Tibet

In Yong County, Qizhou, Li Ye stood on a high place, watching the busy people on the official road below.

It is now mid-February, and the construction of Tangzhi Road has resumed in early February. The construction of Tangzhidao, which started the year before last, has been completed for a year and a half, and nearly half of it is completed. The Guanzhong section is 90% completed, and the Longyou section is 60% completed. , now it is mainly under construction in the Hexi section.

Tangzhidao is not rebuilding an official road, but widening and smoothing the existing official road, so that the amount of work will be much less. Tangzhidao is also not a road. It has various branches, just like the Yangtze River. In addition to the main stream, There are countless tributaries on both sides, connecting various counties.

The Dongshui West Road was one of the two major strategic projects after Li Ye came to the throne, and it complemented the project of destroying the country.

The war to destroy the country was not a hot-headed one. After the Anshi Rebellion in history, the Tang Dynasty never recovered and never had the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

The most important reason is that the population loss is too great and financial resources are exhausted. The separatist vassal towns and the Tubo invasion are like two huge bleeding mouths. In order to maintain the rule and the army, the imperial court has to drain the land and the ordinary people are struggling on the line of life and death, as if The body has lost its moisture, leaving only decay and decay, and there is no trace of the vitality of the Tang Dynasty.

After Li Ye came to the throne, he faced the same problem. How to restore the vitality of the Tang Dynasty after the devastation caused by the Anshi Rebellion and the decline of the entire Tang Dynasty. The way most rulers thought of was to end the war as soon as possible, reduce taxes, and reduce taxes. The people recuperated and the land was redistributed.

This is what Li Ye is also doing, but unlike rulers in history, Li Ye is still using the powerful Tang Dynasty force to conquer his neighbors and plunder wealth. This is the fastest and most effective way to replenish blood, which can make the country more powerful. Tang's finances improved rapidly and he was able to retain savings.

For example, Uighur delivered 10 million sheep to redeem the Khan and his 100,000 troops. What does 10 million sheep mean? One sheep has two guan of money, that is the wealth of 20 million guan of money, which is equivalent to The imperial court’s fiscal revenue for one and a half years.

The courtiers of the Tang Dynasty were all Confucian scholars who had read the books of sages and sages, but they turned a blind eye and allowed Li Ye to send armies to conquer the east and west because the war to destroy the country could bring back an incredible amount of wealth. By quickly improving the finances and subsidizing the finances, the people can reduce taxes and taxes, recuperate and recuperate, and the Tang Dynasty can restore its vitality as soon as possible.

In the face of reality and moral concepts, they prefer reality.

The East Water and West Road project is a real benefit to the country and the people. It distributes the wealth obtained from conquests to the people through the construction of fortifications. With Chang'an as the center and the Tangzhi Road built to the west of Chang'an, it not only connects the Western Regions, but also shortens the center of the rule. The passage time to the frontiers of the Western Regions effectively consolidated the Tang Dynasty's rule over the frontiers.

The second is to promote Longyou and Hexi, so that transportation will be more convenient and materials will flow faster.

To the east of Chang'an, waterways are widened and dredged, focusing on Tianbao Canal, Sanmenxia and Danba Waterways, as well as the Xihanshui Waterway, which is currently being excavated, connecting the West Hanshui River and the Jialing River, and then through the Danba Waterway, it connects Chang'an to Chang'an. Water transportation in Bashu.

Therefore, the East Road and West Water Project has always been supported by the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty. Although many ministers were worried that the finances would not be able to support it at the beginning, with the continuous influx of wealth from abroad, no one is now worried about insufficient financial resources. At the same time, it began Branch line construction of Tangzhi Road Project.

The Tang Zhi Road that Li Ye is currently inspecting is the Yongxian Branch Road. A fifty-mile-long straight road is being built from Yong County to connect to the main Tang Zhi Road.

Yongxian County mobilized 30,000 people to build this straight road, which is about 50 miles long, in three months.

The reason why it only takes three months is because the amount of work is much smaller due to the renovation and construction of the original official road. During this period, the merchants can only use the abandoned official road or the waterway.

There was a lot of noise on the construction site, and civilians were laying gravel. An official introduced to Li Ye: "Your Majesty, these gravels come from nearby rock mining. It is much easier to mine with fire mines now than to quarry manually before."

Li Ye nodded, "Is it compacted down there?"

