Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 242 Infrastructure, New Tang Daily

Li Yuanji didn't know how long it had been since he had been so angry, but after experiencing it again this time, he felt very unhappy.

Although the matter has been resolved now, it has given Li Yuanji a great warning, whether it is the matter between Guangzhou Prefecture and Nanzhou Prefecture, or the matter between Leizhou Prefecture, not to mention the incident in Jiaozhou Prefecture and Aizhou.

If there is only supervision, it still seems not so stable, and more people must be involved.

While Li Yuanji was deep in thought, Cen Wenben's voice came from below.

"Your Majesty, I have another matter to discuss here, which is about the academy. I am going to start construction on the academies that I am going to build in Leizhou Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture.

Now, the construction of the Imperial College, prefectural schools, state schools, and county schools has been confirmed. I have already sent people to various counties to summarize the situations in each county, select the locations of the academies based on the situations in each county, and then build them according to their scale.

Now there are archives on the situations of the two prefectures and each state. I have reviewed them overnight and have preliminarily determined the locations for the establishment of the prefectural and state schools, as well as the scale of their construction.

I now present this to Your Majesty, asking for your permission to start construction."

Li Yuanji came back to his senses and looked at the memorial handed over by Cen Wenben. He immediately adjusted his thoughts, took it and began to check it. After nearly two incense sticks of time, Li Yuanji finally finished checking it.

After putting away the memorial, Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben.

“Yes, the location and scale of the academy have been considered in great detail. As for the Imperial College, it does not need to be located in the palace. It can be located in the inner city and rebuilt on the west side of the palace.

Now my palace is still too small. If it were the imperial palace, it could be placed inside. But now you are placing the Imperial College in my palace. Where will the people in my palace live?
The provincial schools of Leizhou Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture should be placed in Zhanjiang and Guangzhou respectively, instead of Haikang and Panyu.

The establishment of this college can help develop the local economy, and it is not far from the government office, which is just right for attracting people.

However, this is only limited to Leizhou Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture. Now Haikang and Panyu are not lacking in development. A prefecture with only one center is still a bit lacking. A sub-center should be developed.

Since the population and economic scale of the other prefectures are insufficient, they are placed in the capitals of the prefectures.

The provincial schools will be established as you wrote, but the address of each college cannot be chosen in a particularly prosperous place, nor can it be too remote. It is necessary to strike a balance in between and manage it.

The last thing is the scale. According to the scale you have written now, you can expand it appropriately.

There are so many people in each state of the two prefectures now, but as time goes by, the population will inevitably increase. Instead of expanding it in the future, it is better to build it directly and save more time.

Has Kong Yingda sorted out all the others now?"

The address and scale of the college compiled by Cen Wenben was very detailed, and he himself could not find any major problems.

Li Yuanji was also very excited about the establishment of the academy. Once the academy was opened, it would herald the beginning of a new era, and the era when aristocratic families monopolized important knowledge would be gone forever.

And this way of cultivating talents will also be presented to all the people in the world in a brand new way, whether in the past, now, or in the future. At least in the feudal dynasty, this is the first time in the true sense of Li Yuanji that the establishment of all colleges and the cultivation of talents are funded by the court.

Although there were a large number of colleges during the Yuan and Ming dynasties, none of them were so standardized. The lower-level colleges were not colleges at all, but just schools, and most of them were built privately.

His current system may not show any effect in a short period of time, but as long as he persists, the longer the time, the more terrifying it will be. By then, all the talents in the world will come from various colleges, not from any family.

Cen Wenben kept Li Yuanji's words firmly in mind. He had also thought carefully about the locations of the Imperial College and the provincial school. Now that Li Yuanji thought so, he didn't say anything. It was feasible anyway.

Afterwards, Cen Wenben's heart was filled with excitement. This college system would be the biggest change from ancient times to now, and he was not only a witness of this change, but also one of the executors of this change. How could Cen Wenben not be excited?

This system will directly affect countless generations to come. It is of far-reaching significance and will be a milestone change. Who wouldn’t be proud of it if he or she participated in it?
If you can participate in such a grand event, your name will be recorded in the history books and go down in history. No one can refuse this benefit.

