Start Being a Vassal King Today - Chapter 354

[Chapter 354 Picture]

A torrential heat wave swept across the fields.

The clothes of the people facing the loess and their backs to the sky were soaked in sweat, but they still couldn’t stop their enthusiasm for harvesting.

Zhao Xu nodded in agreement with Liu Fu’s words.

Although the people have to pay 10% of the tax, compared to the harvest, this is really a drop in the bucket.

Even if eating and drinking are removed, there will be surplus at the end of the year.

Furthermore, many common people participated in the construction of Wubao before.

These people have made a lot of money. Now that the summer harvest is over, they return to the village from Wu’an County to harvest wheat.

Money was also earned, and there was no delay in harvesting food.

It can be said that among the current people in the four counties, they are the richest.

It’s just that the construction of Wubao only needs a small number of people after all, and it can’t achieve his goal of making the people of the four counties generally rich and building infrastructure at the same time.

Thinking of his big infrastructure plan, he said to Liu Fu: “After the summer harvest this time, the infrastructure will be put on the agenda.”

Liu Fu nodded, the word infrastructure is no stranger to him.

King Yan has mentioned it many times in the Government Affairs School, and explained it to them in detail.

He also knows exactly what its function is.

Even in the school, King Yan asked the officials to list the infrastructure needed by the four counties.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Liu Fu looked excited, this time he did not cry poorly.

He knew that King Yan made a lot of money selling cannons.

Moreover, the monthly income of the chamber of commerce is very stable now, and the income of the palace is constantly increasing.

These silver piles are also piled up in the warehouse, so it is better to use them for infrastructure construction.

It can not only lay the foundation for the development of industry and commerce in the four counties, but also make the people rich and stimulate the development of commerce and trade in the four counties.

Of course, this change of thinking did not come out of thin air, but because he often went to school to attend lectures.

Now he understands a lot of things. For example, King Yan explained to the officials why he wanted to focus on business? What is industry? What is the economic rationale for infrastructure?

Most importantly, King Yan told them that the earth is round, not square.

This was criticized by many officials in the school at that time.

For this reason, just a few days ago, King Yan deliberately took officials to Jinghai County.

He also ordered a fishing boat to sail out to sea.

When the fishing boat returns, have them watch the boat’s sails through binoculars.

At this time, they discovered that they saw the sail first, and then the hull.

Since then, no official questioned King Yan.

And this is just a small topic that King Yan randomly inserted when he was talking about government affairs in the government affairs school.

King Yan would come up with such small topics from time to time, and the startled officials doubted life as King Yan said.

“The people in the four northern counties are the most miserable. It is a gift from God to wait for His Highness to come. After this, the people will not only be able to eat well, dress warmly, but also have money to drink.” Liu Fu said with emotion.

“What is this? This king wants everyone to be able to afford silk and satin, so that the children of common people have money to study, and they can eat meat every now and then.” Zhao Xu looked at the people who were sweating profusely in the fields.

In a contemporary book called “Memories of Wool”, there is such a record that in the 18th century in the British countryside, people lived in brick cottages with red tile roofs, dressed in woolen clothes, wore leather shoes, and ate meat. White bread.

In addition, in a farmer’s household expenses, the food category also includes flour, oatmeal, root vegetables, vegetables, broad beans, peas, fruits, milk, butter, cheese, meat, salt, beer, imported products, vinegar, spices etc.

The eighteenth century is from 1700 to 1800.

It can be seen what kind of living standard Western society has achieved through industry and global colonization at this time.

Thinking of this, he just felt that these hard-working people on his own land in front of him shouldn’t work so hard that they couldn’t even put on their trousers in the end.

It is necessary for him to bring them to a similar standard of living, if not higher.

“If this is the case, I will die without regret.” Liu Fu heard the words, with a look of longing on his face.

But he was just looking forward to it, and he didn’t think that the four counties would really be like this in the future.

After all, since ancient times, the common people have not lived such a life.

Zhao Xu could see that Liu Fu didn’t believe him, and he didn’t explain.

After all, Liu Fu has never seen the material prosperity brought by industry after the promotion of the steam engine.

He didn’t explain it either, everything proved to be more shocking with facts.

Walking around the pumice village, basically the people are busy.

Either cut the wheat, or carry the wheat to the threshing ground in the village to thresh the wheat.

Li Zheng Fanzheng came over wearing a broken straw hat when he heard that Zhao Xu was coming.

Just about to salute, Zhao Xu waved his hand to excuse him.

“How is the septic tank in the village?” Zhao Xu asked.

This was an order Zhao Xu gave Liu Fu in the school after the Tufei incident, ordering every household in every village to dig a septic tank.

Soil fertilizers can only be used nearby, otherwise the cost will be too high to be worthwhile.

Unless the steam engine is built in the future, there will be a steam ship sailing on the river for transportation.

Only this soil and fertilizer can travel freely in the four counties.

But soil fertilizer is only one way, and another way to fertilize is septic tank.

He asked government officials to go to Fushi Village and the workshop area to provide cement and blue bricks, dig soil, use blue bricks to build a square pool in it, and smear cement on the surrounding surfaces.

Due to the properties of cement, such pools are strong and leak-proof.

Usually, people are asked to throw human and animal dung, burnt plant ash, rotten vegetable leaves, and fallen leaves into it for composting.

In this way, people can fertilize their land before planting each season to ensure a good harvest.

As for the biogas produced by the septic tank, he didn’t make any plans, and he couldn’t use it for the time being.

Now, Fushi Village is a pilot project, and then the government will ask officials from all counties to visit and promote it to other counties.

“Return to Your Highness, half of the construction is done.” Fan Zheng said.

The government of this thing has people, effort and money to say that it can be fertilized, so naturally no one objects.

Every family is very cooperative.

Zhao Xu nodded, and brought Liu Fu and other officials to a common people’s house.

At this time, several masons were busy in the fenced yard of the common people’s house.

The location of this septic tank is between the hut and the pigsty, and there are cement pipes connecting the two places.

Plant ash, leaves and other things can be thrown in through the upper cover.

In this way, a perfect retting system is formed.

Of course, if the common people do not raise pigs, the same goes for other animals.

After a brief look, he inspected some other houses, and Zhao Xu left satisfied.

The septic tank is not far behind even in contemporary times.

In the 1980s and 1990s, it was still being popularized in rural areas, and there was no technical content.

It is very appropriate to promote it in the four counties.

In this way, it not only makes the countryside more hygienic, but also reduces diseases caused by mess.

It can also provide each household with farmland fertilizers, basically killing two birds with one stone.

Back in the government office, the sky gradually darkened.

Zhao Xu talked to Liu Fu about irrigation.

Fertilization is to increase the yield per mu, and irrigation is to allow more land to be irrigated.

In this way, the number of fertile fields in the four counties can be expanded.

After all, a field that cannot be irrigated cannot be harvested.

And this problem will be solved in the infrastructure.

He was to draw water from the great rivers of the four counties, and build a network of canals.

In just a few years, irrigation and retting will be shared, and he believes that the agriculture of the four counties will not lose to Jiangnan.

(end of this chapter)