Vol 2 Chapter 1138: The short-sighted

In the 13th year of Jingming, autumn.
Qi Wang Liu Yu returned from the Western Regions.
Lin Shuping was ordered to take people outside the city to meet him.
Lu Wang Liu Li accompanied.
Ten miles outside the city, the two brothers met, very excited.
"Brother, you can count as coming back."
"The third brother!"
Liu Yu, with a cold temperament, smiled instantly when he saw his third brother Liu Li.
Like the melting of ice and snow, spring comes early.
Liu Yu, who laughed, changed his temperament, not a general of a hundred wars, but a gentleman named Wenrun.
"Can my third brother ride back to Beijing in a carriage with my brother?"
"Of course I do."
Lu Wang Liu Li abandoned the horse and boarded the carriage.
The two brothers chatted together on the carriage.
"It's a pity that the second brother and the elder sister were not able to meet the eldest brother. They are all very sorry." Liu Li said with emotion.
Liu Yu said: "I am also very sorry. I have the opportunity to visit them overseas, take a look at their lives, take a look at their territory."
"If the elder brother really wants to go overseas, the younger brother is willing to go together."
Liu Yu was surprised, "Aren't you afraid of water and unwilling to go to sea?"
"We can go out from the southwest and travel overland to the site of the second brother and sister."
"The official road from the southwest to overseas has been repaired?"
"Already passed!"
After several years, the cement road from the southwest to the overseas ports was finally opened.
Today, there are two ways to go overseas.
One is by water and the other is by land.
The waterway is to go to sea by sea boat, which is convenient and fast. It can carry the cargo and population of dozens of sea boats at a time.
The disadvantage is that it is affected by the weather and cannot control the schedule. For a few months, there was no way to go to sea because of the wrong wind direction.
By land, the journey is long and difficult, and the advantage is that it is not disturbed by the weather, and you can start all year round.
You can set off by pulling the cargo population with a horse-drawn carriage. Arrange the itinerary yourself.
In order to get through the official roads from the southwest to overseas, a huge amount of financial and material resources and manpower were spent.
"I heard that since this official road to overseas was repaired, there has been a lot of excitement over there. I have been wondering when to go there and take a look. Brother also wants to go, so we will go together."
Lu Wang Liu Li was full of enthusiasm and wanted to go out tomorrow.
Among the four siblings, he is the most resident.
For so many years, I haven't left the capital yet.
Liu Yu smiled and said: "It's not in a hurry! I heard someone say that you are in love with the girl from the Gu family."
"It's a girl from Pingnan Hou Mansion."
Nothing Gu Jiu worried about happened.
Liu Li didn't like Gu Ling's daughter, but Gu Rui's daughter with Zhou's.
Liu Yu laughed, "Unexpectedly, you have solved the major events in life without speaking."
Liu Li smiled triumphantly, "Compared to my eldest brother, my marriage went smoothly."
...
Liu Yuxian went back to the palace to visit his wife and children before entering the palace to ask for peace.
A few years away from Beijing, there is much to say.
There are private matters, but more public matters.
The war in the Western Regions, the situation, the various situations of Anxi Palace...
All this is news that the emperor and empress urgently need to know.
"The war in the Western Regions burned across the entire continent, and dozens of countries, large and small, were implicated. This war will not end within three to five years. It is not surprising that it will last ten or twenty years."
This is Liu Yu's view.
"How is the opponent's combat power?" Liu Zhao asked.
"The soldiers are not afraid of death, their weapons are sharp and unmatched, they have great advantages in riding skills. Their smelting skills cannot be underestimated. This time the son brought two Western Region craftsmen back, which may be helpful."
Gu Jiu asked: "Compared to weapons, do our weapons have an advantage?"
She asked herself that Huanyu's steel technology is leading the world, and there is no reason why her own weapons are not comparable to foreign weapons.
Liu Yu hesitated for a while before saying, "Each has its own merits!"
Gu Jiu frowned.
"Did you bring their weapons back?"
"The son came back with a cart of weapons, also made of refined steel."
That's awesome!
Huanyu Iron and Steel, because Gu Jiu has the golden finger and theoretical basis, can successfully produce stainless steel, and then use it to build weapons.
