Chapter Fifty Consideration

  The Lantern Festival has just passed, and the lanterns on the streets and alleys of Dongzhou Prefecture have not been taken down yet. The flower sheds that were set up have not been dismantled, and the young shop assistants are lazily sweeping away the trash discarded by tourists in front of their shops. The peddlers wandering around the streets are listlessly shouting out their wares, and people seem to still be in a daze from the festive atmosphere.

  Today is the first day of work after the New Year, and all the county magistrates under the jurisdiction of the provincial government, as well as officials from various departments, have gathered at the provincial government office. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Chen Tang began to lecture, spouting the usual clichés about loyalty to the emperor and love for the country, protecting the borders and bringing peace to the people, before finally getting to the main topic.

  This year, the tasks assigned by the superiors are heavy, and all tax collections must be implemented in a down-to-earth manner. The counties should increase their efforts, mobilize the top and bottom to think of ways, increase new tax categories, reform the original tax rates, develop economic hotspots, tap into charging potential, ensure that the first half of the year's tax revenue is completed on time, and the state and prefectural financial revenues exceed 50%.

  "Sir, these past few days a large batch of supplies has been transported into Da Zhao Village. Shouldn't we set up a tax card?" Just as Chen Tang finished speaking, the newly appointed Xiangyi County Magistrate Wu Jinxiang stood up and said.

  "Has your head been kicked by a donkey or pinched by a door?" No sooner had the words fallen than Chen Tang, the prefect of Zhi, who had just been full of elegance, changed his face and burst into loud curses, stunning the entire audience into silence. They didn't think that just a few days ago, Cai Shang's eldest son had borrowed 100,000 guan of redemption money from Wang Ye's place, but now they have to wait till the year of the monkey and the month of the horse. Chen Tang thought to himself that the two sums of money he had managed were either in the prime minister's mansion or in the king's palace, so how could he not be angry when he heard that Zhao was provoking him again?

  "Your Honor, I..." Wu Jin was stunned and didn't know where he had gone wrong.

  "Do you know whose territory Dazhaozhuang is?" Chen Tang walked over and asked.

  "It's under my jurisdiction!" Wu Jinxiang replied quickly, opening his mouth to speak. In his heart, he secretly scolded Chen Tang, "You're an idiot! Such a simple question and you still have to ask it in the main hall, do you think I'm an idiot too?"

  "Haha, Wu Zhixian is absolutely right! Have you heard that a strong ally has recently appeared?" Chen Tang said with a smile, but it sounded more like a cold laugh.

  "I don't know, I'll go back and dispatch troops to annihilate them immediately!" Wu Jin replied with a straightened waist, "The garrison of the capital has 20,000 troops stationed, and yet there are still powerful people appearing. How did you become the prefect, do you even have the face to ask me?"

  "Exterminate?!" This time Chen Tang was shocked, if he were to exterminate this powerful force, it's likely that everyone present would be annihilated for nine generations.

  "Xiangyi County, you're really bold! You want to die, don't drag us all down with you!" Before Chen Tang could speak, the judge had already lost his temper and jumped up, scolding.

  "Xiangyi County, sit down quickly and don't say anything more." A nearby official who had a decent relationship with him pulled on his sleeve.

  "Brother Hu, what's going on?" Wu Jin was now completely bewildered. The two officials from the prefecture were both scolding him, as if he had snatched their mistresses and was holding their children while jumping into a well.

  "Wu brother, your news is too outdated! Da Zhao Zhuang, Xiao Zhao Zhuang and the two surrounding villages are all the estates of the Second Prince, Yin Qing Wang. He has been ordered to recuperate there for a year. The prince is eccentric and unpredictable, often doing things that go against reason. During the New Year's play, he learned how to rob, and just robbed the imperial envoy who came to deliver the edict, spending a large sum of money before releasing him. Cai Xue Shi's head almost got into trouble, everyone was hiding but couldn't hide in time, and you still went to provoke him!"

  "Thanks for the advice, Brother Wu!" Wu Jinxiang wiped away his cold sweat and bowed before quickly running out, "I hope I'm still in time, don't let them run into Prince Wang, may the Jade Emperor and Buddha protect me." He muttered to himself as he ran. He had spent several thousand taels of silver and waited at home for many years, finally getting a real position, just thinking about making up for lost time when he encountered this unlucky kid. The people in the hall seemed to understand his feelings, everyone let out a sigh, shook their heads, and forgave his rudeness.

  The next day, the water-fire incompatible Gongzhou prefect and Tongpan jointly issued a confidential internal document, requiring officials and law enforcement personnel from various counties, towns, and townships not to approach the area within a radius of ten miles around Dazhao Village unless necessary. If entering, they must strictly pay attention to their words and deeds, behave decently, use civilized language, especially be extremely respectful and cautious towards children under the age of ten.

  At the same time, a rectification team was set up with Zhi Zhou as the leader and Tong Pan as the deputy leader to enter Xiangyi County, taking the opportunity of the almost major political responsibility accident in Xiangyi County to launch a vigorous "setting examples, grasping typical cases" rectification movement, and strictly grasping civilized law enforcement!

