In less than three days, Zhao Qian went from Kaifeng to Songjiang Prefecture. Jia Weixin, the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, and the senior of the school came to greet him in person. After a few greetings, Jia Weixin asked directly: "Crown Prince, when will the train be opened in Songjiang?"

Zhao Qian comforted Jia Sidao's Changsun, "If the train is connected, it will definitely be connected."

"I know it will be connected, but when will it be connected." Jia Weixin sighed. As more and more railway lines are built, more and more people have taken the train. Officials from the Song Dynasty were organized to take the train and feel the pulse of the progress of the times. After the feeling, no one of the officials no longer questioned the railway.

Zhao Qian can understand everyone's feelings. In the Battle of Ezhou forty years ago, his father Zhao Jiaren set out from Songjiang Prefecture to Ezhou City near Hanyang. The fleet fought hard against the current and sailed against the current for more than half a month before reaching the destination. Jia Weixin's grandfather Jia Sidao praised the Fujian Road criminal prison for Zhao Jiaren's "don't sleep, traveling day and night, and the fleet arrived in Ezhou, which shocked the Kublai Khan's army. The current Song army set off from Hangzhou and could reach Zhangjiakou on the Yinshan line in the north for more than half a month. From Songjiang Prefecture to Hankou for more than half a month, he would go to the military court now.

Railways are not only a very good means of transportation, but also changed the Song Dynasty's understanding of geographical distance. Kaifeng lives in the world. Taking a train from Kaifeng can theoretically reach any border of the Song Dynasty within six or seven days. If the railway is opened, Zhao Qian will only take one day from Kaifeng to Songjiang Prefecture. So Zhao Qian sighed to Jia Weixin: "Now the imperial court has used 1.5 million people to build the railway, and there is really no extra manpower."

"The official family is too biased towards the Central Plains and the North." Jia Weixin also sighed. The Jia family and the Zhao Jiaren family are family friends, and he couldn't help but tell him what he really felt.

As soon as these words were said, the senior and other Songjiang Prefecture officials also expressed the same view, "The railways planned by the imperial court are all in the Central Plains and the North, so it is better to build a railway for Jiangnan."

"Yes, Prince, please think more about Jiangnan."

"When my colleagues from the north wrote to me, they often mentioned how convenient the railway was. The court did favor one and the other."

Zhao Qian hurriedly said, "Everyone, the court has planned the Youguang Railway and goes straight from Youzhou to Guangzhou."

The officials were not grateful, and someone immediately said, "We are too far from Hankou in Jiangnan."

Officials from the Song Dynasty dared to scold officials in the court for doing something wrong, and there was no need to be brave enough to express this complaint. Zhao Qian himself also felt that everyone was right and could only keep silent.

Although officials from the Song Dynasty dared to confront the court, everyone knew that they had to give Zhao Qian some face. After all, the railway has only been around for four or five years. If they were willing to wait, the Songjiang Prefecture would definitely open a railway. Zhao Qian did not say anything, and the officials could stop at this time.

One of the purposes of Zhao Qian coming to Songjiang was to see the use of asphalt. When he arrived at the office building of Songjiang Mansion, he talked about this matter. After hearing this, Jia Weixin immediately arranged for the Highway Bureau to prepare for the experiment, and then asked Zhao Qian: "Did the prince come to Songjiang Mansion just for this matter?"

"The officials are considering increasing shipping to Fusangzhou. If asphalt is indeed as good as the officials said, it will not be tens of thousands of tons a year, but one million tons a year. Fusangzhou cannot ignore it as it is now. In addition, I also want to see the food situation."

Jia Weixin looked at the other officials and turned to Zhao Qian and replied: "Prince, the climate has not been very good in recent years, and there are many disasters of all kinds. But after the railway was started, we just heard that we were suffering from disasters everywhere, but we didn't feel really suffering from disasters."

