At the end of this year, the whole capital was not having a very happy time.
Road closures in heavy snow and cold weather are no joke, although the Grand Master directed the Ministry of Industry to build ice trucks and ice roads, which can quickly transport some canal supplies back to the capital, somewhat alleviating the problem of lack of supplies in the city.
However, ice trucks and ice roads alone cannot meet the huge needs of the people in the entire capital, as well as the refugees outside the city, and all kinds of materials are in short supply.
That is to say, the farms outside the city are basically the private properties of the powerful. The output of them can barely make the life of the powerful in the city comfortable, but the quality of life has greatly deteriorated compared with the usual life, causing a lot of complaints.
I am also depressed today. If it were not for the production of the imperial village outside the city, even the material supply of the palace would be somewhat difficult to maintain. From the twelfth lunar month to the end of the new year, my mood today is relatively gloomy.
After finally waiting for the weather to show signs of warming up, trouble struck again.
The ice in the canal began to melt, and the means of transporting ice trucks gradually became unusable. The thinning ice was no longer able to carry ice trucks.
This could cost his life. There was no problem with the capital's connection with the outside world, but supplies from outside could not be transported in.
There are pieces of ice everywhere on the Yuzhou section of the canal, and ordinary cargo ships simply do not dare to move forward quickly. Even if the materials are transported to the previous distribution center, they cannot be transported to the capital quickly without ice trucks.
As the weather gets warmer and the ice and snow melt, all official roads become muddy, making it impossible to transport supplies on a large scale. As a result, the supplies available to the capital are even scarcer than during the snowstorm years ago.
This cannot continue like this!
The royal family and the dignitaries in the city could still rely on the farms outside the city to transport daily necessities to live a "hard life", but it became unbearable over time.
At this time, land and water transportation was cut off for more than eight floors, and the situation was quite bad.
"Dear ministers, do you have any ideas to solve this matter?"
At the New Year's court meeting, I ignored the broken etiquette rules and directly asked the ministers present if there was a solution.
This has stunned all the ministers. Now that I have no idea, how can they come up with any ideas?
The Chaohui Palace was completely silent. It was very inconvenient to speak on such an occasion. Even if I had thoughts in my heart, I would not say them out in public.
Rian Rian was angry at first, but he quickly reacted, hurriedly ended the court meeting with a wave of his hand, and called the cabinet elders and six ministers to the Qianqing Palace to discuss matters.
Is this the correct way for the emperor to handle things?
In every case, it is not always discussed in the small court meeting, and then in the large court meeting, it is announced to go through the motions. How can such an official with ordinary rules have the courage to take the initiative to provoke?
The eldest master entered the Qianqing Palace along with a group of cabinet ministers and several ministers of similar status.
"Everyone, do you have any solution to your troubles?"
Jin Jin was not polite at all and asked directly: "If the trouble is not solved as soon as possible, I don't care, but you guys who are pampered and fall in love, can you bear it?"
Of course I can’t stand it!
But these words would never be uttered in front of the emperor.
"Jia Enhou, do you have any ideas?"
Now he didn't want to fool him just like that, he called people here just to get advice from outsiders.
"It's very simple, temporarily abandon the canal and take the sea route!"
The elder said directly: "You can reach it soon by transferring through Tongzhou!"
"No, absolutely not!"
Qian Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs jumped out to object again: "The canal is related to the livelihood of one hundred thousand boatmen. If something goes wrong, it is no joke!"
"I didn't say I wanted to abolish canal shipping. Why is Qian Shangshu so anxious?"
The elder smiled and said: "It just solves the urgent need at the moment. It will be restored to its original state in the future!"
"That's easy to say!"
Qian Shangshu sneered: "When the supplies shipped from the sea have arrived, where are they placed?"
"Tongzhou!"
The elder showed a smile that looked like he was caring for a retarded person, and said calmly: "Using Tongzhou as a transit point, emergency supplies from the sea can be delivered to the capital in time!"
"Haha, Mr. Jia seems to have forgotten that the road between Tongzhou and Beijing is already muddy!"
Qian Shangshu continued to be a monster and said: "Your Majesty, please don't listen to Mr. Jia's nonsense!"
"Indeed, the current official road is muddy with melted snow!"
Today, he smiled bitterly and said helplessly: "This is not a problem at all, I'm afraid shipping won't help!"
Qian Shangshu sneered again and again, he really wanted to see the elder's joke.
It's just a pity...
"This is easy!"
The elder said directly: "Wasn't the previous ice road built within a few days?"
"Now it is replaced by road construction and cinder paving. With so many people, it only takes half a month at most to turn the official road from Tongzhou to the capital into a hard and tight cinder road!"
"Jia Enhou, how long will it take to build such a road?"
Today, with joy in his eyes, he hurriedly asked: "I'm afraid the official road from the dock to Tongzhou needs to be repaired and sorted out again!"
