The daily life of the science master's book-wearing group

Chapter 17 Cement Road

At the beginning of May, the Guangdong Province was already under the scorching sun. The first season of rice was harvested, and preparations for the second season of rice planting began.

The Patriarchs of the He Family and the Cao Family were invited by Mr. Song to the chief envoy’s yamen, and showed them two strange large stones. Interestingly, these two stones were not bluestones, nor did they belong to any type of stones they had ever seen. It has a strange texture, although its strength is not as strong as bluestone and granite, it is extremely hard.

The two patriarchs stared at the stone and studied it for a long time, and asked Mr. Song in disbelief: "Is this man-made?"

Lord Song raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Exactly, this thing is called concrete. I want to repair the official roads in Guangdong recently. Do you two think this thing is feasible?"

The Patriarch of the Cao family stroked his chin and said, "Caomin has heard that the bricks used by Taizu to build the city wall of Jinling were fired together with kaolin, clay, and sand. ah?"

Lord Song stretched out two fingers, and said, "Twenty pennies and one stone."

The two residents gasped, and asked in unison, "It's so cheap?!"

Master Song put his hands behind his back and smiled inscrutablely: "If you two are interested in this thing, I have the recipe here."

When the two heard this, they thought to themselves: The daughter is not free, and the dowry is not free!

Originally, they just wanted to show respect to the local chief of civil affairs and tell him not to make trouble with him, but he never expected that Mr. Song would have such a surprise waiting for them!

The next thing is to talk about money. The two patriarchs stayed in the chief secretary's yamen until dark before going back. They touched the sweat on their foreheads and complained in their hearts. If Mr. Song is not an official, even if he is a businessman, he will definitely be able to prosper !
The formula can be handed over to those two people, but Mr. Song has to own 6% of the shares, and another [-]% of the shares must be distributed at a price of [-] taels per [-]. Your Excellency, and Governor Ou of Fujian Province, half of each.

The remaining [-]% are divided between the Cao family and the He family.

When the government of Guangdong Province builds roads, it will buy them at a price of 22 cents per stone, and the chief secretary's office will not care about the price of selling them to other provincial government offices or merchants.

One day, Master Song saw Song Qingyue setting up a small stove in the yard, cooking something in a clay pot.

"What is Yue'er doing now?" Song Jianming always felt that this girl was emitting golden light from top to bottom, and had a premonition that she was going to mess up something again.

Song Qingyue took the small bowl at hand to Mr. Song, and said, "Master Song, please try it."

When Mr. Song saw it, it contained finely divided white powder, could it be salt?I tasted it, and it really was salt!

Song Qingyue said: "The coarse salt I bought from outside has been refined into fine salt, so it doesn't taste bitter at all!" She said with a smile.

Immediately afterwards, Song Qingyue took out a piece of paper from her sleeve and handed it to Master Song, "Shall we pass on the method of refining? It can save the common people a lot of money."

Master Song's hairs stood on end when he heard it, and he quickly covered the little baby's mouth: "Don't, don't, don't, this won't work, the whole family will lose their heads!"

The little girl frowned: "It's just a method of refining, and we don't sell salt."

"That won't work either! Give this to me." Song Jianming swished the piece of paper away and put it into his arms, and said to the servants, "Clean up this place quickly! Don't reveal half a word, do you hear me?!"

Song Qingyue was not convinced: "Is it really not possible?"

"Be careful with your little head!" Master Song threatened her.

Song Qingyue rolled her eyes: "Forget it."

She can't do things that benefit the people, so she can only find ways to do something else.

In August, sweet-scented osmanthus is already fragrant.

Su Wang's son Li Zhao finally came out of the clan mansion, and went to Lingnan without stopping.

After entering Zhejiang, the most heard thing along the road is the recruitment of workers in Guangdong and Fujian to build roads.

When resting at the post station near Fenghua, the postman was very clear, and introduced it very dog-leggedly: "The job recruitment is the most clear, two meals a day, male or female, daily wages of ten cash, children over ten years old , under the age of 15, five pennies a day, no matter how young."

Li Zhao raised his eyebrows: "Have new mines been dug in these two provinces? Where did you get so much money to build roads?"

