Emperor Sui Yang

Chapter 209
The next day, Yang Ming went to the imperial city to attend the court meeting refreshed.

He didn't drink too much last night, because when he went down with the wine jar, Yuan Wendu and the others started pretending to be drunk one by one, making excuses and running away.

Today's court meeting was presided over by Crown Prince Yang Zhao, in the Qianqiu Hall of the East Palace. This was also the first time he hosted a court meeting.

Yang Zhao is steady. After all, Yang Guang has spent a lot of time on his eldest son. Since Yang Guang succeeded to the throne, Yang Zhao has attended court meetings every day.

In the previous Yang Jian period, Prince Yang Yong only went to court on the [-]th day of the lunar new year.

The major event discussed today is still focused on Luoyang. The construction of Luoyang sounds like a huge project, and it will definitely cost an astronomical figure, but it is not.

Engineering costs can generally be summarized as manpower, material resources and transportation costs,

The Sui Dynasty was a government military system, manpower was called recruitment, not employment, and laborers had no wages, which would save a lot of expenses.

The construction of Luoyang to recruit people is called forced labor. According to the regulations of the Sui Dynasty, Ding Nan's forced labor is only one month a year. That is to say, during this month, the court does not even need to control food.

What everyone is discussing right now is where to recruit civilian husbands.

People in Henan must not be able to escape, because Luoyang is in Henan.

Wei Chong, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said: "The construction of Luoyang is a huge project. Your Majesty has set a one-year construction period. However, with the strength of Henan, it may be insufficient. We still need to recruit from Shanxi and Hebei."

Yang Zhao nodded in agreement, frowned and said, "The former emperor recruited 60 peasants to build the capital, and this time building Luoyang should not be less than this amount."

60 is good, Yang Ming quickly agreed: "What the prince said is very true, the amount of labor can be shared, and Henan, Shanxi and Hebei will each contribute a part."

With his father not around, Yang Zhao especially needed his younger brother to help him. After all, this was his first time presiding over a court meeting, and some words were inappropriate, so Yang Ming had to come forward to help him.

Back then, Gao Jiong presided over the construction of Daxing. It really didn't take many people. The stone and wood were all local materials, and many of them were picked up from the Han Chang'an City. This shows that Yang Jiangao was frugal.

Solvay put forward a different opinion at this time:

"60 is probably not enough. Luoyang is not self-sufficient in gold, stone and wood. The stone needs to be mined from Shanxi, and the wood needs to be transported from the south. These two things need to be added."

This is an old saying. Although Yang Ming doesn't like to hear it, he is telling the truth.

Luoyang is a basin without many mountains. This place is very suitable for growing food. Although there is Mang Mountain in the north, stones cannot be mined from there.

There are two reasons,
One, Mangshan is a geomantic resort and one of the 72 blessed lands of Taoism. There are so many great people buried in it. If they are mined, their geomantic omen will be damaged, and they will definitely be blocked by many people. After all, they live in Mangshan, but The descendants of the family are still alive, and no one is happy to ruin the feng shui of the ancestor's grave.

Second, the stones in Mangshan are not good, and the texture density is far inferior to Changping County, and Changping County has foundation stones, that is, marble.

Marble is generally distributed in the coastal provinces of our country, and it is relatively scarce in the inland, and only scattered.

Changping County is [-] miles north of Luoyang, relying on Taihang Mountain, it is considered the most suitable place for stone materials.

In the Sui Dynasty, mining marble was fatal. This stuff was too hard. There was no explosives, so it could only be chiseled by hand bit by bit, but it was very suitable for the construction of ground, platforms, columns, monuments, towers, and statues. .

According to Su Wei's judgment, 20 people are needed to mine stones from Changping County and transport them to Daxing.

In the Changping County of the Sui Dynasty, which is now Jincheng and Gaoping in Shanxi, the battle of Changping in Baiqi was fought in Gaoping.

Although Gao Jiong disapproved of such a waste of people's power, he really couldn't think of a good solution.

Yang Zhao nodded to signal Su Wei to continue.

Su Wei said: "The bricks and stones used in the construction of the city wall are most suitable for laterite. Changping County is all red clay, and bluestone can be fired into chalk (e) ash. Therefore, there is an urgent need to excavate brick kilns and ash kilns in Changping County."

Laterite is the main material for burning bricks, chalky ash is lime, and limestone is everywhere in Taihang Mountains, that is, bluestone, which is a kind of limestone.

The gaps between the city wall bricks and the bricks, including the bonding with the internal rammed earth, need to boil glutinous rice into soup, mix it with sand and lime slurry, and use it as an adhesive, which is equivalent to ancient cement.

At present, the number of brick kilns in Changping County cannot supply Luoyang, so they must be excavated in advance to make preparations.

For this item, it is necessary to increase the manpower by nearly [-].

Yang Ming's head grew dizzy.

Prince Yang Zhao didn't care about these things, he just thought about how to do the preliminary work well, so he looked at Dou Yan, the servant of the Ministry of Industry, and said:
"Everything in Changping County is up to you to arrange. After His Majesty returns to Beijing, Luoyang will start construction. There must be no delay."

Dou Yan nodded hastily: "The minister will set off tomorrow to arrange for Changping County."

He was appointed by Yang Guang as the Geotechnical Superintendent of Camp Tokyo, and he and Liu Su, another minister of the Ministry of Industry, were in charge of the material.

Liu Su is the uncle of Liu Shu, the former minister of the Ministry of War. You know why Liu Shu'an can't be accused of rebellion, right?

