"The backward official system has greatly hindered the development of the coal industry and the ironmaking industry in Daming. Thus hindering the economic development of the Ming Dynasty in disguise, the income of the treasury. Shen Wansan said, "So Your Majesty's move today coincides with the meeting, and it just solves the problem of poor road transportation, which is extremely wise." ”

Then he said: "The merchants pay for the road at their own expense, which is definitely not as formal as the road construction ordered by the imperial court." Individual road construction is uneven, and it needs to be planned by the imperial court. ”

"Lao Chen thinks that if you have to overhaul the official road, only build the road in Shanxi Province to facilitate the transportation of coal, why should the whole country overhaul the official road?" Lu Chang, the president of the Golden Bank, said, "Other provinces do not have a good business behavior, and I am afraid that they will be idle if they are repaired, which will not help Daming's income much." ”

"It's too much to build a provincial road." Shen Wansan said, "Lord Lu, we can't just focus on the present, we must take a long-term view. ”

"What if other provinces develop later? When the time comes, it will be a bit too late to build the road. ”

"And the transportation of the silk industry also depends on official roads. Now that the southwest is changing rice to mulberry to provide silk for the Jiangnan region, is it not even necessary to build the road from the southwest to the south of the Yangtze River? ”

"Then add the road of repairing the silk official road." Lu Chang said.

"Lord Lu, you're really picky!" Shen Wansan sighed.

"I don't think you know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive, and the whole country is overhauling official roads, so how much food does it cost, how much manpower and material resources do you have to spend? Moreover, the official road still needs to be maintained, and it will cost a lot of money to repair and maintain more. Lu Chang said to Zhu Yuanzhang, "Your Majesty, the national road construction budget is too big, please think twice." ”

"Lord Lu, the current Daming treasury should not be short of silver." Shen Wansan said, "And most of the income of the Ming treasury comes from commerce. Building roads is conducive to the development of commerce, which is called sharpening knives and not cutting wood. ”

Most of the treasury's revenue comes from commerce, so Shen Wansan, the secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, began to speak hard. I completely forgot that not long ago, Shang Jia was still an inferior person in the eyes of people.

"What I mean is that we only build roads in Shanxi and Jiangnan, and I don't mean that we don't build roads at all." Lu Chang said.

"Lu Chang, you seem to have forgotten your scope of responsibility. You only have the duty to manage money, and you don't have the power to use money, that is to say, how the court uses money, you don't count. Zhu Yuanzhang reminded.

In the past, he was the secretary of the household department, with a scope of responsibilities, integrating the management of money and the use of money.

And now that he is the president of the gold bank, he only has the power to manage money. Now he just needs to manage the money in the treasury and sort out the accounts. When the court wants to use the money, he must take it out.

As for whether to use it, when to use it, and how much to use, it is not something he should consider.

"Old minister, I know." As soon as Emperor Zhu's words came out, Lu Chang immediately retreated. If he objected again, it would be ultra vires. But if the budget is too big, the treasury can't come up with so much silver,

He could still tell the emperor.

"Shen Wansan, you are most familiar with the affairs of businessmen, how much money is needed to build roads across the country, and the budget will be handled by you." Zhu Yuanzhang said, "After you do it, take out a number and give it to us." ”

"Then we will discuss with Lu Chang whether the treasury can come up with so much silver to build the road."

"Yes!" Shen Wansan said.

Lu Chang sighed for a while when he heard this: Shen Wansan's figure at that time must not make the old man have a cerebral hemorrhage!

……

"Okay, the matter of building the road has been decided, and there is no need to discuss it again." Zhu Yuanzhang said, turning his head to Shen Wansan and said, "Shen Wansan, what kind of tools did we use to transport coal in the past?" ”

"It's pulled by a horse-drawn carriage." Shen Wansan said, "A carriage can pull up to 1,000 catties of coal at a time. ”

"Because there is a lot of coal pulled by horse-drawn carts, the horse breeding industry in the northwest is also thriving. Seeing this opportunity, many horse traders in Mongolia also transported their horses to the border to sell. ”

"The market in the border area has prospered because of this, and the people have increased their profits as a result."

"The prosperity of an industry has driven various surrounding industries and improved the lives of the people in the entire province."

"Therefore, business is equivalent to a stream of living water, which can revitalize the economy of the whole society." Shen Wansan kept sighing, and there was only one meaning he wanted to express, that is, the correctness and forward-looking development of commerce and trade in the Ming Dynasty. The previous dynasties were heavy on agriculture and suppressed business, which was simply stupid, the stupidest thing in the world.

"I heard that many people in the market said that the emperors in ancient times were their superb wisdom in valuing agriculture and suppressing business, and I think they are completely releasing their mother's shit and toad fart!"

"Because Your Majesty now attaches great importance to the prosperity that commerce and trade bring to the dynasty, and the benefits brought to the people, as long as you are not blind, you can see it."

"What we ask is, is it convenient for the carriage to pull coal?" Zhu Yuanzhang stopped him from continuing. At the same time, he can also understand Shen Wansan's complaints, after all, he used to be fed up with the suffering of heavy agriculture and suppression of business. I can't calm down, and I want to complain a few words as soon as I get the opportunity.

"There's nothing inconvenient." Shen Wansan said. He had never seen anything good, so he naturally felt that the best thing to pull a carriage was the most advanced, "A horse is much better than a cow, and although the strength of a horse is not as good as that of an ox, it is fast." ”

Sure enough, it is knowledge that determines a person's ability! Zhu Yuanzhang sighed in his heart, so he was tempted to do it: "What we ask is, what is wrong with the carriage pulling coal." ”

"There are a lot of bad things." Shen Wansan said, "For example, it takes too long for the carriage to pull coal, and you have to eat grass along the way, which also requires a lot of forage and wheat cakes. It won't take a few years for a horse to pull a coal cart, after all, the physical exertion is too great, and it hurts the horse too much. In addition, along the official road for pulling coal, there is horse dung and horse urine everywhere. ”

"Because the carriages are transported too frequently, both sides of the official road are almost like dung pits."

"But if there are villages along the way, there will be villagers who get up early in the morning to pick up manure and pick up horse manure to make fertilizer. If there is no village, the government will send someone to pick it up. ”

"If there is a kind of carriage that can transport coal by itself without grazing, and it can also transport tens of thousands of catties of coal each time, the speed is dozens of times faster than that of the carriage......," Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Rank ministers, what do you think of such a carriage?" ”

"How can there be such a carriage in the world!?" As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang's words fell, the ministers said one after another.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he didn't bother to deal with him for the time being.

"Listening to His Majesty's description, it seems to be a wooden ox and flowing horse invented by Zhuge Liang." Li Shanchang stepped forward and said, "However, the production technology of wooden oxen and flowing horses has been lost for hundreds of years, and no one can make it." ”

……