Chapter 291 The Disdained Mr. Shi

Xu Zhenying continued, "The blueprints for the firearms are worth a million, and the blueprints for the ten-arrow crossbow must be worth at least several hundred thousand taels. I just wonder if King Ming has enough money in his pocket... Oh, right... we have to treat everyone equally. King Ming in the east should get some, King Zhoushan in the west should get some, and the Great Zhou Dynasty should get some too. That way, wouldn't our officials have enough to pay their salaries for the next three or four years?"

These words opened the minds of everyone in the room!

Pang Xiaohua then asked, "Your Highness, aren't you afraid that they might learn our crossbows and use them against us?"

Xu Zhenying laughed, "Didn't the research institute just release a new crossbow capable of infinite bursts? Since this weapon is almost obsolete, we naturally need to maximize its usefulness."

Everyone was stunned. How could they do this?!

Xu Zhenying looked up at them and said seriously, "Reselling arms is a lucrative business. Let's find a few people with reliable fake identities to specialize in reselling the unwanted items from Jinzhou Prefecture. Once the firearms continue to improve, we can also sell them the blueprints for the old ones."

Everyone was terrified, because this time they were not talking about crossbows, but firearms!

This is the signature weapon of their Jinzhou Prefecture!

As if anticipating their attempt to stop him, Xu Zhenying raised his hand to interrupt them. "There's no point in saying more. No matter how well we hide our weapons, they'll find their way through. It's unrealistic to expect to keep our firearms forever. Besides, even if we give them the blueprints, they won't be able to manufacture them. Ultimately, they'll have to buy the raw materials from us. Ultimately, as long as they don't develop industry, popularize education, and learn our chemistry and math, they'll eventually be ripped off by us."

Everyone looked thoughtful.

Some people even think that Xu Zhenying's words are a subversive idea.

As expected, His Highness's thinking was extremely imaginative, and prisoners like them could hardly compare to him.

"Oh, and about those glass beads, have the people at the research institute control production, producing only a dozen or so per year. Scarcity makes things valuable; if there are too many, they lose their value. Once they're finished, have the Propaganda Department come up with something catchy and give them a new name. Maybe something like 'Beads Blessed by the Buddha,' and then send them to Jiangsu and Zhejiang through our trade routes. The people there are rich and ignorant, and we'll make the corrupt officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty bleed for us."

Qu Min added, "This way, it's like the rich people of the Great Zhou Dynasty supporting our common people, killing two birds with one stone."

"That's right. Let the people at the research institute use their brains and assign a special group to produce those flashy things, such as glass beads and pocket watches, specifically for the wealthy and officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty. We will earn their money and use their money to support our own court."

Everyone was horrified when they heard this, thinking that His Highness was indeed worthy of being called the Highness, as he could actually think so far ahead that he even spared no effort to seize the wallets of the enemy camp!

It's really tricky!

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In a blink of an eye, it is another year of warm weather and blooming flowers.

The war in the east took a short break. The two sides fought for half a year. At the beginning, King Ming's troops were still vigorous and high-spirited. With 100,000 soldiers, they vowed to take back the lost city.

But Jinzhou Prefecture directly used ten firearms, and there were more than ten consecutive "bang bang bang" sounds. The city walls were blown up, and countless soldiers died in the smoke and fire. Their lofty ambitions were also shattered.

Half a year passed and they had not made any progress, while the people of Jiangling Prefecture seemed determined not to expand outward. The strategy of Jiang Yongkang and others was to defend and not attack.

The two sides have been in a state of tension in Jiangling Prefecture.

But now, for some reason, the soldiers on Ming Wang's side seemed to be tired from the firearms, or they were discussing tactics. The two sides have not fought for a month or two.

During the Spring Festival of that year, Jiangling Prefecture was unusually peaceful.

It wasn't long since Jiangling Prefecture was incorporated into Xu Zhenying's command, just over a year. However, in just one year, the people felt that their lives had changed dramatically.

In the first year, the people only knew that many people came from Jinzhou Prefecture!

County magistrates, propagandists, village chiefs, technicians, and researchers all swarmed into Jiangling Prefecture.

The local people of Jiangling Prefecture had never seen such a grand scene in their lives. Facing so many officials, they were both expectant and curious.

What are all these people doing?

It is said that the life of the Green-headed Thief is good, but how good is it?

Where did the king get so much money to support these officials?

Especially the new Lord, his name is Song Luo!

She was actually a girl who was only in her teens!

God——

This news has been discussed in Jiangling Prefecture for a whole month!

If Jiangling Prefecture did not have Jiang Yongkang, nicknamed "Cold-Faced Madman", with tens of thousands of troops in command, the people of Jiangling Prefecture would have rioted long ago!