The foreign races of the Western Regions, without gold fingers, can successfully refining weapons made of stainless steel, and indeed there are a few brushes.
No wonder it can provoke a war in the Western Regions, and burn for decades and hundreds of years.
This is a difficult opponent.
Gu Jiu and Liu Zhao looked at each other, and they had a tacit understanding.
"We have to speed up the weapon update."
It's time to launch thermal weapons.
"Just to fight the Western Regions?" Liu Zhao asked Gu Jiu.
Gu Jiu said: "Not only for fighting in the Western Regions, but also for so many lands overseas. The real opponents, overseas camps have not met. When you meet, you will know how wise it is to update weapons."
Liu Zhao looked at the map of the universe, and there was indeed a large area of ​​land, and the army of the Great Zhou had never set foot.
The merchants of Da Zhou have never been to many places.
Liu Yu looked at the Huanyu map and his eyes kept shining. This
He stretched out his hand to enclose the land on the map, "The emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty is so authoritative that he can definitely go deep into these blank places."
"Very good, with my demeanor back then!" Liu Zhao laughed, very much!
Gu Jiu didn't break him.
She told Liu Yu, "You go back to the mansion and rest first. For the Western Regions, you make a report and submit it."
Liu Yu got up to leave.
Liu Zhao's finger slides on the map from the northwest to Xiliang.
"Should we build an official road leading to Xiliang? The war in the Western Regions will be less than ten to twenty years. If there are changes in the middle, it may take decades. Building a road can shorten the distance between the capital and the city of Xiliang. , The information can be transmitted back to the capital faster."
Gu Jiu nodded his head in recognition, "We thought about being together. It's time to build a concrete road from the northwest to Xiliang."
"Where does the money come from?"
Thousands of miles of roads, mountains and ridges, bridges across rivers, and even roads on cliffs. This is a huge project.
The money spent will be an astronomical figure.
However, this road is sparsely populated and the land is barren, so the economic profit that can be obtained is actually very limited.
Asking the Ministry of Households to pay for the road construction, the Ministry of Households Shangshu dared to hit a pillar on the Jinluang Temple and die.
All court officials would point to Liu Zhao’s nose and curse at Faunjun.
Gu Jiu gritted his teeth and circled a large area of ​​land on the map. "As far as I know, this piece of land can be grown! It can just alleviate the shortage of domestic cotton and reduce the price of cotton cloth."
"To grow cotton, we must first open up wasteland. Opening up wasteland requires a large number of people, which is not easy."
Gu Jiu's expression became cold, "Two sets of plans, one is to recruit people from the people, pay wages, and give land. The other is to use prisoners of war slaves to open up wasteland."
Liu Zhao said bluntly, "Using prisoner-of-war slaves is a way, but it is easy to breed various dark sides."
"Prisoner of war slaves, who have worked for ten years, can give them a legal status."
"Are you sure you want to give you legal status? Why don't you drive them all home, or give them a sum of money."
"If you drive home, you may be arrested again and become slaves to prisoners of war again. After opening up wasteland for ten years, give an identity and delineate the scope, but try it. But you must control the population, live in scattered areas, and not gather together. Together, so as not to cause chaos."
"Then give it a try."
In ten years, Liu Zhao could afford it!
The money problem is still unresolved.
"Raise funds! Ask the caravans that run the Western Regions all the year round to raise funds. The advantage is that toll free for 20 years."
"Even so, the cost of road construction is still not enough, and the gap is huge."
The caravan paid hundreds of thousands of taels.
It is possible to give only a few thousand taels, tens of thousands taels.
This little money is not enough to buy food for the construction of thousands of miles of concrete roads.
"Look for King Anxi and let him spend a portion of the money." Gu Jiu thought of a solution, "The Anxi Palace must spend at least five million taels."
"I'm afraid Pei Meng won't agree!" Liu Zhao understood Pei Meng, it was an iron cock.
I saw him picking up the wool from others, but I didn't see him being generous.
What is fighting is money and food.
In the past, there was insufficient money and food, and the Northwest Army often suffered from famine.
It makes Pei Meng feel nervous every time he faces problems involving money and food.
Gu Jiu replied domineeringly, "You have to agree to a promise, and you have to agree if you don't. It is not his turn to say no to the road construction. Otherwise, the palace will cut off the business road from Dazhou to Xiliang."
