North and South groceries

The governor of Yizhou is a member of the former Yiwu royal family. He is said to be the governor, and he is almost like a king in Yizhou.

At that time, King Yiwu surrendered at the beginning of Li Shimin's ascension to the throne, and the Li and Tang Dynasty gave him preferential treatment, allowing him to retain his privileges to a considerable extent. A member of the Yiwu royal family of the dynasty, he was named the governor.

Governors of the prefecture must obey the imperial court’s transfer orders, and they must go to Chang’an City to sue on a regular basis, but the land of Longxi is too far away from Chang’an City. I have been to the capital, let alone a place like Yizhou, the journey is farther and the situation is more special.

I heard that the Tang Dynasty is currently building roads in Longxi, all the way from Liangzhou to Dunhuang. From Liangzhou City, there are two cement roads leading to the Central Plains. One goes south to Chang'an, and the other passes through Guannei Road and passes through Mengmen Pass. Then go south to Chang'an from Hedong Road, and connect with several waterways in the Central Plains.

The governor of Yiwu and his family are also very excited. If Yiwu can build a cement road from them, connecting with the two cement roads that stretch for tens of thousands of miles, thinking about the grand occasion of business exchanges in the future, it will really make people feel excited. Fascinated.

It's a pity that firstly, they don't have the technology to burn cement, and secondly, the investment in road construction is really too high.

From Yiwu City to Changle and Jinchang, the journey is quite long, and there are many deserted slopes in the Gobi, so it is not easy to supply. If you want to build a concrete road about a battle wide in such a place, I really don't know how much manpower and material resources will be required!

At this time, Luo used to come and persuade them to build the road. He rushed to repair the road before the Gaochang people. If those merchants think this road is easy to go, they will definitely visit here every year in the future.

The governor of Yiwu then called Luo Yong poor: "I don't want to build roads, but Yiwu has few people and poor land, and there is not much financial resources. How can I build such a long concrete road?"

"At such a critical juncture, how can the governor hesitate?" Luo Yongyou said: "When the road on the Gaochang side is repaired, the merchants spread word of mouth, saying that the road is easy to go, who will come to Yiwu in the future?"

The governor of Yiwu said: "I also know this truth, but I, Yiwu, have no money or food, so I really don't have the ability."

Luo Yong sighed, and said: "Although it takes a lot to build this road, it is worth a thousand years of effort. It is related to the prosperity and decline of your Yiwu realm."

The governor of Yiwu also sighed, he said: "I don't know if Saburo can help me Yiwu and the sage to talk about this matter, if I can't get the help of the imperial court, it is really difficult for me in Yiwu to build this road by myself in such a remote place. "

It turned out that these Yiwu people had this idea. They heard that Luo Yong was quite favored by the emperor. Although he came from an ordinary farm family, he became an official early on. He was quite popular in Chang'an City. was exiled.

So they just wanted Luo Yong to help speak in front of the emperor, so that the Central Plains Dynasty would spend money and efforts to build this road. Didn’t the court always want to strengthen the control and management of Yizhou? They were in conflict with other things , But the road construction, considering the convenience and economic benefits this road will bring to Yiwu, they can still accept it.

"..." Luo Yong smiled and glanced at the governor of Yiwu, thinking what good thing this little old man was thinking.

As far as they are in Yizhou, they haven’t paid much tax all year round. Now it’s all right. When it’s time to build roads, I want the court to help. Where does the court’s money and food come from, and it’s not paid by the people in other places. Taxes.

To put it bluntly, they want to take advantage of the common people in other places. It's so unkind!

Luo Yong smiled, and said to the governor of Yizhou: "I heard that the sage was going to build a road in Longxi earlier, and there was already a lot of controversy in the court. Fighting a war, in the current situation, it may be very difficult for the imperial court to help build roads."

"..." The governor of Yizhou stopped talking.

He also heard the news about Xue Yantuo earlier, the journey was quite far, and the news was not delivered in time. In this situation, it is really impossible to expect the imperial court to help them build roads.

"I don't know why Saburo came here this time..." After a while, the governor of Yizhou asked Luo Yongdao again.

"Your Majesty also knows that in Changle County, the water and grass are not fertile, and the land is barren, so the crops are often not good. It is suitable to plant the white cassava, but in this way, the food will become a problem. I heard that Yizhou is very capable of producing grain. Let’s come and see what’s going on.” Luo Yong said, cupping his hands at the governor of Nayi Prefecture.

When the governor of Yizhou heard that Luo Yong wanted to transport food from them, it seemed that there was still room for the road construction, so he felt a little happy in his heart, and he was not as humble as before and called poor, but also Don't say anything about the lack of people and land:

"To tell the truth from Saburo, I can produce some grain in Yizhou, but the place is not good. There are no villages or shops here. If there is a few grains, they often can't be sold at a good price."

