Autumn, the thirteenth year of Jingming.
King Liu Yu of Qi returned from the Western Regions.
Lin Shuping followed orders and personally led people to the outside of the city to welcome them.
King Liu Xun of Lu accompanied him.
At the Shili Pavilion outside the city, the two brothers met and were extremely excited.
"Brother, you are finally back."
"Third brother!"
Liu Yu, who had a cold and hard temperament, smiled instantly when he saw his third brother Liu Xun.
It's as if the ice and snow are melting and spring is coming early.
When Liu Yu smiled, his temperament changed. He was no longer a general who had fought many battles, but a gentle and noble young man.
"Could Third Brother ride back to Beijing with my elder brother in the carriage?"
"Of course I do."
King Liu Xun of Lu abandoned his horse and got on the carriage.
The two brothers were drinking and chatting happily in the carriage.
"It's a pity that my second brother and sister didn't get to meet my eldest brother. They both felt very regretful." Liu Xun sighed.
Liu Yu said: "I feel very sorry too. If I have the chance, I will go overseas to visit them, see how they live, and see their territory."
"If big brother really wants to go overseas, I'm willing to go with him."
Liu Yu was surprised. "Aren't you afraid of water and don't want to go out to sea?"
"We can start from the southwest and travel overland to the territory of my second brother and sister."
"Has the official road from the southwest to overseas been completed?"
“It’s connected!”
After several years, the cement road from the southwest to overseas ports was finally opened.
Today, there are two ways to go abroad.
One is by water and the other is by land.
The water route is to go out to sea by ship, which has the advantages of being convenient and fast, and can carry dozens of ships' cargo and people at a time.
The downside is that the itinerary is affected by the weather and you can't control it. For a few months, you can't go out to sea because the wind direction is not right.
Traveling by land is long and dangerous, but it is not affected by the climate and you can set out all year round.
Just pull the cargo and people in a horse-drawn carriage and you're off. You can arrange your own itinerary.
In order to open up the official road from the southwest to overseas, huge amounts of financial, material and human resources were spent.
"I heard that since the official road to overseas was built, it has become much more lively there. I have been thinking about going there to take a look. Big brother wants to go too, so we can go together."
King Liu Xun of Lu was very excited and couldn't wait to go out tomorrow.
Among the four siblings, he is the most home-bound.
I haven't left the capital for all these years.
Liu Yu smiled and said, "There's no rush! I heard that you've fallen for the girl from the Gu family."
"She's the girl from the Pingnan Marquis's Mansion."
What Gu Jiu worried about did not happen.
Liu Xun was not interested in Gu Ting's daughter, but the daughter of Gu Rui and Zhou.
Liu Yu laughed, "I didn't expect that you have solved the major issue in your life without making any noise."
Liu Xun smiled complacently, "Compared to my elder brother, my marriage was pretty smooth."
…
Liu Yu first went back to the palace to visit his wife and children before entering the palace to pay his respects.
After being away from Beijing for a few years, I have a lot to say.
There are personal matters, but more are official matters.
The war in the Western Regions, the situation, and the various situations in the Anxi Palace...
All this was news that the emperor and empress urgently needed to know.
"The war in the Western Regions has spread across the entire continent, dragging dozens, even hundreds, of countries large and small, into the conflict. This war won't end in three to five years. It wouldn't be surprising if it lasted ten to twenty years."
This is Liu Yu’s point of view.
"How strong is the opponent?" Liu Zhao asked.
"The soldiers are fearless, their weapons are unmatched, and their riding skills are beyond compare. They have a huge advantage. Their smelting technology should not be underestimated. This time, my son brought back two craftsmen from the Western Regions, who may be able to help."
Gu Jiu asked, "Comparing weapons, do our weapons have an advantage?"
She asked herself that since Universal Steel Technology was the world leader, there was no reason why her own weapons could not compare to those of other races.
Liu Yu hesitated for a moment before saying, "Each has its own merits!"
Gu Jiu frowned.
"Did you bring back their weapons?"
"My son brought back a cart of weapons, also made of fine steel."
That’s so awesome!
Universal Steel, because Gu Jiu has the golden finger of time travel and the theoretical basis, he can successfully refine fine steel and then use the fine steel to create weapons.
The foreign race in the Western Regions, without any golden fingers, was able to successfully refine weapons made of fine steel. They are indeed quite capable.
