Chapter 388 Merchants Arrive
Madam Yuan could hardly believe her ears, but what shocked her even more was yet to come.
The two guards not only agreed to the outrageous request without saying a word, but also assigned one of them to lead the horse and the other to get the waist token. They immediately got to work, and their swift actions left all the outsiders present dumbfounded.
Seeing that they were serious, Madam Yuan dared not delay any longer.
Offending Xie Wanniang would ruin her husband's plans, and at most her husband would just ignore her for a while. But if she let Xie Wanniang take this matter to the emperor, then what awaited her would not be just a short period of neglect.
"Back to the manor!" Madam Yuan, rather exasperated, chose to flee.
"They're finally gone." The gatekeeper smirked, then jogged over to the two guards who hadn't actually gone far, saying that the scoundrel had been forced to leave and they didn't need to make a special trip to the palace anymore.
The two guards were not surprised at all and nodded to indicate that they understood.
The doorman then ran to report the situation to Xie Wanniang.
Xie Wanniang nodded to indicate that she understood, and then asked her subordinates and stewards, "Do you know what she wants to do by coming to see me?"
Everyone shook their heads.
Xie Wanniang glanced at Cunyu, who was standing beside her, and said, "Have someone investigate."
Cunyu accepted the order and went out to deliver the message, while Xie Wanniang continued to talk with the officials and stewards in the mansion.
After a busy day, Xie Wanniang finally finished all the things she needed to know and handle. Just then, the children and Jiang Yuan returned home, so she went with the three of them to her and Jiang Yuan's place for dinner.
Although the two children had already talked to their mother for quite a while yesterday, they still wanted to stay with her and spend time with her today.
Jiang Yuan was a little annoyed by the two little brats getting in his way, but while he was cold and aloof in front of outsiders, he was surprisingly a loving father in front of his own children.
Despite their complaints, they still had to continue spoiling the two children. So, the two children stayed with Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan to finish their homework before going back to rest with their respective servants.
Once the door closed, only Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan remained in the room. Xie Wanniang smiled and beckoned to Jiang Yuan, "A Yuan, come here."
Jiang Yuan obediently walked over and sat down next to her. "What's wrong?"
"I suddenly had an idea..."
Xie Wanniang rambled on and on, and by the time she got to the second sentence, Jiang Yuan had already subconsciously reached for his charcoal pencil and started quickly taking notes on the paper as he listened.
By the time Xie Wanniang finished describing the other "designs" of the firearms, Jiang Yuan was already too excited to recall his earlier romantic thoughts.
He held the series of drawings provided by Xie Wanniang, his expression quite complex.
"You really are... always able to bring new surprises to the world."
Xie Wanniang couldn't help but laugh out loud, "What's with that expression? You look happy but not so happy?"
Jiang Yuan frankly admitted, "I am naturally pleased that Great Wei is prosperous and strong, with a powerful army, but your various talents..."
This wasn't the first time Jiang Yuan had thought of this idea. Back when Xie Wanniang first made a contribution, Jiang Yuan had thought that it would be great if the imperial court allowed women to serve as officials.
Although the imperial court later bestowed titles and honors upon Xie Wanniang, elevating her from an ordinary young lady to a county princess, a county princess, and even a princess, this path of advancement itself indicated that she was unable to enter the court as an official and fully utilize her talents.
She was clearly so capable, courageous, and intelligent, and far more idealistic, ambitious, and principled than most people in the court, yet she could only devote all her aspirations to charitable causes that did not restrict her gender.
He gently rested his head on Xie Wanniang's left shoulder, "If only you could also become an official in the court."
Xie Wanniang laughed, "With my meager education, do you think I can squeeze through the narrow bridge of the imperial examination to enter officialdom?"
While gently teasing herself, Xie Wanniang reached out and patted the adorable man who was wholeheartedly defending her. "It's okay if I can't be an official. Don't think that just because I'm a princess now, I can offer advice to His Majesty the Emperor anytime I want. Even when I didn't even have the title of county princess, with you here, I could still contribute to changing the world."
As she spoke of these things, her eyes became even brighter. "Of course, we can strive to make the world more inclusive, prosperous, and convenient."
