mtlumby2d Chapter 249: About the Development of the Fiefdom (7)
Chapter 249: About the Development of the Fiefdom (7)
The road construction project in the fiefdom began in full swing.
According to Shi Lidie's suggestion, this time the roads were repaired first within the fiefdom, such as the official roads between various cities and counties, all of which were paved with cement.
Because only in this way can it facilitate the movement of people and goods within the fiefdom, and also facilitate the transportation of many materials.
After the internal official road was built, the official road from the fiefdom to the capital was built. This official road was divided into two parts, one part was built from the fiefdom to the north, and the other part was built from the middle of the road towards the capital.
When Shi Lidie was in elementary school, she learned a word problem about two contractors, A and B, who were working together to build a road.
Sometimes two people work from both ends of the road toward the middle and finally meet up; sometimes two people work in sections, one working from the left to the middle and the other working from the middle to the right.
Anyway, no matter what, it is more efficient than repairing it from start to finish.
After all, if you pave the road with cement, it has to be exposed to the sun for a period of time after paving to dry and harden the entire cement road surface before it can reach the hardness level that is suitable for pedestrians, vehicles, and cargo transportation.
Moreover, road construction also has to take weather into consideration. Work cannot be done in extreme rain or snow weather, so road construction is not something that can be done overnight.
When the road was being built in the fiefdom, Shi Lidie had several bags of cement transported to the capital and presented them to the emperor. She also wrote down the usage of the cement in the memorial and asked the emperor to find an opportunity to experiment with it.
After reading it, the emperor was overjoyed and immediately asked someone to experiment with this so-called cement.
He ordered people to pave cement on the road outside the south gate of the capital, from the city gate outwards. Unfortunately, the amount of cement sent by Shi Lidie was limited, and the emperor could only pave five meters of road at most.
After paving the road, he sent soldiers to guard it and no one was allowed to set foot on it. If anyone wanted to enter or leave the city, they had to take a detour through another gate. The South Gate was temporarily closed to traffic.
Shi Lidie said in her memorial that the longer the cement could be exposed to the sun, the better, so the emperor allowed the road to be exposed to the sun for ten days.
Ten days later, the emperor brought civil and military officials to witness the wonders of cement.
He led people onto this five-meter-long cement road. The road surface was flat, without stones or sand, and it was not painful at all. People felt very comfortable jumping on it. It was much better than the previous rugged road surface.
Afterwards, the emperor had someone bring a horse-drawn carriage that ran on the cement road. People sitting in the carriage could hardly feel any bumps, it was very smooth. Even if the carriage was loaded with a lot of goods, the wheels would not sink into the mud and could not be pulled up.
On this cement road, everyone saw what it truly means: a flat plain.
When the court officials saw the cement road, they were shocked and happy because they all thought about how cement would improve the road conditions across the country. So someone asked:
"Your Majesty, where does this cement come from? Can it be mass-produced? If it can, we can use it to build roads. In the future, it will be much more convenient for transporting military rations to the northern border or for officials from other places to report back to the capital."
The emperor looked at the group of people and said with a smile:
"This is what the Princess Yun'an, the one you impeached, made. She said it can be mass-produced and the formula has been sent to me. Now she is building a road from her fiefdom to the capital."
"However, you have impeached her before, so you must not like what she sent. In this case, I will tear up this cement recipe and order her not to build the road. What do you think, my dear ministers?"
When the court officials heard this, they all knelt down and apologized.
How could they not hear that the emperor was deliberately making things difficult for them? Such good cement, if used to build roads, would benefit the country and the people. If they were to abandon it because of their prejudice against the Princess Zhenguo, then they would simply be sinners of the Great Yin Dynasty!
What else can be done?
Of course, I can only admit that I was blinded by greed when I impeached Shi Lidie. I praise Shi Lidie as a remarkable woman of the time and request the emperor to put the cement into use!
The emperor was in a good mood when he saw these court officials being humiliated, so he waved his hand and ordered the mass production of cement.
Then, priority will be given to repairing the road from the capital to the northern border, as well as the road from the capital to the fiefdom.
With the emperor's participation, the entire Dayin Dynasty's manpower was mobilized, and the efficiency was indeed much higher. However, even so, due to the limitations of ancient conditions, it took a full year to build the road from the capital to the fiefdom.
Construction started in the fiefdom and the capital at the same time, with two teams sent from the fiefdom and one team from the capital.
It took a year to pave this four-car-wide cement road.
When the last section of the road was paved and exposed to the sun for ten days, the road was successfully opened to traffic. Shi Lidie sent people to ride horses and drive cars to test it out. The time taken to travel from the fiefdom to the capital was shortened by half compared to the original time.
The journey that originally took half a month now only takes seven days, and this is still due to the limitations of transportation.
Who made it so that there were only horse-drawn carriages in this era?
If we had engines and steam engines, and made a few cars, we would probably be able to travel from the fiefdom to the capital and back in one day.
But Shi Lidie suppressed her thoughts.
She would not carry out the Industrial Revolution in ancient times because it was too early, and she could not take too big a step. After all, so far in the Dayin Dynasty, only the areas around the capital and her fiefdom had achieved poverty alleviation and prosperity.
In fact, the vast majority of people in the country are still in an agricultural society and have not yet solved the problem of food and clothing.
If we rashly carry out the industrial revolution and replace manual labor with machines, many people will find it even harder to find jobs, the gap between the rich and the poor will become increasingly wide, and in the long run social contradictions will intensify, which will be detrimental to the entire country.
After the cement road was open to traffic, the emperor made a decision. He would go on a tour with the empress and the prince.
It was called a tour, but in fact the main purpose was to go to Shi Lidie's fiefdom to see how her fiefdom was developing, and then take a look at other areas to compare the gap between the fiefdom and other areas.
Then, find a suitable opportunity to promote the policies of the fiefdom to the whole country.
In this tour, in addition to the empress and the crown prince, the emperor also brought some court officials, including Lord Du, the Minister of the Supreme Court, Lord Qin, the Grand Tutor, and Prince Dun.
In addition to them, there were also some court officials who participated in the impeachment of Shi Lidie.
Most of their daughters or daughters-in-law were good friends with Chen Shuting. From time to time, they received letters from the fiefdom, and then they clamored to go to the fiefdom to realize their self-worth.
Before the cement road appeared, they looked down on Shi Lidie, and after the cement road appeared, they were also skeptical.
So this time, the emperor took them with him when he went out, so that they could see with their own eyes what their fiefdom had become.
"My dear ministers who want to accompany me on the tour, please go back and prepare well. Bring clothes and money, and take a few trusted followers with you. This time I will not reveal my identity or have any ceremonial guards. I will travel incognito." The emperor said.
"We obey your order." The court officials knelt down and agreed.