As for Dou Yan, Li Yuan has to be called uncle, but he is one year older than Li Yuan.

In the end, it was discussed and discussed, mining stone, burning lime, building brick kilns, and transporting them together. Changping County needs to recruit 50 people.

Yang Ming thought it was too much, so he said: "Such a large-scale recruitment may cause turmoil. The rebellion in Shanxi has just subsided, and it is really not appropriate to force the recruitment at the moment."

There are not many people in Changping County, and there is no way to supply 50 laborers, so these people must have to come from the whole of Shanxi, and they can't escape from Hedong.

After finishing speaking, he coughed lightly, and Gao Jiong immediately understood and said:
"I think that 20 people should be recruited temporarily in Shanxi, otherwise we will not be able to supply the rear, and there will be problems. The chaos of the Han Dynasty and the people's hearts in Shanxi have not yet stabilized. It is really not appropriate to recruit too much."

Yang Zhao was moved by the words, and frowned in thought.

In fact, he also agrees with Yang Ming and Gao Jiong's point of view. Shanxi is no different than other places. Just after a big war, 50 people were recruited from the people. I am afraid that the people will resent it.

So he said: "However, Luoyang's supply must not be delayed. You still have to think of ways."

Dou Yan, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, shook his head and said: "50 civilians, no less, from Changping County to Luoyang, across the Taihang Mountain, the mountain road is rugged and narrow, with many ravines and sharp bends, so it is extremely difficult to travel. We must ensure the supply of Luoyang, and only transport For one item, 20 is far from enough.”

This is also the truth. What everyone said is actually based on a practical point of view, and there is nothing wrong with it.

The only problem is that Yang Guang only set a one-year construction period, while Yang Jian set a four-year schedule.

Yang Ming could no longer find a suitable reason to overthrow the opinions of these people. Gao Jiong was standing up for Yang Ming, and he knew better than anyone else that according to this plan, there would be 50 people in Changping County.

At the current court meeting, it seems that Yang Ming is the only one who holds objections, so Prince Yang Zhao comforted him:

"Brother Ming doesn't know the fortifications, and I still need to ask you for advice in many places. Let's make a decision for now. Dou Yan will start to arrange it immediately, and it will depend on the situation in the future."

Yang Ming sighed, looked at Dou Yan, and said, "If 50 is to be recruited, there must be losses. In Dou Shilang's opinion, what range of casualties should be maintained to be reasonable?"

Since Yang Ming had no way to fight for the number of people, he could only find a way not to cause too many casualties, 50 people, [-] dead, this is the limit Yang Ming can accept.

The death of engineering is unavoidable, and the development of machinery and intelligent operation in later generations cannot be avoided, let alone such a backward Tai Sui.

After thinking for a while, Dou Yan said: "The terrain of Changping County is complicated, there are almost no decent roads, and damage is inevitable. I think that the number of dead should be between [-] and even more."

This is a very conservative statement. In fact, the number in Dou Yan's heart is more than [-].

Tens of thousands of people died in Yang Suxiu's Renshou Palace, also because of the deadline.

There are many causes of death in engineering, such as exhaustion, starvation, falling, sunburn, freezing, injuries that cannot be treated, and even a cold.

If you want to avoid this situation, you can only rely on the chief officer above to make reasonable arrangements, supply in an orderly manner, and work properly, which can greatly reduce it.

Yang Ming directly lowered his face, and snorted coldly: "The number of dead exceeds [-], and this king will not spare him."

Dou Yan's color changed instantly.

The other officials also looked at each other in blank dismay, even Yang Zhao was stunned.

Because this is the most important sentence Yang Ming has said since he participated in the court meeting, and everyone knows that Yang Ming always keeps his word.

Dou Yan panicked, I have no grievances with you, what are you doing against me?Luoyang is not what I want to repair?Don't you quite agree?

For a while, the atmosphere in the hall was a little weird, and many people came forward to act as peacemakers, trying to persuade Yang Ming to calm down.

Yang Ming was really angry. Few of the beasts in the court hall treated ordinary people as human beings. In their view, casualties were just a number.

But in Yang Ming's heart, they are all living beings, bearing the burden of the family.

"Up to [-]!" Yang Ming said with a gloomy face, "If you exceed this number, either you die or this king dies."

It's all right now, no one will persuade you anymore, everyone has risen to the point of life and death, who dares to persuade?
Even Yang Zhao didn't know what to say.

Dou Yan is now planning to let go of the pick and quit. The difficulty is so great. It is necessary to ensure the supply without killing too many people. I can't do it.

Delaying the construction period is death, and if there are too many dead people, it is still death, so he stood up directly and said angrily:
"I'm going to write a memorial to your majesty. I can't do this job. Please ask your majesty to do it with someone else."

Minister of the Ministry of Officials, the official is not small, this is at the deputy ministerial level, besides, the old Dou's family is not a vegetarian, and being forced by Yang Ming to this position, Dou Yan is willing to go all out.

"Okay, okay, stop arguing," Yang Zhao was not happy anymore, and said in a deep voice:

"I asked you to come here to discuss matters, not to quarrel. King Qin's worries are not unreasonable. Why are you so angry? How dare you pick someone up, who do you think you are?"

After being reprimanded by the prince, Dou Yan didn't dare to speak, and sat down angrily,
He is only 40 today. If he were 45, he would not challenge Yang Ming.

Young and angry.

Yang Zhao waved his hand impatiently: "You will return to the headquarters temporarily, and we will discuss this matter in the afternoon."

Then, he added: "King Qin stays."

(End of this chapter)