In the next few days, Hong Tao not only took Wang Shao and Shen Kuo to visit all the workshops except the fertilizer factory, but also found the surveying and mapping masters in the special forces, holding various surveying and mapping tools to teach Wang Shao and Shen Kuo how to map a mountain.

"Jin Qing wants me to fill in the gaps on the map?" It's a pity that Wang Shao has no mathematical foundation at all, and no matter how much he believes and understands it, it is in vain. But Shen Kuo is different, he has a foundation, and he can figure out some skills without saying that he understands them too well, and then he also has a conclusion.

"That's right, the storage is Hebei Road Cangsi, you can go anywhere to check, no one can stop you. This map can be used not only in the military field, but also for people's livelihood. If you can clearly know the whole picture of rivers and mountains without having to go to the field, whether it is road construction or flood control, you can get twice the result with half the effort, benefiting the country and the people. ”

Hong Tao was afraid that Shen Kuo would think that the work of surveying the map was too low-end, so he played with his life and put a halo on it. That's not a lie, maps are very useful.

"Jin Qing doesn't need to say much, this official not only wants to complete the map of Hebei Road, but also depicts the mountains and rivers of each road. But there is a reluctant request, and Jin Qing still needs to endure the pain of love. ”

At this time, Shen Kuo has become two people compared to a few days ago, his waist has also been straightened, his eyes have been sharp, and his beard blown by the mountain wind seems to have come to life.

"Cut love? How many people are borrowed from them, such as them? Hong Tao only hesitated for a moment to understand what Shen Kuo wanted, he only roughly understood the principle of mapping and mapping, and he didn't know how to operate it specifically, someone had to help.

So the three special forces who were most proficient in survey technology became Shen Kuo's subordinates, not only to teach this Kuraji-sama map survey techniques, but also to ensure safety.

With this errand, Shen Kuo didn't plan to visit the shipyard, so he hurriedly returned to Cangsi Yamen with three bodyguards and teachers under the pretext of being tired from the journey.

"Jin Qing, this action is very important, you have made many enemies in the court, so you must be extremely careful. At the beginning of summer, there will be envoys from the Northern Dynasties, and it is not good to come, so it is necessary to deal with it carefully. Shen Kuo left, but Wang Shao had no intention of leaving, so he and Hong Tao talked about business on the hillside.

"I said why Your Majesty let the old man come here, it turned out that he was afraid that the official would go crazy again, which would be detrimental to the envoys of the Northern Dynasty. In this case, it will be up to the boss to deal with it at that time, and the official will not see them under the pretext of going out to inspect. ”

Now Hong Tao finally understood the meaning of Emperor Shenzong sending Wang Shao, if he wanted to spy on himself, he could completely change to someone else, this old man who was old and frail and had received his own life-saving grace was the most unsuitable for this job.

"No, the envoys of the Northern Dynasty have always entered the customs in January, and they can arrive in Kaifeng before March. This time I made an exception to go south just to meet you, the famous Yum general, and if you can't see it, it won't be beautiful. ”

Wang Shao's understanding of the ancients, or his familiarity with the habits of the Liao people, is indeed incomparable to Hong Tao, and he can figure out the intention of the other party just from the time of the envoys.

"I still don't understand what is the difference between entering the customs in January and entering the customs in March?" Hong Tao is not so easy to fool, as long as he feels that there is a problem with the logic, he must figure it out before he can rest assured.

"If you go south from the north, you will catch up with the rain in March. The post road in the north is muddy when it rains, so why bother to come here to suffer if the Liao envoy has no special intentions. Speaking of which, His Majesty also asked the old man to ask the horse, repairing the post road can certainly allow the new army to move north quickly, but if the Liao people go south, can they stop it? ”

Wang Shao could answer this question without thinking about it, but he didn't understand another question very well, and he had to let the horse answer it in person. He was not the only one who wanted to know the answer, including the emperor who had seen the secret music.

"Your Majesty's worries are not entirely unreasonable, if the Liao people go south this year, the new army with less than 10,000 in the hands of their own officials is indeed stretched. But as long as they survive next spring, as many Liao people come to die, and if the three armies cooperate effectively, none of them will be able to go back. ”

Hong Tao did not dare to brag on this issue, there is indeed a risk in building roads, but the benefits are much greater than the risks, and early repairs are much more cost-effective than late repairs, which are decided after comprehensive considerations.

"I wonder why the Lieutenant is so sure?" Wang Shao can't fool in a sentence or two, he needs to explain in detail and be organized, so that he can return to the emperor.

"Muddy roads can stop the Liao soldiers, and it can also slow down the movement of the new army. The forbidden army was defeated by the Liao soldiers in the field battle, and it is understandable to be slow down. However, the new army was not afraid of a field battle with the Liao army, and at this time, it would delay the mobilization and supply of the new army, and the harm would outweigh the benefits. ”

In fact, this question is very easy to understand, but the thinking of the monarchs and ministers of the Northern Song Dynasty is a little solidified, always thinking about how to defend, and not thinking about how to attack at all. The tactics of the Forces nouvelles are somewhat similar to those of the German tank groups during World War II, with superior offensive and defensive firepower, but high requirements for logistical supplies.

