Yingtianfu Yamen is located next to Dazhong Bridge, with Gongyuan and Fuxue to the south, and the densely set up Liubu and Yousi to the east. Because Yingtianfu has a higher status, the rank of each Fuyin is far higher than that of any other government in the world except Jiujiang.
, with the title of third grade, he can be regarded as an important minister in the court.
Wang Zongyi, the minister of the Ministry of Industry and Yin of Yingtian Prefecture, was meeting guests in the flower hall of the government office. He was meeting with Zhao Ran, who had just assumed the post of abbot of Xuantan Palace. Before receiving the invitation from Zhao Ran, he had already thought about whether this person in recent years would
Whatever Abbot Zhao wanted to do, he always kept a certain distance, neither far nor close. He would not offend this great mage-level immortal, and he would never give back the power of general affairs in his hands.
Do you want to interfere with Yingtian's government operations? I'm sorry, but I won't comply.
However, Zhao Ran's performance was a bit different from Wang Zongyi's expectation. He did not make any request to interfere with the government's power, but talked about a trivial matter. He asked whether Guanyao Village, located at the foot of Jubao Mountain, could be restored.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, official kilns were everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River, producing massive amounts of bricks and stones for repairing palaces and city walls. The now huge Yingtianfu city wall was built at that time. The gathering place of these official kilns was called Guanyao Village.
, the largest one is Guanyao Village located at the foot of Jubao Mountain outside Yingtianfu City. At its peak, there were more than 200 kilns, with an annual output of more than 2 million pieces of green bricks.
But hundreds of years have passed, and the demand for green bricks and road stones is less than one-tenth of what it was when the city was built. A large number of official kilns have been abandoned, and only a dozen or so official kilns are still standing in this official kiln village at the foot of Jubao Mountain.
Firing is used to maintain the most basic building needs.
So Wang Zongyi asked: "Does the abbot need to purchase a large amount of bricks and stones? Does he plan to build a Taoist palace there? Or does he just want to repair the Xuantan Palace? If so, the current production is enough."
Zhao Ran said: "It's not that I want to repair the Xuantan Palace. I see that the green bricks and road stones on the roads in the capital have been damaged a lot. The dirt has been exposed on many streets and alleys. Last summer, there were heavy rains and the roads were all muddy."
There are still many drainage ditches that are not clear enough, causing congestion, so I want to do my best in this regard."
Wang Zongyi pondered for a moment and thought to himself that this new person who took office seems to want to show off. I don't want to lose his face. I will renovate the two or three main streets in the city. It will be passable. There are only a hundred left and right.
The government office and the Ministry of Industry will shoulder the responsibility for the two taels of silver in half, and the matter can be completed in half a month.
So he smiled and said: "I admire the abbot for caring about the people. It seems that it was my oversight. Well, I immediately ordered the factory officials to patrol the streets to see which streets and alleys need to be renovated and which waterways need to be repaired.
The ditch needs to be dredged..."
Zhao Ran took out a handbook and handed it over. It listed the names of streets in the city that needed to be renovated. There were dozens of streets in rows.
Wang Zongyi was not very happy. According to this method, Yingtian Mansion would have nothing to do this year, not to mention that the money would have to be spent more than three thousand taels. Where would this money come from?
When I was thinking about my words and was about to remind Abbot Zhao that this was a concubine's government and it was best not to point fingers in Xuantan Palace, I heard Zhao Ran say: "I have prepared a special fund here, which is the accumulation of charity funds, so what I mean is that from our official
The kiln purchased bricks and stones to renovate the streets and ditches, and the relevant manpower was also recruited through recruitment, without levying corvee services. In addition, they also wanted to ask the subordinate staff in the government and county government who had free time to come forward to help maintain Xuantan Palace.
In addition, Wang Fuyin needs to come forward to help me recruit the master craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry and Engineering who are available. I will also pay this sum of money, and the entire construction period will be within three months..."
