Du Ke, to borrow the words of modern people, is a very career-oriented person, but he has his own principles. The affairs of the Wei family and the Yang family in the past were indeed disgraced by many people. Du Ke has never commented on this matter, but in his heart he does not agree with the Wei family's approach. But on the surface, no one dares to say anything. After all, the Wei family is loyal to the current emperor. Who dares to say that the Wei family is wrong? Isn't this a slap in the face of the current emperor?
Du Ke did not expect that the little girl kneeling in front of him could say such a thing. Yang Haiyan came from the family of Taifu Yang. If she recognized the Wei family, she would indeed be a topic of gossip in the future when she came to the circle of Beijing. However, the Wei family did not consider these, and only saw that Yang Haiyan was doing well now, so they came to recognize her as a relative. Du Ke smiled and shook his head at this behavior. "Stand up and talk."
Yang Haiyan stood up.
Du Ke said, "You are a smart woman. You can think of the right and wrong, the pros and cons in that situation. It's really good. I don't dislike women's intelligence. I have two daughters in my family, one legitimate daughter and one concubine's daughter. No matter whether they are legitimate daughters or concubine's daughters, they rarely talk to me. They never talked to me before they got married, and even less after they got married. But I didn't expect that I would still have a goddaughter talking to me like this when I am approaching middle age." To put it bluntly, when the two daughters saw him, they were like mice seeing a cat.
Yang Haiyan was stunned. Did Du Ke agree with him?
Du Ke said again: "Tell me, why did you think of using your master's wife as a shield under that situation?" There was no blame in Du Ke's tone, only curiosity.
Yang Haiyan was honest in front of Du Ke, and she didn't dare to play any tricks, so she said truthfully: "You accepted my husband as a student, and the relationship between the Qin family and you has been determined. Whether I recognize my master's wife as my stepmother or not, in the eyes of outsiders, it will not damage the relationship between you and my husband. So, although this is just an excuse to reject the Wei family, it has no effect on the Du family. But if I recognize the Wei family as a godparent, it means that the Qin family and the Wei family have a godparent, and you are my husband's teacher, so the Du family and the Wei family are probably also related.
To be honest, the main reason is my personal reason. I don't agree with the Wei family's style, and... I think you will help me admit it, so... I am bold."
"Hahaha..." Du Ke laughed, "You are indeed very brave. However, your boldness is also within my expectations. Although I am surprised that you reacted so quickly, I am not surprised by your temperament."
Yang Haiyan was slightly surprised.
Du Ke said: "I never think that a woman who can think of military camp land policy, saltpeter ice making, franchise agency and so on is an ordinary woman."
Yang Haiyan was a little embarrassed. Was Lord Du praising him?
"Okay, come in, what are you doing outside?" Du Ke shouted to the outside.
Qin Fang walked in with a chuckle: "I saw that you had something to say, so I came in later."
Yang Haiyan did not expect that Qin Fang went out on purpose.
Du Ke snorted: "They are all playing tricks on me. But since things have come to this, let's just leave it at that. I will write a letter to your master's wife, congratulating her on having an adopted daughter. You have to lend me your hairpin. I will ask her to prepare another one of the same kind."
Yang Haiyan took off the hairpin: "This hairpin was given to me by the wife of the Prince of Yonghe. This is the first time I wear it. I thought that Wei Ting should not be able to see the pattern. If your master's wife... your adopted mother wants to prepare such a hairpin, you can make some changes to the pattern, otherwise it will be... I am not too embarrassed to talk about this matter when I meet the wife of the prince.
"Du Ke nodded: "I know." He accepted the hairpin in front of Qin Fang. Although they are of different generations, there is still a difference between men and women. In front of Qin Fang, it will not cause misunderstanding. "Let's talk about joining. What do you think about the specifics? Analyze with me."
Qin Fang said: "Let Yanyan talk about this."
Du Ke: "I never counted on you." Otherwise, why invite them to come together?
Qin Fang shut up. He found that the teacher loved to argue with people.
Yang Haiyan smiled. She could see that Du Ke liked Qin Fang very much, otherwise Du Ke and Qin Fang would not be so free and easy. "Teacher, my plan is this. We will open a franchise meeting in each prefecture in the name of the emperor, and then let them bid from the list of selected households. We will then choose the one with the highest franchise fee. This is the first step. The second step has nothing to do with us, but it has to do with the winner. There
are several counties under each prefecture, and the winner cannot go to every county to manage it, so the winner can set up an agent in the county..."
They discussed this from morning to noon, and they didn't finish discussing it until before lunch. Du Ke was very interested in the franchise, bidding, and agency mentioned by Yang Haiyan. It must be said that some places were not clear just by looking at the plan, but after Yang Haiyan's explanation, it became clearer.
