Chapter 50 A brick road must be built!
Sunlight shone on the tiled roofs, and Su Jingge cupped her hands in greeting to the people: "No need to thank me, as long as the people are happy, my efforts have not been in vain."
Su Jingge looked at everyone and said, "The roof of the first type of house is now completed. Next is what everyone has been looking forward to: repairing the courtyard wall and the ground together."
Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in uproar:
"Repairing the courtyard wall isn't unusual, but did I hear correctly? You mean repairing the land?"
"What? They're going to repair the ground in our county?"
"Is it real cultivation or fake cultivation?"
"Are you kidding me?"
The people were all shocked and kept crowding forward.
Su Jingge looked at everyone seriously: "You heard me right, we are going to repair the ground in our Yuxiang County."
“I watched the people work from dawn till dusk, doing small business, but their cart wheels just couldn’t get over the high ridges.”
"So if we want to get rich, the city must come alive. This road is the only way for the people. If we encounter small puddles after the summer rain, it's not so bad."
"But when winter comes, the roads become potholed and muddy, making it difficult to walk."
“The elderly and children in the county dare not go on the road.”
Su Jingge looked at the old woman with worry in her eyes: "Grandma Zhang, if I remember correctly, you fell down two years ago. Luckily, Manager Li next door helped you out, otherwise you probably wouldn't be able to get out of bed now."
With tears in her eyes, Grandma Zhang said, "President Su cares deeply about the people; you still remember such a small thing."
Su Jingge frowned and shook her head: "No, the people's affairs are not trivial matters; to me, they are of paramount importance!"
She looked at the vendor, Wang the Cripple: "Brother Wang, your legs are not good, pushing a two-wheeled cart is already difficult, and the full cart of vegetables really compacts the soil on the ground. You often encounter the high ridges at the west entrance of the vegetable market, and the vegetables will bounce off."
"It's extremely difficult."
Wang the Cripple cupped his hands in thanks, his eyes filled with gratitude: "Thank you for your concern, Assistant Manager..."
The woman's eyes were full of genuine emotion, and every word she spoke reflected the common people.
"So, this ground needs to be repaired."
"In the future, we will also repair the county's city walls, repair the city gates, dig ditches, and reclaim wasteland for farming."
"These will all be implemented one by one. Please be more patient and less critical of Yuxiang County."
Everyone stood solemnly and shouted in unison: "More patience, less criticism!"
Seeing everyone united, Su Jingge glanced at a small dark figure at the entrance of an alley not far away, then turned and left.
Her brows furrowed slightly, her eyes darkening; she was from Shanggu Zhai.
Some people said:
“Our Assistant Manager Su is much better than Zhao Liulang of Shanggu Zhai. Zhao Liulang only built land for merchants. I think he can only manage to build that small plot of land in front of his house for now. He completely disregards the lives of us ordinary people.”
"Hey~ Zhao Liuxiu's place is no good either. The shopkeeper on the next street tripped over the newly repaired road."
"It's pure fraud; the materials they used were just bricks and stones."
Just then, one of Zhao Liu's purchasing subordinates, who had been watching the commotion, stepped forward and pointed at the man's nose:
"You're talking nonsense! You don't know anything! Brick and stone roads are the best roads available today. Brick and stone roads are extremely expensive, costing 2 coins per brick, and requiring at least 50-70 bricks per square meter."
"How much would it cost to repair the entire Yuxiang County?"
"Yuxiang County covers an area of 120 li (476 square kilometers)."
"3,171 households (medium-sized population)"
Even if we exclude those who have left Yuxiang County in recent years, there are still at least 3,000 households.
The man sneered, "If this were to be completely renovated, it would cost at least ninety million taels of silver!!!"
Everyone was stunned upon hearing this.
"Huh?? Ninety million taels of silver??"
"It's absolutely impossible to fix this! It's simply not possible!"
For a moment, everyone seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon, shaking their heads in disbelief.
Su Jingge could tell that this person came from a family of strategists. If she remembered correctly, this person was the advisor who gave Zhao Liudian advice and strategies.
Kong Huai!
Su Jingge raised her hand: "People, people, please calm down."
Everyone quieted down to listen to Su Jingge.
"Mr. Kong is right, the amount of silver he calculated is not a penny off, but people, we are doing repairs, not tearing it down and rebuilding it, so we don't need that much silver at all!"
“Some bricks and stones can be reused. If we want to walk through the whole city, it will take at least two or three years. So I will divide the main roads and prioritize their repair.”
"Trouble is inevitable, but think about it, once the road is repaired, it will be much more convenient to transport vegetables or travel. This will save a lot of time on the road. When the West Market opens, a large number of people from neighboring counties and towns will come to buy."
"With less time spent traveling, others will buy more, and you will naturally earn more. With more money, everyone will become richer, and the city will become richer. In this way, we will live better lives in the future."
Some people started discussing it:
"What Assistant Manager Su said is not wrong. After all, the money we earn goes into our own pockets and not into other people's pockets, so we should support it."
Some people wondered: "I support it, but building a road is not like building a roof, where one family can just contribute a little bit of money to fix it."
"If we ordinary people have to pay for this, then we won't fix it."
Everyone shook their heads.
Su Jingge frowned slightly; as expected, she was already this upset even before the money was mentioned.
She raised her hand: "The people don't need to contribute money, but since we all live under the same roof, all we need now is for everyone to participate in the construction."
"I will reopen that abandoned brick kiln on the back mountain of the west end, but we are short of manpower. If you want to hire workers, please sign up. This way, it will be considered that everyone has contributed."
Besides, the documents for repairing the ground had already been issued, and Zhao Zhou's brick kiln was built on West Mountain. The bricks produced there were probably covered with layers of dust.
Those bricks are either in Xishan now, or Zhao Liu has used them.
If he really did use bricks from the government, then there's something to say about that.
At this moment, Kong Huai smiled sarcastically: "I've seen crazy people, but I've never seen anyone this crazy. They really think the county is a child's castle. It's one thing to build a roof today and patch up a wall tomorrow, but now they want to build a field. Well, let's see how you build it."
Kong Huai picked up two roast chickens, slung them over his shoulder, and swaggered away.
Looking at the registered people, Su Jingge secretly vowed that this ground must be repaired.
Xie Mo's voice came from afar:
"Greetings, Assistant Minister Su." The man approached and bowed slightly, then looked at the people. "Assistant Minister Su is right. This land must be repaired. Otherwise, after a heavy rain, the ground will be covered with gravel and yellow soil, making it even more difficult to walk than a swamp. Everything is difficult at the beginning, but it must be repaired."
"First, build the main road using bricks and stones. The other two and three types are rammed earth. Rammed earth roads have been important official roads since ancient times, frequently used by soldiers and horses. They have extremely strong load-bearing capacity, but they are not aesthetically pleasing. However, they are extremely practical!"
After Xie Mo finished speaking, he respectfully said to Su Jingge, "Once I have finished listing the names of the craftsmen, we will go to Xishan immediately to restart the two brick kilns for which the government has issued the decree!"
Su Jingge blinked. Ever since Xie Mo went crazy at the county government office last time, he seemed to have become much more unrestrained in his actions.
Is this some kind of workplace madman going online?
She smiled slightly and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Magistrate Xie."
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