"Xiaobei and the rest are still very hardworking." Wang Juan looked at Xiaobei, who was making a lot of noise in front of everyone, and praised him.
"This is the benefit of having a good family background. Other than the children of the imperial family, the other children don't have a chance to learn about the big world. Perhaps the children of ordinary families are also promising, but the ratio is definitely not as good as the children of the imperial family."
Zhang Xiaobao looked at Xiaobei, who had become slightly tanned, and was also very happy. He knew that this was the power of an example. What his younger siblings did was not really to be qualified officials, but to treat doing things as a game.
Other children played house, but Xiaobei and the rest were more practical and would work hard to make the game good.
Wang Juan used her hand to push back the hair that was hanging down on her face. Seeing the people of more than a hundred counties below discussing how to transport this year's rent to the capital, Weiwei shook her head.
"Xiao Bao, now that we are provincial commanders, we can control the local taxes. Should we exempt the taxes in Jian 'an County? Otherwise, with their ability, not to mention transporting the rent to the capital, even if they transport it to Jili Province, the amount of food they eat along the way will be several times more than the rent. "
"It's inevitable. Paying rent is an obligation. We can directly transfer the rent that they pay to the yamen of Jian 'an County. I have decided to move the Bohai Provincial Commander's residence here. It's just beside Jian' an County, near the sea.
At that time, we will vigorously develop the marine aquaculture industry. This is a long process, but it has to be carried out. We can't always let the northeastern region lack people. If others don't take the initiative to come over, we will attract them over. When the people from North America return, we will plant all kinds of seeds in the entire northeastern region.
At that time, whoever wants to taste the freshness can transport it themselves. When the sea route is developed, the land route naturally needs to be developed as well. Now that the medical conditions are better, there are also fewer deaths. In another ten years, there will suddenly be a blowout explosion. "
As Zhang Xiaobao talked about the rent, he casually talked about the direction of future development. At the same time, he was worried about why the people he sent out had not returned. Too much time had passed. After the new year, it would be two years.
Wang Juan frowned. After some thought, she asked, "Aren't we going to promote new crops throughout the Great Tang?"
"There's no hurry. If we promote it directly, others may not be willing to plant it. I'm afraid that if there's a problem, it will affect their original income. We have to set an example for them. I'll send a telegram later and ask Jili Province to ship pottery and other daily necessities here."
As Zhang Xiaobao spoke, he began to jump again.
"Oh, if you send it over, I don't think the commoners can afford it."
"It's not selling, it's giving. It's their obligation to pay the rent. Let's give them benefits and send a message to the people who ran to the border of Xinluo to make a move."
Zhang Xiaobao thought of something else. Just as he finished speaking, the radio on his back started beeping.
The sound was not loud, but it was heard by the people in the courtyard. The unique sound made them look around, trying to figure out what it was.
"Why, I see, there are two savages on the roof." Xiao Bei's eyes were sharp. She looked up and saw Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan climbing on the roof. However, the two of them looked a little disheveled, so she did not recognize them immediately.
The guard who was in charge of protecting her stretched out his hand and pulled out a few pistols. He pointed them at the two of them warily.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan shrank their heads at the same time. Zhang Xiaobao shouted, "If you dare to point your guns at me again, I'll shoot all of you."
"Ah! It's my brother's voice. " The familiar voice made Xiao Bei's expression change. She then shouted with all her might, "Brother, I miss you. Come down quickly. Why did you run up to the roof?"
Weiwei, the commoner of Jianan City, was stunned. Then, she suddenly became excited. She could finally meet the legendary figure. Li Bai also had a look of anticipation. He wanted to see how the person who could decide his official position looked like.
Following the sound of two people landing on the ground, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan jumped down one after another.
Everyone was stunned again. When they looked at the two of them, they realized that they could not reconcile the image in their minds with the two people in front of them. Their hair was messy, and their clothes were tattered. They looked worse than people who had escaped from the wilderness.
