The construction of a dock port in Bolangsha was finalized after Zhao Hongrun's decision.

I have to say that this is a big project, and the Metallurgical Bureau alone will never be able to complete such a huge project. Therefore, after Zhao Hongrun returned to Daliang, he came to the Ministry of Industry as soon as possible, intending to discuss the matter with Cao Zhi, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

However, when Zhao Hongrun came to the gate of the Ministry of Industry, he happened to bump into Meng Kui, the left attendant of the Ministry of Industry, coming from the other side of the street with several subordinates on horseback, so he greeted curiously.

"Where did Meng Shilang go?"

"Where else can Xia Guan go? These days, Xia Guan is busy with the palace of His Royal Highness King Su. …… His Royal Highness is good, his own palace, a total of two times before and after. That's your palace, aren't you afraid that the lower officials will mess up? Meng Kui, the left attendant of the Ministry of Works, joked.

I have to say that Meng Kui was on the battlefield with Zhao Hongrun, although he did not directly participate in the battle with the Chu army at that time, but it had a decisive impact on the entire battle situation, if it were not for the Yanshui camp he supervised and consolidated, it was really invulnerable, it was like a hedgehog called the army of Xiong Tuo of Xuancheng Jun Xiong Tuo could not speak, how could Zhao Hongrun drag Xiong Tuo's army to death in the Yanshui area?

Not to mention, Meng Kui was still leading the officials and craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry at that time, braving the rain of arrows to repair the well and the car when the Chu State was attacking the camp, and this courage made Zhao Hongrun really admire.

Since then, among the friends recognized by Zhao Hongrun, there has been more of this left waiter of the Ministry of Works.

"Haha, how can this king not be able to trust Meng Shilang?"

The two exchanged a few words, and Zhao Hongrun learned from Meng Kui that the Suwang Mansion he asked Meng Kui to renovate had entered the final acceptance stage, and Meng Kui had just left the Ministry of Industry. It was specially to go to the Suwang Mansion to check and accept the repairs.

It can be seen that Meng Kui is very satisfied with the work done by the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry, so he swears to Zhao Hongrun that he will be very happy after Zhao Hongrun stays in the Su Wangfu in the next few days.

"Oh? Ready to move in? ”

"The lower official has ordered someone to clean up. It will take some time to get rid of some leftovers. …… Well, tomorrow, after noon tomorrow, His Highness can move in at any time, but the lower official sees that there is a lack of some applications in the mansion, and the lower official does not know His Highness's preferences, so he does not take it upon himself to let the people of the Yu Department provide anything. ”

Zhao Hongrun knew that Meng Kui was referring to some things such as bedding, tea bowls, teapots and other applications. He waved his hand and said, "It's okay, the king's guards will go to Zhang Luo." ”

Meng Kui nodded, and then realized that His Royal Highness King Su in front of him was standing in front of the gate of his Ministry of Industry at the moment, so he asked curiously: "His Royal Highness King Su came to my Ministry of Industry this time, could it be that there are other things?" ”

"Meng Shilang thinks this king is here for that palace?" Zhao Hongrun made a joke, and then said bluntly: "This king plans to build a river port in Bolangsha on the north side of Daliang in the name of my smelting bureau. ”

Meng Kui was stunned when he heard this. I was really a little puzzled: "What is Your Highness doing to build a river port?" After asking, he realized that there was something wrong with asking such a question. Hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Your Highness just asked casually, Your Highness don't mind." ”

Zhao Hongrun smiled when he heard this, and said: "There is nothing that can't be said, Meng Shilang has also been to Chu State, he should have heard that Xiong Tuo built a river port dock in Chen County, right?" ”

Meng Kui nodded. The Chenxian River Port of Chu State, how could he not know? Although it was nominally a fiefdom of Xiong Hu, the king of Pingyu, in fact, Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, built a lot of large warships in the river port of Chen County.

Even, now the 3,000 generals of the Shangshui Army, Wu Ji, were after conquering Chen County. He also seized many warships to transport the huge amount of money and goods collected from the Chu State, and now, in the name of transporting grain to Shangshui, that fleet actually transported a large amount of grain and grass to Chen County and Xiangcheng.

The only two Chu warships that were seized are still moored in Xiangfu Harbor south of Daliang City.

Although Meng Kui did not personally witness the scale of the port in Chen County, it was not difficult for him to deduce what kind of behemoth the port of Chen County was from the volume and number of many Chu warships.

"Your Highness also wants to build a giant dock river port?" Meng Kui touched his beard, and immediately asked, "Your Highness wants to build a ship?" ”

"Hmm." Zhao Hongrun nodded, frowned and said, "The ship in the warehouse is too small. …… Meng Shilang probably didn't know that my smelting bureau was accumulating raw materials and was ambitiously preparing to do a big job, but I didn't expect that the speed at which the warehouse could carry ore was ......."

"Oh." Meng Kui was relieved in his heart, but understanding is understanding, this does not prevent him from secretly worrying in his heart: This His Royal Highness King Su is really magnificent, in order to make the required ore can be transported to the smelting bureau faster, he simply built a dock and built a transport ship by himself, how much does it cost?

"Your Majesty understands why His Royal Highness King Su is in front of the palace of our Ministry of Industry." Meng Kui shook his head with a wry smile and made a gesture of please.

Thinking about it, if Zhao Hongrun really planned to follow the example of Chu Xuanchengjun Xiong Tuo's Chenxian River Port and build such a huge river port in Bolangsha, then a single smelting bureau would not be enough to complete such a huge project, if nothing else, this highness came to ask their Ministry of Industry for help.

