Chapter 614 Inspection of the surrounding areas

Wang Ping'an got off the horse, walked to the side of a field, squatted, grabbed a handful of soil, and banned the soil. The soil was dry and there was no moisture. He threw away the earth foam, and Wang Ping'an clapped his hands and looked into the field.

The Wang family was a famous landlord in Xuzhou. Wang Ping'an had some knowledge of farm work. Due to the underdeveloped irrigation technology in the Tang Dynasty, farmers had to rely on the weather to make a living, and the weather would be good. The farmers could harvest three or five buckets more, but once they encountered floods, the crops would immediately reduce their yields, and even had no harvests.

Looking at the sparse green seedlings, Wang Ping'an said: "It won't take long to get early summer. At that time, it was the juncture of green and yellow. If the fields were not exposed, the people would feel uneasy. Maybe there would be more people going out to beg for a beggar!"

After hearing what he said, Che Sitong felt a little relieved. It was God's business if Qinghuang didn't accept it. As long as the governor didn't blame them, those who were officials, it would be okay. If you have to be held accountable, no matter how capable Wang Ping'an is, he wouldn't be able to ask God's head!

He also squatted down and said, "Prince, do you know why the former governor Ji ran so fast and ran away the next day after the printing handover?"

Wang Ping'an pointed to the farmland in front of him and said, "He saw that it was not easy to survive this year, so the people naturally realized that some people must have gone out to escape, so he ran faster than rabbits!"

Che Sitong hurriedly said, "Yes, that's it. He is afraid of taking responsibility, and he is afraid that you will blame him for your prince."

He thought to himself, you two are not at the same level, they must be both governors, and they have to hand over their previous jobs. It doesn’t matter if your ex has any problems. The current one can’t handle the ex. But you are much older than him. If you find fault with him, you can’t just make him unable to go back to his hometown. Of course, even if he runs fast, you will still send someone to repair him!

Wang Ping'an stood up and said, "Why didn't I see the canal for irrigation? What do the people here rely on to water the crops? Isn't it just God?"

Che Sitong stood up with him, and he said with a bitter face: "If you go back to the prince, don't it really rely on God to rain? Our Qingzhou is not as rich as other states. All the surrounding states are richer than us. If the people encounter the disaster year, they will go directly to other states to beg for food. If there is no labor in the field, they will not be able to build any canals!"

Wang Ping'an looked back at Di Renjie and Qiu Tingxuan and said, "There is no such thing in the book. What do you think? Tell me and listen."

Di Renjie said: "To put it bluntly, the poorer the less money you have to build a water canal. The less you don't have, the poorer you have, and the less financial resources you have to build. This has a direct relationship with local officials. Building water conservancy is one of the important responsibilities of local officials!"

Qiu Tingxuan said, "According to this situation, the new disaster relief law has a place to be used. The government canals can be funded by the government and the people can work hard to build the Qingzhou canal. As long as the irrigation problem is solved, even if there is a drought, the people will not be displaced again."

Che Sitong looked at them and thought to himself: "No wonder the court never lets the new Jinshi come out to be the county magistrate, that makes sense! The great truth is very well-informed, but unfortunately it is impossible to be implemented!"

None of the officials said anything, but what they thought was the same as Che Sitong. Everyone could tell the big truth and understand it. But the problem was that they knew the big truth, but it might not be able to solve it seriously!

Wang Ping'an laughed dryly and shook his head and said, "What you are talking about is actually the same thing, that is, the people are unable to build canals, so the government should fund the canals to benefit the people, right?"

Di Renjie and Qiu Tingxuan said in unison: "Yes, that should be the case. This is the responsibility that officials cannot refuse!"

Wang Ping'an smiled and said, "You have the wish to be a good official and the ambition to benefit the people. This is very good. Dear sirs, do you think so?"

There was no sound, and no one of the officials spoke. Che Sitong pondered for a while before he said: "The truth is that, there is no mistake, but if you do it in detail, it is not possible to do it well with just wishes and ambitions!"

The officials were so angry that they expressed their opinions that they did not agree with Di Renjie and Qiu Tingxuan, nor that they had been in vain for so many years as officials, and they were really powerless. Everyone could say it; doing it is not necessarily as simple as saying it.

Wang Ping'an asked the two again, saying, "You can estimate how much it will cost if you build all the farmlands in Qingzhou into the canal?"

Qiu Tingxuan read a lot of books, and his father was a great scholar of his generation, but the books only talked about reason. Even if he gave examples, he did not give it too specific. If he wanted to build a canal, he would of course say, but if he had to calculate how much it would cost, he would have no idea. He didn't know how much it should be spent!

Di Renjie knew the people better than him. He said: "Just building the canal in Heshui County is a major project, it will take at least 20,000 guan to go up. If all the counties in Qingzhou are built, it will take more than 100,000 guan to go up, I'm afraid it will be more than 100,000 guan to go up!"

Wang Ping'an nodded and said, "If you are in Chang'an, you will need 18,000 guan to build a house, and 1,000 guan to build an ordinary canal. It only takes 100,000 guan to build the entire Qingzhou canal, which is not expensive. Master Che, what do you think?"

