Chapter 455 The Storm is Coming
Southland
Xie Zhan, wearing official uniform, knelt in front to respectfully welcome the imperial edict, followed by his family and servants.
The eunuch who announced the decree had a shrill voice that was piercing to the ears.
After much difficulty, the eunuch finished reading the lengthy imperial edict. Xie Zhan, as instructed, kowtowed to express his gratitude for the emperor's grace.
At this time, the housekeeper of the Xie Mansion hurried forward to greet the eunuch who was delivering the imperial edict.
Everyone present stood up one after another, with different expressions, most of them were nervous, uneasy or terrified.
The emperor issued an edict specifically to reprimand him, and Xie Zhan accepted it calmly.
Look, he sent three hundred thousand taels to the Queen's family, and accomplished something worth several million, didn't he?
After comforting his family with a few words and asking the housekeeper to entertain the eunuch who announced the decree, he returned to the outer study.
"Go and ask Mr. Jiang to come."
The servant received the order and went away quickly.
Xie Zhan returned to the room and slowly poured himself a cup of tea.
Jiang Boya was the counselor he had invited out of retirement three times to manage internal affairs. When he first visited him, Jiang Boya showed him admiration and tried to recruit him, but he just smiled and did not respond.
This year, after becoming the governor of Lingnan, he went there again, but this time Jiang Boya was out and he did not see him.
The last time was when he came back from Shu, he made a special detour to visit Jiang Boya again.
This time, Jiang Boya was finally moved by him, packed his bags and returned to the south with him.
After returning to the south, he began to exercise the power of the governor, and Jiang Boya assisted him in sorting out the political affairs of Lingnan and the personnel of the three counties.
At the end of last year, he was busy traveling around visiting celebrities and recruiting talented people.
At that time, a small number of people accepted his recruitment, and after he became the governor of Lingnan, many came to him for fame, fortune and power.
These people were either appointed by him to appropriate positions or added to the official team of the governor's office.
With the help of talented people, he began to restore the economy of the South.
The large-scale construction in Pingzhou cannot be concealed. They can build the southern area based on the construction in Pingzhou, take advantage of its strengths and avoid its weaknesses.
Xie Zhan asked his family to take out half of the three million taels brought back from Shu County and Gusu, and gradually invest it in the construction of the three southern counties.
At the same time, let the four major families in the south cooperate with the government's orders.
Allies such as Qiao Xitong, Hu Jiangyi, Liao Xuewang and others also invested in the South.
Millions of taels of silver were invested in the south, creating many job opportunities for the people there.
The people in the South have truly benefited. The current South may not be as good as Pingzhou, but it is much better than ordinary prefectures and counties.
When Jiang Boya arrived, Xie Zhan was already sipping tea with a calm expression.
"Thank you, sir. Did the emperor issue an imperial edict to reprimand you?"
"That's to be expected, isn't it?" Xie Zhan said calmly, "Mr. Jiang, how about we play a game of hands?"
Jiang Boya nodded and sat opposite him.
The two men played chess and discussed political affairs.
"Mr. Jiang, it's really autumn now, and the storm is about to come." Xie Zhan sighed.
Jiang Boya also knew the plan for Pingzhou. After he made a move, he smiled and said, "Thank you, sir, for this trick of killing with a borrowed knife."
Xie Zhan smiled faintly. He had made all the necessary arrangements for Pingzhou. Now it all depended on the other party's response.
Jiang Boya placed a white piece, "If Pingzhou can't hold on, Master Xie can use this opportunity to eliminate a powerful enemy."
Xie Zhan immediately placed a black piece next to him. "If they can hold on, then we'll make this move and force Pingzhou to revolt. The Zuo Zhuan says that those who cause trouble will be put to death, and the emperor can command the whole nation to attack them together."
"Master Xie, have you ever thought about this: if Pingzhou survives this crisis, it will surely come out on top. What about the South?" Pingzhou faces risks as well as opportunities.
Looking at the chess piece that was not at an advantage for his side, Xie Zhan frowned.
Jiang Boya picked up the tea beside him and took a sip, waiting for him to make a choice.
Pingzhou
Among the four counties of Pingzhou, Liaoxi County, Liaodong County and Lelang County all bordered the Xianbei in the north, and their city walls needed to be raised and reinforced.
Before construction began, Pingzhou pulled up a nearly ten-foot-high canvas to block the construction site and block the view of the Xianbei people exploring nearby.
As soon as the sky was alight, the laborers began to work, working in groups of seven or eight.
The group at the edge, seven or eight laborers, were all experienced workers and they prepared all the materials in no time.
"Brother Chen, the lime mortar has been mixed according to the proportions."
The man who called Brother Chen nodded, indicating that he understood.
The other team members looked around and decided to just put the cooked glutinous rice soup in and mix all the ingredients evenly before using it.
But, "Where's the glutinous rice soup?"
"The glutinous rice soup hasn't been cooked yet." Brother Chen said.
The team members looked at each other in bewilderment. They didn't make it? What were they going to do next?
At this time, someone came over pushing a peculiarly shaped wheelbarrow with two bulging large sacks on it.
"Isn't it here?" Brother Chen stood up.
The laborers wanted to go forward to help unload the goods.
The man pushing the cart said it was not necessary and just asked them to move back a little. Then he turned the cart over and unloaded the two sacks of goods. Then he pushed the empty cart away and had to continue transporting goods.
The team members also took a few more glances at the strange-looking one-wheeled dump truck.
"Brother Chen, what is this?"
"Hey, this new thing is called cement."
Hearing this, the laborers understood that this was probably another product of the Seventh Institute of Technology. Many of the new things and gadgets that appeared in Pingzhou in the past two years were from the Seventh Institute of Technology.
"Come on, come on, carry it to the side."
The laborers spontaneously worked in pairs to lift a sack. But once they started, they realized, "Wow, this sack of cement is really heavy."
Brother Chen asked them to open the sacks and pour cement into the lime, sand and gravel strictly according to the ratio, and arranged four more people to fetch water.
"Brother Chen, don't we have glutinous rice soup?"
“No, let’s use cement instead.”
No wonder they never saw the big pot for making glutinous rice soup.
The laborers chatted while they worked.
"That guy just now easily carried two heavy bags of cement here by himself using that wheelbarrow."
"I don't know how much it costs, but if I had a wheelbarrow like this at home, it would be very convenient to move things around."
"Indeed, isn't the autumn harvest coming soon? If we use it to transport grain, we won't have to worry about our shoulders getting hurt or our backs getting bent."
After cement, lime, sand and gravel are dry-mixed in proportion, add water and stir.
It doesn't take long to mix it.
The laborers discovered that mixing slurry with cement was much more convenient than making glutinous rice soup.
They used to mix glutinous rice soup with lime mortar to bond the bricks and stones of the city wall.
Gao Jinghe, the master craftsman of the civil engineering workshop, was also responsible for building the city wall. After finishing his work, he began to inspect the skills of the young craftsmen under his command.
Every time he passed a young craftsman, he would stop and watch for a moment. If the work was not so good, he would give some guidance. If the work was good, he would stand for a while, then nod and continue on his way.
The construction of the city gate and city wall in Pingzhou was quite noisy, and it could not be hidden from the Xianbei sentries living nearby.
"Are the southerners repairing their walls? They've even put up a curtain. Is that to protect us?"
"Yeah, it's just building a city wall, but it's done in a rather mysterious way."
The Xianbei sentry finally sneered, "Not much ability, but quite a lot of tricks."
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