"Your Majesty is wise!"
The old man smiled and said: "Anyway, the refugees outside the city only need one mouthful of food to be willing to work hard. As long as the manpower is enough and organized, it can be easily done!"
"How long do you need, Marquis Jia En, and how much manpower do you have to do this in a short time?"
Jin Jin smiled and said: "How about you take charge of this matter personally?"
"become!"
The elder accepted it happily and said: "Your Majesty, this time it is still a work-for-relief project, and it is estimated that a lot of food will be consumed!"
"As long as the official road from Tongzhou to the capital can be repaired in a short period of time, and resources from outside can be delivered continuously, what does it mean to waste a little food?"
Jin Jin waved his hand and said proudly: "That's it. Marquis Jia En, don't let me down!"
The elder accepted the order calmly and left the palace quickly. The Yamen of the Ministry of Industry was soon in operation again. Officials from the Ministry of Industry had to come forward to build the road this time.
Soon, the elder was in the refugee camp outside the city, leading hundreds of thousands of young men, and under the coordination and command of the officials from the Ministry of Works, quickly started to repair the official roads.
After a cold winter, the lives of the refugees outside the capital city are still difficult, mainly because they have no income at all. The government's porridge is always soup and water, and they can't eat enough. Life is very difficult.
They also want to work as hard as possible so that they can earn enough food. This was the case last winter when the ice track was built, and this time is no exception.
The scene of hundreds of thousands of people working together was very shocking. The most shocking thing was that by organizing the staged construction of the refugees, in less than half a month, the cinder block official road from Tongzhou to the capital was quickly built.
about there.
At this time, the eldest man proposed to Jin Jin that, as he had a large number of workers, he could repair the pier where ships docked, so that the ships would not be able to dock when they arrived.
Today, I personally went out to the city to inspect the solid and old cinder road outside the city. I was very satisfied with the big man's work and directly agreed to the big man's proposal, letting him take full responsibility for the matter.
The boss was not polite either. Hundreds of thousands of young and strong workers were busy working together. Not only was the scene spectacular, but the sales of labor were also quite amazing.
In just half a day, a standard sea-ship dock has been built near the sea in Gyeonggi Province, which can accommodate ships of more than three thousand koku.
The pier has just been repaired, and there are already ships docked on the other side of the sea.
The next thing is very simple. Just like the successful construction of the ice road before, a steady stream of various materials is transported from the sea ship, and then delivered directly to the capital through carriages and other means of transportation.
Suddenly, most of the shortage of various daily necessities in the capital was solved.
"Jia Enhou, you did a great job!"
On this day, Jin Jin specially called the elder to the palace and praised him thoroughly.
"It's just a little effort, it's really nothing!"
The elder waved his hand and said with a smile: "Actually, I still don't want to see the misery of the refugees outside the city, I just try my best!"
“What a wonderful Weiwei Xinxin!”
The look on his face was a bit incomprehensible, and he said leisurely: "Masters of the court, you were the only one who raised and solved the court's troubles. I will never forget it!"
The elder didn't take it seriously. The emperor's promise really shouldn't be taken lightly. He nodded without saying anything more and left the palace not long after.
After going to the Yamen in the evening, he did not return directly to the Turtle Courtyard. Instead, he went to a restaurant owned by a company. He went up to the third floor and found a private room to sit down. Not long after, a middle-aged man with an average appearance came in from outside.
"How's it going? Have you started recruiting refugees?"
The elder didn't even raise his head and asked directly: "I hope you won't use force and only recruit refugee families who are willing to stay away from Daqi!"
"Please don't worry, sir!"
The middle-aged man replied respectfully: "Before coming here, the prince and the prince have already given instructions, telling me to be careful in everything I do and not to expose my feet easily!"
The elder nodded and asked: "How is the situation with the prince and the prince? Have they completely occupied the land of Java?"
"about there!"
The middle-aged man smiled and said: "It's just that the number of Daqi people under my command is too small. I heard that the capital of Daqi suffered a heavy snowstorm, and the two highnesses hurriedly organized a fleet to pick them up!"
Having said this, he paused and continued, "Fortunately, we have the help of adults this time, so we can recruit a large number of refugees to reclaim the wasteland without anyone noticing. Otherwise, if we follow our previous plan, there will definitely be clues!"
"So good!"
The elder smiled and said: "When I go back, I will tell your two highnesses that what Jia promised has been done. I hope they will not regret it then!"
The middle-aged man remained silent. He was accused of blindly participating in this matter. No matter who had the upper hand in the end, if his lax words were revealed, he would definitely die without a burial place.
"Okay, let's go now that we've finished talking!"
The elder stood up, waved his hand and said with a smile: "In the future, we should try to keep as little contact as possible. If you have any difficulties or troubles, please go to the survivors of your two highnesses. Don't bother me all the time!"
After saying that, he patted his butt and turned around to leave without any intention of saying anything more.