Even though they were the subjects of King Ming before and their lives hadn't changed much, it wouldn't be like His Royal Highness King Zhao sending a random woman to take charge of them, right?

Those people in the academy were so angry that they were fuming and locked themselves in the bookstore, cursing His Royal Highness Prince Zhao who was far away in Jinzhou Prefecture for being immoral!

It would have been fine if she had become the queen as a woman, but she even allowed women to take the examination to become civil servants. Even before those female civil servants arrived, the entire Jiangling Prefecture was already shrouded in an atmosphere of restlessness, as if the thin membrane as thin as a cicada's wing could be torn apart at any time!

It's just like being gentle!

No one expected that Song Luo would be the first to arrive at Jiangling Prefecture before even the other officials were in place!

The little girl was carrying a horse and a sword. The small bag on her back contained only two sets of clothes and the appointment documents issued by Jinzhou Prefecture. She just came like that, without any warning!

The officials still in office in Jiangling Prefecture were so frightened that they rushed to welcome the emperor, but they didn't expect that the emperor turned around and went directly to the cotton planting base!

After walking around all day, asking questions here and there, I actually found out everything about the situation.

That afternoon, Qi Mingzhen, Minister of Commerce, also rushed to the site with dozens of cotton-growing workers.

The two girls' working styles are surprisingly consistent.

That is to not give the remaining deputy governor Shi Maoqing any chance to show his abilities.

As soon as people entered the city, they went straight to the mountains and forests to see the cotton base.

Shi Maoqing felt as if he was facing a formidable enemy, with cold sweat rolling down his forehead. At this moment, he finally understood the meaning of the saying "Everyone from Jinzhou Prefecture is a madman."

The tactic of bullying someone because he is young and unfamiliar, and refuses to cooperate with work, and giving him a warning, is simply not going to work.

Why.

The garrison in Jiangling Prefecture is still guarding it.

Jiang Yongkang...that's someone you don't want to mess with!

And that firearm…it’s been causing so much trouble these past few months, who would dare to get into trouble at a time like this!

Shi Maoqing could only climb up the mountain with his old arms and legs, accompanied by the few men under his command, and more than a hundred people temporarily assigned to him by Jiang Yongkang because he was dissatisfied with the lack of people in the government office.

However, before he could utter the greeting, or even tell who the two women were, Shi Maoqing was bombarded with questions.

"Master Shi, how much land does our mountain cover? How many people live there? Have we discussed relocation plans with them in the early stages? Also, have fruit trees always been planted on this mountain? How have the harvests been over the past five years? Can you estimate their fertility?"

Lord Shi's face flushed red, and he kept wiping the sweat from his forehead, "This...this...I..."

Good God, who cares about the harvests of the past five years?!

Isn't this really a warning to him?

But from the woman's tone, it seemed natural.

On the other hand, the older woman next to her, with her hair styled like a woman's, was more diplomatic than the younger woman's aggressiveness. "Stop making things difficult for Master Shi! He hasn't even gone to the cadre training class in Jinzhou Prefecture for study and reform. It's remarkable that he could have thought of arranging the cotton planting work in advance."

Lord Shi couldn't tell whether this was a compliment or sarcasm and could only smile awkwardly.

The people in Jinzhou Prefecture are really cunning.

Obviously, once the woman came to his rescue, Song Luo immediately became respectful and his tone softened, "Master Shi, tell me what you did."

Lord Shi immediately understood the identities of the two people.

The younger woman should be the new Lord of Jiangling Prefecture, Song Luo.

The person who just helped him out was the Deputy Minister of Agriculture who was in charge of the promotion of cotton work.

Almost all of those who have reached the ministerial level are close ministers of the emperor, so it is no wonder that Song Luo treats them very politely.

"My Lords, before you came, I only heard the soldiers under Minister Jiang talk about Jinzhou Prefecture. So, I copied them and first cleaned up the academy for universal education and relocated dozens of teachers from the previous academy. As for raising pigs, I also mentioned it to the villagers, but since we haven't done standardized breeding before, we'd like to wait until the new governor takes office to start the formal work. At the beginning of the year, I heard rumors that we'd mainly grow cotton in this area. So, I sent people to fence off the hilltops in advance. Now, this hilltop covers nearly ten thousand acres, and we estimate that we can recruit at least a thousand people."

"Ten thousand acres?" Song Luo frowned slightly, obviously not satisfied with the scale.

Qi Mingzhen said, "Ten thousand mu is probably not enough. If we want to establish large-scale planting, we need at least one hundred thousand mu."

"One hundred thousand acres?" Lord Shi boasted. "But we don't have much good farmland in Jiangling Prefecture. If we plant all of it with cotton, how will the people survive next year? What will all these people eat? And how will we collect taxes?"

