Chapter 212 Huge idea! (Here it comes!)

Su Bohui and others nodded.

Su Bohui sighed: "What a pity. It would be great if Zhang Caoshuai's idea could really be realized. Guangdong is indeed short of food, and the people are living in great hardship. Although the benefits of sea trade are huge, only the court and the people will benefit.

There is no way to decide whether a small group of people or the majority of the people should be poor or poor."

Zhang Heng looked at Su Bohui in surprise.

Su Bohui smiled bitterly and said: "Zhang Caoshuai, although we are the beneficiaries of sea trade, we are from Guangnan East Road after all. Guangnan South Road is our hometown. We naturally hope that our fellow villagers will live a better life."

Some.

Even excluding these folks from the countryside, from a practical point of view, the richer a place is and the more talented people it has, the more say it has.

Look at Fujian Road, because they have become rich, more of their children are studying, and more people have passed the Jinshi. In recent years, they have more and more say in the court, and Fujian Road has become more and more different.

Already.

And in our Guangnan East Road, many people cannot afford to support their children to study, so not many scholars from Guangnan East Road have passed the imperial examinations in the past. There are also few officials from Guangdong in the court. In this way, Guangnan East Road

The road has become a deserted place, and it has even become a place of exile for the imperial court!"

Su Bohui sighed: "Who wants to see their hometown be called a wilderness? When we go out to do business, when people hear that we are from Guangnan East Road, they don't say anything, but there is always disdain on their faces.

His expression was really irritating, but there was no way to refute it. After all, he didn’t say anything to his face, and Guangnan East Road was indeed a deserted place!

There is no source of food, no children to study, no one in the court, culture and education are desolate, miasma is everywhere, and wild animals are infested. What is a place like this but a wilderness?"

Mo Yunxin, Huibaoshan, and even Zhan Chongwen couldn't help but sigh.

Zhang Heng nodded with satisfaction and said: "I understand. Since you are determined to develop, I will show you a clear path. Zhan Tongpan, please bring the map."

A huge map was slowly unfolded.

Su Bohui, Mo Yunxin, Hui Baoshan, and even Zhan Chongwen couldn't help but stare.

What a detailed map this is!

This map closely captures the Xijiang Delta, and the map is very large, so it is so detailed that every town and town can be displayed on it. It looks like the ink is quite fresh, and it seems to have been drawn up recently.

Zhan Chongwen was surprised and said: "Zhang Caoshuai, how come I have never seen this map before?"

Zhang Heng said with a smile: "I hired someone to draw it. The key to developing Guangnan East Road lies in the Xijiang Delta. To develop the Xijiang Delta, this is the key."

Zhang Heng stretched out his hand and pointed on the picture.

Su Bohui came up to take a look and found some lines sketched on it. He looked at it carefully and said with some surprise: "Is this... a dike?"

After hearing Su Bohui's words, the others also came up to take a closer look.

Huibaoshan also said: "Yes, yes, this should be a dike enclosure. Ah, does this enclose the entire Xijiang Delta land? Oh my god!"

Huibaoshan lost his voice.

Mo Yunxin looked at Zhang Heng in shock, expecting Zhang Heng to give him a response.

Zhan Chongwen raised his head, looked at Zhang Heng and said: "Zhang Caoshuai, this...this...is this your idea?"

Zhang Heng smiled and nodded: "What do you think of this idea?"

Su Bohui scratched the back of his head, and Huibaoshan saw it. Huibaoshan felt a little funny. You Su Bohui, who is usually calm and composed, must have finally surprised you today.

Zhan Chongwen smiled bitterly and said: "Zhang Caoshuai, this idea is indeed a good one, but it is difficult to implement it!"

"oh?"

Zhang Heng snorted, "What's the difficulty?"

Zhan Chongwen made a big circle with his finger on it and said: "Do you know how huge a project it is to build these embankments? Even a city wall in Guangzhou is in tatters. The amount of work for this embankment is this city wall."

It’s more than ten times or a hundred times more!”

Zhang Heng nodded and said: "But if this thing is really done, the Xijiang Delta will become one of the richest areas in the Song Dynasty."

As soon as these words came out, Mo Yunxin, Su Bohui and others looked at each other in confusion.

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "Come here, I will tell you what can be done with the land inside if these embankments are built."

Zhang Heng drew a circle in the areas of Panyu, Nanhai, and Shunde: "These places are densely covered with water systems. If dams are built, these places can be used. It is probably impossible to grow other crops in these places.

But what if it is used to raise fish?

I will dig a large number of fish ponds in these places, raise fish in the fish ponds, and plant mulberry trees on the shore. Then, while raising fish, every household can also raise silkworms, use mulberry trees to raise silkworms, feed fish with silkworm excrement, and fertilize pond mud.

mulberry.

In this way, Guangzhou can obtain the most important raw material of silk, which is the best export. As for the aquatic products produced, in addition to being digested locally, they can also be transported to the north for sale by sea ship.

These are still the outermost land uses. A little further inside, there are already good paddy fields. Rice can be grown here. With two seasons of rice a year, Guangnan East Road will no longer be short of food.

