Xu Zhenming was the official who failed to promote rice in the north, and he was also an expert on water conservancy.

After he resigned in frustration last year, he met Lin Tailai at the post station and was recruited to the south of the Yangtze River to survey water conservancy.

Last month, in order to let Xu Zhenming be appointed as the magistrate of Songjiang Prefecture, Lin Daguan had a fight with the Minister of Civil Affairs.

After entering the study, Xu Zhenming looked a little excited, "I received an order from the imperial court a while ago to serve as the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture.

Then I thought that I would wait until I met Bachelor Lin in Suzhou before taking up my post."

Lin Tailai said calmly: "Being a prefect is a small matter, but the Wusong River water conservancy is a big deal."

Xu Zhenming didn't waste any time and directly began to report his survey results in the past six months: "Although the old lower reaches of the Wusong River have been blocked for many years, it can still be dredged. It is not technically difficult, and the total construction length is about eighty miles."

"But where is the difficulty?" Lin Tailai asked proactively.

Xu Zhenming had already studied it in detail and answered without thinking: "First, excavation, dredging of rivers, and building dams will cost about three hundred thousand taels of silver at present."

Hearing this number, Lin Daguan immediately felt his liver hurt.

Judging from the current signs, there is little hope of asking the court to allocate funds, and there is no precedent. It will all be raised by oneself.

Three hundred thousand taels is really a huge sum of money for the people of this era.

Although it is said that Lin Daguan and his people are focused on sea trade, as long as sea trade is carried out, they will definitely make money; but at this stage, all we can see is dredging the river.

Investing 300,000 taels of silver to dredge the river seems to be completely cost-effective. There are very few people with such courage.

Fortunately, the three hundred thousand taels is just a converted figure. If the government recruits people to serve, it should be able to offset part of it.

Xu Zhenming continued: "Secondly, the old lower reaches of the Wusong River have been abandoned for twenty years and have been occupied and reclaimed as fields."

One mu is equal to sixty square feet. If the river is ten feet wide, the area of ​​the sixty-foot river is one mu.

The length of the eighty-mile river is equivalent to 12,000 feet. When converted, the area of ​​the eighty-mile river is equal to approximately two thousand acres of land.

Moreover, the eighty miles downstream are all in Songjiang Prefecture, and land prices are not cheap. Even if two thousand acres of land are purchased at a reasonable price, it will theoretically cost tens of thousands of taels.

Besides, the landowner may not be willing to sell, and it would be troublesome if he encounters a deadlocker.

Thinking of this, Lin Tailai asked: "The water surface of the river should belong to the government, right?

After the lower reaches of the Wusong River were abandoned, the original river course was occupied by private individuals without authorization? It is similar to hiding the fields. Over time, the people will not take action against the officials? "

Xu Zhenming, who is very knowledgeable about local affairs, replied: "That should be the case. After the river was abandoned, the landowners on both sides gradually expanded their fields to where the original river was. No one in the local area cared about this silent occupation of public land.

"

Official Lin sighed: "It seems this is the only good news.

At least in theory, the government can take back this part of the land. The time has come to test your execution ability after taking office!"

From the conversation with Xu Zhenming, Lin Daguan once again felt the difficulty and complexity of the project to dredge the lower reaches of the Wusong River, which was more difficult than his imagination to collect those famous paintings.

Moreover, this will not be effective in the short term. The basic dredging project may not be completed this year.

As for the construction of seaports and river ports, the earliest time to start sea trade is the year after tomorrow.

This is a project that spans as long as two years from start to profit. It is not easy and is full of policy risks.

No wonder no one in the Jiangnan region thought of doing this in history.

It was not until one crow two hundred and fifty years later that Wusong's eloquence on the Huangpu River was broken by the powerful ships and cannons of the foreigners.

Lin Tailai, who no one could understand, could only encourage himself to shoot without turning back. He was too anxious to eat hot tofu and took it step by step.

If you don't make some new cakes, how can you break through the existing interest pattern and integrate a new interest group around you?

A politician who does not have the support of powerful interest groups is a rootless duckweed, and will collapse completely.

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Chapter completed!