"This trick is ruthless! Pei Meng will definitely give up!" Liu Zhao had a cheerful expression, and he was very happy to see Pei Meng deflated.
To the Queen Gu Jiu, the little money that Da Zhou lost when the trade route was cut off was just a drop in the bucket.
But for Anxi King Pei Meng, the lost money was the main source of income for the palace.
Once the trade route was cut off, Anxi Palace was immediately paralyzed!
Pei Meng's throne, do not want to sit firmly.
Without tariff revenue, what would King Anxi take to raise the army?
Without the big week caravans continuously transporting goods to Xiliang, what would the Northwest Army eat and drink?
The oily tea leaves are only available in Da Zhou.
For the Northwest Army, who had lived in Da Zhou for the first half of their lives, the loss of tea was tantamount to killing them.
Occasionally eating a bowl of rice is also a relief.
It is an important means to stabilize people's hearts.
When the trade route is broken, tea, rice, and all kinds of snacks in my hometown are all out of stock.
Over time, the army will have to cause chaos.
This is Gu Jiu's killer. Holding Shanglu firmly in his hands is tantamount to pinching the lifeblood of Anxi Palace.
The lack of funds required for road construction can only rely on Shaofu and the whole world.
The Ministry of Households cannot be counted on.
The people in the household are born as miser.
Asking them to pay for road repairs is tantamount to killing them and cannot agree.
The husband and wife determined the general direction and set a specific plan, and the next step was to arrange personnel to implement it.
This matter was not discussed in the courtroom, and the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry were directly notified to cooperate.
Construction of the northwest section will start first.
On the Xiliang section, when will King Anxi take out the money and when will the construction start?
The court officials were in an uproar when he learned of this.
"Building roads in the desert, where people are sparsely populated and the land is barren, is obviously a waste of money and food."
"Why don't you use the money for road construction?"
"Your Majesty and Empress are crazy! The sky is high and the earth is far away, and the road is desolate and chaotic. Why do you want to build a concrete road to Xiliang? It makes no sense!"
"The business with Xiliang has a limited scale each year. It is pure waste to build roads specifically for the sake of a small tariff."
Even if the road was built without spending a penny from the household department, the courtiers, in the spirit of daring to lead the world, had a sense of responsibility to persuade the emperor and queen to take the right path, and they all went to the book to stop this.
Even if the money is spent on Shaofu, it is very distressing, okay?
Your Majesty must not be willful!
So much money, why is it bad to do it, and why build roads?
Hard work to build roads, the people of the Great Zhou will not be able to use it, it is a waste!
If your Majesty feels too much money to spend, it is better to give the money to the minister. Weichen is very poor, never too much money.
Weichen is also very poor!
The courtiers were all called Qiong, clearly mocking Emperor Liu Zhao.
Liu Zhao sat on the Golden Luang Temple and rolled his eyes.
"I am also very poor!"
"Your Majesty shouts poor, but he has the money to build a road that no one takes. It is ridiculous!"
"I spend my own money, what's the problem?"
"In nominal terms, your Majesty spends his own money, but in fact he spends it all. The salt and iron taxes go into the Shaofu pocket. The tax of ten taxes and one tax also goes into the Shaofu pocket. The income of the Shaofu bank is the same. Into the young man's pocket...this money, can your majesty say that it is your own money?"
"In the pocket of the young mansion, it is my money. This is the rule that was laid down in the Taizu's time. Do you want to break this rule now? You always said to keep the ancestral system, and now I ask to keep the ancestral system. Why don’t you agree to the system? You are the one who says it is right, and you are the one who says it is wrong! Dare to be right, it depends on your mouth."
"Your Majesty’s words are wrong! If you build a road in the country, the Shaofu will pay for it, and there is absolutely no objection. But the road that your Majesty is going to build now is from the northwest to Xiliang, which will cost thousands of miles. Money and food will be an astronomical figure. However, the land on this road is barren and uninhabited. What are the benefits of this road?"
"Those who say that there is no benefit in building roads are short-sighted people in my opinion. Why do you want to build this road, and what are the benefits of building this road? This question should not be answered by me. As courtiers, I should look for the answer myself. If everything needs me to come forward, what use do I want you officials to do?"