The first step of this plan is to establish a product label. The name of the product label is Huangliang, and there is another name on the lower right of the two characters Huangliang, which is the emperor's own character, Yuansheng.
In other words, this product label has four characters, Huangliang and Yuansheng. These four characters were all written by the emperor himself. After they were written, they were asked to be carved into a seal by the Ministry of Industry and brought by Du Ke.
In the second step, the successful franchise family will get such a product label, and the successful county merchants will also have such a product label hanging at the door of the store. In other words, if there is no such product label, the shop cannot sell potato flour and sweet potato flour, otherwise it is illegal.
No one dares to carve a product label with the emperor's characters. This is a capital crime. Who dares?
Therefore, the emperor's brand is the most useful.
After lunch, Du Ke, Qin Fang and Yang Haiyan began to discuss the next things.
The first test point of this plan is Renzhou. Renzhou has six prefectures, and Yunxiang County is in Hedong Prefecture. The franchisee of Hedong Prefecture is the Qin family. Then, Renzhou still has five prefectures. Du Ke needs to summon the prefects of other prefectures in Renzhou to Yunxiang County to discuss this matter. Of course, the prefect of Hedong Prefecture also needs to be informed, so the six prefects have to rush to Yunxiang County.
Du Ke: "Let's host the six prefects at the Yunxiang County Post Station."
Qin Fang said: "The post station has been renovated and can be lived in. I will say hello to Magistrate Yang, and the county government will arrange the reception."
Du Ke was not worried about this. What he was worried about was: "Take the six prefectures of Renzhou for example. Since Hedong Prefecture is yours, you don't have to worry about the candidates who will join. But there are still five prefectures left. It is not so easy to pick out people with good character in each prefecture. If there are several suitable households, it will almost be a bidding process. In this way, each prefecture will take more than half a month. We have 120 prefectures in Qi State. If all these 120 prefectures are taken down, Qin Fang, Bingyun, can you calculate how long it will take?"
Qin Fang began to calculate silently.
Yang Haiyan said, "Twenty-four households a year, that would take five years."
Du Ke was slightly surprised, "Bingyun's math is good?"
Qin Fang said proudly: "Yan Yan is in charge of the military camp accounts, but now Yan Yan is teaching Shou Ye, and it will be handed over to Shou Ye in the future. The accounts made by Yan Yan are very easy to understand, and even someone like me who doesn't know arithmetic can understand them at a glance."
Yang Haiyan immediately said: "My husband thinks everything about me is good, but I'm not that good."
In the past, Qin Fang used to be clumsy in front of Du Ke, but now according to Du Ke's meaning, the godparent relationship between Yang Haiyan and Mrs. Du is recognized, so Du Ke is also Yang Haiyan's adoptive father, and he has become one of their own, so Qin Fang is not so polite anymore and calls Yan Yan directly.
Du Ke still knows a little about Qin Fang, and if Qin Fang says it's good, then it must be good. Qin Fang has an advantage, that is, he doesn't brag. Therefore, Du Ke asked curiously: "Go and bring me the accounts of the military camp." He also has accounts in the Ministry of War, which are usually a mess. He really wants to see the accounts that Qin Fang, who is illiterate, can understand at a glance.
Qin Fang stood up: "I'll get it now."
Yang Haiyan: "..." She thought Qin Fang was a bit extravagant.
Du Ke said: "Don't worry about him. Bingyun, a franchise plan takes five years. I don't have five years to spend on it. Two years at most. Do you have a way?" Although Du Ke asked this, he already had a way in his mind. He was just testing Yang Haiyan.
Yang Haiyan did not judge why Du Ke asked this question. In front of a good official, she was willing to introduce modern knowledge, just like when she was at the border, she knew from novels that the character of the Yonghe Marquis family was trustworthy, so she dared to take out the soap recipe.
Yang Haiyan thought about it and suddenly had an idea: "Teacher, can I be your deputy?"
Du Ke was stunned. Yang Haiyan's answer was really beyond his expectations. "What do you mean?"
Yang Haiyan said, "I... I want to go with you to different places to participate in this event. I... I grew up in the capital since I was a child. I married to the border at the age of sixteen. This year, at the age of eighteen, I followed my husband from the border to Yunxiang County. I... I want to go around the country and see the beautiful mountains and rivers of our Qi country. Teacher, I know that in the eyes of many people, women should take care of their husbands and children and stay in the back house, but... but I hope that one day, when I have children, I can proudly tell them how big and beautiful the mountains and rivers of our Qi country are. I can proudly tell them that I have walked on every inch of land in Qi country. Instead of..." Yang Haiyan's voice gradually died away. She felt that she was a little fanciful. In ancient times, which woman could be so lucky?
