The place where Wen Tianxiang appeared was very cautious in practicing Zhao Qian. Wen Tianxiang didn't care. He came up and said powerfully: "Prince, the only thing that the Song Dynasty has to do with all its strength in the next ten years is railway and education. The rest can be let it go."

After saying this, Wen Tianxiang stopped saying a word. The accompanying official held a small book and recorded it carefully. Unexpectedly, Wen Tianxiang only said a few words and waited with a pen for a while, and could only look at Zhao Qian. Zhao Qian could only ask: "The Prime Minister has only these ideas?"

"I have to talk about other things to each department, it has nothing to do with the prince." Wen Tianxiang was still always upright and upright.

Zhao Qian was very impressed. Too many people asked him for complaints and sent letters of complaint. Just like Wen Tianxiang, the true intention of "I'll fight them by myself" is rare, and even unique. Originally, Zhao Qian didn't want to cause trouble, but at this time he couldn't help asking: "Prime Minister, I also think railways and education are very important, but I don't know what the Prime Minister thinks specifically."

"I heard that now I can build 10,000 kilometers of railways every year..."

When Zhao Qian heard about Wen Tianxiang's data, he waved his hand quickly, "But there are not so many, Prime Minister."

"Please tell me in detail." Wen Tianxiang quickly made a request.

Zhao Qian had to focus on the key points. The laborers who dig roadbed only carry some lightweight equipment, which can easily pass through various terrain and can start construction on many sections of the road at the same time. The restrictions on transporting sleepers are much greater. A steel rail is often several thousand kilograms, and special equipment is required for transportation security, so the restrictions on laying are even greater.

When building the railway from Haizhou (Lianyungang) to Xuzhou, there are canals in both places and some small rivers in the middle to provide certain transportation. Many sections of the road are started at the same time, and the progress is relatively fast. Many railways do not have such conditions, especially the northern railways. The premise of laying the next section is that the current section is laid. There are more and more sections of such roads, and the laying speed has been reduced. After the explanation, Zhao Qian said: "Now 3,000 kilometers of new railways are built a year, and in a few years, the comprehensive laying of railways south of the Yangtze River should be faster."

"It's still too slow." Wen Tianxiang sighed, "I know I'm asking for full blame. Yunnan and Guizhou have fallen for hundreds of years, and Guangnan East Road has been all kinds of barbarians, not to mention Guangnan West Road. Now the imperial court's southern prefecture has begun to truly manage the local area. It's just that it takes half a month to two months for officials to take office from Kaifeng to the local area... Alas... this is much better than before. If you can get to the local area six days a week, that's great. Assessing officials does not have to rely so much on personal ethics, and it's much easier to train officials. People from all over the country can go to school, and officials don't have the chance to be so domineering."

Zhao Qian did not dare to take on this. Wen Tianxiang's identity made him qualified to say this. Although Zhao Qian was not afraid of officials, he was not suitable to attack the entire bureaucratic system now. What Zhao Qian wanted to do after ascending the throne was Zhao Qian's power. If he acted rashly now, it would only trigger a general counterattack.

Wen Tianxiang didn't say much, and ended the talks with Zhao Qian after expressing two views. Zhao Qian didn't dare to go to his father's side at this time. Wen Tianxiang obviously wanted to say something shocking to his father. Now it's not good to be seen that he and Wen Tianxiang met outside the official meeting. At this moment, the Ministry of Industry invited Zhao Qian over, and Zhao Qian happily attended the meeting that would not cause speculation.

"Prince, Japan's exports to us have increased significantly recently. Many prefectures have complained."

"Why is this happening?"

After the meeting was over, Zhao Qian went to the Ministry of Commerce. The minister was not there, and the deputy minister received Zhao Qian. When Zhao Qian explained his purpose, the deputy minister asked the secretary to bring the things. The things were placed on the table. Zhao Qian took out different folding fans from the paper box and compared them. Then he took out the lacquerware to compare and looked at them. Then he asked, "I wonder which ones are from Japan?"

The deputy minister asked Zhao Qian, "With the feeling of the prince, what do you think is better?"

Zhao Qian pointed to the folding fans and lacquerware that he recognized. Looking at the face of the deputy minister, Zhao Qian asked slowly: "Are these Japanese products?"

"Yes." The Deputy Minister replied.

