Sun Sanlang watched the people in the iron prison not far away grab the sledgehammer and smash the rails laid on the ground, and whispered to the people around him: "Fifth brother, how can the people in the iron prison come to work?" Dozens of wen a day, much less than when they were in the iron prison, are these people stupid? ”

Ruan Wudao: "What do you know! I heard that the iron supervisor wanted to build this road as soon as possible, but there were not enough people to recruit him, so he let the iron supervisor's people come. Don't look at the same work, they still get the money and food when they were in the iron prison, and they have much more than us! ”

Sun Saburo shook his head and sighed: "Alas, the same person is not the same life." If they do the same work, why should they take more? ”

"Is it the same? Those are the ones who give money and grain to the imperial court, and we are the ones who farm in the countryside. - Talk less, do more! This season, I'm going to get a new plow, hoe, and sickle next year, and I'm waiting for the money. ”

Sun Saburo stopped talking, and worked hard with the people around him.

The imperial court agreed to the construction of the railroad tracks by the iron supervisor, but proposed that since the iron of the iron supervisor could not be used up, it should not only be repaired to the coal mine, but then extended north to Xiangcheng County. It is adjacent to the Ru River, and the railway has been repaired, which can be connected to the dense water transportation network around Kaifeng Province. The Ru River, the Cai River, the Bianhe River, and the Huai River, the water transport extends in all directions, and the iron is not afraid that it will not be sold.

As a support, the three divisions ordered the surrounding Ru, Xu, Chen, Ying, and Cai Wuzhou to send people to the iron prison to help build the road. With an order, the five states complained bitterly, and Liu Zhi, the governor of Caizhou, went to the chapter one after another, attacking the iron prison and hurting the people and money. The three divisions were in a hurry to reduce the price of iron, and urged one after another, and the people were finally sent.

There was really a lot of manpower dispatched this time, and Deng Baoji, the governor of Yingzhou, and Liu Yongnian, the governor of Caizhou, were sent to assist. Deng Baoji was in charge of the section from Xiangcheng, and Liu Yongnian was in charge of the section from Tiejian to the north, and both ends were carried out at the same time.

Seeing that the people who built the road were in full swing, Du Zhongxiao said to Liu Yongnian beside him: "This road construction will disturb several states, and the imperial court will want to finish it before spring ploughing, which is really not easy." In the labor office, I want to make my heart uneasy. ”

Liu Yongnian said: "We are courtiers, and we are acting on orders of the court, so what hard work can we talk about." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Having said that, but this time the road was built in a hurry, and the five states recruited Ding Zhuang, which will inevitably harass the locality." Liu Zhizhou kept writing a few days ago, saying that building this road would waste people's money and manpower, and the complaints were not small. ”

Liu Yongnian is a subordinate of Liu Zhi, and after listening to Du Zhongxiao's words, he no longer spoke. Liu Yongnian is the grandson of Liu Mei, the elder brother of the Empress Dowager Liu, who was raised in the palace since he was a child, and was deeply favored by the emperor. There are even rumors among the people that he is the illegitimate son of the current emperor, and he has a nose and eyes. His mother was originally sent to the palace and was loved by the current emperor Zhao Zhen, but she was disgusted by the Queen Mother, expelled from the palace, and became the wife of the Queen Mother's nephew Liu Congde. Liu Congde died in his twenties, and his wife often entered the palace, who knows if the emperor will miss the old love, and the two will resurge? At that time, it was rumored that the city was full of wind and rain, and the ministers of the foreign dynasty were not allowed to enter the palace.

Today's emperor has various legends of illegitimate children among the people, and some of them are very evil. He himself does not seem to be taboo, he has always ignored it, neither discerned nor questioned people. However, for the ministers of the court, there is no secret, and the emperor's every move can escape from the many eyes and ears in the palace. Take Liu Yongnian as an example, his father was still there when he was born, how could he be the illegitimate son of the emperor.

Although he is not related to the emperor by blood, it is a fact that he has been raised in the palace since he was a child, similar to an adopted son, and his identity is still very different. Now that he is less than thirty years old, he has become a state prison, and he has always been rich and noble.

