Chapter 114: Talking Southward Wu Zhi imagined

Before going south, although Yan Xing also wanted to go south with Zhang Zhimu to have a look, but Lu Chengxiang was not there, and there was no one to arrange for those officials from all over the country. Yan Xing could only smile bitterly and stay. However, Li Yunhe wanted to go, and Zhang Zhimu did not refuse. Zhang Zhimu knew that Li Yunhe had been in charge of the industrial production of the entire kiln gang, and he was too tired, so he should go out for a walk. It will also open his eyes.

Lu Chengxiang made detailed arrangements for many tasks, but in the end, he was still not at ease, so he found Zhang Zhimu and asked: "Mr. Zhang, do you think there are any other things that need to be arranged?" Everything I can think of has been arranged. ”

"Oops, Mr. Lu! Don't get too nervous, isn't it just a trip to the south? Now we are going out more than we used to be, and it is not a heaven or an earth. But there's one big thing I want to talk to you about. From now on, we should secretly inform our local ticket numbers, try to collect as much gold as possible, and do not let the outside world know! Zhang Zhimu said.

Lu Chengxiang was a little confused, "Mr. Zhang, can I ask why?" ”

"That's right. You also know that the ratio of gold to silver in the previous dynasties was one to five at the earliest, and now it is one to ten. This time, Lu Qi came back from Nanyang, not only brought back a lot of goods, but also brought back more than one million taels of silver. Our silk, tea, and porcelain of the Ming Dynasty were exported in large quantities for overseas trade, and they would continue to exchange for a large amount of silver. This will continue to be the case in the future, and in the long run, the depreciation of silver is inevitable. We'd better make a good gold reserve early. At present, our kiln gang currency is still on the silver standard, and at the right time, we will be on the gold standard. You and I just need to know about it. We are prepared early, and when the time comes, we will decouple the kiln coin from silver and peg it to gold, so as to further promote the depreciation of silver. You have to know this in your heart. However, this opportunity needs to be appropriate. Zhang Zhimu gave Lu Chengxiang a little financial lesson.

After listening to Zhang Zhimu's words, Lu Chengxiang was stunned for a moment, feeling a little terrified of Zhang Zhimu in his heart. I have always thought that I am a veteran in the shopping mall, but why can't I think of such things, these things should be thought of by the big shopkeeper of Yaogang. Lu Chengxiang also knows that if one day, the kiln gang currency will further expand the scope of issuance, and the kiln gang really has a large amount of gold reserves, the decoupling of the kiln gang currency from silver will be able to rapidly depreciate the value of silver at once. Those so-called big families have a lot of silver reserves in their homes, and they will lose a lot of money at once.

Zhang Zhimu looked at Lu Chengxiang a little stunned, knowing that this incident shocked Lu Chengxiang, "I said, Mr. Lu!" Don't be stunned. It's a long-term thing, but you just have to prepare early. ”

"Oh! Yes, yes. Why didn't I think of this layer? This is a big deal, and you should prepare for it in advance. I also have to find a reason for the ticket numbers in various places to let them slowly collect the gold. This matter is not enough to cause everyone to rush for gold. Lu Chengxiang understood what was going on, and he knew what to do, and he was more rigorous and prudent.

When Zhang Zhimu left the kiln, the leaders of the kiln gang who stayed at home all went to the kiln gang wharf to see Zhang Zhimu off. This time, a tugboat was used to tow a few passenger barges from Lingshui Wharf to pick up the people from Yaogang, because there were many people from Yaogang this time, and most of them were wrapped in large bags.

Zhang Zhimu said goodbye to Huang Yukun and Yang Yulin on the dock, and finally hugged Xiaoqing and Xiaohu. Xiaohu said: "Uncle, I also want to go to Yangzhou with you." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "When you have a holiday in the future, if you catch me to Yangzhou, I will definitely take you and your mother with you." Obedient at home! ”

Xiaoqing said: "Uncle, my aunt won't follow you this time, don't forget to bring us gifts." ”

"Alright! I remembered. After speaking, Zhang Zhimu turned around and got on the passenger ship.

Yang Yulin, who was on the shore, saw that Xiao Hongyu was also on this boat, looking out of the window, and felt a sour feeling in her heart, but she touched her stomach, snorted with her nose, and laughed herself.

Yan Boju was determined to go with the horses. He took his men with him, driving a herd of 10,000 war horses, and set out on the road two days in advance. It was agreed to meet at the mouth of the Qinshui River in Wuzhi. Since Wuzhi is now a place for Yaogang people, it is much more convenient to take this road now.

This southward journey, Zhang Zhimu felt more relaxed than ever. I also had time to have a good chat with Ouyang He.

Ouyang He's words still inspired Zhang Zhimu very much.

