Somewhere in the open space of the Ministry of Industry's yamen, people were circling around a strange-looking car. They were very curious and asked: "Can such a car travel quickly on the ice?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The old man waved his hand, and two cart drivers immediately came over and pushed the strange-looking ice cart to a large frozen pond.
The weather in Beijing has been extremely cold this year, and this large pond has been covered with thick ice. Not only can adults walk on the ice without any problems, but even the pack horses can easily walk on the ice.
Then, the driver connected the carriage and horses, and performed a show of walking quickly through the ice in front of him.
The old man had a smile on his face, but it was just an ice cart from later generations. Its simple structure can be of great use in the current situation.
He ordered the craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to build it to relieve today's troubles.
Today's brain is very bright. When he saw the performance in front of him, he reacted instantly and said in surprise: "Can this car walk quickly on the ice of the canal?"
At present, the troublesome thing plaguing the court is that the land and water connections between the capital and the outside world are almost cut off.
Although the capital has no need to worry about food problems for the time being, even if it lasts for half a year, it will not be a problem. However, the capital has been unable to communicate with the outside world for a long time, which may cause unnecessary trouble.
There has never been a shortage of careerists in the local area. No one knows if someone will take advantage of the situation. It will be inconvenient for the capital to deal with it. We don't want to see such a situation happen now.
What's more, the dignitaries in the capital gathered together, including half of the powerful officials in the entire Qi Dynasty. They and the families behind them were not only satisfied with food, but the various supplies and luxury goods consumed in the inner house alone were an extremely astonishing amount.
The shortage can be tolerated for a short period of time, but as time goes by, it is estimated that the inner court of the powerful family will be in turmoil.
At the same time, all kinds of living and production materials in the capital are extremely dependent on external supplies. If Bingxue blocks the road for a long time, it may also cause a lot of trouble.
Unexpectedly, someone gave him a pillow when he fell asleep. If the ice truck built by Jia Enhou could walk quickly on the thick ice, he could use the ice truck to communicate with the outside world, and at least transport supplies from outside to the capital quickly.
Ease possible troubles.
"Your Majesty, officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry went to Tongzhou to check the ice condition of the canal. There is no problem for such an ice truck to run like flying through the canal in the Gyeonggi section!"
The elder smiled leisurely and said: "The weather is not so cold outside Gyeonggi Province. I think the canal can still operate normally in the Yuzhou area!"
"What are you waiting for?"
Today, he said with great joy: "Immediately build a large number of ice trucks and go to Tongzhou to transport the materials piled up outside Gyeonggi!"
"Your Majesty, the section from Beijing to Tongzhou is not easy to travel!"
The elder smiled and said: "It would be best to use work in exchange for relief, organize the young and strong people among the refugees, and quickly build an ice road from the capital to Tongzhou. This way, after the canal materials arrive in Tongzhou, they can be quickly transferred to the capital through the newly built ice road!"
"
"What ice road?"
Today, he was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted and exclaimed: "You mean, something similar to the Chi Dao of the Pre-Qin Dynasty?"
He is worthy of being an emperor, his brain is brilliant!
The old man smiled and said: "It's almost the same. It's just not as exaggerated as a Chi Road. It just uses the method of building up soil and pouring water to freeze, and artificially creates an ice road for ice trucks to pass quickly!"
"I'm afraid the amount of work is quite large, right?"
Nowadays, I am a little excited, but still a little hesitant.
He was afraid of poverty because of the lack of money in the treasury. Now he had managed to save millions of taels of silver by relying on urgent debt collection, but he didn't want to just waste it.
The main reason is that from today's perspective, the ice road is just a stopgap measure. When the weather gets warmer, the ice road will naturally have no use. So spending a lot of money to build an ice road from Beijing to Tongzhou feels like a waste of money.
Silver, this can't be done!
"There are so many refugees outside the city. If you organize them casually, you can pull up a team of hundreds of thousands of young and strong people. If you do the construction at the same time, it will only take a day or two!"
The old man smiled and said: "They are idle anyway, so they might as well work hard to earn wages!"
"Wait a minute, you mean using grain as wages to support laborers?"
Now his eyes light up and he realizes that this is a really good idea. He doesn't have much else in his hands, but he has a lot of food.
"nature!"
The elder smiled and said: "For the refugees, food is much more precious than gold and silver!"
"Well!"
Now he made a decision without hesitation: "Let the Ministry of Industry take charge of this matter!"
"Your Majesty, where is the food?"
The elder was not polite and responded directly, then turned around and asked about the most important thing: "I am not very happy to deal with the Ministry of Household Affairs!"
"Just contact Xiuyiwei directly!"
Jin Jin smiled slightly, with an inexplicable look on his face, but he didn't have a bad reaction to the elder's words. Not long ago, the man in front of him just broke his face. If he turned around, he could treat it as if nothing had happened. Jin Jin really didn't necessarily feel relieved.
Such important matters are left to the great master.
