"Big brother, the matter of expropriating the land has come to an end for the time being, and the next step is to dig and widen the river for about three hundred miles. When I think back to when my eldest brother was at home, he dug a canal for the family for less than five miles, and the family was busy with chickens and dogs jumping ......"

Writing about the past, Wen Zhang showed a wry smile of nostalgia, and the pen stopped. He only felt that he was apprehensive at this time, and he stopped for a while before suppressing his mood. After that, Wen Zhang continued: "Big brother, the 300-mile river will take several years, and a large number of people will be requisitioned every year, and the locals are only afraid that they will complain......

At this point, Wen Zhang stopped writing again. After a while, he picked up the letter and tore it, picked up a piece of paper and wrote: "Big brother, the matter of expropriating the land is over for the time being. After that, I will do two things, the first is to recover all the hills and slopes in the upper reaches of Jiangning, and designate them as forestry and soil and water conservation land according to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture. The second is to excavate and widen the 300-mile river. Once this project is completed, the people of Jiangning will benefit. The eldest brother is the secretary of the ministry, if there is a resolute person, please let him go to Jiangning as an official ......"

After writing the letter to his eldest brother Wen Tianxiang, Wen Zhang put a stamp on it and asked the secretary to send it out. He then presided over the latest meeting, starting with the speech of the newly promoted director of the Finance Bureau, "According to the new plan, we are afraid that we will have to ask the imperial court for 10 million yuan in banknotes." ”

This number has shocked officials, but the impact is not too great. After all, for more than ten years, the officials and local expenditures of the Great Song Dynasty did not rely on taxes, but on the allocation of the imperial court. The crowd got used to it. The court probably wants to give money, but there is little hope for 10 million.

"How much silk can be produced this year?" Wen Zhang asked the director of the industrial bureau.

"Now there are four factories open, but there is some income. It's just that the price of silk is so low, and we in Jiangning are not good at embroidery. Can't make much money. ”

"How is the textile mill being built?"

"The output of cotton cloth has increased a lot, but the source of cotton is relatively tight."

Wenzhang felt that the director of industry was very careful and tried to avoid paying taxes. So Wenzhang asked the director of the agriculture bureau, "What is the situation of rapeseed oil and fish farming recently?" ”

"Although the rice fish is very good, the yield is too low. Fish ponds are required for large quantities of fish, and fish ponds require a lot of feed. "The Department of Agriculture also raised a number of difficulties.

After questioning many officials, Wenzhang wrote a report and sent it to Hangzhou. Zhao Jiaren read the report and called the director of the Maritime Safety Bureau to ask: "How is the overseas silk sales recently?" ”

"Go back to the official's house. Now the price of overseas silk is not much higher than the price of domestic silk. If the shipping cost is removed, the silk sold overseas is cheaper than our domestic one. ”

"What sells better overseas?"

"The only products that sell well overseas are steel products, kitchen knives, iron pots, steel needles, silk threads, and medicines. These things sell the best overseas. The pearls have just been sold overseas, and the prices are good. It's just that pearls are about the same as silk porcelain and other things, and as long as the quantity increases, the price will also fall. ”

The director of the maritime bureau looked a little lost, but not particularly excited. Of course, this is because Zhao Jiaren himself is the major shareholder of the Navigation Guild, and these things can't be hidden from him. Another reason is that there are many lice and no itching, and there are many people who question the Maritime Safety Bureau, so much that the Maritime Safety Bureau does not care at all.

Of course, Zhao Jiaren knows this, the Great Song Dynasty is already a very commoditized country, and there are still a large number of industries that have not become a member of the social production system. The level of social progress of other countries was much lower than that of the Great Song Dynasty, and the total amount of trade with them was actually very limited. Zhao Jiaren did not blame the Maritime Safety Bureau, and continued to ask: "How much has the import of rubber, palm and sisal increased?" ”

"That's a lot." The look of the director of the maritime safety bureau immediately became happy, "Sisal now produces 500,000 tons a year, and palm oil produces more than 400,000 tons a year. Rubber is now seven thousand tons. ”

When the director of the Maritime Safety Bureau left, Zhao Jiaren called the waiter of the Ministry of Industry to "open a rubber shoe factory in Jiangning." The glass factory also allocated some to them, so that they could sell it and make some money. ”

The waiter of the Ministry of Works looked depressed, "Official, there is a shortage of money everywhere now. Soap and glass are naturally good, but we lack alkali ore. After the Mongols moved westward, their source of alkaline noodles was greatly insufficient. ”

In the 21st century, junior high school courses will teach children that the basis of the chemical industry is three acids and two alkalis. The explosion in the output of two alkalis was after the industrial production of synthetic ammonia, and the two alkalis before that looked at the output of sodium carbonate. The mountains in Xinyang are high, and the road is difficult. In addition, the ore layer was bought very deep, and the prospecting team spent a lot of effort but could not find the ore vein. The sources that can provide soda ash now are probably the saline-alkali lands of Mongolia and Northeast China.

"We can only defeat the Mongols in the Helin area first, and take away the saline-alkali land where the grass does not grow." Zhao Jiaren smiled bitterly.

The waiter of the Ministry of Works also grinned after hearing this. This statement is very correct, but it has a feeling that makes people cry and laugh. The Wild Lands are disgusting, but they also have unexpected outputs. This kind of output is precisely the product of the scarcity of the Great Song Dynasty.

