Li Shimin went to great lengths to coax Princess Jiujiang away, but unexpectedly, she returned just two days later, bringing all her younger siblings and even her own daughter.
What are you doing here again?
"Brother, we're in a terrible situation, waaaaah..."
"What happened to you guys this time?"
"Brother, we have no money and no people, we can't go on living like this, sob sob sob..."
Li Shimin was too lazy to waste words with them and asked directly.
"What exactly do you want?!"
"Your Majesty, could you please have Li Jue return our craftsmen?"
"Uh?"
If they hadn't brought it up, Li Shimin would have almost forgotten about it.
What exactly do you mean?
"Your Majesty, we just want our artisans back, sob sob sob..."
"hiss……"
Li Shimin felt a pang of pain upon hearing this, but what he didn't know was that the reason these people were so eager to get the craftsmen back was simply because they had heard that Li Jue had made a fortune using these craftsmen!
Of course, they might not make any money even if they got the craftsmen back; they just wanted to squeeze some money out of Li Jue and get him to pay for the transfer of the craftsmen.
Li Shimin quickly understood what these people meant. Seeing that they weren't very promising and spent their days worrying about trivial matters related to copper coins, he simply took this group of intangible cultural heritages to find Li Jue.
However, as soon as Li Shimin arrived at the Prince of Qin's residence, he was informed that Li Jue had gone to inspect the Western Hills.
Li Shimin was also very curious about how Li Jue had managed to produce so much refined salt, so he took his younger siblings to inspect the Western Hills.
When the group arrived at the Xishan Salt Industry Workshop, they were amazed by the rows of buildings in front of them.
"Brother, when did a county town start up here?"
Li Shimin was stunned by the sight. The houses were connected and the fields stretched out in rows. It was only missing a city wall to become a county town.
"Zhang Anan, are you aware of this matter?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Anan quickly replied.
"Your Majesty, this old servant understands!"
"The Crown Prince never hides anything from this old servant; this old servant has known about this place for a long time."
"this……"
"Then tell me, what exactly happened? Who gave him permission to build the city without authorization?"
"Your Majesty, this is not a city. This is merely a workshop under the jurisdiction of the Crown Prince!"
"workshop?"
Li Shimin pointed to a row of neat two-story buildings.
"Does your workshop have so many buildings?"
"Your Majesty, this is the dormitory building, specifically for the artisans..."
"Oh, by the way, they can no longer be called craftsmen. The Crown Prince previously issued an order to change the term from craftsmen to workers!"
What does this mean?
"This old servant does not know..."
"But I heard from the workshop staff that the reason the Crown Prince changed their names was simply because he considered them human beings!"
"oh……"
Li Shimin nodded upon hearing this, thinking to himself that this was something Li Jue was capable of doing.
The group arrived at the workshop entrance, but were stopped just as they were about to enter.
"This is a restricted workshop area; entry is prohibited without a valid reason!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Anan immediately took out a waist token and waved it in front of the guard, who then let them in.
"General Zhang, please come in!"
"What is your Crown Prince doing?"
"Reporting to General Zhang, our Imperial Grandson is inspecting a new type of grinding machine!"
"Oh oh oh..."
Zhang Anan chatted casually with the guards for a few minutes, then led Li Shimin and his entourage into the workshop.
"Your Majesty, this is the grinding area... The ore mined from the mountain is first transported here for grinding..."
Li Shimin gasped as he looked at the spacious grinding area.
The scale here is enormous, and many of the facilities are things he has never heard of or seen before.
Why can the ore move by itself?
"oh?"
"Your Majesty is referring to the conveyor belt, isn't he?"
"Conveyor belt?"
"Your Majesty, please look. This is actually a conveyor belt. It is made of special canvas on top and has wooden gears underneath. As the gears turn, the cloth bag on top moves, which can transport the ore to the designated location."
"Oh oh oh..."
Li Shimin nodded as if he understood but not quite.
Although he couldn't see why the conveyor belt was moving, he knew one thing: the grinding speed here was very fast. A dozen truckloads of ore were ground into powder in the blink of an eye.
Why isn't this stone mill operated by hand?
"Your Majesty, this is a water-powered mill invented by the Crown Prince!"
"Water conservancy?"
"Your Majesty, please look, these stone mills are all built by the water, mainly to utilize the power of the water flow..."
"In order to make better use of water resources, the Crown Prince also built a dam upstream, specifically to raise the water level..."
"Oh oh oh..."
How much ore can be ground here in a day?
"Your Majesty, it is said that they can grind 200,000 catties a day..."
Two hundred thousand catties?
Li Shimin was shocked by this number, but what shocked him even more was that such a large project was carried out with less than two hundred people!
Moreover, these people almost always just watch the machines; no one actually pulls or grinds them.
"Your Majesty, this is the dissolving workshop. They will dissolve the powder in water and then gradually remove the impurities..."
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin looked over and saw hundreds of craftsmen gathered around huge pools, vigorously stirring the liquid inside with bamboo poles. As they stirred, more people unloaded cartloads of powder, dissolving it completely in the pools.
Although Li Shimin did not know their specific job duties, he observed that their work efficiency was extremely high, with each person capable of serving as two, three, or even ten people.
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