After hearing this, Zhao Qian felt that Jia Weixin's feeling was similar to his own. This feeling could probably be described as "unharmonious". The officials of the Song Dynasty worked very hard to educate, and everyone knew that natural disasters and man-made disasters were scary. In history, all dynasties were like facing great enemies. Even Emperor Hui of Jin could say "Why not eat meat minced meat". So Zhao Qian asked: "Everyone, I feel this way too. It's the weather in the Little Ice River now, and it's not a good weather. Everyone is working hard, so I want to ask everyone's feelings."

The other officials looked at each other and looked at Zhao Qian. Finally, the senior of the school spoke, "Prince, we have worked hard indeed. But the food for disaster relief is coming very quickly now. The hardest thing for us is to send the food to the victims. We are busy for a month or two and can't go home. We have food in our hands and are not panicked. We are anxious when we encounter disaster situations, we are tired and annoyed, but we are not afraid."

This was immediately approved by the officials. However, the key points were said by Jia Weixin and his seniors, and the officials did not want to repeat what others had said, so the subsequent statement was a little exaggerated. Some officials couldn't help but mention the railway matter again, "Prince, if the railway could reach Songjiang Prefecture, we don't have to worry about food."

There are also complaints, "Prince, it's hard for the people to take care of now. When we were in the disaster, we sent food to the victims, and the victims were sincerely grateful. Now, we sent food for disaster relief, and some of the victims poured materials and scolded us for delivering food at a slow pace. It's really annoying."

Zhao Qian has this kind of splashing material everywhere, and he has also encountered it. Thinking of his anger and grievance at that time, Zhao Qian replied: "Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

After talking about disaster relief for a while, Zhao Qian asked about the current situation of Songjiang Prefecture. Jia Weixin immediately said: "Prince, Songjiang Prefecture is facing some trouble now. The supply of cotton is insufficient. Our Songjiang Prefecture started out with weaving, which is also called the most prosperous world. In recent years, the supply of cotton has become less and less. I have written many times, but the department said that textile factories have been built everywhere, and cotton in many places is sold on the spot. There is really not much for us in Songjiang. Without cotton, Songjiang Prefecture will not be easy."

"Have you tried to find a way to increase local cotton production?" Zhao Qian asked in confusion.

Jia Weixin asked the directors of the Agricultural Bureau of Songjiang Prefecture and the Light Industry Bureau to answer that the two were very familiar with their jobs and used numbers to tell Zhao Qian the current situation of Songjiang Prefecture. Compared with ten years ago, the cotton planting area in Songjiang Prefecture has not changed much, and the textile output has increased by nearly twenty times. The gap in the middle cannot be solved by tapping potential locally.

Zhao Qian heard it and his brows were frowning inadvertently. The raw material problem is indeed very difficult to solve. There are many areas suitable for growing cotton on the Huanghuai Plain that are suitable for growing cotton, and cotton has also been planted through agricultural planning. These cottons were not transported to Songjiang Prefecture, but were transported to Kaifeng for production. Songjiang Prefecture is indeed a famous county in the Song Dynasty, and it can be compared with the Jinggi Prefecture. The Ministry of Industry chooses between the Jinggi Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture, and the result can be imagined.

After thinking for a while, Zhao Qian suddenly thought of something and asked, "Didn't the long lint cotton get it from Fusangzhou when we were sailing around the world?"

Many officials didn't quite understand what Zhao Qian meant, but Jia Weixin and a few officials' eyes lit up. Jia Weixin quickly asked, "Is the prince's meaning to get long cotton from Fusangzhou?"

Zhao Qian sighed, "It's just that Fusangzhou is too far away. I wonder if the locals have planted long-limit cotton in large quantities like the Song Dynasty."

"If the locals don't plant, we can plant them locally." Jia Weixin immediately expressed his opinion, "Even asphalt can be transported from Fusangzhou, so what's wrong with transporting more cotton."

Such radical views were immediately opposed, "Where did the Song Dynasty have so many people going overseas? Now the South China Sea recruits people every year, and there are not many people willing to go. Everyone would rather go to Hebei."

Zhao Qian also felt that this steady and realistic view was very good. The reason why the Song Dynasty had so much food to deal with the famine was that Jiaozhi County, Chameng County and Siam County in the South China Sea area made an indelible contribution. Rice was produced there, and ships of grain were transported to various parts of the Song Dynasty, effectively suppressing the grain prices in various places.

