Chapter 6: Suddenly enlightened

After delaying for so long at the door, Li Gang had already received news of the arrival of the prince. Yang Yong and his party met Li Gang and others who had arrived in a hurry shortly after entering the palace wall.

"I'm going to see Your Highness."

"Get up."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Yang Yong glanced in the crowd, Li Gang, He Ti, Li Lan... but Yu Wen Kai, the chief designer of Renshou Palace, smiled slightly and said, "Why, did Yuwen Shaojian go to another palace to supervise it personally?"

Speaking of which, Yuwen Kai and Yang Yong had a grudge against killing their brother, and Yuwen Xin died at Yang Yong's hands. Yuwen Kai was also implicated and was dismissed for a while. However, Yuwen Kai was not interested in power and devoted himself to designing various buildings. Large buildings such as Guangtongqu and Daxingcheng were all designed by Yuwen Kai. This time, Yuwen Kai had to restore the construction of Renshou Palace and appointed him as the junior supervisor of Renshou Palace.

"Return to the prince, this is exactly what happened. I have sent someone to inform Yuwen Shaojian." Li Gang replied. Although Li Gang and the prince had formed brothers of the opposite sex, Li Gang still did not dare to be rude in front of outsiders to avoid being criticized.

Yang Yong jumped off the horse and waved his hand: "Well, there is no need. I just happened to see it, so I will go to the palace where Yuwen Shao Prison is located first."

"yes."

Renshou Palace is built according to the terrain. The heights and heights of the palaces are different. They are connected by roads paved with huge bluestone in the middle. However, there are steps in many places, so riding horses is definitely not good. When Yang Yong and others get off the horse, naturally someone comes to lead the horses down to wash and feed the grass, while Li Gang and others lead the way in front.

He Ti has been promoted from an ordinary navy on the warship to a craftsman in the court. The stone arch bridge in front of Renshou Palace was designed and built by He Ti and Li Lan. This stone arch bridge is more than 50 meters long, with a height of seven meters and a width of fifteen meters. After completion, it can accommodate 30 people side by side to cross the bridge. It is the longest single-hole stone arch bridge at this time.

Such a stone arch bridge was a miracle at that time. Unfortunately, the bridge that Yang Yong had seen in later generations was far from comparable to such a stone arch bridge, so it was taken for granted. He Ti and Li Lan did not receive special rewards. If Yang Yong knew that Li Lan was the father of Li Chun, the designer of Zhaozhou Bridge, and Zhaozhou Bridge stood for 1,400 years and was famous in later generations. It was only about ten meters long and several times wider than the current bridge. I am afraid that they would have built such a majestic stone arch bridge with a different look.

Although it has not been completed yet, walking on such a bluestone pavement, there are tall trees on both sides shade the sun. From time to time, it is already pleasing to the eye. Of course, it would be better if there was no jingling sound everywhere.

However, this is impossible. Hundreds of thousands of craftsmen did not stop work as the prince came to inspect. When he saw Li Gang and others coming, the culprit who was transporting the materials only automatically avoided the side and returned to their original state after they passed.

There were no supervisors who were wielding whips everywhere in the court building in the past. However, no matter the craftsmen or civilians, few people would be lazy. Although most people were simple and honest at this time, they were simple and honest, and they not only had enough food, but also had money. There was no such good thing in the past. If they were lazy, how could they be worthy of the emperor and the court?

Of course, the supervision and construction department sets strict project progress. Yuwen Kai, Li Gang and others, according to Yang Yong's proposal, decompose the huge Renshou Palace project layer by layer and implement it on each team. If it is not completed on time, not only will the wages be deducted, but the team that seriously drags down the progress will also be directly dismissed. The deduction of wages is small. If it is fired, where will it be put? Therefore, the workers in the same team will naturally supervise each other, and they will not be able to be lazy. In this case, the supervisor holding a whip becomes redundant.

