Pang Ju was naturally waiting for Wang Xuanzhi's words.
He volunteered and said: "If you are proficient in Wen Mo, you can go to Fan Yang as an envoy!"
Wang Xuanzhi was immediately overjoyed, but Pang Ju had just surrendered, and Wang Xuanzhi was not stupid enough to trust him completely. He appointed a confidant as his deputy, and went to Fan Yang with Pang Ju to report the Xu family and his son to the puppet Yan court.
Death of illness" news.
Next, Wang Xuanzhi gradually took control of the rest of the troops in Liaodong in the name of the Jiedu Envoy Office, and gradually took control of Pinglu's military power.
He was originally a veteran of the Pinglu Army. Xu Guidao and his son were indeed unpopular, and the work of controlling Pinglu Town went smoothly.
Pang Ju's funeral team set off quickly and rushed directly to Fan Yang to report the funeral to Shi Siming's son Shi Chaoyi who was stationed in Fan Yang.
Seeing the progress in the situation in Liaodong, Li Yan breathed a long sigh of relief. The first step in the great detour strategy was to finally gain a firm foothold in Northeast China.
Longyou has been having good weather this year, but there was a snow disaster in Beiting a few days ago. Li Yan took the entourage of the Governor's Mansion to Beiting to provide disaster relief, and Li Mi also followed him.
Li Yan's carriages are not luxurious, but they all use the latest technology.
The elastic shock-absorbing body greatly improves comfort, and the inner wall of the carriage is also covered with warm materials.
There is also a small heater in the center of the carriage, which makes the interior of the carriage as warm as spring.
Li Mi also followed Li Heng in the carriage. He wore glasses and carefully corrected the documents sent from various places, wrote down various handling opinions and handed them to Li Yan.
Sometimes when he encounters more complicated matters, or matters that Li Mi doesn't understand, he will discuss them directly with Li Yan and finally formulate opinions on how to deal with them.
After finishing processing the documents sent from various places, Li Mi pinched his temples.
The territory currently occupied by Li Yan includes the Longyou East Road, the four towns in Hexi and the Beiting area.
Coupled with the fact that Jizu ruled Tuyuhun and Longyou had far-reaching influence on the Uighurs, the territory can be said to be quite large.
Problems that cannot be solved by the various state governments will be sent to Li Yan for ruling. This workload can be said to be quite large.
However, the Salt and Iron Taxation Bureau is responsible for economic affairs, the Military Affairs Staff Office is responsible for it, and judicial issues are handled by the courts. Li Yan only needs to concentrate on government affairs. Now that Li Mi is on his left, Li Yan feels that his work has become much easier.
.
The urgent matters have been dealt with, and Li Mi and Li Yan discussed several difficult things happening in Longyou.
Li Mi said: "Your Highness, the Qinchuan Xuanwei Envoy from the Tuyuhun Xuanwei Department has reported that when the railway track at Jinshan Pass has been completed, please go and cut the ribbon."
"The railway construction in Jiuquan and Zhangye is also stepping up. Cui Zhizhou and Zeng Zhizhou have also reported their merits to the Governor's Mansion and hope that His Highness can attend the opening ceremony of the railway."
Li Yan nodded. Of course he knew the thoughts of his high-end players. They all wanted to compete for the prize of the first railway and complete the achievement rewards.
However, both sides reported good news but not bad news. Although the track of the Jinshankou Railway had been completed, the research and development of the steam locomotive was relatively slow.
Because the railway at Dangjinshan Pass needs to go over Dangjin Mountain, it needs a locomotive with more power. Now the steam workshop at Dangjinshan Pass is stepping up its efforts to develop a locomotive with more horsepower.
In comparison, the railways between Jiuquan and Zhangye are much flatter. The first-generation steam engine head manufactured by Wuhan Iron and Steel can meet the power demand as long as it is moved onto the train.
However, the railway line between Jiuquan and Zhangye is relatively long, and the railway occupies a lot of land that is owned by the owner. In order to expropriate these railways, there were a lot of troubles, but they were all calmed down by the governors' offices of the two states.
Li Mi had seen the role of railways, and he couldn't help but sigh: "If railways can be built in the Central Plains, there will be no need to rely on canals for transportation, and the court will feel more at ease."
In order to support the population of Guanzhong, the Sui Dynasty dug the Grand Canal.
Although Confucian ministers were criticizing Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty for being inconsiderate of the people and wasting money and wasting money by building the Grand Canal, the Tang Dynasty was enjoying the huge legacy of the Sui Dynasty.
The land in Guanzhong has long been unable to bear such a huge population, and the imperial court needs taxes from the south to support hundreds of officials and an army in the capital.
Taxes from Jianghuai, Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi are collected to Yangzhou through the southern water network, and then transported to Guanzhong through canals.
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Li Yan didn't know much about water transportation in this era. He asked: "Now that the canals and waterways are all in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, why should we build railways if water and land transportation can handle the needs of Guanzhong?"
