Chapter 897: Dilemma

"Zhou Xiaoer, you are the only son in your family. Work hard and be filial to your parents." As Zhao Xu stepped out the door, he patted Zhou Xiaoer on the shoulder.

Zhou Xiaoer was completely stunned.

He had forgotten to bring his work badge when he went to the Weaving Mill today.

He never expected to see this scene the moment he returned.

He had thought something had happened at home and someone was giving his mother trouble.

Just as he was about to fight with his life, he never imagined it would be Yan Wang arriving at his home to inspect the living conditions of the people.

"Yes," Zhou Xiaoer replied blankly.

Zhao Xu smiled, left the alley with his guards, and went on to visit other residential areas.

"Yan Wang is truly an easygoing person. Having him guard the Great Song is truly a blessing cultivated by the Song People." Zhou Shi looked toward the alley entrance, still savoring the time spent chatting with Yan Wang just now.

This was enough for her to brag to her neighbors about for a lifetime.

Hearing this, Zhou Xiaoer touched his own shoulder and began to giggle foolishly again.

Departing from Zhou Xiaoer's home.

Zhao Xu picked a village at random and rode off with Xu Lie and the others.

For the commoners who have long resided in Yancheng, the improvement in their living conditions is beyond doubt.

Whether in ancient times or modern times, resources are always concentrated in cities first.

This is a law of nature, and even Zhao Xu cannot avoid it.

But even so, he does not want to leave behind the villagers who make up the largest number of people in the Great Song.

On the road to prosperity and strength for the Great Song, not a single person can be left behind.

And to solve this problem, one must ultimately rely on development and technological progress.

"Your Highness, this is Machang Village." After traveling twenty li to the west, Zhao Xu and Xu Lie arrived at a village.

This village had only one hundred households.

Because everyone in the village was familiar with each other, the appearance of a group of strangers naturally startled the Village Head and the security chief.

However, the Village Head and the security chief clearly recognized Zhao Xu.

Taken aback,

they immediately came forward to greet him.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Zhao Xu stated that he had come to inspect the living conditions of the people.

He then had the Village Head and the security chief follow him to understand the villagers one by one.

This was to prevent them from secretly going to tip off other villagers and covering up certain problems.

However, it seemed he was being a bit overly cautious.

Both the Village Head and the security chief seemed to be open and aboveboard.

"Whose house is this? They are living well, to have built such a large red-tiled house." Zhao Xu smiled; he had noticed it as soon as he entered the village.

The Village Head, Sun Dongxu, was all smiles. "This is the home of the brothers Wang Qiao and Wang En. They are five siblings; they used to be the poorest family in the village, but now they have the most impressive house in the village."

"Wang Qiao?" Zhao Xu could not help but smile.

He had heard this name mentioned by Qin Shan; both of these brothers were fellows who fought without regard for their lives.

Understanding this, he realized why.

The military pay for soldiers was already generous, and during this period, they had also received quite a few bonuses from the spoils of war.

It stood to reason that they could afford to build a spacious red-brick house.

Moreover, he was happy to see the lives of his soldiers' families flourishing.

Otherwise, how could he justify the sacrifices of those fighting on the front lines?

However, Wang Qiao's house was currently locked tight, so he went to the next one.

The Village Head explained from the side.

Wang Qiao's parents had gone to visit their daughter who had married into the city.

"Whose house is this? This red-tiled house is also quite impressive." Less than ten meters away from Wang Qiao's house was another newly built red-tiled house.

Like Wang Qiao's house, there was a vegetable garden enclosed by a fence in front of the red-tiled house.

Facing the courtyard was a row of red-tiled rooms, with two red-tiled wing rooms on the east and west sides, and the courtyard was paved with cement.

"Replying to Your Highness, this is the home of Fang Yulong," the Village Head said. "Both Wang Qiao's house and his house were built in accordance with the planning of the Government Office, and the style was also built by referring to the blueprints provided by the Government Office."

Zhao Xu revealed a satisfied smile.

This was a requirement he had set for Liu Fu.

Whether it was construction in the village or in the city, there had to be a plan.

Houses could not be built willfully, one here and one there.

This would not only lack aesthetic appeal but would also affect the installation of other facilities in the village in the future.

Therefore, he had personally drawn up the layout plans and ordered the Government Office to execute them.

In his plan, spacious main roads were to be reserved in the village.

Houses were to be built along the roads, aligned horizontally and vertically, with at least a ten-meter gap between each household.

As for the residential courtyard, a vegetable garden enclosed by a fence had to be left in the front, with pigsties and chicken coops built on the side of the garden.

Every household was responsible for the hygiene in the vicinity of their own courtyard.

In this way, if the whole village were built like this, it would appear neat, uniform, clean, and beautiful.

However, given the current level of development of the Great Song.

The commoners could only build red-tiled houses for now.

But as the Great Song becomes increasingly prosperous, in the future, when this batch of red-tiled houses is torn down, they will be able to build small villas one after another.

"This Fang Yulong is also remarkable, his courage is very great; this year he borrowed money from the bank, purchased a dye patent, and subsequently made a fortune. He even bought a residence in Yancheng; the house here is where his father, mother, younger brother, and younger sister live," the Village Head said.

Zhao Xu walked inside with the others.

In the courtyard, an old man and an old woman were splitting firewood.

The Village Head immediately introduced Zhao Xu's identity to the two of them.

The two were immediately astonished and hurriedly offered Zhao Xu a seat.

Zhao Xu looked around and discovered that Fang Yulong's family was indeed very wealthy.

The family had acquired many things; porcelain, mahogany tables and chairs, and the like were all present.

Inside the room, there were even some paintings and calligraphy hanging.

"Yu Niu and Yu Shu have both gone to the Public School to study. Yulong said he has passed the age for schooling and cannot let his younger brother and younger sister miss out," after learning the purpose of Zhao Xu's visit, Fang Yulong's parents introduced their family's situation, their faces full of pride.

Zhao Xu nodded frequently; this was a microcosm of Yanzhou's current development.

Some people joined the army and won honor, as well as money.

Some people rode the east wind of trade and became rich overnight.

The appearance of the Public School made families with extra money send their children to study one after another.

Although during this period, the flames of war were flying in Jiangnan.

The changes in Jiangbei were changing with each passing day.

After chatting with the two for a while, Zhao Xu went to other households.

Currently, of the one hundred households in the village, half had built red-tiled houses, while the other half still lived in thatched cottages.

Among these families, some had members in the army, some had become officials through the Official Examination, and more were those who farmed a plot of land at home while also going to work in the city's Workshop.

As for the rest, the reasons were many.

But the main one was that they could not find work in Yancheng and did not know how to manage a business, so they could only rely on their family's meager fields.

Although their lives had also been greatly improved, and they had no worries about food or clothing.

Compared to others, they had been left far behind.

And this was the true situation Zhao Xu wanted to understand on this trip to the countryside.

"To solve this problem, we must create more positions," Zhao Xu said; this problem would be solved through the natural development of industry.

However, even in the modern era, only a portion was solved, not all of it.

He believed that to keep the countryside from falling back into the cycle of history, farmers must be able to become wealthy solely by farming.

And to achieve this goal, one must destroy the small-scale peasant economy and catalyze the birth of small and medium-sized farms with the family as the unit.

Realizing the transformation from farmers to agricultural merchants.

Currently, the Great Song population is only eighty million; it can be said there are many people and vast land, so this is completely fine.

The only problem is that so much land cannot be managed by human labor alone; it requires mechanized production.

Therefore, he needs machinery powered by the Internal Combustion Engine.

In this way, this blueprint is not far off.