Liu Chongqing thought hard about it before saying to Chongzhen: "Now the daily water supply is 6,000 cubic meters, and when the two steam water lifters are completed, it can be increased to 7,500 cubic meters a day." In the fall, when the second phase of the project is completed, it will be able to supply 15,000 cubic meters of tap water per day, and more than half of the entire inner city will be supplied with running water. ”

Zhu Youjian thought for a while, and then asked again: "The tap water of the Xizhimen Water Plant comes from the Shahe River, and the Gyeonggi area has not been flooded in March this year, will there be any problems with the water supply?" ”

Liu Chongqing was stopped by the emperor at this time, he only thought about providing tap water to the residents in the capital, and brushing up his political achievements in front of the people of the capital and the emperor, but he didn't pay attention to whether the people outside the city had water now.

Looking at Liu Chongqing's hesitant appearance, although he didn't quite understand what the emperor's enthusiasm for building tap water was for, but seeing the popularity of the people in the capital for tap water in the past two days made Wang Siren, who was originally opposed to the construction of tap water facilities, still change some of his views on this kind of construction that he regarded as a waste of money and labor.

Since the people of the capital really need tap water, then he felt that what Liu Chongqing did was still necessary, so he spoke out for Liu Chongqing to relieve the siege, "Back to Your Majesty, although there was no rain in the Gyeonggi area this spring, the water for spring plowing in various places was basically guaranteed.

The Haihe River improvement project that began the year before last and the construction of reservoirs in many upstream areas have made it possible to use the water storage of large and small reservoirs in Gyeonggi this year, although there is no rain in Gyeonggi this year.

In addition, there are dozens of reservoirs built in this area from the upper reaches of the Shahe River to the Huangling Mausoleum in the north, and unless there is a drought that occurs once in ten years this year, it should not affect the lives of the local people, nor will it affect the daily water supply to the people in the capital. ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Wang Siren unexpectedly, nodded at him, and accepted his explanation. Only then did he say to Liu Chongqing: "What Wang Tongzhi said is still reasonable, the construction of tap water is not for me to enjoy alone, but to provide public services to the people of the capital.

This stops the people's water supply at every turn, doesn't this make the people of the capital scold me behind my back for not knowing the suffering of the world? In my opinion, there is no problem with this daily supply of water to meet the needs of six blocks. Like other people who came from afar to fetch water, they just came to join in the fun, how could they run so far to fetch water every day.

So as long as we survive these few days, there will be no problem, of course, in order to let the people receive water every day, I think the city hall can number all the faucets, the single number in the morning, and the double number in the afternoon, so that everyone can stagger the time to receive water..."

Liu Chongqing suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Your Majesty is wise, this method is indeed good, in this way, we don't have to cut off the tap water in some blocks, and be reprimanded by the people of the capital who cut off the water." ”

After listening to this, Wang Siren thought silently in his heart, and then said loudly: "Your Majesty is the son of the great tomorrow, and this number number will naturally be installed on the faucet in the palace. ”

Liu Chongqing and Zhu Youzhen were both interrupted by Wang Siren's sudden speech, and neither of them had considered numbering the faucets in the palace as a restriction, but now because of Wang Siren's speech, Zhu Youzhen had to respond: "Wang Tongzhi's suggestion is still very reasonable, so start numbering from this faucet." The rules for stopping the water also apply to it. ”

Liu Chongqing hesitated, but still took Chongzhen's words and agreed. However, just now Wang Siren broke the siege for him, and the little good impression he had generated suddenly disappeared. After all, today he came to show his political achievements in front of the emperor, not to add to the emperor's obstacles.

Zhu Youzhen quickly put this discomfort behind him, and he went on to say to Liu Chongqing and other officials: "I think that building a city wall and surrounding the people in the city is not a city.

Don't look at Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other places that are densely populated and have relatively developed economies, and think that they are all cities. No, in my opinion, these places are just a big countryside surrounded by walls.

What is called a city, I think it should have at least the following basic functions. For example, first, a city should have the ability to create wealth, because only a city that creates wealth can create enough jobs for the city's residents to get a job. This way, even if he does not depend on the land outside the city, he can support himself and his family. There is only one city that creates wealth, and when the enemy invades, we can mobilize all the forces of the city to fight the invaders head-on.

Second, a city should have a variety of public service functions, such as urban public transportation, urban health and medical institutions, running water, coal, rice and flour and other basic necessities, the education system of primary and secondary schools, and the fire and patrol police to provide social security and safety...