As for the further inside, it is the best place to grow vegetables. Why vegetables are grown? It is because they are the best economic crops. In the winter in the north, nothing grows, but in the winter in Guangdong, the vegetables are still lush and green.

They can still grow quite luxuriantly. If these vegetables are transported to the north at this time..."

Su Bohui and Mo Yunxin immediately realized the huge profits, and their eyes lit up.

Zhang Heng continued with a smile: "...As for the mountains and the like inside, you can grow tangerines, tangerines, oranges, pomelos, lemons, citrons, bergamots, kumquats, and kumquats. These fruits will be transported to the north by sea.

There are a lot of people who can make a profit.

Of course, the north-south freight route is definitely not as good as foreign trade, but the advantage is that it can be done all year round. After getting on the right track, the profits of this north-south freight route are even much greater than overseas trade. I think

Think about it, how many people were there in the north of the Song Dynasty, tens of millions, and how many people could there be in all the overseas countries combined?"

Su Bohui's breathing was a little rapid. He turned to look at Mo Yunxin and found that Mo Yunxin's chest was also rising and falling.

Su Bohui's throat was a little dry and he said: "If this is true, Guangnan East Road will give birth to the largest shipping company, and it will also make the Xijiang Delta a wealthy place that is not inferior to the Yangtze River Delta!..."

He then gave a wry smile: "...But looking at these hundreds of miles of embankment, the villain's scalp is already numb. How much manpower, material and financial resources are needed to accomplish this!

Our Guangnan East Road is a barren state, and we can’t even build a state government wall. These villains don’t know how to build these hundreds of miles of embankments!”

Zhang Heng was confident.

"This matter... is not difficult."

Zhang Heng said.

…

There is a concentrated village in Panyu. The village is full of thatched houses in a mess. When the sky lights up, smoke is already coming out of many thatched houses, and the village has become lively.

This place is called "Dasan Village" by Guangzhou people. The so-called "Dasan Village" means that the people here come from all over the country and most of them are here temporarily. Because there are too few fields here, everyone can only stay here temporarily.

After settling down, I went to Guangzhou every day to see if there was any work I could do to earn some rice and noodles for my family.

Outside Guangzhou, there are many settlement villages similar to Dashan Village. Some villages have some fields and can support some people, but it is difficult to live a good life because the good fields belong to the locals.

The only land that can be cultivated is very barren saline-alkali land.

Zong Baosheng also got up early. Yesterday he took on a job, which was to do transportation for others. Guangzhou Pier still needs a lot of manpower. Although Zong Baosheng is lame on one foot, he works hard enough, so it doesn't matter.

Delay in doing things.

Zong Baosheng ate some gruel, spoke to his wife, and set off for the Guangzhou Pier.

After walking for nearly an hour, he arrived at the pier. The weather in Guangdong was too hot. He was already sweating profusely and his stomach was empty.

But when you get to the place, you have to work. The work on the dock is the same as rescuing. There are too many ships and the berths at the dock are limited, so whether the ships are loading or unloading, they have to be very fast, otherwise there will be a lot of trouble on the dock.

Charge more fees from the ship owner.

What came today was a ship with more than 2,000 pieces of material. Although it was not a very large ship, it was not small either. The cargo inside was very heavy. Zong Baosheng carried hundreds of bags in the morning, and he was very excited.

It was as if it was wet with water. It was only at noon that the boat was finally unloaded.

Zong Baosheng received two large pieces of steamed buns and made a pot of soup. It was said to be soup, but it was actually kelp from the sea. He then sprinkled a lot of salt on it to replenish people's strength.

Zong Baosheng ate steamed buns with kelp soup. After eating one, he finally came back to life.

But one steamed bun was only half full. He looked at the other steamed bun, swallowed, then carefully wrapped it up and put it in his arms.

——There are still four and a half kids at home. To keep healthy, we need to eat something nutritious.

It was too hot at noon, so you could take a break, otherwise someone would be killed. Zong Baosheng found a shady place to lie down, intending to take a nap, and the other workers followed suit.

When he was sleepy, he heard someone talking in a trance.

"Hey, Lao Sun, I heard that embankments are going to be built on both sides of the Xijiang River, and the government is recruiting people to do the work. Have you heard about it?"

The man named Lao Sun said lazily: "They are recruiting laborers. It's best not to go. I'll just give you a meal. What's the point of going?"

"Hey, you must be ignorant. This is not a conscription of labor, but a recruitment of labor. I heard that as long as you go there, the fields in the diwei will be divided."

"Divide the fields?"

Zong Baosheng immediately woke up, stood up and asked, "Can we really divide the fields?"

The worker smiled and said, "Yes, I heard that's the case. I plan to go to the government office tomorrow to have a look. If this is really the case, I'm going to give it a try. After all, it's about dividing the fields.

The reason why we are like this is because we don’t have any land. If we can get more than ten acres of land, then I can support my whole family.

The climate here is very hot. We can plant two crops a year, work two years a year, and harvest two years a year. We have enough to eat and drink.
To be continued...