Chapter 109 Grand Plan
"I will give the general three sets, including bulletproof military boots, one set for self-protection and one set that can be used to give to others. I believe that the marshals and generals in the army will not refuse." Tang Wen said.
" Lord , I will remember your favor." Jiang Xuan said solemnly.
"This set must be worth a lot, right?" Tie Wenjing asked.
"These are the equipment of the elites in the Western army. They cannot be bought outside. I also used some means to get a batch of them. Of course, good things are expensive." Tang Wen said.
"How much?" Jiang Xuan asked curiously.
Tang Wen stretched out two fingers.
"Twenty thousand taels? If you consider it to save your life, it's not expensive. A set of elite armor in our army costs several thousand taels." Jiang Xuan said.
"It's not expensive, but, alas, what a pity..." Tie Wenjing said with a greedy look on his face.
"Master Tie, come and be my senior brother, I will give you a set." Tang Wen said.
"How can I use this? It's too expensive." Although Tie Wenjing said that, his eyes were fixed on the equipment.
"Of course, of course." Tang Wen said.
"Lord Jiang, the Lord has made such a great contribution to the court, we can't let him suffer any loss, right?" Tie Wenjing said.
"Of course. The bulletproof vests and other items donated by Your Excellency are all serving the country. I will convert them into military merits and deliver them to Your Excellency. One set is worth more than 200 military merits. Are you satisfied, Your Excellency?" Jiang Xuan asked .
"I have no objection to how Lord Jiang calculates it." Tang Wen said, and thus, he obtained nearly a thousand military merits.
"Sir, I heard from Lord Tie that your Samui Island is often attacked by pirates, and it has happened three times.
How about this, you are the deputy commander of the militia in Jiangzhou Prefecture, and I will apply to the imperial foundry for a few cannons for you.
When the time comes, if the pirate ships want to attack the island, you can just bombard them." After a few bottles of wine, Jiang Xuan said.
"That's great. I'm worried about this." Tang Wen said.
"Of course, you have to pay for it yourself." Jiang Xuan said.
"Of course, of course. It would be better if we could have a few more." Tang Wen said.
"Ten doors, right?" Jiang Xuan said.
A few days later, the Wolong Lake Dam was finally completed after more than eight months of construction.
Tang Wen personally checked it several times, and after confirming that everything was correct, he issued the order to store water.
Below, when the rushing water rushed down from Chaotian Peak and headed straight for Wolong Lake, thousands of servants of the Tang family cried out in surprise and screamed.
They hugged each other, tears in their eyes, because this was the result of their joint efforts and they were filled with a sense of accomplishment.
Of course, it would take about a month to fill such a large lake with water.
In the evening, hundreds of banquet tables were set up in the camp, and Tang Wen made sure everyone drank and ate to their heart's content.
At the same time, after the once-in-a-decade low tide, the continental shelf was finally exposed, and the continental shelf connecting Koh Samui and the land was completely exposed.
Zhan Dongwen immediately sent someone to measure it and found that the water depth under the stone bridge was only about ten meters.
What surprised Tang Wen even more was that the continental shelf of White Tiger Island, three or four miles away from Koh Samui, was also exposed.
"Yiwu, Dongwen, we have to change our plan." Tang Wen said.
"Change, shouldn't the bridge be built right away? If we don't build it now, we'll have to wait a few years before construction begins." Zhan Dongwen was stunned and asked sincerely.
“It’s not that we won’t build it. We will not only build a bridge connecting Koh Samui to the mainland, but we will also start construction of a bridge connecting Koh Samui to White Tiger Island at the same time.
In this way, the two islands can be completely connected by two bridges.
From now on, it will be much more convenient to get to White Tiger Island." Tang Wen shook his head.
"White Tiger Island is full of terrible man-eating trees and man-eating plants. Even birds don't dare to shit on the island. What's the point of spending so much money to build a bridge to the island? It's such a waste." Zhan Dongwen said.
