Chapter 275: The awkward location of Liangbei Port
At noon the next day, Zhao Hongrun led all the sect guards, as well as Wang Fu, the chief minister of the Smelting Bureau, Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, Xun Xin and others of the Smelting Bureau, and rode out of Daliang and headed straight to the northeast.
Even Zhao Hongrun found it incredible that the first time he left the city in private was not for fun, but to personally survey the land he selected as the port on the north side of Daliang, Bolangsha.
During this period, he couldn't help but sigh that he was really going further and further off the road to his dream.
After all, he originally wanted to be a prince who could enjoy prosperity and wealth, and refused all tiring and troublesome tasks, so he had no interest in his father's tiring position.
It's a pity that his father cheated him in the last ceremony of worshiping heaven, so that Zhao Hongrun had no choice but to choose to take charge of such a mess as the Smelting Bureau, which made him now have to fight for
Rushing to revitalize the Metallurgical Bureau.
Of course, on the way to the destination of Bolangsha, Zhao Hongrun would not forget his fear of his father. At this time, he could only use this self-deception to comfort himself.
Bolangsha is bordered by the Yellow River to the north and the Guandu River to the south. It is located next to a section of the official road leading to Daliang from Chenggao Pass, one of the six garrison battalions. Zhongmu County is to the southwest and Huangchi County is across the Guandu River to the east.
If it is built as a port on the north side of Daliang, its geographical location will be very advantageous.
This is the conclusion Zhao Hongrun drew from the map near Daliang.
But in fact, when the group of people arrived at Bolangsha, the Bureau Chief Wang Fu and the Langguan Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, Xun Xin and others of the Metallurgical Bureau all shook their heads at the complex and harsh terrain conditions of Bolangsha.
It’s no wonder, after all, Bolangsha is a river beach with extremely complicated terrain at the intersection of the Yellow River and Guandu River. On the west side is the remnant of Mang Mountain. Looking around, you can see undulating sand dunes everywhere, and the sand dunes are even more covered with thorns and weeds.
There is no one. What's even worse is that the low-lying areas of the dunes, swamps, and puddles are all connected together, and there are thickets of reeds.
As for the official road connecting Chenggao Pass and Daliang, it is located here. It can be said to be one of the most difficult official roads to walk in the Wei Dynasty.
Zhao Hongrun and his group are now standing on the east side of the Guandao River, looking at the swampy land on the west side of the Guandao River.
"His Highness plans to build a port here?" Wang Fu, Chief of the Metallurgical Bureau, frowned. He seemed to be quite dissatisfied with the construction of a port in Bolangsha. After all, the terrain here seemed to him too complicated. Instead of building a port in Bolangsha,
Instead of investing a lot of manpower and material resources, it would be better to find a place with more suitable terrain to build a port.
After thinking about it, he advised Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness, I think it is better to build a port on the land between Junshui and Guandu River. The river can be connected anyway."
"It's too close to the beam." Zhao Hongrun shook his head.
In fact, what Wang Fu said was not wrong. After all, Bolangsha is still dozens of miles away from Daliang. There is really no need to build the port so far away. After all, doesn't the ore have to be transported to Daliang in the end?
But it has to be said that the reason why Wang Fu thinks so is because he does not see as far as Zhao Hongrun.
In Zhao Hongrun's view, perhaps the suburbs around Daliang are indeed desolate at the moment, but as Daliang gradually prospers and more and more citizens move in, the existing Daliang City is definitely not enough to accommodate the increasing population in the future.
By that time, Daliang City will inevitably expand to all directions.
Therefore, building a port in Bolangsha is still far away from Daliang City. But in the future, with the expansion of Daliang City, sooner or later it will be bordered by Daliang City. On the other hand, if the port is located in what Wang Fu said,
If the location is too high, it will be troublesome in the future. Is it possible to demolish the existing port and build a new port in Bolangsha? In this case, it is better to do it in one step and save manpower and material resources.
Furthermore, despite the fact that there are still dozens of miles between Bolangsha and Daliang, this open space just serves as the commercial place in Zhao Hongrun’s blueprint. After all, Bolangsha’s geographical location is really superior, even if it is all wasteland.
, Zhao Hongrun also believed that this land would definitely become prosperous, not to mention that there are now two county towns, Zhongmou and Huangchi, on both sides of Bolangsha.
In Zhao Hongrun's view, as long as his smelting bureau builds a port in Bolangsha, the two counties of Zhongmou and Huangchi will also benefit. The cities and counties will gradually move closer to the Guandu River and gradually turn this area into a prosperous one.
The place of commerce and trade is connected with Daliang.
By then, perhaps Bolangsha will become a gathering place for merchants from all over the world and may become a hub of the world's economy.
…
Noticing the expression of His Highness Prince Su, Bureau Chief Wang Fu, Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, and Xun Xin looked at each other and sighed helplessly.
Because he realized that His Highness King Su had already made up his mind, and it would be useless to persuade him any more. Instead of making His Highness Su King angry with repeated persuasion, he might as well consider how to transform this land with complex terrain into
A suitable place for building a port.
"Those reeds are easy to handle, they can be burned up with a fire... The difficulty is underneath. If the official guessed correctly, they are all muddy sand and silt, not solid soil... I want to build a shipyard here.
I'm afraid..." Having said this, Wang Fu shook his head.
Lang Guan Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, and Xun Xin looked at each other and shook their heads one after another. After all, they were all craftsmen. Although they were not very good at construction, they at least had experience in that field and knew the importance of the foundation.
If there is no solid soil underneath, even building a towering building will not help.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun interrupted and reminded: "How about using giant wood to drive piles?"
