In the blink of an eye, it was two months, and the four years of Hongwu gradually came to the end of the year.

Since Hu Weiyong took over the expressway project, he has always been going out early and returning late, and has devoted all his energy to the expressway project.

He divided the 5,000 slaves he received from Shanghu County and 2,000 to build a highway in Yingtianfu.

The remaining 3,000 were divided into two halves by him, half of which was put in Huaiyin County and half in Shanghu County.

Due to the lack of manpower, it was originally planned to start construction in six counties along the route at the same time, but now only three counties can start construction.

Coupled with the fact that the weather was getting colder and colder towards the end of the year, there was a great obstacle to the construction of the railway.

Originally, Hu Weiyong expected the project to take three months, but now in the past two months, not even one-third of the road has been repaired.

The most serious thing is that with the cold weather, the already thin and weak Japanese slaves were frozen to death a lot.

At the beginning, the 5,000 slaves sent by Li Jin have already gone to 1,000 at the moment, and if this continues, I am afraid that this highway will not be able to be repaired until the beginning of spring next year.

Hu Weiyong didn't expect that the originally planned road repair plan would become like this.

He was so angry that he did not dare to urge the officials of the Ministry of Industry to speed up the progress and not delay, and the speed of road construction was as slow as a snail crawling.

The personnel of the Ministry of Engineering also have no choice, they also want to speed up, after all, Hu Weiyong is like urging orders every day, and no one can stand it.

But the reality is there, the land is frozen hard in winter, how to start construction? Even if the slaves were whipped hard, they would not be able to dig them.

And if these slaves continue to be oppressed like this, I am afraid that after the New Year, I really don't know how many will still be alive.

Hu Weiyong didn't want to hear this, but he boasted to Zhu Yuanzhang that if he didn't complete the highway on time, he would be blamed by the emperor, and he would not be able to eat and walk around.

This matter is related to his future promotion plan, and he must not be delayed because of these slaves.

Hu Weiyong was about to go to the Ministry of Industry and ask the Ministry of Industry to allocate some more manpower to him to speed up the progress.

Suddenly, a little yellow door hurriedly came to Hu Weiyong, and Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to see him.

Hu Weiyong was shocked, but he didn't expect that what he was most worried about would come after all.

Worried in his heart, Hu Weiyong didn't dare to delay for a moment, and hurriedly followed Xiao Huangmen to the upper study.

After entering the upper study and seeing Zhu Yuanzhang, Hu Weiyong was even more panicked.

I saw that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't have the slightest smile on his face, and he had a straight face, as if he wanted to ask himself for rejuvenating his teacher.

"The minister knocks to see the emperor, long live my emperor."

Seeing this, Hu Weiyong hurriedly knelt down and saluted Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Hmm."

Zhu Yuanzhang did not let Hu Weiyong get up, but asked softly:

"Wei Yong, how are you building the highway?"

"Let's go see it the day before yesterday, how do you feel that this is not going very well?"

"Do you remember what you told us back then?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's tone was indifferent, as if he was just chatting about family life, but Hu Weiyong felt like a man's back.

Secretly swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Hu Weiyong stubbornly said:

"Your Majesty, the weather has suddenly become cold recently, and the frozen soil is difficult to construct, resulting in slower progress."

"At the same time, these slaves sent by Li Jin are really in poor health, and it has just entered winter, and these people are already frozen and sick."

"Otherwise, I'm so cold that I don't have the strength to do my work."

Hu Weiyong directly threw the pot at Li Jin, put the blame on his head, and insisted that there was something wrong with the slave sent by Li Jin.

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression moved, and he said:

"You get up first."

Hu Weiyong's heart was relieved, and he stood up, feeling that Zhu Yuanzhang should let himself go.

"Let me ask you, did you dress those slaves? Or can you eat enough every day? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's words made Hu Weiyong stunned again, and said:

"It is certain that there is enough to eat, and the minister has allocated a lot of food from the household department, just so that these slaves can have the strength to work."

"As for dressing, the minister didn't think about it, but it shouldn't be so weak!"

