"Ah, is that so?"
Gong Yi Mo's eyes shone with interest. Her attention drifted away from the game and she excitedly joined in their gossip.
"It's usually that way right?" Xu Yuan continued his analysis, "In the past, the royal prince protected you like a precious pearl without letting anyone else take a peek. Now it's as if he's allowing us a free pass."
Upon hearing his reasoning, Gong Yi Mo touched her chin and thoughtfully said, "Does this mean I've fallen out of favor?"
Li Ke, who was originally immersed in his book, looked over to their enthusiastic discussion and said with a sigh, "Princess, perhaps you're overreacting. How could the royal prince not care about you?"
However, Xu Yuan was still unconvinced. "But it's true..."
Gong Yi Mo shrugged without a care and said, "Okay okay, let's not talk about these useless matters. This game has become tiring; instead let's discuss some proper business!"
When she said 'proper business' all of them gathered with serious expressions.
Gong Yi Mo explained, "For this trip, we will first be heading towards Star City From that city, we will travel along the Yangzte River all the way up to the Yulong Canal and inspect the waterway's condition during our travels.
Li Ke gave her words some thought and said, "Most of the inland reaches of Yulong River is blocked. Clearing up its obstacles will require a lot of time and manpower."
"That's why there are a few things that I will require..."
Gong Yi Mo's eyes shone with eagerness. She whispered something to their ears, but all of them simply gave her strange looks after hearing what she had to say.
"What are you looking at?" Gong Yi Mo said fiercely. "When we reach our next destination, all of you must go and procure these materials. Remember, bring as much as possible!"
This time the little fatty raised his hand and asked, "To get those materials, don't we need money?"
Gong Yi Mo replied with an evil laugh, "Money...didn't you guys just win a lot of it?"
Seeing the youth's unwilling stares, Gong Yi Mo glared back as fiercely as a wolf!
"Enough of with the haggling. If you wanted me to assign another method of paying for it, hehe...you guys wouldn't want to experience it."
As such, the carriages continued forward along the waterway and would stop once in a while to collect data. It took about a month's time to finally reach Xing City.
The governor of Xing City received news of their upcoming arrival early that morning, so he gathered a group of people to travel ahead and welcome the crown prince. When the exhausted fleet arrived at the city, they were ushered into their guest rooms to rest, while Gong Che stayed up alone to manage arrangements.
The following day, Gong Yi Mo woke up early.
She ordered her men to transport the materials she had ordered to her courtyard. Afterwards, she locked the gate and started to get to work!
How can I quickly clear up the canals and rivers?...Gong Yi Mo didn't have the technology to build an excavator, so she would have to use the simplest method, which was also the most violent way to clear up the blockages-blow it up!
Meanwhile, Gong Che was holding a discussion with the Governor.
"The section of the Yulong Canal that runs along Xing City is tens of kilometers long but the riverbed is significantly raised due to its many obstructions. Hence, I would like to hire civilians to assist in widening the river."
The governor's eyes brightened and he said excitedly, "Since Your Majesty is working by orders of an imperial decree, why not just announce for a conscription of labor?" Conscripted laborers don't require payment and each common household will have to send at least one person to represent their family, as opposed to hiring civilian workers who need to be paid. The governor believed that widening the river would require hundreds and thousands of workers and a long amount of time to complete the project.
Gong Che smiled and replied, "I don't need that many people; as long as they're strong and able-bodied, I will pay each of them twenty wen apiece for half a day's work.
Twenty wen was no small amount. A normal sized household would earn between 10 to 20 wen for a day's work. And how much was he paying for half a day?
Looks like the emperor has allocated quite a sum of money to him...
The governor's eyes seemed to roll back from shock.