Lord Shi clearly saw that Song Luo's brows furrowed even deeper.

He was a little at a loss for a moment, not knowing what he had said wrong again.

How come it seems like the new Lord is already dissatisfied with me after just the first meeting?

Qi Er smiled and said, "One hundred thousand mu doesn't even begin to describe the scale. Lord Shi probably doesn't know how big the cotton-padded jacket market has been in the past two years. In the first year alone, we sold one hundred thousand jackets. This time, we must buy a million jackets. One jacket requires at least two taels of cotton. Do the math and figure out how many mu we need to plant to make up for it."

Lord Shi was shocked. "One million pieces?"

He had only heard that cotton coats were very popular, but he didn't know they could sell for so many.

Millions of cotton-padded jackets, can they be sold?

"Master Shi, have you ever seen a cotton-padded jacket?"

Lord Shi shook his head and smiled awkwardly, "Our Jiangling Prefecture changed hands only last year, so I don't know a lot about the new things in Jinzhou Prefecture. I only know that cotton-padded jackets are said to be light and warm, but they're expensive, so most people can't afford them."

Song Luo's expression seemed to ease a little at this point. "That's right. Jiangling Prefecture was still the territory of King Ming last year. The cotton-padded clothes should not have been circulated yet. It's normal that you don't know."

Lord Shi probably understood.

It turned out that he was just disliked by this Lord Song.

Song Luo continued, "These cotton-padded clothes don't require fertile farmland; ordinary mountain land will do. Jinzhou Prefecture has a composting method. Even if it's newly reclaimed forest, if we act quickly, we can plant these 100,000 acres in time for spring."

Lord Shi was extremely shocked this time. He had carefully selected the forest where the fruit grew, thinking that it would at least have some fertility.

Who would have thought that Lord Song would directly decide to reclaim new forests.

In this way, all his previous efforts were wasted. No wonder Lord Song looked unhappy at the beginning.

So all his hard work for half a day was in vain?

Lord Shi felt even worse.

Qi Er then said, "I just looked at this forest. It must have been used to grow fruit trees, right? The land is good, but I heard from the people that the harvest isn't very good. I just happened to bring a group of fruit growers from Jinzhou Prefecture. These masters have extensive experience in Qianzhou. They've grown the yellow plums and bayberries of Qianzhou, and they're very famous in the Great Zhou Dynasty. I'll have them show us what kind of fruit is suitable for growing here in Jiangling Prefecture."

Shi Maoqing was immediately overjoyed. "That's fantastic! Qianzhou's yellow plums and bayberries are quite famous in Jiangling Prefecture, and are almost exclusively sold to high-ranking officials. They're incredibly expensive! If the common people of Jiangling Prefecture could also grow their own special fruits and vegetables, wouldn't that save their livelihoods?"

Seeing that Shi Maoqing never stopped talking about the common people, Song Luo thought that he was a good official who was honest and incorruptible, and no wonder he was able to stay in Jiangling Prefecture.

In this way, Song Luo would not have to worry about his work efficiency.

People in the Zhou Dynasty have never seen any good things. As long as the person is a good person, it doesn't hurt to train him a little.

Qi Er smiled and said, "The high price is due to the high cost of long-distance transportation. There's a huge cold storage in Qianzhou that's dedicated to preserving fresh fruit, and even tea. Otherwise, how can we guarantee the fruit's long-term freshness? Hasn't Lord Shi noticed that the trading cycle of Qianzhou yellow plums is longer than that of other plums?"

Shi Maoqing was stunned again. "Cold storage? This... The climate here is relatively warm, and we can't find a natural cold storage like the one in the Qianzhou Cave..."

"It's not natural. It's a cold storage we built in the basement. We have homemade ice cubes to keep things cold and fresh." Qi Er smiled and shook his head. "Master Shi, there's a cadre training class coming up in Lan County soon. I think you should go first and train for a few months before coming back."

Qi Er's tone was sincere, without a trace of ridicule or disgust, as if he really wanted him to go for further studies.

Shi Maoqing felt a little embarrassed.

This is being disliked.

He did a pretty good job during the Zhou Dynasty.

Apart from the fact that he doesn't like to flatter, who among the common people doesn't praise Shi Maoqing as a good official?

But why is it that when I arrived in Jinzhou Prefecture, I was repeatedly rejected?

Song Luo said sincerely, "Master Shi, we will have to spend several years in Jiangling Prefecture. Don't think too much. We people from Jinzhou Prefecture don't like to play tricks. We say what we mean and we never say what we mean. We are always objective and never personal. As for you, don't mind my directness. This directness will make us more efficient. Not only you, but also the dozen or so officials who remain in Jiangling Prefecture, including other prefectures, all those who remain in the Great Zhou Dynasty must attend that cadre training class."