Wang Fu, Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, and Xun Xin looked over in confusion. Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun gestured with his hands and said in detail: "Take a log, sharpen one section, drive it vertically into the mud, and then cover it with wooden boards.
Those wooden piles..."
Hearing this, Chen Dan stroked his beard and said in surprise: "This is a good idea, but... wood is prone to rot when soaked in water. Besides, the ship port required by His Highness covers a large area. If it is repaired in the future, it may be a big problem."
trouble."
Zhao Hongrun was silent after hearing this, because this was exactly what he was worried about. After all, as Chen Dan said, if you drive the wooden piles into the mud, the wood will rot sooner or later. What will you do then? Pry off the wooden boards covering it,
Driving stakes again?
At this time, Lang Guan Cheng Lin suggested: "How about using stone piles instead of wooden piles?"
After hearing this, Wang Fu and others' eyes lit up and they all nodded, but Zhao Hongrun felt a little regretful.
After all, in Zhao Hongrun's opinion, the best way is undoubtedly to build a barrel-like mold, bury it in the mud, and then fill the barrel with concrete. But unfortunately, he can't get cement right now.
Lime is not uncommon in Dawei. The problem is that simply using lime to stir a mixture of stone and sand lacks coagulability. It is okay for daily use, but it will easily dissolve once it is stained with water.
Compared with this, it is better to use stone pillars instead, as Cheng Lin said, which is most in line with the current technology of the Wei Dynasty.
The only drawback is that the stone pillars need to be polished with a long long boulder. You must know that stone work is a delicate craft. After all, in these days when stone glue has not yet appeared, once the stone breaks during polishing, it means that
All previous efforts are wasted, and the error tolerance rate is too low.
Therefore, instead of using stone, Zhao Hongrun prefers to cast iron pillars and use iron piles instead of stone pillars.
But then the problem arises again. After all, Dawei's iron smelting process is well developed, and iron ore is a hot commodity in this country. It needs to be used in so many places that Zhao Hongrun even thinks about buying it from other countries in the future.
Iron ore, how can you easily use iron resources in such a place?
God knows how much iron ore would be consumed to build the port he had in mind?
At this moment, Lang Guan Xunxin's words made Zhao Hongrun's eyes light up: "How about using copper to cast the pillars?"
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun slapped his forehead. If Xun Xin hadn't said anything, he really wouldn't have thought of using copper pillars.
It's no wonder, after all, in his mind, iron ore has long become the most important resource. So much so that he didn't even think of copper for a while.
Not to mention, this is a really good idea.
You must know that in the Wei Dynasty, the usage rate of copper was not high. Except for the large amount of copper required to make coins, the rest of the use of copper was almost negligible.
It is undeniable that there are many bronze wares in the Wei Dynasty. But to be more precise, almost all of them are bronze wares produced in the Chu State. Who makes the copper craftsmanship of the Wei Dynasty so far behind that of the Chu State?
Precisely because the Wei Dynasty is an iron-smelting country, the price of copper in the Wei Dynasty is not expensive, and the price of ore is even less than half of that of iron ore. Even so, it is still unsaleable, so that a large number of copper mines are abandoned and are not as good as iron ore.
Mining is so prosperous, not to mention expensive metals such as gold and silver.
More importantly, there are countless copper mines in the Chu State. Even if there is insufficient acquisition in the Wei Dynasty, Zhao Hongrun can still obtain copper mines from Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo.
"The copper pillar is good, the copper pillar is good!"
Zhao Hongrun said several times without forgetting to look at Xun Xin approvingly.
After deciding on the general development policy, the only thing left is to formulate a specific strategy to open up this barren land. After all, building a port in Bolangsha with Zhao Hongrun's idea involves many problems.
For example, transporting those copper pillars.
Of course, these are just some minor problems. I believe that Bureau Chief Wang Fu and Lang Guan Chen Dan, Cheng Lin, Xun Xin and others will start studying strategies on their own after returning to the Smelting Bureau, and there is no need for Zhao Hongrun to take action.
There was only one thing that Zhao Hongrun had to deal with, and that was the issue of ownership of Bolangsha: this land was located in the eastern suburbs of Yuanyang Kingdom and belonged to the feudal territory of Yuanyang King Zhao Wenkai.
Although Zhao Hongrun had never had any dealings with this uncle from a different clan, the son of this uncle happened to be Zhao Chengxiu, the eldest son of Prince Yuanyang, who had a problem with Zhao Hongrun.
The latter had a rift with Zhao Hongrun because of two incidents.
One was that Zhao Hongrun refused to distribute the war profits obtained from the Chu Kingdom to his cousins from the side branch of the Ji family, headed by Zhao Chengxiu, the crown prince of Yuanyang Prince, which made this group of Ji family dudes who were extremely jealous of the money hate Zhao Hongrun.
mind.
The other incident was in Cuixiao Pavilion of Fangshui Pavilion. Zhao Hongrun called Zongwei Shen Yu because of Zhao Chengxiu's rude words. They severely punished his cousin, and even made him be locked up in the meditation room of the Zongfu for several days.
.
In this case, Zhao Hongrun has no guarantee that he can get Bolangsha from his uncle Yuanyang King Zhao Wenkai, even if Bolangsha is just a barren land.
After all, it is not difficult to guess that Zhao Chengxiu, the eldest son of Prince Yuanyang, who has a quarrel with Zhao Hongrun, will definitely hinder Zhao Hongrun's plan because of the humiliation he suffered a while ago.
…
Zhao Hongrun raised his hand and rubbed his forehead. He felt that he was a little irritable again. (To be continued.)