The group traveled a little further before the wide official road disappeared, replaced by lively voices. Gu Yuzhi peered out through the carriage window and saw people dressed in the simplest coarse linen clothes, sitting in twos and threes around a circle eating, their eyes filled with curiosity as they looked at their carriage.
Gu Yuzhi watched all of this without blinking, and only after the car had completely driven away did he open all the windows again.
He was being jostled around, his little face full of disappointment: "The official road is being built so slowly, it's only been a few miles."
Xinliang is such a large area; if the official road between Changzhou and Quanzhou were to be opened up, who knows how many years it would take to build it.
Gu Yuzhi was supporting his chin with his small hand, but unexpectedly, a bump caused his chin to slip down. Fortunately, Xie Changshi caught him quickly, otherwise he would have fallen headfirst.
"The people of Xinliang are currently planting corn. Once the corn is planted, this year's crops will be almost finished. I think it would be better to have the men come and help build the official road at that time."
Building the official road is a protracted battle, and Chief Secretary Xie only wants to open up the road between the city center and Changzhou.
As for Quanzhou, he still needs to find a way to connect with the prefect of Quanzhou.
Adult men had time limits for their official service, and these men could not serve here indefinitely, which added to the difficulty of constructing the official road.
Gu Yuzhi was naturally aware of this, but the contrast was so great that it inevitably affected his mood.
He poked Xueye's head and pouted, saying, "It's going to snow again in November, and then we'll have to stop work again."
Thinking that he definitely wouldn't be able to stay in Xinliang this year, Gu Yuzhi sighed like a little adult.
Xueye got a little impatient with his poking and turned to bite him. The wolf and the boy were playing together again in no time, and Gu Yuzhi's bad mood quickly disappeared.
Chief Secretary Xie smiled and said, "Your Highness need not worry. The officials are gone, but the people from Li's Trading Company and the gambling den are still here. Didn't Your Highness already send them all to Xinliang to build the official road?"
The official road will take several years to repair, and once it is repaired, land reclamation can continue.
Xie Changshi had no intention of letting them off so easily; he was determined to squeeze every last drop of energy out of them.
Gu Yuzhi lay on Xue Ye's body, his arms tightly wrapped around his neck. He looked up slightly at Xie Changshi, his eyes sparkling: "Yes! And there are still these bad guys!"
He rolled off Xueye and said, "We don't know how long Manager Li will be gone. We hope we can find evidence of the rice shop's wrongdoings before he comes back."
He always remembered it; Qian Kang, the rice shop owner, was the worst one!
Chief Secretary Xie couldn't help but chuckle: "Your Highness, the collapse of Li's Medical Clinic will affect Li's Trading Company, but it won't affect Li's Company as a whole. However, if the Rice Shop is in trouble, Li's Trading Company will suffer a severe blow."
Li Ji Trading Company made its fortune through rice trading, and its owner was located in Jiangnan, a region known for its rice and fish. To think that Li Ji Trading Company could destroy its rice business was a pipe dream.
Chief Secretary Xie glanced at Gu Yuzhi discreetly, but ultimately refrained from saying anything that would diminish his own prestige.
He explained simply: "Some time ago, Chen Dianyi came back and reported that Xinliang had already cultivated 100 mu of wasteland. However, given the shortage of manpower, the wasteland that can be cultivated this year will not exceed 200 mu."
Two hundred acres seems like a huge amount of land in Beijing, where every inch of land is precious. But in Xinliang, a place full of wasteland, two hundred acres is really like a grain of sand in a sea of sand, insignificant.
Gu Yuzhi didn't have a big concept of two hundred acres of land, but Shu Xiaohan nodded in satisfaction and comforted him, "There are only a few thousand people who have moved to Xinliang. In just over a month, they have been clearing land, planting trees, and cultivating more than a hundred acres. This is really beyond my expectations."
Unfortunately, ancient people relied almost entirely on human labor, with very little use of oxen and farm tools.
Seeing Gu Yuzhi puffing out his cheeks and looking somewhat unhappy, Shu Xiaohan comforted him, "This year, Xinliang has had a bumper harvest, which can support the entire operation of Xinliang. Your Highness can increase the relocation of people to Xinliang next year."
In ancient times, before mechanized labor, human labor was the most important factor.
After all, more people means more strength, and more firewood means a bigger fire.
"In addition to the relocation of people, Your Highness can also encourage the people of Xinliang to have more children and introduce some policies to reward childbirth so that the people can have children without worry."
Winters in the northern deserts are often snowy, and ordinary people don't have much to do during the winter. Most couples choose to stay indoors and have children...
Shu Xiaohan quickly thought of the future, where in order to encourage people to have children, many places would give money to people who had a second or third child.
Shu Xiaohan didn't understand how policies were formulated, but she could draw on the policies she had heard about in modern times. She chattered on and on to explain to Gu Yuzhi, who stared at her with his big eyes wide open, nodding incessantly.
Shu Xiaohan felt completely comfortable under Gu Yuzhi's slightly admiring gaze. She glanced smugly at Wen Xiuzhu. There was no way around it; this was the benefit of modern internet development and information sharing.
Wen Xiuzhu felt disgusted by Shu Xiaohan's gaze and rolled his eyes without hesitation. However, since his eyes were a bit small, Shu Xiaohan didn't get the meaning of his eye roll at all!
Gu Yuzhi ignored them, shaking his head with exceptional confidence, "Two hundred mu this year, and five hundred mu next year! Or even more, over a thousand mu!"
Chief Secretary Xie...
He really wanted to say, "Your Highness, aren't you overthinking this? Just one thousand people, and you're reclaiming and planting thousands of acres of land every year?"
Seeing that Chief Secretary Xie did not believe him, Gu Yuzhi was not angry: "It's because there are fewer people this year, but Xinliang can't always have only a thousand people. I've decided to increase the relocation policy for Xinliang next year."
There are several prefectures in the northern desert. If a thousand people are relocated from Changzhou and a thousand from Quanzhou, wouldn't that add up to nearly ten thousand people?
His eyes darted around as he calculated that if a thousand people could cultivate two hundred mu a year, then ten thousand people could cultivate two thousand mu a year.
Gu Yuzhi exclaimed, "Wow! Two thousand acres of land, how much grain can be grown there!"
As long as we cultivate more land, defeating Li's Rice Shop will be just around the corner!
Chief Secretary Xie coughed twice, interrupting Gu Yuzhi's pleasant reverie: "Your Highness, not everyone is willing to leave their hometown to live in another place."
This year, thousands of people were relocated due to the snow disaster.
He can't just curse the northern deserts with another snow disaster this winter just because he wants to develop Xinliang, can he?
Gu Yuzhi puffed out his cheeks and said "Oh," then suddenly exclaimed "Ha!" and clapped his hands, saying, "I remember Prefect Qi once said that when the Emperor ascended the throne, he would grant a general amnesty, and many exiled people from Xinliang Iron Mine could be pardoned."
He blinked and said, "Chief Secretary Xie, we must remind our brother not to forget this matter. When the time comes, we should have all those who have been pardoned come to Xinliang!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