"Of course it is compacted. It must be done well before laying the gravel. The road surface is laid flat, and then a huge stone is used to crush it back and forth before the gravel can be laid. Finally, a layer of mature soil is laid on top."

Li Ye thought for a moment and then asked Yang Shenyu, the Minister of Household Affairs who was accompanying him: "It was previously agreed that the burden of road construction would be half of the local government and half of the imperial court. What is their source of financial resources?"

Yang Shenyu bowed and said: "Reporting to your Majesty, this straight road is planned to cost 400,000 guan, mainly for wages. The imperial court subsidized 200,000 guan. Yong County itself has to spend 200,000 guan. On the one hand, the common people and local wealthy families donated money. In addition, the government sold 30,000 healthy cattle to merchants from various places."

"Can Yong County produce 30,000 healthy cattle?"

Yang Shenyu nodded, "The county government has three large-scale cattle ranches with about 100,000 cattle and two million sheep. They originally belonged to a big businessman named Cao. Both of his sons died in Anlu. During the Shan rebellion, there were no grandsons. After the death of the merchant named Cao, the cattle ranch was returned to the government, half to the county government and half to the state government."

Li Ye turned back and smiled at the accompanying prefectures and counties: "This is the first time I know that the Yongxian government has three large ranches. It seems that being an official in Qizhou is a fat job!"

Wu Huanyuan, the governor of Qizhou, was so frightened that his face changed. He quickly bowed and explained: "Reporting to your majesty, the censor will come to monitor every year. I don't dare to have any wrong thoughts."

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "At least mutton is very cheap, and your mouth is full of oil after eating it. You have gained weight within two years of taking office. How come you are not obese?"

Everyone laughed, and several officials said quickly: "Your Majesty is right. The price of mutton in Yong County is 30% cheaper than that in Chang'an. Many people in Chang'an will come to Yong County to eat mutton."

Li Ye smiled and said: "Let's rest in Yong County tonight and have a good mutton meal. I will pay for it myself, so you don't have to treat me!"

In fact, Li Ye knew that local officials could not have no benefits. Generally speaking, the trick is in the loss. There will always be premature death and death of cattle and sheep! This is the loss. For example, if 100,000 cattle lose 5%, that is 5,000 cattle, which can be sold for a large sum of money. It does not go through public accounts, and everyone will benefit.

Li Ye is of course aware of this, but if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. If officials do not have benefits, they will not work hard. A ranch that can obviously raise 100,000 cattle may only raise 20,000 or 30,000 cattle in the end because there is no benefit.

This is how the officialdom is. As long as you don't do anything excessively and can grasp a degree, there will basically be no problem.

Just like the three cattle farms, officials took advantage of the loss to make profits, and other local governments also took advantage of the loss of official grain. These are all within an acceptable range. If the county magistrate embezzled the cattle farm, and other local officials embezzled the official fields, then they would have crossed the red line and would be caught.

So ability is important for officials, but emotional intelligence is equally important. Know what can be done and what cannot be done? Know where the red line is?

I once read a story that a flood occurred in a certain place in the early Ming Dynasty. The court allocated 30,000 shi of relief grain. The county magistrate found that the quality of the rice was good and it was all new rice. He exchanged 30,000 shi of new rice for 30,000 shi of old rice. The county magistrate took a few hundred guan of the price difference, and distributed 30,000 shi of old rice to the victims. The victims didn't care about new rice or old rice. They were all very grateful for the relief grain. The county magistrate also deliberately kept a few hundred shi of new rice and kept it in the warehouse for inspection.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang sent the censor to check that the amount of food distributed was completely correct and there was no problem with the remaining grain. The victims praised the county magistrate as an honest man, and the censor replied to Zhu Yuanzhang that the officials he checked were highly praised, which pleased the emperor. The county magistrate was promoted to a state official.

The victims were satisfied, the emperor was satisfied, and the officials were satisfied. Everyone was happy. This was an official with high emotional intelligence. In the era of Zhu Yuanzhang's skinning, he grasped a degree and did not covet capital or take advantage of the oil.

Of course, in the prosperous Kangxi and Qianlong eras, the three years of being a clean prefecture and 100,000 silver coins were another matter.

He stayed in Yong County for one night and had a meal of mutton. Naturally, it was a treat from the local government and was recorded in the public account.

The next morning, Li Ye, escorted by hundreds of cavalry, took his favorite concubine Yang Yuhuan and left Yong County and continued northward, heading to Linyou County along another official road under construction.