  After the tenth day, the Zhao family began to mobilize comprehensively, set up a leadership team, assign tasks, and make plans. The general commander of the project was Zheng Fu, who was in charge of all relevant matters on the construction site; the second-in-command Zheng Lu was in charge of purchasing materials and tools needed for the construction site; the third-in-command Zheng Shou was in charge of logistics support, ensuring that the workers were well-fed and well-watered. Even the small stewards from each department, as well as some laborers who knew a bit about civil engineering, were mostly dispatched to the site, leaving only a few people behind to maintain operations at the mansion.

  The manpower and resources of the Zhao family were all invested in the project, and even during the Lantern Festival, everything was simple. The 16 water conservancy technicians invited from the provincial government also arrived on schedule to start surveying and designing. The stone materials, wood, and tools ordered before the New Year were delivered one after another. The Zhao family was also very pleased, as long as they met the requirements, it was a cash transaction, without any arrears.

  On the twentieth day of the first month, the strong young men recruited from each village entered the construction site. All those who signed up arrived, and not one took the money and ran away. The managers assigned tasks according to their specialties, dividing them into several teams, designating people with prestige as team leaders, and adopting a production contract responsibility system. Those who completed their tasks well were rewarded, while those who failed to complete their tasks did not have their wages deducted but had to work overtime to make up for it.

  Although it has passed the beginning of spring, it is still a dry season, and the river water is very shallow. Some places are even frozen with ice, which is convenient for construction. However, time is pressing, they need to complete the dam before the first spring rain comes, otherwise everything will have to wait until after autumn to restart work.

  Everyone has a heart of gratitude. The master's family paid wages in advance when they were having a hard time, helping them get through the difficulties. The ones who benefit most directly from building embankments and repairing canals are also themselves. Moreover, every day there are two full meals, with meat and fish, which is even better than what they eat at home. Therefore, people spare no effort and complete tasks according to plan.

  After the project started on schedule, Zhao became the most leisurely person in the mansion. He was a cautious man and also a laid-back person. Since he didn't understand it himself, he would let those who were familiar with it handle it. The fact that ancient people could build the Grand Canal and Dujiangyan Irrigation System proved that water conservancy technology had already matured. Building a small dam was absolutely no problem. If he relied on his own understanding from later generations to make decisions blindly, things might turn out to be counterproductive.

  Zhao Zhan now only needs to listen to the report, project progress, and then prepare the money to pay for these expenses. In this process, he found that there are many similarities between the business model of the Song Dynasty and modern society. Take the stone materials used in engineering as an example. Because this place is located on a plain, local stone materials are not produced, and building dams and repairing roads require a large amount of stone materials. Everything needs to be procured from outside and transported in, which can be described as a huge workload. However, he went to Zhengzhou and only visited the Ying Tianfu, and this seemingly difficult problem was solved.

  In the Song Dynasty, merchants built various guilds based on their industry characteristics. Zheng Lu only needed to find a guild specializing in stone materials, discuss the specifications and varieties of the required stones, negotiate the price, and pay a deposit after agreeing on the delivery date and location. The rest of the work would be handled by the guild, which would contact suppliers, arrange transportation, and deliver the goods on time. It was like having a modern-day contractor providing one-stop service, and they were absolutely professional.

  "Then can't our own winery also change its way of cooperation?" Zhao Yan thought, unable to sit still, pacing back and forth in the room muttering to himself.

  He signaled to his uncle's house that he would release the wine, which was also intentional. Firstly, there was no one in his own mansion who was proficient in brewing and fermentation technology, which is the first step to making good wine; secondly, winemaking has been strictly controlled throughout history, and the Song Dynasty was no exception, with wine being a government monopoly. If he cooperated with his uncle, these would not be problems, but his initial idea was still to run the winery himself, only letting out part of the sales rights, and his uncle would be one of his agents.

  Now Zhao suddenly felt that he should change, brewing wine is one thing, selling it out is another, the mansion itself lacks people, and even more so this kind of sales talent. His uncle's family has been making and selling wine for many years, having experience and strength, as well as a mature sales network. If he were to partner with him in business, they could quickly turn a profit, and also use this platform to cultivate his own management talent, establishing his own team.

  "Alright, that's what I'll do!" I didn't come to this world to be a slave to money. Money is just one of my tools, and there are many great things that need to be done by myself. Why not use the beneficial methods for myself? Zhao Ze made up his mind.

  "How come Grandpa hasn't sent anyone yet? Are they distrustful or do they think there's no profit to be made?" Zhao suddenly realized that he had already decided to give them shares, but the main person hadn't arrived. Had he been too eager and ended up being taken advantage of? Zhao was perplexed.

  "It's impossible!" If the wine was really as rare as Zheng Quan said, Grandfather wouldn't have let go of this opportunity. As a member of the imperial family by marriage, he couldn't possibly hold real power and would be just an idle noble for life. All he could do was use his status to do some business and earn a fortune for his descendants.

  Just as Zhao Yi was in the house, worried and distracted, thinking wildly, he saw Xi carrying his clothes and rushing in to report: "Your Highness, the two imperial uncles have come with congratulatory gifts!"

  "Ah!" Zhao's face immediately changed from cloudy to sunny. It was really a case of thinking what comes next, just now he was worried they wouldn't come, but then two came at once.