Build roads with cement? Zhao Liewen and Li Hongzhang were stunned, the price of cement is not cheap, as an important building material, the use of cement is much broader than asphalt, and now it is in short supply, using cement to build roads, the loss of this master thought of it!

Yi Zhengxing, who had been silent, opened his mouth and asked: "Which is the higher cost of cement road and asphalt road?" And the service life....? ”

The cost of cement road is lower than that of asphalt road, the service life is longer than that of asphalt road, and the cost of daily maintenance is lower, but when it comes to comfort and noise reduction and dust reduction, it is not as good as asphalt road.

After a slight sigh, he said: "Ten years ago, the British built the first cement road, and the cost and performance can be investigated by comparing the advantages and disadvantages with the asphalt road, but I still recommend building a cement road for detailed research and comparison." ”

After a pause, he continued: "Whether it is cement or asphalt, with the development of industry, its output will increase rapidly, and the price will continue to fall, and I think it is necessary to remind again that in less than twenty years, the automobile will replace the railway as the most important means of land transportation, and the road will have more economic and military value than the railway." ”

Yi Zhizu attaches great importance to automobiles, and has repeatedly mentioned that automobiles have incomparable advantages over trains, but several people here are skeptical of this, after all, they have witnessed the huge transportation capacity and speed of railways, and they can't see the advantages of automobiles at all, of course, they don't dare to question each other's judgment.

The room was quiet for a while, and Yi Zhengxing said slowly: "It seems that the construction of a road network in advance to promote the rapid development of the automobile industry does not need to be limited to the northern provinces, after all, it takes a long time for the northern provinces to recover their economies after four or five years of disasters, and even if there is a perfect road network, it is not conducive to the rapid development of automobiles."

The southeastern provinces, especially Jiangsu and Zhejiang, have always been China's financial powerhouses, economic centers, and the richest regions, and the construction of the highway network in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is more conducive to promoting the development of the automobile industry, and the diversion of disaster victims to Jiangsu and Zhejiang is also conducive to alleviating the pressure of disaster relief. ”

Yi Zhishu nodded, "That's a good idea. However, we should not ignore the infrastructure construction of the north because of the backward economic foundation of the north, after all, the north is rich in mineral resources. As he spoke, he picked up a red-core pencil and drew a large circle on the map of Liaoning, Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Luoyang, Hankou, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hanoi, "This is an industrial center that will be prioritized for development in ten years, and railways and highways must be given priority." ”

After a pause, he continued: "Originally, in order to promote as many immigrants as possible, the infrastructure projects and the construction of mines and factories in cash-for-work were planned to be gradually carried out next summer.

In the newspaper, he publicly stated that he supported the imperial court's policy of immigrating to the real side, and all the affected states and counties completed the resettlement task, and Yuan Qi immediately provided relief. ”

After hesitating, Zhao Liewen said: "Forcing the disaster victims to emigrate by cutting off disaster relief money and food will be infamous in the future, and it is just a matter of King Gong being a villain, so why should the big shopkeeper ......?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said disappreciably: "What Yuan Qi has done over the years can be described as a mixed reputation, and the infamy that will fall on us in the future will not be less, why care about one more or less?" It is only right that we can facilitate large-scale migration as soon as possible. ”

With Yuanqi's public announcement in the newspapers of the policy of supporting the resettlement of the real frontier, all the disaster-stricken prefectures and counties in the northern provinces have accelerated the pace of implementing the resettlement policy, and the government and the opposition all know that Yuanqi is richer than the imperial court, and the disaster relief is also more generous, and Yuanqi's disaster relief is not a soup kitchen, but a full meal, and many victims of the disaster-stricken villages and towns have spontaneously allocated the quota of immigrants, so as to avoid embarrassment for the local government.

Shandong, Tai'an Province, Feicheng County.

There are more than 20 rows of grass huts neatly set up in the open space outside the east gate of the city, in the grass hut or standing or sitting or lying down countless people with yellow faces and thin muscles, in front of the grass hut there is a big pot or boiling mixed rice porridge or steaming mixed noodles steamed buns, although they are all mixed rice porridge and mixed noodles steamed buns, but they are full, for the victims who have not been able to eat a full meal for several months, this is already a rare luxury.

Needless to say, these victims are about to emigrate to other places, and only immigrants can enjoy this treatment, and the other victims are currently only hanging half-dead with two meals of gruel a day.

