People live in the Ming Dynasty, evil spirits are soaring into the sky

Chapter 419 The road construction plan is probably just empty talk!

Zhang Juzheng agreed with what Sophia said.

"The Ming Dynasty used to be bound by a certain way of thinking and never tried anything new. But now, under the leadership of the Duke, it is able to innovate and let everyone see that these new things are not just a flood."

Zhang Juzheng's words represent the meaning of a class.

If a first-rank official like Zhang Juzheng could think this way, what else could others complain about?

Guo Feixue changed the subject: "This matter is too broad and we are not here to discuss it today. Elder Zhang, why don't you tell us why you came to us?"

Guo Feixue's words are very direct, without any feminine affectation.

What is is what is is, clearly distinguished.

Zhang Juzheng drank a sip of tea and said, "Princess Ning'an has done a lot of great things in Ningbo now. You should have heard about it, right?"

After hearing Zhang Juzheng's words, Guo Feixue and Sophia began to show expressions of dissatisfaction on their faces.

Zhang Juzheng certainly understood very well that although Princess Ning'an's current identity had not been made public, everyone could see that the current Princess Ning'an depended on Chen Han.

No matter where Princess Ning'an goes, no one dares not to give her face, because everyone knows that she is the Duke's woman.

It is precisely because of this that Guo Feixue and Sofia feel a little unconvinced. As the saying goes, where there are people, there is the world.

Even though the capital city and Ningbo are thousands of miles apart, any disturbance there will cause waves in the capital city, not to mention that Princess Ning'an has done such a big thing there, which must have spread to the capital city a long time ago, especially to the ears of Guo Feixue and Sophia.

Both women are now unconvinced.

We are doing quite well now. Not only have we made the Daming Engineering College flourish, but with the help of the White Lotus Sect, we have also built a small town on the banks of the Yongding River.

Originally, I thought this was already a dazzling achievement, but I didn't expect that Princess Ning'an would make such a big fuss in Ningbo, and she set up the Ming Bank and absorbed nearly five million taels of silver in one month.

Even when this matter reached the capital, it made many dignitaries curious and a little shocked.

Is this something a human being could do?

What kind of god is this?

This incident made many people more reluctant to underestimate these women, and of course it also diluted people's evaluation of Guo Feixue and Sofia to a certain extent.

There were many rumors in the capital that Princess Ning'an was also the Duke's woman, but it had never been made public. Although everyone admired the Duke's methods, the Duke's women came one after another like dumplings, giving one surprise after another, which was still quite shocking.

Of course, some people can't help but compare these two things.

In fact, what the three women are doing now can be considered earth-shattering.

As the saint of the White Lotus, Guo Feixue was able to transform the White Lotus into such a great organization. It has basically become an organization that helps the poor and the needy. As long as poor families seek help from the White Lotus, they will immediately receive financial assistance. The White Lotus will even personally help the refugees find jobs.

The service was very good, which made the people accept the White Lotus Sect again.

Sophia was also amazing. Although she was a foreign girl, after arriving in the capital, she quickly helped the Duke build the Daming Engineering College. After the school opened, she quickly recruited a large number of talented craftsmen and used the patent law to reverse everyone's view of craftsmen.

In fact, the reason for achieving such an effect is not necessarily the success of a patent bill, but that Chen Han completely defeated the Kong family in the confrontation with them, allowing the world to finally see that the Kong family cannot represent authority, and that many of Confucius’ words cannot be taken seriously.

It is precisely because of Chen Han's breaking of authority that the world understands that everything can be broken.

As a result, all kinds of new things can appear accordingly, and no one dares to say at this time that the new things violate the traditional Confucian concepts. After all, even Confucius has been overthrown now, so what so-called authority is there?

With the support of this idea, many things that seem to be, no, many things that were once regarded as heresy can now be brought out openly, especially those invention techniques that were once regarded as fairy tales.

