Chapter 268: Conscripting labor to build roads

Liaodong County Governor's Mansion

Lü Desheng was writing a memorial, which was a request for moving the County Governor's Mansion to Houcheng. He was going to send it to the emperor in Chang'an after it was written.

He wrote very quickly, and the whole article was full of eloquence, all about the necessity of moving the mansion.

When he finished writing, he put down his pen.

Guo Chunsheng on the side said worriedly, "Sir, is there something wrong with changing the plaque? It's not that you can't change it, but you should write a memorial to ask the emperor for instructions first."

The Liaodong County Governor's Mansion was built after the first county governor selected the place and asked the court for instructions. The court agreed. Later, it was moved for other reasons, but before moving, it must be reported to the court and asked for instructions.

"You make sense, am I not asking for instructions?" Lü Desheng said lazily.

Guo Chunsheng: Sir, are you sure you are asking for instructions, not acting first and then reporting?

"Sir, what I mean is that you changed the plaque so quickly, what if the emperor disagrees?"

Lv Desheng sneered in his heart, "He will agree." How could he not agree?

At the beginning, when the new emperor agreed to his exile and put him in Houcheng, Lu Desheng suspected that the new emperor wanted him to die in Houcheng.

You know, Houcheng borders the Xianbei grassland and is the front line of war every year. How dangerous it is.

It is true that he wanted to be exiled to Pingzhou. It would be best if he could be in Liaodong County, but the new emperor arranged him in Houcheng among the 18 counties in Liaodong County, which made him doubt the new emperor's intentions.

Lv Desheng once felt that he thought too badly of people. After arriving in Houcheng and reuniting with his daughter, he couldn't help but express his doubts.

Then his daughter told him with certainty that his suspicion was correct, and the new emperor did have a sinister intention to exile him to Houcheng.

At that time, he was furious. What the hell was Song Mo? Compared with the previous emperor, he was not even a little bit worse!

Guo Chunsheng was puzzled. Why did Lord Lu dare to be so sure that the emperor would agree to his moving the Liaodong County Governor's Mansion to Houcheng?

Lu Desheng snorted lightly. Could he tell him that the emperor wanted him to die in Houcheng?

In addition, "I decided to place the County Governor's Mansion in Houcheng to reassure the people. Why doesn't the emperor agree?"

Song Mo had better agree.

If you don't agree, don't blame him for throwing the blame on him!

Guo Chunsheng shook his head, "Sir, you are too willful."

Lu Desheng's words went in one ear and out the other. If he didn't act willfully, would he still be Lu Desheng? If he thought carefully about all aspects, the emperor would probably not be able to sleep.

Guo Chunsheng was even more worried. The adults executed first and then reported. Even if the original intention was good, the emperor was only fifteen. He was a little willful. He didn't care whether you were doing it to reassure the people, so he didn't agree. Wouldn't Lord Lu be slapped in the face? How should he explain to the people?

If that were the case, the person who had to explain to the people was not him, but the emperor! Lu Desheng thought.

He wrote the memorial and sent it to the emperor in Chang'an at the fastest speed using the post station.

For the common people of Houcheng, the day after the Houcheng County Office changed its plaque, something very relevant happened. This was the first decree issued by the county governor after he took office, which was to collect corvée and build roads.

Lu Songli recently looked through the Dali Law and found out that Dali stipulated that men had the obligation to perform corvée from the age of 16 to 60, and the age span was 44 years.

Every adult male had to perform corvée for one month every year.

She knew that compared with later generations, the various taxes and corvée in ancient times were very heavy. In many dynasties, the land tax was about 10% tax. 15%, 20% tax, and 30% tax were not common. Only the powerful dynasties, that is, the prosperous times, dared to set such a low tax.

Lu Songli remembered that the taxation of Shu Han in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms she had read was really heavy.

At that time, the policy implemented by Shu Han was "one out of three males, four out of six taxes". One out of three males means that if there is a male in the family, one of them must join the army, and four out of six taxes means that 40% of the farmers' harvest must be handed over to the state.