Roads are its biggest weakness, and if it can't move and supply quickly, its combat radius will shrink accordingly. Back then, the former Soviet Union dragged down the German Eastern Army Group step by step with its mud and vast strategic depth, and it must not make the mistake of being a mustache again.

Convenient transportation is beneficial to the Liao army and more beneficial to the new army, and the advantages of the two still outweigh the disadvantages of the new army. Therefore, not only do you have to build roads, but you also have to work hard to repair them. After repairing the south section, repairing the north section, repairing the east side and repairing the west side, and completing the longitudinal repair and repairing the horizontal section. The more complete the road network, the higher the combat effectiveness of the new army.

"In that case, how about leaving the work of building the road to Ben Chan? It's not enough to go into battle to kill the enemy, but it's still okay to build roads. ”

Wang Shao admits that he has no say in the question of how to command the new army, and the horse is the expert, since he said that it is Chengbei.

The emperor handed over the responsibility of the Northern Expedition to the horses, and he couldn't just watch and play tricks on the sidelines. There is money to contribute power, the Great Song Dynasty is not only the emperor's, everyone has a share.

"So the junior has thanked the boss!" With Wang Shao in charge of Hongtao, it can save a lot of time arguing with local states and counties, and also reduce the number of times to solve problems by forceful means. This may be the intention of Emperor Shenzong to send Wang Shao here, a respected old minister can sometimes solve problems without even speaking.

As the ice melted, the first maritime merchants arrived. They first transported the goods to Dengzhou Port by sea boat, then transferred to an offshore sand boat into the Yellow River and went upriver to Nanle Town, and then followed the old Yellow River down the river for dozens of miles to the newly built wharf of the Daimyofu.

It's not over here, unload the goods of the sand boat and load it onto the concrete boat, and then go north along the Yongji Canal to Yizhou, Yongjingjun, Cangzhou, Hejianfu, Qingzhou, and Bazhou for sale. Don't look at the proximity of these areas to the front line, but the population is quite large, and the spending power is still good.

In the prefectures and counties where Yongji Canal could not reach, pack teams were hired to go by land, and the goods could be sold all over Hebei Road and Hedong Road. Despite the long distance of sea transportation, the transportation volume is large, the number of taxes is small, and the speed is fast, which is much lower than the cost of land transportation and canal transportation.

Wang Hao, these maritime merchants usually did not go to the inland provinces to sell goods by themselves, but they listened to Hong Tao's suggestion and opened up a freight yard outside the south gate of the Daimyo's Mansion to start a wholesale business of bulk goods.

The special products brought from the south were wholesaled to the local caravans, and the grain was sold directly to the Shuaisi Mansion, and then loaded with pig iron, raw silk, canned food and industrial products here and returned to Dengzhou by the same route, and then transferred to the sea ship Yang Fan to return to the sea. In more than a month, you can run back and forth, not only a lot but also a lot of money.

This will not only benefit the maritime merchants, but also the local merchants of the Daimyo Prefecture who can also drink some soup. The volume of goods is more and the price is lower, so they don't have to wait to rely on the southern products of the canal to the north. Buy a batch of hearty goods from the south of the Daimyo Mansion and transport them inland, and you can also run twice a year, as long as you are willing to contribute, you will not worry about making money.

With local specialties and a distribution center for goods in the south of the Yangtze River, businessmen with a sensitive sense of smell immediately smelled the smell of copper coins and came over to run their own small world, and the Daimyo Mansion naturally became lively.

The more merchants came, the more prosperous the market became, the more prosperous the market became, the more opportunities there were for work, and the income of the people increased. The people have more money in their pockets, their spending power rises, and then the goods transported by the maritime merchants will also increase.

When the income is high and the market is prosperous, it will inevitably lead to an increase in labor costs, and the people in nearby states and counties also see the opportunity to make money, and will immediately enter the city to fill the vacancy, and at the same time, it will also push up the consumption power and let the market enter the next round of growth, which is a virtuous circle.

Of course, the economic scale of a city cannot grow linearly and indefinitely, and there will always be times when it is relatively saturated and slowed down, including transportation capacity and radiation area. But this trend can be expected, when the time comes, there are two choices, either industrial upgrading, or find a way to expand the transportation capacity and radiation area.

The former needs to improve the level of productivity and technology, and the latter needs to invest in infrastructure on a large scale. From the experience of later generations, the former is more efficient and less costly, while the latter is a super-large-scale urban model, which will face increasing pressures on transportation, population, and the environment.

Hong Tao does not have these concerns at present, the Daimyo Mansion has just entered the early stage of development, and it is still far from saturation. In addition to its military value, relying on its own geographical advantages, it can become the political, economic and cultural center of the entire Hebei Road, and it will be no problem to build it for another few decades.

In fact, in the eyes of most ordinary people, they do not see these changes, they can only dimly feel that this year's life is better than in previous years, there are more goods in the market, the price is lower, there are more opportunities to make money, the government's taxes have fallen, and the number of levies and forced labor is less.