In fact, some people have said that ancient China did not neglect inventions, but rather considered whether these inventions were pragmatic.

Our nation does not have so many heterodox things. What we pursue most is practical needs. As for things that are not needed in the near future, they will probably be easily ignored.

This cannot be blamed on our nation's lack of foresight, but rather the fact that we have been on the brink of destruction too many times. In addition, as an agricultural country, we rely on the weather for our food, and there is not enough food to feed idle people. This makes us more inclined to value practical things. What we need are things that can actually promote agricultural development.

So a lot of things that seem unrealistic will be ignored.

For example, the use of gunpowder.

When it was first invented we just used it as firecrackers.

Because there is no intensive cultivation like that used on gunpowder, some dogs raised with remote technology are prone to barking wildly when they open their mouths.

But there are many factors involved.

If I really want to talk about it in detail, it will take a very long article.

It is precisely because the ancients paid too much attention to immediate practicality that many things that seemed to take a long time to realize their value did not develop well. In fact, because of this concept, many inventors did not dare to bring them out.

But now it's different.

Daming Engineering College strongly encourages everyone to give full play to their talents. You can use your imagination freely as long as you can create something. If everyone evaluates that such a thing may not be used in real life now, but will definitely be useful in the future, then you can apply for an invention patent and get certain subsidies. Even if it is used in the future, you will still get subsidies.

Such policies encourage many people, even those who are not from Daming Engineering College, to take the things they like to make on a daily basis to the college for evaluation.

It’s true that because of this method, many people are now willing to invest in it.

Moreover, there is a policy that is very people-friendly, that is, no matter whether these things can be recognized by everyone, Daming Engineering College will reward to a certain extent those who dare to contribute and dare to let everyone see their achievements.

Of course, this is not a situation that anyone can fool around with. First, it will be evaluated by a professional and then asked about your thoughts when you created these things.

Subsidies will only be issued after evaluation, so that those who dare to venture down this path will not receive the comfort they deserve for spending a lot of energy.

After Daming Engineering College did this, it made many people who wanted to fill in the numbers feel embarrassed, because everyone has a sharp eye. If you just take out something and try to cheat people out of money, you will not only be punished, but you will also lose face.

After hearing about this policy, Zhang Juzheng was very impressed. "I never thought that our Daming Engineering College would have to take all these into consideration. This is like buying bones with a huge reward. More people will definitely show up if there is a huge reward.

Throughout history, I have never seen anyone with such a broad mind except myself, the Duke.

With a virtuous person like the Duke in charge, we are more motivated to work." Zhang Juzheng did not hesitate to praise him at this time.

Guo Feixue and Sophia are now immune to compliments, but they feel even happier when they hear Zhang Juzheng praising Chen Han.

Women are like this. Praising themselves for their beauty or virtuousness is not as good as saying, "Your husband is so great."

This not only represents a woman's vision in choosing a mate, but also gives people the feeling that their man is the best.

Now, after hearing this compliment, Guo Feixue and Sofia felt a little happy.

Because they have done so many things, they are qualified to compete with Princess Ning'an.

Sophia now feels a little aggrieved because she works in the education industry, an industry destined to have very slow results. She can't be as dazzling as Princess Ning An, who sets up a bank and can immediately absorb 5 million taels of silver in bonuses in a month.

But she firmly believes that what she has done is more worthy of praise than real money.

Because what you are changing is the future destiny of a country.

Generally speaking, what the three of them are doing now is actually very meaningful, but there is always a need to compare between women.

Zhang Juzheng could also see that the three women were actually competing secretly with each other.

Although Guo Feixue and Sofia seem so harmonious now, they are also in competition.

Guo Feixue is trying to find ways to expand the influence of the White Lotus Sect, hoping to use the power of the White Lotus Sect to help her man, spread all the news of the reforms, and even become a propaganda messenger to popularize these reforms.

The followers of the White Lotus Sect are spread all over the world. If they are willing to help, it would be better than the imperial court sending people to spread the word.

