The sun is very hot.
The west wing in the backyard of Siyang County Government Office was like a steamer.
Xiaoqi cut up a plate of watermelon, chilled it in well water, and brought it in. He saw several heads gathered together and heard the emperor say, "Feng Laosi, this process is similar to distilling white wine, but the difference is that it requires a large distillation tower."
"After petroleum is distilled at high temperatures in a distillation tower, the heavier portion is called kerosene, which can replace candles for lighting. The lighter portion is called... gasoline. It's very valuable and must be stored."
"Qin Chengye, with gasoline, the steam engine at the Academy of Sciences can be upgraded to an internal combustion engine. I'll tell you more about the internal combustion engine later."
"What you must pay special attention to is that no matter what kind of oil it is, it is afraid of fire and violent collisions. Therefore, the distillation tower must be built far enough away from the oil lake, and a firewall must be built to prevent the oil lake from igniting. That would be a catastrophic disaster!"
“…”
Xiaoqi watched silently for a moment. This scene had been going on for the third day.
During these three days, the emperor tirelessly explained to them, drew pictures for them, and constantly reminded them of safety issues. The emperor looked very excited, sweating profusely, but he was not at all irritated. He seemed to be afraid that missing something would cause the attempt to obtain the oil to fail.
For the sake of that magical thing, the emperor even left Lord Zhuo, Lord Nangong and other officials aside. It has been five days. I am afraid they have to wait until the emperor finishes explaining the oil matter and Master Qin and others fully understand it before they will pay attention to these officials.
Xiaoqi brought the watermelon, and Fu Xiaoguan casually took a slice and started eating. "Hmm, it's too hot. Come on, come on, eat it all." He raised his head and looked at Xiaoqi. "By the way, Xiaoqi, send a watermelon to Master Zhuo and the others next door as well."
"As you command."
Xiaoqi smiled and turned to leave. Then he heard Fu Xiaoguan say, "An internal combustion engine is one that burns fuel inside the engine, like this..."
Zhuo and his group and Nangong Yiyu were very bored. They ran to Siyang County happily, but the emperor was not there. He had gone to the neighboring Chi County.
They waited in Siyang County for five days, and what they saw were more and more businessmen, the 100,000-strong Divine Sword Third Army led by Chen Po, and the belated Scientific Research Institute.
His Majesty finally came back, but he just greeted them and asked them to wait, and they waited for another three days.
Your Majesty and the people from the Academy of Sciences talked about it day and night in that room. The thing they were talking about was the black pool in Siyang County. Your Majesty said that thing was called petroleum - could it be the oil that flowed out from the cracks in the rocks?
They didn't understand, but seeing how excited His Majesty was, it was obvious that this thing was a good one.
Well, His Majesty has a lot of tricks up his sleeve anyway, so let's see what he can come up with after making such a big fuss this time.
On this day, even the Minister of Revenue You Xianzhi arrived.
"My two ministers, this time, Your Majesty has mobilized a huge amount of silver. Your Majesty has instructed me to anchor 10 million taels of gold and order the Sitong Bank to issue 100 million silver notes to the Ministry of Revenue..."
You Xianzhi was very nervous. He looked at the two prime ministers and said, "This is the total tax revenue of our Wu Dynasty in the past two years. If there is not so much gold entering the national treasury, if this currency becomes flooded, the consequences will be unimaginable!"
"Has the budget of Yuzhou Governor Luo Binglin come out?" Nangong Yiyu asked back.
"We've got it. The road from Chi County to Siyang County is over 560 miles long. Your Majesty is pressing us hard, so we'll need to join forces with the other two states to recruit over 500,000 laborers. The projected construction period is four months, and it must be completed by early October at the latest. Otherwise, the snowstorm will be too severe to allow construction. The rough budget for labor alone is over 1.2 million taels, plus other expenses like materials and tools, totaling over 2 million."
That doesn't sound like much.
Ever since our Majesty ascended the throne, his spending has been extraordinary.
Look at the Dayuguan Free Trade Zone bordering the Yi Kingdom. With a stroke of his pen, His Majesty invested 10 million taels of silver, and a brand new city rose from the ground.
Let’s take a look at Hexi Prefecture, one of the five prefectures in the Western Regions. His Majesty once again waved his pen and invested eight million taels of silver in Beijun City.
Not to mention road construction, there are few merchants taking over the road network of the five states of the Western Region and the six states of Beixiao. What should we do? His Majesty once again made a big move and threw a full 30 million taels of silver into this road construction.
It's only over two million, it's not worth mentioning at all.
But then, You Xianzhi continued, "Didn't Your Majesty go to Chi County? That road originally started in Chi County, but since Your Majesty went there, the road must be built to the Chishan Mountains!"
"Just to get from the Chishan Mountains to Chi County, it would cost a full three million taels of silver!"
"This guy spent five million taels. The budget for Siyang County's city expansion was three million taels, and the budget for Heitan's wall construction was two million taels. Ten million taels of silver... that's it."
When Zhuo and his entourage heard this, they felt it was a good thing. After all, these were the infrastructure that His Majesty mentioned. Once these infrastructures were completed, businessmen would be able to invest in building factories.
How did your Majesty say that?
Yes, it makes perfect sense that the government provides the stage and the merchants perform, and the people benefit.
"I think that if Your Majesty were to add an additional 100 million silver notes... this 10 million would solve the problem. Should we just ask the Sitong Bank to print 90 million less?"
Everyone knows that money flooding will cause prices to rise, and the consequences will be devastating.
What they didn't know was that the Wu Dynasty's economy was developing too fast, and the flow of money in the market could not keep up with the pace of economic growth, especially since Fu Xiaoguan needed a large amount of money to invest in high technology.
The two prime ministers thought You Xianzhi's suggestion made sense. After all, this trickle of water was far less powerful than opening the floodgates to release a flood.
"When His Majesty finishes his work next door, you can tell him your suggestions. By the way, where has Zhou Tongtong been recently?" Nangong Yiyu asked.
You Xianzhi shook his head. "When I left Guanyun City, there was still no news of Lord Zhou. However, the Censorate has also dispatched many officials to various places. The civil service is indeed in need of rectification."
Your Majesty has been on the throne for more than a year. The country is peaceful, the policies are clear, and the people have benefited. However, some of the previous officials may not be able to keep up with Your Majesty's pace. Even if they have not been corrupt, if they are unable to implement Your Majesty's policies due to their ability, such officials will also be eliminated.
"It's already June. After I return, I have to have the Imperial Academy prepare for the Autumn Examination in advance."
One carrot, one hole. Now is the time to pull out the carrots. Then someone has to fill these empty holes!
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