Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 619 Road Construction Drives Market Prosperity
Most people in later generations know a concept: if you want to be rich, you must first build roads.

Although Zhu Youjian didn't have many opportunities to travel far away from the palace, he has discovered from the few trips that even in relatively developed and flat areas like the Gyeonggi area, the road conditions are not optimistic.

When he came to Daxing County in the first half of this year to watch the harvest of the demonstration farmland, although the official road along the way had been repaired, he still felt that the bumps were severe when sitting in the four-wheeled carriage.

This is still a period of drought and little rain. If the climate returns to normal, under the continuous rain and the pressure of people pedaling, the already muddy road will definitely become more rugged after sunny days.

It can be seen from this, what is the condition of the roads in other parts of Daming.

This is the official road connecting the prefectures and counties of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention other roads.

The most important task at present is to start large-scale infrastructure construction in the Northland. First, gradually widen and harden the official roads in the Northland, so as to facilitate the rapid and effective flow of various resources in the Northland and provide a strong impetus for the economic development of Ming Dynasty. .

"The cabinet should write as soon as possible to all provinces and prefectures and counties under its jurisdiction. After exploring local resources, build kilns nearby to produce materials such as cement, lime, sand and gravel, so as to harden the local official roads after reaching production capacity, so as to facilitate the transportation of materials and People go out.

During this period, during the winter slack season, it is necessary to hire young and strong people to widen and level the official road, and start hardening work as soon as possible after materials such as cement and lime are in place.

This project involves a lot of work, so the Gyeonggi region and the prefectures of Shanxi and Shaanxi are the most important, and other local governments will coordinate and arrange according to their own conditions.

The Ministry of Industry should formulate road width and levelness standards. The width should initially be able to accommodate two carriages traveling across the road. Spaces should be reserved on both sides of the road for pedestrians to avoid congestion and confusion. "

With the advent of winter, the official road from Xuanda to the capital is a busy scene.

Various large and small commercial firms, as well as countless individual small merchants, drove all kinds of horse-drawn carts and ox carts between the two places, and transported coal from the coal-producing prefectures and counties of Shanshan and Shanxi to the capital and Gyeonggi area. All kinds of goods were brought to the market in the capital, and distributed to the local big households and ordinary people with some spare money after returning home.

After the end of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some habits outside the customs that could improve the quality of life were quickly transmitted to the capital, and the fire dragon and heated kang were one of them.

As early as the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, the rich and powerful families in the capital, the wealthy officials and businessmen's families, and the wealthy civilians began to build large-scale construction projects one after another. Each household remodeled the relevant houses in the house according to their own economic conditions. , or lay fire dragons, or build heated kangs, so that you and your family can spend a warm winter.

Under such circumstances, the demand for coal in the capital of more than 100 million people is in short supply. As long as the coal transported from Shanxi to the capital is sold out as soon as it is brought to the market, it will be sold out.

At the beginning of winter now, a large number of servants and maidservants of rich and powerful families gathered outside several large and small city gates in the north of the capital. Quarrels and fights occurred in several places every day, which also made it impossible for ordinary people in the capital to buy the coal they needed.

After learning of this situation, Ni Yuanlu, Yin of Shuntian Prefecture, dispatched Fu Cheng with a large number of servants to maintain order, trying to open the passage and restore normal market order, but these servants were beaten by the servants of the rich and powerful families on the first day. Fleeing away with his head in his arms, Fu Cheng was also dragged away by the yamen servants in the chaos.

As the saying goes, the prime minister's concierge is the seventh-rank official.

In the eyes of the servants of these rich and powerful families, these yamen servants are like boogers, and they dare to meddle in their own affairs, and they don't ask who their master is. Isn't this here to beat them?
Although Ni Yuanlu is strong, what can he accomplish by himself?

After seeing the mournful state of the prime minister, Ni Yuanlu went straight to the palace to ask Zhu Youjian, and complained to the emperor in person, asking the emperor to give corresponding instructions on the matter.

In a rage, Zhu Youjian immediately ordered Li Ruolian to deal with the matter with full authority, and immediately took measures to restore the normal market order in the capital.

In the afternoon when the servants of those big households were complacent, a hundred tall and sturdy school captains in brocade clothes, holding sticks wrapped in thick cotton cloth, poured out from Deshengmen, and carried out a mad attack on these hundreds of servants in green clothes and small caps. beat up.

A moment later, those servants who were bragging and farting just now were beaten with bruised noses and swollen faces, with broken bones and tendons, and then the family fled back to the capital with each other's support. The order of the coal market in the capital returned to normal that day.

From that day on, no one dared to intercept and snap up coal outside the city.Shuntian Mansion and Jin Yiwei also arranged for manpower to be stationed in the Tanshi city in the north of the city. Anyone who relied on their power and tried to snap up them would be arrested and sent to Shuntian Mansion Prison.Under this strong deterrence, Beicheng Tancheng entered into an orderly development.

Since the outside of the customs has already entered the severe cold season, and it is still in a state of waste, several coal mines in Liaoning Province have not yet been exploited on a large scale.

Zhu Youjian has already decreed that after the spring of next year, the local government will, with the cooperation of the garrison, select corresponding manpower from a large number of prisoners of war, and start to expand and expand the production of several small coal mines that have been excavated. To meet the increasingly strong demand for coal in the capital.

This kind of good opportunity to make money can’t be missed. With labor that doesn’t spend money and just eats, the cost of the coal produced is basically negligible, and there is no need to worry about the sales of coal. Now it is a standard seller’s market, and how much it will be digested quickly Coal prices have also been on an upward path.

As ship after ship of iron ore was pulled from overseas to Tianjin Port, the iron-making and steel-making kilns located near the port were also producing steel of various qualities day and night.Good quality will be used to make guns, and those with slightly lower quality will be used to make various agricultural tools, and the iron materials with the lowest quality do not need to be re-smelted. These iron materials now have new uses ——Make it into a small briquette stove.

Under Zhu Youjian's instruction, this simple household tool quickly began to be mass-produced. Once launched, it was loved by the majority of civilian families, which also made the charcoal merchants very happy.

The pulverized coal that was abandoned like a shoe can finally turn waste into treasure.

Just when Zhu Youjian and his ministers were discussing state affairs, Jiading Bo Zhou Kui entered the palace because of the matter of the gentry paying food.

(End of this chapter)