The more Li Yi looked at it, the more gloomy his face became, which made several important ministers of the court who came to be suspicious. Several people glanced at each other, and said in their hearts that if Li Yi didn't nod, I'm afraid this palace would not be built.

There is also a detailed text description on this precious design drawing of the new capital Jicheng, and Li Yi was furious after only looking at it. It reads: With all the supplies, one million people can be completed in two months. Two million people, one month can be made.

Under the words "two million people", it was specially added, obviously this little genius wanted Li Yi to mobilize two million people to build a palace for himself in the shortest possible time.

Choosing Jicheng as the new capital is Li Yi's plan for a long time, but it is his future capital, so it should naturally be built by himself. Moreover, such a huge project cannot be completed in a short period of time, otherwise it would be a crime.

Li Yi had a gloomy face, threw the drawings on the table, and said, "Two million people, where did General Ben find so many people?" ”

Ma Riyan was stunned for a moment and hurriedly said; "Hussar general, there are now two million households in Youzhou, and one household can be drawn to serve in conscription."

Ma Riyan has investigated the current situation in northern Xinjiang very clearly, and the population of the entire northern Xinjiang is as high as 30 million, of which Youzhou is the largest, with 2 million households and a population of more than 10 million. followed by Liaodong Metropolitan Protectorate, with 1.5 million households and a population of nearly 8 million; Then there is Jizhou, which has about 800,000 households and a population of nearly 5 million; Then there is the state, which has about 600,000 households and a population of about 3.5 million; Finally, there is the Kitaniwa Prefecture, which has about 500,000 households and a population of about 3 million. Together with the 100,000 households and 700,000 people in Hedong County, the total population has exceeded 30 million.

It was precisely because Ma Riyan investigated the situation in northern Xinjiang clearly that they dared to make such a plan.

Hearing Ma Riyan's words, Li Yi was stunned for a moment, and said in his heart, these guys are really full of feudalism, and they only treat the people as cattle and horses.

Li Yi naturally didn't do such a thing, so he said: "Two million people, how much wages do you need?" Now that the treasury has no money, in my opinion, in a few years. ”

Dong Cheng was taken aback and hurriedly said, "Why do you want to pay the people's workers?" They should be forced to serve and given a meal. ”

Yang Biao said: "What General Wei said is very true, it is just November now, and there is still a month before the heavy snow falls, and it is just during this time to build a new palace and let His Majesty move into it before the New Year. Moreover, now that it has entered winter, it is the time when the people have free time, plus this is to build a palace for the Son of Heaven, and the people can contribute to the Son of Heaven, which is their honor. ”

General Wei is Dong Cheng, in the last month, the Son of Heaven worshiped him as General Wei, but he is a general who has no soldiers, only an official rank, and he has no position in the Northern Xinjiang Army.

Hearing Yang Biao's words, Li Yi almost scolded. It is an honor to contribute to the Son of Heaven, so you are honored to be alone, you are definitely honored to die if you give Lao Tzu to build this palace well. And if you eat two meals a day and don't pay your wages, will the migrant workers still be grateful to Dade?

However, Li Yi knows that if this matter is really said, I am afraid that the actual situation is really as Yang Biao said. Although the majesty of the Han family has been greatly affected by the continuous wars in recent years, in the minds of many ordinary people, the status of the Son of Heaven is still unshakable. To be able to build a palace for the Son of Heaven, even if there is no remuneration, I am afraid that many ordinary people are willing.

It is precisely because he knows that the status of the Han family in the eyes of the people has not been completely lost, and the majesty of the Son of Heaven still exists, so Li Yi has always been cautious in what he does, and he does not dare to go too far, in order to avoid becoming the target of the public and betraying his relatives. Otherwise, with the power in his hands now, he would have rebelled long ago and replaced the Han family.

Li Yi was reluctant to build such a magnificent palace, but after thinking about it, this palace can be regarded as built for himself, and there is nothing wrong with building it well. But it costs a lot of money, which makes him very sad.

However, as soon as he rolled his eyes, he immediately had an idea, if it was successfully implemented, he could save a lot of money.

The palace is to be built, and two million people can also be mobilized, but they have to be paid for food, shelter and wages. He calculated, in a month's time, a man said that he would ask for a thousand yuan, and two million people, that would be 200 million yuan. That's a lot of money.

Li Yi smiled, began to dig a pit, and said to Yang Biao and the others: "It is natural to build a new palace for the Son of Heaven." The Son of Heaven has been in Northern Xinjiang for three months, and he is still living in a tent, and I, as a courtier, feel sorry for the Son of Heaven. However, the people of the north have endured many wars and hardships in these years, and if they are forcibly recruited, it is inevitable that there will be rebellions again. If there is another chaotic situation in northern Xinjiang, it is bound to be attacked by young people, and they will once again experience the disasters of Dong Zhuo and Li Dao's generation. Therefore, in order to achieve the best of both worlds, the people can be requisitioned, but not forcibly requisitioned, and they must be paid for food, shelter and wages. ”

Several ministers glanced at each other, and said in their hearts that the current situation around them is indeed not very stable, and on the south bank of the Great River, many princes are eyeing the northern frontier and may raise troops to the north at any time. If Li Yi is defeated because of this, and there is a **** like Dong Zhuo again, he will suffer again.

