The Minister of Revenue opened the booklet and was stunned at first sight. He felt his head rumbling and his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably. He asked the emperor with trembling lips: "4,000 catties per mu?"
The emperor was frightened tonight, and he nodded lazily: "How about the food in front of you?"
Several ministers ignored the books in front of them and snatched the book from the Minister of Revenue. They took turns reading it, and then they knelt on the ground with tears streaming down their faces, shouting, "God bless the Wei! God bless our emperor!"
Emperor Wu didn't care where Tang Qingxi came from or whether what he said was true or false. As long as he could solve his current dilemma, he would worship Tang Qingxi as a Bodhisattva.
Emperor Wu said, "Stop, stop. Forget about what I'm saying. Let's discuss how much of each type of grain we should buy. Should we plant it in the capital area first or distribute it among the people?"
"Also, the Ministry of Works, please take a look at the booklet in your hand."
The Minister of Works flipped through the booklet in his hand and became more and more shocked. He wondered which wealthy family His Majesty had copied into his account, but he had never heard of any family having such a thing.
For example, this cement recipe can dredge the river channel. The mother river of Dawei will not flood for at least 20 days, and there will be no need to control the river and cause floods.
The streets of the capital city are covered with flying yellow dust on sunny days and are muddy on rainy days. There are potholes everywhere you step, and a carriage might overturn if you are not careful.
It can also build city walls. How much grain will it cost to build a city wall with glutinous rice, and how many lives can it save?
There's also that smallpox prevention manual, which actually contains methods to prevent smallpox. Whenever smallpox is discovered, nine out of ten cases are not fatal. And...
The Minister of Industry clutched his throbbing heart and asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, where did these come from? Have you verified them?"
Emperor Wu said uneasily, "Don't worry about where you came from. I called you here to see. Who can verify it quickly? I want to see the results within three days."
The Minister of Works flipped through all the booklets, picked out the manuals on salt making, sugar making, and glass making, and prepared to go to the Ministry of Works to try them out.
It was already daybreak, and all the departments had come to report for duty. Emperor Wu led everyone into the Ministry of Works' Imperial Household Department.
The minor official of the Ministry of Works verified it tremblingly under the anxious gaze of the ministers of various ministries.
"Your Majesty, this is truly refined salt, free of impurities. These books are genuine."
"Let's see." Emperor Wu suppressed his excitement. If the method of extracting refined salt was correct, then the method of drying salt from seawater would also be feasible.
In that way, the price of salt can be greatly reduced, and everyone in Wei can eat salt. You must know that Emperor Wu himself came from a small family and could not eat salt freely, let alone the common people. Many of them relied on vinegar and cloth to survive, and could only eat coarse salt a few times in their entire lives.
Frosted sugar was also refined by the nimble clerks here. The Minister of Revenue was so angry that his hands were shaking: "Frosted sugar is so simple to refine from brown sugar, how dare they sell it for so much?"
Frosted sugar is a secret of a large family. There are only a few hundred kilograms in one bag. Every time I want to buy it, I have to beg and plead with everyone to buy a little bit. It was only in the past two bags that the family agreed to sell more because of Your Majesty's great influence, and the price is not less at all.
When Emperor Wu thought of the money he had wasted, his heart ached. He wanted to drag the man to his side and chop off his head.
Emperor Wu and all the old officials in the court lived frugally, but were still cheated. Who could they turn to for justice?
He was not in the mood to see how the glass was made, so he went back to Qianyuan Hall to discuss the price for exchanging these booklets.
The pitiful amount of silver in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury could not be touched as it was used to arrange travel expenses for the refugees returning home. The emperor could only dig into his own treasury. Fortunately, the money didn't just accept gold and silver.
The emperor felt more and more sad as he looked at the embroidered sachets, the gold-woven materials, and the rosewood pillars that two people could not hug together. He gritted his teeth and asked the Minister of Revenue to list them all.
Next is where to plant the grain, and the elders are all arguing about it.
"Jiangnan is rich in products. We won't starve. No need to send gifts."
"I'm not hungry, but I'm not full either. Send me less."
"The northwestern border is suffering from drought and food shortages. Please send more."
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