Cen Wenben stopped thinking about it and looked at Li Yuanji solemnly.

"Yes, I will start making adjustments after I go down. After the adjustments, can we start the construction of these colleges?"

Li Yuanji nodded: "Submit it to me after you have made adjustments. After I agree, we can start the construction. You must prepare the manpower, material resources, and money required in advance. Only after you are ready can we start the construction."

Cen Wenben suddenly laughed.

“Don’t worry, your Majesty, I understand.

Kong Yingda is still sorting out the college's specific enrollment and teaching.

I have heard that Kong Yingda is currently selecting books for study at all levels of the academy. The enrollment and scale seem to have been determined. The Ironware Bureau is stepping up the production of printing presses and preparing paper. It seems that they are already preparing for printing. "

Li Yuanji was full of curiosity and anticipation after listening to this. Now that all the preliminary preparations have to begin, it looks like the academy will be officially launched before next year.

After thinking for a while, Li Yuanji no longer paid attention to it. Anyway, all these things had to be sorted out by Kong Yingda and presented to him. Only after his agreement would all the procedures begin.

Looking at Cen Wenben, Li Yuanji asked about something else that was on his mind.

"Jingren, how is the construction of the post roads going in various prefectures?"

Cen Wenben pondered for a while before speaking slowly.

"Your Majesty, all prefectures have invested a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources in the construction of the post road. Currently, Leizhou Prefecture and Guangzhou Prefecture are making the fastest progress. The post road from Leizhou Prefecture to Guangzhou Prefecture has been connected.

Most of the post roads in the prefecture have been completed, and those that have been completed are being extended to other places.

The progress of Liuzhou Prefecture was the slowest because it had many mountains and was much slower than the other prefectures.

Except for the post road from Yazhou to Zhenzhou, the post roads from Yazhou to Wan'anzhou and Danzhou are already connected in Nanzhou Prefecture. Now the construction of post roads connecting various states has also begun.

Because Jiaozhou started slowly, there is not much time left for construction. The post roads between various places, except for the area around Jiaozhou, have not yet been connected. However, three months ago, the research institute established by the king applied new technology to the construction of post roads. Specific feedback has not been received yet, but judging from the preview, the progress should be greatly improved. "

The post roads, that is, the construction of roads, originally there were roads between the prefectures, but the road surface was narrow and full of mud after rain. People could easily fall when walking on it, not to mention the transportation of goods.

Li Yuanji was very clear about the true meaning of the saying, "If you want to get rich, build roads first." The inconvenience of roads led to unsatisfactory development in other places.

In addition to developing the economy, these roads are also used to convey policies. After all, carrier pigeons are used to transmit urgent intelligence, and the number of carrier pigeons is very limited nowadays, so it is impossible to deploy them in every state or even county.

The reconstruction of the post road seemed imperative, and Li Yuanji had already emphasized this matter at the beginning of its development.

This is also the reason why all governments are investing manpower, material resources and financial resources in building roads.

Li Yuanji was also delighted to hear this. Although the speed was relatively slow, with the interconnection of some local roads and the deepening of exchanges, more merchants would naturally go there, and the economy would gradually improve.

As for the new technology provided by the research institute, Li Yuanji knew that it was not really a new technology. It was just a great improvement in the steelmaking method. Li Yuanji had developed more tools to assist in road construction.

The research institute was established by Li Yuanji after he acquired the basic steam principle technology. The purpose of this research institute is to tackle the subsequent application and development of steam technology.

It’s not that Li Yuanji doesn’t want to exchange for the subsequent technology, but the contribution points required for the subsequent steam application technology are too many, so many that Li Yuanji feels overwhelmed.

Whenever there is a real technological leap of this kind, as long as it is not basic fundamental process technology, a huge number of contribution points are required.

Whether it is steelmaking or sailing, although both are epoch-making, their contribution points are not so many.

Li Yuanji also discovered that although the cross-era technological processes in basic industries required many contribution points, he felt that that number was more than he could afford.