Zhao Qian pointed to the exquisite small box made of shells, "needless to say, this must be a Japanese product."

"Yes." The deputy minister agreed, "Prince, these were originally brought in by Japanese workers. Now the Ministry of Commerce has decided to let go, and the shops in the Song Dynasty in Japan are ordered and purchased directly from the local area of ​​Japan to the Song Dynasty."

After saying that, the deputy minister emphasized and said, "We have asked the officials, and the officials told us that there must be competition and that the best products in the world must compete with the Song Dynasty. This will improve the Song Dynasty's horizons and also allow many factories that are not enterprising to close down."

"The officials really said that?" Zhao Qian was very surprised. The last passage was a bit different from Zhao Jiaren's usual feeling.

"Crown Prince, the official said that anyone who doesn't believe it can ask him by himself."

Zhao Qian was puzzled and picked up the lacquerware again. The embryos on both sides were quite round. The Song Dynasty should have used machinery, and the curves were a little stiff. The difference is the thickness of the paint. The amount of Dasong lacquerware is heavier. I think it is because the paint is used very much. The Japanese lacquerware is lighter. As for the baking of lacquer surfaces and hand-painted paintings, Japan is more delicate. One or two details do not determine the level of quality. They are better than the Song Dynasty lacquerware in each detail, and the final choice is natural.

Putting down the Japanese lacquerware, Zhao Qian asked Vice Minister, "What is the better Japanese lacquerware than ours?"

"It's good that there are more labor in every link of Japanese lacquerware than us. The labor of making a lacquerware in Japan is three to five times that of a lacquerware in the Song Dynasty. The price is about the same. The official has ordered us to provide more processing tools to the excellent lacquerware workshops in Japan to improve their labor efficiency."

Zhao Qian was even more confused about his father's idea. He asked the deputy minister, "Does the Ministry of Commerce think this is right?"

"We... think many domestic factories are really ineffective." The Minister of Commerce gave a subtle and straightforward statement.

Zhao Qian did not answer, picked up the lacquerware produced in Dasong and compared it with the Japanese domestic ones again. Then he asked, "Is this the best lacquerware in Japan?"

"No." After the Minister of Commerce replied, he ordered the secretary to go out to get the best lacquerware. Not long after, the secretary brought in a few more boxes and opened them. After seeing it, Zhao Qian couldn't help but sigh slightly. Just a few glances, these lacquerware reversed his little impression of Japan. Although Zhao Qian himself had never been to Japan, he learned from various reports that Japan is poorer than the Song Dynasty, which is nothing compared to the Song Dynasty today. Just seeing these exquisite lacquerware, he had to give some respect to Japan. These are objects that can only be made by civilized countries. The patterns and compositions were not created overnight by a genius, but by many people.

In the end, I couldn't find anything, so Zhao Qian could only say: "I think these things can make Japan a lot of money."

"We'll make money." Regarding their profession, the Deputy Minister answered very decisively. The trade between the Song Dynasty and Japan has begun to enter the banknote stage. The Japanese have to accept the banknotes of the Song Dynasty. It does not mean that they feel that these paper bills really make them feel relieved. So Japan tries every means to buy banknotes into the goods they need. The same is true for the lacquerware industry in Japan. Buying a large amount of high-quality tools not only costs the money they earn, but they start to buy high-quality wood from the Song Dynasty forest farm. "This is the case with trade. As long as the trade volume increases, life on both sides is actually better. The prince, just the money-losing units come out and shouts, and the money-making units don't say anything. This seems like we have suffered a big loss."

"Why do factories in Fujian shout so much?" Zhao Qian asked.

"Well... the people in Fujian were almost exposed, and most of the remaining people worked in ports, tea gardens, and forest farms. There were no outstanding people left in the lacquerware factory."

"Oh." Zhao Qian responded and stood up and said goodbye. From this perspective, many things are indeed thorough. Without a population means no talent. There are only two possibilities for being willing to work hard to fight to the death. One is to really like it, and the other is to be forced to be helpless. In the Song Dynasty, which is full of opportunities, everyone has various choices. Since that is the case, you might as well wait and see.

After figuring out this, Zhao Qian couldn't help but go to the Ministry of Railways, which he hadn't been to for a long time. The main staff in the Ministry were not there, and the people who left the house guards were busy. The receptionist was only a deputy director. After seeing Zhao Qian, he asked: "Did the prince come for the Yellow River Bridge?"

