Han Gonglian quickly stepped forward: "Your Majesty, the mold has already been adjusted twice!"

Chen Gui also said, "Your Majesty, I have already adjusted the molds for paving the cement road twice!"

Xu Churen said, "Both times are no different from the first time, and are of no use at all!"

Chen Gui blushed instantly and said, "Lord Xu, in accordance with the strict regulations and standards of the Song Dynasty's military equipment, the two improvements have significantly enhanced the quality!"

“But it won’t improve speed at all,” Tang Ke continued. “Let me do the math for you. Take the recent floods in Jingdong Road, for example. Within three months, Jiangling Prefecture transported and sold 30,000 shi of grain to Jingdong Road, with a transaction value of 60,000 guan. That’s the limit of transportation. If the cement road between Jiangling Prefecture and Daming Prefecture is completed in January of this year, this number will double! Reaching 120,000 shi!”

"Of course, the disaster-stricken areas don't need that much food, but it's enough to spread across the entire Hebei Road and Hedong Road areas, solving the urgent food shortage problem there."

Ignoring Han Gonglian's unpleasant expression, Tang Ke continued with the mindset of "better to die than to die myself": "120,000 shi, 30,000 shi, that's a difference of 90,000 shi. If we calculate it at 2 guan per shi, then for a transaction of 180,000 guan, with a profit of 60%, there's still 90,000 guan, or 90 million wen!"

"According to the latest commercial tax law of the Great Song Dynasty, for amounts exceeding 10,000 strings of cash, a tax rate of 20% will be levied!"

"The imperial court's tax revenue from this matter was short by 18,000 strings of cash!" (One string of cash in the Song Dynasty was approximately equal to 465 yuan.)

Tang Ke's lips curled into a smug smile. As expected of the head of the Ministry of Commerce, his accounting skills were almost on par with those of Zhou Chao, the Minister of the Three Departments.

Before Han Gonglian could speak, Tang Ke continued, "This only includes grain trade; it doesn't include trade in silk, cloth, salt, iron, spices, and so on."

Anyone who has done business knows this: some things are fine if you don't do the accounting, but once you do, the results can be shocking.

Now, Tang Ke is calculating the accounts for everyone in the court. This is not good, but the calculation really makes everyone gasp, and even Tang Ke himself is secretly shocked.

Zhao Huan's heart was bleeding, because the losses caused by the slow construction were truly a pity.

No wonder that in later generations, when the United States was rising to power, it was during the period when railway tracks were being laid extensively throughout the country. Transportation is indeed of paramount importance to a nation's strategic rise.

The same can be said of 20th-century Japan. Japan's domestic transportation planning reached its peak, and it rapidly rose to become the second largest country in the world after the United States based on its previous industrial foundation. There are reasons for this.

The same is true for China in the 21st century. The years of economic take-off were also the time when high-speed rail, airplanes, and highways rose to prominence.

Zhao Huan felt anxious when he thought about the backward transportation infrastructure of the Song Dynasty.

He knew perfectly well that the reason why the cement road paving speed had been so slow in recent years was due to technological limitations.

But there's nothing I can do!

The fact that the steam engine was not developed meant that combustible materials could not be used, heat could not be converted into power, and everything still had to be created by humans.

Even now, the steel molds for cement roads are still handcrafted by the people of the Song Dynasty's Military Equipment Bureau, which is extremely inefficient.

Once the steam engine is started, and various machines are created from it, the way humans produce will undergo a qualitative change.

The reason why Zhao Huan brought up the issue of paving cement roads in court was to use this incident to immediately force the Council of State Affairs to find ways to improve efficiency.

The only way to improve efficiency is to upgrade technology, and the only way to upgrade technology is to seek out authoritative bodies like the Ordnance Supervision Bureau and the Academy of Sciences.

Creating with direction and purpose is driven by the desired outcome.

Only in this way can everyone realize the root of the problem.

The Imperial Arsenal was originally a place for producing weapons, but now the emperor has seemingly given it another mission.

From the moment the emperor began to reorganize the Imperial Arsenal and establish the Academy of Sciences, it meant that they would shoulder the heavy responsibility of launching the industrial revolution of the Song Dynasty.

The court was completely silent, and Han Gonglian was sweating profusely.

If everyone sits down and talks things out, this matter cannot be blamed on Han Gonglian and Chen Gui.

After all, in recent years, the military and political affairs of the Song Dynasty have been in full swing, and the military equipment has been almost completely reformed.

Moreover, the development of firearms consumed a great deal of time for the Academy of Sciences and the Ordnance Bureau.

In terms of rank, firearms were the highest level, something the emperor specifically requested, and the emperor would strictly control the timeline for each improvement!

The Ordnance Supervision Bureau and the Academy of Sciences worked almost around the clock, and even during the Lunar New Year, they continued to work hard at their posts.

However, everyone here is now an important official in the imperial court.

Now that the imperial court has suffered significant intangible losses, who will listen to reason with you?

Who's going to show you any leniency?

Compared to personal relationships, official position is more important.

If the Political Affairs Hall doesn't shift the blame to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ordnance Supervision Bureau, is it going to take the blame itself?

If Xu Churen had taken the blame himself, the emperor would have blamed him for not knowing the seriousness of the matter. The emperor had originally intended for the Council of State Affairs to pass the buck.

After all, the Military Equipment Bureau and the Academy of Sciences had both made contributions and endured hardships, so the emperor couldn't just directly scold them.

Not only would he not directly curse people, but he would also come out as a good person after criticizing people in the Hall of State Affairs. Then, the Military Equipment Bureau and the Academy of Sciences would be extremely grateful to the emperor, and in order not to betray the emperor's trust and appreciation, they would stay up all night to improve the manufacturing technology in all aspects.

Han Gonglian knelt on the ground and said sorrowfully, "Your Majesty, I am guilty!"

Chen Gui also chimed in, "Your Majesty, please punish him!"

Many of a person's skills come from the things they do in their daily lives.

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