We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

With cement, we have the money to build roads, and all problems will be solved.

Li Che is a man of action. He is not used to over-planning. He does things first and then thinks about them. When there are difficulties, he will find ways to solve them.

He immediately organized a construction team and mobilized 50,000 workers to participate in the road construction project.

Among them, less than 20,000 were civilians who were off-duty from farming, and the other 30,000 were war criminals from Goryeo and Khitan.

The people did have wages, although not much, but it could supplement their family income during the slack season.

The treatment of the war criminals was not so good. They were only provided with two meals a day, and were promised to be promoted to a higher level of nobility after they completed the road construction.

Even so, the war criminals were happy to do so because they saw the benefits of Gao Minjue.

After most of the workers were gathered, Li Che began to plan the route.

The first section of road to be built was from Chaoyang City to Shanhaiguan, a total distance of about 300 miles.

The reason for building this road was to facilitate the entry and exit of caravans to Shanhaiguan.

Li Che personally led the officials of the Gongzheng Institute to conduct an on-site survey of the topography and landforms, and determined a fifty-mile section for the first phase of the project.

"Your Highness, do you really want to build a road ten meters wide?" Liu Ye looked at Li Che in surprise.

"That's right, build it ten feet wide." Li Che replied, "And it needs to be widened appropriately at traffic intersections to avoid congestion."

Liu Ye looked conflicted.

Originally, he was in charge of the planning of Chaoyang City. Now that Chaoyang City is on the right track and the city planning is not so urgent, Li Che pulled him into the road construction team.

He was originally quite happy. After all, building roads and bridges are great undertakings that accumulate merits and can be considered as accumulating blessings for future generations.

But unexpectedly, on the first day, I was scared to death by Li Che's plan.

Ten zhang wide! The main road in the imperial capital is only twelve zhang wide!

This is just a road connecting two places. Why build it so wide? It's almost as wide as the emperor's highway!

Seeing Liu Ye's face twisted in confusion, Li Che began to explain, "You have to understand that this road is not only for caravans, but also for the army."

"Besides, most of the troops deployed outside the Great Wall are cavalry. In the future, there will undoubtedly be a large number of cavalry running along this road. Why not make it wider?"

Li Che had already made plans for the width of the road.

In ancient times, one zhang was 3.33 meters, and ten zhang was thirty-three meters wide.

This number sounds big, but it is not small at all.

Even in modern times, most roads are not so wide. The main traffic arteries in cities are generally six or eight lanes in both directions, and the width of each lane is about 3.5 meters.

But Li Che's attitude was very firm, because roads would not be used for only three to five years, but for decades or even hundreds of years.

Now we are trying to be lazy and narrow it. If there is a war in the future and the cavalry cannot run on it, it will be too late to regret it.

After all, being able to accommodate two riders walking side by side is completely different from more than ten riders walking side by side.

Seeing that Li Che was determined to build a long road, Liu Ye had no choice but to sigh and say, "Of the 50,000 workers, at least 20,000 must be assigned to make cement, and the rest can be used to build the road."

"If Your Highness wants to build it this wide, the construction period will be infinitely slowed down."

Li Che smiled and said, "Good things come to those who wait. Let's continue with the repairs. If we run out of manpower, I will lead troops to Korea and Khitan to ask for help."

Hearing this, Liu Ye remained silent.

Are you inviting me? Are you capturing me?

The planning of the fifty-mile road was completed, and Wang Liu also brought good news that the gypsum mine was found.

With the help of gypsum, the speed of cement solidification can be greatly increased, and the road construction project officially began.

A large number of laborers walked out of Chaoyang City. The Ninggu Army soldiers were fully armed to maintain order. Sheds and tents were set up on both sides of the road to accommodate the workers.

If you come to build a road, don't even think about going home. Not only will the trip back and forth waste time, but the cement also needs to be made on site.

The work done by the people was relatively light. They were only responsible for drawing lines with lime powder, making cement, and clearing lighter debris from the roads.

The war criminals were responsible for doing heavy work, such as moving stones, cement, and filling pits. If they were lazy, they would be whipped.

Tens of thousands of workers stretched out in a line stretching several miles to carry out segmented operations.

Women and children formed teams to bring food and water from the city to the construction site.

Perhaps because they were unskilled at work, 50,000 people only built three miles of road on the first day.

The next day, four miles.

On the third day, it was increased to five miles.

Five miles is already the limit. After all, without modern mechanical equipment, it is difficult to speed up relying solely on manpower.