Could they be the legendary God of War and God of Wealth? It seemed to be a little difficult to convince oneself.
Xiao Bei did not care too much. She spread her arms and legs and rushed into Zhang Xiaobao's arms. She kissed Zhang Xiaobao's face hard. "Brother, where did the two of you go to play? Did you kill a few big tigers with your bare hands? "
"County Magistrate Zhang, can you arrange a place for me to stay? I'm tired and hungry from the journey." Zhang Xiaobao also kissed his sister hard. Then, he put on a straight face and started talking about how he was doing.
"Hahahaha, I didn't know that Lord Zhang is here. Please forgive me. Guards, can't you see that Lord Zhang and Lord Wang are travel-worn? They fought tigers and fought tigers along the way and suffered a lot. Hurry up and arrange it. Lord Zhang, Lord Wang, this way please. Eh? Lord Zhang, what are you carrying? "
Xiao Bei laughed happily. She hugged her brother's neck with one hand and led the way to the house with the other. She was very curious about the thing her brother was carrying.
As Zhang Xiaobao carried his sister and walked, he said, "This is a treasure. In the future, if you want to communicate with your grandparents and parents in the capital, you can use this thing to send messages quickly. Let me see. Xiao Bei, why did you become tanned?"
Brother, I helped them make a greenhouse. When are we going back with you? It's not fun at all. We can't hear stories. I don't want to be a county magistrate. I want to go back and be another official. I want to follow my brother and sister. "
Xiao Bei felt a little regretful and complained to her brother.
"Okay, we don't want to be a county magistrate. We want to be an official with a higher position. I'll accompany you. Go and do your work first. I'll tell you stories when we rest."
Zhang Xiaobao was indeed tired. He kissed his brothers and sisters one by one and took a hot bath with Wang Juan. After hurriedly eating, he lay on the kang and fell asleep.
Li Bai didn't find a chance to talk to Zhang Xiaobao and Xiao Bei. He had no choice but to go back to his work. He was also thinking about how to arrange a better position for himself when the two woke up.
*****
Compared to Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan's happiness after a long journey to meet up with their brothers and sisters, Fanyang Jiedushi Zhang had a very bad time. The family followed him to a remote place and could no longer see the prosperity of the capital.
In the capital, he was busy as the head of the secretariat. Here, he also couldn't relax. There were many trivial matters waiting for him to take care of. The most annoying thing was that the ability of the officials under his rule was far worse than that of the officials in the capital.
In the capital, he didn't have to speak too clearly. The officials could understand. Even if there were occasionally people who did something wrong, he could say that the officials didn't understand his intentions.
In his current location, if he did not explain things clearly, the officials would be stunned and ask him about the specific situation over and over again. In addition, the roads here were not smooth, and it was far from the sea. Many people had migrated out, which made him very uncomfortable.
"Daren, after the autumn harvest, we should plant winter wheat. I heard that the imperial court's Agriculture Temple has made new seeds. I wonder if Daren can have someone buy them from there. After all, Daren used to be familiar with the Agriculture Temple. So that next year's harvest will be better?"
The official in charge of agriculture found Zhang Shuo and discussed the seeds with him. It could be said that the people here were all ethnic minorities. When they talked, they didn't beat around the bush. They were straightforward and didn't consider Zhang Shuo's disappointment.
As soon as Zhang Shuo heard the two words' the capital ', he felt uncomfortable. When he heard the words' the Agriculture Temple ', the first thing he thought of was not the seeds. Instead, he thought of the matter of Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Family raising the status of the Agriculture Temple. Many of the items in the Agriculture Temple were taken care of by Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Family.
The seeds were indeed well researched. The yield was high and the growth cycle was short. However, it was always uncomfortable for him to write a letter to them. They would definitely laugh at him and laugh at him for overestimating himself and insisting on opposing Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan.
No, he was determined not to ask for the seeds. He couldn't afford to lose face.