Zhao Jiaren could only smile bitterly in his heart. He only hopes that the 21st century textbook Chaganor Lake is really as the textbook says, able to dry salt in summer and produce alkali in winter. He said to the waiter of the Ministry of Works, "You send someone to the Yin Mountain." To the north, there is a lake that produces alkali noodles. ”

"There really are lakes like that." The squire of the Ministry of Works was greatly surprised.

"If you don't look for it, you'll never find it." Zhao Jiaren sighed.

After sending away these guys, Zhao Jiaren couldn't help but look at Wen Zhang's performance again. If you don't mention the part of asking for money from the imperial court, the future described in this letter can be described as perfect. The money in this is not used blindly, mainly to hire labor to do heavy manual labor in infrastructure construction.

Or do you want to ship slaves back from overseas? Such a thought popped up in Zhao Jiaren's mind. If you use slaves, you don't have to spend this money. As a doctor, Zhao Jiaren did not even worry about the reproduction of slaves. Heavy physical labor is a huge drain on life, and as long as you use a little bit of food and drink, slaves who are drained of physical strength under heavy physical labor will die in large numbers.

After thinking about this question very seriously for three minutes, Zhao Jiaren tapped his head hard. And think that they should be ashamed of it. But Zhao Jiaren also found that he did not feel the slightest shame because of this.

At this time, in the distant Wa Kingdom. Zhao Naruto felt a strong sense of shame. The guy on the other side was an emissary sent by the shogunate to get Naruto Zhao to surrender.

Zhao Naruto only felt a fever on his face, which was a relatively rare thing for him. was openly questioned about getting rich privately, and there was no emperor or shogunate at all. I have lost my dignity as a Japanese citizen.

"It's not like that!" Naruto Zhao tried to refute such accusations. But when the words came to his lips, he didn't know how to refute them. I can only say helplessly, "It's not like this!" ”

At this time, the only thing Zhao Naruto could be sure of was this sentence, and he could be sure that he had not raised pearls in the first place to rebel against the emperor or the shogunate.

"His Royal Highness Zhao, as long as you can get lost. Dedicate the method of raising pearls to the shogunate, and the shogunate may be able to promise to give you a guardian to do on the side of Okulu. The envoy of the Kamakura shogunate continued to persuade.

Such a statement made Zhao Naruto feel a sense of relief, at least he did not exist in the Wa Kingdom as a traitor. The mood relaxed a little, and the sanity returned. Zhao Naruto began to feel that he might need to discuss it with Qin Mingxuan, a noble man of the Great Song Dynasty. Zhao Naruto just wanted not to be bullied in the place of Shikoku Island, and he didn't really want to be a rebel of the Wa Kingdom.

"Please also ask the messenger to go and rest." Zhao Naruto said.

"What is there to talk about the Shogunate?" The messenger began to feel dissatisfied.

"This must be told to the people." Zhao Naruto explained.

After settling the envoy first, Zhao Mingren went to see Qin Mingxuan. After the meeting, Zhao Naruto told about the request made by the people who came to persuade the shogunate to surrender, and then said tentatively: "Your Highness Qin, do you think this matter can be discussed with the shogunate?" ”

Qin Mingxuan's face was gloomy, and he asked in a serious voice, "I don't know if there's anything to discuss." Commander Zhao, have you ever eaten a bite of the shogunate's food and received a penny of the shogunate's money over the years? ”

Zhao Naruto's heart was filled with the feeling of being a citizen of the Japanese Kingdom at this time, and he was also stunned when he was questioned like this.

"Is pearl farming really your business? This is not yet an industry handed over to you by the government, and with this industry, the Iyo Navy will have something to eat. When you are full of food from the official family, you think of being the filial son and grandson of the shogunate. He who is not loyal to you is good, but loyal to the enemy who threatens you. I have no idea what your faithfulness is all about. ”

Qin Mingxuan's words were simple and clear, perhaps because he was an upper-class member of the Great Song Dynasty and was more educated, Qin Mingxuan's voice was much softer and better than that of the envoys of the Kamakura Shogunate.

This time, Zhao Naruto still felt a trace of shame, but more of a kind of sobriety. He was also surprised at this time, why he had a ghostly feeling that he should belong to the Kamakura shogunate, or even the subordinates of the emperor he had never met. He considered himself a subordinate of those people, and he had to be recognized by the shogunate and the court of Heiankyo before he could do it. Until now, Zhao Naruto was only the commander of the naval army on Shikoku Island. It was only when he was under Zhao Jiaren that he was considered to have status.

Thinking of this, Zhao Naruto came to his senses completely. He smiled bitterly and said, "Being shouted at by the people of the shogunate, I actually felt that I was still in the Celestial Empire. If I were to be reprimanded like this by someone from the Celestial Empire, I would be honestly afraid. ”

Qin Mingxuan was stunned, in his eyes, Zhao Mingren may be a native of the Japanese Kingdom, but he is also a person from the Great Song Dynasty. If it weren't for that, Qin Mingxuan wouldn't have run so calmly to the place where the birds of the Four Kingdoms don't lay eggs to cultivate pearls. It's a very profitable business, but you have to face too many difficult feelings of being uprooted from your homeland.

Thinking about Zhao Mingren's mood, Qin Mingxuan still felt that something was wrong. He could only say according to his own thoughts: "Even if you want to be recruited, you have to be the guardian of the four countries." I thought that Shikoku would have a population of one million, but now that I look at the situation, Shikoku Island has a population of 250,000 at most. Even if you are the guardian of the four countries, what can you do? Now you are not raising an army to rebel, but only to hold on to the property entrusted to you by the officials. ”