After years of suffering, they don't want to lose their hard-won stable life.

Zhou Zhong asked Li Yi: "Hussar general, what should you do in your opinion?" ”

"Now that the treasury is empty, I'm afraid it's only enough to buy construction materials, not enough to pay for the people's wages......," Li Yi said and stood up, and said with righteousness, "But as Mrs. Yang said just now, it is the honor of those of us who are courtiers to be able to contribute to the construction of a new palace for the Son of Heaven." Therefore, General Ben decided that I would take the lead and halve the salary. All of you are also important ministers of the imperial court, and you must also play an exemplary role in taking the lead. In this way, in the next year, all the officials of the imperial court will be halved, so that about 200 million yuan can be saved to pay the wages of the people. ”

In fact, for Li Yi, he sent it to himself, and it didn't matter if he didn't send it. However, for the hundred officials who migrated thousands of miles from Guanzhong to the north and had lost their real estate, they would have to starve without Yulu, and the same is naturally true for these important ministers of the imperial court.

Everyone looked at each other, and their hearts ached, but in order to allow the Son of Heaven to live in the palace as soon as possible, they could only endure the pain and cut their flesh and agree to Li Yi's conditions.

After the news spread, hundreds of officials scolded Li Yi for being despicable and shameless. These hundred officials are all from the scholar family, but after moving the capital, all of them lost the vast land handed down by their ancestors in the past, so they relied on Yulu to live, and now they even have to reduce their Yulu by half, they disagree very much. But he didn't dare to openly oppose the decision made by Li Yi and the three princes and nine secretaries, and besides, this was also for the Son of Heaven to build the palace.

After Li Yi successfully extorted a sum of money from hundreds of officials, he sent away everyone in the court, and then asked Dian Wei to find Mi Zhu to see him.

Mi Zhu is now at the helm of the Li Chamber of Commerce, which belongs to Li Yi's private property. Li Yi came from later generations, so he naturally knew the truth that fertilizer and water did not flow into the fields of outsiders. With the increasing number of territories under his rule, the daily expenses of various departments of the government and the army are huge. Rather than giving the profit to others, of course, it is better to give it to yourself.

In today's northern Xinjiang, all the daily necessities needed by the government at all levels and various departments of the imperial court are purchased in the Li Chamber of Commerce. In addition, the Li Chamber of Commerce is also oriented to the broad masses of the people, although there are many fewer scholars in Li Yi's territory, but after the people have land, they have surplus money, and the consumption level has skyrocketed unprecedentedly, which is incomparable with the princes of other places. Therefore, the trade profits of the Lee Chamber of Commerce are considerable.

Of course, the Li Chamber of Commerce can not do a full monopoly of 360 lines, with the improvement of the consumption power of tens of millions of people in northern Xinjiang under Li Yi's rule, many businesses have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and the best of them have made a lot of money and become big businessmen.

Because of these examples of big businessmen who got rich and lived happily ever after. The scholars under the rule of Northern Xinjiang began to see the profits of their daily profits, and began to try to get rid of the old channels of obtaining money and grain from the land, and began to use their own advantages of knowledge to learn to do business.

As a result of this situation, the local nobles began to look forward to Li Yi's rule, and their dissatisfaction with the common people's ownership of a lot of land began to fade. Many years later, the scholars began to sell their land in a planned way and shifted to industry and commerce.

The peasants farmed with peace of mind, and the scholars transformed into trade, which led to the rapid development of the economy under Li Yi's rule.

Just thinking about some gratifying situations in Northern Xinjiang now, Li Yi heard Dian Wei's voice sound: "My lord, Mr. Mi is here." ”

Li Yi nodded and motioned to Dian Wei to let Mi Zhu in.

Mi Zhu has been in northern Xinjiang for more than a year, and Li Yi recognizes his financial management ability very much, because Mi Zhu's Li Chamber of Commerce, as his official supplier, returns profit funds, so that Li Yi can reduce more than 30% of financial expenditures, which is a huge amount of money for the vast northern Xinjiang.

The princes' money was earned by his subordinate scholars, and Li Yi earned it for himself, which was the fundamental reason why Li Yi was richer than other princes.

"Zizhong, look at this, how much food do you need to consume?" Li Yi handed over the palace drawings.

Mi Zhu estimated it and said, "Lord, in fact, the materials don't cost money, they are everywhere in the surrounding fields. The main thing is the wages of the people, which is estimated at 200 million yuan. ”

Li Yi patted his forehead, he almost forgot, it is now the Eastern Han Dynasty, 1,800 years ago, the environment was good, and century-old trees were everywhere, as for building materials such as stones and sand, it was needless to say. As a ruler, of course, you can collect at will, and you don't have to worry about environmental problems. After all, it was 1,800 years ago, and it was okay to spoil it, and as for the possible environmental problems more than 1,000 years later, Li Yi didn't bother to care.

So, Li Yi ordered this matter to go down and asked the people below to prepare to build a new palace in Jicheng. (To be continued.) )