Just as Liu Yan and Liu Zhong were talking, a servant from the governor's mansion suddenly came to report.
"Prefect! Clerk Jia requests an audience!"
"Let him in!"
Liu Yan waved his hand gently, and Liu Zhong bowed and disappeared into the back hall. Not long after, Jia Xu, looking as usual, followed the servants of the governor's mansion to the living room.
Jia Xu bowed respectfully to Jiuyuan, saying, "Xu greets Governor Liu!"
"Hehe~ Wenhe, what brings you here so early today?" Liu Yan looked at Jia Xu with a smile.
Jia Xu calmly took out the secret letter from his bosom and said softly, "When I returned home yesterday, I found that someone had sneaked into my study and accidentally discovered this secret letter. It is clear that someone is trying to frame me."
Xu pondered for a long time, unable to sleep all night, so he came here early this morning, hoping that Governor Liu could help him find the person who framed him and clear his name!
"What do you mean you didn't sleep all night? You were snoring! It's clear we didn't sleep a wink last night! That Jia Wenhe is shameless!"
Jia Xu's words were clearly heard by Liu Zhong, who was hiding in the back room, and Liu Zhong couldn't help but curse Jia Xu as shameless.
"Oh? Such a thing actually happened?"
Liu Yan feigned surprise, took the secret letter from Jia Xu, unfolded it, and found that its contents were exactly the same as what Liu Zhong had told him.
Then Liu Yan slammed the secret letter onto the table with a "bang," and said angrily:
"Hmph~ How dare someone resort to such despicable tactics! Wenhe is my right-hand man, so rest assured, I will definitely send people to investigate thoroughly! I will find the mastermind behind this and hand him over to Wenhe to deal with personally!"
Jia Xu looked grateful and said respectfully, "I will remember your kindness, Governor. I will take my leave now!"
Then Liu Yan looked at Jia Xu with a warm expression and continued, "Wenhe, go back and focus on your work. Don't worry about this. I still trust Wenhe's loyalty!"
"promise!"
After Jia Xu left, Liu Zhong also came out from the back hall.
"Liu Zhong, do you think Jia Wenhe has truly pledged his allegiance to me?"
Liu Zhong pondered for a moment, then nodded. "That must be it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have handed that secret letter to his master. Now that his master has leverage over him, if he has any disloyal intentions, as long as his master publishes that letter, there will probably be no place for him in the world."
"Hmm! You're right!"
Liu Yan picked up the secret letter, put it in his pocket, and then said, "Give the order that the promotion of the curved plow be carried out as Wenhe said yesterday!"
Liu Zhong hesitated for a moment and said, "But master, the treasury is almost empty. I'm afraid we can't manufacture many curved plows, and it will be difficult to sell them to other prefectures and counties!"
"Do you have any ideas?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Yan frowned and asked Liu Zhong for his opinion. He was really unwilling to give up this good opportunity to make a name for himself, even though it might arouse the emperor's jealousy and suspicion.
However, on the other hand, he did contribute to the promotion of the curved plow, and the emperor could not do anything to him, after all, he also had the surname Liu.
Liu Zhong thought about it carefully, and then said, "Master, why don't you transfer a batch from the official granary, and then replenish it after you sell it and get the money?"
"Do you think we can make a profit at such a low price?"
Liu Yan frowned. What kind of terrible idea was this?
Liu Zhong smiled slightly and said softly, "Master, others may have cost control, but we don't! No matter how low the price is, we'll still make a profit!"
"Tell me, what's your idea?"
"As for raw materials, Jizhou has many mountains and forests, so the owner can send people to cut them down. The craftsmen in the official workshops already have money and grain provided by the imperial court, so there is no need to pay them extra."
Liu Yan nodded in agreement. These two items could indeed be eliminated. Then he asked, "What about the other manpower? We can't produce the required quantity by relying solely on those craftsmen! Moreover, the imperial edict clearly states that we must pay the people we hire!"
"Didn't our master recently gather a group of refugees on the imperial edict? These refugees aren't even human anymore, so what kind of people are they? All we need to do is give them a bite to eat!"
"Okay, very good, let's do it this way, you'll be in charge personally!"
"promise!"
Liu Zhong's words were not wrong. In the eyes of Liu Yan and his group, these mere vagrants were already unregistered and illegal residents. From an official standpoint, they were indeed not considered human.
After the imperial edict promoting the curved plow reached Jizhou, under Zhao Zhong's urging, the Zhen family mobilized all available funds and grain, recruited a large number of craftsmen and commoners, and began to urgently manufacture plows according to the methods described in the edict.
In just over ten days, the Zhen family's dozens of workshops had taken shape, producing tens of thousands of curved plows every day.
In the living room of the Zhen family home, Zhao Zhong sat calmly in the main seat, while Zhen Yu, the head of the Zhen family, reported on the production progress to him.
"Attendant Zhao, we have now produced nearly 50,000 curved plows, which have already begun to be transported to various parts of Ji Province. We are just waiting for your word, and we can start selling them immediately!"
Zhao Zhong raised his eyelids, glanced at Zhen Yu, then nodded and asked, "Have the others started yet?"
Zhen Yu nodded. "Some smaller powerful families and merchants have already started selling, but the quantity is not large. They are obviously waiting for other powerful families and clans to make a move!"
"Heh~" Zhao Zhong chuckled lightly, then asked, "How much do they cost?"
"Three hundred coins each!"
"Hmph~ They're really heartless! They sell for whatever price His Majesty sets? They really don't know what's good for them!"
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