Hand over the jade seal first [Infrastructure]

Xiao Zirong was still thinking that if Xiao Xuan asked about the secret recipe, he would ask Xiao Xuexing if now is a good time.

Of course, he wouldn't give it in vain, and he had to exchange some benefits for Taoyuan City.

In fact, he didn't have any objection to the matter of donating the salt making method. It is too difficult for ordinary people to eat salt. The people of Taoyuan City are regarded as his own, and he plans for them every day, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't care about other people in the world. .

When he has no ability, he can't control it if he wants to, but if he has the opportunity, he will still find a way.

For example, he intends to donate Quyuanli and Keel waterwheel directly without any benefit.

In the end, Xiao Xuan didn't expect Xiao Xuan to ask him to hide things.

Are you fit to be an emperor?

Probably because the expression on Xiao Zirong's face was too confused, Xiao Xuan pinched the back of his neck and sighed: "Uncle knows, you have not had an easy time these years, and this is not something that can shake the foundation of the country. I have something in my heart."

What's wrong with the emperor, the emperor is also a human being, and the emperor in the feudal society originally planned for his own family, but because the world belongs to them, they will appear a little selfless.

After Xiao Zirong understood the meaning of the emperor, he was a little moved. He didn't expect Xiao Xuan to ask him to hide the secret method without asking anything.

You must know that in these days, salt is more important than gold. Even if it is not dedicated to the country, ordinary people cannot resist this temptation, even if they have it themselves.

Xiao Xuan thinks he is poor, but Xiao Xuan himself is not rich.

I won’t talk about it when I was the King of Hedong. At that time, he didn’t have much money. Later, when he became the emperor, he had some money, and he needed to open a private treasury to subsidize the government from time to time.

Anyway, I heard from Xiao Xuexing that Xiao Xuan lived a very simple life, which is why the court can maintain a balance now.

Xiao Xuan may not be a hero, but he has indeed done his job well, and he has done a lot better than everyone thought.

After experiencing Xiao Zhaoye and Xiao Baojuan's two foolish monarchs, a gentle monarch like Xiao Xuan reassured everyone a lot—if someone is too radical, everyone would worry about whether he would be provoked, and they would come up with a knife.

Xiao Zirong nodded seriously and said, "Okay."

He thought for a while and said: "Uncle, Taoyuan City has been unable to expand the scale of the salt factory because of the small number of people. Can I borrow some people from you and my elder brother? It's not for nothing, but for money."

Xiao Xuan suddenly realized that the so-called borrowing was actually just giving them two money in disguise.

Salt taxes are paid in accordance with a certain percentage, which is not very low, but a little money will be left for the local governments to allocate.

This money is very flexible, and many officials will embezzle part of it to fill their own pockets.

In fact, all the big bosses in the upper class know about this matter, but everyone turns a blind eye and closes one eye, as long as it is not too much.

There are even handwritings of these bigwigs in it.

Therefore, in some places, even if they guard the salt wells, they are not rich. Not to mention the construction of cities, it is said that the lives of the people are very ordinary.

Some places even go too far, extracting brine from salt wells, and then transporting the brine to other places for processing.

This so-called other place is generally a village established in a deserted place, so that the local sells brine instead of salt, and because there is no salt well in another place, the taxation is different from the place with a large salt well. The tax is calculated according to the normal transaction.

Taxes can vary several times from one mile to the other.

However, Xiao Xuan didn't think about taking care of these things. If he took too much control, it would be easy to rebound. Anyway, the national treasury is not that poor. Unless the treasury can run out of rats, he won't do anything.

But Taoyuan City is different. The brine and salt are both produced in one place, so the taxes paid are more.

He frowned and said, "You keep that money for yourself."

Xiao Zirong said lightly: "The more people make more money, Taoyuan City can't use that much money."

Xiao Ji on the side hadn't spoken to him at first, but now he couldn't help asking: "Is it still not capped according to what you mean?"

Xiao Zirong thought for a while and said: "As long as someone buys it, and I have enough space in my hands, I can supply as much as I want." In order to prevent the father and son from deifying him, he added: "After all, the sea water Enough."

Xiao Ji shook his head: "That's not what I said."

But he didn't say anything more about the specifics. Xiao Ji likes to read books on weekdays because there are too few entertainment items for him to play.

He also learned a lot of things through the book, and the production of salt is definitely not as simple as Xiao Zirong said.

But since Xiao Zirong said so, it shows that the secret method in his hand is very important.

After hearing this, Xiao Xuan said with a very serious expression: "I will send you some people later, and let Shi Shilang also send some people over."

Xiao Zirong did not expect Xiao Xuan to trust Xiao Xuexing so much. In fact, since Xiao Xuexing arrived in Taoyuan City, the patrol guards at the salt factory have been replaced by Luo Xuewei.

It's true that the little ladies are very powerful, but there are not enough manpower, and it's not a comfortable thing to patrol outside in the winter. The little ladies are not good for their health if they catch the cold. Get some warm measures, not to mention Xiao Zirong can give them money.

