Chapter Twenty Brick Road Takes Shape

  "A humble commoner, Xu Dang, pays his respects to Your Highness." A seventeen or eighteen year old youth steps forward and performs a grand bow, falling to the ground.

  Xu Duan's eyebrows and eyes are clear and elegant, his figure is slender and weak, at first glance, he looks like a scholar.

  Since Emperor Yang Jian of Sui implemented the imperial examination system, the title of "Xiucai" gradually became popular and was both pleasant to hear and respected by others.

  "You're the young master who's good at burning bricks, and you're still sleeping in the middle of the night?" Yang Jier winked her beautiful Danfeng eyes, but her words were poisonous, directly hitting Xu Dang's sore spot.

  "In response to Gongzhu's words, it is indeed a humble commoner." Xǔ Duō said with some surprise.

  Because he fell asleep in the middle of the night over this matter, Xu Dang had already been beaten by his own father and it had spread to all the surrounding villages, which was already humiliating enough.

  Unexpectedly, even the Crown Prince and Princess Izumo have found out now. He can be sure that by tomorrow, it will all spread, and he has lost face in this great city of Daxing.

  "How many of these bricks do you have left?" Yang You asked directly, ignoring Xu Duan's embarrassed expression.

  "The common people collectively burned three kilns of bricks, but only pulled one cart. The cart broke down before they even reached Daxing, and all the bricks from the three kilns are here, at least 10,000 bricks." Xu Duang replied, speaking endlessly about burning bricks.

  "You're really bold! First time firing a kiln and you dare to open three at once." Yang You couldn't help but smile, not expecting that this Xu Dang was indeed daring.

  "I've made the Crown Prince laugh." Xǔ Duō said with his head down, even now he still didn't know what reason the Crown Prince had for calling him over, could it be just to see him make a fool of himself? The Crown Prince shouldn't have that kind of leisure time, right?

  At this time, the crowd dispersed, and Su Sheng, the county magistrate of Daxing County, ran over.

  "Your humble servant Su Sheng pays his respects to Your Highness."

  Su Sheng received the news from the yamen runners that the Crown Prince was going out of the city for an inspection, and he hastily rushed over.

  "County Magistrate Su has arrived just in time. Immediately send someone to bring over all the red bricks from the Xu family." Yang You instructed upon seeing Su Sheng arrive.

  "Yes, Your Highness."

  Su Sheng immediately responded and turned around to instruct a yamen runner to follow Xu Dang to pull bricks.

  "What is the Crown Prince doing here?" asked Su Xian, the county magistrate, who had just remembered to ask.

  "Let's repair the road." Yang You said with a faint smile.

  "But we've already fixed these roads!" Su Sheng became even more perplexed.

  This year's labor force is particularly abundant, and the official road built this time is also of the highest standard. The entire road surface has been pressed with stone rollers many times, and it can be said that even the construction of the Qin Shi Huang's expressway was not as good as this.

  "We're going to fix the brick road," Yang Jier said with a sense of pride, "just like the one under my feet, and the ones inside the city."

  "Brick road!" Su Sheng was shocked.

  He looked down at the bricks laid out under Yang Jier's feet and then gazed into the distance at the end of the road.

  "How many bricks will this take?!" Su Sheng muttered to himself.

  "Don't worry, we're using all waste bricks! These red bricks." Yang Jier was complacent, turning around in his own territory.

  "What a lot of rubbish!" Su Sheng sighed.

  In his view, these two little ancestors were really too imaginative? A brick kiln, the waste bricks pulled out every day are just a small amount, what's the use of it.

  At that time, blue bricks were still very expensive. Ordinary people's houses were still using earth blocks and didn't dare to use bricks.

  These two are really something, they actually dared to use ordinary people's reluctant-to-use bricks to pave the road.

  It can be foreseen that after today, the reputation of Crown Prince will be completely ruined. The title of Ren Wang, which was accumulated with great difficulty, will soon be drowned out by the curses of the people.

  Xu's family was unwilling to leave here, and Su Sheng sent many young and strong laborers. Just a short while later, several carts of red bricks were already pulled over.

  More people rushed to the brick truck and quickly unloaded these bricks. A steady stream of red bricks was transported over.

  Under Yang You's command, a brick was erected, and in an instant, another brick stood alongside it. Brick after brick gathered together, quickly forming a five-meter-wide brick surface that rapidly extended outward.

  The power of a single brick is very weak. Even when people perform their own strength, they often use splitting bricks to show off their strength.

  Thousands of bricks are tightly mortised together, the formed force is endless. In the Sui Dynasty without overload, the lifespan of these brick roads can be said to be long and long.

  In just one short moment, a hundred-meter-long brick road has taken shape.

  Suppressing his own excited mood, Yang You lightly stepped onto the epoch-making brick road he had built.

  Feeling the hard road under your feet, a familiar feeling arises, as if returning to the scene of building brick roads in your hometown for the first time, how joyful you were at that time.

  As he thought about it, a happy feeling appeared on his face. For Yang You, this was not just a brick road, but a kind of nostalgia for his hometown, and a mark of his afterlife.

  "This..."

  Su Sheng looked at the densely packed bricks under his feet, and his heart ached with blood. After seeing the suffering of many refugees, Su Sheng thought that anything valuable could be exchanged for food for the refugees.

  But seeing Yang You's happy expression on his face, he couldn't bring himself to say a word of advice.

  In his view, a thirteen-year-old boy could already do this well enough, so why should he demand more of himself? Besides, these were just waste bricks.

  "Reporting to Your Highness, the waste bricks have been used up." Xǔ Duó came forward with some trepidation.

  "Is it all gone?"

  Yang You looked at the brick road in front of him, which was less than a mile away, and fell into deep thought.

  "If it were just this less-than-500-meter brick road, it would be of no value at all. I estimate that by tomorrow, I will receive the advice of the ministers, saying that I am greedy and ignorant." Yang You thought to himself.

  Is fixing the road good or bad? This question is not controversial. To get rich, fix the roads first. Such slogans have already deeply penetrated Yang's bones.

  Since it's good, why don't you insist on it yourself?

  "Yang You, these brick roads are really good. If the whole country were like this, we could go wherever we want without getting our feet dirty." Yang Jier said with a smile.

  "Alright, then let's make it even bigger." Yang You instantly made up his mind. Since he had already done it, he might as well do it big and shock the whole nation.

  Xu Dang

  "Grass Mud Horse in"

  "Bring over all the green bricks stored at your house immediately and continue paving the road." Yang You ordered.

  "Yes."

  Xu Dang responded with a "yes" and immediately went back to continue pulling bricks.

  Dong Yue

  "I am at your service."

  "Immediately send someone to buy all the bricks in Daxing City and transport them here." Yang You gave Dong Yue another order.

  Dong Yue responded with a sound and ordered several guards to ride horses and rush towards Daxing.

  He himself continued to stay by Yang You's side, guarding Yang You's safety. Now that there were many refugees, the chances of something happening had greatly increased, and he would be even more careful.