Judging from the above requirements, I think it is a bit unworthy of the name to regard the capital as a city. In the next 3-5 years, we not only have to gradually establish a set of evaluation indicators on the content of urban life, but we also need to build several real cities in the north of the Ming Dynasty as the mainstay of the north of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Liu Chongqing and many officials at the scene felt particularly fresh about the emperor's words. Although they did not understand what the emperor was describing about the city, they did understand one thing, and that was that there were many projects to be built to build a real city.

Since the first year of Chongzhen, the construction of streets and sewers in Beijing, the construction of light railways and water pipelines, and some shantytown renovation projects, the funds invested in these projects have brought great benefits to these officials. Although limited to the emperor's strict control over the economic accounts, these officials did not benefit as much as they had in the past.

However, in the past two years, there have been dozens of times more projects than in the past, and even if each project makes a little profit, it will gain much more benefits than in the past. As a result, the officials subordinate to the Suncheon Prefecture shifted from a negative attitude of resistance to reform to a position of active support.

Even Liu Chongqing, who is the backbone of Donglin, after serving as the mayor of the Beijing Municipal Hall, has also turned to support the urban transformation plan for the capital. It was not because he was kidnapped by the huge economic interests in the plan, but because he saw that in the process of urban renewal, it would not only bring him great political achievements, but also expand the power of the city hall.

Among the officials present, there were probably a few officials such as Wang Siren who still had reservations about the emperor's speech on the functions of the city. However, with their strength, it is obviously impossible to stop Chongzhen's transformation plan for the capital and promote the transformation experience of the capital to various places.

Wang Siren looked at the cheering appearance of his colleagues around him, and could only shake his head and say nothing. Although in practice, road reconstruction, light rail paving, and water supply projects have all shown good economic and social benefits, he still feels that the emperor's paving is too large.

He never wondered where the funds for the construction of these projects should be raised and how they should be repaid. It must be known that the three banks have intermittently lent tens of millions of yuan to the imperial court, and if they continue to borrow like this, it is estimated that the three banks will collapse first, and how will the imperial court repay these bad debts at that time?

When Wang Siren was still worried about the emperor's unbridled spending of money, a eunuch hurriedly walked over from the eastern path, he stopped in front of Chongzhen, and bit the emperor's ear for a while, and all the officials saw that the smile on Chongzhen's face had subsided a lot.

When these officials were still speculating about what news the eunuch had sent to the emperor, Zhu Youzhen had already returned to his normal expression and said to them: "Today's meeting will end here, and next time I have time, I will ask you to go with you to see the street renovation project in the city."

The City Hall, the Shuncheon Prefecture, and the various district governments in the capital city will each write a city planning and development plan according to the city functions I just mentioned, and let me refer to it. In addition, the scale of the waterworks is still not enough, and the city hall has to think about how to make all the people in the capital have access to tap water; And Shuntianfu has to think about whether the current water source can meet the needs of one million people in Beijing?

I believe that in the area north of the Shahe River, we should also consider building one or two large valley reservoirs as drinking water reserves for the people of Beijing; Second, it can also be used as a source of water for cultivated land in the Gyeonggi region.

Since I ascended the throne, there have been two droughts in the Gyeonggi region, and God knows if this will happen more often in the future. We can't pin our hopes on relying on the sky for food, only by overhauling the reservoir and relying on ourselves can we have no drought or flood, and have enough food and clothing..."

After saying goodbye to the officials of the Beijing City Hall, Shuntian Mansion and other yamen, Zhu Youzhen went from Xiyuan to the cabinet duty room of the Wenhua Palace. All the cabinet members who had already received the news of the emperor's arrival, under the leadership of the first assistant Huang Liji, stood at the foot of the steps in front of the palace and waited for the emperor's arrival.

Zhu Youzhen saw that they suddenly slowed down, and after greeting the cabinet ministers one by one, he smiled and said to them: "Let's all go into the conference room and talk, all the gentlemen are standing outside waiting for me, I don't know what to see, and I thought that the sky of my Ming Dynasty was about to fall." Fortunately, I had already heard about it before I came, and I knew that it was not a big deal, otherwise I would have really scared your posture. ”

After Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, he took the lead and walked into the hall, and the cabinet ministers suddenly looked at Huang Liji with some surprise, I don't know how he sent a message to the emperor, which actually made Chongzhen think that it was not a big deal. In their opinion, the news from Shaanxi is an out-and-out important matter.

Huang Liji avoided the gaze of his colleagues, coughed and said, "Let's go into the conference room, Your Majesty is safe and normal, this is our blessing." ”

Seeing that Shoufu dropped a sentence indistinctly, he turned around and followed Chongzhen into the hall, and several ministers looked at each other, and also sorted out their appearance, and walked into the hall calmly.