Moreover, there is one advantage of the White Lotus Sect's propaganda: those who join the White Lotus Sect are all from the grassroots, and their personal stories are more convincing.

Sofia is now working hard to build Daming Engineering College into a place where countless new ideas and new technologies converge.

She understands very well how important talents are to reform, and she wants to work hard to become the person who provides talents for Chen Han on his road to reform.

In a nutshell, the three women are silently competing and cooperating in their respective areas of expertise.

Then Zhang Juzheng began to speak: "This time I came to discuss a big matter with the two girls. Princess Ning'an not only established the Ming Bank in Ningbo, but also wanted to use the influence and financial resources of the Ming Bank to form a professional road construction team and start building the road starting from Ningbo."

After hearing what Zhang Juzheng said, Guo Feixue and Sophia were obviously a little surprised. It seemed that this matter had nothing in common with what they were currently responsible for.

At the same time, Guo Feixue also raised a question: "Build roads, so what kind of professional road builders are there? Are there people who specialize in road building for a living? Hasn't road building been the job of the imperial court since ancient times?"

Zhang Juzheng explained: "If we still follow the previous method and let the government collect labor service to build roads, it won't be so troublesome.

The princess meant to set up a special road construction team, and then the Ming Bank would take the lead and join forces with Ningbo or other major businesses in the surrounding areas to invest in completing this road construction plan."

After Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, Guo Feixue and Sophia looked at each other.

I really don't understand what Zhang Juzheng means now.

Repair the road at your own expense?

And we also need to bring in powerful businesses to build the road together?

Guo Feixue almost laughed out loud, thinking: Princess Ning'an, Princess Ning'an, don't think that you can be superior to everyone just because you created the Ming Bank. We don't believe it can be done this way.

Sophia was even more confused.

Now his country is still in the midst of a fierce struggle, and sometimes it even needs to supply some daily necessities to the country from the occupied territories overseas.

They are very familiar with smuggling.

Guo Feixue couldn't help but laugh: "Master Zhang, don't you think this plan is a bit crazy? Let the businesses in Ningbo unite and build roads together? I understand that you are looking for us two not for fun or money, but for the talents of our engineering college?"

Zhang Juzheng nodded: "Yes, I heard that Daming Engineering College has gathered elites from all over the world. If we can find a few people who can help, it will be a good harvest.

Zhang Juzheng said: "When you built the stone bridge before, didn't you also work together? Can you do the same again this time?
Repairing bridges and roads should be similar, right? "

Sophia shook her head: "Building a bridge is very different from building a road, but since the Duke needs it, we will go back and gather the students to go to Ningbo to help Princess Ning'an build the road.

But I have a question, even if the road is repaired, who will pay for it? Building a road is not a small amount of money. "

The Sophia family was originally engaged in business. Although their business was not a good one, they knew that businessmen were profit-driven. If there was no money to be made, these businessmen would have run away long ago.

After Zhang Juzheng received the letter from Princess Ning'an, he read the description of future benefits in the letter.

At first, Zhang Juzheng didn't believe that he could make money by building roads in this way, so he was a little skeptical, just like Guo Feixue and Sophia.

But after listening to Chen Han's reforms to this plan, Zhang Juzheng still came over.

"How to make a profit after the road is built is a matter for the future. Today, I am here to cooperate with Princess Ning'an. She wants to select about 100 engineers from the Daming Engineering College. They must have experience in road construction, and then cooperate with the local people to command the craftsmen to build the road."

This is a huge project. Princess Ning'an has met with several officials during this period and is ready to convince them one by one to help her complete the road construction plan.

After listening to Zhang Juzheng's words, Sophia finally understood the purpose of his visit today.

Sophia smiled and said, "That's no problem. They also want to go out and show their talents. Staying in Daming Engineering College is like staying under the wings of a mother hen."

……

(End of this chapter)