Feng Yi began his arduous journey to succeed the throne. Fortunately, Zhuang Li was by his side, acting as his military advisor, which helped him stay calm.
When the other princes heard that Feng Yi had only Zhuang Li in his think tank, they all laughed secretly.
What kind of trouble can these two dandies cause?
However, on his first day at the Ministry of Revenue, Zhuang Li turned the place upside down. He calculated dozens of pounds of old accounts sent to him that same day, even uncovering a fraudulent payment and uncovering a major corruption case, which he immediately submitted to the palace.
The emperor sent the Dragon Guard to investigate, and within half a month, he raided the homes of five officials. One of the officials happened to be Zhuang Li's biological father, Zhuang Ai.
In the end, Zhuang Ai was sentenced to exile three thousand miles away and left the capital in shackles.
Zhuang Yuqing and Zhuang Yunzhu were left homeless, their whereabouts unknown. The once-thriving Zhuang family vanished in an instant.
After completing this important task, Zhuang Li and Feng Yi took turns at the Ministry of War. Within a few days, they had improved the muskets, cannons, and warships, achieving great success. The Minister of War repeatedly petitioned the Emperor for a generous reward for the two.
Afterwards, Zhuang Li performed extremely well in the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Personnel, and made many great contributions. Feng Yi, whom he fully supported, also rose in status.
The emperor became more and more dependent on the two men. Not only did he summon them every day, he also often ordered them to stay overnight in the palace.
It wasn't until this moment that the other princes realized how incredibly intelligent Zhuang Li was. With this man's assistance, the position of crown prince was practically within their grasp!
This also made them reach a consensus - if they wanted to kill Feng Yi, the first person they should kill was Zhuang Li.
---
Ever since Zhuang Li painted her portrait, Yu Yuxian had a very negative impression of him. In her mind, Zhuang Li was the epitome of a dandy, with little to recommend him besides his looks.
But now, having heard of this man's achievements in turning the tide in the six ministries, she finally realized what was happening and broke out in a cold sweat. She couldn't help but wonder if Zhuang Li had drawn that portrait based on his understanding of her gender.
Did he notice something?
However, Yu Yuxian quickly dismissed this speculation. If she had discovered Zhuang Li's deception, she would have certainly not let him off. Would a mere demotion be enough? She would have sent Zhuang Li to the guillotine.
So, Zhuang Li must have discovered nothing, otherwise he would not let me go so easily.
Thinking of this, Yu Yuxian finally felt relieved.
At present, she has stockpiled a lot of cotton cloth, waiting for the weather to get cold so that she can make a fortune.
---
At the same time, Zhuang Xiaohui was being carried onto the horse by Wanjun, who hurriedly ordered: "Run towards the place where there is candlelight at the foot of the mountain, and don't look back!" After saying that, he slapped the horse's butt hard.
The horse raised its hooves and neighed, running at full speed.
Zhuang Xiaohui sprawled on the horse's back, cursing as she rode away: "I'm not running away! Wanjun, you're awesome! When I come back, I'll scratch your face!"
The sound of horse hooves and curses disappeared in the dim woods. Wanjun then picked up his sword and concentrated on chopping the wolves that were swarming towards him.
They had completely defeated all the robbers on the road, but were cornered by a group of beasts. Fortunately, the person he cared about most had escaped, so he had nothing to worry about.
Wanjun swung his sword with great force, but in the end, two fists were no match for four. The wolves were too numerous; after he killed one, four or five more would pounce on him.
When he was wounded and exhausted, the sound of hurried horse hooves came from the dark woods. Zhuang Xiaohui had returned.
She drove her horse to trample a wild wolf to death, then got into a carriage that was abandoned on the side, took down an oil lamp fixed on the wall of the carriage, and used hay to set the entire carriage on fire.
The blazing flames frightened the wolves so much that they dared not approach. Zhuang Xiaohui quickly ran to Wanjun and took the opportunity to stab the dagger into the butt of the wolf king who was fighting with him, and twisted it several times.
