"I give the general three sets, including bulletproof military boots, one for self-protection, and one for giving away. I believe that the generals and marshals in the army will not refuse," Tang Wendao said.
"Master Tang, Jiang Xuan has recorded your love." Jiang Xuan said solemnly.
"Isn't this set worth a lot of money?" Tie Wenjing asked.
"These are the equipment of the elites in the Western Army and cannot be bought outside. I also used some means to get a batch of them. Of course, good things are expensive." Tang Wendao.
"How much?" Jiang Xuan asked curiously.
Tang Wen stretched out two fingers.
"Twenty thousand taels? From a life-saving perspective, it's not expensive. An elite armor in our army costs several thousand taels," Jiang Xuan said.
"It's not expensive, but, alas, it's a pity..." Tie Wenjing said with a greedy look on his face.
"Master Tie, please come to my senior brother and I will give you a set," Tang Wen said.
"Why do you use this? It's too expensive." Although Tie Wenjing said that, his eyes were fixed on the equipment.
"It should be," Tang Wen said.
"Master Jiang, your lordship has made such a great contribution to the court, we can't let him suffer, can we?" Tie Wenjing said.
"That's natural. The bulletproof vests and other items donated by Sir Alex are all for the country. I will convert them into battle merits and deliver them to Sir Alex. Is Sir Alex satisfied with a set of more than 200 battle merits?" Jiang Xuan asked.
"I don't have any objection to Mr. Jiang's calculations." Tang Wen said, so he got close to a thousand battle merits again.
"Sir, I heard from Mr. Tie that your island of Koh Samui is often attacked by pirates, and it has already happened three times.
Let's do this, you are the deputy envoy of the regiment training of Jiangzhou Prefecture, and I will apply for a few cannons from Chaoting Foundry Prefecture for you.
At that time, if the pirate ships want to attack the island, you can just use cannons." Jiang Xuan said after a few bottles of wine.
"That's good, I'm worried about this." Tang Wen said.
"Of course, you have to pay for it yourself." Jiang Xuan said.
"Yes, yes, it would be better if we could get more doors." Tang Wen said.
"Ten gates," Jiang Xuandao said.
A few days later, the Wolong Lake Dam was finally completed after more than eight months.
Tang Wen personally checked it several times and issued the water storage order after confirming that it was correct.
Below, when the rushing water flowed down from Chaotian Peak and headed straight towards Wolong Lake, thousands of Tang family servants all screamed and screamed.
They hugged each other with tears in their eyes, because this was the result of their joint efforts and they felt full of accomplishment.
Of course, it would take about a month for such a large lake to fill the entire Wolong Lake.
In the evening, hundreds of banquet tables were set up in the camp, and Tang Wen let everyone drink and eat happily.
At the same time, after the great low tide that occurs once every ten years, the continental shelf is finally exposed, and the continental shelf connecting Koh Samui to the mainland is completely exposed.
Zhan Dongwen immediately sent someone down to measure it and found that the water depth under the stone bridge was only about ten meters.
What surprised Tang Wen even more was that the continental shelf of Baihu Island, three or four miles away from Koh Samui, was also exposed.
"Yiwu, Dongwen, our plan has to change." Tang Wen said.
"Change, shouldn't we build the bridge immediately? If we don't build it now, we will have to wait a few years to start construction." Zhan Dongwen was stunned and asked sincerely.
“It’s not that we won’t build it. We not only want to build the bridge connecting Samui Island to the mainland, but also start building the bridge connecting Samui Island to Baihu Island at the same time.
In this way, the two islands can be completely connected through two bridges.
From now on, it will be much more convenient to go to Baihu Island." Tang Wen shook his head.
"Baihu Island is covered with terrible man-eating trees and man-eating flowers. Birds dare not poop on the island. What's the use of spending so much money to build a bridge to the island? It's such a waste." Zhan Dongwen said.