Before Zhu Yuanzhang could speak, Zhu Biao next to him couldn't help but interject:

"Slaves are also human beings, on such a cold day, you let them work in single shirts, can they not get frostbite?"

"It's a fluke that so many slaves are still alive now."

Zhu Biao's voice was fierce, and he was very angry in his heart, although these Japanese slaves deserve to die, but treating them so harshly, Zhu Biao is still a little soft-hearted after all.

Hu Weiyong was so frightened that he lowered his head and didn't dare to say anything.

Zhu Yuanzhang added on the side:

"Now tell us, how long will it take you to build the highway?"

Hu Weiyong trembled, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he was so frightened that he didn't dare to say the specific time for a while.

"Huh? Do you still want to deceive the king? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's tone was aggravated, and his eyes stared at Hu Weiyong, as if if Hu Weiyong dared to say a lie, he would pull Hu Weiyong out and cut him down.

"If you can follow the minister with another 10,000 slaves, the minister will definitely be able to complete the construction in three months."

Hu Weiyong turned his heart sideways and simply said the original plan directly.

But what he said was the same as not saying it, where did Zhu Yuanzhang get so many slaves for him?

Li Jin didn't have slaves, so he Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't buy slaves.

But this is also in Hu Weiyong's arms, after all, Zhu Yuanzhang can't give slaves, so it is understandable that he can't complete it as planned.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes narrowed slightly, how could he not know Hu Weiyong's thoughts?

But Zhu Yuanzhang didn't intend to do what Hu Weiyong wanted, sneered, and said in a deep voice:

"We don't have that much time for you!"

"I asked you to come to tell you that you must repair the road for us before the beginning of spring."

"Now that it is the cold winter wax moon, not the agricultural time, you can requisition the people, and the displaced people you have collected have come to use."

"We don't care what you do with these people, but when the spring farming starts, the road must be repaired, otherwise it will be severely punished."

In the last sentence, Zhu Yuanzhang's tone was extremely serious, and it seemed that Zhu Yuanzhang was serious.

Although he attaches great importance to Hu Weiyong, if Hu Weiyong can't do things, then he naturally doesn't have such an importance to Zhu Yuanzhang.

After all, Daming is such a talented and heroic, Hu Weiyong is not necessary.

Hu Weiyong didn't dare to refute it anymore, there were still less than two months before the beginning of spring.

During this time, Zhu Yuanzhang has given Hu Weiyong a month of grace, but now the weather is very unfavorable for road repair.

However, if it really drags on until the beginning of spring, and then spring ploughing will be required, and the people will not have time to help build the highway at all.

In this way, the time for the construction of the highway will be delayed again, which Zhu Yuanzhang cannot tolerate.

After Hu Weiyong bowed down, he turned around and went to the study and went straight to the household.

Employing the people needs money and food, and Hu Weiyong's money and food are now in the household department, and he can only ask for help from the household department.

When you go to the household department, you can also borrow a few household officials to help you coordinate the people.

Zhu Biao looked at the back of Hu Weiyong leaving, and said with some worry:

"Hu Weiyong does things by unscrupulous means, and his father persecuted Hu Weiyong so much, I don't know if he will force the people to come out for conscription."

"Now in the cold winter, if Hu Weiyong really has to do this, I am afraid that many people will freeze to death."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said:

"Although Hu Weiyong is fierce, he knows how to advance and retreat, and knows what can be done and what cannot be done."

"Don't worry about this, the weather is even colder than last year, is there any movement in the north?"

This year's winter feels like it came much earlier than last year, which means that this year's winter is destined to be a cold winter.

Zhu Yuanzhang had predicted this just before, so he arranged a lot of eyeliner in the north, just to guard against Mongolia.

If you can learn the news of Mongolia's southward movement in advance, you can prepare as soon as possible, relocate the people, and reduce the casualties of the Ming people.

Zhu Biao shook his head and said:

"I haven't heard any news, since Feng Sheng went to the north, the north seems to be much more honest."

Zhu Yuanzhang's face finally showed a little joy, and he was about to speak, but a little eunuch hurriedly broke into the upper study, his face was frightened and pale, and he said in horror to Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao:

"Your Majesty, the southeast emergency military situation!"