On the fifth day of the seventh month of the eighth year of the Xuanli calendar, it was sunny.
There were about thirty people sitting in the inner courtyard of the Xishan Villa.
Among them were Yi Yu, the foreign affairs steward from the Linjiang Fu Mansion, and Zhang Ce, the steward from the Xishan Villa. Then there were Master Liu, who was in charge of winemaking, Feng Laosi, who was in charge of limestone mining, and Wang Er and Wang Qiang, who were in charge of finding barnyard grass.
A simple platform was set up under the shade of the tree. At this moment, Fu Xiaoguan was standing on the platform. Yi Yu and Zhang Ce were sitting on both sides of him. There was a small table in front of them, with writing brushes, inkstones, and paper on it.
The atmosphere was a bit solemn, because those sitting below were all craftsmen and farmers. They had never seen such a scene before and didn't know what the young master wanted to do with all this trouble.
Fu Xiaoguan took two steps on the stage and began to speak, "I've asked everyone to come here today because this is the first extremely important meeting of our West Mountain Villa. Everyone must listen carefully. Steward Yi and Steward Zhang will write down the key points of what I say and distribute them to everyone after the meeting. If anyone is illiterate, they will be responsible for explaining it to you until you fully understand it."
Meeting?
Is it like the government recruiting soldiers?
Not to mention the people below, even Yi Yu Zhang Ce had no such experience. So everyone felt very fresh and very pressured, because Master Fu looked very serious when he spoke.
The audience was very quiet, and everyone was really paying attention and listening carefully.
Su Mo was standing on the second floor, listening very carefully, wondering what tricks Fu Xiaoguan would come up with next.
"Everyone has seen the large area of land outside the courtyard. It's just flattened out now, with nothing on it. But soon, you will see earth-shaking changes taking place on that land."
"I will build a research and development center there, where many professionals will research the most cutting-edge technologies. I will also build several large factories there to produce exquisite products."
"I want to tell you all something. The Fu Mansion has been incorporated into the Imperial Merchants. The products produced by our Fu family are intended for His Majesty the Emperor and those nobles. Here, I want to praise Master Liu, the winemaker. The royal family has already purchased Xishan Qiongjiang, and you have made an invaluable contribution. I will give each of the workers in the winery 300 coins, Master Liu 3,000 coins, and the other masters 1,500 coins!"
boom……
The crowd suddenly exploded.
No one understood what Fu Xiaoguan said otherwise, but they understood the thing about money.
Everyone looked at Master Liu. Master Liu didn't know this before and was confused. Is this a reward from the young master?
But that wine was clearly invented by the young master, right?
This won’t do!
Master Liu stood up, the crowd fell silent, and Fu Xiaoguan looked at him with a smile.
"I feel unworthy of this. This wine was invented by the young master. I would never dare to take the credit for it."
"No, it's true that I came up with this wine, but you were the one who executed it, and the many subsequent improvements were also yours. That's your contribution. Follow me, and you'll be rewarded for your contributions. But let me also say this: if there are any mistakes, there will be punishment. If anyone dares to leak the secrets of my Xishan..."
The smile on Fu Xiaoguan's face faded, and a murderous aura suddenly burst out, and even Su Mo frowned.
The people off the court were suddenly startled. Even in this July day, they could feel a deep chill.
"I'll really kill someone!"
The murderous aura subsided, and a smile appeared on Fu Xiaoguan's face again, as if he was bathed in a spring breeze. The moment just now seemed like a dream.
He really had killed someone! Su Mo made a judgment.
"Master Liu, please take a seat. The other person I want to reward is Feng Laosi. He found the limestone for me and is now mining it. This is a very important matter, so I want to reward Feng Laosi with 5,000 coins! The two stewards, please take note of this and distribute the money after the meeting."
The crowd was in an uproar again. It turned out that working for the young master was possible like this!
Five thousand coins, a full five taels of silver!
Everyone looked at Fu Xiaoguan with enthusiastic eyes. At this moment, Fu Xiaoguan was just shining silver money in their eyes!
"I have several tasks to do next. First, I need to find a kind of clay. It's red or brown in color and is usually found near rivers, but it could also be somewhere else."
"Secondly, I need a lot of bricks and tiles. I remember that Master Tang here is a bricklayer. I'll leave this to you."
"Third, if you have women in your family, plant flowers in your own yard or on the hillside. I need a lot of flowers. When they bloom, pick them and send them to the other courtyard. One pound of flowers will cost one hundred coins."
There was another commotion below. This was much more profitable than growing crops. It didn't take up any land and people could make money just by sitting around and doing nothing. Of course everyone was willing to do it.
"Those who want to plant something can stay and go get the seeds from Steward Zhang. When you get back, let the township know. I hope our village will be covered in flowers."
"Fourth, I need to build a bigger waterwheel, at least five times larger than the current one. Leave this to Zhou Zheng, you're an excellent carpenter."
"Fifth, Feng Laosi, I have another task for you. I need iron ore, and you have to help me find it."
"Sixth..."
“…”
No one knows what Fu Xiaoguan’s long list of needs is for.
But everyone knows that as long as they do what Master Fu says and do it well, they will make money, a lot of money!
Everyone followed Yi Yu and Zhang Ce to the outer courtyard. They were responsible for explaining, which was not an easy job. These peasants had hardly any education and did not understand many things. So, the two of them split into two groups and held a second meeting to explain.
Fu Xiaoguan was also very worried about arranging every detail. Now that he finally had some peace and quiet, he thought about it carefully. There were still many omissions, which he would make up for later.
He was lying on a reclining chair drinking iced bayberry soup when Su Mo came over.
"What on earth do you want to do?"
"Let them live better."
"Is this also the purpose of building a school?"
"Of course, it's always good to have more people who can read."
This was the first time Su Mo took the initiative to talk to Fu Xiaoguan. He then asked, "Are you looking for saltpeter and refining sulfur also for their better lives?"
Fu Xiaoguan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "This thing is very useful. For example, if you want to open a mountain, digging manually would be very troublesome, but with explosives, it would become very simple."
Su Mo frowned. "What about the iron ore? Iron ore is controlled by the imperial court. How dare you get it?"
Fu Xiaoguan really didn't realize this problem. The fact was that he didn't know that this thing was controlled, but he had to get the iron ore. What should he do?
“Then how can we mine it?”
"You need official approval."
After thinking for a while, he said to Chunxiu, "Xiu'er, grind the ink."
Fu Xiaoguan wrote a letter to his father, Fu Daguan, and handed the matter of the documents over to Fu Daguan.
If Fu Daguan couldn't handle it, he decided to try asking Dong Shulan. Of course, it would be best if this matter could be resolved in Linjiang.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
