Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were very satisfied with the 130,000 people in Jili Province, although it was not worth mentioning compared to Dalian in the future.
It was easier to do things with people. All the children were sent to the school. It was no longer a school, but a big school. The students who had fallen behind from the capital were urgently transferred to the school.
The young men took out a portion of the land to build the docks and docks. Pieces of mountainous land were divided up. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan provided the tools for logging and farming. As long as they gave the wood they cut from the mountains to the two of them, it would be considered as paying for the tools and seeds.
The people were not allowed to burn their own land and waste the wood. If they found any limestone and diamond mines, the government office would send people to look after them. The people who occupied the land would choose another place, and the Zhang Xiaobao and Wang family would send people to help build it.
The 130,000 people who came over did not care about whether the officials in Jili Province were corrupt or whether the environment was polluted. They built kilns to burn charcoal for Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. Otherwise, the two of them would lose too much money.
That day, Xue Canjun came to find him. He had a good idea to help Zhang Xiaobao reduce the loss of money.
As soon as he entered the door, before Zhang Xiaobao asked someone to serve tea, Xue Canjun said to Zhang Xiaobao impatiently, "Sir, I have a way to make Jili Province bigger."
"Oh? Do you mean to occupy other people's land? "Zhang Xiaobao thought Xue Canjun wanted him to use force to annex the neighboring provinces.
"No, no. Without occupying other people's land, you can also make Jili Province bigger." Xue Canjun showed an unfathomable look.
Zhang Xiaobao did not say anything, and waited for Xue Canjun to continue.
Xue Canjun coughed lightly and said, "My Lord, this humble one's idea is to order the local people to move the mountains and fill the sea. For every foot they fill, they will add another foot. They will take turns to dig the mountains and fill the sea. When the time comes, the mountains can be cultivated and the shores can be cultivated. Isn't this killing two birds with one stone?"
In the beginning, Zhang Xiaobao really thought that Adjunct Xue could come up with a good idea. However, it turned out to be land reclamation. If Jili Prefecture was an isolated island with many hills and a large population, Zhang Xiaobao might consider land reclamation. However, Jili Prefecture had no value for land reclamation now or in the future. As a trading port, it was useless to reclaim so much land.
Moreover, if they filled up too much, the military port would be filled up, and it would not be easy to find a natural military port.
"Sir, how is it?" Seeing that Zhang Xiaobao was silent, Adjunct Xue asked again.
"Well, the idea is good, but there will be a lot of trouble when it comes to actually doing it. We can leave it for the future." Zhang Xiaobao did not directly reject Adjunct Xue's idea. He was afraid that he would dispel his enthusiasm. Even if one idea did not work, there might be more good ideas that could be used in the future.
Adjunct Xue also heard it. Weiwei was a little disappointed. She picked up the teacup and sipped the tea.
"Adjunct Xue, you have been working hard in the prefecture. Can the newly moved people make trouble?" Zhang Xiaobao changed the topic and asked.
"How dare they? We will provide them with food and clothes. If anyone makes trouble, we don't need to do anything. The people next to us will deal with them. In fact, there are people from other places secretly coming to the prefecture and asking to be registered. They are willing even if they can't get food. This humble one is busy. There is still a lot of land in the prefecture. It is useless to leave it there. It is better to take it out for them to cultivate.
It is … it is short of water. It is not possible to cut down the trees and make terraced fields to grow rice. It is troublesome. There is only one big river in the prefecture, and there are many mountains. It is impossible to lead the water to other places. "
Adjunct Xue seemed to be in a difficult position.
Zhang Xiaobao had also considered this problem. Although the prefecture was near the sea, it was also short of water. The seawater could not be used to water the crops. After thinking for a while, he said, "Then we will plant beans. It is okay if the yield is low. It is not enough to grow rice with just rainwater. It is possible to grow beans."
"This humble one thinks so too. How about we settle down the people who came later? They do not seem to have a complete set of farming tools. "Adjunct Xue agreed with Zhang Xiaobao's idea. He was prepared to get some tools from Zhang Xiaobao.
"Go and get the tools from the yamen. Give them to the people who came later. Tell them that their children can also go to school for free. Since there are no major issues in the prefecture, Adjunct Xue will have to worry more about the people's livelihood."
Zhang Xiaobao did not want to spend his energy on this. He was almost done with managing the inner courtyard.
"Yes, it is my duty. Sir, this humble one will leave first." Adjunct Xue had a lot of things to do. He always wanted to use his authority. No matter whether it was big or small, he was prepared to participate. Seeing that there was nothing else, he got up and left.
Seeing Adjunct Xue leave, Zhang Xiaobao began to think of something.
After telling stories to her younger siblings, Wang Juan came back from class. Zhang Xiaobao had not made dinner yet. He continued to think. For Zhang Xiaobao, under normal circumstances, there was no place that could not be developed. Every place had its value.
"The reason why Dalian is developing so fast is mainly because it exists as a window for foreign trade. As more and more trade occurs, people from various industries come to Dalian. They want to find 'gold' here. How to turn this place into an important trade port is a problem."
As soon as Wang Juan entered the room, she saw Zhang Xiaobao sitting there with his hands on his head, listening to her muttering.
