Chapter 167: Wealth and being despised in the pass
"Your Majesty, cement has been made, and the minister has asked people to mix it with sand and gravel according to your will. It is very strong and can solidify quickly!"
The dusty-faced eunuch Qiu Ju led a group of people from the Royal Industrial Company and said to Zhu Houzhao with a smile.
Zhu Houzhao looked at the cement newly produced by the Royal Industrial Company and smiled happily. After the glass was made, he asked the Royal Industrial Company to find a way to develop cement. Now four years later, it has successfully produced the cement. Although there is still a gap between it and various new cements of later generations, it was undoubtedly the most advanced infrastructure adhesive in the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Empire could not expand externally without a developed infrastructure technology, and good infrastructure was naturally inseparable from cement and its derivatives, concrete, which had stronger hardness, wear resistance, and shorter setting time.
"Very well, light the cannon and let's try it once to see if we can destroy this concrete wall!"
As Zhu Houzhao spoke, he led a group of officials back to the designated position and watched the soldiers light up the artillery. Suddenly, with a bang, the solid shell hit the newly solidified concrete wall, but the concrete wall did not move at all, did not collapse, and only splashed Got some stone chips!
"Your Majesty! This cement is indeed a magical thing. Cannonballs can't damage it at all!"
Ye Heng, who had been promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Industry, accompanied Zhu Houzhao to the Royal Industrial Experimental Base. Now he was amazed to see the cement concrete.
"There are things that are as strong as this. For example, Sanhe soil. If you add glutinous rice and brown sugar and tamp it, it can be as strong as iron. However, the advantage of this cement concrete is that it is low in manufacturing cost. It mainly uses lime and does not need to be used. When you get grain, you don’t need to tamp it manually for a long time. The solidification time is very short. It can be completely solidified in five or six hours. In the future, roads and walls can naturally be built faster.”
Zhu Houzhao said to Qiu Ju:
"Currently, cement can only be produced with water-powered machinery, and the production speed cannot be increased for a while. Now you can send a few more people who know cement production and ask them to find places with sufficient water for cement production. The Royal Industrial Company will provide money to participate in the stock. , they can also borrow money from the Royal Bank to build their own cement workshops. They won’t be afraid of not being able to sell them when the time comes. I will let the Ministry of Industry purchase them!
At the same time, I will also issue an order to encourage private businessmen to make cement. The technology can be sold to them by the Royal Industrial Company. This can not only solve the problem of insufficient production volume, but also allow the Royal Industrial Company to realize profits through the sale of technology.
However, the Royal Industrial Company's own cement workshop must also expand its scale and recruit refugees from Beijing for production! These cements will play a big role in the development of Ming Dynasty in the future. ”
"I accept the decree!" Qiu Ju said.
Zhu Houzhao originally wanted Qiu Ju to set up another industrial school in person to train more students to participate in industrial research, but he thought that now Qiu Ju was busy managing the Royal Industrial Company and busy with the production of the cement workshop, and he might not be able to do so. So I can only keep this idea in my heart.
At this time, Zhu Houzhao ordered Ye Heng, Minister of Industry and Industry:
"Ye Heng, now that you have seen the wonders of this cement, I will give your Ministry of Industry a month to recruit a group of skilled masons to master the production and use of cement concrete within this month. Method, and then start building a cement concrete road from Beijing to Datong in one month!”
"Your Majesty! The road from the capital to Datong is mostly mountainous. It will take a lot of manpower and a lot of money and food to build this road!"
Ye Heng said hurriedly.
"These are not your considerations. You are only responsible for recruiting manpower for repairs. I will ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate the money and food, but you will arrange the manpower yourself. I will allocate engineering troops to you first, and also allow you to recruit refugees from various places, but these people are all If they still don’t understand how to make and use cement concrete, it’s up to you to find a way to train them;
That’s why I asked you to recruit a group of skilled masons first. You can ask the court to give some craftsmen who are skilled in building bridges and roads an official status and other meritorious status rewards!
But I hope to see a concrete road from the capital to Datong in the shortest time in the future. This will make it easier for the court to regain and control the Loop! Even control Monan! The grain and grass transported from the south can also go directly to Datong and Bianzhen! You should be able to understand the benefits of this! ”
"I understand!" Ye Heng replied.
"In this case, within three days, give me a memorial telling you how you, the Minister of Industry, plan to build the first cement road in the Ming Dynasty!"
Zhu Houzhao smiled slightly and left the Royal Industrial Experimental Base.
Three days later, Ye Heng, minister of the Ministry of Industry, finally gave Zhu Houzhao a memorial after hard work, confirming the basic plan for building a cement road from Beijing to Datong, and even specified the width of the cement road planned to be built. and the main direction, as well as the amount of money and grain that may be used, the number of craftsmen and migrant workers, as well as the preliminary training plan and estimated construction time.
However, when Zhu Houzhao asked the cabinet to draw up the vote, he asked Ye Heng, Minister of Industry, to add a clause about the estimated labor remuneration of craftsmen and migrant workers. In this era, many officials and landlords had not yet had the habit of paying people when they hired people, because people had to give free services to the government. There is an obligation to serve, and basically the work-for-relief service only includes food.