"Fellow villagers, fathers." Zhang Zhiwei, who was dressed as a scholar in his early thirties, walked into the grass hut and waved at everyone, and said loudly in Tai'an Mandarin: "You are about to leave your hometown for a completely unfamiliar foreign land, and your hearts may be full of reluctance to your hometown, fear of a foreign land, and ......dissatisfaction with the court and Yuan Qi.

Here, I must clearly tell you that the imperial court organized this large-scale migration not only to enrich the frontier, but also to reduce the pressure of disaster relief, this autumn and winter in the northern provinces are generally drought, after the beginning of the year will inevitably face a greater spring drought, without large-scale migration, the imperial court and Yuanqi can not carry out proper relief.

The places where everyone immigrated were to have a suitable climate, fertile land, and suitable for cultivation of grain-producing areas, the imperial court would distribute land free of charge, and Yuanqi would provide interest-free loans, and five years of tax exemption, free education and medical care, and the immigrants who immigrated to Nanyang in the early days are now living and working in peace and contentment, and most of them are very wealthy.

For immigration, Yuanqi has always had a clear rule, you may not know, that is, after ten years of immigration, free movement is allowed, that is to say, after ten years, as long as you are willing to come back at any time, Shandong has always been a big province of immigration, have you heard that a large number of immigrants have returned?

Let me tell you clearly, as long as the immigrants go out, no one wants to come back, and Shandong is far inferior to the places where you have migrated because there are few people and there are nine droughts in ten years, as well as floods, locust plagues, and hailstorms.

Again, don't worry, the immigrant villages are all divided by prefectures and counties, that is, your immigrants from Feicheng County will be arranged in one village and one town, and you will not be scattered. ”

As soon as the words fell, someone said: "Now there are deep wells drilled by machines, so there is no need to worry about drought." ”

Zhang Zhiwei smiled when he heard this, "Yes, the deep wells drilled by the machine can resist drought, but how many years will it take for every household to have a deep well?" As he spoke, he arched his hand and walked slowly out of the hut, saying that he had only said to avoid a great deal of flight or commotion on the way to the emigration.

Out of the grass shed, Zhang Zhiwei looked up and saw an official sedan chair coming to the gate of the immigration area, knowing that it was the county government who came, he even greeted him, and it was the county commander Hong Renshou who came in the sedan chair, and when he saw Zhang Zhiwei in the sedan chair, he smiled with a smile on his face: "Mr. Zhang, this group of immigrants set off, and the immigrants in our county have reached thirty percent of the victims." ”

Hearing this, the accompanying official hurriedly presented a list, "This is the list of immigrants, and I also ask Mr. Zhang to take a look." ”

Zhang Zhiwei himself also made an immigration roster, and after taking it, he said: "Let me check it below, and if it is correct, I will immediately report it to the higher authorities and apply for Yuanqi relief." ”

"There is Mr. Lao Zhang." Hong Renshou hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "Disaster relief is like fighting fire, the disaster situation in this county is serious, and many victims have not had enough food and ...... for several months. ”

It's no wonder he's anxious, the newspapers announce every day which state and county have completed the resettlement task, and the news that the Yuanqi disaster relief grain has arrived, these news are like a reminder for the state and county officials who have been affected by the disaster, who is not worried about the dissatisfaction of the victims or riots caused by the delay for a long time.

"Don't worry about it." Zhang Zhiwei said with a smile: "Yuan Qi has already started to deploy relief matters a few months ago, and Tai'an has hoarded a large amount of relief food, and if it is reported, it will be able to be relieved in a few days. ”

Although there is no railway from Tai'an to Feicheng, but it is only seventy miles away, the next day at dusk, a large number of disaster relief grain will arrive in Feicheng, on the east gate of the city, the county commander Hong Renshou, the speaker Song Henian stands side by side, looking at the endless grain convoy, Hong Renshou is emotional and gratified, "There is Yuanqi and the imperial court to join hands to help, even if the disaster next year is not to worry anymore." ”

Song Henian sighed, "Yuan Qi has rarely provided disaster relief in recent years, but now he has joined hands with the imperial court to provide disaster relief, which shows the great ...... of this disaster." ”

Hong Renshou said: "Yuanqi has strong financial resources, and large-scale gold mines have recently been discovered in Zhaoyuan, Laizhou, and Pingdu, so why not matter how big the disaster is?" ”

Song Henian smiled and said nothing, he was not so optimistic, it was rare for Yuan Qi to be so big in disaster relief this time, he faintly felt that this drought was far more serious than they expected, and he groaned slightly, he said: "The Song family has opened a concrete products factory in Tai'an, producing concrete shafts, prefabricated slabs, sewer pipes, cement bricks, etc., and I plan to recruit some workers in Feicheng." ”

"That's a good thing." Hong Renshou smiled: "The more recruits, the better." ”

"I originally wanted to open this concrete products factory in Feicheng, but there is no railway in Feicheng." Song Henian said slowly: "This Yuanqi disaster relief, there will inevitably be a work-for-work relief project, the railway may not be easy to fight, but the highway is to be fought for, I heard that Shanghai is building a highway ....... to Jiangning and Hangzhou." ”

"Highway?" Hong Renshou turned around and looked at him suspiciously.

