The manor had not been occupied for a long time. Only a few old servants guarding the door had been guarding the place.
The guards went in and out, cleaning and repairing the place. Dust flew everywhere. Zhu Xi sat under a big tree and studied the system.
The old servants were very happy. Never in their dreams had they imagined that King Qi would personally come to this manor.
"Your Highness, have a cup of hot tea to warm your body.”
An old servant carefully served hot tea and gently placed it on the stone table beside him.
It wasn't the beginning of spring yet, and the weather wasn't getting warmer.
Sitting in his own territory and drinking hot tea was extremely comfortable.
Wasn't this more comfortable than staying in the capital?
Recalling the oppressive atmosphere in the royal court, Zhu Rong shook his head repeatedly. It was still more comfortable in his own territory.
Zhu Rong first studied the complete set of technical information and blueprints of the highway that he had obtained directly.
Although it was a highway, the highway built in this era was definitely different from the one built in the future.
It didn't need to be so spacious, nor did it need to be so high-end.
However, the basic procedures and methods were basically the same.
To put it simply, it was to prepare the materials, clean the base, place the roadside rocks, and spread the asphalt. Then, he sprinkled a layer of mineral material, and after crushing it, he sprinkled a second layer of asphalt. After doing this three times, it was basically formed.
Bitumen was not considered a rare item now.
As early as the Northern Song Dynasty, asphalt was used in the production of gunpowder.
Wei Zhongxian, the most famous eunuch of the Ming Dynasty, invented a kind of torture. He poured asphalt on the prisoner's body and beat it with a small hammer. Finally, the prisoner's outer shell was peeled off.
However, if Zhu Xiong wanted to build a highway on a large scale, the amount of asphalt needed was huge!
The conventional method of obtaining asphalt was naturally unable to satisfy Zhu Xiong's needs. However, this was easy to solve. It was nothing more than exchanging experience points directly from the system.
But before that, there were two problems that needed to be solved.
The first was a place to hide. A large amount of asphalt had appeared, so he needed a source. He was thinking of building a large workshop outside Qingzhou City.
In addition, there were loyal and reliable workers.
He had many people under him, but they were all big soldiers.
Although it was under his jurisdiction now, his loyalty might not reach 100%. He was in the early stages of his business and could not allow any mistakes. If someone sent a letter to the capital at this time and made things difficult for him, it would definitely be enough to make him suffer.
After much consideration, he decided to use his experience points to exchange for reliable people from the system.
Soldiers were ranked at the front in the system. Soldiers were divided into five types: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
To put it simply, metal attributed soldiers were suitable for charging into battle and were the main force in battle.
Wood and earth attribute soldiers were good at building bridges and roads, building fortifications, and making siege weapons.
Water attribute soldiers were equivalent to the navy. However, Zhu Rong had yet to build the Ming Navy and start the Great Voyage Era.
Fire-type soldiers were good at using gunpowder, fuel, and other special high-explosive weapons and equipment.
These guys would become the main force in some of his secret locations in the future.
The loyalty of these soldiers exchanged from the system was 100%. Moreover, the EXP cost was relatively low. He only needed 10 EXP to exchange for a soldier. It was simply too cost-effective.
Of course, they would not be given any weapons and equipment in the early stages. They would mainly be used as reliable labor.
Other than them, they also needed some leaders. In order to do so, he would need to exchange for the craftsmen in the system. Craftsmen were much more precious than ordinary soldiers.
100 EXP was required to exchange for a Blacksmith. However, Blacksmiths were equivalent to engineers, and they had their own skills. They were not something that ordinary soldiers could not compare to. Even if the EXP was slightly more, Zhu Xiong could still accept it.
The problem of the location and the personnel had been solved. Now, there was another troublesome matter, which was the problem of food.
He could exchange for people from the system, but he still needed to eat.
In the system, these people were mainly responsible for some of his more confidential locations, such as production, protection, transportation, and other tasks. The specific construction work still required the recruitment of a large number of farmers. This was simple. He was a vassal king and in his own territory. Recruiting farmers was just a matter of a word!
The most troublesome thing was the problem of food. He came to the fief empty-handed. Although he had some family wealth, building a highway was a big project. Moreover, it was on such a large territory in Qi Land. It would definitely take a long time. With so many laborers, he had to eat every day. How could he solve this?
One had to know that the problem of food was a very headache for the entire Great Ming Dynasty.
Right now, in the entire Great Ming Dynasty, two meals a day didn't solve the basic problem of food and clothing. The number of people who starved to death every year because of insufficient food was the most common cause of death in Great Ming!
In the early stages, he could spend silver to buy food, but it was not a long-term solution.
Right now, he didn't have much money on hand. Before he became a vassal, most of the profits from his fief had been confiscated by his cheap father because he hadn't grown up yet.
His mother would send someone to send him some silver, but it wouldn't be too much. It was naturally not a problem for him to live a rich life in the local area, but if he used it to carry out such a huge project, it would barely be enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.
Zhu Xiong rubbed his chin and thought to himself,'The most important thing now is to earn money.'
No matter which dynasty or identity, money was always a good thing.
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