Although she didn't care whether she could become an official, she really wanted to improve the social status of women.
That's not entirely accurate. Her real wish was to eliminate as much inequality as possible in the world, such as slavery, male chauvinism, and the traditional class system that divides people into different classes.
However, these inequalities are clearly not something that can be completely changed in a year or two, or even a decade or two, nor can they be completely overthrown by Xie Wanniang alone.
Even a powerful empress like her was ultimately just a fleeting moment, becoming the only exception in the long river of history.
Xie Wanniang considered herself just an ordinary person standing on the shoulders of giants. Let alone surpassing that empress, she never even had the thought of taking her as a target, since she really didn't even have one tenth of her abilities.
A person should know their own limitations. Xie Wanniang will not do things that she is extremely bad at, or things that she will not be able to achieve any results in her lifetime no matter how hard she tries.
She told Jiang Yuan about her next plan: to continue investing heavily in rubber and then use her own money to build a cement road for their hometown, Tang County.
"I plan to build the first cement road between Mingfu Village and Tang County, and the second between Xiejia Village and Tang County. Then, starting with these two roads, we will gradually replace all the existing official roads in Tang County with wide and sturdy cement roads."
She believed that once the demonstration effect was established, officials and wealthy households in other prefectures and counties of the Great Wei, and even those in the capital and the city, would inevitably covet this cement road, which was indeed superior to dirt roads and stone roads.
Xie Wanniang wasn't worried at all that they wouldn't spend money to repair the road. After all, compared to the poor commoners who rarely even went to town, these people were the ones who truly needed a better official road.
As for whether they would take advantage of the road construction to exploit the people and plunder their wealth, Xie Wanniang said that this was something that the emperor and important officials in the court needed to consider, guard against, and supervise.
She was just an ordinary princess from another family who had only contributed some money to build a road for her hometown. She couldn't care less whether the officials in the court were corrupt, heartless, or disregarded the law.
She also believed that, given the intelligence of the court officials, they were unlikely to make a scene and attack her in front of His Majesty for giving back to her hometown folks.
After all, such grounds for impeachment were simply untenable. Not only would they fail to cause her any trouble, but they would also be punished by the emperor for being too unreasonable, thus setting the record straight.
After chatting for a while and then naturally spending some time together, Jiang Yuan finally fell into a deep sleep with Xie Wanniang in his arms.
Nothing was said that night. The next day, the couple resumed their busy routine.
Jiang Yuan needed to attend court, so he got ready and left early. Xie Wanniang first practiced martial arts with the children for a while, and then had a nutritious and hearty breakfast with the two children after they changed into dry clothes.
After the two children went to the Xie family to attend school, accompanied by guards and servants, Xie Wanniang began to arrange the road repairs and rubber purchases.
When they lived in Dinghai County before, Xie Wanniang had organized a caravan that specialized in trading goods between the north and south to earn the price difference.
Originally, Xie Wanniang had entrusted the acquisition of rubber to them as a side task, but now it seems that caravans like theirs, which are always on the move, are really not capable of properly helping her complete this task.
Xie Wanniang was now eager to get her hands on rubber, so she decided to send a few people to wait for her near the port.
Just as Xie Wanniang was pondering who to send to carry out this mission, she caught a glimpse of one of the old women guarding the second gate, who silently but swiftly entered her courtyard.
After the greetings were exchanged, the old woman said to Xie Wanniang, "Princess, there is a merchant outside who calls himself Jia Yuhong. He says he has brought a foreign product that you are looking for."
Xie Wanniang: ? ? ?
Did he specify what this imported product was?
The old woman recalled for a moment, "It was said to be... rubber?"
Xie Wanniang stood up abruptly, "Invite them to the front courtyard flower hall!"
Cunyu knew that his princess had always been eager to find this thing called rubber, and upon hearing this, he couldn't help but feel happy and expectant as well.
Soon, Xie Wanniang met the tall, strong middle-aged man who called himself Jia Yuhong in the front courtyard of the princess's residence.
Although the other party was dressed in silk clothes, with a jade pendant at his waist and a folding fan in his hand, trying his best to appear refined, he did not look like a merchant because of his tall and strong figure, dark skin, and an unconcealable fierce look on his face. Instead, he looked like a mountain bandit who was dressed inappropriately.
