Building bridges, paving roads, and sorting out rivers and dams were all unprofitable transactions in ancient society. In the eyes of the court, these were all kinds of people who lost money and lost money as soon as they were compensated.

The paving of roads, sorting of river dams, and flood control projects are completely undertaken by the court. All materials and raw materials are purchased by the court.

Completely built at your own expense.

It is not just a matter of material. Except for the people in the affected areas who will spontaneously organize their labor service willingly, a large number of other civilians and craftsmen have to pay the wages out of their own pockets.

Such a project with unlimited investment and no output is seen at all. The cost is often very important. If the cost is low, the court can make a quick solution.

Once the cost is too high, it is true that the court will not give up. It will be done even if it grits its teeth and holds it hard. But obviously, the cost is high, and the Ministry of Revenue is not enough, whether it is the allocation of materials or the number of civilians.

This will cause such projects that lose money and fail to make a profit, and the efficiency will plummet.

Zheng Ci said: "This, for the cost, is mainly the transportation of materials and the expense of wages. The raw materials for making cement are everywhere."

"If you really want to mass-produce it on a large scale, you have to build a cement workshop outside the city and attract investment from the general public to collect cement raw materials and purchase them as labor."

"If you want to say in detail, this cement board, one zhang long, two feet wide and six feet high, costs eighty jin of Baochao. If it is produced on a large scale, the price can be lowered to seventy-five jin of Baochao pieces of cement board."

Zheng Ci's face was calm and he said casually.

But Fang Shiyu fell into deep thought and his eyes were frozen.

Although he knew what the proportion Zheng Ci mentioned was like.

But in this era, the measurement of 1 zhang is about three meters and one or two. After calculation, the total area of ​​the cement board in front of me is equivalent to about 1.75 square meters.

If the price can be reduced to one piece of Wuguan Baobao, if you think about it carefully, it is really not expensive.

The price of grain in the Ming Dynasty continued to be low. Although it was still difficult for people to buy grain, it was also caused by the failure of Jiangnan to harvest. Once Jiangnan resumes production, the price of grain will naturally fall.

However, as Fang Shiyu recalled in his mind, he spoke: "How long is the Ganjiang River?"

"It's about 1,500 miles, not more than 1,600 miles." Zheng Ci shrugged, and couldn't feel the bottom of Fang Shiyu's inquiry.

Nodding, Fang Shiyu said: "A distance of 1,600 miles, the Ganjiang River is just a tributary of the Yangtze River running through the east of Jiangxi River. At present, this cement board needs nearly 600,000 yuan to control the Ganjiang River?"

"In this way, one yuan, eighty stakes, ten or eight hundred stakes, one hundred or eight thousand stakes, one hundred or eight thousand stakes, one hundred thousand cement boards are eight million stakes, and six hundred thousand stakes are four hundred and eight thousand stakes?"

The 600,000 guan treasure banknotes are according to the official ratio of silver exchange for treasure banknotes, two gold and twenty taels of silver, one tael of silver and one thousand guan treasure banknotes.

That is, the price is less than 50,000 taels of silver.

But this 50,000 taels of silver is nothing to Fang Shiyu, but the real 50,000 taels of silver is not a big deal. In the entire Ming Dynasty, few people have so much cash.

After all, nearly half of the amount of silver circulating on the market has been put into the national treasury, and then Fang Shiyu used the treasure money from the internal treasury to exchange it for the internal treasury.

The entire treasury has stored more than the total circulation of treasure money on the Ming Dynasty market.

From the plundering of the territory, the income from the house was raided, and the accounting of the treasury. In four years, the real money and silver of the treasury tripled.

14 million taels of gold, 56 million taels of silver

After Fang Shiyu used treasure banknotes to plunder, how much money does the treasury cost? Fang Shiyu had never seen it, but it was written on the book that the gold and silver that Zhu Gaochi had entered the warehouse for the last time.

The total amount reached 28 million taels of gold and 94.3 million taels of silver.

Where did this money come from?

Zhu Yuanzhang contributed part of it, Baochao contributed part of it, and Dongsheng Shenzhou contributed part of it.

The money in the treasury is too special. Relatively speaking, Fang Shiyu is unwilling to let the money flow into the territory, if the gold and silver in the treasury are printed and distributed in full.

