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The moonlight is like frost, and the river surface is green and misty, sparkling. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info a river boat on the river is slowly going downstream. The small canopy of the river boat was lit up, and the stern boatman was rocking. The mountains on both sides of the river are hidden in the night.

But the tent, which was only five feet wide, was a little cramped, even a little cramped, and an oil lamp with a Western-style glass lampshade hung in the canopy, and under the lamp a small square table was full of books, most of which were gazetteers, and a few maps were scattered.

In the cabin, although it was late at night, Li Ziyuan still looked at the book. Understanding the customs and customs of Guangdong through gazetteer is a homework that any official must do before taking up his post.

But for Li Ziyuan, who went to serve as the governor of Guangdong, the reason why he read the gazetteer was not only to understand the terroir of Guangdong, but also had a more far-reaching intention.

The reason why the governor decided to go to Guangdong, in addition to opening up the external channel, is more important is to open up a salt road to solve the salt shortage in Huguang, compared with Huguang, which has only one new salt mine, Guangdong is bordered by the South China Sea, and the salt works are all over the coast, and the annual salt output is as much as more than 1.6 million bags.

In the past, limited by the salt law of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Guangdong salt had to be sold in Guangxi and Yunnan, but now the reality of the shortage of salt industry in the two lakes made it possible for Ye Mingchen, the former governor of Guangdong, to send a salt commissioner to Wuchang and begin to rectify the commercial salt farms in various places in order to increase production and increase salt taxes.

Now the output may have increased, but the real problem is not the production problem, for the increase in the production of Guangdong salt, Li Ziyuan can be said to have already become a belly, only after arriving in Guangdong can be implemented. What really restricts the entry of Guangdong salt into Hunan is transportation! How to transport hundreds of millions of catties of salt into Hunan is the fundamental solution to the problem.

“…… From the Xiangjiang River into Leishui, you can go to the Shuikou of Xingning County (1), and then to Shaoguan ......"

Looking at the route on the map, Li Ziyuan's eyes narrowed, recalling the journey along the way. In order to explore the salt road, he did not take the land route, but took the waterway into Hunan, from Changsha to take a wooden boat all the way upstream, into the Leishui River, to Xingning County in southern Hunan, and even took the silver to let the boatman drive all the way to Shuikou Town, until the boat did not move and then went forward, then from the waterway to the land.

"Although there are rocky beaches along the way, it can be blown up, and the water depth in the area around the mouth is between two feet and three inches to five inches, and it can pass 200 quintals of wooden boats......"

Recalling the results of the investigation along the way, Li Ziyuan picked up a piece of information on the table, which was collected in Shaoguan, unlike the source of Leishui, which can only pass 200 quintals, but the Laopingshi Wharf at the end of Wushui in Lechang County, Guangdong, can pass 800 quintals of wooden boats. This means that there is no problem at all with the waterway.

In fact, from the Ming Dynasty to the present, Laopingshi Wharf is the most important water wharf in northern Guangdong, more than 2,000 ships sail here every year to send Guangdong goods to the north and transport goods to the south, and hundreds of ships berthing at the wharf all year round. Laopingshi can be said to be the most important port in northern Guangdong, and the corresponding several wharves in Xingning County.

However, this does not mean that the two places are connected by water, in fact, from the nearest Shuikou Wharf to the Chengjia Wharf, there are nearly 300 miles of mountain roads to go between the two places.

In the past, the goods from the north went south, and the goods from the south to the north were transferred to the caravan through the wharf, and the caravan carried them over the mountains and mountains. However, this kind of transportation on the backs of Ma Fu people was obviously not what Li Ziyuan needed, which could not meet the needs of transporting salt in the future, nor could it meet the requirements of the governor's government to use Guangdong as a port to connect with the outside world.

"Railroad ......"

Thinking about this word, he knew that it would be impossible to build the railway in three or two years for the time being, so he naturally did not put his hope on the railway, after all, the current practical problem of insufficient salt goods in Hubei and Hunan needs to be solved.

Once again, he turned his gaze to the map, which he had drawn along the mountain road since he had come ashore at the mouth of the water. It was a 280-mile mountain road, and it was actually just a mountain trail that had been explored by countless horse gangs for thousands of years. At its narrowest point, the trail was just over two feet wide.

If you want to transport salt into Hunan, make use of the port of Guangdong, and get rid of the dependence on the Yangtze River, you must build this mountain road, and it should not even be repaired from the nearest water mouth, but from the Xingning County wharf, because the water depth there is more than four feet, which can completely pass through a steamship, compared with the water mouth that can only pass 200 quintals of wooden boats, its practical value is higher, and the water depth around the Laopingshi wharf can reach four feet in the watery season, and you can switch to a wooden boat when the water is dry.

But if the mountain road is not built, all this is empty talk.

"We have to rebuild this mountain road!"