The servants fetched bath water one after another, Li Zhao walked around behind the screen, and was undressed by the two small yellow gates. He didn't ask Yi Cheng to step down, so Yi Cheng could only stand obediently outside the screen and reply respectfully Said: "I haven't heard of the small new mine, but the small ones have heard that the governors of Fujian and Guangdong provinces will take the lead in opening some kind of business promotion meeting in Guangzhou. It is said that it is related to road construction. Even the merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have sent people there. .”

"Well, back off."

For such a big matter as road construction, there was no movement at all in the capital, but just now Yiyi said that the road construction was paid for, that is to say, corvee was not used. Could it be that the state government’s treasury bank was not used?

Can it be done?
With all kinds of doubts, Li Zhao quickly went to Guangzhou Mansion on the following journey. Just about to find out where the Merchants Association will be held, he saw a huge notice at the gate of the city, which stated the time of the Merchants Association, There are also soldiers at the city gate standing in front of the notice board knocking gongs and shouting to promote this investment promotion meeting.

Li Zhao took a closer look, and found that the emotional business promotion meeting was not just one event, but several dozen events in succession!

Now there have been five games, and there will be another fifteen games in the future. There will be one every three days, at the Yonghe Restaurant, the largest restaurant in Guangzhou, and there will be one in two days.

Li Zhao, who didn't want to alarm the state officials, wanted to find a hotel to rest, but couldn't find a place for a while.The better hotels were fully booked, so I had no choice but to go to the Yamen of Guangzhou Prefecture to find the new magistrate.

He really didn't want to face Master Song, after all, he kidnapped his daughter without prior notice, but he would never admit that he was half guilty of such a thing.

And this newly appointed Master Peng, the prefect of Guangzhou, was recommended by Duke Xu of the State of Wei.

Duke Wei's Mansion is Empress Xu's natal family, and the meaning of Duke Xu is also the meaning of East Palace.

Originally, Master Song had recommended Lord Gu, the magistrate of Jianzhou, to His Majesty, but now that the East Palace had plans, Master Gu just made a transfer at the same level and became the current governor of Guangzhou.

Today, His Majesty has an excellent technique of checks and balances, and he likes to write some tender and nasty letters to his sons and grandchildren, making the princes mistakenly think that he is very much loved and valued by his father, and his grandfather is not afraid of his son in the future They fight more fiercely.

Li Zhao thought about these bad things, shook his head and fell asleep with a long sigh.

On the day of the China Merchants Association, he took a leisurely stroll in Guangzhou after having breakfast. It is best to go shopping in the morning or evening in this season.

When the sun was rising, Li Zhao arrived at Yonghe Restaurant with a yellow gate and six guards. The business invitation meeting had already started, and the lobby was full of wealthy businessmen from all over the place, but it was not noisy at all, everyone was whispering.

Several road sections for today's bidding, as well as the starting price of these road sections, have been posted. The map is posted on the right, and the closing time is 04:30 pm, which is about [-]:[-] pm.

Before that, those present can walk around, talk with each other at will, and even stroll around and play with each other, as long as they hand in the bidding documents before the three quarters of the bid time.

On the tender, you only need to write the road section, price and the number on the number plate you received when you entered the door.

The latest quotation will be updated every quarter of an hour on the notice board in the center of the lobby, and the highest price will win.

There were people from the chief secretary in the restaurant, and when they saw Li Zhao's clothes and the embroidery on his clothes, they immediately took him to the private room on the second floor.

The shopkeeper of the restaurant came to serve the food and pour the wine in person, and the officials of the chief envoy's office were also alarmed, but they all knew that their boss, Lord Song, had enmity with King Su's son, and no one dared to flatter Li Zhao too much.

Li Zhao didn't care either. Holding tea, he leaned on the railing and looked down at the notice boards. He found that the roads for auction included not only official roads, but also some little-known rural roads.

"The notice board at the gate of the city is also auctioned, what does that mean?" Li Zhao asked.

The shopkeeper who was serving the tea immediately said: "If you come back to Shizi, this auction is not about the route, but the notice board along the route."

"Billboard?"

"Yes, whoever takes pictures of the road section can set up billboards along that section of the road to promote their own business, and even open hotels along those road sections, and can also give priority to buying nearby farms along the road."

Li Zhao gave a low hum, squinted his eyes and carefully looked at the road section on the notice board. He had the impression of the road section from Sanming County to Wenshui County. The group of them delayed their trip because of the rain that day, so they had to find a place to sleep in the Earth Temple. One night.

But it would be wonderful if there could be an inn between the two county towns!

(End of this chapter)