Renshou Palace covers a vast area, and the group went to talk. Li Gang had already reported to Yang Yong about the progress over the past half month, and everything went as planned. By October, the Renshou Palace, which cost more than 20 million chunks of yuan, will be completed.

Yang Yong couldn't help but smash his tongue, 20 million yuan. If it were placed in later generations, it would probably be equivalent to a project of tens of billions of yuan. Building a palace was indeed a huge cost. If it weren't for the benefits brought to the court by the great development of the textile industry over the years, the Sui Dynasty would probably not have taken out this huge fee within two years. Last year, the Ministry of Revenue collected as much as million yuan in taxes from each weaving factory alone. In addition to other indirect taxes, it is estimated that the court's income from textiles alone is at least five million yuan per year, second only to land taxes.

However, thinking about the later Ming and Qing dynasties, the income from the Salt Administration alone could reach the level of tens of millions of taels of silver. Although everyone needs to eat salt and everyone needs to wear clothes, the income from the court on textiles still has great prospects, and it is probably more than the income from land tax in less than ten years.

It is precisely because of the huge benefits that no matter how to change in the future, it is impossible to reverse the textile industry to the level of single household production, which is equivalent to breaking the small peasant economy of men and women weaving that has been maintained for a long time in China. The textile level of the Great Sui Dynasty is now at least close to the level of the middle and late Ming Dynasty. With a small loom, Yang Yong was equal to the general advance of China's textile technology by a thousand years. Yang Yong could not predict how it will develop in the future.

Without this income, although the Sui Dynasty was rich, it would never be possible to take out the huge sum of money for the construction of Renshou Palace. However, if Yang Yong had not suggested paying the wages to the people, the cost of building Renshou Palace would have been reduced by three quarters. After all, all materials were taken directly from the mountains. Except for food, most of the expenses in the court could be saved. Renshou Palace could still be built, but the hard work was for the people participating in the construction.

"Li Aiqing, since Renshou Palace can be completed in three months, I wonder if the money and food are enough?"

"Don't worry, your highness, the money and food allocated to build Renshou Palace are enough." Li Gang replied.

"Oh, how much can I spend?" Yang Yong, Lu Mulin and others' eyes lit up. Money doesn't matter. What the capital is short of food now, and the more food the better.

Li Gangmo calculated, took the calculation from one of his subordinates, and then started to thrust: "Your Highness, now there is about 3.6 million guan left. Nearly 350,000 guan per month, and other materials are basically prepared, and the total cost will not exceed 200,000 guan. With the food expenses of the people, all kinds of miscellaneous expenses will cost 70,000 guan per month. In this way, the wages will be 1.15 million guan, the food expenses of the people, the food expenses of the people, and the material expenses of the people..."

Yang Yong didn't care about how much money he had left. Seeing Li Gang counting money while calculating, he interrupted impatiently: "Li Aiqing, don't count the money, calculate how much food you can have left."

"Yes." A trace of confusion flashed in Li Gang's eyes. The expenses of grain are far less than those of money. It was a bit surprising that Yang Yong did not care about money and only cared about grain. Since the construction of Renshou Palace, the capital has only been more than 100 miles, but Li Gang rarely has the opportunity to go back. He has no feelings about the weather in the deep mountains. Although many people have to go to the mountains to find jobs recently, Li Gang has not learned in detail, so naturally he did not know that due to drought outside, the food in the capital has been in a hurry.

"Your Highness, there are more than 1.2 million stones left in the mountain. According to the current consumption rate, it takes about 200,000 stones per month."

The men in the mountains are all strong men and they engage in heavy physical work every day. It is natural to eat more. However, this situation is better than Yang Yong's estimate. A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth and said, "So, the mountains can save at least 600,000 stones of grain."

"When you go back to Your Highness, that's right, there's no 600,000 stone of grain, at least 500,000 stones, and money is even more acceptable..."

Li Gang was about to calculate the money, but Yang Yong had already interrupted him: "No need, I am not here to check the accounts today, so there is another way to talk about money."