For this reason, the servants and guards of the princess's residence kept a very close eye on him.
Jia Yuhong's body tensed up subconsciously, clearly sensing the vigilance and defensiveness of the servants and guards of the princess's residence. However, he had always lived a dangerous life of licking blood from the blade while trading overseas, and some things were already ingrained in his bones. It was not something he could simply hide or pretend to do.
Fortunately, this tense atmosphere did not last long. Just as Jia Yuhong picked up the warm tea brought by the maid and took a couple of sips, the servants guarding the door began calling out "Princess" one after another.
Hearing the series of greetings that grew louder as they approached, Jia Yuhong realized that the person he was looking for had arrived.
He put down his teacup, quickly stood up, and strode towards the entrance of the flower hall.
When the servants and guards of the princess's residence saw him heading straight for Xie Wanniang, they immediately and instinctively stood between him and Xie Wanniang.
Upon seeing this, Jia Yuhong quickly stopped at the entrance of the flower hall, bent his knees across the threshold, and prepared to kneel down to pay his respects to Xie Wanniang.
"No need for formalities. No need to kneel, please get up."
When Xie Wanniang saw him bend his knees to kneel down, she suddenly remembered that this Master Jia was actually a commoner. When he met someone of rank, whether an official or a woman, he had to kneel down to pay his respects.
She said there was no need to kneel, and gestured to the servants guarding the door to help him up.
Jia Yuhong had dealt with many other officials in the past, whether domestic or foreign, and without exception, they all looked down on him. Xie Wanniang was the first person who didn't put on airs in front of him, a merchant.
"Thank you, Princess." Jia Yuhong's thanks were sincere. He bowed deeply to Xie Wanniang and said, "This humble subject, Jia Yuhong, greets Princess Hui'an."
Xie Wanniang took her seat in the main seat. "No need for such formalities, sit down and let's talk."
Jia Yuhong thanked her again, then carefully sat down in the chair with his back straight and got straight to the point with Xie Wanniang: "I heard that the princess wanted rubber, so I specially went out to sea to find some. Could you please take a look and see if this is it?"
As he spoke, he handed a wooden box, about an arm's length, half an arm's width, and half an arm's height, to the princess's servant standing beside him.
The servant took the box, carefully placed it on the tea table next to Xie Wanniang, and then quickly opened it.
He wasn't worried about any dangerous items in the box, as the things Jia Yuhong brought had already been checked before he entered the mansion.
Not to mention the box that Jia Yuhong carried with him and intended to present directly to Xie Wanniang, even the dozen or so large boxes that he had entrusted to the servants of the Princess's residence for safekeeping were thoroughly searched by the guards and servants.
Xie Wanniang was clearly familiar with this process, so she didn't feel too wary of the box.
After the box was opened, she took a rough rubber item that was placed on top.
Jia Yuhong explained, "Large pieces are difficult to carry, so I only brought a small amount of scraps. The rest has been given to your guards and stewards. If the princess wishes to see it, we would appreciate it if the guards could bring it up."
After confirming that the items Jia Yuhong had sent were indeed rubber, Xie Wanniang wasn't in a hurry to look at the others. She asked Jia Yuhong, "How much did Master Jia send in total? And what was the price?"
Jia Yuhong subconsciously rubbed his hands together. "I brought over 800 jin of this stuff. It's not easy to buy because the production volume is low."
At this point, he carefully and quickly glanced at Xie Wanniang's facial expression, "If the princess still wants more, this humble subject can buy more on the next voyage."
Xie Wanniang didn't say whether she wanted it or not, but waited for Jia Yuhong to name the price first.
Seeing this, Jia Yuhong became even more nervous. "Besides, I don't want money. I want an opportunity to help my eldest son get an official position."
Xie Wanniang: ? ? ?
Throughout history, there have been instances of purchasing official positions through donations, but since the founding of the Great Wei Dynasty, neither of the two emperors has ever opened this door.
Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan were not the kind of people who had many relatives, in-laws, or old friends to take care of, so they naturally didn't care about this at all. However, many other officials in the court had tried to probe and hint at the matter indirectly, but both emperors were adamant in their stance.
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