Song Gexing

Chapter 38 The big things are not over yet the little things come again
When Wang Yaochen heard this, he frowned and said, "Work-for-relief is indeed an effective method that has been implemented by predecessors. But the question is where can we get so much work to do?"

"Why not? It takes labor to rebuild a home, it takes labor to build water conservancy, it takes labor to repair a city, and it takes labor to build roads?"

"Build the road?"

Several questions were asked in succession, and everyone nodded frequently, but the last question immediately confused everyone.

Zhao Fang took a look and said with a proud smile: "There are only small roads in so many places in the world. If roads can be built in the countryside, then how can the imperial power not go to the countryside?"

The sound of "boom" was like a thunder, shaking everyone to their feet.

It has been the case since Emperor Qin and Han Wu that the imperial power did not go to the countryside. The fundamental reason is that the roads are difficult, and the county guards are unwilling to go down.

Therefore, rural affairs can only be left to the squires, and even important matters such as taxation are handled by the squires.

Gradually, it strengthened the power of the gentry and became a common practice. Coupled with the authority of the patriarchs of the patriarchal society, it gradually evolved into a model of independent small kingdoms.

If there wasn't still the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor that was imprisoning everyone, it might not be as simple as the imperial power not going to the countryside, but that each of them could stand on their own and ignore the rule of the court at all.

"This is a great plan by the King of Wei! I second my opinion!"

Fan Zhongyan was shocked at first and immediately spoke up. Then Han Qi, Fu Bi, Yu Jing and others all agreed. Only Zhang Dexiang and Cai Xiang showed hesitation.

When Yin Zhu saw this, he asked in confusion: "What's wrong with Mr. Zhang and Brother Jun Mo? Isn't this strategy feasible for the king?"

He didn't ask whether they opposed it, but asked them if they had any concerns. He knew that these two people supported Zhao Fang and the New Deal, so it was impossible for them to oppose it.

Sure enough, Zhang Dexiang and Cai Xiang looked at each other and smiled wryly: "The strategy is a good strategy, but it must be suitable for the location. It is difficult for us to build roads in Fujian!"

Everyone was startled, and then they remembered that it was indeed difficult to build roads into rural areas in Fujian. Both of these two people were from Fujian, and Zhang De seemed to be from Jianzhou, which was later known as Jianou and Jianyang, and had more say.

Cai Xiang is from Xianyou County, Junzhou, Xinghua. Although it is located in central and southern Fujian, Fujian has eight mountains, one water and one farm. It can be said that there are more than mountains.

It is difficult for outsiders to understand why Fujian is so difficult to build roads even though it is a hilly area. It is not difficult because of the high mountains and ravines.

Only those who have been to Fujian know what kind of hills they are. They are mountains connected one after another, stretching throughout Fujian.

Whether it's Guangdong in the south, Jiangxi in the north, Zhejiang in the northwest, or the border with Fujian, there are also mountains.

The mountains are not high, most of them are only a few hundred meters above sea level, but there are so many of them that as far as you can see, they are all mountains, and you cannot see a few flat pieces of land at all.

With the exception of Quanzhou, basically all the cities in Fujian are built in high mountains, even the county towns by the sea are no exception.

There is the sea in front of you and mountains on your back. It can be said that as soon as you walk out of the city gate, you enter the mountains.

This is also the reason why most overseas Chinese are descendants of Fujian people, because the local area simply cannot support such a large population.

Building roads in this kind of environment is simply more difficult than climbing to the sky. If future generations can build it, it is because of the convenience of mechanization. Otherwise, no matter how much money and food is spent, it will not be enough to waste here, because the gain is simply not worth the loss.

"What Prime Minister Zhang said is absolutely true!" After understanding their concerns, Zhao Fang immediately agreed, and then changed the topic: "Relief through work must be appropriate to the local situation, and changing the imperial power from going to the countryside will not happen overnight. , our main purpose is to resettle the refugees, and we cannot propose the policy of abolishing imperial power and not going to the countryside. Instead, we take advantage of the opportunity of providing work-for-relief to build roads that are easy to build first. As for areas where roads are difficult to build, we will build roads that can be built If you can't do it, you can do other things."

"That's all it takes."

Cai Xiang nodded and sighed softly, and said unwillingly: "It would be great if all the roads in the Song Dynasty could be built!"

"It can not only relieve the problem of difficult travel, but also eliminate the difficult issues of magistrates and counties in various places dealing with administrative affairs. It is a pity."

Everyone sighed and understood why he said it was difficult to deal with government affairs. It was not because the imperial power could not reach the countryside. Whenever taxes were levied, the county magistrate could only listen to the squires.

It was not up to the magistrates to decide how many tricks there were, but no one could tell. In the end, the benefits were taken away by the squires, and the bad reputation was left to the court.

"Then let's do this. All the gentlemen will put it together and come up with a feasible solution. Brother, go back first and don't get involved in the rest."

When Zhao Zhen saw that the big deal was settled, he immediately started to drive people away. Zhao Fang rolled his eyes helplessly and slandered him for turning his back and denying people after getting benefits. Shouldn't he be released from the ban?

But my father is a big boss, and it would be unfilial to not listen to my father's words. I can only retreat in frustration and go back to play with my little beauty Han Xue.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he returned to his yard, he saw Empress Cao sitting there chatting with Han Xue. He couldn't help but be dumbfounded and said: "Why are you here? Do you want me to call my son if you have something to do?"

Queen Cao smiled when she saw him and waved him over: "Brother is back. Mom came today to tell you some good news."

"Good news! Could it be that Daddy released me from the ban? But he didn't say anything just now."

Upon hearing the good news, Zhao Fang's eyes immediately lit up. He excitedly grabbed Queen Cao's sleeve and asked with hope.

Empress Cao slapped his hand away in disgust and said, "What good are you thinking about? Even if your father releases you from the prison, your mother will not agree."

"Mom, you are cheating on me! How can you be like this? I have been so good recently..."

Before the wailing was over, Empress Cao interrupted her and said, "Don't be rude, who did you learn from?"

Saying "噗嗤" and smiling, he was happy to see his wrinkled face.

She reached out and grabbed his hand and said with an undiminished smile: "Today your seventh aunt came into the palace. When my mother was chatting with her, she mentioned that when she wanted to prepare you for serving as a concubine, she made a suggestion that I thought was very good."

"Concubine!"

Zhao Fang was stunned for a moment, then immediately objected: "No, Madam, just talk about it, why is it serious?"

"Who said it was just talk, your father agreed, don't you know that you have no jokes?"

After being refuted, Zhao Fang had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. Anyway, he had no right to decide, and he had to be educated again.

Seeing that he was honest, Empress Cao smiled and said: "Your seventh aunt said that the Jiaofang Division will release a large number of people this time, including many girls. These people are very grateful to you, brother. Being loyal will save a lot of time in education." , and someone who has never been involved in human affairs but understands human affairs. As long as the appearance is good enough, it will be more suitable than looking for someone else. I think what I said makes sense, so I decided to pick some people for you to have a look at and keep the ones you like."

(End of this chapter)