Li Gang was blocked again and was puzzled. He had to put down his abacus and lead the way silently in front of him.

"Five hundred thousand stones, 500 thousand stones!" Yang Yong murmured to himself. Five hundred thousand stones seemed a lot, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to the population of the capital. However, it was better to have it than not. It could be transported back for at least a while and temporarily cut the grain price.

"Your Highness, Lord Yuwen Kai is here."

Yang Yong looked up and saw that Yuwen Kai was indeed hurried under the leadership of an imperial guard. As a young prisoner, Yuwen Kai's clothes were covered with wood chips and ink. He obviously couldn't help but personally participate in the measurement or construction of the palace.

"I'm going to see Your Highness!"

"Your dear Yuwen, please come up, thank you for your hard work."

"Don't dare, this is my duty." Yuwen Kai bent down slightly and stood up. Although the person in front of him killed his brother, Yuwen Kai knew that he could not take revenge and could not even treat him as an enemy, because the person in front of him was the crown prince, but it was impossible to have no barrier in his heart. Every time Yang Yong came over, he was basically lukewarm.

Yang Yong didn't care about Yuwen Kai's attitude. Yuwen Kai was just a nerd who was obsessed with architecture and could not threaten his status. However, if such an architectural master easily abandoned him, it would only be a big loss to the court.

Yuwen Kai’s report was not much different from Li Gang. Yang Yong completely relieved and asked: “Recently, there are many people who want to work in the mountains. Since there is too much food, the palace plans to transport part of the excess food back to Beijing and leave part to increase the manpower for Renshou Palace. I wonder if it is feasible?”

Yuwen Kai asked blankly: "Your Highness, what's going on with these people who work?"

He was the director and was less concerned about these things than Li Gang. When Yang Yong asked, he said to Lu Mulin: "Lu Aiqing, come and tell him."

Lu Mulin told the story of the severe drought in the capital, and Li Gang suddenly realized that no wonder the prince kept staring at the food. He didn't expect that the prince had only been half a month before the drought in the capital would become so serious.

The so-called ice moves three feet long, not a day of cold. Although it was drought before, it was just that it had not caused too serious matters. Yang Yong naturally did not mention it. Yuwen Kai said lightly: "Your Highness, since someone has taken the initiative to do work, why don't your Highness suggest a new project to the emperor?"

As the director and producer of Renshou Palace, Yuwen Kai naturally did not want anyone to join to disrupt the progress, but just spoke casually.

"Open the project again." When Yuwen Kai mentioned, Yang Yong suddenly realized that starting the project again can not only solve the current problems in the capital, but also solve the problem of staying and leaving these people after the completion of Renshou Palace. Renshou Palace is about to end. Although these 300,000 civilians can certainly be put back home, after two years of Renshou Palace, even though they were completely farmers before, they have become skilled workers. It is undoubtedly a pity to let these people farm again.

The Sui Dynasty was not without money or food. The total amount of grain in the official warehouses in various places was at least tens of millions of stones, not to mention the private charity warehouses. However, these grains were all outside Luoyang or Luoyang, and the grain stored in the capital was consumed by Renshou Palace. But there was a severe drought again, and it was difficult to get in and transport food outside. Can't people go out?

But without the guidance and interests of the government, many people are hard to leave their hometowns. After all, they are poor and rich, and they cannot survive in the capital, and they cannot survive even more when they go outside. Naturally, no one is willing to escape famine casually. With the example of Renshou Palace, coupled with the current drought, if a new project is launched in the court, many people may try their best to participate.

It’s just that where to start a project, build the Luoyang Palace, or open the Grand Canal, these are all things that have brought Yang Guang’s eternal infamous. To be honest, Yang Guang was scolded for being scolded for building the Luoyang Palace, and Yang Guang was scolded for being scolded for building the Grand Canal. Yang Guang was somewhat unfair. If there was no Grand Canal, the glory of the Tang Dynasty would probably be discounted.
Chapter completed!