She picked up the young prime minister while fleeing famine

Chapter 964 Developing maritime transport, electricity generation, and government-run schools

Banxia didn't want to challenge the imperial system for personal gain, so she simply stopped sourcing steel bars from other places. There were no steel bars available in other places, and the transportation costs for steel bars from Li County were astronomical, which directly prevented the construction of high-rise buildings in other places.

Similarly, there are naturally no elevators outside the city, because they are not needed.

However, the population of Great Yan is not yet so large that it is necessary to build high-rise buildings, so whether or not there are any is not important.

In addition, Yan Xing also saw the convenience of electric lights on the road, which made him eager to return to the capital. He wanted the streets of the capital to be as bright as day, just like those in Li County.

Seeing her older brother's naivety, Banxia silently suppressed the urge to say something. It was a good thing that her brother wanted to develop electricity and technology, and she couldn't discourage him from the start.

However, by the time the eldest brother found out how much money it would take to light so many streetlights, he had already done a lot of planning.

Since we've all put in the effort and made the plans, we certainly can't stop now; at most, we'll achieve our goals a few years later.

Anyway, she couldn't possibly dampen her older brother's enthusiasm from the very beginning.

Another half month passed, and the group returned to the capital. It just so happened that Yan Shixiong and his wife were also in the palace at that time, so the Yan family gathered together. Since they were all family members, they naturally had a happy meal.

After the meal, Yan Xing pulled Ban Xia along and took the opportunity to tell Yan Lin about Lian Chengmo's suggestion and his own idea of ​​developing the power industry.

Yan Lin highly values ​​and cultivates his son Yan Xing, so he naturally thinks whatever Yan Xing says is good. As for the need for a lot of money, he can't just stop because he doesn't have enough money.

In Yan Lin's view, everything is difficult at the beginning, but once you get started, nothing can stop you, and there's always a way to solve it.

Banxia had no idea that her uncle was so audacious, but she did offer a suggestion on how to make money.

That means opening up sea routes. Nowadays, they are blocked by the northern barbarians to the north, the desert to the west, and the undeveloped primitive area of ​​the Ten Thousand Mountains to the east.

The only way to make money is at sea. Of course, it's also possible to open trade with the Northern Barbarians and bring their gems and other valuables to exchange for gold overseas.

Solutions are always in the air, and as for money, the more the merrier!

“That is indeed a good idea. I’ve heard that some families in the south own merchant ships and bring back a lot of things from overseas to resell.”

"If we could sail out on merchant ships in the name of the imperial court, we should be able to earn a lot of money for the national treasury," Yan Xing agreed.

Now that he is the crown prince, he has much more to learn than before, and he has few opportunities to leave the capital to travel.

Therefore, he cherished this trip south to Yan, and absorbed knowledge from various places with the mindset of studying. Even something as simple as an old farmer farming was new to him and not a trivial matter.

Agriculture is no small matter for any country.

"Your Highness, you should immediately establish an office specifically to draft regulations for maritime trade. Also, while electricity and technology cannot be rushed, we can start small and expand them throughout the Great Yan region when we have the funds."

"Oh, and Lian Chengmo's suggestion about establishing official schools should be implemented as soon as possible."

"Sigh, the national treasury is still too poor." Yan Lin made his conclusion after only a short period of thought.

However, in the end, I can't help but sigh that the Great Yan was still too poor. During the Yun Kingdom's time, a large amount of treasures and gold and silver disappeared from the national treasury, which was said to have been hidden away by the last emperor of Yun.

But it's clear that over the past hundred years, the last emperor of Yun Kingdom has been making plans, and that treasure has probably been squandered by him.

The later Xia Dynasty was even worse. The previous ruler of Xia Bang was truly licentious and extremely extravagant. Xia Bang inherited a dilapidated court, not to mention the shell left behind after Xia Bang absconded with a lot of things.

In short, the country that the Yan family took over was riddled with problems, and the national treasury was so empty that it could host a sports meet for rats.

It was Yan Shixiong's ruthless and decisive actions that intimidated the court officials. Later, Yan Lin was no less capable than Yan Shixiong and almost surpassed him, which finally stabilized the court.

After Yan Xing succeeded to the throne as crown prince, and with Lian Chengmo serving as governor outside the capital and sending criminal officials to the capital every now and then, everyone was afraid of being implicated, so no one dared to take the lead or do anything.

This allowed many of Yan Lin's policies to be implemented after he took office. Those above dared not be hypocritical, and those below were even more protective of their official hats, fearing that if they did anything wrong, the elusive Governor Liancheng would wipe them all out.

Now, five years later, the national treasury is not actually empty; in fact, there is a large surplus every year after deducting various expenditures.

This is many times stronger than the Great Xia Dynasty back then, and even more prosperous than the Yun Kingdom at its most prosperous period, all thanks to the high-yield, superior seeds initially provided by Banxia.

Beyond Li County, the imperial court established over a dozen Ministry of Agriculture offices in the capital, across the southeast, northwest, and other regions.

These agricultural departments didn't have to worry about official matters; they were only responsible for recording local grain varieties, yields, climate changes, when to sow, when to fertilize, when to harvest, and under what conditions yielded the highest yields.

Of course, while recording these, we also need to study high-yield varieties, because the ultimate goal of doing these things is to increase field yields.

Even so, let alone how much money it would cost to implement the Crown Prince's idea of ​​developing electric technology, just the establishment of numerous official schools, as Lian Chengmo mentioned, is beyond the current national treasury's capacity to support.

However, we cannot simply stop running schools just because they are difficult to manage, or reduce the number of schools we can't support all the official schools at once.

If you can't build a large generator all at once, then build a smaller one.

And as for technological advancements, we'll take it slow; you can't get fat overnight.

Seeing her uncle so worried, Banxia silently kept the matter in mind.

She only stayed in Beijing for two months before heading back to Li County without stopping.

As for Lian Chengmo, he was very busy promoting official schools and has now become the Vice Minister of Rites, a second-rank official.

Although Lian Chengmo's age and the speed of his rise in rank were unprecedented, his achievements were substantial. In the past five years, in every place he visited, not only were many officials purged, but he also helped local officials and people increase their income, providing many good ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, helping people live a prosperous life.

It was already quite an achievement for Banxia to receive so many "Ten Thousand People's Umbrellas" along the way, but now, in the Liancheng Mo family, the "Ten Thousand People's Umbrellas" have filled an entire room, which shows just how much the people love him and how many practical things he has done.

However, everything in excess is harmful. Lian Chengmo had some ulterior motives. He could no longer continue to be so ostentatious, so returning to the capital was something he had planned for a long time.

Only by returning to the capital could he expand official schools to every town and prefecture below, cultivating more talents needed by the court.