Ouyang He said: "Mr. Zhang, after I really calmed down, I felt that you stopped developing outward, and running Shanxi well is really a step ahead." We were all too anxious, we just prepared for a long time, and we couldn't stop all at once. During this time, I was also thinking about a problem. We are now developing talent and preparing for the future. But Mr. Zhang, have you thought about it, if we take down the entire Ming Dynasty, is it enough for us to cultivate people by ourselves? ”

Zhang Zhimu nodded and said, "What Mr. Ouyang said is yes." In this case, there are not enough of us. However, Shanxi is our base, and we have enough people for the time being. In the future, we will expand our thinking. I wonder if Mr. Ouyang has thought of a solution? ”

"Huh! Nor mature. However, I know that if we make great strides, we cannot have two sets of men, and our officers must be able to fight wars and manage local areas. In my opinion, the next step in the training of our officers is to train both civil and military personnel. Our junior officers told me that those illiterate soldiers, once they read a few words, will change immediately. If they could recognize and write family letters, they would immediately become a different person. I think our officers would have made a big difference if they had been trained well. I've personally trained a lot of people, and when they leave, I can see the change in their eyes. This is also the difference between our army and other armies. It seems that Ouyang He has thought a lot about this kind of thing, and it is definitely not an immature idea.

Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Ouyang, I see that your ideas are very mature. The next step in officer training will be done as you say. If one day our army expands rapidly outward, our officers must not only be able to fight, but also understand politics. That way, we don't have to worry about no one taking care of the place where we knock down. In particular, those border passes and important places are under the control of the military. However, the business and political college we want to run should try to recruit as many people as possible. I think those former officials, with good training, are still better than newcomers. ”

"Yes, the old officials still have some political experience, as long as they can accept our ideas, we can use them. However, we must also keep up with the assessment and supervision work, otherwise there will be problems. Ouyang He said.

"Regardless of the dynasty or generation, the rule of officials is the key to the survival of every dynasty. I've been thinking about how to regulate our officials. First, the power of officials should be made public, their income and property should be made public, and they should also be subject to the supervision of public opinion and the people, not only the supervision and management of the higher authorities. In short, before Shanxi does not come up with a set of effective management methods, we should not blindly expand. Zhang Zhimu said.

On the Fen River, seeing the wharves on the riverbank, Zhang Zhimu called Yang Jing and said: "Yang Jing, we will manage all the wharves in a unified manner in the future, and after the telegraph and telephone are connected to each wharf, we can uniformly distribute the goods that need to be transported, so that the efficiency of our transportation can be improved a lot." ”

Yang Jing said: "This is a good thing, but in the past, each wharf was in charge of the local government. Now that we are all in charge, we will not provoke discontent everywhere. It's all a cash cow. ”

"It doesn't matter, the wharf can be managed by their local government, and the transportation business can be managed. Then set the criteria for the distribution of benefits. You can come up with a plan with Mr. Lu on this matter. Zhang Zhimu knows that if the transportation industry wants to become bigger, it must be able to coordinate development.

Chen Yufeng accompanied Zhang Zhimu to Tongguan this time, first, they wanted to study with Liu Yun and Ningde about sending troops to Wuluo Island, and Chen Yufeng also wanted to personally escort all the treasures in the underground vault of Tongguan back to Yaogang.

Liu Yun had already selected a very effective regiment in Tongguan and was ready to arrange for them to go to Wuluo Island.

Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng, and others personally met with the officers at all levels of the regiment, and Zhang Zhimu told them, "You will be the first formed unit sent out by our Yaogang People's Army." You are the vanguard of our kiln. But you already know that you need to go out this time and quietly enter Wuluo Island. There's already a small force there that went before you did. You have to stand firm there, and wait until the time comes out for our brigade of the kiln to attack, and you will attack as a surprise force as a vanguard. From now on, you will directly accept the leadership of Li Mao and Li Gongzi. ”

It was unexpectedly that these officers could be received by so many leaders of the kiln gang. I didn't expect that the leaders of the kiln gang did not simply give them an order, but also told them a lot about the meaning of this mission, which made them feel that the leaders of the kiln gang also respected them very much. These officers all straightened up, and they all wanted to make a good impression on the leaders.