"Yes, according to your plan, the bridge is about 20 meters wide and three or four miles to White Tiger Island. It would cost several million taels of silver to build a bridge.
Add to that Koh Samui, and the two bridges together, that would be five or six million taels of silver.
Master, although you make a lot of money from selling wine and mirrors, the expenses of Jianmei are too high.
The most important thing is that it is a waste to build a useless bridge." Luo Yiwu also said.
"Yiwu, Dongwen, you two should take a long-term view.
Who said White Tiger Island is useless? What are the man-eating trees and man-eating flowers? We can get rid of them in a month with a strong weed killer.
By then, we will have to reclaim the land and cultivate it. It would be a pity if we don’t cultivate it.
Although building the bridge costs a lot in the short term, we will make a lot of money in the long run.
There is no need to discuss this matter, it has been decided.
Dongwen, you should arrange for people to take measurements immediately and officially start construction in a few days. The staff will be divided into two groups.
Our most important task in the next stage is to build the two bridges." Tang Wen said.
"We have built the road here. Although it is not wide, it is usable. However, we still have to build a road to White Tiger Island, which will cost a lot of money." Zhan Dongwen said.
“We will build it in the future. When the time is right, we will also build a highway around the island.
It will circle the entire island of Samui, and houses will be built on both sides of the ring road in the future.
Therefore, we built a section according to the plan to connect Baihu Island and Wolong Lake.
Going a step further, in the future, we will connect Baihu, Sumei and the mainland to create a huge homeland of our own." Tang Wen said.
"Master, isn't the Turtle Island on our right also exposed from the seabed?
This island is only three or four miles away from our Koh Samui, but unfortunately Turtle Island is not ours.
Otherwise, we can build three bridges together to connect the three islands, then the area of our Tang family will be added to the sea surface.
It's 200 to 300 miles from east to west and 200 miles from north to south, so it's really big." Li Quan laughed foolishly.
"You're talking without any pain in your waist. The two bridges are already too heavy and you're building a third one. Are you going to tire me to death?" Zhan Dongwen said unhappily.
"That's tens of millions of taels of silver. Where can I take it? It's almost like a dream." Luo Yiwu also said.
However, Tang Wen was shocked and said, "Yes! Li Quan, your suggestion is good."
"That's true, but where does the money come from? Even Shen Wansi, the richest man in our Great Chu, would have a headache, right?" Li Liao couldn't stand it anymore and became angry.
"Shen Wansi can certainly come up with it. It is said that his family's wealth and silver added up to be enough to rival a country, no less than hundreds of millions of taels. The king even married his princess to the Shen family, which shows how powerful the Shen family is." Dongfang Ming said.
"Is Shen Wansi really that rich?" Tang Wen was stunned.
"Of course! A few hundred million is still a small amount. It is estimated to be no less than two billion." Dongfang Mingdao.
"How much tax can our Great Chu collect in a year?" Tang Wen asked.
"Our Great Chu is vast and rich in resources, with a population of over one billion. In a good year, the annual tax revenue is estimated to be no less than 5 billion taels. Despite the famine in the past two years, the annual tax revenue must be around 30 to 40 billion taels," said Dongfang Mingdao.
It seems that the Great Chu is really rich. The annual tax revenue of the Qing Dynasty was only about 100 or 200 million taels.
Of course, this does not include taxes collected by the provincial government, and the taxes collected by Da Chu are dozens of times higher than his.
Of course, this has something to do with silver mine output.
"Actually, your idea of building the bridge is wrong." Tang Wen said.
"What's wrong with that? Building a bridge doesn't cost money?
Although the workers are all from the Tang family, the master still has to take care of their eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, medical treatment, and bathing.
The pills for practicing martial arts and the weapons you equip, which one doesn’t cost money?
Not to mention anything else, the monthly allowance alone reached tens of thousands of taels, that's all money.
In a year, the master's expenses must be several million taels." Ge Ziyun said unconvinced.