After thinking about it, Zhang Shuo said with a sullen face, "The seeds of the Agriculture Temple are still being researched. Moreover, the distance is long. Even if they receive the letter, by the time the seeds are delivered, the planting time will have passed. You are in charge of agriculture. Why don't you think about it yourself? Are you worse than the officials of the Agriculture Temple?"
"Ah? Think about it myself? Where should I start? Sir, you used to work in the capital. Why don't you give me a reminder so that I can find someone to do it. Eh? Sir, I thought of something. The Agriculture Temple is far away and Jili Province is close. That Zhang Xiaobao must have a way to get good seeds. Why don't you ask him? That's right. I will immediately send someone. "
This person in charge of agriculture was very honest. In the blink of an eye, he thought of a good idea. He believed that he could successfully get the seeds. It was said that Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan were very supportive of the common people's lives.
"You are not allowed to go. No one is allowed to go. Whoever dares to go will be punished by me. How can the seeds of Jili Province be planted in my Fanyang? You are not acclimatized. Go, mind your own business. "
Zhang Shuo seemed to be sitting on a barrel of explosives. He reprimanded the person in charge of agriculture and waved his hand, shooing him out like he was shooing away flies.
When he was the only one left in the room, Zhang Shuo seemed to have aged a lot in an instant. He fell weakly into a chair and said angrily, "Zhang Xiaobao, Wang Juan, do you think that after you take care of me, I will be unable to recover? Just you wait. You want to build roads? When I come to Fanyang, I won't let you succeed. "
The guard who was standing outside the door waiting for the summons heard Zhang Shuo's voice and shook his head helplessly. He said to the other person beside him, "Lord Zhang is crazy. He still wants to deal with Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan. It seems that he will only stop after he loses his life."
The other person looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to him. He nodded, "Lord Zhang Xiaobao is angry. The idea that Zhang Shuo came up with is inferior. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan don't have the time to care about him. He wants to obstruct the construction of roads. I heard that it will cost a lot of money to build a railway. If Lord Zhang Shuo really stops him, I think His Majesty will chop off his head.
Sigh! "" That's right, that's right. It's better to think of a way to leave as soon as possible. We can't be with him. Otherwise, we won't even know when we will lose our lives. If you don't believe me, you can look at Xinluo. They also didn't allow the construction of the river back then. Now that they have taken out the money, I don't think there's any hope for the road. "
The guard who spoke previously lowered his voice, trying to find a new way out.
Like what he said, the road from Jili Province to Daxing City was still being repaired. He had recruited many people to work together. Before winter, the road would be repaired.
However, except for this section, the road from Jili Province to other places in Xinluo had not been repaired at all. After the river in Xinluo was cleared, the merchants in Xinluo had spent more than 500,000 strings of coins. Although the bridge was only an iron chain, it still cost 200,000 strings of coins.
The merchants were waiting for the road to be repaired so that they could conveniently exchange goods with Tang Dynasty and collect some tolls. However, the 1 million strings of coins that they had taken out had only been repaired for a short distance. Most of them were in Xinluo. On the contrary, Tang Dynasty didn't take any new actions.
No matter how Li Dong's group calculated it, they didn't feel that the road in front of them was worth 1 million strings of coins. They always felt depressed. Standing at the entrance of the bridge where they collected customs duties, they watched batches of grains being transported here and bolts of silk being paid. Finally, they couldn't stand it anymore as they walked across the bridge to look for Zhang Tie. They wanted to ask him what had happened.
Soon after Zhang Tie received the order to take action, he found the person in charge of the other aspects and prepared to cooperate with them. The moment he handed over the command, he was assigned a task. Before he carried it out, Li Dong had come to him with a dispirited look.
"Boss Li, are you free today?" Zhang Tie greeted Li Dong with a sincere smile.
"Not bad. I'm out for a walk. By the way, I'll take a look at the newly repaired road and your shops and boites. The business here is good. It's so boisterous here."