"Of course it's much better than Chang Le." Luo Yong said the same thing.

"I don't know about road construction, but Sanlang can solve my urgent need in Yizhou?" asked the governor of Yizhou.

I heard that their Luo family is also very rich, especially Erniang Luo, who was famously rich in Liangzhou City in the past, and now she still has a batch of orbs in her hand. Erniang bought some beads from him, they are really rare items, now those few beads are hidden in a box in his bedroom, and I have to take them out to play with them from time to time.

"If you want to talk about money and food, I can't help you much." Luo Yong said with a smile:

"It's just that I have a disciple named Hengzhi who made a rare item a while ago. After I saw it, I felt that if this item was given to you Yiwu, it might be of some use."

The governor of Naizhou raised his eyebrows and asked, "What is it?"

Luo Yong turned his head and glanced at Qiao Junlin, then Qiao Junlin untied the burden on his back, took out a flat wooden box from the burden, put the box on the table, and opened it casually: "Please have a look."

The governor of Yizhou poked his neck forward a little, cast his eyes down for a while, and then couldn't look away anymore, so he couldn't help but get closer and observe carefully.

I saw that there were two rails paved with two thin wooden strips inside the wooden box, and a carriage was placed on the rails. The two wheels of the carriage were resting on the rails. It just slid out on the track, very smooth and light!

"What Sanlang means is that he wants me to build a road like this?" The governor of Yizhou looked up at Luo Yong and asked.

"Exactly." Luo Yong smiled and replied: "The construction of that cement road is really a lot of work, and it costs too much money and food. If it is just to build a road like this, if you want to use Yiwu's financial resources, there should be no problem. "

In fact, Yiwu is quite rich, with a large oasis, and on the commercial road. Although it is a state in the Tang Dynasty, due to its political particularity, it has not paid many taxes throughout the year. For more than ten years, I have never heard of any natural or man-made disasters here. The Yiwu governor's family must be very rich, how could it be possible that they have no money.

"If this road is built, I wonder if it will be really useful?" If it's like this, it's just a wooden rail, and it doesn't cost a lot of money. They have a large forest in Yizhou, and they can cut down some trees for use. .

"Hearing is believing, seeing is believing, what's wrong with looking at the contents of this box?" Luo Yong said to him.

"It looks really good." The governor of Yizhou was indeed very excited at this time. The carriage moved on the wooden rails, and it was so light. If it was equipped with a fast horse-drawn carriage, it would run at a certain speed. How fast, and very smooth.

"If you can wrap a layer of iron sheet on the wooden rail, the effect will be even better." Luo Yong said.

"Iron sheet?" The governor of Yizhou was very surprised when he heard about it: "How can such a precious thing be left in the wild, and what should I do if it is taken away?"

Luo Yong: "..."

Indeed, the price of iron is still too expensive at this time, and it is unrealistic to build railway tracks at this time, so he thought of wooden tracks. It is said that in the seventeenth century, some coal mining areas in England were distributed. The dense wooden tracks like spider webs were gradually replaced by railway tracks until the mining and smelting industry became more and more developed.

After this conversation, the Inspector of Yizhou and his family warmly entertained Luo Yong and treated them like distinguished guests. Not only did they provide them with a luxurious and comfortable residence, they even arranged for servants to serve them.

When Luo Yong is free, he likes to hang out on the streets of Yiwu, and often chats with local merchants and merchants for most of the day or even the whole day.

Because he is kind, well-informed, generous, and he is the magistrate of Changle County, and he has contacts in Chang'an City to make a living, so most of the local merchants in Yiwu are also very willing to deal with him, Luo Yongxiang When they inquire about news, they often get twice the result with half the effort.

A few days later, Luo Yong and others returned to Changle County, and soon, Yizhou sent a group of officials and craftsmen to Changle County with money and people to learn the laying of wooden tracks and wooden railcars. built.

As for the learning method, it is also very simple. It is to start laying the track from an open space outside Changle County, and lay it all the way towards Jinchang, and find and solve problems in practice to accumulate experience.

When laying wooden tracks, there will also be some places where cement is needed. Adding the use of cement can greatly increase the laying speed.

Luo Yong was also very generous this time, and directly gave them the recipe for burning yellow cement that he had on hand.

Burning cement is similar to making tofu, and what they earn is hard money. When the cotton planting industry in Changle County develops, there will probably be few people willing to work in cement workshops to earn money.

Right now, paving the road is more important. If the rail transportation to Yizhou is completed, then in Changle County, not only the food problem will be greatly alleviated, but the energy problem will also be solved together.

The frequent exchanges of businessmen and merchants will inevitably drive the development of the economy, so why worry about not making money at that time.