"Xiao Bao, a trade port can't appear at will. It needs to appear with the development of the environment. We don't have that kind of environmental foundation now. Why don't we think of other ways? In class just now, Xiao Zhu said that it would be great if we could attract sea water to places where there is a lack of salt.
For example, we can dry more sea salt here. When the time comes, we can sell sea salt. A ship can carry a lot of sea salt. We can make salt pans by the sea. It's a profitable business with little capital. "
Wang Juan felt that Zhang Xiaobao was too stubborn, so she tried to persuade him.
At this time, many places along the coast had learned to dry sea salt. Even if Lu Zhou tried his best to keep it a secret, it could not be kept. A large amount of salt was shipped to many places where there was a lack of salt as a commodity, allowing the officials in the coastal areas to take advantage of it. At this time, the trade of salt was not controlled by the imperial court.
Ji Li Province had not appeared yet. Wang Juan wanted to use it, although the sun here was not as good as the sun in Lingnan Circuit.
Zhang Xiaobao nodded. "Think about it. Let me think about it. Since we can't become a trade port, we have to think of a way to become a transit station for goods. We can become a trading company and use our own fleet to transport goods. It'll be great if we can occupy this place."
"Then take your time to think about it. I'm going to cook for Xiaobei and the others." Wang Juan saw that Zhang Xiaobao insisted, so she did not object. She turned around and was about to go to the kitchen.
"Let's go together. Cooking won't delay our thinking. Today, we'll make kelp for Xiaobei and the others. Kelp farming is actually a good idea, but I don't know how to do it. How does kelp grow? Seeds? Branching? Let Pomegranate study it. She's very proficient in cultivating now. "
Zhang Xiaobao followed Wang Juan.
"Of course. Pomegranate has planted ginseng in a flower pot, but it doesn't grow. She's worried about this. She transplanted dozens of them, but they all rotted. She's determined to grow ginseng." Wang Juan praised Pomegranate's spirit of research.
*****
While Zhang Xiaobao was worrying about the ratio of input to output, many people were shocked by him.
Li Qingying and Zhang Xiaobao in Daxing City submitted petitions to the imperial court to attack each other. Both of them took the official route. Zhang Xiaobao did not use pigeons. Pigeons were very precious. They had to be transported to the capital.
The difference was that when Zhang Xiaobao's petition passed by the Ministry of Appointments, the officials saw that it was Zhang Xiaobao and immediately sent it to the Head of the Secretariat. When the Head of the Secretariat saw Zhang Xiaobao's petition, he immediately went to find Gao Lishi. Then, Gao Lishi sent it to Li Longji.
Li Qingying's petition was sent to an assistant minister of the Ministry of Appointments. The assistant minister seriously wrote a reply and sent a letter back. He asked Li Qingying to send a witness to follow them to the capital. He also wrote a more detailed description of what happened.
When Li Longji saw the letter, he knew that Zhang Xiaobao had completed the plan of conscripting 30,000 soldiers. He also increased the population of Jili Province by 130,000.
He raised the issue of conscripting soldiers in the imperial court.
All the officials were dumbfounded. If these words didn't come out from the emperor's mouth, they would never believe that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan would be sent to a place so poor that there wasn't even a single person there. Then, they would never believe that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan would be able to get a population of 130,000 through local operations.
The officials looked at each other. They really did not know what to say. Could it be that people with ability could not be suppressed by the Emperor?
The person with the most complicated feelings was Zhang Shuo. At first, he wanted to burn the petition sent by Zhang Xiaobao and pretend that it did not happen. However, he knew that it was not his responsibility to burn the petition sent by the official route but not the pigeons flying in the sky.
Seeing that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan had conscripted 30,000 conscripted soldiers in Jili Province, this was a very strong impact on his conscripting system. If it was really feasible, his conscripting system would be finished.
At this time, seeing that the Emperor wanted to let the officials discuss, he could only say first, "Your Majesty, I think that Jili Province's Provincial Governor Zhang Xiaobao and Military Registrar Wang Juan's plan is not feasible. First, the families of the 30,000 soldiers are all supported by the two of them. They can't learn elsewhere. Second, the 30,000 soldiers have three meals a day, and there is meat in every meal. If all the soldiers in Tang were to learn, there would not be enough meat and the cost would be even greater."
Yuan Qianyao, who usually did not get along with Zhang Shuo, also stood out and said, "Your Majesty, I think that Lord Zhang is right. The Jili Province model is not feasible. We can only let Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan do it first. When the two of them find a better way, we can promote it to Tang."
Yuan Qianyao objected. He was about to let the other places in Tang learn from Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. However, he did not say that and let Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan think of a better way.
Li Longji was just asking. Although Zhang Xiaobao's letter mainly mentioned the conscription and population problem, it was nominally saying that Li Qingying's soldiers in Daxing City were pretending to be pirates.
Li Longji did not think that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan deliberately made up a fact to get some people. It must be that Li Qingying was anxious and sent out.
However, this could not be pursued. He could only let the officials discuss it again. Naturally, there was no result.
Li Longji sent a decree to Zhang Xiaobao and Li Qingying, ordering the two of them to work together to suppress the pirates and ensure peace.
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