"My lord, this hollow brick was made by Ma Deyu, a craftsman from the green brick workshop." He Zhiyuan replied, thinking in his heart that this is a good time to promote hollow bricks and change his view of craftsmen.

Yes, he further explained: "hollow brick material saving, short firing time, so the cost is more than half lower than solid green brick, the disadvantage is that the strength is slightly worse, if used in non-load-bearing walls is OK, so that the cost of building a house will be reduced a lot, but the quality of the house will not be greatly affected." ”

"What is a non-load-bearing wall? What is a load-bearing wall? Liang Wensheng asked rhetorically? For such a modern term, Liang Wensheng was a little confused.

He Zhiyuan thought for a while and said: "For example, houses will be supported by pillars, and a wooden beam is placed between the two columns, then these two pillars and a beam are load-bearing walls, and the walls under the beams between the columns are non-load-bearing walls. ”

With such an explanation, Liang Wensheng understood. Then he said: "So the non-load-bearing wall only plays the role of separation, blocking, and does not bear pressure." So it can be built with this hollow brick. If that's the case, that's a lot of cost savings. This craftsman deserves to be commended for having such an idea. ”

Next, they came to the green brick workshop to inspect, Liang Wensheng personally watched the manufacturing process of hollow bricks, and praised Ma Deyu and the craftsmen.

Ma Deyu and all the craftsmen knelt on the ground when they heard the praise of Lord Zhizhou, wept excitedly, and thanked them repeatedly. For these craftsmen, Zhizhou is the biggest official they can see in their lives, and now they are praising them in front of everyone, which is a very face-saving thing. It's enough for them to boast for a few lifetimes.

After visiting the green brick workshop, Zhou Xuhai and others invited them to visit the soap workshop. Liang Wensheng politely declined: "I heard that the formula of the soap shop is confidential, and there have been thieves who have come to steal it before, so I won't visit and inspect it today." Boss Zhou, He Lichang, I came to inspect and visit today and saw that it was a prosperous scene. In just a few months, a small village of 500 or 600 people gathered more than 5,000 people, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the victims were properly resettled. Now this village is completely the size of a town, and the safety of the people and the workshop will be a big problem in the future. Can Ding Zhuang protect the people now? ”

Zhuang Yan glanced at He Shaoyun and smiled, nodded slightly, hinting that he could speak now. He Shaoyun understood that he was worried about Ding Zhuang's affairs, so he was in the right place. So he dressed up and said: "Lord Xie Liang cares, our village is only a dozen miles away from the bandits' nest in Maqi Mountain, and the villagers are always worried about the attack of the horses. Some time ago, I submitted an application for organizing Ding Zhuang, but I have not yet approved it. At present, only the 100 members of our two families have the right to exercise the responsibility of protecting the villagers. ”

After listening, Liang Wensheng thought to himself, it must be that the people below must be perfunctory and didn't take it seriously. Or they didn't get any benefits, and they deliberately dragged it out. It seems that after going back, I will take the opportunity to tidy up, so I turned around and asked the accompanying Zhuang officials: "Can the application submission of the village be sent to the barracks?" ”

"I haven't seen it." Zhuang replied with a straight face.

After hearing this, Liang Wensheng's face was slightly angry.

Bypassing the soap shop, everyone went directly to the new school hall under construction. Now the wall of the school hall has been erected, more than 80 zhang long from north to south, and more than 50 zhang wide from east to west, almost about the same size as the state school. All the officials wondered, why should such a large school be built in a village? Is it really true that all the children in the village should go to the school to study?

He Shaoyun came out and explained: "In addition to the resettled victims, there are also villagers who have been relocated from nearby villages. Our village has a population of more than 6,000 people, and almost every household has someone working in these workshops. We plan that as long as they work in the workshop, their children can go to the school to study for free. ”

"Is it okay for a girl?" Liang Wensheng asked?

"You can do it if you want to."

Liang Wensheng asked He Zhiyuan again: "Last time you said that you not only taught Confucian scriptures, but also taught them science?" ”

"Yes, science is a practical science, and it complements Confucianism and does not conflict." He Zhiyuan explained.

"I've read the math book you gave me, this way of counting is easy to understand, fast and convenient, and it does have merit, but the school still has to focus on Confucian scriptures."

"Yes, students only have one hour a day to learn math." He Zhiyuan replied.

He Shaoyun said at this time: "Lord Liang, it's already noon. The family banquet is ready, so please go home and take your seats. ”

This time, Liang Wensheng happily accepted the invitation and led everyone to the He family's new house.

During the banquet, Lord Liang asked He Zhiyuan: "Zhiyuan, cement is indeed a good material for road construction, and the amount of cement must be very large." Do you calculate how much silver it will cost to build a three-zhang wide cement road? ”

He Zhiyuan thought to himself, the roads in this era are not like those in later generations that are crushed by large trucks, and the heaviest is a carriage that pulls thousands of catties of goods. Therefore, the road surface does not need to be paved very thickly, and according to the standards of later generations of village-level roads, the thinnest is 18 centimeters. The main raw materials of standard cement roads are cement, gravel, sand, and steel bars, and now there are no steel bars, which can be completely replaced by bamboo. Stone crushing requires a lot of manpower, and in this era, manpower is the least valuable. You can even use remote service, and the government does not need to pay a tael of silver, and the common people are required to bring food to work. And the sand does not cost money, it only needs to be dug by manpower. In this way, it is only the cost of cement and bamboo.

