"If you want to be rich, build roads first."
Li Shimin repeated these words, the corners of his eyes revealing a playful smile.
Pande nodded and said, "Eighteen villages in the south of the city jointly sued the Mo's Village for destroying the official road. The Mo's Village and the government of Chang 'an County made an agreement that the corvee laborers of the Mo's Village would take over the official road in the south of the city every year. Then the Mo's Village spread the secret of becoming rich."
Li Shimin sighed and said, "People have been prying into the Mo's Village's Village to become rich, but they have never thought that even if you are sitting on a mountain of treasures, if the transportation is inconvenient, you will be no different from mud and sand."
Li Shimin had a deep understanding of this. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had always paid great attention to the construction of roads. One of the key points of the corvee laborers every year was the repair of the official road.
Especially Chang 'an City, which was an international metropolis, had well-developed roads and was well-connected.
Pande hesitated for a moment and continued, "According to the legend of the Mo's Village, there is another sentence after this sentence."
"Oh!" Li Shimin was suddenly interested and asked curiously.
"If you want to be rich, build roads first. Have more children and plant more trees." Pande read in a cadence and even rhymed with it.
"Have more children and plant more trees!" Li Shimin read it several times and couldn't help laughing.
Pande also couldn't help shaking his head and laughing at the side.
It had to be said that Meton's doggerel was indeed very appropriate. The Tang Dynasty practiced the equal-field system, which distributed the land according to the population. More children meant more land. And in this era, manpower was the most important labor force. Many times, a prosperous family represented a sufficient labor force and a rich family.
As for planting more trees, since disposable chopsticks were popular in the Tang Dynasty, the consumption of wood in Chang 'an City was a horrible figure. The price of wood had been rising. And in this era, wood transportation was difficult, so the materials were usually obtained nearby. If there were a lot of trees around Chang' an City, it would be a big income.
"It does make sense!" Li Shimin said with a smile. Among other things, planting more trees was to his liking. The Tang dynasty was controlling the Yellow River, and the most important thing was to plant more trees. If he used this phrase to promote it, he might be able to get a miraculous effect.
"Marquis Merton is indeed a great talent. His simple words are full of meaning, but they are all about the foundation of wealth." Pande smiled.
"This kid is indeed talented, but it's all crooked. All he does is show off his crooked poems!" Li Shimin also scolded with a smile. Which scholar didn't see poems as sacred? Only Meton kept coming up with crooked poems.
"However, I keep having the feeling that Meton is going to cause some trouble if he takes the initiative to repair the road." Li Shimin could not help but have a bad feeling.
Pande frowned and said uncertainly, "I don't think so. The craftsmanship of the Mo family is unparalleled in the world. Your Majesty, you can rest assured that the Mo family will build the road to the south of the city. "
"I hope so!" Li Shimin sighed.
In fact, it was not only Li Shimin who paid attention to Meton's road repair. In fact, many people in Chang 'an City were paying attention to it. After all, Mo Jiazi was now a famous person in Chang' an City. If he took the initiative to ask for the road repair, people would be curious. After all, the things that Mo Jiazi did last time were extremely sensational, and people were still talking about it.
As expected, just after the first day of the road repair, the breaking news immediately spread throughout Chang 'an City.
"Mo Jiazi plowed the official road."
"Plowed!" All the people who heard the news were dumbfounded. For a long time, the corvee labourers had only filled in some potholes with soil and then slowly compacted them. However, the Mo Family's village plowed the entire official road without any hesitation.
The official in charge of supervising the road repair in the Mo family was shocked and hurried back to the county office to report to Su Luosheng.
"What?" Su Luosheng was shocked when he heard the news.
It turned out that although the official road was shabby, it could still be used after some repair. However, once the Mo family plowed the official road, how long would it take to make it compacted again?
"Mo Jiazi!" Su Luosheng regretted in his heart. He knew that Mo Jiazi always did something shocking, but he did not expect that he would be the one who was shocked this time.
Now he did not know whether he was right to take advantage of the situation and calculate the road repair in the Mo family's village.
"In my opinion, Mo Jiazi must be dissatisfied and deliberately took revenge on the county magistrate. This time, the official road in the south of the city was completely destroyed!" The official even wanted to die. He was the supervisor. If the Mo family's village destroyed the official road, he would definitely be implicated.
Su Luosheng shook his head and said, "What's the use of Mo Jiazi plowing the official road? Can he still farm there? How he plows now, he must make it back inch by inch in the future."
The official frowned and said, "Mr. Su, did you forget the construction period of the Ministry of Works?"
Su Luosheng could not sit still. He immediately put down his work and stood up, saying, "Let's go to the south of the city and have a look."
The south gate was in full swing. The entire south gate had become a huge construction site.
Su Luosheng looked up and saw a group of Mo Jiazi's brothers driving two horses and plows. They were building right up to the south gate, leaving only a passage that could only fit two carriages to enter and exit the south gate.
The citizens of Chang 'an who heard the news all came to see the scene. They pointed at the side and clicked their tongues in amazement. It was the first time for them to see such a strange road repair.
Led by Mo Jiazi's brother, Su Luosheng searched for a long time before he found Meton, who was wearing a safety helmet and giving orders.
"There are the most vehicles passing by the city gate. Plow the road in the south of the city for half a foot deep."
Meton instructed one of Mo Jiazi's brothers. Only then did he look up at County Magistrate Su.
Su Luosheng smiled bitterly, "Marquis Merton is so generous. Repairing the official road only requires some minor repairs. Why does Marquis Merton have to renovate the entire road?"
When he arrived at the official road, he realized that Meton was indeed not repairing the road, but building a new one.
Meton shook his head and pointed at the other half of the bumpy official road. He said, "The official road in the south of the city is badly damaged. If they were to use soil to reinforce the road, the Mo Family Village would not have enough manpower."
Su Luosheng was dumbfounded, "So Marquis Merton plowed the official road. Doesn't that mean he has to work harder?"
Meton laughed and said, "There are many horses in the Mo Family Village. With two horses and one plough, the efficiency is several times that of manpower.
When Meton was actually repairing the road, he realized that if he were to use manpower to reinforce the road, it would be faster to renovate the road.
Su Luosheng squinted his eyes and said, "Then does Marquis Merton know that it is indeed easy to use horses to plow, but what about reinforcing the road in the future?"
Meton shook his head and said, "The Mo Family is most proud of us, not our strength, but our tools. The Mo Family Village does not intend to use manpower to reinforce the road. They are going to flatten it. "
Meton pointed at a huge steel cylindrical object that looked like a stone and said, "This is the Mo Family's new tool. It is a road roller specially prepared for road construction. This object is made of steel. It is round on the outside and hollow on the inside. When it is used to press the road, it can be filled with sand to increase its weight. The effect is comparable to ramming soil. However, with eight horses pulling it, it can be used to build three miles of road in a day. The Mo Family Village has prepared ten of them. "
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