Wang Juan did not expect Zhang Xiaobao to be so certain. He even deployed another step, "There has been no movement for half a month. How can you be so sure?"
"Half a month is nothing. For a purpose, there are many things that can be done for years. The county has started to build roads. There is no asphalt, no cement, and no bluestone roads. They can only use some gravel to pave the roads. It will take a year or two to repair."
Zhang Xiaobao was not willing to spend more time on schemes, so he changed the topic to people's livelihood. He liked to do things related to people's livelihood. He also wanted to do this to cheat money. Unfortunately, God did not give him much time. He just started, and he was not afraid for the rest of his life. His family was powerful.
Wang Juan also did not want to ask why Zhang Xiaobao was so certain, "Well, let's not care about other things. Let's talk about road repair. In fact, it is not a problem. A car with wooden wheels needs to be repaired. How much can it overload? Besides, it is not difficult to repair this kind of road.
Didn't you see that when it rains, no matter how bad the road is, the people living on both sides of the road will come out to repair it. The more people there are, the fewer potholes on the road. Without anyone telling them, they will repair it themselves. "
"Yes, they will repair it themselves. This kind of thing seems normal now. In the future, get some gravel and put it on both sides of the road. It is not worth much. A pile is only one or two coins. Leave it there for a year. Unless the rain is too heavy and washes it away, it can be used to pave the road."
Zhang Xiaobao was multitasking just now. He was thinking about road repair and coal at the same time. He was thinking about habitual thinking.
He remembered some pictures from a hundred years ago. There were always piles of gravel and gravel on the side of the road in the village. At that time, people would not take gravel to their houses. When the road was not good due to the rain, except for specific people, some old men in the village would take a shovel and help to pave the road. It was hard to understand their motives.
Since it could be done at that time, perhaps it could be done better in this era.
Wang Juan did not think too much and said, "Let's go, Xiao Bao. The two of us will go and take a look. You can catch some toads in the field and stew them for dinner tonight."
"Toads are beneficial insects."
"Don't lie to the child. Basically, the louder the voice, the more they eat. Let's go." Wang Juan was not a member of the Animal Protection Association. She just wanted to eat toads. She even had a pond at home.
The two of them climbed out of the swimming pool. Zhang Xiaobao specifically found a two-pronged fork to fork the toads. Just as the two of them went out, they came to a small ditch by the side of a field. Before Zhang Xiaobao could do anything, a fast horse ran over.
"Young Master, this time, the Chen family's leading cloth company has started to purchase a large amount of wheat. They said that they want to ship it to Sichuan and sell it to the garrison there."
The person on the horse said something to Zhang Xiaobao. Zhang Xiaobao and Weiwei smiled and said, "I know. Don't worry about it. Just pretend it didn't happen."
"Yes." The man on the horse answered. He held the reins and turned the horse around to gallop away.
Zhang Xiaobao thought for a while and tightened his grip on the fork. "Don't worry about it. Let's enjoy life and continue to fork the toads."
"Someone is going to be unlucky again." Wang Juan felt sad for those who came to find trouble.
*****
From time to time, one or several small boats could be seen on the connected river. They were carrying people and goods. Zhang Zhong had found three places where they could pull the fibres. It did solve the problems of life for dozens of people. Every day, people would ask them to pull the fibres in order to save time.
Unexpectedly, not only did they pull the fibres themselves, but they also borrowed money to buy a few donkeys. With the donkeys pulling the fibres, the speed was much faster. The people pulling the fibres were relieved, and the owners of the boats were happy. When Zhang Xiaobao heard about this, he asked people to pay attention to the person who came up with the idea.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were really short of manpower. They only had a few people, but their business was too big. They did not even have a mobile person. Erniu was also sent out to manage the coal mine.
The children in Zhuangzi's school were studying hard, but they were too young to use them. The academy had just been built, and the teachers had not all arrived yet.
Facing this situation, the main force pulling the fibres by the river, Sun Changyuan, who still knew how to use his brain and courage, was put on the list of people to pay attention to.
At this time, Sun Changyuan was commanding a few people to pull the boat together. This boat was not big, but it was heavy. No one knew what was on it, but the people pulling the fibres were worried that the boat would run aground. The six of them put a white linen cloth on their shoulders. The innermost layer was a layer of leather, which could make their shoulders more comfortable.
There were also four donkeys harnessed there, pulling with them. The donkeys were strong and had good endurance, but sometimes they were not obedient. Otherwise, no one would use them.