Thirty years ago, my father Zhao Jiaren once asked a large number of landless farmers in Fujian to open up those places, and produced fruitful results. He also successfully changed the population of Fujian from the peak of 7 million to the current one. However, more than one million of the two million immigrants who went to the South China Sea have returned to the Central Plains and their hometowns in the north. China's interest in humid and hot areas is very average. In the South China Sea, it is easy to imagine how difficult it is to travel to Fusangzhou tens of thousands of miles away.

After that, various discussions were not achieved. Instead, the technicians sent by the Songjiang Prefecture Highway Bureau and the Ministry of Transport worked together to start working quickly with the road in front of the Songjiang Prefecture office building as a demonstration road. Originally, there was a good roadbed on this road. First, the gravel lime slag roadbed was shoveled off, and the ten-centimeter-thick roadbed mixed with date-sized gravel and asphalt were laid on these roadbeds. After it was completely solidified, the roadbed of finer gravel and asphalt was paved.

It took more than half a month for the project. When Zhao Qian came back from an inspection around Songjiang Prefecture, he saw a black road of more than 300 meters appearing in front of him. After walking a few steps on it, Zhao Qian felt completely different. It was flat and too flat. The roller pressed the road very strongly. He pressed the road with his hands and felt very hard, but when he walked up, he felt that the road seemed to be elastic. Compared with the gravel road, it was simply one in the sky and one underground.

It is definitely okay for people to walk. Various vehicles passed by the road and left many gray marks on the black road. After measurement, the technicians determined that the road surface had not changed. Although the road surface was flat, its strength was not worse than that of the gravel road. In order to detect the strength, the technicians also used metal guys to dig the ground. When a pick down, the ash gravel road surface was flying around, and the asphalt gravel road surface was like thick cowhide. When the pick was knocked on, it only made some white spots. The officials thought that the asphalt, one of the main materials used in asphalt roads, was very soft, but when they saw that the road surface was unusually hard, they were stunned.

Zhao Qian thought about it and asked the officials to come out and try it out. After personally contacting it, the officials couldn't help but be amazed. With the same tools and the same power, a large pit was dug out of the ash pavement, but only a few small pits were dug out due to the strong adhesion. The repair experiment was even simpler. There was inevitably uneven density between the ash and gravel, and filling the road took a long time to repeat. The asphalt gravel road could only be repaired once. After complete solidification, there was no difference between the newly repaired ones.

Just as the officials of Songjiang Prefecture praised this, Zhao Qian said based on his experience: "Everyone, this road looks good now, but it has to be tested by time. The Transportation Hall here finds a gravel lime slag road for comparison, and conducts a comprehensive comparison over a three-year period, including the flow of people and the means of transportation passing by. The Transportation Hall is more professional than me, and you know how to compare it. You can even choose a few more ash roads for comparison. You can get a convincing result in three years."

The Minister of Transportation was also a man from a science and engineering industry. After hearing the words full of science and engineering concepts, he immediately responded: "Prince, please rest assured, I will do it well."

"Send us a report at that time." The technicians from the Ministry of Transport immediately joined the conversation between the men of science and engineering, but two of the technicians were women, and the other side of the men of science and engineering was revealed involuntarily. The technicians from the Transportation Department of Songjiang Prefecture could not help but invite several girls from science and engineering to come for a field inspection for half a year.

The officials felt that the reaction of the science and engineering men was a bit too far. They were about to criticize him, but Zhao Qian called him to leave together. The officials did not dare to refuse and followed Zhao Qian back to the office building to let the guys from science and engineering face the road.

"I have walked around and probably know the problems everyone is facing. Insufficient raw materials is a big deal." Zhao Qian said to the officials of Songjiang Prefecture.

This was said to everyone's hearts, and Jia Weixin quickly added, "Now that he uses a machine, one person can do the work that even ten people can't finish before. Prince, the raw materials are really not enough."

Zhao Qian said, "I will definitely discuss with each department when I go back this time to see what the department wants to deal with this matter."

