Zhao Kuo left the steel factory after not staying long, mainly because it was of no use to him if he stayed there. Zhao Kuo even showed off his skills in iron molding (which he had already done in history), and mass production had already been established.
As for the improvement of technology, it is difficult to improve again without years of accumulation, so Zhao Guo is now focusing more on expanding production.
"Farewell, Your Majesty." Zhao Zhu sent Zhao Kuo out of the steel factory and bowed.
Now he is also a two-thousand-stone official, on the same level as the Taiyuan County Sheriff, except that one is responsible for managing Taiyuan County and the other is responsible for managing the steel mill.
The persons in charge of other poultry farms, pastures, coal mines, salt farms, etc. also have grades, and the grades are divided according to the importance and scale of the industry.
Generally speaking, the general person in charge of each industry is at least at the same level as the county governor, and very few are second to the minister, or directly responsible for it.
For example, the ranch is directly managed by Zhao Bao. Although he spends most of his time in Handan... he will definitely take the blame if something goes wrong.
The ranch is related to Zhao's century-old plan, and it doesn't matter how hard the relationship is, so Zhao Bao goes there to check it every year for fear of being deceived by some strange things.
If he had been cheated before, forget it. At most, the fiefdom would be taken back and he could continue to enjoy the glory and wealth. Anyway, the Zhaoguo fiefdom could not be passed down forever.
But it's different now. As a member of the Zhao family, he knows more than most people. With Zhao Sheng giving some advice, the two brothers can vaguely feel that the path Zhao Kuo wants to take is different from before.
A kind of enfeoffment similar to that of the early Zhou Dynasty.
The current fiefdom is the foundation for the future feudal creation of the country.
After the fiefdom was taken back, everything in the future would be slowed down, and it would even affect the prosperity and wealth of his descendants for hundreds of years. Zhao Bao did not dare to be careless in the slightest.
However, this speculation only spread to a small group of people at the highest level, because Zhao Kuo did not say it clearly, and they could not criticize it. If it turned out not to be the case, it would be bad for everyone.
But even if it was just a guess, everyone was extremely excited. A fiefdom was already very precious, let alone a country.
In recent hundreds of years, except for the three vassal states of Jin and Tian Qi, which were enfeoffed by the Zhou Dynasty in name, no feudal state has been born.
As for Sanjin and Tianqi, everyone knows what is going on.
Now that there is a real opportunity to obtain a feudal state, how can anyone give up?
"Did this river exist in ancient times, or was it dug later?" Zhao Kuo said, pointing to the canal not far away.
This canal runs from Fenshui outside the city to the center of Jinyang City. There are auxiliary canals along the way to continuously transport river water to the farmland outside Jinyang City.
It is not only used for irrigation, but also for water supply for the entire city.
Zhao Kuo was surprised to see such a water conservancy project in Jinyang.
Because Zhao State's achievements in water conservancy are very mediocre, there are no large-scale water conservancy projects even in Handan, let alone other places, but it turns out that there is one in Jinyang.
Although it is not as good as Honggou and Dujiangyan, it is already very rare in this era.
Is it possible that Zhao Guo is still an all-round player and has made great achievements in water conservancy?
"...Your Majesty, this is the canal dug by Uncle Zhi to flood Jinyang... Later, Zhao Guo felt that it was good to have a river, so he changed the canal into an irrigation project and also provided water for Jinyang." Liu
Ping covered his face and said with some embarrassment.
This is one of the few large-scale water conservancy projects in Zhao State, but its origin is a bit embarrassing. It was used by the enemy to drown himself...
However, Zhao Guo did not feel embarrassed at all. Whether it was to show his broad mind or to mock Zhibo, the local government and people called this canal Zhibo Canal...
If there was Zhi Boquan, I wonder if he would be so angry that he would climb out of the coffin board and fill up the ditch himself.
"..." Zhao Kuo was stunned for a moment and coughed twice. He still had some understanding of this period of history.
At that time, the Zhi family, the Wei family, and the Han family prepared to destroy Zhao. The Zhao family retreated to Jinyang, its base camp, and Zhibo diverted water to flood Jinyang.
The three families surrounded the city for more than a year, and the water level was only six feet away. The city was flooded, and all the money and food in the city were exhausted. The people exchanged their children to eat, and cut their bones to cook. However, because the Zhao family was very popular among the people in Jinyang, so
No one rebelled against Zhao.
At the time of life and death, the Zhao family sent retainer Zhang Mengtan to rebel against the Wei family and the Han family. The three families came and destroyed the officials, and the Zhao family was able to achieve nirvana and be reborn.
"It seems that Uncle Zhi has made contributions to our country, Zhao." Zhao Kuo said with a smile.
"Actually, there are quite a lot of water conservancy projects in Taiyuan. There are Zhaoyu Qize, Wuze, Wenhu, Chunhu and other large lakes in Taiyuan County, which have rich water resources. There are many canals used for irrigation around them, and the nearby land is also very fertile.
There are two crops every year, and rice can be planted in summer." Kong Chuan, the governor of Taiyuan County, said, pointing ahead.
To be honest, before coming to Jinyang, he always thought that Jinyang was very poor. After coming, he discovered that there was a reason why Zhao State was able to make a fortune in Jinyang.
There are coal mines, copper mines, iron mines, large rivers, and lakes. The soil is fertile, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and its strategic position is extremely high.
The only drawback is that the location is too remote and not suitable for competing for world hegemony.
Since he became the governor of Taiyuan, in addition to educating the barbarians settled here, what Kong Chuan has done most is to build water conservancy and dredge rivers.
The soil in the Taiyuan Basin is very fertile. If water conservancy is built well, the yield per mu will not be lower than that in the Central Plains.
"Pay attention to the problem of water and soil erosion," Zhao Kuo reminded.
The problem of soil erosion these days is not as serious as that of later generations, but that does not mean it does not exist.
If it really didn't exist, the lower reaches of the Yellow River wouldn't have the riverbed gradually rising, flooding or even changing its course every once in a while.
At the same time, soil erosion will also lead to a decrease in soil fertility, making the originally fertile loess extremely barren.
"I will pay attention to it." Kong Chuan nodded. He didn't know how to reduce soil erosion, but there were people who did.
Not to mention anything else, the Confucius family has a wide network of contacts. There are three thousand disciples of Confucius, and they have everything. Although they usually quarrel because of ideological quarrels, the friendship is still there.
There are no water conservancy experts at the level of Zheng Guo, but the Kong family can still find a lot of water conservancy experts at a lower level.
"Take me to see the place where He Zong and Lin Hu are housed," Zhao Kuo said.
"Nuo." Kong Chuan cupped his hands and said to Ben who was driving the carriage, "It's not far ahead. You can get there in about two-quarters of an hour."
After Hezong, Linhu and Loufan surrendered to Zhao, they were divided into various places. Most of them were placed in the four counties of Jiuyuan, Yunzhong, Hexi and Taiyuan. Taiyuan was mainly occupied by Hezong and Linhu.
Zhao's political reform also further assimilated these Rong people, which initially caused a lot of trouble.
Fortunately, officials in various places dealt with it in a timely manner and did not cause too much trouble. In addition, Zhao Guo was unable to take action, so Zhao Kuo did not deal with it.
This inspection of Zhao State, He Zong, Lin Hu, and Lou Fan is a must. If the three tribes are honest, Zhao Kuo will not take action against them. If there are still disloyal intentions, Zhao Kuo will never be soft.
Before starting to expand externally, the interior must be cleaned first.