Zhu Yunwen was unaware of Zhu Yunwen's plans for his grain supply, and at the moment he was focused entirely on the construction and paving of roads throughout the country.
The main road expansion and paving have now been basically completed, so Zhu Yunwen is now discussing the planning routes for the branch roads with Zhang Shan, Minister of Revenue, Yang Shiqi, Minister of Works, and others.
Zhu Yunwen's plan for the main road was to connect every county in the Ming Dynasty.
If there are any important towns nearby, they will also be connected.
Currently, the Ming Dynasty's national treasury only needs to cover the expenses of cement production. Overall, the necessary expenditures are still within the treasury's acceptable range.
As long as the local people can contribute their efforts for free and participate in the construction, then completing the ground connection and hardening across the country will not be a problem at all.
After Zhu Yunwen and several key officials planned the route for the main road, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue cooperated and immediately resumed implementation.
The people of the Ming Dynasty were very enthusiastic about road construction. This was not only because road construction was a new thing, but also because building wide and flat roads and paving them with cement could benefit the people.
Therefore, the people had absolutely no objection to the court asking them to contribute their labor for free for a day or two.
In this way, about a month passed, and summer was gradually approaching.
Roads across the country have been largely repaired.
However, in the relatively underdeveloped southwest region, it has not been fully implemented yet, and the paving of the ground has only been carried out on the main roads.
Except for the southwest region, most other areas have already completed road paving.
Moreover, the imperial court rebuilt the post stations, with each station located on the main road.
Cement roads became the main official roads of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue jointly issued an order that local people had the obligation to protect the cement roads in their respective areas.
In the event of any damage, the local government will be responsible for repairs and all related costs.
Anyone who intentionally causes damage will be punished and fined for minor offenses, and may even face imprisonment for serious offenses.
The hardening of this road surface was a very important matter for the Ming Dynasty, and it was absolutely unacceptable for any problems to arise on this perfectly good road.
In the Cultural Palace, Yang Rong, Yang Pu, and Yang Shiqi are dealing with some issues related to the memorials to the throne.
Zhu Yunwen happened to arrive at this time, and he also wanted to see some recent memorials to see what progress had been made in road construction in various places.
Upon hearing this, Yang Rong happily said to Zhu Yunwen:
"Your Highness, after more than a month, the construction of roads in various places has been basically completed. At least the main roads between provinces and the roads between prefectures and counties have been completed."
Next, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works would handle the details, specifically the construction of roads between towns and even between villages.
Of course, these roads don't have such high requirements for thickness and width.
Although there are many, the standards have been lowered. Building them wouldn't be too difficult.
I think it should be fully achieved within the next month or two.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen glanced again at the map of the Ming Dynasty hanging beside him.
The road routes marked on the map resembled a dense net, covering the entire territory of the Ming Dynasty.
These dense, spiderweb-like road networks will serve as economic bridges and strategic aids for the Ming Dynasty from now on.
Just as Zhu Yunwen was quite satisfied, he frowned and saw the southwest direction of the Ming Dynasty's territory.
The road network there is much smaller; apart from some main roads, there are very few roads connecting the county towns.
Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but ask:
"What's going on in this southwest region?"
He already had the answer in his heart: the southwest region is mountainous and dangerous, making road construction inherently difficult and much more complicated.
Unlike the Central Plains, which are flat and easy to build roads and construct structures, this region is not flat and easy to construct structures.
Of course, although he considered some possibilities, they still differed somewhat from the actual situation.
Then Yang Shiqi frowned and said:
"The situation in the southwest region has always been special, not only because of its treacherous terrain, but also because of many other factors."
Zhu Yunwen said, "I know that the southwest region is often sunny for three days in a row, and the land is rarely flat. But what are you referring to as the other reasons you mentioned?"
In Zhu Yunwen's view, road construction was an important matter. If the difficulties were merely due to regional reasons, then he could find a way to resolve them.
If there are any other special factors, he will definitely have to deal with them as well.
Yang Shiqi sighed and said to Zhu Yunwen:
"This southwestern region is ultimately the territory of the Tusi (chieftains). The imperial court has always found it difficult to intervene in the southwestern region."
Zhu Yunwen: "Didn't I come up with a strategy to make the southwest region easier to control?"
I remember that we could disperse the power held by the chieftains, and then let their descendants inherit all the existing power, thus causing them to fight amongst themselves.
Then, local officials were sent there to gradually bring these powers into the hands of the imperial court.
Yang Shiqi said, "We are indeed doing this according to Your Highness's previous method. It was quite effective at first, but we overlooked one problem."
That is, the chieftains of the southwest region are ultimately too xenophobic. Although it's possible to gradually undermine them from within, this will take a very long time. However, this period of time is sufficient for the chieftains to react.
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