On the way back, Zhao Qian thought about what he saw in Jiangnan. The population of various cities increased significantly, but according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the population in Jiangnan was decreasing. After all, after hundreds of years of war north of the Huai River, it was almost killed into an unmanned land under the satisfaction of rule. The Song Dynasty completely solved the barbarians. Because Zhao Qian was accidentally involved in the Luoyang incident, the Song Dynasty cleaned up the remnants of barbarians in recent years. The vast land north of the Huai River provided a huge opportunity for the people of the Song Dynasty, and a large number of southern population moved north. The scale of cities in Jiangnan increased rapidly under such a situation. What is the rural areas in Jiangnan now? Zhao Qian regretted that he did not go to the countryside to see what level of rural population was.

Back in Kaifeng, Zhao Qian first talked about his experiences in the Jiangnan trip at the morning meeting. The ministers did not make any fuss about Zhao Qian's tour. If it were the past, the prince's huge travel team from Kaifeng to Songjiang Prefecture could not be completed in two or three months. This kind of action was a disturbing place in the past, and it would definitely be opposed by the ministers. Now Zhao Qian has only taken a month to walk through seven or eight big cities. It is either a train or a steamboat, so it is not easy to disturb the people.

Minister of Lifan Luo Yiren immediately said: "It is not difficult to solve the problem of cotton. The climate in India is suitable for growing long-length cotton. There is no shortage of population in the local area. Just plant it in large quantities in India."

Zhao Qian was stunned. He didn't expect this solution. It was just that Luo Yiren had always advocated the solution of the slave dynasty, but Zhao Qian solemnly stated to his father that he would not support Luo Yiren. Although he had a solution, Zhao Qian remained silent.

When the morning meeting ended, Luo Yiren took the initiative to find Zhao Qian, "but he didn't know why the prince opposed the resolution of the slave dynasty."

Zhao Qian could only tell Luo Yiren what his father said. After listening to the statement that "using the stability of the Song Dynasty to restrain small countries", Luo Yiren looked serious. After thinking for a while, Luo Yiren said: "What the prince said makes sense. This plan is for the next few hundred years and must be adhered to for generations. As long as one generation does not do this, the previous efforts will be vain. I don't think it is necessary to do this."

"This makes sense." Zhao Qian did not particularly support his father's opinion. At this time, he felt that what Luo Yiren said was in line with his thoughts.

"It would be impossible to solve the slave dynasty now. If the slave dynasty is here, we can check and balance the two rivers. But this involves the Persian Protectorate. I wonder how the prince plans the territory of the Persian Protectorate."

"Is it too early to consider the Persian Protectorate now?" Zhao Qian didn't really want to consider the Persian Protectorate. Six major Protectorate were established in the Tang Dynasty, namely Anxi, Anbei, Andong, Annan, Shanyu, and Beiting Protectorate.

According to the Old Book of Tang, when the Arabs invaded the Persian Sassanid dynasty in 661 AD, the Persian prince Balus went to Chang'an to ask for military assistance from the Tang Dynasty, who ruled China at that time. The Tang Dynasty then set up the Persian Governor's Office in Jiling City, Persia (now Zabole), and appointed Belus as the governor, and was under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Grand Protectorate. In 662 AD, the Tang Dynasty also conferred Belus as the King of Persia. From 670 to 674 AD, Balus came to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Gaozong of Tang granted him the Right Guard General.

This Balus was the son of Isai III, the last monarch of the Sassanid dynasty of the Persian Empire. At that time, in addition to being attacked by the newly-rise Arab Empire, the Persian Empire also had two consecutive assassinations in 629 and 642. The Sassanid dynasty was destroyed by internal and external troubles. Prince Balus was desperate and led his confidants to escape from Chang'an to take refuge. At that time, the Tang Dynasty was in the era of Emperor Gaozong and did not know much about the situation of Persia and the Arab Empire, but felt that this was a rare opportunity to control Central Asia, so he established the Persian Governor's office, and used the orthodox status of the Sassanid Empire of Balus to help restore the country and include the former land of Persia into the sphere of influence of the Tang Dynasty.
Chapter completed!