"This must not happen!" As soon as Hu Ye finished speaking, Jin Zhong stood up and objected.

"Your Highness, uncertain and tide white are the dragon veins of Yan Land, if the dragon veins are blocked, then the entire Yan Land will fall into turmoil. Therefore, this matter must not be done, and I hope that His Highness will think twice. He said to Zhu Di.

Dragon vein? Hu Ye thinks that this is pure nonsense, and later generations have built so many reservoirs in Beijing, and nothing has happened in Beijing. If, according to Jin Zhong's statement, the Three Gorges Hydropower Station on the Yangtze River has blocked the dragon veins of the entire China, wouldn't the land of China be in turmoil every year?

So Hu Ye scoffed at this statement and asked Jin Zhong, "Lord Jin, I don't know where you heard about the dragon vein. But I don't know anything, and I would like to ask you to clarify your doubts. ”

"What's the matter?"

"Dare to ask my lord, is Minjiang also the dragon vein of Chengdu Mansion? Then why did Li Bing of the pre-Qin Dynasty build a Dujiangyan there, but the country of abundance became more and more prosperous? Is this what adults call turmoil? Hu Ye asked mercilessly.

"Hmph, Chengdu is Chengdu, and Beiping is Beiping, how can they be compared."

Jin Zhong also seems to feel that he is a little unreasonable, but for the sake of face, he still has to refute one or two. As soon as he followed Zhu Di to Beiping, he said that the two rivers of Wuding and Chaobai are the dragon veins of Beiping, as long as these two rivers are there, Beiping is the prosperous Yongchang.

"Lord Jin, this matter is related to the comfort of the people of Beiping, and it is not something that you can obstruct without saying the same thing." Hu Ye first said to Jin Zhong, and then turned his words to Zhu Di.

"Your Highness, the two places I have painted are low-lying and relatively open places. So if you build a dam a little further down, you can store a lot of water. The opening of canals to divert water as mentioned by His Highness is indeed useful when the water source is sufficient, but when there is a great drought, it is completely useless. ”

"But if we build a dam in the two places I'm talking about, we can solve the problem once and for all. In times of drought, it can be used to store water, which may not solve the irrigation problem in the entire Beiping area, but at least it will allow the people to grow grain for export. In the event of a flood, these two dikes can buffer the flood and protect the downstream from the threat of flooding. So I look at this Wuding River, which can be renamed Yongding River. ”

Hu Ye only explained the use of the reservoir a little, and was proud that the Wuding River, which would have been renamed for hundreds of years, was going to be renamed Yongding River because of himself.

"You ......"

Jin Zhong looked at Hu Ye and said, knowing that he would definitely not be able to say anything about him, so he had a red neck, quite a bit of cockfighting momentum.

"Okay, solving the problem of drought is the first priority, don't be entangled in what dragon veins are not dragon veins." Zhu Di waved his hand to interrupt Jin Zhong, he didn't care that Jin Zhong always liked to fight with Hu Ye, what he wanted was a solution to the problem, so he asked Hu Ye again, "It's not easy to build a dam on these two rivers." ”

"First of all, there is the problem of people, now everyone is busy plowing the fields, waiting for the rain to sow seeds, and there is no labor to be found. Then there is the problem of money, such a big project, without hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, cannot be repaired. Now that the palace is so poor, even if it asks the court for money, it will allocate tens of thousands of taels at most, so what can you find to fill the gap of hundreds of thousands of taels? ”

"Hehe, I think these two questions are actually one question. It doesn't rain, and the people plough the land for nothing, so Your Highness doesn't have to worry about the problem of labor, and you can pay them wages at that time. So it comes down to one issue, and that's money. As for money, you still have to ask for it. Hu Ye listened to Zhu Di's worries, and didn't care, but explained them one by one.

"Businessmen, it's nothing more than profit. As long as it's good for them, they will do it. Just as it is possible to allow their sons to participate in the imperial examinations, we can also make them profitable in this matter. ”

Zhu Di and the others couldn't help but be stunned when they heard this, you let other people's hundreds of thousands of taels of silver come out, and said that it would be profitable for others?

So Zhu Di said, "Boy, do you think businessmen are idiots? Such a loss-making transaction, they will do it? That's hundreds of thousands of taels, not tens of taels, even if a businessman is very rich, it is difficult to get it. ”

"Hehe, Your Highness, the benefits are divided into long and short benefits. If they pay attention to the immediate interests, they will naturally not take out so much silver in a daze, but if they have a long-term vision, they will obediently take it out. And with a little trickery on the part of His Highness, they will also rush to send money to His Highness. Hu Ye said with a wicked smile, as if he had seen the scene of businessmen breaking their heads and coming to send money.

"Oh, what subtotal?"