The wolf king fell down howling, his intestines pouring out.
Wan Jun: “…”
Wan Jun's subordinates: "..."
Is this girl too cruel?
While he was stunned, another wolf was stabbed in the butt by Zhuang Xiaohui.
"Ouch!" One of the wolves yelled in fear, and then all the wolves ran away, as fast as a trace of shadow.
Zhuang Xiaohui ran to Wanjun and asked anxiously, "Are you okay?"
Wan Jun swallowed, his tone a little dry: "I'm fine."
"Everyone, chop some wood and build a roaring fire. The wild animals nearby will be deterred by the sight." Zhuang Xiaohui gave orderly instructions: "Those who are injured, heal their wounds quickly. Those who are not injured, repair the carriage. We will leave as soon as daybreak."
"Okay, boss!" Everyone responded, with admiration and conviction in their eyes.
This girl is truly remarkable. She endured all kinds of hardships on the road and showed no fear at all when risking her life. She will definitely achieve great things in the future.
The carriage gradually burned down. Zhuang Xiaohui picked up a big knife and poked around in the ashes, digging out the silver ingots that she had not had time to take away, and kicked them into the grass to cool down.
After recovering her losses, she grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.
This is what it means to love money like your life.
Seeing her happy smile, Wanjun couldn't help but smile. His chest felt hot, as if something was burning.
After putting the silver into the package, Zhuang Xiaohui seemed to remember something and said fiercely, "Wanjun, you are so good! I am going to scratch your face!"
Wan Jun could no longer contain his emotions and laughed heartily. After a while, Zhuang Xiaohui's silvery laughter joined in.
This dangerous night suddenly became cheerful.
---
When the group returned to the capital, the factory, which originally had only thirteen machines, had been expanded by Zhuang Li to thirty machines, and a cotton ginning mill was built elsewhere.
The cotton Zhuang Xiaohui brought back was enough to keep the two factories running at full speed. Their daily output was more than other cloth shops or craftsmen could produce in a month, even if they toiled like crazy.
The Chamber of Commerce waited in silence for Zhuang Xiaohui's tirade. Since she couldn't get any goods, ordinary people had to buy cloth from other shops. As the weather grew colder, demand for cotton cloth surged, and they had a monopoly on the supply, allowing them to charge whatever price they pleased.
What else can ordinary people do except grit their teeth and accept it?
However, the reality was completely contrary to the expectations of the Chamber of Commerce.
Zhuang Xiaohui still didn't raise her prices. As soon as the cloth in her shop ran out, she immediately restocked it, as if the supply was inexhaustible. She also made many cotton-padded jackets and sold them in the shop at very low prices, affordable for anyone with a little extra food at home.
The embroiderer who sewed Zhuang Xiaohui's cotton-padded jacket said with deep emotion, "This is the first time I've made clothes I can afford myself. My boss is so kind."
This is the benefit of increased productivity. The surplus value created by machines replacing manual labor will benefit every citizen.
Some wealthy families also went to Zhuang Xiaohui's shop to buy winter clothes for their servants, and many people bought dozens or even hundreds of pieces at a time.
Zhuang Xiaohui's cotton cloth and cotton jackets soon occupied 99% of the market share in the capital. The remaining 1% was for dignitaries who only wore silk clothes and looked down on cotton cloth.
Even without them, Zhuang Xiaohui still made a lot of money.
Ordinary people also benefited greatly. They were used to being frugal, and could wear a cotton-padded jacket for several years, and a piece of cloth could be used from winter to summer if used frugally, so sales gradually became saturated.
Since the cloth in the city was not selling well, Zhuang Xiaohui hired an escort agency to transport the cloth to nearby towns or counties to sell. Even with the shipping and labor costs, the price was still very cheap, so the amount exported was very large.
Many cloth merchants from other places came to buy cloth, and Zhuang Xiaohui took the opportunity to start a wholesale business.
In short, her supply of goods was so abundant that it was unimaginable for the people in the Chamber of Commerce, so the plan to encircle her naturally failed.
