The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 594: Official Mind and Human Nature

Building a railway on the Kunlun Mountains.

When everyone present heard Dong Zhao's words, the corners of their mouths twitched slightly.

But I really dare to think so.

The Kunlun Mountains that Dong Zhao referred to refer to the general term for the roof of the world.

"The Kunlun Mountains are too high. It's difficult to build roads, let alone railways?" Zhang Zhao questioned.

"It is indeed difficult, but it is necessary." Dong Zhao said without hesitation.

"The whole world belongs to the king. Sindhu and Kushan will be under the control of the Great Qi in the future. Can we ignore the Kunlun Mountains between the Central Plains and these two places?"

"Building a railway is only temporary. We will extend it in the future and build more."

"After all, who knows if Sindhu and Kushan will have problems in the future? If they cut off the Hexi Corridor and the sea route, are we going to give up these two places?"

"Besides, it's not cost-effective to keep taking a detour. It would be most appropriate to open a road directly from Kunlun Mountain."

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but nod slightly after thinking about it carefully.

What Dong Zhao said may sound like a fantasy at first, but upon careful consideration, it is indeed true.

The Kunlun Mountains are dangerous and difficult to cross.

Otherwise, the Central Plains would not have had so few conflicts with neighboring areas such as Sindhu and Kushan.

There was indeed no need to take over such a bitter and cold land in the past, but now Da Qi urgently needs it.

Not just to fill a gap.

Moreover, if they control the Kunlun Mountains and build a railway, they will have a huge advantage in terrain if problems arise with the Kushans and Sindhu in the future.

"Building a railway on the Kunlun Mountains is too difficult and costly, and the technical requirements are too high. We need to think carefully about it." Chen Gong frowned.

Dong Zhao nodded: "That's true. This matter cannot be rushed, but it must be put on the agenda."

"In addition, there is the development of the south. The development of Zhuyazhou and Yizhou must also be accelerated. The center of the navy needs to be moved to the southwest."

"At least we need to build Yizhou's road to the mouth of the Ganges River, add two more railways, and even better, water routes, and build a few more ports to facilitate the garrison."

"The northern land of Saibei..."

Unlike Chen Gong who focused more on internal affairs, Dong Zhao, who was more inclined to consolidate central power, took the overall situation into consideration and paid more attention to the development and control of border areas.

Although it seems to be an understatement, countless huge projects have been launched.

However, Dong Zhao's opening was just an introduction.

After he roughly expressed his views, Guo Yuan immediately stood up.

"The Central Plains will be peaceful, the water network will be laid, and some water conservancy facilities will also need to be expanded and improved. In addition, there are the construction of reservoirs, the planting of special trees required by some factories, soil and water conservation on both sides of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, and large-scale water conservancy facilities..."

Jia Xu continued: "Post stations and post roads in various places..."

The twelve government departments were examined one by one.

Chen Gong, who was originally quite high-spirited, became increasingly solemn as everyone spoke.

When everyone revealed their plans, Chen Gong felt his temples throbbing.

If these projects were launched at the same time, not to mention 30 million slaves, even if we tripled the manpower, we would still not be able to cope with the situation.

Although everyone had good reasons and said they could take it slow, the emphasis on the importance of their respective projects and the suggestion to start as early as possible showed their practical thinking.

"After the meeting, report your respective project budgets and manpower requirements, and the Ministry of Revenue will then coordinate as a whole." Chen Gong said with a dark face.

"Remember, if you want real needs, you must carefully review them and don't give me any false information! Otherwise, I will definitely hold His Majesty accountable for this matter."

Asking for exorbitant prices and paying back cheaply is not only the case among merchants, but also in the court. Chen Gong is very clear about the methods of these people.

For a project worth 10 million yuan, they dared to report a budget of 30 million yuan. Then, while working on it, they found that the budget was not enough, but they could not put the half-finished project on hold, so they added another 20 million yuan.

Little did they know that Jia Xu and others were also familiar with the various tribes and Chen Gong.

The Ministry of Finance always cuts the budget by half after submitting a project application, and then does a detailed calculation to reduce the budget as much as possible.

Other departments all overpriced their quotes, and if they really quoted honestly, they would definitely suffer losses in the end.

This kind of thing is bound to happen under any circumstances. No matter how rich the Ministry of Finance is, it will never be enough.

There are too many places in the world where you need to spend money.

The Twelve Government Departments seem to have a single task and do not involve many things. However, no matter how small the matter is, when it reaches the level of millions or even tens of millions of people, its nature changes.

There are so many things they need to do and can do.

Moreover, as the official assessment and promotion system continues to improve and is linked to political performance, the competition for resources among them has become more severe.

There are officials who focus on doing practical work and do not care about political achievements, but they are very few.

There is no official who does not have ambitions. It is understandable to want to make progress. However, if you are too eager for progress, you will go astray.

Being content with the status quo will also lead to mediocrity, or even collapse.

The key between the two lies in the degree. There is never a distinction between right or wrong, good or bad.

Even Tian Ze would find it difficult to stop this trend.

Power comes from the top down, but it also comes from the bottom up.

The higher the position, the more you need to know how to use people and understand human nature, otherwise you will only feel powerless.

The data that Dong Zhao and others saw were reported up step by step from the lower levels. Everyone wanted to get a little more within a reasonable range, but as the numbers piled up, many things became distorted.

This is just like spreading gossip.

A wounded finger is said to be broken, a broken finger is said to be a broken palm, a broken palm is said to be a broken arm, a broken arm is said to be half-life gone, half-life gone is said to be death...

Given today's communications level and the quality of officials, if the ministers of various ministries do not personally verify the reductions, many of the funding applications submitted will appear to be very superficial.

After all, no one would complain that the money they applied for is too much, as there are so many places where the money needs to be spent.

It costs 100,000 yuan to build a road in the village, but they directly quoted 500,000 yuan.

The five hundred thousand yuan was reduced to three hundred thousand yuan, and the road was built to twice its width, and some corners and dilapidated houses in the village were tidied up.

He was not corrupt and had gained benefits for the people. He was praised by the people and had political achievements. It would be a natural thing for him to be promoted in the future.

Tian Ze has seen too many things like this during his field research.

There are also all kinds of empty promises, frauds and deceptions, using resources from superiors, surrounding areas, businessmen and other parties to develop people's livelihood.

In the eyes of the people, this is a capable official and a good official.

But from the perspective of the court as a whole, this undoubtedly disrupted the overall plan and was unreasonable and unfair.

All "cleverly seized" resources are essentially taking food from other people's bowls by unfair means.

Not to mention the corrupt officials who manipulate the situation, the stubborn officials who only care about improving the people's livelihood and ignore the long-term, and the radical officials who are eager for quick success and instant benefits without considering the consequences...

Chen Gong and others were well aware of this, but they were powerless.

Because this is human nature. There are not so many perfect people in the world. Everyone has flaws, and officials are even more so.

Those who are good at development will always ignore people's livelihood, those who focus on people's livelihood will always develop slowly, and those who take all aspects into consideration are mediocre.

(End of this chapter)