So He Zhiyuan made a simple calculation and said: "If you don't count the labor costs, only cement and bamboo need to be purchased." Bamboo needs to be transported from the south, I don't know how much it costs, but the amount of cement can be calculated clearly, about 600,000 catties. One hundred and twenty taels of silver. ”

Everyone was shocked, obviously the cost was still too high. Liang Wensheng said: "If you count it like this, you still can't fix it." Although our state's finances are not so tight now, we can't take out the extra silver to repair the road. ”

He Zhiyuan thought of the various toll stations on the highway in later generations, so he said: "My lord, it is indeed quite expensive to build roads, but you can slowly earn it back later." ”

"Can you still make money building roads? How to make money? Liang Wensheng asked rhetorically.

"Yes, after the banquet, I'll talk to the adults slowly." He Zhiyuan thought to himself, at the banquet, there were many people, and if I said that the method of blocking the road and charging fees, whether it was implemented or not, it would definitely be infamous.

When the feast was over, the people departed.

After the officials sat down in the living room again, the servants served tea. The daughters of the Zhou family and the He family came to greet everyone.

He Shaoyun focused on introducing Zhou Fuliu: "This is Miss Zhou Fuliu, Boss Zhou's beloved daughter, she has been familiar with poetry and books since she was a child, and helps Boss Zhou take care of business. She worked as a bookkeeper in a soap workshop and taught in the school hall on behalf of her husband for the time being, and the idea of distributing food with soap last time was what she came up with. ”

After hearing this, Liang Wensheng couldn't help but praise: "Miss Zhou is so talented, she really doesn't let her eyebrows go." In that case, let's stay and discuss the road construction together. ”

"Thank you, Lord for love."

So, Zhou Fuliu sat down in the living room.

Lord Liang began to ask: "Master He, there are no outsiders in the living room now, tell me what you think, how to make money by building roads?" ”

"Lord Liang, my solution is to wait for the road to be repaired, and then set up a card on the road to charge. Pedestrians do not charge and only collect money from passing merchants. ”

"Collect money? No! How is this different from bandits blocking the road and robbing them? Liang Wensheng categorically vetoed: "The past merchants have already been taxed, and they are definitely unwilling to charge more." If you let the imperial history know about this and participate in the performance, it will definitely attract criticism. ”

"My lord, in fact, as long as the fee is reasonable, the merchants may not object. After all, the concrete road is flat and sturdy, and the road is not muddy regardless of wind or rain, and the benefits are obvious. In fact, my Daming also has a toll road card, for example, isn't all the checkpoints of Caoyun charging? Why can't we charge so much silver? He Zhiyuan persuaded.

"The Caoyun checkpoint fee is the emperor's holy decree, but the dry road toll has not been in the Ming Dynasty." Liang Wensheng still did not agree to the charge. It's not that he doesn't want to charge, he is afraid that the impeachment of Yushi will affect his official reputation.

Zhou Fuliu sat on the chair, listened to the conversation between He Zhiyuan and Lord Liang, and said in his heart, husband, you are still almost hot for business. You didn't understand Lord Liang's psychology, so you rashly persuaded him, how could he agree? I'll help you.

Thinking of this, she said: "Lord Liang, the folk girl has a way to do both. ”

"Oh? What can you do? Liang Wensheng asked.

"Lord Liang, now this official road in the west of our village has more than 100 miles from the southernmost cross road in Juzhou to the city of Juzhou, and this road is the only way from Qingzhou Mansion to Nanzhili. There are many merchants coming and going from the south to the north. But the road is only two zhang wide, and now it seems to be crowded. ”

"Miss Zhou is really smart, this is exactly what this official thinks."

"In that case, why don't you widen this official road to five zhang. The government came forward to coordinate, and the two of us bought the land along the road, and then the government came forward to requisition the people, and the two of us funded the construction of the road, but we only built the widened part. At that time, we will set up a card to charge on the newly built road, and the merchants who go to and from the road are completely voluntary, and those who are willing to take the new road will pay the fee, and those who are unwilling will take the original dirt road. Our two families will charge fees for ten years, and after ten years, the road will return to the government, and it is up to the government to decide whether to continue to collect fees. Isn't that the best of both worlds? ”

After He Zhiyuan heard Zhou Fuliu finish speaking, he secretly admired, it seems that this young lady does have two brushes in business. With this keen eye, I am ashamed of myself. According to the experience of later generations, once the cement road is repaired, as long as the pedestrians pass for free, it will not be long before the old road will be abandoned, and then the merchants will want to go, but they can't go. In this way, it is natural to only take the concrete road.

Yes, Liang Wensheng has not yet agreed, he preemptively said: "This method is good, I also agree to do so, since it is a private person who bought land to fund the construction of the road, the imperial history is naturally not easy to impeach, ten years later, this official road will be owned by the government, and this political achievement will naturally belong to the adult." ”