As autumn descended and winter approached, the members of the Chamber of Commerce belatedly realized they had been badly ripped off by Zhuang Xiaohui! The people of the capital had already bought enough cloth and ready-made clothes, so the cloth they had hoarded was naturally unsellable!
If they wanted to follow Zhuang Xiaohui's example and ship the cloth to other places to sell, the shipping costs would be added to the costs, and the local cloth merchants would easily kill them because they had no price advantage at all.
This is how mass-market products work: first, quality, and second, price. If others are better than you in both, you won't make a penny.
Then a strange phenomenon appeared in the capital.
The once prosperous old cloth shops closed one after another, and seven or eight out of ten went bankrupt in just half a month.
Yu Yuxian still wanted to fight back, so she piled her stockpiled fabrics at the door and hung a sign saying they were on sale for 50% off. Even so, her fabrics were still not much cheaper than Zhuang Xiaohui's, and the quality was also uneven. People passing by would stop to look, touch, then shake their heads and leave.
Firstly, they had no spare money, and secondly, they were not fools, so of course they would not buy such cloth which was neither good nor cheap.
Yu Yuxian had no choice but to continue lowering the price, and only when the price was reduced to 70% was he able to sell some of the goods.
By the next year, these cloths will either be damp, moldy, or faded, and will be even harder to sell at a high price.
Yu Yuxian had no idea how to recover her losses. She naturally didn't want to give the cloth away for nothing, so she kept offering discounts, from 70% to 90%, but the cloth still wouldn't sell.
The market has long been saturated, and the purchasing power of ordinary people is very limited. She doesn't understand the principles behind this, so naturally she can't do business.
So this batch of goods ended up in her hands.
The cost was three thousand taels of silver, but in the end only a few dozen taels were sold. The loss was so great that Yu Yuxian almost vomited blood when he opened the account book.
She stood at the door of the shop, watching the owner hang up the sign saying "Closed," her eyes filled with confusion. Without cash, she wouldn't be able to get any goods by the spring of next year, and the shop would be completely bankrupt.
She had no choice but to sell the shop to raise some money for the winter.
At this moment, Zhuang Xiaohui walked out of the shop next door. She was wearing a gorgeous dress, her face heavily made up, and her lips were curled up in a bright red. She said with a half-smile, "I've said it before, whoever makes my business go bankrupt will lose everything."
Yu Yuxian turned to look at her, his face gradually distorted.
Zhuang Xiaohui leaned close to her ear and whispered, "This winter is very cold. Does your family have any extra money to buy rice and charcoal?"
Yu Yuxian's ferocious face froze for a moment, then an uncontrollable look of embarrassment appeared on her face. It seemed she really didn't have any money left to buy rice or charcoal.
She glared at Zhuang Xiaohui angrily and left with a flick of her sleeves.
Zhuang Xiaohui waved her hand and taunted, "Yu Yuxian, this is how your life will be!"
Yu Yuxian paused for a moment, then walked even faster. On the way, she was encountered by several men from the Chamber of Commerce, who enthusiastically pulled her into the brothel. She was already simmering with anger, needing to vent, and since these men from the Chamber of Commerce were so kind to her and often flattered her, she didn't become wary and, after a few attempts at demur, took a seat.
Zhuang Li, who happened to be passing by, lifted the car curtain to take a look and said amusedly: "Her tragedy has begun."
7480 asked curiously, "What tragedy?"
"The south wind prevails in Dayan, and Yu Yuxian is not bad looking. The people in the Chamber of Commerce usually play dirty, and they must have been coveting her for a long time. Without the protection of the official robes and Feng Yu as a backer, she will definitely get into trouble if she continues to act so recklessly."
Zhuang Li said earnestly, "When you go out, not only girls need to learn to protect themselves, boys too."
7480 rolled his eyes and said, "Master, if you really mean it, just go in and tell Yu Yuxian."
"No, it's her turn to get a taste of what Xiaohui encountered in her previous life. This is called tit for tat." Zhuang Li pulled up the car curtain and smiled casually.
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