He gave them a fresh purpose and direction.

"The prince is wise!"

"The prince said it well!"

The crowd shouted in unison.

Chu Ze understood that in order to achieve Fengyang's economic take-off, it was not enough to punish corrupt officials and corrupt officials, but also to guide the people to actively participate in the construction.

As a result, he issued a reward policy to encourage people to report corruption of local officials, and organized people to build new water conservancy facilities and improve irrigation of farmland.

Chu Ze personally participated in guiding the design of the dam, drawing a scientific and reasonable water conservancy layout according to the local topography and river direction.

Under Chu Ze's guidance, the newly built dam is stronger and can effectively control the flow of water to irrigate the hundreds of miles of fertile fields downstream.

At the same time, Chu Ze set out to introduce some improved farm tools, such as lighter steel hoes, which greatly increased the efficiency of farmers' work.

In addition, he introduced drought-resistant, high-yielding wheat seeds.

These varieties of wheat are larger and have better results in drought and flood protection.

With Chu Ze's encouragement, many farmers began to experiment with these new varieties.

Preliminary results show an increase of more than 30% in yields per mu.

These measures soon strengthened the peasants' enthusiasm for production, and agricultural output also increased significantly.

In terms of raising funds for railway construction, Chu Ze adopted the method of auctioning off the antique collection of the Jin Xuehai family and the Liu family's property.

These collections and properties were soon bought by wealthy merchants, many of whom were rare treasures, such as Jin Xuehai's ancestral Tang Dynasty vermilion lacquer plate, painted with shimmering gold and silver patterns, which was auctioned by a merchant for a whopping 100,000 silver.

and the Liu family's largest silk and satin workshop in Fengyang was also auctioned off by a businessman for 300,000 silver.

The wealthy merchants of Fengyang vied with each other to make a move, so that this auction raised hundreds of thousands of silver for the construction of the railway.

At the same time, Chu Ze set out to personally teach the construction techniques of the railway.

He drew up detailed construction drawings that marked the load-bearing requirements of the bridge, the spacing dimensions of the tracks, the appropriate proportions of the locomotives, and other details.

In order to ensure that the people could understand, Chu Ze also simplified the drawings and added more intuitive annotations.

Under his careful guidance, many people comprehended the mystery of modern engineering construction for the first time, and said that they had never seen such advanced knowledge before.

Chu Ze even taught the craftsmen how to make elaborate screws, nails, rails, and other materials.

He used the sample tools he brought with him to explain how to cut threads, how to quench materials, and so on.

With his help, a team of skilled craftsmen grew up quickly to provide solid technical support for the railway project.

Chu Ze's actions made the people full of awe of his ability and courage.

"The prince is amazing, he can actually build such a mechanical track!"

"The prince knows so much, we must learn more from him!"

The craftsmen sighed.

In Fengyang, the construction of the railway project was carried out for several months, and the compensation was given to the victims of the persecution of Jin Xuehai and the Liu family, and half of the silver obtained from the robbery was also rapidly consumed during this period.

Chu Ze had to admit that it was difficult to complete such a huge project with the existing funds alone.

He first sent Zhao Si and Li Xing out to raise financial support, but the effect was not ideal.

The two went for nearly a month, and ran into a wall in front of merchants in various places, but no one was willing to help.

Chu Ze suddenly noticed some abnormal losses in the financial accounts.

"Wait, you're slow." Chu Ze frowned and checked the account book, and found that the expenditure on railway construction far exceeded the actual progress, and there were many unreasonable points.

"It seems that someone in the accounts is deliberately abusing funds, we must find out the corrupt officials!"

"I see!" Li Xing suddenly realized: "Let's just talk about how to spend money so quickly." ”

"Zhao Si, you immediately lead someone to investigate and find out these corrupt officials!" Chu Ze said in a deep voice.

"Yes, I will not disgrace my life!" Zhao Si replied respectfully.

If the underlying corruption problem is not addressed, more money will only be deliberately wasted.

Chu Ze understands that in order to make the plan smoothly implemented, it is necessary to clear the hidden dangers first.

At the same time, he is also considering a longer-term solution - the development of new tax sources is fundamental.

Once new economic support is found, the construction of Fengyang will no longer have to worry about the future.

To this end, Chu Ze plans to first open the commercial confinement of Fengyang and cancel some unreasonable market obstacles and tax controls, so as to attract more foreign businessmen to do business in Fengyang.

After a month of secret investigation, Zhao Si and others finally found out that the railway construction funds were misused by some officials.

On this day, Zhao Si came to Chu Ze and saluted respectfully: "Report to the prince, it has been investigated clearly below, and it is true that the railway construction funds were abused by some corrupt officials. These people use project expenses to confuse the public and keep large amounts of money for themselves. The specific persons involved in the case are as follows......"

Zhao Si presented a detailed list of more than a dozen people.

Chu Ze frowned after browsing, these people are all petty officials in Fengyang, but the total embezzled funds are as much as hundreds of thousands of silver!

"They are so greedy that they don't forget themselves at such times!" Chu Ze said in a deep voice: "What kind of system! Zhao Si, you have enough evidence to quickly arrest them for trial! ”

"Yes" Zhao Si responded, and immediately retreated to carry out Chu Ze's order.

Three days later, the officials involved in the case were escorted to the yamen lobby.

The faces of the people turned pale, and they stood with their heads bowed, without saying a word.

Zhao Si led the soldiers to push them into the lobby one by one, and chained their hands and feet.

Most of these officials were dressed in rich clothes, and the hoods on their heads had been removed, making them look embarrassed.

Chu Ze slowly paced to the front of everyone, his eyes were cold, and he raised his voice and said: "These corrupt officials, you dare to only care about your own selfish desires in the face of the great cause, what kind of system has you become!" You have embezzled the hard-earned money of the people with peace of mind, and your conscience has been eaten by dogs! ”

Everyone looked at each other, and a young official in his twenties trembled and said: "The prince is angry, we are also forced to do it, the old and young in the family want to eat, and the official position is small, so we can only rely on these incomes to subsidize it......"

"Vexatious!" Chu Ze shouted angrily: "National construction needs financial support, but you deliberately grab the people's hard-earned money for your own use, and you still want to quibble?!" ”

The little official fell to his knees and begged, "Lord forgive!" We really know that we are wrong, and we will never dare again! ”

"Come on, put them all in prison, and wait for the edict to be issued!" Chu Zeli ignored it and ordered directly.

The faces of the officials instantly turned as pale as death, and they fell to their knees, begging in mourning: "The prince spares his life!" We still have wives and children to support! ”

"If you think of your family, you shouldn't be greedy!" Chu Ze said hatefully.

The crowd was still dying, but was soon dragged out of the lobby by the escorted officers.

(End of chapter)