No wonder they were able to provoke wars in the Western Regions, which lasted for decades or even hundreds of years.
This is a tough opponent.
Gu Jiu and Liu Zhao looked at each other and they had a tacit understanding.
"We need to speed up the updating of weapons."
It's time to bring out the hot weapons.
"Just to fight in the Western Regions?" Liu Zhao asked Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu said, "It's not just about conquering the Western Regions, there are also so many overseas territories. The overseas camp hasn't encountered a real opponent yet. When we do, we'll know how wise it is to update our weapons."
Liu Zhao looked at the map of the universe and saw that there were indeed large tracts of land that the Great Zhou army had never set foot on.
The merchants of the Great Zhou Dynasty had not been to many places.
Liu Yu looked at the world map with his eyes shining.
He stretched out his hand and circled the land on the map. "The imperial power of the Great Zhou is so majestic that it can definitely reach these blank areas."
"Very good, you have the style of me in my youth!" Liu Zhao laughed heartily, very proud!
Gu Jiu didn't expose him either.
She instructed Liu Yu, "Go back home and rest first. Submit a report on the affairs of the Western Regions."
Liu Yu stood up and said goodbye.
Liu Zhao's finger slid across the map from the northwest to Xiliang.
"Shouldn't we build an official road to Xiliang? The war in the Western Regions will last at least 10 to 20 years, and if something unexpected happens, it could last for decades. Building a road can shorten the distance between the capital and the Xiliang royal city, allowing information to be transmitted back to the capital more quickly."
Gu Jiu nodded in agreement. "We think alike. It's time to build a cement road from the northwest to Xiliang."
“Where does the money come from?”
Thousands of miles of road, crossing mountains and ridges, building bridges across rivers, and even building roads on cliffs. This is a huge project.
The amount of money and food spent will be an astronomical figure.
However, this road is sparsely populated and the land is barren, so the economic profits that can be obtained are actually very limited.
When the Ministry of Revenue was asked to pay for road construction, the Minister of Revenue dared to hit his head against a pillar in the Golden Palace and died.
All the officials in the court would point at Liu Zhao's nose and curse him as a tyrant.
Gu Jiu gritted his teeth and circled a large area of land on the map. "As far as I know, this area can be used to grow cotton! It will just alleviate the domestic cotton shortage and reduce the price of cotton cloth."
"To grow cotton, you first have to open up wasteland. This requires a large number of people, which is not an easy task."
Gu Jiu's face turned cold. "Two plans. One is to recruit people from the public, provide wages and land. The other is to use prisoners of war as slaves to open up wasteland."
Liu Zhao bluntly stated, "Using prisoners of war and slaves is one method, but it can easily breed all kinds of dark sides."
"After serving for ten years, prisoners of war and slaves can be given a legal status."
"Are you sure you want to give them legal status? Why not just send them all back home? At worst, you can just give them some money."
"If we drive them back home, they might be recaptured and become prisoners of war and slaves again. We'll have to open up the wasteland for ten years, give them identities, and define the area, so we can give it a try. But we have to control the population, and they have to live in dispersed places, not in large groups, to avoid chaos."
"Then give it a try."
Liu Zhao can wait ten years!
The money issue remains unresolved.
"Raise funds! Ask the caravans that travel to the Western Regions year-round for funds. The benefit is toll exemption for twenty years."
"Even so, the funds for road construction are still not enough and the gap is huge."
The caravan gave a maximum of several hundred thousand taels of silver.
It is possible that he would only give a few thousand or tens of thousands of taels.
This amount of money is a drop in the bucket for building thousands of miles of cement road, and is not even enough to buy food.
"Go find the Prince of Anxi and ask him to take some of the money." Gu Jiu thought of a solution. "The Prince of Anxi's Palace must pay at least five million taels."
"I'm afraid Pei Meng won't agree!" Liu Zhao knew Pei Meng, he was a stingy person.
I only saw him taking advantage of others, but never saw him being generous.
Wars are fought for money and food.
In the past, due to insufficient money and food, the Northwest Army often suffered from famine.
This made Pei Meng always nervous whenever he faced issues involving money and grain.
Gu Jiu responded domineeringly, "You have to agree to it, whether you agree or not. It's not his turn to say no to building the road. Otherwise, I will cut off the trade route from Da Zhou to Xiliang."
