jdhmnovel Chapter 843 Yang the Madman, He's Stabbing Me in the Heart!
Chapter 843 Yang the Madman, He's Stabbing Me in the Heart!
Li Shanchang suddenly felt like cursing.
Because Emperor Zhu's rebellion meant he was truly unable to survive, while he himself had voluntarily gone to join Emperor Zhu.
In other words, he was the kind of person Yang Dianfeng described as someone who "would risk his life to rebel when he had nothing better to do."
I have a feeling that someone is being sarcastic or mocking me.
While inwardly complaining, Li Shanchang looked at Yang Shaofeng with a forced smile and said, "Even if the forest is fine, what about the road?"
"It's one thing to talk about the roads between the provincial administration offices, but the roads between prefectures and even between counties are all planned to be ten zhang wide. Doesn't Your Highness think that's a waste?"
"Furthermore, if you build roads five zhang wide between villages, is it really necessary to make the paths within the villages only three zhang wide?"
Li Shanchang became more and more confused as he spoke.
They're working themselves to the bone to build roads, fine, I'll take that as preparation for accelerating the flow of goods and wealth throughout the world.
But why would you disturb the roads in the village?
Do the villagers really have to worry about cattle being blocked?
Seeing Li Shanchang's bewildered expression, Yang Shaofeng could only suppress the urge to burst out laughing and said, "If the roads in the village aren't widened, the village will become a complete traffic jam once everyone has a horse-drawn carriage or something like that."
"If we want to widen the road later, firstly, it involves whether the people's houses should be demolished and rebuilt, and secondly, it involves whether the farmland on the edge of the village will be occupied."
Yang Shaofeng smiled maliciously: "The common people, you can let them take advantage of the government and the imperial court, but if you want to demolish their houses and take their land, won't they curse you behind your back? They might even curse your ancestors for eighteen generations."
Li Shanchang's lips twitched. He wanted to refute, but couldn't find a point to make.
Yang Shaofeng continued, "Moreover, this also involves local government officials, magistrates, and a whole bunch of clerks and servants."
As the saying goes, "It's easier to deal with the King of Hell than with his underlings."
"The compensation from the imperial court was given to the local area in full, but from the provincial administration office to the prefecture and then to the county, and then to the township, it was all taken away layer by layer. What should have been a string of cash for the people might end up with only a single coin in their hands."
Li Shanchang opened his mouth, but ultimately remained silent.
After a long while, Li Shanchang frowned and said, "Is the Prince Consort so confident that the villagers will block his carriage in the future?"
Yang Shaofeng simply curled his lip.
How strange!
How many times have people ended up parking on the street and getting tickets because they can't find parking spaces in their residential area or in the parking lot?
It's not uncommon to see several cars parked at each house in the village, making it difficult for them to pass each other in the narrow alleys, and causing traffic jams at the village entrance because of these cars.
Yang Shaofeng pointed directly to the streets inside the city walls and said, "Prime Minister Li might as well take a look at Dengzhou Prefecture City first."
"If the roads in Dengzhou Prefecture were as well-maintained as those in the capital, Dengzhou Prefecture would be congested every day."
"If the city gates of Dengzhou Prefecture were built like those of the capital, Prime Minister Li would probably still be queuing outside the city to get in right now."
Li Shanchang's face immediately darkened further.
He, Yang the Madman, keeps talking about the capital, but he's not talking about the capital at all.
He was indirectly criticizing us for lacking foresight!
Li Shanchang cursed inwardly, while Yang Shaofeng continued, "Of course, traffic jams are nothing, and it's not a big deal for Prime Minister Li to wait in line for a little longer."
"The key is the goods in the market; every day of delay means one less day of money to be earned."
"Take a two-shafted cart for example, it can easily carry a hundred sets of glass teaware."
“A day’s delay means a loss of one million strings of cash.”
Li Shanchang's inner curses grew even more vile.
The dog is driving Yang mad!
Knowing full well that I can't stand anything that interferes with the national treasury's ability to make money, he keeps stabbing me in the heart!
Yang Shaofeng smiled at Li Shanchang and made a final summary: "So, this road definitely needs to be widened. Even if the current conditions don't allow for building a road ten zhang wide directly, we still need to first secure a ten-zhang wide area."
"At worst, we can build a road that's one zhang long and plant trees that's nine zhang long."
"When conditions permit, and the existing roads can no longer bear the huge flow of vehicles and people, and it is necessary to widen the roads, the imperial court and local governments will not have to worry about occupying people's houses and farmland."
Li Shanchang suppressed the urge to curse, grunted in response, and then asked, "In your opinion, Your Highness, how many people can the entire Dengzhou Prefecture support?"
Instead of answering, Yang Shaofeng asked, "Let alone the entire Dengzhou Prefecture, just Penglai alone, how many people do you think it can support?"
Li Shanchang was immediately stumped by the question.
Old man?
I think Penglai County could easily accommodate 30,000 to 50,000 people. Add the surrounding villages, and the entire Penglai County could hold 100,000 people.
Just to be on the safe side, Li Shanchang finally decided to say more: "In my opinion, Penglai County can support about 150,000 people."
I've already said half of what I wanted to say, so you, Yang the Madman, can't laugh at me for being short-sighted, can you?
However, to Li Shanchang's surprise, Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "150,000 people?"
"The population of Penglai County is now close to 40,000."
"But Li Xiang should have also noticed that there are still large areas of wasteland in Penglai County, and even the county town itself still seems quite empty."
"Therefore, I believe that the entire Penglai County can support at least 300,000 people, or even 500,000 people."
As Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, both Li Shanchang and Zhu Biao were stunned.
Dengzhou Prefecture could accommodate 500,000 people.
What about the capital city?
Yingtian Prefecture and Nanjing City only have a little over 400,000 people, but your Dengzhou Prefecture can hold 500,000?
(Emperor Zhu established his capital at Yingtianfu, designated Jinling as Nanjing, and Bianliang as Beijing. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty referred to Nanjing as either the capital or Nanjing from the very beginning, which is not a typo.)
Zhu Biao glanced unconsciously at the road inside the city walls and muttered under his breath, "Three hundred thousand? Five hundred thousand? By then, the roads in Dengzhou Prefecture might not be wide enough, will they?"
Li Shanchang also turned his head to look at the road inside the city wall, shook his head slightly, and said, "The roads in Dengzhou Prefecture are wide to begin with, and whether there are 300,000 or 500,000 people, they are not all crammed into the city to live."
Now that the capital has been demolished and rebuilt, is it still possible to do so in time?
Or should we halt all current construction projects and allow the Ministry of Works to replan them?
wrong.
The ruler had long harbored the idea of moving the capital.
Then we only need to focus our efforts on the new capital.
As for Nanjing, we will proceed according to the original plan.
Just as Li Shanchang was pondering this in his mind, Yang Shaofeng suddenly laughed and said, "This humble official has remembered a joke."
Li Shanchang was slightly taken aback and asked, "A joke?"
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement and said, "Yes, a joke that's not really a joke."
"It is said that a prefect, before taking office, made a special trip to the prison to visit the former prefect and asked him how he amassed so much money?"
The former prefect smiled and said, "Go ahead and demolish it."