It will inevitably cause the Ming Dynasty's currency to depreciate seriously within the country.

Relatively speaking, the treasury can only serve as a possibility of a final turnaround, and the real money to reshape the order...

But then again, if you want to control the Ganjiang River, the quality, height, and ability of the cement board is definitely not enough.

If you think carefully, Jiangxi alone will have to invest at least five times the investment based on 480 million guan Baochao, and the final result may be six times.

If it is six times more, it will be 280 million guan treasure notes, rounded up, and counting artificial and other complicated things, at least 300 million guan treasure notes.

This is just the Jiangxi side. Jiangdong is spending a lot of money, and it is invested in another 300,000 yuan of treasure money. Looking back, I am looking at the Yangtze River, and I am so happy.

The Yangtze River is much longer than the Gan River. I am afraid that even if it is spread on one side and one layer, it will not be less than 600,000 treasure notes.

If Fang Shiyu's algorithm is followed, this can indeed save money for the court in dealing with floods, and can also control floods very well. However, from the perspective of the court, the terrifying quantity is also the reason why the price is so high.

Six hundred thousand taels of silver will be built to build the Ganjiang River dam in the east and west of the Yangtze River. Since the Ganjiang River has been built, the tributaries near the Ganjiang River, such as Poyang Lake, Xinjiang and other water systems, will be repaired.

Using cement, including manual labor, to build river dams on both sides of the Gan River and the nearby small tributaries, at least nearly one million taels of silver and the value of one million guan of treasure money. If there was only one river in the Ming Dynasty, it would be repaired. But as the main river channel of the Ming Dynasty, the Gan River can only be regarded as a tributary.

How much does the Yangtze River cost? From the Sichuan-Shu area in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, it has been built all the way to Nanjing, and at least it needs to be built to Nanjing.

The vast project volume is not inferior to the Great Wall.

The Yangtze River has been built, should the Yellow River be built? Should the Grand Canal be built?

Of course, the Grand Canal can be built less. After all, the imperial court has completely abandoned the Grand Canal, and most of the canal transports are private merchants.

But since you have practiced, you cannot favor one or the other and treat the people differently.

If you treat the people of different races outside the pass, you will treat the people in the country differently, whether they are Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Jiangdong, Jiangxi, Huguang, Sichuan, and Yunnan Guizhou.

Wenhua Palace.

Fang Shiyu looked at Xia Yuanji, Zheng Ci, Yang Yu, three civil officials sitting not far away. The operation of the entire empire was responsible for the formulation, issuance and maintenance of the world's policies in Wenhua Hall.

Yang Yu said: "Your Highness, what important thing to say?"

Since becoming the chief minister, Yang Yu didn't know whether he should be happy or unhappy. Since becoming the chief minister of the old Zhu family, he dared not stretch his hands and dared not open his mouth.

The spy politics of the Ming Dynasty ruled the entire bureaucratic group under high pressure.

At the beginning, in Fang Shiyu's reform of military and political separation, the Jinyiwei was away from both sides, responsible for staring at everyone on both sides.

But in the end, the Jinyiwei placed the Jinyiwei in the Governor's Mansion in Wuying Hall, naturally it would not be to give up spy politics. Only when the Jinyiwei was in the Governor's Mansion could the intelligence abroad be guaranteed. The troops were mobilized, and they appeared in the Seventh Army Governor's Mansion and the Imperial Palace at the same time. It was more convenient to start dealing with it.

Yang Yu thought in his heart about the government affairs that seemed to be endless. He didn't have much time to delay here. If he delayed for a while, he would have to be busy for a long time to catch up with the matter.

Fang Shiyu said: "I want to re-formulate an integrated measurement standard system."

In the inner hall of Wenhua Hall, when Fang Shiyu was not around, no one was working here. Yang Yu's office was on the other side. When he heard Fang Shiyu's voice re-setting weights and measures, Yang Yu and Xia Yuanji and Zheng Ci were slightly stunned.

Xia Yuanji thoughtfully took out a blank piece of paper, dipped his brush ink and said, "Your Highness, it is indeed necessary to re-order weights and measures, but it is difficult to do such things."

