The first thousand two hundred and ninety-six chapters do not need to create demand
In the 16th year of Xuanping, the Tang Empire vigorously promoted the construction of water conservancy facilities, and it was not a short-term plan, but a long-term plan!
Li Xuan ordered the cabinet to come up with a ten-year water conservancy equipment construction plan, and construct water conservancy facilities in various parts of the country in succession according to the degree of urgency.
Among them, the highest priority is to control the areas where major dangers may occur. The representatives are the Kaifeng section of the Yellow River and the Hongze Lake section of the Huaihe River. Of course, in addition to flood control, drought prevention projects are also included.
area for governance.
In addition to completing these key projects, it is necessary to control some river sections that may be in danger and related drought prevention projects. The characteristic of this kind of project is that it is not too urgent, the hazards are average, and the existing water conservancy facilities can barely handle it.
Support, but unable to withstand large-scale disasters.
Finally, there is the construction of water conservancy facilities focusing on daily irrigation and shipping. The water conservancy facilities built during this period were not mainly for disaster prevention, but for irrigation and shipping, and disaster prevention was incidental.
The ten-year water conservancy facilities plan is spread across the country, and the total investment is expected to exceed 150 million yuan, of which the central government will contribute 80 million yuan, and the local finances will contribute 70 million yuan.
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The first year, which is the 16th year of Xuanping, is the highlight. In order to prevent floods, a large number of dangerous river sections need to be intensively managed, so the investment is also the largest in the ten-year plan. The central government will allocate 15 million yuan for
For water conservancy construction, all local finances will invest a total of 20 million yuan.
Most of the central finance will be used for the management of major rivers such as the Yellow River, Huaihe River, Yangtze River, and Pearl River, while funds from local finances will mainly be used for flood and drought prevention projects within their respective jurisdictions.
In order to carry out related projects smoothly, it is also to avoid a swarm of major projects, causing financial problems across the country. More importantly, in order to avoid the disorderly recruitment of civilians in various places, thereby causing major public dissatisfaction.
Therefore, along with this document, the empire also issued a brand-new corvee law. First of all, it legally clarified that people had the obligation to perform corvee service for the country, but it also introduced many related restrictive conditions.
The first one is that localities are not allowed to organize people to serve on their own. If they need to recruit people to serve, they must apply to the cabinet for approval before it can be implemented.
Then there are many detailed regulations. For example, only children who are under 18 years old and over 50 years old are not included in the recruitment scope. All other adults and healthy men are required to serve, including officials.
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Secondly, you can be exempted from military service due to illness or injury. At the same time, you can take the initiative to apply for future military service, or you can directly pay the corresponding fee to be exempted from military service.
Thirdly, the maximum service time per year shall not exceed three months, and must be during the off-season period. During the service period, the government will provide food, clothing, housing and transportation, and also provide subsidies. The subsidy standards are separately determined based on the average income level of each place.
This kind of service means that the government hires workers at low prices. Although the money is said to be very small, at least they are paid.
This is very different from the traditional feudal dynasty where people even had to prepare their own food.
And this also led to the emergence of another situation, that is, when local officials took a look at the new corvee law, they found that if calculated in detail, the cost of construction was even higher than that of directly hiring workers for construction.
Why!
Because workers who are directly hired do not need to pay for food and accommodation, they just pay how much they pay per month.
However, when serving as a corvee, the government needs to take care of food and housing. This food and drink costs a lot of money. Even if the food is poor, it is not a small amount.
What's more, this requires going to the central government to declare a project. It's not to mention how difficult it is to go to the central government to declare a project.
The cost is inevitable anyway, so it’s better to do less than to do more!
As a result, after the corvee law was promulgated, within a few months, no local government office filed a declaration...
They would rather hire workers directly with money than do this corvee...
This was beyond Li Xuan's expectation.
However, this is okay. Doing corvee service is a bit inappropriate. The Tang Empire has begun to kick off the industrial revolution, so it is not appropriate to engage in corvée service.
However, in order to prevent future accidents, this corvee law still needs to be maintained. If it is not used now, it does not mean that it will not be used in the future. In case of any emergency, such as last year's flood, the government will not be able to use the method of hiring workers.
A large number of civilians must be recruited to carry out related huge projects.
For another example, if there is a war, it is still very necessary to recruit civilians for logistics or even directly form an army to fight.
Since corvee has existed for thousands of years in the feudal era, it naturally has its own reasons.
To a certain extent, this corvee law paved the way for Li Xuan's future compulsory military system. Today's Tang Empire adopts a conscription system. Although it is said that it will only last for a while, and there will not be any problems for many years to come, but
But we cannot conquer the world solely by recruiting soldiers.
If there is a major war, such as a world war, and large-scale mobilization is required, the recruitment system will not work, and the conscript system will have to be supported.
The sixteenth year of Xuanping was a year of construction for the Tang Empire, and it was also a year of infrastructure construction!
