In February of the fourteenth year of the Jingkang era, the northwest was still bitterly cold, with ice and snow still present.
Even the Gobi Desert was covered in snow.
But outside Yumen Pass, one could see dense crowds of people wearing black cotton-padded coats, their ears red from the cold.
One after another, the most primitive handcarts arrived outside Yumen Pass and entered the cement manufacturing plant there.
Tang Ke, who was in charge of the Hetao Prefecture and concurrently the military commissioner, arrived outside Yumen Pass, dressed in a sable coat and surrounded by officers.
Transport Commissioner Fan Chunren said, "Prime Minister Tang, those cement plants are producing cement day and night. In one year, we only need one year to build a cement road from Dunhuang to Gaochang. Our speed will definitely be faster than that of Longyou."
Tang Ke was under a lot of pressure. He sighed, but still had a faint smile on his face: "We don't have a year. Once November comes, the Western Regions will be hit by strong winds and heavy snow, making it impossible to work. We only have ten months."
Fan Chunren said, "Prime Minister Tang, I have something to say, but I'm not sure if I should."
"explain."
“Li Guang was also involved in the construction of the highway from Dunhuang to Gaochang. He should have recruited people to help build it.”
Tang Ke glanced at him and said, "Don't even think about it. Gaochang just moved tens of thousands of people there. Li Guang is busy settling the people, and there are all kinds of fortifications under construction in the city. There's simply no manpower."
He's right. Li Guang is now eager to mobilize all the people of Gaochang to work together and build a beautiful new city for the Song Dynasty.
But Gaochang's population is so small that it's simply not enough.
Li Guang submitted memorials to Zhao Huan more than once, requesting that people be relocated from the Hetao route again.
Migrating a large population would be a massive undertaking, and Tang Ke would certainly disagree with that.
It's important to know that the Hetao region had just experienced a war.
Who hasn't been hurt before?
In recent years, Guanzhong has gradually recovered, but the people of Guanzhong are not very willing to go to the Western Regions.
Fan Chunren hesitated for a moment and said, "Longyou has mobilized local militia, why don't we mobilize our militia as well?"
“I also want to, but Yu Yunwen persuaded Zhang Xiaochun in court not to mobilize the Hetao Road garrison, citing the fact that the remnants of the barbarians were still causing trouble in the Hetao Road, in order to prepare for any eventuality.”
Fan Chunren was now quite annoyed. Yu Yunwen had actually managed to cut him off here; it was truly despicable.
"Let's send more people, and we can pay them a higher wage. I'll ask the emperor for some more money."
"Lord Tang, our finances are already close to being overspending, I'm afraid..."
"There was no other way but to swallow my pride and ask for it."
A few days later, a memorial delivered by express courier arrived on Zhao Huan's desk; it was Tang Ke's memorial.
After reading Tang Ke's memorial, Zhao Huan gave a very curt reply: "Borrow from the Royal Bank next door according to the rules, and remember to repay on time."
After reading the emperor's reply, Tang Ke was not satisfied and wrote another memorial to Zhao Huan.
They indicated that if the imperial court did not provide support to the Hetao Road, the local government of Xingqing Prefecture would be paralyzed, and requested His Majesty to provide some funds.
Zhao Huan then gave a curt reply: Royal Bank!
Tang Ke's memorial to the throne: Your Majesty, I cannot sleep at night, tossing and turning, and I am suffering from a deep ailment!
After that, Zhao Huan did not reply.
After some time, Tang Ke received a letter from Zhao Ding: "How much string of cash does Prime Minister Tang need? The doors of the Royal Bank will always be open to you."
Tang Ke sighed, as if he could see the emperor's stingy face, and also as if he could see Zhao Ding's snobbish expression.
Actually, it's not that we don't have money, it's just that the emperor's task is so heavy, we should at least deduct some money from the emperor's funds, instead of the local government of Hetao Road paying for it all.
Now that the emperor is refusing to give a single penny, Tang Ke is helpless.
They had no choice but to take out a loan from the Song Dynasty Royal Bank stationed in Xingqing Prefecture.
After securing the loan, Tang Ke recruited another 100,000 people to work day and night on road construction.
By this time, order had already been restored within Gaochang City.
The originally cramped city of Gaochang was planned for expansion.
Large numbers of workers were working outside the old city; some were digging, some were carrying bricks, some were transporting timber, and others were transporting stones.
The people of Gaochang City have never been so enthusiastic in history.
They even got paid for building fortifications, and quite a lot of money at that.
It seems that things are much better under the rule of the Song people than under Bilege.
Gaochang is actually lacking quite a few things.
First of all, Gaochang has no agriculture, and its food is not abundant.
Therefore, the price of everyday food is very high.
Food is the most important thing for the people, and the first priority for Song Dynasty officials in governing local areas was naturally to stabilize grain prices.
In order to increase the amount of grain available to the people, Li Guang had to purchase grain from Hetao Road and Qingtang City.
However, Gaochang's fiscal revenue is currently in dire straits. Yelü Dashi has blocked the western route, preventing many merchants from crossing over. Gaochang's commercial transaction volume is also declining sharply, forcing him to borrow money from the Royal Bank to make ends meet.
Fortunately, the Song Dynasty now has a strong commercial foundation. Once cities like Gaochang begin to implement new policies, many wealthy merchants will come here to invest.
For example, Xue Donglai, the richest man in Chang'an, returned to Gaochang with his wife, bought a lot of land there, and even invested in building a textile factory.
While the two men in the Northwest were suffering from testicular pain, Qin Hui in the South China Sea was the only one who was truly comfortable.
The emperor recently wrote him a letter, telling him a way to make money: There are still quite a few wealthy people in the Song Dynasty. You can prepare a few ships to carry wealthy people from Hong Kong Island to the countries in the South China Sea to experience exotic customs.
Qin Hui couldn't help but marvel at the emperor's quick thinking.
So he immediately purchased some large ships from a private shipbuilding bureau in Quanzhou, and then sent people to Hangzhou, Fuzhou and Quanzhou to promote the exotic customs of the South China Sea.
Surprisingly, this tactic was quite effective. Many wealthy people became curious and boarded ships to the South China Sea.
Qin Hui immediately wrote to Zhao Huan to report the result.
March is the season for peach blossoms to bloom, and the backyard of Yanfu Palace is full of peach blossoms.
As Zhao Huan sipped his wine amidst the falling peach blossoms, he perused Qin Hui's memorials.
He didn't expect that the tourism approach would actually be effective.
People in later generations loved to travel, but it turns out the people of Song didn't want to be idle either!
After thinking about it carefully, Zhao Huan realized that the Chinese people have always had a strong desire to explore the outside world.
However, the surrounding area is a wild and untamed land, and there are many unknown dangers to be found there.
But things are different now. The South China Sea is full of Song Dynasty warships, and it's not like the pirates have been obedient for just a year or two.
The people of the Song Dynasty were indeed willing to go to sea.
The unexpected surprise made Zhao Huan seem to see a way to make money.
Soon after, both Li Guang and Tang Ke began this way of making money.
It's not that I didn't know; I only found out after trying it that there really are ordinary people willing to travel to the Hetao Road and the Western Regions for sightseeing.
Li Guang couldn't help but sigh, "There are countless ways to make money, but even if the entire court and the public combined, they probably couldn't compare to Your Majesty's methods."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