You can imagine how hard the people at that time lived, but there was no way. In troubled times, the people were lucky enough to be able to guarantee their lives, and the happiness index was not required at all.

Lu Songli planned to build a road, starting from Chencun, where Wuliu County and Liaoxi County bordered, connecting Liaoyang and Wangping, and finally ending in Houcheng.

On the basis of the official roads of the four counties, they were widened, connected, and leveled.

In fact, it would be nice to have cement or asphalt at this time.

But she thought about it, asphalt is extracted and decomposed from petroleum, forget it, there is no such condition, but cement can still be imagined.

She knew the approximate composition of cement. Living in an era of rapid development of infrastructure, their generation often came into contact with cement in daily life.

The approximate composition was known, but the specific ratio was unknown.

But there is no rush for this matter, wait until her brother Lv Mingzhi makes paper.

Moreover, at this time, they are still too weak, and it is not the time to take out cement.

Lv Songli felt that this was the time when the people of Houcheng had the best impression of her father, and this year's corvée labor had not yet been performed, so the road construction should be very smooth, and the people should not have too much resistance.

Lv Songli guessed correctly, their corvée labor and road construction were very smooth.

After Geng Yuan returned home, he thought about it and felt that he couldn't just let it go. So he personally visited several landlords and tyrants in the same circle.

After a period of discussion, they unanimously decided to send someone to probe Lv Desheng's mouth and ask him if he needed money for the construction of Liaodong County or Houcheng.

The person Geng Yuan and the others entrusted to them was none other than local Guo Chunsheng.

Lu Desheng: "What do they mean?"

Guo Chunsheng knew their intentions very well and said to himself, if he had known about this today, why did he do it in the first place?

"Sir, they probably want to lend you money."

Lu Desheng was about to get angry, but was cut off by his little girl, "We know about this, please trouble Mr. Guo."

Seeing that the situation was not right, Guo Chunsheng quickly retreated, leaving the battlefield, no, the venue, to the Lu family and his daughter.

"Daughter, why don't you let dad reject them?" In the past, Lu Desheng must have rejected them without saying a word.

You looked down on me before, but now I want you to look down on me. When he was polite to others before, they gave him two to three thousand taels each! Who do you look down on?

Lu Songli quickly advised, "Dad, we can't live with money."

"Are you still short of money?" Isn't the son-in-law attacking Wangping's Black Dragon Village? I brought back a lot of money from the attack on Heifeng Village before, haven't I spent it yet?

Lu Songli sighed, "Dad, before it was just a city that cost money to build, but now there is an entire eighteen counties in Liaodong County waiting to be fed. We can't help but prepare a little more money."

Lu Desheng was angry.

Next, Lu Desheng accepted the offer of borrowing money from Geng Yuan and other wealthy landlords in Houcheng.

My daughter said that if you want to do big things, you must be morally obsessive. Nowadays, there are still many places to spend money in Houcheng and even the entire Liaodong County. People trust them and are willing to lend them money to develop. Why should they refuse?

Of course, Lu Songli also agreed with some of her father's ideas. The treatment for Geng Yuan's group of people will be inferior to that of Lan Bingrong, who was the first to donate generously. When the opportunity arises, under the same conditions, they will be treated inferiorly.

Lan Bingrong took the risk and took real money to play with them. If he made the right choice, he should be rewarded.

When Geng Yuan and others came to the door with money in their hands, Mr. Lu's disregard for past grudges and smiling face made them feel relieved.

These people were very generous in borrowing money this time, ranging from as much as 20,000 to as little as 10,000.

Boxes of silver were carried into the government office one after another, and finally everyone took away an IOU stamped by the Liaodong County Sheriff.

This time Lan Bingrong didn't come, so Lu Desheng took the initiative to give him an IOU stamped by the Liaodong County Sheriff, and then arranged for someone to send it to his home.

Geng Yuan and others felt sad when they saw it. But they also know that they are one step behind, and it is normal for Mr. Lu to look at Lan Bingrong differently.