In the Zhizhou Mansion of Qiongzhou City, Su Song sat in the study and was also worried, he has been in office for nearly half a year, since he came to Qiongzhou City, he has always wanted to change the poverty and backwardness of Qiongzhou, but after this period of investigation and research, it was found that the poverty in Qiongzhou was actually formed by several reasons, and he couldn't find a good solution for a while.

Speaking of Qiongzhou, the largest number of people in Qiongzhou is not the Han nationality, but the Li nationality and the Miao nationality, the number of Han nationality is only ranked third, and because of some reasons, the contradictions between the three ethnic groups are numerous, and conflicts often break out between each other, coupled with the harsh environment of Qiongzhou, miasma and poisonous insects are rampant, and there are no outstanding specialties, these various reasons make it more difficult to change the status quo of Qiongzhou.

"Father, I heard that the fleet of ships leaving the port from Guangzhou will pass through the Qiongzhou Strait in the north, can we build a port to attract those fleets to come and berth, just like our deep-water port in the Great Song Dynasty, relying on the port to bring some new income to Qiongzhou." When Su Song was frowning, suddenly a young man sitting in the study said, this young man's name is Su Chong, Su Song's eldest son, he just graduated from Gewu Academy some time ago, and he had a lot to do if he stayed in the capital, but he knew that his father was demoted to Qiongzhou, so he immediately decided to come with his father, so that he could help his father if there was anything.

Su Chong majored in physics at Gewu College, he inherited his father's talent in natural sciences, and he was very good in the academy, and even the academy intended to keep him as a teacher, but unfortunately he refused because of his father. However, although Su Chong is very good at physics, he has some shortcomings in political talent.

I saw that after Su Song heard his son's construction, he shook his head with a wry smile and said: "Chong'er, what you think is too simple, although the fleet that goes to the South Seas leads from our Qiongzhou Strait to Guò, but you must know that not every sea ship needs supplies when it arrives at a port. Generally, after the fleet is replenished once, it can sail a considerable distance, and those fleets from the shore of Guangzhou will generally only pass through the Qiongzhou Strait to the deep-water port to replenish after leaving Guangzhou, and the port over there is a natural excellent port, which is convenient for the entry and exit of ships. Second, the port there has already formed a scale after the construction of Princess Chen Guo and his wife, and the fleet is also used to supplying there, there is no natural excellent port near Qiongzhou, and the investment in building a large port is too large, so it is impossible to compete for a deep-water port. ”

Hearing his father's denial of his proposal, Su Chong couldn't help frowning, this idea was something he had come up with with great difficulty, but he didn't expect it to be feasible at all. This made him a little frustrated.

Su Song also saw his son's frustration, and immediately smiled and comforted: "Although it is not feasible for you to mention it, it reminds me that the deep-water port is becoming more and more prosperous, and the demand for various materials is also increasing. However, the land is fertile, and the rice can be harvested three times a year. In this case, I think it is better to buy grain materials in Qiongzhou and then transport them to the deep-water port, although this is not very profitable, but it is a very stable financial route. ”

"Huh? This is a good idea, although the deep-water port is getting more and more prosperous. But after all, it is in the territory of Jiaozhi, and the closest place to the deep-water port should be our Qiongzhou, and it is very convenient to take a boat from Qiongzhou, so it seems that it is very convenient to arrive. Qiongzhou can be used as a logistics base for deep-water port development! Su Chong also slapped his thigh when he heard his father's words.

However, Su Song was not as excited as his son, because he knew that even if Qiongzhou could provide materials for the deep-water port, there were many problems in Qiongzhou itself, such as ethnic contradictions, such as although there was a lot of land, there were not many people who cultivated the land, and the annual output of grain was also limited, so even if the supply of materials for the deep-water port was opened, the help to Qiongzhou was limited.

Su Chong was excited for a while, then suddenly thought of something, and immediately raised his head and said excitedly to his father: "Father, you have heard, our dean has come to Guangzhou from the capital, it is said that he was ordered by His Majesty Xià to take over the sea trade, with the talent of the dean, it will definitely make the sea trade more prosperous, and then we can get some light, maybe in a few years, Qiongzhou will change the current situation of poverty." ”

"Well, I also heard about His Royal Highness King Yue's coming to Guangzhou, and I just got the news a few days ago, His Royal Highness has also arrived in Guangzhou, and is now preparing to take over the sea trade, Chong'er, you are a student of Your Highness, I think you might as well go to Guangzhou to help Your Highness, maybe you can mix up a formal official body in the future." Su Song said at this time, he always felt that letting his son follow him had delayed his future, especially in Qiongzhou, where the mountains and rivers were poor, and Su Chong really had no future here.