In the end, Zhang Zhimu and the others left the head of the regiment, Chen Yufeng told him: "Now there are still seven or eight hundred of us on Wuluo Island, and Shi Xiu is specifically in charge, and you all listen to Shi Xiu's command when you get to the island." Now it is impossible to arrange the troops of this regiment on the island all of a sudden, this time you arrange your own troops first, bring a few people to follow Mr. Zhang and them first, go to the front station first, and arrange things first. ”

In Tongguan, Lu Chengxiang and Liu Yun looked at the horse market in Tongguan together. After all, Tongguan is a traffic artery, and the reputation of the Yaogang people is also very good. Soon a lot of merchants came here. There are also some horses in the horse market. Liu Yun said to Lu Chengxiang: "I can see that some people are picking good horses, and they don't pay attention to ordinary horses." Maybe they bought a war horse for Li Zicheng. We can first send a telegram and ask our family to get a thousand war horses, keep them in the barracks, and send some to the horse market every day. I'll send someone to get in touch with them slowly, maybe they can buy more horses at once. Don't scare them away. ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "I didn't expect you to be a businessman?" ”

Liu Yun and Lu Chengxiang are also very familiar with each other, and said: "That's right, if we don't have to fight, I will follow you to do business." Guaranteed to be used by top people. ”

When Lu Chengxiang went back, he sent a telegram to his family, asking his family to send someone to Tongguan to send a thousand war horses.

After Zhang Zhimu's fleet left Tongguan, they stopped in front of Sanmenxia, and they first went ashore to see the managers sent by Yaogang to manage the Kaiyuan Xinhe River and the officers and soldiers of the troops guarding here. The management personnel and officers and men here were very happy to see that the leaders of the kiln gang had come.

Accompanied by them, Zhang Zhimu, Lu Bingyi, and Li Yunhe focused on carefully inspecting the siltation of the Kaiyuan New River. In the end, Zhang Zhimu, Lu Bingyi, and Li Yunhe all felt that the siltation situation here was more serious than expected, and it must be cleaned up as soon as possible, otherwise it would be more difficult to clean up if the siltation died.

After looking at the situation here, Lu Bingyi said: "One of the reasons for the siltation here is that considering that when the boats pass here, they used to be pulled by people on the slender road halfway up the mountainside, so the water in the Kaiyuan New River cannot be too fast. The flow rate is controlled, and the sand in the Yellow River, which has a large sediment content, is easy to deposit. Therefore, it is easy to accumulate siltation. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "In the future, we can build a barrage at the inlet and build several sluice gates to control the flow of the Kaiyuan New River." When the water is large, the maximum flow is put into the Kaiyuan New River, and the sand at the bottom of the river is washed away with the high flow rate of the river. When passing the boat, control the flow of water. ”

"That's a story for later, and we need to build the control project slowly. But how to get the silt in front of you? In the previous dynasty, the practice was to block the Kaiyuan New River when the water was small, and then clean up the silt, in that case, the amount of work was not small. Lu Bingyi said.

"I have an idea, can I try it?" Zhang Zhimu remembered the sand dredging boat in his previous life, and the conveyor belt device that dug sand from the bottom of the river was very suitable for cleaning up the silt at the bottom of the river. "Yunhe, the kind of conveyor belt you made to load and unload grain. If we replace the rubber belt of the conveyor belt with a steel bucket that is connected to the sand dredging, and then stretch it to the bottom of the river, as long as such a device is running, the sediment at the bottom of the river can be transferred to the boat, so that the sediment at the bottom of the river can be dug up. ”

When Li Yunhe heard this, he said: "Yes, it is not difficult to make such a device, and it must be easy to use, I will immediately ask them to make such a device when I go back, and then install it on a tugboat." ”

Mr. Lo also thought it was a good idea, but he said: "It's also a stopgap measure. The next step for us can also be as Mr. Zhang said, to build a barrage gate system in front of the Kaiyuan New River. Even so, it can't change the problem of insufficient boat crossing capacity in Kaiyuan Xinhe. We still have to think about a fundamental solution. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "After this matter is to free our hands, please come up with a plan with Tang Jingyao." ”

After Zhang Zhimu and his fleet crossed Sanmenxia, they reached the mouth of the Qinshui River and went upstream, along the Qinshui River to Wuzhi Wharf.

Wei Xiang and Lin Feng, who were left in Wuzhi by Li Jing, heard the soldiers on the dock report that Zhang Zhimu had arrived, they happily ran to the dock, and after saluting Zhang Zhimu, Wei Xiang said with a little choked up: "Mr. Zhang, I finally see you again." When Li Zicheng was surrounding the kiln, we didn't know the situation at home, and we almost didn't die in a hurry. It's great that you're here. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Yes, I miss you too. We haven't seen each other since the two of you stayed in Taiyue Mountain. I can tell you that our kilns are much better now than they used to be. There is a chance to arrange for you to go back and have a look. But your position now is too important. I'm not at ease with others here. You two have to keep me here. What do you think? What's the matter with staying here? ”

Lin Feng said: "There is a team of officers and soldiers who want to take over our Wuzhi County, so let us drive them away. ”

"Huh? And what's going on? ”

"It wasn't that long ago. I said to the officer and soldier who led the team, when Li Zicheng's army is here, why don't you come and take over here, and when we beat the team of thieves away, you don't have any ready-made doors to check if you want to, so you can go back. They didn't dare to squeak when they saw our weapons. Wei Xiang said.

