Chapter 823 is above board

When the Iron Armor No. 3 approached the Dengzhou Wharf, the sound of crackling firecrackers immediately sounded.

Thousands of celebrities from all walks of life who are concerned about the Tiejia No. 3 test gathered at the 666 pier of Dengzhou Port to welcome this small Tiejia No. 3.

Anyone who understands understands it, and everyone who knows knows it.

Although a sailboat does not have to consume a lot of fresh water and coal like a steamer, and can carry a full load of goods as long as there is a wind, in fact, the constraints of a sailboat are also very large.

First of all, the wind direction, full of goods leaving the port to the south, with the wind and water, it is indeed possible to do twice the result with half the effort, but once sailing against the wind, not only the speed is slow, but it is prone to accidents.

Daming now has nearly 70,000 or 80,000 ships sailing on the sea, if you count the small boats in the big rivers and lakes, this number is estimated to be several times.

Businessmen, in particular, are in a hurry.

Because the fruits and rice in the south have improved because of the living standards of the people of the Ming Dynasty, fruits that were originally only enjoyed by nobles and wealthy families have begun to enter the homes of ordinary people.

But the problem is that because of the headwind in the north, the fresh fruit has a shelf life of a few days, and there is no way to transport it to the north, so it can only rot in the ground or fruit trees in the south, causing great waste.

Now this kind of steamer, it only takes three hours and a quarter of an hour to travel from Lushun to Dengzhou, which is already very fast.

With the success of the test of the Iron Armor No. 3, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty began to surround it to inquire about the latest news of the steamship.

In the era of industrialization, time is efficiency, efficiency is money, and no one will not pay attention to this issue.

As the saying goes, the ass determines the head, and the head determines the thinking.

Jeon Wook did not receive any news of the Iron Armor Three's experiments, he did not know that the Iron Armor Three had been successful, and when he arrived at the Daimyo's Mansion, he noticed that the water level in the ditch had been lowered to a very low level.

The irrigation facilities in the Daimyo's Mansion were very complete, and the local government led the people to dredge the river without Jeonxu's orders, and now it seems that drought is inevitable.

By the time Quan Xu walked to the territory of Guide Province, the drought had already affected the farmers in the field, and the wheat seedlings were growing sluggishly and were almost drying up, which meant that if they were not irrigated, they were afraid that the wheat or other crops would dry up and die.

After inquiry, it was learned that since April this year, there has not been a drop of rain.

Today's Ming Dynasty is really not short of food, and the Changping positions in various places have stored enough grain for three years, and the local governments are not too worried about this problem.

Theoretically speaking, Quan Xu is the emperor, he is the biggest landlord in the world, and all the land belongs to him.

Quan Xu disrupted his itinerary and observed the situation of the government and the people dealing with the drought all the way.

Especially when entering the territory of Xiayi County, in the time of Zhu Ming, because Li Zicheng had led soldiers and horses to attack Guide Mansion, because Guide Mansion held Li Zicheng's attack at that time, but after Xiayi County was tragically broken, King Xiao Qin, the son of King Chuang, died in battle for chasing and killing the official army, and the angry Li Zicheng slaughtered the city.

Later, Quan Xu organized the people of Xiayi County to migrate to Liaodong, so this plain area with an area of more than 1,500 square kilometers encountered many floods of the Yellow River, and the population was extremely sparse.

Even in the fourth year of Dingxin, the population of Xiayi County is still less than 8,000 households.

"It is not difficult to dredge the river, and it is even very simple, the silt in the river is the best fertilizer, dig out the silt, dry it, and sprinkle it into the ground, compared to any chemical fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer, but it works!"

A man over half a hundred years old, barefoot, while directing the people to dredge the river, said with a smile: "If you don't want this silt, you can give it to me, and I will give you money......

Da Ming has now formed his own system, although he doesn't know the true identity of this man, looking at what this man is wearing, this is a faded black robe, and on the cuffs of the robe, there is a copper-colored chest pocket, just like the small pocket of the suit in later generations, which is to facilitate the placement of ballpoint pens or pens.

It also means that this man should be a member of the government, at least a town mayor, and the town fort in the border area is led by the town guard and the town mayor, and in the Ming Dynasty, the two capitals and thirteen provinces belong to the one leadership system.

To be honest, the drought-fighting project in Xiayi County was progressing smoothly, but Quan Xu was not very happy, and vaguely, he felt as if he had overlooked something.