Wang Zongyi blinked and asked: "Abbot Zhao... the charity money you are talking about is the charity money from the Xiuxian Ball Lottery?"
Zhao Ran nodded: "Exactly."
Wang Zongyi leaned back and invited Zhao Ran to drink tea while thinking about it. If Zhao Ran used charity money to renovate the roads in the capital, this would be a political achievement. How much profit would he get from this political achievement?
Then I heard Zhao Ran say: "Through this road renovation, I also plan to take a look at the current level of brick and stone production in the official kiln. If it can really meet my requirements, the purchase volume will increase significantly in the future."
Wang Zongyi asked: "How many bricks and stones does Abbot Zhao plan to purchase?"
Zhao Ran said: "It doesn't take much to renovate the road. It is fired according to the brick pattern of the Ministry of Industry. It is one foot three inches long, six inches wide and three inches thick. Such green bricks cost 400,000 yuan. I bought them for one tael of silver and two thousand bricks."
"
"Four hundred thousand?" Wang Zongyi was a little disappointed.
"After confirming that the standards are met, the next purchase amount will be 200 million pieces, and there will also be one million pieces of stone."
Wang Zongyi was stunned: "Twenty million green bricks? One million stones?" This is a purchase amount of at least two hundred thousand taels of silver!
Zhao Ran said: "Maybe there will be more."
Wang Zongyi asked cautiously: "Even if Guanyao Village in Jubaoshan is completely restored, I'm afraid it will be difficult to complete in a hundred years."
Zhao Ran said: "Guanyao Village is just a standard. Based on this standard, I plan to purchase from the private sector. I will purchase from any brick kiln that can meet the standard. Wang Fuyin is right. The output of Guanyao Village is
We won’t be able to produce so many bricks and stones in a hundred years, but if we can mobilize more kiln stone workshops to do it together, I believe it can still be done.”
"That would take more than ten years..."
"The current kiln method is not good. We have prepared a rotary kiln method that can increase production ten times. In addition, in order to cope with the large-scale use of fuel by the rotary kiln method, we are preparing to force all kilns to use coal as fuel. Around Beijing
There are many coal mines, such as Qingqiu Mountain, Zijin Mountain, Meishan, etc. I know that there are many small coal mines producing coal. Of course, Zijin Mountain cannot be moved. My plan is to use coal from Qingqiu Mountain and Meishan. In order to encourage
Everyone uses coal for burning, and my plan is to subsidize one tael of silver for every brick kiln produced."
Wang Zongyi is the minister of the Ministry of Industry. Although he is not a minister of the Ministry of Industry, he has studied construction methods. After a rough calculation, this is another hundred thousand taels.
A total of 300,000 taels of silver business, of which the Guanyao Village in Jubaoshan can swallow 30,000 taels, and the remaining 270,000 taels must be purchased from various private workshops and mines. Especially the mines
, even though they were apparently from the imperial court, he was a senior member of the Ministry of Industry, so it was easy to get two documents for the opening of the mine in advance.
By the way, you have to recruit kiln workers quickly before the news leaks out, otherwise even if you want to open a kiln, no one will be available! If you set up a kiln factory and open two mines, you can profit from them by 20,000 to 30,000 silver.
, it’s not a difficult thing.
"Is the round kiln method mentioned by the abbot an immortal method?"
"Don't worry, although it is a method developed by our sect, ordinary people can also use it, and no monks are required to participate in it. Whichever kiln factory meets the standard of an official kiln first, this secret method will be passed on to that kiln first.
It will only be passed down to five families, never to more."
Wang Zongyi finally asked: "When is the abbot going to start taking action?"
Zhao Ran said: "Of course, the faster, the better."
Wang Zongyi immediately agreed: "Yes, it is February now, and in two months, the rainy days in the capital will come. We cannot let the people spend this rainy season with one foot in mud and one foot in water."