"I'd also like to add that many officials often face resistance at the local level when trying to implement policies. For example, when I was working in Shezhou, I found that local agriculture was underdeveloped, with many mountains and dense forests and little land, making it difficult for the people to be self-sufficient."

Wang Anshi said, "I noticed that the local tea production is excellent, and there are also abundant timber, tung oil, lacquer, minerals, and medicinal herbs. I wanted to adapt to local conditions and convert the fields into tea. However, the local people were very resistant, as they were unsure of the consequences. What if the tea was not sold? Then, their remaining food would be gone, and they would starve to death."

He sighed and continued, "Moreover, local transportation is extremely inconvenient. Deep in the mountains and ancient forests, even if there are local specialties, it's difficult to transport them. I tried to encourage everyone to build a road and plant tea after it was completed, but the people were reluctant. They believed that building a road would delay farming, and that it was difficult to build. Even if the government offered money, few would respond."

"Yes, these are common problems that prevent local officials from leading local development. I don't think we can blame them entirely on their incompetence."

"Indeed."

Zhao Pin and Chen Xiliang also expressed their agreement.

Yang Gao and Yang Cha were originally the shipping envoy of Huainan and the magistrate of Suzhou respectively. It seemed that both of them were in local areas, but that was during the first year of Du Bao.

Later, Zhao Jun discovered a talent and was transferred to the central government not long after. He rarely served in local positions.

On the contrary, Wang Anshi, Su Huan, Li Xiaoji and others were Jinshi in the Kangding and Qingli years. They are still serving as prefects in local areas. They have experienced various new policies and naturally understand the difficulties of local officials.

"Um."

Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Your suggestions are all very constructive. I will record them and integrate everyone's considerations to formulate new policies."

He thought of the afterlife.

In later generations, many counties would develop local characteristic industries.

For example, the famous Cao County is the hometown of coffins, Shouguang is the hometown of vegetables, Dongming is the hometown of watermelons, Luochuan is the hometown of apples, Gaoyang is the hometown of textiles, and so on.

The problem with officials nowadays is that their term of office is too short. Even if they have policy directions and ideas, they can easily be delayed because of their term of office.

Secondly, there is a lack of high-quality talents who can adapt to local conditions, and it is not easy to find an economic and industrial chain that suits the local conditions.

Three is also a very important point.

People rely on the land for their livelihood. If many cash crops are grown in areas with developed transportation, it is fine. However, if they are grown in deep mountains and forests, people worry about switching from rice to mulberry trees or rice to tea. If the sales are not good, then food will be a problem.

Therefore, the combination of multiple problems has naturally led to the fact that the development of states and counties in many places is not smooth, and industries are often only formed in some special areas.

For example, Wu'an in Hebei, Pingdingshan County in Henan, which was upgraded from the original Jiangdian Town to a county, and Yangcheng in Shanxi.

Most of these places are coal and iron producing areas. Transport envoys from various routes responded to the court's call and searched for areas rich in resources such as coal, iron, and lime in their respective routes to build steel mills, cement plants, brick and stone factories, etc. They are resource-based industrial cities.

Once the resources are exhausted or mining is suspended due to strategic requirements, it will easily become a ghost town like Ordos in Inner Mongolia and Hegang in Northeast China in later generations.

The Song Dynasty is now in the early stages of industrial development. In the future, not only heavy industry will be developed, but light industry will also be a top priority.

Zhao Jun naturally wants to develop comprehensively and build a country with a full industrial chain.

But it is too unrealistic to ask him to inspect each place one by one and then give guidance to local officials. There are more than a thousand counties in the country. Zhao Jun will not be able to stay in the central government for the rest of his life and will have to run around everywhere.

Therefore, how to give full play to the subjective initiative of officials and let them find ways to solve local problems on their own is a reality that the court needs to consider.

"Okay, this trip has only been through Hebei, and we've gained a lot. We've found many problems, so it's worth the trip. We've almost had enough rest, so let's go."

Zhao Jun recorded everything, then drank the cold tea in his bowl in one gulp. He stood up and said with a smile, "Now is the time to go to Wu'an and see how things are going. If they're doing well, we can learn from their advanced experience and promote it to resource-based cities across the country. Let local officials with coal and iron industries learn from their experience, so that we can develop better."

“Hahahahahahaha.”

Everyone laughed. Wu'an is now the first heavy industrial city in the Song Dynasty to produce steel. It is said that it produces hundreds of thousands of tons of steel annually and its steel products are sold throughout the country. It has long been rich.

Moreover, the local area has not only developed a steel manufacturing industry, but also derived a steel industry chain, including various steel agricultural tools, kitchen utensils, pipes, building materials, etc.

It can be said that Guangwu'an County has quickly become the first county in Hebei Road, and its annual tax payments are among the highest, which is enough to show the importance of the industry.

Therefore, going to the local area to learn about the industry development will also be very beneficial for these future prime ministers.

(End of this chapter)

dingdiange