Stopping and stopping all the way, although Quan Xu had many guards around him and carried dozens of four-wheeled carriages, he did not attract the attention of the people because of the prosperity of commerce in Daming now.

When passing by Yucheng, Quan Xu, Helena, and Sanniang rested at a usual post station.

"The drought here is quite serious this year, what does the government say?"

"I met with Mr. Gu from Yongcheng County yesterday, and Mr. Gu said that if we want the river to fully play its role in the surrounding farmland, then we should build a reservoir, because in the dry season, the river will break off and degenerate into small ponds one by one, which cannot provide enough water for the surrounding farmland, and if we build a reservoir, there will be no problem in this regard......"

Hearing the chatter of the pedestrians next door, Quan Xu suddenly realized.

Reservoirs, yes, reservoirs!

The role of reservoirs for agriculture does not need to be emphasized, especially in areas where there is a clear rainy season and dry season in Daming, building a reservoir can store water when the river floods in the rainy season, and then ensure that the farmland has enough water supply during the dry season.

Moreover, the reservoir can be upgraded to a hydroelectric power station, which can provide a stable power supply once the hydropower station is completed.

Around Beijing, the government has built several reservoirs, not for agriculture, but because the people of Beijing have enough water to drink.

The city of Beijing has a population of more than one million, plus the population in Shuntianfu, the population is also nearly 10 million, according to the normal consumption of 0.54 tons of fresh water per person, it also means that Shuntianfu consumes more than 5 million cubic meters of water a day.

This is only theoretical data, horses, cattle, sheep, and other livestock in Beijing also need to consume a lot of water, of course, in addition to the normal consumption of people and livestock, the steam engines around Beijing, that is the big consumer of water resources. Any factory consumes an astronomical amount of water in a day.

Once the drought is severe, the impact on Beijing will be fatal.

Quanxu did not build a large-scale reservoir, the main reason is that the Ming Dynasty is now very backward in the study of electricity, although the imitation project of diesel engines has been completed, more and more diesel engines began to serve the industrial manufacturing field of the Ming Dynasty, especially in some places where steam engines are not used.

Although Quanxu does not understand the technology of hydropower stations, at least Quanxu is very clear about the prospects of hydropower stations.

Jeon Wook, who entered the territory of Yongcheng, was often silent.

Sanniang asked with concern: "Xianggong, is your identity uncomfortable?" Should I have a doctor's visit? ”

"No, I'm just thinking about something!"

Although the technology for hydropower projects is not mature, Quan Xu sees another crisis. On the highway from Yucheng to Yongcheng, there was actually a toll booth. That's right, Quan Xu knows that this situation has occurred, because no one in the Ming government stipulates that infrastructure projects must be undertaken by the government.

Not only Yongcheng, but all the projects in this period can actually be invested privately, such as the basic transportation facilities such as railway branch lines, and even completely by private investment, the government also wants to invest, but there is no money, so for the sake of economic development, the government even has to provide ancillary conditions to attract private investment.

The purpose of capital is to make a profit, so the pricing money of privately invested basic transportation facilities is not in the government, and people want to use those privately invested basic transportation facilities, and how much they have to pay is the final word of capital. Those tycoons in the United States are basically related to railways and shipping.

It is still quite difficult to completely solve the problem of drought now, let alone now, even if such advanced technology in later generations cannot completely solve the impact of drought.

Although the drought on the road is very serious, but not much affected the lives of the people, it is clear that the industrialization process of the Ming Dynasty has shown obvious results, Yongcheng is the main grain producing area, with wheat, corn, soybean production and processing formed a large-scale industry.

Along the way, Quan Xu saw at least twenty or thirty flour mills, large and small, the technology at this time was quite primitive, in the later generations of million-ton flour milling enterprises, only dozens or even hundreds of people can be done, in this period, it is necessary to fight the sea of tactics.

This means that the grain harvest is gone, and the people can also work or participate in the disaster relief projects organized by the government to obtain sufficient income and meet the basic living security.

At the toll station in the west of the city, Quan Xu's fifteen four-wheeled carriages, each carriage levied five cents, and each person levied one penny, a total of one tael or three cents of silver.

Quan Xu thought of a joke in later generations, and couldn't help laughing: "In the past, bandits blocked the road and robbed, and they would say, I opened this mountain, and I planted this tree." If you want to live from now on, leave the money to buy the road...... How rude and barbaric this is, now it's okay, you see now, there is a toll station in front of you, please slow down, please get a card for parking, please pay, thank you for your cooperation! We wish you a safe trip...... How civilized and polite! What does this mean? ”

Sanniang was a little puzzled: "What does it mean?" ”

"The facts tell us that hooligans are not afraid, but they are afraid that hooligans are educated!"

