is still an embellishment, not the main body. However, according to the amount of work in Beijing, even if it is not the main body, it still has considerable weight.
In addition to the use of these two new materials, there are also the use of many new tools, a large number of pulleys, and various unpowered lifting devices. etc. He Xi has already introduced some convenient and practical gadgets on later construction sites.
It will definitely greatly improve work efficiency.
When He Xi checked the price of the project, he mainly based it on the official profit before the imperial court. Even if we don't mention the issue of people's labor service and labor enthusiasm, there is a lot of profit space just from the improvement of technology.
This saves a lot of manpower and material resources.
There are two reasons why He Xi bothered so much.
One is male.
Because He Xi could foresee that the entire Ming Dynasty would need many major projects in the future, whether it was building cities, railways, water conservancy projects, etc. If there was no need to do corvee labor, there must be alternatives. That is a dedicated engineering and construction team.
Therefore, such a construction company will definitely be used in the future.
Moreover, there is a large-scale gathering of people, and they are strong laborers. If such an organization is not in the hands of the court, many people will not be able to sleep. After all, these people can transform into an army. Not to mention that there is no shortage of steel on the construction site, and even weapons are readily available.
Therefore, such institutions must be in the hands of the state, not others.
Some people died, but not completely...