Staring at the map with both eyes, thinking of the steep Dayao Mountain, Li Ziyuan's brows suddenly tightened, and when he said this, a voice came from the side.

"My lord, I'm afraid that the mountain road in Nanling is not easy to repair! Nanling has a lot of miasma, along the way we have not heard the horse gang say these things, sometimes people walk and fall down, I don't know how many strangers buried along the way, if it is a road, my lord, if there are casualties in this road worker, I am afraid that it will cause trouble in vain......"

The reason why Li Ziyuan brought six students from Wenshan Yishu to Guangdong was to use the Western practical learning they learned in Yishu, and they carried out the drawing of maps, water depth surveys, and even the collection of minerals and plants along the way.

"And the most important thing is the funding, my lord, Han Du plans to build a railway, this railway is bound to cross the South Ridge, after the arrival of engineers from abroad, they will survey the route, but the adults are building mountain roads at this time, will there be a suspicion of waste?"

For Sun Yilin, who was born in a scholarly family and lost his family and became an orphan because of the occupation of Wuchang by Cantonese bandits, although he was only 18 years old, he now put himself in the position of a staff member, so that he could seize this opportunity to be used by the governor of Guangdong in front of him, and it was precisely because of this that he would take the initiative to express himself and even raise his concerns.

"It's not easy to repair, but it has to be repaired, and building this mountain road now should be all about accumulating experience for building railways in the future, as for the ...... of this road."

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Li Ziyuan said in a rather calm tone.

"Aren't there tens of thousands of people in Guangdong who can use it! You don't need so many people to run a salt farm! ”

The tens of thousands of people in Li Ziyuan's mouth naturally refer to those who have surrendered, because most of the garrisons in Guangdong are related to the Han military banner, so they are still living in the mansions in the city for the time being. But before coming to Guangdong, Li Ziyuan had already made a plan, and he had to move all those people out of Guangzhou, even if Guangdong had returned to the hands of the Han people, naturally those people could not be allowed to steal the houses in the city again.

Considering that in the next year or two, it is necessary to increase salt production as much as possible to ensure the salt consumption of Huguang, Li Ziyuan, who is preparing to build a salt farm, has decided to send all those garrison flag men to Xuwen and build a salt farm in Xuwen.

Drying salt is never an easy job, in fact, drying salt is harder than farming, those salt Ding do all day long work is dirty and tired, not to mention, because of the long time barefoot work on the salt Cheng, both feet are almost pickled to death, soaked rotten, in all walks of life, the most miserable is the salt people.

In Li Ziyuan's view, those banner people have enjoyed hundreds of years of blessings, and now let them work in the salt factory, first, to atone for their sins, and second, because of the importance of salt to the governor's office.

After all, this will come to a place where money is spent everywhere, expanding the army, building factories, building railways, and building ships, and it will be silver at every turn. As the governor of Guangdong, Li Ziyuan naturally understands what his political achievements are, which is silver! To provide more taxes to the governor's office, it is naturally impossible to raise taxes, in addition to sorting out the finances, the salt tax is his biggest reliance on breaking through his political achievements.

In this way, he naturally moved his brains to the flag people, not to mention those flag people who are not engaged in production, and now they are still wasting the food of the government, which not only solves their livelihood, but also reduces the burden of the government, and more importantly, increases the income of the government.

"Your Excellency, what do you mean......"

Looking at the adult, Sun Yilin asked tentatively.

"What do you mean? Transfer all those bannermen full of eight banners to build this mountain road. It's February, and by the end of the year, the official will not only have to make this road clear! And this road can also run a Western-style carriage! ”

Li Ziyuan's words seemed extremely calm, and he didn't even make the slightest wave, in his opinion, doing so was actually solving a big trouble in the governor's mansion. Those bannermen had not been productive for a hundred years, and now that they had surrendered, it was also a burden for the Governor's Office - since there was no land to settle down, they could only be raised.

Bringing them over to build the road now is undoubtedly an excellent start, at least to some extent to solve the problem that the Governor's Office is now facing! Moreover, to use those people to build roads, you only need to pay some subsistence rations, and you don't need to pay other remuneration at all, not to mention that this is also a decision made by Han Du a long time ago.

"My lord, if it is, if it can't be repaired by then......"

As soon as the words came out, Sun Yilin regretted it, although he had the answer in his heart, why did he ask, Han Du ostensibly spared those banner people, but in fact, he ...... Now the adults will do this, either with the consent of Han Du or with the tacit approval, isn't it superfluous to ask such a question?

"If you can't fix it, then things will be simpler......"

Putting down the map in his hand, Li Ziyuan's tone was still quiet without the slightest wave, as if he was talking about an insignificant thing, in fact, it was insignificant, and he didn't even ask Han Du at all, as a subordinate, he was naturally able to figure out Han Du's thoughts,

"Okay, let's not talk about this for the time being, when we get to Guangzhou, we will do these things well!" (To be continued.) )