"Ever heard of a car?" Song Henian said: "A new type of land transportation that will replace railway trains, my classmates in Shanghai mentioned in a letter, I heard that Yuanqi intends to build a road in Shandong with work for relief, Feicheng must have convenient transportation if it wants to develop industry. ”

It was not only the Song family's concrete products factory that recruited workers in Feicheng, but also a large number of factories and mining enterprises came one after another, such as Jiaodong Gold Company of Shandong Mining Company, Zibo Coal Mine (Zichuan and Boshan Coal Mines), Heiwang Iron Mine, Zibo Iron and Steel Plant, Luzhong Cement Plant, Shandong Railway Company, and Machine Tool Factory....... There are more than 30 factories and mines of various kinds, most of which are newly built.

These factories and mines recruit 10 workers, dozens of workers, and hundreds of people, and their wages and benefits are the minimum standards set by the Qing Dynasty; in spite of this, the victims who have come to sign up after hearing the news still form a long line, and it is undoubtedly extremely tempting for the peasants to be able to enter the factories and mines to work as workers, and the minimum monthly wage of five yuan is not at all comparable to farming, let alone the disaster victims who do not even have enough to eat.

After the factories and mines were screened, the work-for-relief engineering team recruited migrant workers, repaired roads, bridges, aqueducts, and remediated rivers, and construction companies were all over the place, and all kinds of engineering teams could vigorously select people, and in just six or seven days, more than 4,000 elite laborers were selected.

With such a large-scale recruitment, the people of Feicheng are happy, but the gentry are depressed, and the immigrants are still dragging their families, supporting the old and the young, and moving their families.

As a county magistrate, Hong Renshou is naturally happy to see this, and the more labor is exported, the less pressure there is on disaster relief, because these laborers are all paid, and the minimum wage is five silver dollars per month, which means that there are four or five thousand households that do not need relief.

Song Henian, who was the chairman of the county advisory bureau, was not happy, and he had to receive visiting gentry every day, and the loss of a large number of elite laborers would deal a heavy blow to local agriculture, and the gentry who owned a large amount of land were naturally dissatisfied.

Song Henian, who received a new education and graduated from the University of Jinan, was like a mirror in his heart, and the Qing Dynasty was rapidly transitioning to an industrial society under the vigorous promotion of Yuanqi.

A large number of peasants have been transformed into workers, this is the trend of the times! A drought, just Shandong suddenly appeared a large number of factories and mines, it is enough to explain the problem! It was precisely because of this insight that he decided to let the Song family take this opportunity to open a factory, and the decline of agriculture was irreversible!

However, for these stubborn and conservative gentry, he can only be perfunctory, so that they should not worry too much, when the disaster and famine pass, when the project is completed, the labor will naturally return to their hometown, after all, all kinds of large and small engineering teams recruit workers are not immigrants and not factories and mines.

Song Henian understood it and was reluctant to say it, but some people couldn't hold it back, and the Tianjin Daily published an article entitled "Vigilance Yuan Qi is Implementing a Disguised Enclosure Movement in the Qing Dynasty", which directly accused Yuan Qi of recruiting a large number of migrant workers from various prefectures and counties in the name of disaster relief, which was a disguised land enclosure movement, with the purpose of turning a large number of peasants into workers.

As soon as this article was published, it caused quite a stir in Tianjin, and Yuan Qi was now giving large-scale relief to the victims of the disaster in the northern provinces, when suddenly some people openly criticized it, how could it not attract attention, and the newspapers of all sizes in the northern provinces reprinted it one after another, and soon attracted close attention from the government and the opposition.

Seeing this situation, the local gentry, who were already dissatisfied with this, either went into battle shirtless or asked someone to catch a knife wrote articles to accuse and attack, and for a time the public opinion in the northern provinces was overwhelming and one-sided accusations against Yuan Qi.