Zhu Di asked curiously, and even Xu Miaoyin and the others stretched their necks, waiting to hear Hu Ye's peerless plan. It is definitely a rare thing for a businessman who can eat people without spitting out bones to take the initiative to send money.

"Your Highness, as I said just now, the current social status of merchants is low, so they are very eager to improve their status. Allowing their children and grandchildren to participate in the imperial examination is a long road, but it is too long. And the effect is not necessarily good, not every businessman's child is a figure like Li Bai. ”

"So being able to increase their prestige is what they care about the most. Therefore, His Highness only needs to erect two monuments in these two places where the dam is built. The name of each donor is written on each tablet, and the more donations, the higher the name. ”

"Also, His Highness can post a list of good people in Beiping. People who donate the most from all walks of life can appear on the list. If possible, His Highness may also send a petition to the person who has given the most money by name. However, this seems to be difficult, and the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty will oppose it. If this item can be implemented, it is estimated that the first person to donate will be able to contribute tens of thousands of taels of silver. The more Hu Ye spoke, the more excited he became, and he actually hit Zhu Yuanzhang with the idea, but then he calmed down, knowing that it was impossible for Zhu Yuanzhang to make a holy decree to praise the businessman.

Every time Hu Ye said something, Zhu Di's heart tightened. Erecting a monument for merchants? A list of good people for businessmen? A decree for a merchant? Who would dare to do this? It is strange not to be criticized by the scholars. But listening to Hu Ye's description, it seems that he can get a lot of money by doing this, and it can also solve the problem of drought in the future.

"The first two are okay, and I have the right to do so. As for the request, I think it's better to forget it. Zhu Di felt that this was feasible, and it was okay to be scolded by the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs. However, Zhu Di still didn't think about the holy decree, he knew his father's temper, and he would never give an edict for a group of businessmen.

"Hehe, the first two are enough. As for the decree, it will be more effective when His Highness ascends to the throne in the future, and then it will be the time for those merchants to bleed. Hu Ye smiled darkly, revealing two rows of white teeth, and the few people who watched it were furious.

They couldn't help but wonder if Hu Ye and the businessmen had a great enmity. But what made them suspect the most was that Weishenme Hu Ye was so sure that Zhu Di would be able to succeed in the rebellion. In Hu Ye's words, they had heard the news of Zhu Di's ascension to the throne many times.

This is either an unpredictable prophet or a madman. But after these observations, they believe that Hu Ye is not crazy. Then it shows that Hu Ye has the ability to predict the future, so Hu Ye is even more mysterious in their hearts.

"To solve this problem, money and people are not enough. It is also necessary to have an excellent hydraulic engineer, for example, there is a Ruan An in the palace, he is good, and many buildings in Nanjing are built under his auspices. Presumably, it should not be difficult for His Highness to borrow someone. Hu Ye said again.

Hu Ye is no stranger to Ruan An, and the future Beijing City was built by this person. In this era of lack of knowledge, it is a miracle that such a great architect can appear.

If you can explain a little bit of mechanics to him, I think this person will be able to draw inferences from the past and make China's architectural history throw a few streets from the West. Although Hu Ye had very little knowledge of mechanics, this did not prevent him from guiding a Chinese Newton.

"Well, I've also heard of this person, and the imperial palace in Nanjing was basically built by this person. His talent is definitely no worse than Li Bing in Jiangyan, and as for borrowing someone, I don't think my father will object. Zhu Di nodded and said, "After solving the problem of water conservancy, the next step is to dig deep wells and accumulate grain." ”

"It's easy to dig wells, but it's hard to accumulate grain. This northern expedition of the army has consumed a lot of food. So now there is not much grain in Beiping, and if there is no harvest this year, it is estimated that this winter will be very difficult. Zhu Di frowned again and said.

"Your Highness, digging a well is indeed easy to do. But accumulating food is not as difficult as His Highness imagined. Those rice and grain trading houses in Beiping, they should have a lot of grain in stock, and His Royal Highness can let them hand over grain to replace the silver taels, and they can also be on the list of good people. This will not only solve some of the food problems, but also prevent them from driving up food prices after the outbreak of the severe drought. ”

"In addition, the Grand Canal can be fully utilized, allowing merchants to transport grain from Jiangnan to Beiping through this canal. After all, there is a lot of grain in the south of the Yangtze River, and the impact of the drought on them is much smaller. I believe that in order to be on the list of good people, there will be many businessmen who are willing to transport grain. ”

"One thing is that this year we want to completely change the variety of crops. If wheat is still grown as in previous years, even if the two dams are built, there will not be enough water to irrigate the wheat. Therefore, only planting millet that is more drought-tolerant, although the yield is a little lower, can solve part of the food problem. ”

"In this way, if we start to tighten our food and clothing from now on, it should not be a problem to survive this year's drought." Hu Ye analyzed Zhu Di in a clear manner.