Che Sitong slowly shook his head and did not answer. He couldn't offend Di Renjie and Qiu Tingxuan. These two upstarts have a bright future and might be their bosses in the future. Opposing them now is equivalent to putting small shoes on themselves in the future? Isn't it okay to be wrong!

The officials were silent, and as long as they didn't ask about their personal heads, they would make a fortune in silence!

Coincidentally, Cui Dawei came at this time. He had already written a letter to the Ministry of Personnel, found the place outside the city, and handed the letter to Wang Ping'an. After Wang Ping'an read it, he immediately used a seal to send the letter to Chang'an. After handling the letter, Wang Ping'an said again what he had just said and asked Cui Dawei if it was enough to build a canal in the whole province.

Cui Dawei is the one who dares to speak, and he doesn't think about it. He shook his head and said, "We are not as good as Chang'an. Manpower is not worth much, but the most expensive is material money. To build a canal that benefits the entire Qingzhou is an absolute major project. The government needs to save money, and it may not be possible to repair it for ten years. It will take so long just to prepare in advance. Moreover, in the year of the repair, we have to endure a year of unpaid income and support most of the people of the state for a whole year! One hundred thousand guan sounds like a lot, but if we really spend it, it is very likely that we can't help but spend it!"

With the first one to say, everyone behind them dares to say it. There is one to two, and there is two to make a series of cars. Four passages: "Often people's homes, it costs more than ten tons to dig wells, let alone building canals!"

Qiu Tingxuan frowned and said, "Does it take so long to prepare for the canal construction?"

Di Renjie said, "There is no need to worry about money, it is just to support most of the state for a year... Oh, I understand. If the people are subject to labor service, they will delay their farm work. It is not possible to rely solely on the elderly, weak, women and children in the fields. Moreover, even the elderly, weak, women and children will be recruited to be responsible for the diet of the strong men when building the canals."

Cui Dawei said: "The three masters are right. To build a canal, you must not only save money first, but also save grain. But there is no surplus grain in Qingzhou, and you usually have to transfer grain from other states to provide relief. How can you save grain? If you don't have money, you can just talk about building a canal!"

Qiu Tingxuan and Di Renjie blushed at the same time. They were not considerate enough, but their opinions were expressed very quickly. This was so embarrassing that they completely exposed their shortcomings of inexperience and made others laugh at them.

Di Renjie said: "Brother...Sir, why don't you pay for it?"

Qiu Tingxuan shook his head and said, "It seems inappropriate to pay the money from the governor. One hundred thousand guan plus the food required by the people is probably very difficult for even the governor!"

Wang Ping'an patted the dust on his hands and said, "Even if I don't work hard, I won't pay this money."

Di Renjie asked: "Is it going to raise funds again, or ask the big merchants from Chang'an to come to Qingzhou to start a business and let them pay?"

Qiu Tingxuan also remembered that the great merchants once told Wang Ping'an that even if they used money, they would have to make political achievements for Wang Ping'an. Now they are just going to use them!

Wang Ping'an turned over and shook his head, saying, "It's not allowed them to pay for money, it's impossible to spend it in vain, but if they really pay it, they're afraid that the capital will not be recovered for less than three or five years. If they want to see the benefits, it will be even longer."

The officials got on the horse with him and walked slowly along the farmland to the distance.

Di Renjie and Qiu Tingxuan then vaguely understood that they thought they understood that even if the merchants paid money, they would only help Wang Ping'an make a fortune. Wang Ping'an could not have been here for more than three years, and they might have to go back to Beijing in two years. Once he left, the merchants would still be willing to do business here. In remote areas, they would not make a lot of money. For those big merchants, long-term businessmen would not be able to catch big fish, so they would not be willing.

Wang Ping'an took the officials all the way, walked a long way, and came to a river. The river was not small, with a width of about twenty meters. The water flow was medium, but the water level was at the bottom, and the river water was far from the shore. If you had to use a bucket to fetch water, it would be very difficult.

Wang Ping'an looked upstream along the river and saw a wooden bridge in the distance. More than a dozen people stood on the bridge, as if they were fetching water. He waved his hand, asked the officials to follow and ran towards the bridge together.

The people on the bridge also saw Wang Ping'an and his group. They were all ordinary people, and they were extremely poor. If they weren't too poor, they would have a well in their own homes, so why bother to get water from the river?

Seeing a large group of officials riding horses, a commoner shouted, "Oh my mother, can't you come to capture us?"

A younger citizen said, "We have not violated the royal law, why should officials arrest us?"

Another old man said, "The officials want to arrest you. Do you care whether you violate the law of the king? If you don't let them arrest you, that's what you mean to violate the law of the king!"

The people were all scared. Many people wanted to get off the bridge and escape when they carried the bucket, and they didn't even want to hit the water.

Seeing that they were about to leave, Wang Ping'an hurriedly shouted: "Mr., fellow villagers, don't leave. I am thirsty, so I will ask you for saliva!"
Chapter completed!