"Please!" Zhao Hongrun and Meng Kui walked into the Ministry of Industry together, during which he jokingly said: "Meng Shilang, I will serve the best tea to this king later......

"Deserve it." Meng Kui laughed.

After all, it is undeniable that Zhao Hongrun is currently the largest customer of the Ministry of Industry, whether it is the renovation of the Su Wangfu and the Smelting Bureau in the city, or the construction of several hearths outside the city, His Royal Highness the King of Su has paid a large amount of money to the Ministry of Industry, the amount of up to 250,000 taels of silver.

In addition to the money allocated by the Ministry of Household in the past, how did the Ministry of Industry receive such a generous remuneration?

What makes Meng Kui even more excited is that now the Smelting Bureau obviously has a rising momentum, and it is not difficult to guess that in the future, His Royal Highness King Su will have more projects handed over to their Ministry of Engineering, which is an additional income.

No, the river port of Bolangsha is, unsurprisingly, a big project, enough to make the finances of their Ministry of Industry abundant.

"The matter of the river port, it will not be too late to talk about it when I see Cao Shangshu. …… This king heard that Cao Shangshu plans to hand over the Ministry of Industry to Meng Shilang? ”

On the way to the Ministry of Industry compound, Zhao Hongrun asked with interest.

As soon as he heard about this, Meng Kui suddenly became a lot more restrained, looked embarrassed, and waved his hand again and again and said, "Those are all rumors, they can't be true." ”

"Really?" Zhao Hongrun looked at Meng Kui with a smile, and the latter's face was even more embarrassed.

Cao Zhi, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Zhao Hongrun has not dealt with him so far, but this does not prevent Zhao Hongrun from having a good impression of this old minister.

After all, a while ago, when the Smelting Bureau announced its separation from the Ministry of Industry and announced a new weights and measures, the six ministries of the imperial court were the first to stand up for the Ministry of Industry.

Unfortunately, Cao Zhi, an old minister, is really too old, he is the oldest of the six Shangshu of the imperial court, and it is said that he is already sixty-five years old. Although his spirit is still good now, his memory is quite good, and it is even said that he can eat two large bowls of rice at each meal, which is really called old and strong.

However, none of this is enough to compensate for the potential pitfalls of the age of 65.

Therefore, if nothing else, in the past two years, this old minister should retire from the position of secretary of the Ministry of Industry, either to retire to old age, or to be idle in the Ministry of Industry, and live for a long time.

And the one who took over his position as Shangshu should be Meng Kui, the left waiter of the Ministry of Industry next to Zhao Hongrun.

Zhao Hongrun is very confident in this.

After all, Meng Kui is loyal, has both ability and political integrity, and more importantly, he assisted Zhao Hongrun in repelling Xiong Tuo's army, so his prestige in the government and the opposition, especially in the Ministry of Industry, has greatly increased.

Therefore, apart from what he thought, Zhao Hongrun really couldn't think of anyone else who could take over the position of the old minister Cao Zhi's secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

Meng Kui will succeed Cao Zhi as the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, which is not unfounded gossip.

In fact, Cao Zhi has indeed gradually begun to hand over the affairs of the Ministry of Industry to Meng Kui, and Meng Kui himself knows this.

But despite this, Zhao Hongrun's ridicule still made Meng Kui feel embarrassed.

"Your Highness, don't make fun of the lower officials, Lord Shangshu once said bluntly to the lower officials that the lower officials do not have the talent to lead the Ministry of Industry." Meng Kui sighed slightly, and could see that he was slightly lost.

"The so-called talent that is enough to lead the Ministry of Works, does it mean self-confidence and the city government?"

Zhao Hongrun smiled faintly and didn't say anything more, after all, in his opinion, Meng Kui was indeed lacking in these two aspects.

Comparatively speaking, Li Liang, the head of the household department who is not a few years older than him, is much better than Meng Kui in these two aspects.

Under the guidance of Meng Kui, Zhao Hongrun came to the house of Cao Zhi, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry.

Because of his advanced age, this old man didn't care much about the affairs of the Ministry of Industry, and gradually handed over those things to Meng Kui.

Zhao Hongrun guessed that the reason why this old man is still sitting in the position of the secretary of the Ministry of Industry is probably that he feels that the current Meng Kui is not able to stabilize the entire Ministry of Industry, or rather, he is not able to gain the upper hand in the confrontation with the Ministry of Household Money.

"Cao Shangshu."

Zhao Hongrun took the initiative to step forward and say hello to Cao Zhi, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, who was sitting on the low couch in the house.

"King Su...... Your Highness? ”

It can be seen that Cao Zhi was really surprised, and after being stunned for a moment, he was about to get up and put on his shoes, but he waved his hand to Zhao Hongrun to stop him.

"It's okay, just sit on the couch, sit." Zhao Hongrun took a few steps forward, sat on the edge of the bed, glanced at the chessboard on the low table on the couch, and shook his head with a smile: "The old man is so interested, he plays chess with himself...... By the way, Cao Shangshu, this king came today to ask the Ministry of Industry for a favor. ”

Cao Zhi blinked his slightly cloudy eyes suspiciously, and said, "His Royal Highness King Su is polite, if His Royal Highness has any orders, just mention it." ”

"That's the case, this king plans to build a river port in Bolangsha......" As Zhao Hongrun spoke, Shen Yu, the sect guard behind him, took out the map from his arms and slowly spread it out on the low table.

Cao Zhi opened his eyes and glanced at them twice, and then his face showed a little hesitation, and he stopped talking a few times.

Perhaps he also saw from the map that Nabo Langsha was in the territory of Yuanyang Kingdom. (To be continued.) )