"This trick is cruel enough! Pei Meng will definitely surrender!" Liu Zhao looked happy and was happy to see Pei Meng suffer a setback.
The little money that the Great Zhou lost due to the cutting off of trade routes was just a drop in the bucket for Queen Gu Jiu.
But for Anxi King Pei Meng, the lost money was the main source of income for the palace.
Once the trade route is cut off, the Anxi Palace will be paralyzed immediately!
Pei Meng will never be able to sit firmly on the throne.
Without tariff revenue, how would King Anxi support his army?
Without the Great Zhou merchant caravans continuously delivering goods to Xiliang, what would the Northwest Army eat and drink?
Only the Great Zhou Dynasty has tea that can relieve greasiness.
For the Northwest Army who had lived in the Great Zhou for the first half of their lives, losing tea was like asking for their lives.
Eating a bowl of rice occasionally is also a kind of comfort.
It is an important means to stabilize people's hearts.
Once the trade routes were cut off, tea, rice, and various snacks from my hometown were all out of stock.
As time goes on, the army will inevitably fall into chaos.
This was Gu Jiu's trump card. Holding the trade route firmly in his hands was equivalent to strangling the lifeblood of the Anxi Palace.
The funding gap needed for road construction can only be filled by the Shaofu and Sihai.
The Ministry of Revenue cannot be relied upon.
People from the Ministry of Revenue are born misers.
Asking them to pay for road construction is like asking for their lives, and we must never agree to it.
The couple determined the general direction and set a specific plan, and the next step was to arrange personnel to carry it out.
This matter was not brought to the court for discussion, but the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works were directly notified for cooperation.
The northwest section will be started first.
For the Xiliang section of the road, construction will begin when King Anxi takes out the money.
When the court officials learned of this, there was an uproar.
"Building a road in a sparsely populated desert with barren land is a clear waste of money and food."
"Why don't you use the money for road construction to build a school?"
"Your Majesty and the Empress have gone mad! The land is vast and the road is desolate and chaotic. Why would they build a cement road all the way to Xiliang? It's pointless!"
"Trade with Xiliang is limited in scale each year. Building a road just for a small amount of customs duties is a sheer waste."
Even if the road construction did not cost the Ministry of Revenue a penny, the court officials, with the spirit of daring to be the first in the world and a sense of responsibility to persuade the emperor and empress to take the right path, submitted petitions to stop this matter.
Even if it's the Shaofu's money that's being spent, it still makes me feel bad, okay?
Your Majesty, please don't be willful!
With so much money, why not do something else with it? Why build roads?
We worked so hard to build the road, but the people of Da Zhou can’t use it. What a waste!
If Your Majesty thinks you have too much money and can't spend it, why not give it to me? I am very poor and never think I have too much money.
I am also very poor!
All the court officials complained about being poor, clearly mocking and ridiculing Emperor Liu Zhao.
Liu Zhao sat in the Golden Palace and rolled his eyes.
"I am poor too!"
"Your Majesty complains of poverty, yet has the money to build a road no one uses. How absurd!"
"I'm spending my own money, what's the problem?"
"Nominally, Your Majesty is spending your own money, but in reality, it's the people's blood and sweat. The salt and iron taxes go into the pockets of the Minister of Finance. The one-tenth tax also goes into the pockets of the Minister of Finance. The income from the Minister of Finance's bank also goes into the pockets of the Minister of Finance... Can Your Majesty truly call this money your own?"
"What goes into the Shaofu's pocket is my money. This is the rule established during the time of Taizu. Do you want to break it now? You always say you want to abide by the ancestral rules. Now that I ask you to abide by the ancestral rules, why don't you agree? You are the ones who say it's right, and you are also the ones who say it's wrong! It seems that whether it's right or wrong depends entirely on your words."
"Your Majesty, this is wrong! If we were to build a road within the country and the Ministry of Finance paid for it, no one would object. But the road Your Majesty wants to build now runs from the northwest to Xiliang. It's thousands of miles, and the cost of grain and money would be astronomical. Furthermore, the land along the way is barren and uninhabited. What good would such a road do?"
"Those who say building a road is useless are shortsighted, in my opinion. Why build this road? What are the benefits of building this road? These are questions I shouldn't answer for you. As my subjects, you should seek the answers for yourselves. If I have to intervene in everything, what use would I have for you, my subjects?"
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