Originally, he thought that if Xiao Xuan's people came, he would let Luoxuewei evacuate for the time being, and then he would find a way to add people in later, but he had to think of an excuse at that time.

Unexpectedly, it was Xiao Xuan who proposed it on his own initiative.

Xiao Xuan's idea is also very simple, it is impossible for him to send his personal guards, so the people he sends are at most doing work, and other things are probably not good enough.

And the fact that Xiao Zirong has the secret method of making salt in his hands may not be kept secret for a long time. At that time, many people will covet the secret method in his hand, and will do everything possible to get it from him.

The reasons are ready-made: Now that the salt is in the official camp, is Xiao Zirong trying to rebel by hiding like this?

So what Xiao Xuan has to do is to slow down this process as much as possible, at least not let too many people know when Xiao Zirong's foundation is not stable.

In this regard, Xiao Xuexing has soldiers in his hands and his soldiers are still very strong, so it is very suitable for him to protect Xiao Zirong.

Xiao Xuan glanced at Xiao Zirong, and felt that it was necessary to put the establishment of the crown prince on the agenda.

But even if everyone knows that Xiao Zirong is the candidate for the future prince, he still has to find a way to make Xiao Zirong's crown prince more smoothly.

After all, Xiao Zirong was also the emperor for a few days back then, this account...it would be very troublesome to break it up.

After the uncle and nephew reached an agreement on the salt, they also went to the source of the canal.

As soon as Xiao Xuan got off the carriage, he saw a waterwheel standing by the river. It's not like he had never seen a waterwheel before, but he didn't expect that the water in the canal was brought into the canal through the waterwheel.

He asked curiously, "Why?"

Xiao Zirong explained: "The main reason is to prevent the river from flowing backwards. Taoyuan City was not affected by the floods before because of the construction of this dam."

Xiao Yan who was on the side asked immediately after hearing this: "Has Taoyuan City ever been flooded?"

Xiao Zirong nodded: "Yes, of course this also has something to do with the fact that the water system surrounding Taoyuan City directly leads to the sea."

Xiao Xuan was even more interested when he heard it, and watched while walking along the canal.

The canal is actually nothing to look at, but the design of the branches of the canal is more interesting, but it is not as intuitive as looking at the sand table.

It's just that I can feel more about what a huge project this is.

Chaihe obviously observes very carefully. Water control is probably engraved in the genes of all people on this land. When they see a good water control method, everyone will pay attention subconsciously.

Chai He looked at Xiao Zirong and asked, "The embankment used by Your Highness Xuancheng is the same thing as other constructions in the city?"

Xiao Zirong nodded, this can be seen at a glance, at first it was a rammed earth dam, and then it was replaced with lime mortar.

After seeing the paddy fields, everyone went to the estuary to take a look, and the whole water system was basically the same.

Xiao Zirong said with a smile: "It would be great if uncle came in summer. In summer, there are crabs and flower fish in the fields, which taste very good."

Xiao Xuan is not very interested in the grass fish and crabs, the only thing he wonders is: "How long have you been digging for this water system around the city?"

Xiao Zirong thought for a while and said: "If you don't count these tributaries and just count the canals, it took about three months to dig. But at that time, rammed earth was used to build the dams, and these were later farmer's business."

Xiao Xuan leaned over and asked in a low voice: "Is there a secret technique too?"

Xiao Zirong smiled and said, "It's not a secret technique, it's made of the same material as the Explosive Arrow. It's much easier to just blow up the ground and repair it. I just happened to find a place to demonstrate it to my uncle."

Xiao Xuan thought of what Xiao Xuexing found out at the beginning, the bandits in the cottage that kidnapped Xiao Zirong seemed to have died collectively in one place, and there was a deep pit there.

Xiao Xuan felt as if he knew something.

Xiao Zirong had asked people to prepare the gunpowder bamboo tube long ago, and everyone was very interested when they heard that he was going to demonstrate how to dig the canal back then.

Needless to say, the power of the gunpowder bamboo tube is needless to say, even if they have seen the bursting arrows before, everyone was almost shocked by the gunpowder bamboo tube. They all stared at the big deep hole on the ground in a daze, and then looked at Xiao Zirong's eyes. .

Who would have thought that there was such a big killer hidden in the deep mountains?

Xiao Xuan patted his chest, although Xiao Zirong reminded him, the explosion just now scared him enough.

He turned his head to look at his nephew with crooked eyebrows and smiling eyes. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't connect such a violent thing with his cute nephew.

His lovely nephew still whispered in his ear: "Uncle, we used this thing to defeat the Wei army before. Otherwise, Taoyuan City is full of ordinary people, how could it be possible to beat the division of hundreds of battles?"

Only then did everyone realize that this was right. When they heard that Taoyuan City repelled the Wei army, they thought they had a problem with their ears.

Xiao Zirong said, "However, this thing is not very stable. I'm going to equip some for the Regent's Snow Camp and see how it works."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone looked different, and before they had time to express their thoughts, they heard the sound of an explosion in the distance.

After Xiao Zirong heard it, he subconsciously looked up at the sky, and then saw the bright red flare in midair.