"The location of this Wuzhi County is very important, and no one can give it to them. I said, you two should take me to see Wuzhi County. Zhang Zhimu said.

At this time, Wei Xiang and Lin Feng knew that they were patronizing and talking, and forgot that they were still on the dock. The two hurriedly greeted Ouyang He and the others behind them, and let Zhang Zhimu and them go to the county office. The officials sent by the kiln gang in the county government were even happier to see Zhang Zhimu and them arrive.

Zhang Zhimu was also very happy to see that the officials had entered the role. Seeing that the cadres of the military and government of Wuzhi were here, Zhang Zhimu said to them: "This place of Wuzhi is an important support point for us outside Shanxi. This is the Qinshui estuary, which is an outlet from our Shanxi to the south. It is close to Qinshui, bordering the Yellow River in the north and Baigou (Weihe) in the east. From Baigou, you can enter the Haihe River system and go directly to Tianjin, and then to Beijing. Not only is the water transportation developed here, the terrain is flat and the land is fertile. It is not only outstanding people, but also rich in products. I hope that you will unite and take care of the people here, recover from the wounds caused by the war as soon as possible, and let the people recover. This task is not light, I hope you will work harder, what are the difficulties, don't forget that we are still your strong backing over there. ”

Zhang Zhimu's words moved these people in Wuzhi very much. Zhang Zhimu looked at their moved looks, and thought that the current people are much simpler than in their previous lives. A few words, that's it. In the future, we must strengthen our ideological work. The more simple a person is, the easier it is to do ideological work. Those who read a lot are not easy to do ideological work. No wonder in the previous life, some people said that the more you read, the more reactionary you are, and it seems that there is a certain amount of truth.

However, after Zhang Zhimu and Lu Bingyi's investigation, they found that after the Qinshui here entered the Yellow River, it was interrupted from Baigou, because the water level of Baigou (Weihe) was different from that of Qinshui and the Yellow River. Lu Bingyi said to Zhang Zhimu: "In the future, we can build a lock like our Xiaoling River here in Baigou (Weihe), so that the products of our kiln can be loaded from Yaogang, through the Fen River and the Yellow River to Wuzhi, and then through the lock to Baigou (Wei River), you can enter the Hebei Plain, to Tianjin Wei, and then to Beijing." The most important thing is that this lock is not too high, because the difference between Baigou (Weihe) and Qinshui is not large, I remember that there was no lock before, and the two water systems were the same. ”

"Yes, if this is the case, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi can all be connected to Beijing by water. I remember that the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties was all open in the past, so why is it not open now? Zhang Zhimu was a little puzzled.

"After all, this canal is not a natural formation, since it is artificial, it needs to be maintained all year round. But after years of war, how can the court have the money to maintain these. So it's reasonable to break it. Even when I entered Baigou (Weihe), I don't know how many places are in disrepair. Lu Bingyi said.

"I don't think we have the energy to fix this right now. We don't have enough cement in our kilns. Li Yunhe next to him interjected.

"You don't have to worry about cement. Before I came out, I had a conversation with Wu Shan. I would like to build a rotary kiln cement kiln at their lime plant in Wushan. But Mr. Wushan said they had no place to build a new kiln there. When I thought about it, there was no place for that place. However, Wushan is still a caring person, he said that along the creek where they went forty miles upstream, there was also a lime kiln, and now the kiln is not dry, Wushan specially went to investigate, and found that the limestone mine there is much larger than their current one, so he suggested that a large rotary kiln could be built there. Zhang Zhimu said.

"What is a rotary kiln?" Li Yunhe asked.

"It's a kiln that can tilt and rotate continuously to burn cement, and we can use this kiln to produce cement in large quantities. If it is small, it will burn hundreds of tons a day, and if it is large, it can burn thousands of tons a day. The specifics are also complex. It's not too difficult, though. With our current technology and capabilities, we can build such a cement kiln. However, it is more than 40 miles away from our current cement plant, and transportation is a big problem, so the large cement plant has to build a railway to enter it. When we go back, let's go and have a look. Zhang Zhimu said.

Lu Bingyi seemed to be more concerned about this matter, saying: "We should build a large cement factory, and we should also build a railway." Our construction has just begun, and we are afraid to use cement in many places, because cement is too tight. Mr. Zhang, when you said about building a few bridges, it requires a lot of cement. So for us to engage in construction, cement is as important as steel. ”

"Okay, I have another supporter." Zhang Zhimu said happily.

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Five-line scores, oscillating circuits, caesarean sections. Guo Shoujing made alloy cannons, and Guan Hanqing created "Journey to the West". --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".