When Li Jue heard that there were still three thousand bolts of cloth and ten thousand bushels of grain, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Is His Majesty the Emperor so kind that he's giving me so much money?

Huh!

Wait, why would Li Er give me money?

Could they already know who I am?

"Ahem... Elder Mu, are you sure His Majesty is giving me this much?"

"Sure!"

"Your Majesty... who told me that personally? How could it be false?"

"I estimate that 13,000 bolts of cloth, plus 10,000 shi of grain, will be delivered in the next day or two. And the deadline is two months. If you fail to complete it, you will be dismissed from your post as Commandant of the Vanguard!"

Li Jue was a little worried when he heard what was going on ahead, fearing that Li Er would find out he was hiding there. But when he heard that he was going to be dismissed from his post, he was no longer afraid.

Li Er, that old idiot, probably just wanted to take advantage, but he didn't expect to suffer a great loss because of his greed!

"I see..."

"Ten thousand sets is indeed a lot, but we can still make it if we work on it."

"Also, you and Master Yu can take your money back. I'm confident I can handle this little thing!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jing immediately objected.

"You are our apprentice. As the saying goes, 'A teacher for a day is a father for life... a grandfather for life!'"

"How can we, as masters, stand idly by when our disciples suffer?"

"right!"

"Your Master Mu is right. We are your masters, after all, and we will never let you suffer a loss!"

Li Jue was deeply moved by these words, but he really didn't need that many.

"Masters, I really won't lose money, I'll just earn a little less!"

"We don't care, we've brought the money to you, don't even think about making us take it back!"

"Uh..."

Seeing that the two were so stubborn, Li Jue immediately accepted the money for the large cartloads, then asked them how much each of them had sent, and secretly noted down the amount of money they had given.

Since his two masters were so loyal and devoted, he, as their student, couldn't be mediocre either.

Consider these cartloads of copper coins as shares. When the sugar business restarts in a few days, they'll be counted as one share, so it's not like we're taking their money for nothing.

"All right!"

"I'll accept the money from the two masters. When I become successful in the future, I will repay them a hundredfold!"

Upon hearing this, the two immediately grinned and burst into laughter.

"That's more like it!"

"That's the kind of boldness we men from Guanzhong crave!"

"Wagging about a few coins is just making you a laughingstock!"

Upon hearing this, Li Jue thought to himself, "This is nothing but a few coins, this is millions of coins..."

"Apprentice, what are you planning to do with so many clothes?"

"If you don't have enough manpower, just tell the master. The master has hundreds of people in his family, and they can help you with some of the work!"

"No need, no need... You've already troubled the two masters enough, how could I possibly add to their burden?"

"However, this little thing is not difficult at all. With proper planning and coordination, it can be completed in ten days or half a month."

"oh?"

"Kid, don't talk big."

"This matter you've handled is of paramount importance; it was personally ordered by His Majesty. If we fail to deliver the goods on time and His Majesty punishes us, we won't be able to bear the consequences!"

"Don't worry, masters, I certainly won't make things difficult for you!"

After saying this, Li Jue continued to lead the soldiers in drills. Compared to the simple formations last month, this time the training mainly focused on the Tang Dynasty's flag signals, drum and gong commands, and rapid marching, among other things.

Of course, we still need to practice marching formations from time to time, so that they don't forget how to march properly when the actual military exercise comes around.

The next day, the imperial court brought in 13,000 bolts of cloth, plus 10,000 shi of grain.

Li Jue directly ordered Hu Delu to receive the grain on his behalf and to store it all in the warehouse.

In the Tang Dynasty, grain and cloth were equivalent to money, and could often be spent directly as cash.

For example, a bolt of cloth could be exchanged for dozens of dan of grain, or a few dou of rice for a chicken, and so on.

When Hu Delu saw how successful his master was, earning so much salary in just over a month as an official, he was overjoyed.

He immediately led the idle men in the village to move all the cloth and grain into the warehouse, and planned to select a site to build a new warehouse to store more salaries!

However, Li Jue stopped his plan to build a new warehouse. Li Jue first told him to dig several large pits, then cover the pits with waterproof tarpaulins, and then fill the pits with water.

"My lord, what are you doing?"

"Are they going to dye the cloth again?"

"right!"

"We need to dye a lot of fabric this time, a full ten thousand bolts. When you dig the pits, make sure they're big enough, or we won't run out of space..."

"so much?"

Hu Delu was immediately shocked when he heard this. Last time he had only dyed a few hundred bolts of cloth, but this time the amount had increased dozens of times!

"My lord, can we use all this cloth?"

"Your Zhechong Prefecture only has a little over a thousand people. If you make all ten thousand bolts of cloth into clothes, it would be enough for them to wear for a lifetime!"

"I've received a major order from the imperial court this time; this is for the court!"

"oh?"

Hu Delu perked up immediately upon hearing that it was made for the imperial court.

"Rest assured, Your Excellency, I will deliver the goods with guaranteed quality and quantity!"

To be honest, saying that the quality and quantity are guaranteed is a bit of a lie. This job is too easy. Just spread the cloth out, throw it in the pool to soak for a day, take it out to dry, and then sprinkle it with yellow and black dye.

"My lord, how do you sew it?"

"With so many clothes, our village doesn't have enough manpower!"

"Besides, what about the dimensions? We can't just make them all the same size, can we?"

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