"Brother Changyuan, what do you think is on this boat? It's so heavy. Don't tell me it's stones? "One of the people pulling the fibres asked Sun Changyuan, who was beside him.
"Don't think too much. We did not offend anyone. Who would put stones on this boat to make us suffer? The people coming here are looking for money, not for energy. If it's really stones, then they are precious stones. Ordinary stones are useless when transported here. Who knows, they might be filled with copper coins."
Sun Changyuan moved his feet. With the donkey pulling in front of him, he saved a lot of energy. He was even able to switch the rope from his left shoulder to his right. This switch made him feel much more comfortable. He glanced back and saw a few people standing on the bow of the boat. He quickly turned his head back and continued to pull.
The people standing at the bow of the boat were also looking around. They felt that this place was interesting. There were actually people pulling fibres. The people at the bow of the boat also knew about some of the things happening in Hua Yuan County.
In just 20 days, a place that no merchants were willing to come to in the past had a large number of merchants. Some were transporting food, some were transporting cloth, and some were transporting salt and meat. It gave people the feeling that this was not the Zhong County that was made poor by County Magistrate Wen, but a Shang County.
"Brother Qianyuan, did you see that? Hua Yuan County's County Magistrate Zhang Zhong is a capable person. Since he took office, he first took in the bailiffs. Then, he took in those documents. Xiao Chi was sent to Beijing the moment he took action. His house was also raided. The last time he was here was half a year ago, right?
At that time, the people of Hua Yuan County were all in a daze. What about now? He was so happy when he was working. This was his ability. If he was the head of a manor, he would be able to turn a middle county into an upper county within two years. If he was the county magistrate, he would be able to turn the entire county upside down within a month.
He has politics, commerce, agriculture, and even an official. He is also the top scorer of this year's Jinshi. This kind of person, no matter where you put him, you will feel at ease. The only thing you don't know is how he is in terms of military strategy. If he can do this, won't he be an all-rounder? "
At the bow of the boat, a person wearing light yellow clothes with green stripes said to the person next to him.
The person next to him was also wearing light yellow clothes, but the color was light green. At this time, he was looking with his hands behind his back. When he heard the person next to him, he said, "Brother Weitong, are you scared? Everyone says that Zhangjia Zhuangzi is very powerful and that the small bridge is the Bridge of Helplessness. I don't believe it. No matter how powerful he is, he is only one person. If you and I work together, won't it be easy to deal with him?
We are not people from the grain company, and we are not people who don't have the ability to do anything. If we were not in the same place, it would be fine. But this river here, how much business has he stolen from us? If we retreat, how can we raise our heads in front of others in the future? "
"Brother Qianyuan, whether we raise our heads or not is not important. The main thing is that Bu Xing, who dares to interfere at this time. If they take in the goods, how can we take in the goods? They raise the price and take in the goods, saying that they will take in some of the goods. If that is the case, how can we still get wheat? Are we going to wait for the spring wheat and rice crops to harvest? "
The person who spoke earlier did not care about his reputation. Merchants like them did not think that reputation was important. Compared to farmers, their status was inferior. Even if they were richer than farmers, what he cared about was money.
Everyone knew that grain was needed at the border. The production of grain around the capital was poor, so it had to be transported from the south. Every year, when it was time to harvest, they could take advantage of the opportunity to lower the price and raise the price to make a profit. The more capital they invested, the more they would earn.
The person who was called Qianyuan was also thinking about this matter. What was different this year from previous years was that basically every family in Sanshui County grew rice. If they could not get the wheat this time, or if they could not use transport to lower the price, when a large amount of rice was harvested, no one would look for them again.
Just thinking about what was about to happen made him uncomfortable. This time, no matter what, he had to get the wheat and ship it out to sell.
While he was thinking about this matter, the person next to him said, "Brother Qianyuan, we still have to think about this matter. We can't rush it. Why don't we ask that person from the Chen family? This time, he was pushed to the front. I heard that he is not on good terms with the Zhang family. Why don't we take this opportunity to get in touch with him?"
"Well, that's good too. Even if we can't touch the Zhang family's foundation, we have to let them know who they can and can't afford to offend. We'll be at the docks soon, right? Let's see what they've done to the docks. If we can make use of it, this trip will not be in vain. "
Perhaps he was tormented by the situation and had no other choice. He thought there was nothing in this world that could not be united. It was just that he had not found that door yet.
After he said this, the two of them went silent again. They just stood at the bow of the boat, letting the wind blow past them from time to time. Sometimes, it would blow up the corners of the boat, and sometimes it would blow their hair into a mess. In short, it showed a kind of freedom.
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