"But your highness wants the standards, the Ministry of Revenue will write them down first." Xia Yuanji was afraid that he would leave a word, so he would not let Fang Shiyu speak while grinding the ink. When he was ready, he shut up and prepared to record.

Fang Shiyu smiled and said, "Shangshu Xia's approach is very good. As for the issue of weights and measures, I am thirty this year, Wen Ji is over six years old and is about to go to Fengyang to enroll in school."

"For thirty years, my weights and measures of the Ming Dynasty have been in a vague, obscure and difficult to understand. First of all, the current weights and measures are from the central court, the fifteenth governor of the two capitals, and the four major prophets to be established."

"And since the Ming Dynasty exists on the territory that we cannot see, the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and what we can see, there are also what we cannot see."

"By relying on military governance and high-pressure rule, I don't think I can truly rule every corner of the world. Weights and measures are very important. The top-down non-unification and irregularity will not only cause more people in the country to suffer, but also do business abroad."

"A mess in the clouds cannot become a standard, so I have already decided to re-develop the weights and measures of the Ming Dynasty. To have a complete system, there is no need for this system to be huge. As long as there are new and comprehensive standards, the upper and lower levels will be enough!"

"Unified weights and measures, the unification of weights and measures is not only weights and measures, but Fang Shiyu also needs to unify weights and measures, but also promote the Ming Dynasty's vernacular and promote Nanjing Mandarin to every corner of the world."

The unity of weights and measures can make the exchanges between the two sides more convenient and trade settlement is more standard, while the unity of language can make communication more convenient and the first step in cultural identity.

The two political legacies left by Qin Shihuang have benefited China for two thousand years.

The county system, a unified culture, and a unified weight and measure.

But to this day, the world has experienced several changes in owners. Lao Zhu is just a little idiot in terms of finance, otherwise he would not have fallen to the point where he could not survive even beggars.

In terms of measurement, it is also to enhance national unity, enhance national cohesion, and restore soft power.

The measurement units are different. In fact, Fang Shiyu has never calculated how many farmlands there were in the Ming Dynasty.

In the yellow croaker book, as of the three years of Taishi, there were 70 million mu of farmland, but the Ming Dynasty was so big that no industrial system occupied the farmland.

Why are there only so many plowing fields?

The large plain south of the Liao River has been in use for many years.

The reason is that the measurement units are different, which is difficult to calculate.

There are worlds of difference between the measurement standards of the local government and the measurement standards of the court. Fifty tiles are the result of the measurement of the local government, and forty tiles are the result of the measurement of the court.

The imperial court did not care who was farming or who was doing what. They just recorded the number of acres of land and then according to the average local harvest, such as 100 mu of land, producing 1,000 kilograms of grain, and an average of 100 kilograms of grain per mu.

The imperial village collected two kilograms of grain and acre of land. At first glance, there was no problem, no problem at all.

But this grain tax is collected according to the number of land acres. For example, Qingtian County has only 100 mu of actual arable land, while the imperial court records 150 mu. If one mu of land takes away two kilograms of grain, the imperial village will take away three hundred kilograms of grain, which is a full 100 kilograms. Where does this 100 kilograms of grain come from? Needless to say, everyone knows it.

Of course, if you pay more grain tax invisibly, you will pay less grain tax invisibly.

For example, in a county town, the measurement unit is large, and the total measurement is 100 acres of land, but the actual cultivation of land is 150 acres of land in the measurement unit of the court.

There has never been a solution to this gap.

Invisibly, those who should pay less food will be paid more, and those who should pay more will be paid less.

The gap between the rich and the poor is reflected invisibly.

To unify weights and measures, Xia Yuanji didn't remember a single word from beginning to end. He recalled in his mind that they were all ministers of the court and held countless confidential matters of the court. Local taxation, finance, and even the army they could not get involved in, also have quotas, records, and detailed information of their garrison in the Ministry of War.

After all, military pay still needs to be sent from the Ministry of War. If it is sent from the Seventh Army Governor's Office, the army will bully the upper and lower levels and have no way to accuse them. However, the civil and military personnel are not subordinate to each other and the Jinyiwei is mixed up, it will be difficult for them to get along.

The military pay in that place is deficient, and the Seventh Army Governor's Office will not give up.
To be continued...