"Yes, according to your plan, sir, the bridge is about twenty meters wide, and it is three or four miles away from Baihu Island. A bridge cannot be built without a few million taels of silver.
Including Koh Samui, the two bridges add up, that is five to six million taels of silver.
Master, although you have made a lot of money selling wine and mirrors, the cost of building Mei Mei is too high.
The most important thing is that it is a waste to build a useless bridge." Luo Yiwu also said.
"Yiwu, Dongwen, you two have to take a long-term view.
Who said Baihu Island is useless? What are the man-eating trees and piranha flowers? We can get rid of them in a month with a powerful weed remover.
When the time comes, we will still have to open up wasteland for cultivation. It would be a pity not to do so.
Although building the bridge will cost a lot in the short term, we will make a lot of money in the long run.
There's no need to discuss this matter, it's just decided.
Dongwen, please arrange manual measurement immediately, and the construction will officially start in a few days. The personnel will be divided into two groups.
Our most important task in the next stage is to build the two bridges." Tang Wendao.
"We have built the road to this side. Although it is not wide, it is usable. However, we still have to open a road to Baihu Island, which is a huge sum of money." Zhan Dongwen said.
"It will be built in the future. When the time comes, we will also build a highway around the island.
A circle surrounds the entire Koh Samui Island, and houses will be built on both sides of the ring road in the future.
Therefore, we will first build a section according to the diagram to connect Baihu Island and Wolong Lake.
Going bigger, from now on, we need to connect Baihu and Sumei with the mainland to create a huge homeland of our own." Tang Wendao.
"Sir, isn't the Divine Turtle Island on our right also exposed from the bottom of the sea?
This island is only three or four miles away from our Koh Samui island. Unfortunately, Turtle Island is not our own.
Otherwise, if we build three bridges together to connect the three islands, then the scope of our Tang family will include the sea.
It's two to three hundred miles from east to west and two hundred miles from north to south, so it's really big." Li Quan said with a silly smile.
"You can stand and talk without pain in your back. Two bridges are too much for you, so why don't you build a third one and tire me to death?" Zhan Dongwen said angrily.
"That's tens of millions of taels of silver. Where can I get it? It's more like a dream." Luo Yiwu also said.
However, Tang Wen was shocked and said, "Yes! Li Quan, your proposal is a good one."
"That's good, that's good. Where did the money come from? Even Shen Wansi, the richest man in Chu, has to have a headache, right?" Li Liao couldn't stand it anymore and was angry.
"Shen Wansi can get it. It is said that his family's combined property and silver taels are as rich as the country, at least several hundred million taels. The monarch has married all the princesses to the Shen family, which shows how powerful the Shen family is." Dongfang Ming said.
"Is Shen Wansi really that rich?" Tang Wen was stunned.
"Of course! Several hundred million is still a small amount, probably no less than one billion taels." Dongfang Ming said.
"How much tax can our Dachu levy in a year?" Tang Wen asked.
"Our Da Chu has a vast territory and rich resources, with a population of more than one billion. In good years, the annual tax revenue is estimated to be no less than five billion taels. In the past two years of famine, the tax revenue is probably three to four billion taels," Dongfang Ming said.
It seems that Dachu is really rich, and the Qing Dynasty's annual tax revenue is only one or two hundred million taels.
Of course, this does not include the taxes collected by the provincial government, which are dozens of times higher in Dachu.
Of course, this has something to do with the output of silver mines.
"Actually, your idea of building the bridge is wrong." Tang Wen said.
"What's wrong? Building a bridge doesn't cost money?
Although the workers are all members of the Tang family, the master still has to take care of their eating, drinking, toileting, medical treatment and bathing.
The elixirs for practicing martial arts and the weapons that are equipped with them tell you, what is not worth spending money on?
Don't talk about anything else, the monthly income alone reaches tens of thousands taels, that's all money.
After one year, the master’s expenses will be less than a few million taels,” Ge Ziyun said unconvinced.