Whether in this era or in the future, the importance of water transportation is unquestionable.
Even in modern times after the advent of railways and airplanes, bulk trade still relies on sea and river transportation.
It can be said that although land and water transportation is not as fast as air transportation and railway transportation, it is better in terms of large transportation volume and low cost.
Li Mi sighed and said: "Although water transportation is good, it also has many disadvantages."
"The Bianhe River is artificially excavated and has a shallow draft. Many places are often silted with sediment and need to be cleaned regularly. If it is a good year, it will be fine. But if there is a famine year, and the people are recruited to dredge the river, then
It’s like holding these people to death.”
"Why is this? Doesn't the government distribute money and food for disaster relief?"
Li Mi shook his head and said: "Ensuring smooth water transportation is the most important thing in the world. Even if there is a disaster along the coast, we must first ensure the dredging of the Bianhe River."
“Then it can’t be a work-for-relief program?”
Li Mi smiled bitterly and said: "Even if it is a work-for-relief scheme, it can only provide enough food for one person as a corvee. How can it be possible to feed a family?"
"This section of the Bianhe River was originally one of the richest places in the world. However, since water transportation was opened, people often fled from famine because of the hardship of dredging the Bianhe River."
Li Yan sighed, as expected, people's livelihood was very difficult. Even in the prosperous times like Kaiyuan, there were countless people who were bankrupt and starved to death.
Not to mention the current troubled times, I am afraid that the local people are even worse off than dead.
Li Mi also told Li Yan: "Water transport channels are not always wide rivers. For example, the water channel from Luoyang to Chang'an is shallow and slow, and it is easy to silt up. In some places with shallow drafts, land transport or large ships must be used instead.
Only by small boat transportation can food be sent to Chang'an."
The cost of water transportation was too high, which is why the dynasties after the Tang Dynasty no longer had their capital in Chang'an.
Because such a lifeline was so fragile, the late Tang Dynasty had been worrying about this lifeline.
However, as the administrative costs of the dynasty further increased, they became less and less able to maintain the dredging costs of the canal, and eventually the Tang dynasty also came to its demise.
Li Yan also thought of the example Jiang Lun once told him.
In the early Tang Dynasty, it only cost tens of thousands of dollars to build a section of the canal, but by the Wu and Zhou Dynasties, hundreds of thousands of dollars were needed to maintain this section of the canal.
By the late Tang Dynasty, the court was spending millions of dollars every year just to keep the canal open to navigation.
This is not only a price issue, but also an administrative cost issue.
Administrative agencies also have costs. In the early days of the establishment of the country, the court had strong mobilization capabilities, and the people were motivated to work. The efficiency of the project was high and the cost was low.
However, by the middle of the dynasty, the people had already been tortured to death by various corvee services, and their entire families would flee when encountering large-scale projects.
The progress of the project was slow, coupled with the corruption of officials, who spent ten times the money and food, the quality of the built projects was even worse than the initial ones.
By the late dynasty, the cost of corruption among officials alone reached staggering proportions. Many projects did not even have the money to go to construction sites. The country's infrastructure completely collapsed, and it eventually perished.
Wait until the new regime comes to power, then repair these infrastructures and start the next reincarnation.
No matter how powerful a dynasty is, such a reincarnation is inevitable.
As an excellent politician, Li Mi naturally saw the important role of railway transportation.
If a stable railway transport can be added to the air route, then the fate of Datang Guanzhong will not have to be tied to several important transportation towns along the way.
Li Yan thought for a while and said: "Whether it is Jinshan Pass or Zhangye Jiuquan, I will not go there. Let them build the railway and complete it and open it to traffic as soon as possible. Let Wangfu Bank subsidize them some money and food."
Li Mi then said: "Your Highness is wise, what follows is a report from the Uighur Xuanwei Envoy. Eight small tribes on the border between the Tang Dynasty and the Uighurs requested to annex the Tang Dynasty. The Uighur Khan's Court reported to the Xuanwei Envoy's Office.
We have lodged a protest and asked Your Highness to decide whether to accept these tribal attachments?"
"What do you think, Duke Mi?"
Li Mi said: "The Uighurs in our territory of Longyou are also the subjects of our Tang Dynasty. The tribes on the border are joining us in line with the people's wishes. If we refuse, I'm afraid it will hurt the hearts of all the people."
"But now that the Uighur Khan is respectful, we can agree to the Uighur Khan that as long as the Uighur tribes are registered, we in Longyou will no longer accept their annexation."
Li Yan nodded. Now that the Uighurs are an important "trading partner" of Longyou, they are also the market for Longyou's goods to be dumped. Indeed, the fragile nerves of the Uighur Khan should not be overly stimulated.
After talking about the two important things, Li Mi finally said: "The next step is to return to Luan Chang'an to offer gifts to His Majesty."