"Is the Yellow River Railway Bridge going to be built?" Zhao Qian asked hurriedly.

"Half of the bridge pier has been laid down." The deputy director quickly reported the latest situation.

Zhao Qian was not here to ask this, but he asked if there was any plan to build a railway in the Yunnan-Guizhou area. The deputy director was stunned and asked, "Has the prince heard something?"

"I haven't heard of anything, but many officials from Yunnan and Guizhou are looking forward to the railway there."

"We have plans for this, but the plan that we have the advantage now is not to go to Huguang and Sichuan, but to go to Sichuan."

Zhao Qian was immediately speechless by this plan. Sichuan is already mountainous, and it is very difficult to build a railway from Sichuan. Then, when will the railway from Sichuan be built to Yunnan and Guizhou?

After returning from the Ministry of Railways, Zhao Qian was in a bad mood. Before he could sort out his mood, the Ministry of Agriculture sent a document. After reading it, Zhao Qian decided to go home immediately. It was seven o'clock in the evening. Even if he couldn't catch up with dinner, he could at least have a good sleep. As the document of the Ministry of Agriculture said, I hope that the Japanese can devote themselves to rural water conservancy construction. Yes, the Japanese are indeed cheap, and the labor price is only 40% of the workers of the Song Dynasty. But if the labor force in the Song Dynasty can do nothing lazily?

In the next few days, Zhao Qian went to the Ministry of Industry to learn about a lot of situations. The Ministry of Industry complained a lot, and the various factories were responsible for making trouble. For example, the Ministry of Railways retreated 6,000 tons of rails in one go due to quality problems, and the Department of Metallurgy and the Ministry of Railways began to file lawsuits. For example, various quality problems of textile enterprises triggered a comprehensive rebound in the supply and marketing cooperative system. The supply and marketing cooperative itself had to draft a list, and the Ministry of Industry tried to persuade them to stabilize.

These are all big things, and there are more small things. Zhao Qian thought that the Ministry of Industry itself was a solid piece of the inside, but unexpectedly, a director of the Ministry of Industry told Zhao Qian a "joke" when there was no one. He heard his wife say that there was a market that was very cheap, so he went to check it out. As expected, he bought a pair of them. After wearing it for a few days, the soles of the shoes were rotten. After inspection, it was found that the soles were not made of leather, but were lined with cardboard inside the leather. Once it absorbed water, it was rotten.

The person who said it laughed, and someone happened to come, so the person left. Zhao Qian found it funny at first, but somehow he couldn't laugh. Zhao Qian didn't even know whether he should laugh. He had encountered some unpleasant things. The money spent was nothing, but the impact on his mood was very bad. When these things were pointed to industrial production in the Song Dynasty, in addition to being angry, Zhao Qian began to feel uneasy. If the Song Dynasty's products were all urinary, or were moving in this direction, and the accumulation of small amounts would make a lot of trouble.

A few days later, a news began to spread in the court. The news had nothing to do with the quality of the product. Everyone talked about Prime Minister Wen Tianxiang and Prime Minister Wen's return from the county and proposed the suggestion of implementing the unit "Lu". Then more news came, saying that all the ministers from the local area supported Prime Minister Wen's views, and even proposed the suggestion of directly establishing a province.

China established a county system since the Zulong era. Under the court were the prefectures, and the prefectures managed various counties. The last time these high-powered ministers came to local counties, they all believed that they would establish a real-powered unit such as a provincial government above the prefectures. The Song Dynasty also had a similar theoretical division, and the administrative unit of the "Lu" nominally managed the prefectures below. However, this unit did not actually serve as a superior unit of the prefectures, but was closer to the nature of the inspection unit. For example, Zhao Guanjia worked as a prison in Fujian Road. This position did not really manage the same-nature departments of Fujian Road. It was just that he could speak everywhere. As for whether the following persons listened or not, it depends on God's will.

The Song Dynasty adopted the "ancestral teaching" of the big and small commonwealth system. The purpose of establishing these units was to prevent power from being dominant. If all walks of life really became provinces with real power, it means that the head of each province would be a vassal official with real power. Not to mention that this has profoundly changed the system of the court and government of the Song Dynasty, would the Zhao official family agree?
Chapter completed!