But Zhu Houzhao wants to change this approach. The labor of migrant workers must be respected. The prerequisite for respect is to give them the remuneration they deserve. In order to increase their enthusiasm, a more flexible remuneration incentive mechanism must be established. Only in this way will there be more The common people are willing to work for the officials and love the Ming Dynasty, because only when the Ming Dynasty treats them as human beings will they regard the Ming Dynasty as their own heaven.
Only in this way can these refugees not become tenant serfs in the landlord's manor again.
It is now spring famine, and many refugees from the capital area come to the capital to beg. The powerful and wealthy gentry may be kind-hearted and give a few meals of porridge. Naturally, they will be kicked out indifferently, or they may be kept as slaves. However, only a few children with a certain appearance are kept as slaves. Some refugees can only survive by begging. But precisely because of this, Ye Heng, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, easily recruited a large number of refugees when he was preparing to build Jingtong Road.
Not only did Ye Heng, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, recruit a large number of refugees, the Ordnance Bureau and the Royal Industrial Company, two organizations that needed a large number of migrant workers, also recruited a large number of refugees, successfully solving the labor shortage caused by the expansion of ordnance production and industrial production. .
Even Xu Jing of the Royal Bank bought a group of smart children in order to meet the increasingly heavy banking business. With the approval of Zhu Houzhao, the Royal Bank funded a money law class and hired people to teach only arithmetic and arithmetic. Literacy and knowledge of money laws.
……
"Food is distributed!"
Boom!
As the gong sounded, Li Changning Daniu, who was temporarily named Jingtong Road Production Team 1, shouted to the migrant workers and craftsmen who were still painting cement and mixing concrete on the gravel and dusty road.
Behind him was an ox cart, which contained grain that had just been allocated by the Ministry of Revenue.
These migrant workers and craftsmen all came over with their own small notebooks. Although they were unkempt, they all had excited smiles on their faces. One of them even smiled and said: "I should have thirty-one work points this time. I will add more If you work twice, you can get more Lumi.”
"I have fewer work points this time. Because I was sick, I missed three days of work, and I estimate that I only have 27 work points. This illness is really not worth it. I have to pay less for less work points!" A companion of this migrant worker sighed.
At this time, more and more craftsmen and migrant workers had gathered, and Chang Ning Danniu and the bullock cart behind him also stopped. Ning Danian first took out an account book and shouted:
"First calculate the work points. According to the requirements of the gentlemen above, those who work more will get more points, and those who do less will get fewer points. Those with punishment records will be deducted. Line up and come one by one. The first one, Wang Changsheng! Are you here?"
Although most of these craftsmen and migrant workers are not literate after training, they can also learn to use charcoal pens to draw lines in their notebooks to indicate how many days they have worked. One day is counted as one work point, half a day is counted as half a work point, and overtime is also counted. Half of the work point will be counted. According to the rules, Lumi money will be distributed after checking with the government management personnel.
This is the method Zhu Houzhao asked Ye Heng, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, to use in order to prevent the officials below from bullying the craftsmen and migrant workers at will. He also appointed a supervisory censor to accept the opinions of these craftsmen and migrant workers about who swallowed up the fruits of their labor. report.
Because of this, the officials of the Ministry of Industry did not dare to embezzle project funds at will, and allowed the craftsmen and migrant workers to work in vain, thereby reducing the enthusiasm of the craftsmen and migrant workers for production, and also keeping the progress of the entire construction relatively fast.
However, this also led to many craftsmen and migrant workers dying of exhaustion. However, because they worked overtime voluntarily, there was not much public resentment. At most, some literati lamented and criticized the court when they saw it.
A bag of new grains was released. They were all grains transported from the south of the Yangtze River. The grains were plump and very attractive. These migrant workers and craftsmen were as excited as seeing money, and they began to line up one by one to calculate and receive their work points.
The reason why Lumi was distributed instead of silver was naturally because the court wanted to protect the money.
Except for the apprentice craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau and the Royal Industrial Company, other lowest-level craftsmen and migrant workers who did not have a written contractual relationship were issued Lumi.
After all, we now understand that there is not much money. After receiving the rice, these low-level craftsmen and migrant workers mostly eat it themselves or grow it in their own fields instead of consuming it. There is no point in giving out money.
……
The little prince's special envoy Ulus Boluot happened to see this scene at this time. He asked Gao Zehui very puzzledly: "Mr. Gao, how rich are these Han people, actually giving food to these untouchables?"< br>
"Lord Jinong doesn't know. This pass has always been rich. The emperors, officials and gentry eat delicacies from the mountains and seas every day. Naturally, these untouchables can afford some food, but they would rather give this food to these untouchables to create a prosperous age without hunger. They are not willing to use it to train the army;
Therefore, they appear to be rich, but are very weak. If there is no wall, thousands of cavalry under Lord Jinong can kill them like wolves and rats! ”
Gao Zehui said.
Seeing this, Urus Borot couldn't help but snorted: "No wonder the Great Khan intends to destroy the Ming Dynasty. If it were me, I would destroy it too. This colorful world is full of fat sheep. How about killing them several times?" Of course it’s a pity! If we turn them all into our slaves, this food will be in our hands! It’s better than giving it to these untouchables!”
(End of chapter)