"This is not in a hurry, the dean told us at the beginning, although we can learn a belly of theory in the college, but if we want to transform the theory into practice, we need to continue to practice and learn, it just so happens that my father's erudition makes the dean very impressed, so my son can learn more things with you, and I feel that I have some ability in the future, and it is not too late to go to Guangzhou to find the dean." Su Chong shook his head and refused.

Hearing his son say this, Su Song was also a little helpless, he knew that Su Chong was still worried that he would not have a helper in Qiongzhou, so he insisted on staying, as for following his own study, it was probably comforting him, because he found that since his son entered Gewu Academy, he couldn't even understand what he had learned, and then he was cheeky to ask Zhao Yan for advice, and then borrowed some textbooks from the academy to study by himself, so that he could communicate with his son normally.

Just when Su Song's father and son were talking, Zhao Yan and his party finally crossed the dock and entered Qiongzhou City, speaking of which Qiongzhou City is also the county seat of Qiongshan County, in addition to the vicinity of the capital, the Great Song County is divided into five grades, namely Wang, tight, upper, middle and lower, of which more than 1,000 households are eligible to be rated as Zhong County, and more than 2,000 households can be called Shang County, and Qiongshan County is the only middle county in Qiongzhou, which shows that the population of Qiongshan County is only more than 1,000 households, and the total population is estimated to be about five or six thousand people. Not as populous as a later town.

Zhao Yan and they came to the gate of Qiongzhou, and when they came here, they immediately felt the poverty of Qiongzhou City, and the Qiongzhou City in front of them was also the capital of a state, but they saw that the entire city gate was very dilapidated, the masonry of the outer wall had fallen off a lot, and the soil inside was washed into one big pit after another by the rain, and the entire city gate and city wall looked like they were pitted, as if they had been bombarded with flames countless times.

In addition, compared with other state capitals that Zhao Yan has seen, the city wall of Qiongzhou City is not only dilapidated, but also very low, Zhao Yan estimates that it is only more than three meters less than four meters, if there is a war, such a short city wall can play a very limited role, and the city gate hole is also very small, there are a few officials in front of the door who are responsible for checking pedestrians and collecting taxes, but they are all dressed in tatters, and they look like they are called Huazi, even the people in the public gate are dressed like this, and ordinary people are naturally not much better.

Zhao Yan and the others entered the city of Qiongzhou through the city gate, but as Zhao Yan expected, all the places in the city were low-rise houses, and most of the houses here were thatched houses, a gust of sea breeze blew, and the thatch on the roof and the garbage on the ground flew everywhere, adding a bit of desolation.

"The capital of a state is so dilapidated and poor, no wonder the imperial court regards this place as a place for the distribution of prisoners." Su Shi looked at the chaotic streets and pedestrians on the road in front of him at this time, and sighed at the moment.

"Yes, even Qiongzhou City is such a scene, I really don't know what the other counties under Qiongzhou are like?" Wang Shiyue also said at this time, although he used to travel between Guangzhou and the deep-water port, but he had never stayed in Qiongzhou, but he had heard that it was a poor mountain and bad water, and now after witnessing the scene of Qiongzhou City, he had a deeper understanding of the poverty in Qiongzhou.

For Su Shi's words, Zhao Yan smiled slightly, and he didn't agree much in his heart, because he found that although Qiongzhou was poor, the people who came and went were even more tattered, but most of them had a shiny complexion, which showed that their usual diet was not bad, but it was normal to think about it, Qiongzhou is surrounded by the sea and is located in the tropics, and the fruits and seafood on the island can be seen everywhere, even if a person does not work, he can get enough food, so they don't have to worry about hunger like the poor people in the Central Plains. It's just that other living materials are relatively scarce.

At that moment, Zhao Yan and they came to the Zhizhou Mansion in Qiongzhou, which is the center of this small city, compared with other buildings in the city, the Zhizhou Mansion is relatively tall, but because of disrepair, the green bricks on the outer wall have been corroded, and the brick powder will fall down when touched, and look inside through the outer wall, you can also see that the houses inside are also very dilapidated, and some even collapsed directly, without the slightest bit of Zhizhou Yamen's bearing.

"It seems that Brother Zirong's life is not easy, the court degraded him to the governor of Qiongzhou, but if you look at the current appearance of Qiongzhou, it is estimated that his life as a governor is not much better than that of the criminals assigned here." Su Shi pointed to the dilapidated Zhizhou Yamen at this time and said, he used to think that the scenery of Qiongzhou was good, but now it seems that no matter how good the scenery is, it is not suitable for living here for a long time.

"Let's go, let's go visit Su Zhizhou, it just so happens that I also have some advice on Qiongzhou, I hope I can help Qiongzhou a little." Zhao Yan looked at the surrounding scenery again, and said at the moment, seeing that Qiongzhou was so poor, Zhao Yan couldn't help but have the idea of wanting to help here, it just so happened that he knew some information about Hainan in his later life, maybe he could help Su Song. (To be continued......)