Sanniang thought about it, and instantly understood what Quan Xu was referring to, isn't the current toll booth just to stop the robbery? And it was very dark, they entered the cement road from Yucheng, and when they arrived in the west of the city, they collected one or two or three coins of silver in just over forty miles, which was also too dark.

Sanniang knows very well that blocking the road and robbing is a technical job, because people rarely travel in this era, and a huge team like Quan Xu has more or less guards, once they rob. There will also be casualties, but now it's okay, consciously pay.

Sanniang asked, "Then why doesn't the government care?" Are the officials in league with these people? ”

Quan Xu Waner smiled: "In fact, there is no way to manage it, the tax revenue of the imperial court is limited, we don't collect agricultural taxes from farmers now, and there are too many places to spend money, officials, soldiers, teachers, and all aspects need to receive money and food, but the people don't have roads, and the grain in the fields can't be collected and transported out without roads, they can only rot in the ground, and they can become money with roads!" ”

Quan Xu asked the matter of building the reservoir to be discussed by the Government Council.

He's just one person and can't do everything.

After entering Yongcheng, Quan Xu found that things had gone to two extremes, because there were many rivers in the southeast of Yongcheng, and the rivers were reticulated, so the drought here was not serious.

The large and small waterwheels on the river lead the river water to the farmland, and now the village is verdant, the breeze blows, the green waves ripple, and even magnificent.

In the east of Yongcheng City, Quan Xu also met a large family who was doing a happy event, the roadside was full of tables, and the tables were full of dishes, whether it was a fellow villager from Sili Eight Villages, or a foreigner passing by along the way, they were invited to the banquet to eat and drink.

A steward came to Quan Xu's team: "Guest officer, please trouble!" ”

"What?"

"If you are not too busy, you may wish to take a break and have a glass of water and wine!"

Quan Xu asked curiously: "The scale of this flowing water seat is not small, your host is ......?"

"If you want to talk about my master, then it's a big deal!" The steward smiled proudly: "My master is the governor of Jinan......

Governor of Jinan?

Quan Xu was slightly stunned, the governor of Jinan is actually Qin Zhengyang, the righteous son of Qin Chengzu, because the strategic position of Jinan is not the same as that of Jinan in later generations, this governor's mansion is actually a third-class governor's mansion, like Andong, Anbei, including Anxi, Central South, North Africa, Xinhua, which belongs to the first-class governor's office.

Chengdu, Lanzhou, including Nanjing, Guangzhou, Luzon, etc., belong to the second-level governors, and the level is different.

If Qin Zhengyang is happy, Quan Xu really needs to participate.

As a result, the steward continued: "Lord Shi Song, the governor of the Jinan Governor's Mansion! ”

Oh, Lord Song, Quan Xu understands, this is Song Xiance.

The ancients said that wealth and nobility do not return to their hometowns, just like brocade clothes walking at night.

Song Xiance is a native of Yongcheng, and because of his short stature, he is known as Song Child, in this time and space, he lost the opportunity to be loyal to Li Zicheng, but became Qin Chengzu's confidant and brother-in-law.

However, this kind of private strategist has no official status, and later, Quan Xu unified the world, Qin Chengzu began Song Xiance to seek his background, and Quan Xu didn't care about the height and appearance of officials, just like that, Song Xiance became the governor of Jinan Governor's Mansion, which is equivalent to a military attache civilian position at the level of colonel.

The people of Yongcheng were not friendly to Song Xiance, until now after he got married, he gave birth to a son, and with the support of his wife Song Yanniang, he came to his hometown to show off.

As soon as the running water table opens, it will be ten days, and anyone who has no gifts, can participate.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty, as long as they have a clear conscience and are above board, they can eat and drink, Song Yanniang has a good relationship with Zhu Weiyuan, and Song Yanniang has a stake in many industries of Zhu Weiyuan, including down processing, textiles, and canned food......

PS: I'm very sorry, I got off work last night at one o'clock in the morning, I wrote less than 2,000 words, Lao Cheng fell asleep on the computer desk, and I didn't wake up until half past seven, I just finished the code, I'm very sorry! A more chapter will be added later today to make up for Lao Cheng's mistakes!