However, unless there is a revolutionary improvement in basic process technology, the contribution points required will be a bottomless pit.

This is also the reason why Li Yuanji now asks people to start learning and researching. He wants to see if he can save such a large amount of contribution points.

If it weren't for these reasons, why would he have gone to so much trouble to establish an industrial college?

This industrial college is just a general name. Within the industrial college, there are disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, mechanics, natural science, etc. It’s just that it’s just starting out now, so everything still seems a little difficult.

Li Yuanji stopped thinking about it. Now he just hoped that after the existing task system was completed, he would be given some infrastructure tasks or some school tasks. After all, these were necessary for development. The key point was that he had already prepared a lot. As long as the task appeared, he would not have that much time to complete it.

As for any population task, even if he wanted to come, he really didn't want to come on the task of increasing Haikang's population. Now there are three million people. If there is another 50,000, Li Yuanji can forget about it. It will take decades to complete it.

Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben and spoke solemnly.

"The construction of the post road cannot be stopped. In fact, each prefecture and each place has its own advantages. Our business is prosperous here, but we lack such a post road. As long as we have a post road, it will naturally drive the development of various places.

There is also land reclamation, as well as the construction of rivers, canals, dams, etc., which all need to be kept up. Some rivers should be widened if necessary, and it would be best if large ships can sail on them. We should not only pay attention to land routes, but also water routes. "

These are all old topics, but Li Yuanji has to keep reminding people so that the people below him will take it to heart.

The improvement of water conservancy is due to the heavy rainfall in the south and the difficulty of traveling by land, so water transportation has become an extremely good choice. Now, the shipbuilding technology here can be said to be the world's leading. If he wants to make use of these advantages, he must work hard on water conservancy.

Although the construction of rivers is not as good as the canal built by Yang Guang, its scale is still too small. The increase and dredging of rivers can prevent the occurrence of floods, and at the same time allow more land to be irrigated, which is also for the purpose of opening up water transportation.

Cen Wenben felt somewhat helpless as he listened to what Li Yuanji said, but he couldn't say anything. Li Yuanji would tell him these things from time to time, and he was almost numb to them.

Helpless, Cen Wenben said seriously: "Your Majesty, these things are now necessary indicators for development. All prefectures, states, and counties will not relax. If the indicators are not completed, they will be punished."

Li Yuanji could sense Cen Wenben's helplessness but didn't say anything. Although his constant mention of this did sound a bit nagging, he had to stop nagging as there were many new matters to be dealt with and he couldn't forget the originally set development focus.

After having a general understanding of the matters concerning the post road, Li Yuanji immediately started talking about business.

"Jingren, I have an idea."

Hearing Li Yuanji's self-introduction, Cen Wenben immediately became extremely serious and listened carefully. He knew that what Li Yuanji would say next would definitely not be a trivial matter.

Li Yuanji organized his words and spoke slowly.

“Nowadays, there are official reports, but they are only notifications of policies to the lower levels, and the government is still involved.

This king wishes to establish a new newspaper, a newspaper of royal level. I will call it the New Tang Daily. It represents the imperial court, but it is my imperial court, and the New Tang Daily will be open to everyone.

That is to say, in addition to government offices at all levels, ordinary people can also check it, but in order to check it, they need to pay a certain amount of silver and buy it.

This New Tang Daily reports on all policies, court affairs, results, etc., including officials from various prefectures, states, and counties, as well as what those officials who performed well did and were rated as excellent.

This also includes the current prefectures, states, and counties that have achieved excellent results, which will be published in the New Tang Daily and disseminated throughout the world. Anyone who purchases the New Tang Daily can see it on it.

The New Tang Daily includes many sections, these are some of them, and the most important thing is that when officials make mistakes, the punishments for the officials will all be recorded.

For example, the current incident in Aizhou, what those officials did wrong and what kind of punishment they are receiving now will all be reported in the newspaper.

All interesting things happening in each prefecture, state and county will be presented in the New Tang Daily.

What do you think of the New Tang Daily? "

(End of this chapter)