This last decree is naturally to correct the content of the recital issued by the celebrant who guided the luxurious wind of Jiangnan. However, Emperor Chongzhen also added an item, that is, to help students. Preferential treatment is given to young children who donate to attend children's school for one year and can graduate.

This will, based on the ancestral system, is not a stick to death for the rich, but only gives many conditions, but leads people to good. For privileged officials, it can highlight their status and status, but it is the least resistance. However, if it were changed to before, it is estimated that many people would mutter, the emperor is too lenient. But in the context of Nanxun Town, who dares to make irresponsible remarks about the imperial power?

Of course, these wills are only outlines, specific regulations, or go through the formal process and proclaim the world.

After Emperor Chongzhen was busy with these things, a day passed.

Early the next morning, he specially promoted Chen Youming to the head of Nanxun Township. The reason why it is a special purpose is because Chen Youming is just an ordinary person, so it is a special purpose to give him a meritorious name and let him become an official in the local area.

Emperor Chongzhen didn't want this incident to finally affect the lake silk trade in Nanxun Town, he was familiar with Chen Youming, and Chen Youming was familiar with the lake silk trade, and the local heroes were all killed by him, exiled, and the emperor supported Chen Youming, so he had reason to believe that Chen Youming could redirect the affairs of Nanxun Town to the right path as soon as possible.

As a result, Chen Youming's unexpected joy was that he became the first mayor of Daming Township. The first township chief is also the township chief with the largest background.

After finishing this, Emperor Chongzhen disclosed his identity, and naturally it was impossible to continue the private visit of Weifu, so he went to Suzhou Mansion and prepared to return to Beijing.

As for the matter of sea trade, with the help of this incident, Jinyiwei has searched out a lot of information about the merchants, and for those with large transactions, they have been sent to Wang Chengen, the governor of Dongchang, and he will continue to investigate secretly.

Of course, Emperor Chongzhen can also see how big the prospects of sea trade will be from the business of Husi. I also have some ideas about the taxation of sea trade, and I pulled Wen Tiren and Sun Chuanting to communicate in the chat group, and there was almost a result, which was implemented by Sun Chuanting. The first official deal with the Portuguese and the Dutch will soon be over, and on the whole, both sides are satisfied.

Emperor Chongzhen only rested for a few days in Suzhou and was ready to return to Beijing.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at him and seemed to have gained a lot of weight, and he was a little unhappy in his heart, so he asked coldly: "Liu Qing, I will put the Daming Road and Bridge Company in charge for you, and let you build more roads for Daming." But I haven't seen any signs of construction in Jiangnan these days. Could it be that you forgot your business under socializing, right? ”

Liu Mao was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly bowed down and replied: "Weichen has to be reused by His Majesty, and he has done his best to do his errands, and he has never forgotten the grace of the saint. ”

After confessing his thoughts, he hurriedly explained: "When Weichen arrived in Jiangnan, he summoned the rich households as usual to preach the politics of roads and bridges. However, the land south of the Yangtze River is different from that in the north, so that the process of building roads in Weichen has not progressed for a long time. ”

"Oh, what's the point?" Emperor Chongzhen was a little surprised when he heard this, so he asked with a little curiosity.

According to his personal experience, here in the south of the Yangtze River, whenever it rains, the road is muddy, and it is inconvenient for people and vehicles to come and go. The benefits of cement roads should be the most reflected in this Jiangnan! Why did the construction in the north not delay the process, but in the south, it delayed the process?

At the beginning, it was originally planned that Liu Mao would go south directly and build the first cement road in the Ming Dynasty. However, the rapid change of the war in the north was a bit unexpected, so all the manpower and material resources of the cement factory were used in the north, and finally the first cement road was built between Jingshi and Tongzhou.

When Liu Mao heard Emperor Chongzhen's question, he hurriedly replied: "Back to Your Majesty, the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan are indeed very interested in cement road construction, but they are a little worried that the road will be repaired, and the imperial court's policy will change, so they will take back their share; Second, the road construction in the south of the Yangtze River is much more expensive than in the north, and the rich businessmen have a lot of money, so there is a bit more money to be collected. Third, the local government also did not cooperate, and all kinds of situations ......"

When Emperor Chongzhen heard him explain this, he became even more confused. The first reason, he can understand, is not a problem; What the hell is the second and third one? How can it be so much more expensive to build roads in the south than in the north? How could the local government not embrace such a pro-local initiative?

Or Liu Mao had already thought of this, after he finished speaking, he took out a piece of music from his sleeve, handed it to Fang Zhenghua and presented it to the emperor: "Your Majesty, the reason for this, the ministers have all records, and the facts are there, please Your Majesty to take a look!" ”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, his curiosity was even greater, so he quickly unfolded the piece and looked at it. After reading it, he suddenly realized that Liu Mao really didn't lie to him.

It turns out that the business and trade in the south of the Yangtze River are prosperous, and if you want to build roads, especially those busy roads, you have to change them to cement roads, and the impact will be great. The volume of delayed trade is by no means a small amount. This is one of them!

Second, the people in the south are busier than in the north, not to mention that there are two crops and three crops in farming, even ordinary people are busy in the morning and evening, even ordinary women can earn money through weaving and other activities. The people here in the south of the Yangtze River, if they really have leisure, are mostly after the autumn harvest.

Therefore, generally speaking, the government will not levy the common people to serve as labor during the busy agricultural period, and the opposition of the local government is actually based on this point, not selfishness. Liu Mao's high cost of building cement roads in the south is based on the first, the indirect cost during the road construction is high, and second, the labor cost is high.

It is for these reasons that Liu Mao came to Jiangnan for a period of time after repairing the cement road from Beijing to Tongzhou last winter, but he still did not build the road.

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen had finished reading it, Liu Mao bowed down again and said: "Your Majesty, building a cement road requires a large number of people, and it is really inconvenient to levy a large number of them during this time. If there are enough manpower, Weichen will not be able to repair the road again, and he will be willing to accept the guilt! “

At this time, to build cement roads, there is no construction machinery in later generations, so it is natural to rely on manpower to pile up. Liu Mao's words focused on one of the biggest problems, which is actually the problem of manpower.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he couldn't help frowning slightly and pondered.

If the road construction affects agriculture, even if it hinders the weaving and silkworm raising of the people in the south of the Yangtze River, Emperor Chongzhen is unwilling. But here in Jiangnan, if you wait until after the autumn harvest every time to do it, it will be inappropriate. After all, there will be less time to build roads throughout the year. Moreover, after the autumn harvest, the south of the Yangtze River also cools down, and the land will freeze hard at that time, which will also make it more difficult to build roads......

He thought about it, and suddenly remembered the decision he had made before, and this time it was linked, wouldn't it just be solved!