In the next few days, the road construction distance was basically around five miles.

Wang Xi was from the Astronomical Bureau. After observing the celestial phenomena, he concluded that there would be no rain for nearly half a month. As he said, not only was there no rain in the past few days, but the temperature was also very high.

The hot temperature accelerated the solidification of the cement, and on the fifth day, the section of road built on the first day had solidified.

Li Che looked at the gray road in front of him. The familiar industrial style almost made him cry.

Finally, something from the previous life has materialized in this world, which can be regarded as leaving a trace of myself in this world.

"Bring the horse!"

Li Che took the reins from his personal guard, jumped on the horse, and excitedly drove the horse towards the cement road.

Dadada, dadada—

The horseshoes made a crisp sound when they touched the concrete ground, but Li Che on the horse hardly felt any major bumps.

The officials following Li Che were amazed.

The cement road was as flat as a mirror, with a smooth and solid surface, which was in stark contrast to the muddy paths and rugged mountain roads they had walked before.

There is no more dust flying under their feet, and there is no need to worry about the bumpy road surface tripping them. Riding on horseback is no different from walking.

"Incredible!" Zhuge Zhe exclaimed, pulling on the reins. "This road is made entirely by nature. There's not a single bump on it. It doesn't seem like it was made by human hands."

Huo Duanxiao echoed, "If the army marched on this kind of road, wouldn't they be able to cover over a hundred miles a day?"

"It's more than a hundred miles." Wang Hu, who was born into a cavalry family, sighed, "If all the troops were cavalry, two hundred miles would be no problem."

Hearing everyone's sighs, Li Che smiled slightly.

He looked up and saw the cement road winding like a silver ribbon and disappearing into the distant mountains.

What is this? Currently, this road only leads to Shanhaiguan, which is totally inadequate.

I want to build this cement road longer and longer, until it reaches Liaoyang City, Changbai Mountain, and Daxinganling Mountains!

Even one day in the future, we can go all the way south and reach the imperial capital!

Connect every city in Daqing with roads, and change the saying "all roads lead to Rome" to "all roads lead to Fengguo"!

. . . . . .

"This damn road is so difficult to walk on!"

Du He looked unhappy and felt that his clothes inside the armor were wet.

The soldiers around were wearing heavy armor, walking with heavy steps, their faces full of fatigue and impatience.

The sky was gloomy and covered with dark clouds, and the humidity in the air was almost substantial.

The refugees followed closely behind the soldiers. They carried simple luggage, held children in their arms, and held the elderly hands. The line was very long.

Compared with the soldiers, the refugees in the team were not bound by armor and felt much more relaxed.

However, the days of traveling were still too much for these people who had already left their homes, and people fell into the mud from time to time.

Du He took a look and didn't care much, but he became more and more dissatisfied with King Feng.

He was the son of the Left Prime Minister and the top playboy in the capital, but he had such an unfortunate job as to send refugees to Feng State.

To make matters worse, it happened to be the rainy season, and the originally flat road became bumpy, with puddles and mud pits everywhere.

Horses and vehicles struggled in the mud, neighing from time to time, and even lifting their legs became difficult.

The deputy general rode forward with difficulty, came to Du He's side, and asked carefully:

"Sir, the road is really difficult to travel. Looking at the clouds, it seems like it's going to rain again. Why don't we go to the county town ahead to rest for a night before continuing on?"

Du He glanced at him and said dissatisfiedly, "Your Majesty ordered us to reach the border within two months. Now a month has passed, and we are still dithering. How can we arrive on time?"

"Don't worry, sir. According to Daqing law, those who miss the deadline due to natural disasters such as heavy rain, landslides, and earth dragons will not be punished."

Du He rolled his eyes. He knew he was innocent, but this was the first time His Majesty had given him a task, so he had to do it well.

Just looking at the crooked team, Du He knew in his heart that if he forced himself to move forward, he would not be able to go far.

After a slight hesitation, he nodded and agreed to the deputy general's request.

The county town ahead was a remote small county with dilapidated city walls and wide-open city gates.

Perhaps he had learned about the arrival of the team in advance, so the magistrate, wearing his official uniform full of patches, was waiting at the city gate early.

"See you, sir."

"Yeah." Du He didn't even look at him, but frowned and looked at the county town in front of him.

Perhaps due to the influence of the rainy season, floods also occurred in the city, and a large number of houses were washed away. Many people could only sleep on the ground outside their houses.

