The troubled times of Dongying have come to pass, Yang Cong can finally retire successfully, and it just so happens that Gu Kexue has also arranged the matter of the Iwami Silver Mine almost, so the two made an appointment to return to Daming together.

Early in the morning, the group set off with the fleet of the Daming Naval Division, facing the morning glow, Yang Cong stood proudly on the bow of the boat, and behind him, Gu Kexue, Yu Dayou, Qi Jingtong and other civil and military generals stood solemnly, and the lineup was extremely luxurious.

At first, everyone didn't speak, because Yang Cong hadn't spoken yet, he was so deep in thought about the endless sea, as if he was thinking about something very important, and everyone didn't dare to disturb Master Taishi's train of thought.

I don't know how long it took, he finally turned his head to Gu Kexue and said: "Yucheng, I bother you to come to Dongying to preside over the overall situation, I'm afraid that the affairs of the Ministry of Industry will fall a lot, right?" ”

Gu Kexue smiled and said: "Qingfeng, don't bury me, don't you know what material I am, if you want to talk about smelting silver ore or something, I still have a few brushes, if you want to talk about governing the country or something, I'm just a layman, I actually didn't have anything to do when I was in the Ministry of Industry, with Mr. Wang and their help in management, I don't need to worry about anything at all, it's almost the same whether I am in or not." ”

Yang Cong also smiled and said: "Yucheng, it's not good to be too modest, knowing people and making good use of that is also the way to be an official, and it is also an aspect that officials should pay the most attention to, in this aspect, you are no worse than others." Of course, you can't leave everything to your subordinates, be a hands-off shopkeeper, sometimes, you have to lead them to develop and innovate, and make a contribution to the development of Daming. ”

Pioneering and innovative?

Gu Kexue savored it carefully for a while before he understood the meaning of this new word, the problem, governing the country is really not his forte, pioneering and innovating or something, he really has no idea at all.

He was a little embarrassed and said, "This, Qingfeng, do you have any ideas?" ”

Yang Cong was not ambiguous, and said directly: "I do have a little idea, so-called, if you want to get rich, build the road first, now the Ming Dynasty is in ruins, especially business activities are the key to the development of the Ming Dynasty, you think, if the road is not easy to walk, is it very difficult for the vendors to do business, if there are avenues extending in all directions, is it very convenient for the vendors to do business?" ”

If you want to get rich, build roads first?

Is this a common saying?

Gu Kexue really hadn't heard of it, but it was easy to understand that the road was smooth, and it was indeed convenient for traders to do business.

Speaking of doing business, he is energetic again, and their Gu family's business is not small.

He savored Yang Cong's words a little, and then said with great interest: "Well, this is very reasonable, the emperor has been encouraging local governments to build roads and bridges in the past two years, and this business is indeed getting better and better." ”

When Yang Cong heard this, he wanted to roll his eyes, what is this?

He said angrily: "I mean let your Ministry of Industry take the lead in building the avenues between various provinces and major cities, how much significance is it to build roads and bridges at the local level?" A prefect can manage the roads within a county, a prefect can manage the roads within a prefecture, even if it is a governor, it can only manage a road in the province, who will manage the connection between these roads? It is impossible for the emperor to send a governor to take care of the road construction, so your Ministry of Industry has to take care of this matter. ”

It turned out to be this meaning, Gu Kexue thought about it for a while, and then said with a little embarrassment: "This, the territory of the Ming Dynasty is so vast, and it is thousands of miles or even thousands of miles to build a road that passes through several provinces, and it costs a lot of money to build this kind of road." ”

Yang Cong said lightly: "What's wrong with the money, is the court still short of this money now?" ”

Also, in recent years, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty has doubled, and there is really no shortage of money for road repairs or something, you know, just Dongying's side can bring twenty or thirty million taels of income to the court in a year.

What's more, the emperor is obedient to this Taishi, as long as the Taishi says to build the road, even if the court has no money, the emperor will find a way to squeeze out the money for the road repair.

Thinking of this, Gu Kexue hurriedly nodded and said, "Well, I'll think about it after I go back and make a charter." ”

Yang Cong suddenly asked, "Do you know what kind of road can be as durable as the bluestone road?" ”

The bluestone road is also the kind of road that is built with thick bluestone slabs together, this kind of road is indeed durable, generally as long as you pay attention to maintenance, after a hundred or ten years or smooth as new.

However, this kind of road generally only appears in the palaces or mansions of emperors and generals or the kind of particularly rich and wealthy families, and it is impossible to build bluestone roads in general, because bluestone roads are too troublesome to repair, and the cost of labor alone is terrifying.

Therefore, although the bluestone road is good, it is not common, even if it is a place like the capital, only the imperial city is bluestone road, and the outside of the imperial city is basically not bluestone road except for the east and west Chang'an Street.

So, is there a road that is as durable as Bluestone Road?

Gu Kexue thought about it carefully, and then muttered: "If you want to say that there are roads that are as durable as bluestone roads, there are them, like some main roads in the capital are made of gravel mixed with a certain amount of lime and clay, and then they are solid, as long as this kind of road is pressed enough, it can still be as smooth as new for a hundred years like a bluestone road." ”

Crushed stone mixed with a certain amount of lime and clay, and then stocky?

Isn't this similar to the asphalt road of later generations!

When Yang Cong heard this, he nodded without hesitation and said, "Well, in the future, new trunk roads will be built in this way." ”

Yes!

When Gu Kexue heard this, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

This method of building the road is not much easier than the bluestone road, gravel, stirring, and stockening are very troublesome, and the most troublesome process of digging the bluestone slab is saved, but the labor cost is also not low, and it can be a little cheaper than the bluestone road.

He was stunned for a moment, and then said embarrassedly: "This, Qingfeng, this kind of road is not easy to repair, first of all, gravel is a troublesome thing, the gravel needed to repair the road is not a little bit, just smashing large stones into the gravel required to build the road will take a lot of effort, in addition, like stirring and stocky is also very troublesome, especially stocky, the size of an acre of road is estimated to be dozens of people carrying the stone pier for ten days to complete." ”

Yang Cong really hadn't considered these questions, but as soon as Gu Kexue mentioned them, he subconsciously thought of some mechanical equipment in later generations.

He thought about it carefully, and then patiently explained: "These problems are very easy to solve, such as gravel, the Ministry of Industry now does not have a machine to crush charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter, and gravel is also a reason, but the machine needs to be made bigger." It's the same with stirring, doesn't the Ministry of Engineering also have a mixer for mixing gunpowder, as long as it is bigger, it can also be used to stir things like crushed stone, clay and lime. As for the solid road surface, we can also make a road roller out, just use the front of the dragon car, heavy enough, as long as the wheels are made a little wider, and the whole front of the car is made into a solid iron wheel about a foot wide, then all the way over, the road surface is not solid? If you really can't do it, you can increase the weight or run it a few more times. ”

Can this also be done?

When Gu Kexue heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned again, but after thinking about it carefully, he found that this way it was really possible!