Li Dong tried his best to restrain his impulse to tell Zhang Tie about the road. Instead, he talked in circles with Zhang Tie as he glanced over the businesses on this side of the river. At the same time, he felt even worse.
They had made it clear that Xinluo would take 80% of the rent and tolls of the road in Xinluo. Xinluo would take 20% of the rent and tolls of the road in Jili Province. However, there were no shops on that side of the road. Those shops were on the left side of Daxing City, which was in the sphere of influence of Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Tang Dynasty couldn't collect tolls there.
Since the river was connected and the bridge was built, none of the merchants' teams came here from Daxing City. The current situation was that the merchants from other places would directly take the boats from Jili Province or Boarding Province and pay some tolls to the new wharf at Sashui River.
After that, they would unload their goods at the wharf and take another land route to the bridge. They would only pay 20% of the tariff instead of tolls. When they rested, they didn't cross the river; instead, they rested in the boites and inns of Tang Dynasty. These shops didn't belong to the share of profits as stipulated in the contract.
Li Dong then realized that he had spent all the money that he should have spent. He didn't earn any money that he should have earned. The transportation fee was earned by the shipping companies of Zhang Family and Wang Family while the consumption income was earned by the shops here.
Therefore, he had an impulse to swear as he felt that he had been cheated by Zhang Xiaobao.
'What a liar, what a big liar. He cheated Tufan and Nippon before coming to Xinluo.' Li Dong scolded inside.
"Ah, someone is thinking about me. I'm afraid that it's Xinluo. They reacted too fast just now." Zhang Xiaobao, who was telling stories on the mountaintop with his younger brother and sister, sneezed as he said.
Wang Juan pursed her lips into a smile, "Hmm, I'm afraid that they're praising you. They're praising that you, an international swindler, are finally useful."
"Sister, is an international swindler very powerful?" Xiaobei raised her head and blinked her big eyes as she asked.
"That's quite powerful." Wang Juan was certain.
Li Dong didn't know that Zhang Xiaobao was such a professional. If he could cheat, he would cheat. If he couldn't, he would think of ways to cheat. Otherwise, his reputation would be damaged.
What he was thinking about now was how to get his money back. He would get as much as he could. He didn't expect the road to continue to be repaired.
Therefore, he tried to find a topic to talk about and said, "Steward Zhang, I see that your fleet comes and goes frequently. You even transported a lot of food and cloth. This year's harvest seems to be quite good."
"Well … it's okay. Speaking of which, I'm not very sure either. I'm only in charge of construction and know nothing about farming. Since Mr. Li is free, why don't you go to Shuiyun Room for a drink? You can help me with the reception fee. It's almost winter. If I don't spend this year's money, I won't be able to save it next year."
Zhang Tie enthusiastically pulled Li Dong towards the restaurant Between the Clouds and the Water not far away. On the way, he said to Li Dong, "I gave you a lot of vouchers last time. You can't use them after the new year. Use them when you need to."
Li Dong thought that it was indeed inappropriate to talk about things outside, so he followed Zhang Tie. After hearing Zhang Tie's words, he looked like he agreed. However, he was cursing in his heart. Zhang Family and Wang Family were so poor that they wanted to make people spend money. The vouchers couldn't be used as money directly. For every 1,000 yuan used, they had to spend 9,000 yuan.
The price of food and drinks here was 5 times that of Changfeng Pavilion. Only idiots would eat at the restaurant Between the Clouds and the Water and Blue Sea Silver Sand.
After walking for a few steps, the two people soon entered the restaurant Between the Clouds and the Water. The first three floors of the restaurant were relatively solid. They chose a room where they could see the river and told the waiter to warm the wine. After that, they casually chose two signature dishes. The waiter served the cold plates first so that they could enjoy the wine.