Du He suddenly felt even more unhappy. He thought he could have a good rest, but he didn't expect to come to a poor county.

When the magistrate saw that the official was so young, he not only did not feel neglectful, but became even more apprehensive and respectful.

He held such a high position before the age of 30, and led tens of thousands of refugees on their migration...

This person is either a close confidant of His Majesty or has powerful connections.

The magistrate thought of this and said quickly, "I have already asked someone to prepare a banquet. Please come into the government office and rest."

Du He nodded and rode towards the gate, leaving his deputy general alone to settle the refugees.

"Sir, there are too many refugees. Our county has no more capacity. It is really..." The magistrate looked embarrassed.

Du He said impatiently, "Don't worry about them. Just go find them a place to stay. We'll leave tomorrow."

"Okay, okay." The magistrate breathed a sigh of relief.

Let’s not talk about Du He entering the government office to take a bath, change clothes, and enjoy the hard-earned wine and meat.

However, 50,000 refugees entered the county town, making the already small city even more crowded.

When the original residents of the county town saw so many people, they thought they were fleeing famine and they all looked alert.

But after getting in touch with them, I realized that they were refugees preparing to go north, and I felt relieved.

Someone asked curiously, "I heard that the north is already barren and has been hit by disasters everywhere this year. Where is the court sending you?"

"I heard that they are going to Feng State and asked us to seek refuge with King Feng." A refugee who knew the situation replied.

"Feng Wang?!" the commoner asked excitedly, "But that Feng Wang who defeated Goryeo and defeated 140,000 Khitan wolf cavalry with only 40,000 men?"

The refugee nodded. "Of course. Isn't there only one Feng Wang in Daqing?"

Envy flashed in the eyes of the common people, and then they asked in confusion, "But I heard that King Feng's fiefdom is outside the Great Wall. Can such a bitter cold place support so many people?"

The refugee said, "Who knows? But the King of Feng just won a battle. If Feng was really so poor, how could it have defeated the Khitans?"

"That's true."

The people murmured, rolled their eyes, and seemed to be thinking about something.

At midnight, when everyone was fast asleep, two figures, one big and one small, quietly entered the refugee group.

"Dad, why should we leave?"

"Hush! Keep your voice down!" The man covered his son's mouth. "If you stay here, you'll starve to death sooner or later. That Prince Feng is a capable man. If he follows them north, maybe he can survive."

The father and son lay down among the refugees, their hearts pounding.

Although the laws in Daqing were not as strict, they absolutely prohibited the people from migrating on their own.

If I get caught, I might get beaten with a couple of boards and do hard labor for a few days, but what about my son?

Just then, there was a sudden noise from the corner of the street.

The father stood up vigilantly and looked, only to see another figure joining the refugee group and heading straight towards him.

He thought they were police officers and was so frightened that he was about to stand up and run away.

Taking a look in the moonlight, he suddenly felt that the person in front of him looked familiar: "Old Yang?"

"Lao Liang?" the man was also surprised.

The man felt relieved when he saw that the person coming was his neighbor, and then he nervously pulled him over:

"Are you... planning to sneak in and head north as well?"

"Yes." Lao Liang's face was sad. "My mother died of starvation a few days ago. I am alone and have no one to rely on. I might as well go to Fengguo to seek a way out."

Old Yang breathed a sigh of relief: "If that's the case, don't make it public. You and I will sneak out early tomorrow morning."

The two of them found a corner to sit down, looking at the moon anxiously, waiting for dawn.

Suddenly, there was a faint sound of footsteps at the corner of the street.

"Old Zhao?"

"Old Yang? Old Liang?"

"Are you going to Fengguo too?"

"Yes, it's been raining non-stop. We're going to have no harvest this year. We might as well go north and try our luck."

Another moment passed.

"Old Li?"

"Old Zhao? Old Yang? Old Liang?"

"Old Sun?"

"Old Li? Old Zhao? Old Yang? Old Liang?"

......

The next day, it was bright.

After having a good meal and a good night's sleep, Du He walked out of the government office yawning. He ignored the flattery of the county magistrate and rode straight out of the city.

The deputy general led his soldiers and urged the refugees to continue on their journey.

"Get up, everyone get up!"

"Pack your things and leave the city in order!"

The refugees were driven out of the city like cattle and horses.

Du He was too lazy to bother with such trivial matters and just rode forward on his horse.

Suddenly, he looked at the group of refugees in surprise and looked around with some confusion.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion or what, but I always feel that there seem to be more refugees today than yesterday?