With the emperor's instructions, the elder got busy quickly. He quickly organized officials from the Ministry of Industry and began to recruit young and strong people among the refugees to prepare for a big fight.
This time, he was not polite at all. He directly contacted the three heads of the Wang Shi and Xue families and invited them to prepare capable personnel to participate together, so as to demonstrate the capabilities of the four major families in Jinling.
Lian Er was so busy as the Prime Minister of Shuntian Prefecture that he couldn't even see a shadow of him all day long. It was already late at night when he returned to the mansion every day. After returning home, he fell asleep on the bed and had no energy to pay attention to the person beside him, Wang Xifeng.
Wang Xifeng was naturally very dissatisfied with this situation.
"What are you busy with, Mr. Lian? You're so tired, you're almost losing weight!"
On this day, Wang Xifeng specially waited for Lian Er to come back. While helping him take off his coat, he directed Ping'er to serve the stomach-warming soup, and kept talking about it without being polite at all.
"Oh, isn't it just that bad thing in the yamen?"
After drinking the stomach-warming sweet soup in one breath, Lian Er became energetic and said with a wry smile: "Everything in the city is soaring in price, and ordinary people simply can't afford such a high cost of living. It's been a bit noisy recently!"
Having said this, he shook his head and said with lingering fear; "Fortunately, the outside of the city is not under the management of Shuntianfu Yamen, otherwise I would have been trapped in the homeless camps outside the city, and I might not be able to return home for several months!"
"Didn't you say that the eldest master also started to mess with it? Didn't the second master Lian get involved?"
Wang Xifeng didn't beat around the bush and said directly: "The second master of the second room and Brother Zhu are busy with their work. I wonder what the elder is doing?"
"Who said I wasn't involved?"
Lian Er curled his lips and said arrogantly: "I am responsible for communicating with the people of King Xue's family, but I am very tired!"
As he said that, seeing Wang Xifeng's unimpressive expression, he smiled and said, "As for why the eldest master is going through so much trouble, isn't it because he can step into the ranks of senior officials as soon as possible?"
Only those who have been in the officialdom for a long time will know how difficult it is to be promoted from the fourth grade to the third grade, especially for someone with his average ability and who is not on the right path to become an official in the imperial examination. He does not have enough merit to cross that gap.
Not easy.
"Didn't you say that after paying off the one million taels of silver you owe, Second Master Lian can be promoted?"
Speaking of this, Wang Xifeng's face was filled with pain. That was a full million taels of silver. She watched the court take it away, and her heart ached just thinking about it.
Don't talk about her, the old lady and Mrs. Wang were also extremely distressed, and secretly scolded the old man for being a prodigal. But things had already happened, and there was nothing they could do about it no matter how unhappy they were.
If the eldest master hadn't said that he could get some officials in the family to go further by paying back the money owed, I'm afraid the dissatisfaction in the house would not be easy to calm down.
Now, listening to Lian Er's words, it seems that things are going to happen again, and I am extremely angry and unhappy.
"Freeze said!"
Lian Er said angrily: "There are three people in the government who are hanging out in the officialdom!"
At this point, he said helplessly: "If I were promoted alone, Feng Lazi, how do you think the old lady and the second bedroom would react? Will the house still be peaceful?"
Wang Xifeng hesitated when he heard this. It really was like this. If he still owed money and just asked the first house to get an advantage, the second house and the old lady would definitely not agree.
When the time comes to make a fuss, she doesn't think she can handle it.
"This time, the great master has found another great opportunity to make a contribution. Although the matter is a bit cumbersome, it is not risky at all. It can still leave a good impression on the current place!"
Lian Er said proudly, "Otherwise, you think I am so free that I can mobilize all the power of our four major Jinling families in the capital, so why not share the profits with everyone?"
"You guys have gotten all the benefits, so what benefits can I get from you?"
Wang Xifeng asked, "Would the lord do anything that is not beneficial?"
this……
Lian Er was stunned when he was asked, but he didn't think much about it. He said with a smile: "Of course the master has his own plans. It doesn't matter if we don't know. Anyway, he won't harm my biological son!"
Wang Xifeng curled her lips and did not continue to say unpleasant words, but decided in her heart that she would go to the other courtyard a few times recently to explore the eldest master's thoughts.
Not only Lian Er and his wife, but also Mr. Zheng and Mrs. Wang from the second room, as well as Jia Zhu and Li Wan, all felt baffled by the eldest man's actions. They just subconsciously followed the eldest man's baton and did not slack off because of doubts in their hearts.
.
The old lady guessed some clues, but she was very dissatisfied. She was quite indifferent to the elder's actions. There was definitely something wrong with this guy's brain. It would be good for the Rongfu family to monopolize the good things, why let the other three families do it?
What are the benefits of following profit sharing?
Naturally, the eldest master is not aware of the discussions and speculations about him in the government. Even if he knew about it, he would not care about it. It is not his turn to make irresponsible remarks in the government.
The four major families in Jinling are worthy of being a big part of the long-established noble group. Once they really start operating, their energy is quite astonishing.