At this moment, Tao Seventeen brought a few people and stepped forward to salute with his hands crossed.

Asked the people around him to put down the farm tools he brought, Tao Qiqi handed a shovel to Du Zhongxiao, and said, "Official, the farm tools to be sent down have been ready, please take a look." ”

Du Zhongxiao took the shovel in his hand and looked at it over and over again. This is made of good steel, the same as the farm tool with the iron supervision number, extremely light and smooth, and the front end is sharp. A few words were pressed on it: "Xiangye Railway Commemoration".

After reading it, Du Zhongxiao handed the shovel head to Liu Yongnian beside him, and said to him: "Let's see how the system is made in the Yanei?" ”

Liu Yongnian took the shovel in his hand, looked at it carefully, and nodded again and again: "It's really good!" With such a good steel, it is so delicately made, it is no less than a weapon in the army. Fortune judgment, I don't know why to make this farm tool? What do these words mean? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The people from the surrounding states came to help build the road, how could the iron supervisor let them help in vain? In addition to the daily grain and rice, which was supplied by the iron superintendent, when the road was built, everyone who built the road was given a set of farm tools. A shovel, a pickaxe, a hoe, and a sickle. The above words mean that they came to build the road, and the iron supervisor gave them as a token of gratitude. ”

"This-" Liu Yongnian held the shovel head, and didn't know what to say for a while. Such four farm tools, according to the market price, Caizhou will sell for seven or eight yuan, which is a lot of wealth for ordinary farmers. The iron supervisor is so generous, what else can the state and county that came to help say?

The above words are a bit nondescript in this era, and most people don't want to understand why they are written like this. This is Du Zhongxiao's imitation of the later practice, the project is completed, and a few souvenirs are given to the participants. This is called having contacts and contacts, and getting along well in the future. People from the surrounding states and counties came to help with the work, and the iron supervisor sent them a few industrial products, and if there was the same thing in the future, no one would complain. A few things are worth a lot of money in the local area, but they are nothing to the iron supervisor, and the steel produced now is still piling up.

After looking at several other farm tools, Du Zhongxiao said to Liu Yongnian: "Now that you have made some samples, the states where you come to build roads, each of them will be brought back to the state, so that the governor can judge it in detail." If there is no objection, so it is done. ”

Liu Yongnian knew that Du Zhongxiao was angry with Liu Zhi many times, so he hurriedly called a subordinate and asked him to take four farm tools and immediately return to Caizhou to show Liu Zhi. Liu Zhi is an important minister who knows the place, not the general governor of the state, and his opinion is very important. The man who came to build the road got the benefit of these farm tools, and he should have been unable to say anything.

Now there is a backlog of steel in the iron prison, and there is not much money, so this time to send farm tools should be regarded as opening the market for products. It's just that the dealers in these five states have to suffer some losses, and they sell a lot less for some reason.

With the help of the people of the five states, the road construction time was greatly advanced. Even if it is extended twice the distance to the north, when it reaches Xiangcheng, it can be paved without waiting for the beginning of spring. With this convenience, Du Zhongxiao asked the people of the iron supervisor, who could draw out, to participate in the construction of the road and pave it to the south to Fangcheng.

There are now more than 10,000 households in the iron prison, and there are actually only 2,000 people in the front line of iron smelting, and the rest are engaged in other affairs. There are more than 2,000 people digging coal in coal mines, more than 2,000 people digging in the mountains, and other transportation and infrastructure construction accounts for the majority. Workers need to be educated, and for these adults, learning is not easy, and most of them are eliminated when they are in school, and can only do some hard work.

For the iron supervisor, the railway is no stranger, from the iron mine to the iron supervisor has been paved, and the iron supervisor is redundant, used to transport materials and products. It's just that it's all pushed by hand, and there are no trains. What is most scarce now is the railroad tracks for paving. It is all wood cut in the nearby mountains, and it has not been preserved, and Du Zhongxiao does not know how long it can be used.