Almost all over the country, you can see large-scale construction projects and various water conservancy facility projects!
Officials from various local yamen were conducting research on the Datang Dynasty Newspaper. The Datang Dynasty Newspaper was not just an ordinary newspaper. It was essentially a public opinion propaganda tool for the empire, so it would publish a large number of policy-related information.
Articles and even edicts.
All imperial edicts that needed to be issued to the whole world in the Tang Dynasty were basically published through the Tang Dynasty newspapers.
Combined with some documents within the government and compared with articles in the Tang Dynasty newspaper, this was enough for those officials to grasp the changes in the imperial policy. In the officialdom, what is important is to keep up with the policy.
The Holy Emperor Li Xuan said that this year we must concentrate our efforts and improve the water conservancy facilities first. If you ignore it, don't expect to be promoted!
Officials who are a little smarter have started to develop water conservancy facilities. Some places already have needs for flood control and drought relief. Needless to say, local officials have immediately started to develop water conservancy facilities. They are eager to make relevant projects
The news was passed all the way to the central government and then to the ears of the Holy Emperor.
But what should we do about some places where the weather is smooth, the terrain is very good, and there is no need for flood control and drought relief?
Just ignore it, what a joke!
impossible!
There is no need for flood control or drought relief. We can also build urban drainage channels to solve the problem of water accumulation in the streets, or we can also solve the drinking water problem for residents!
What? You said these already exist, and they are very good!
Damn it!
Are you still motivated? You already have it. It’s already good. Don’t you know how to do better?
The drainage canal should be dug larger and deeper, but if that doesn't work, let's dig another one next to it. The new one is always better than the old one, two are better than one!
There is also drinking water for the people. Yes, it is available, but having water to drink does not mean that it is good or convenient to drink!
We can learn from Shanghai’s advanced experience and develop tap water!
Regardless of whether there is demand or not, we have to do it anyway. If there is demand, it is best. If there is no demand, we must do it even if there is no demand!
If we really can't find the demand, we can still find another way. This water conservancy facility belongs to infrastructure construction, but roads and bridges also belong to infrastructure construction.
In short, a living person cannot let his urine suffocate him to death. If he wants to be promoted and make a fortune, he must find a way to keep up with the pace of the Holy Emperor.
What is the Holy Emperor paying attention to now? It is various infrastructure construction such as water conservancy facilities, so the officials who are the emperor's herdsmen naturally need to pay attention to the above areas.
This means that what goes up is good and what goes down is invested.
If Li Xuan felt that it was useless to engage in infrastructure construction and industry and commerce that day, and it was more fun to engage in religious superstition, then it wouldn't take long for a lot of temples to pop up across the country.
Under Li Xuan's personal guidance, the imperial study supervising the war, the cabinet taking responsibility, and local implementation, the entire Tang Empire set off a climax of construction of water conservancy facilities.
The Tang Dynasty newspaper continuously carried out follow-up reports on the construction of water conservancy facilities in various places, and the focus was naturally on the Yellow River and Huaihe River management projects that attracted nationwide attention.
In April of the 16th year of Xuanping, good news came from the Hongze Lake embankment project. The most critical project in the first phase of the project, and also the most difficult section of the project, was successfully completed.
This also officially declares that the first phase of the Hongze Lake Levee project, with a total length of 14.6 kilometers, has been successfully completed!
"The total length of the first phase of the project is 14.6 kilometers, of which the key project is 4,300 meters. The main part of this key project is 4,000 meters. Because the old dam is overwhelmed, we are working directly outside the original dam.
During construction, the base width of the dam ranges from 200 to 300 meters, the height ranges from 6 to 9 meters, and the top width of the dam is uniformly 30 meters."
Relevant officials from the Ministry of Industry are reporting the progress of this project to Li Xuan: "During the construction, we used a large amount of concrete as the main material based on the construction drawings provided by the Royal Institute of Technology. On the side facing the lake, all the stone was used.
Articles are used to prevent damage to the dam due to lake water erosion, and the main project of the dam uses a large amount of concrete, mixed with a large amount of sand, gravel and soil!"
While Li Xuan listened, he also looked at the report in his hand. This report also included the relevant design drawings of this section of the dam.
After listening to the report, Li Xuan also put down the report, and then said: "Yes, being able to complete this important project before the flood season comes, it shows that you are also working hard, not bad!"
"But don't be arrogant and complacent. Although the main project is completed, the follow-up finishing work must also be done well. It is already March. If it is delayed for too long, it will not be completed before the flood season. You must be responsible for the people.
We must go all out with the construction attitude and be sure to complete all construction before the flood season comes!”
After the people from the Ministry of Industry left, Li Xuan spread out a map. This map was a ten-year master plan for the construction of water conservancy facilities. It marked at least hundreds of key projects across the country.
What is drawn with thick red lines is the Hongze Lake embankment and the embankments of some sections of the Yellow River!
Today, some of the above-mentioned projects are still completed, and this year's flood season is the time to put them to the test!