The wheat harvest season always brings hope.
This year's grain output in the south is estimated to be twice that of the same period last year!
This is exciting news.
The imperial court allocated a large sum of money to Jingdong Road and Hebei Road to begin rebuilding towns affected by the floods. At the same time, large quantities of grain were transported along the river to Jingdong Road and Hebei Road.
Under the emperor's order, the court began to rebuild Qizhou and Puzhou, creating a large number of jobs in just a few months.
Furthermore, large-scale ferry crossings began to be built in Qizhou and Puzhou.
In the fifth year of the Jingkang era, the imperial court's strategies for Qizhou and Puzhou boosted the basic industries in these two regions.
The large-scale reconstruction of houses spurred the emergence of many trading companies. Merchants organized teams to cut down trees, and the laborers needed to eat. Some people saw this business opportunity and began to provide food in a unified manner.
The main source of grain was the south, and a group of southern merchants made a fortune from this.
Seeing the food shortage in the north and with the support of the imperial court's policies, these merchants began to transport large quantities of grain.
That year, the amount of money collected by the imperial court was several times higher than in previous years.
The officials of the imperial court saw this as a source of revenue, and their enthusiasm for road construction grew even stronger.
At the same time, merchants also reduced costs due to convenient transportation, thus indirectly gaining more profits.
Higher profits naturally lead to higher commercial taxes, creating a win-win situation for all parties involved.
The general public seems to be optimistic.
However, the emperor was still not satisfied with the current progress of the cement road construction.
The cement road has been laid for more than two years, but it still doesn't connect Tokyo City to Jiangling Prefecture!
The emperor was furious and severely reprimanded Xu Churen, Tang Ke, Qin Hui, and others in the court.
They were completely dumbfounded by the insults.
Logically speaking, this is not a slow process, since it involves recruiting private companies to complete the paving of cement roads.
Moreover, this project is different from building a city. In a city, all the materials can be transported to that place.
However, building cement roads is completely different; the location of the construction site is different at each stage!
The emperor's reprimand of the Council of State Affairs pleased Liu Yanzong the most, who even stepped forward to rub salt into the Council's wounds.
Strangely, this was originally a matter for the Council of State Affairs, but the Censorate got involved.
The Imperial Censor He Ye stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that we cannot entirely blame Prime Minister Xu at this time!"
The emperor's face darkened, growing increasingly imposing, and he coldly uttered a few words: "What makes Imperial Censor He speak such words?"
“Your Majesty, I remember that three years ago, when Minister Xu submitted a plan for paving cement roads, there was a proposal to produce straight steel molds. However, because the demand for such molds was too large, the Academy of Sciences and the Ordnance Bureau were needed to assist in creating a completely new forging method. However, in the past two years, this aspect has been completely stagnant!”
Upon hearing this, the people involved immediately understood.
Han Gonglian, who had nothing to do with the matter, suddenly felt a sharp twitch in his eyelids.
He was essentially telling the emperor that the biggest responsibility for the delay in the construction of the cement road lay with the Chinese Academy of Sciences!
And the Ordnance Bureau!
Han Gonglian and Chen Gui, who had been hiding in the crowd and had been hit by arrows, could no longer stand.
The shrewd and calculating Xu Churen immediately understood the emperor's purpose.
The emperor was not dissatisfied with the speed of cement road construction; in fact, given the current technological capabilities, cement road construction had reached its limit.
The emperor was well aware of this.
What the emperor was actually dissatisfied with was that, after two and a half years, the technology and related facilities had still not improved.
However, the emperor still believed that he would never get angry or criticize the people at the Academy of Sciences.
Everyone knows that the Academy of Sciences and the Ordnance Bureau were the emperor's most prized possessions.
This emperor had an almost obsessive passion for engineering and the study of things.
If we don't blame the Academy of Sciences and the Ordnance Supervision Bureau, then the State Council should take the blame.
However, the prime ministers could not be wronged too much, so the emperor's thoughts could only be expressed through the sharp-tongued He Ye.
Having figured out the emperor's thoughts, Liu Yanzong couldn't help but sigh inwardly: This emperor is incredibly cunning!
The emperor fell silent, his gaze fixed intently on the ministers below, seemingly waiting to witness a good show of infighting.
But seeing that everyone had stopped, it was clear that the few people in the Council of State were unwilling to offend the emperor's darlings. Xu Churen and Tang Ke both lowered their heads, as if they intended to let Qin Hui take their place.
Qin Hui pondered for a moment, thinking to himself: I was clearly sent by the emperor to the Hall of State Affairs to cause trouble for Xu Churen and Tang Ke, how did I suddenly become one of them?
Seeing that none of them were willing to speak, the emperor asked, "Tang Ke, tell me the reason!"
Tang Ke had originally hoped that Qin Hui would speak, but he didn't expect to be singled out by the emperor. It was clear that the emperor wanted him to tear apart the Academy of Sciences!
Tang Ke had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Works has indeed not received any blueprints or blueprints from the Academy of Sciences."
"Does this matter only proceed if we receive the blueprints from the Academy of Sciences?" Zhao Huan reprimanded sternly. "Is it feasible to increase manpower?"
"Your Majesty! I dare to say that our manpower is already at its limit. Adding more people will not only fail to speed things up, but will also create bloat and slow things down. The only thing we can do is improve the equipment! Therefore, I believe that the fault does not lie with us!"
Seeing that the emperor was forcing Tang Ke to confront him, it would be disrespectful for the emperor if Xu Churen remained silent.
He said, "Your Majesty, if the molds are improved under the current conditions, the speed of cement laying will be greatly increased!"
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