Zhang Tie spread out a piece of dried tofu. He brushed some sauce on it and sprinkled some chopped green onions on it. Then, he rolled it up and took a big bite. After chewing it forcefully, he swallowed it. After letting out a long sigh, he said, "Mr. Li, try this. It looks simple, but it's refreshing."
Obviously, Li Dong didn't want to smell the green onions. He responded with a smile. However, he picked up a garlic eggplant and tasted it. He had to admit that the food and drinks Between the Clouds and the Water were worth that price. Although they were made with the same ingredients, they were much more delicious than those made in Changfeng Pavilion.
"Steward Zhang, when the weather turns cold and the ground freezes, will the road not be able to be repaired?" Li Dong looked at the river and asked Zhang Tie.
Zhang Tie looked very serious as he explained to Li Dong, "If Mr. Li is willing to pay more, the road can be repaired in winter. You don't have to be afraid of snow. The ground can be melted by sprinkling salt. If the ground freezes, you can roast it with fire. However, it will cost a lot. It's not worth it. How about repairing it next spring?"
"You're right, Steward Zhang. It's not worth it. Steward Zhang, I've seen fewer businessmen coming here by land these days. Is it because the road is not easy to travel and it's hard to repair it?"
Of course, Li Dong didn't want to continue investing money. Against his will, he said that there were fewer businessmen coming here. Actually, there were no businessmen coming here at all. They were all transported by ship.
Zhang Tie revealed an embarrassed look. "To tell you the truth, it's not hard to repair the road. The main problem is that there's a small problem with the raw materials. The price of the explosives used to blow up the stones has increased by three times. On the other hand, the commoners are living a better life. If we still pay them the same wages as before, no one is willing to do it.
If we don't solve these two problems, we won't be able to repair the road with 11 million strings of cash. It's estimated that we won't even be able to repair one-third of the road. Why don't we wait a little longer? When we signed the contract, Mr. Li wasn't in a hurry. Therefore, we didn't specify a completion date on the contract.
Next year, I heard that the explosives will be mass produced. By then, all the difficulties will be solved. The road can be repaired. There are difficulties, but I believe that we can overcome them. "
Seeing Zhang Tie's honest look, Li Dong really wanted to slap all the sauce on his face. He was obviously looking for an excuse, yet he still said it in such a dignified manner. How shameless was he?
Li Dong understood that the key point was that he didn't specify the completion date on the contract. It was reasonable for him to say that it would take eight to ten years.
"Steward Zhang, yesterday, someone else told me that they wanted to repair the road behind our shop. It's just that we've been spending too much recently and can't spare any money. I see that we haven't spent the one million strings of cash on the road from Jili Province to Xinluo. I wonder if you can take it out for us to use first?"
"I can't do that. If the money is in my hands, I might lend it to you if you want to borrow it. But I'm only responsible for the construction chores. I'm more in charge of business. I'm not in charge of the specific accounts. Even if I promise you, I can't take out the money.
Haven't a lot of materials been transported to your shop recently? You've already collected a lot of customs duties. Why don't you use that money to do it? "
Zhang Tie revealed a helpless look as he changed the topic to customs duties.
Li Dong pointed at the place where money was collected with his chopsticks, "Where's the cash? Back then, it was said that if we couldn't pay for the customs duties, we could use goods to pay for them. Isn't that what we've done? Piles of silk, mountains of grain, we can't sell them. It's not just us who are anxious, even the people of the imperial clan are anxious. "
"Oh, let's wait a little longer. To be honest, our Tang Dynasty didn't collect customs duties for a few times. You've taken all the advantages. Young master is really worried. If this goes on, won't he keep losing money?"
Zhang Tie started to complain. He wanted Xinluo to supply more goods.
Li Dong also admitted that he had taken advantage of Zhang Tie in this aspect. However, he still felt that something was wrong. Zhang Tie ordered rice because he was hungry. That gorgeous bowl of rice cost 10 copper coins for one bowl. How expensive!
Expensive? Yes, it was the problem of price.
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