Du Ke knew that Yang Haiyan was a remarkable woman and that he should not use the thoughts of ordinary women to influence and judge her, so he did not immediately object to what Yang Haiyan said. After a while, he said, "You should discuss this with Qin Fang." If Qin Fang had no objection, even though he was a teacher, he was still an outsider, so why would he object?
Yang Haiyan was very surprised when she heard it: "Don't you object? Don't you think women should be confined to the inner courtyard of the back house?"
Du Ke rarely talked about his personal affairs, which he had never told others: "Speaking of which, I have never thought about this problem. Since I was born, I have been enlightened, went to school, took the imperial examination, and entered the court as an official. Every step was orderly, so I never thought about what women should do? The only time I thought about it... was probably three times.
The first time was when the old lady in the family asked me to marry your stepmother, and I thought about this woman. The second time was when my legitimate daughter, that is, your eldest sister, was going to get engaged, and I thought about what kind of man her personality would be suitable for. The third time was when my concubine's daughter was going to get engaged... I really don’t have any opinion on how to position women." This topic is a bit novel. At present, women are indeed confined to the harem, but... "You grew up in the capital, so you should know that there are women in the capital who are not confined to the harem. Those poetry meetings and poetry festivals are held every year, and there are women in them. Are those women confined to the harem?
Therefore, it is not the man who determines whether a woman is confined to the harem, but the woman herself. Bingyun, what do you think?"
Yang Haiyan was stunned at first, and finally slowly recalled Du Ke's words, and then she suddenly realized: "Thank you for your guidance, teacher." She understood and figured it out.
All along, when she traveled through the book to this world, she required herself to live here according to the standards of ancient women, such as ancient women doing small businesses, and then taking care of their husbands and children, etc. She lived like this while fishing. But after listening to Du Ke's words, she came to her senses. It was obvious that most women in ancient times lived like this.
But there was still a small part that did not live like this. It was up to herself to decide how to live, not to follow the crowd.
If she came to ancient times once, and she had been confined to the harem from the age of sixteen to sixty-six, or lived longer to eighty-six, she dared not imagine what would happen in the future. There were still fifty or even seventy years left in her life. Would she have to meet such standards and do such things just to meet the standards of ancient women?
That was obviously not possible. Otherwise, wouldn't it be a waste of her life?
She decided that when she and Qin Fang had sex, she would tell Qin Fang that she wanted to travel. Before she had children, she could still have fun. When she had children, she would...she would take her children on a trip?
Qin Fang didn't know about his wife's unrealistic idea. He came back with the military camp account: "Teacher..."
Du Ke took the account book, but didn't look at it immediately: "Just now we discussed how to complete five years' work in two years. Bingyun said he wanted to follow me to various prefectures to be my assistant to do this. Qin Fang, what do you think?"
Qin Fang opened his mouth and looked at Du Ke, then looked at Yang Haiyan. He had only one thought at this time: "Then what should I do?"
Qin Fang's answer surprised Yang Haiyan. Yang Haiyan thought he would object, but unexpectedly, his answer was what to do.
Yang Haiyan thought for a while: "Why don't you come too?" Yunxiang County really had nothing to do, and with Lieutenant Yang and Lieutenant Lu there, they could rest assured when defending the city. So it's okay for Qin Fang to leave for some time, but the generals defending the city cannot leave the county town at will without the emperor's order. Of course, if you go to a place like Linxian, it's okay to leave for a few days, but if you go to a place too far away, it's not okay. Otherwise, if something happens
in the county town, the generals defending the city will be held responsible. Qin Fang was tempted. He hasn't had a good rest since he started serving in the army at the age of sixteen. Even after completing five years of military service, he had a month's vacation, but he spent more than ten days on the road between his hometown and Yongzhou military camp. But: "No, I have the emperor's order now, and I have to keep an eye on the situation in the Taoist temple." The emperor asked him to monitor secretly, and he couldn't leave.
Speaking of the Taoist temple, Du Ke said, "Wei Ting said before that the gunpowder issue will be almost done in a month or so."
Qin Fang's eyes lit up: "What do you mean, teacher?"
Du Ke continued, "Renzhou is the first step in the Royal Grain Franchise Plan. It is estimated that it will take a month or so, so there is no rush. However, since the garrison commander cannot leave the county, I can ask the emperor to use you as my guard commander at his discretion."
Qin Fang was overjoyed and hurriedly stood up: "Thank you, teacher."
Du Ke waved his hand: "Then you can all talk about how to improve the efficiency of the Royal Grain Franchise Plan."
Yang Haiyan said: "Although there are 120 prefectures in Qiguo, there are 22 states in total. We can deal with the situation of each state together, just like what the teacher said before, we can invite the prefects of the six prefectures in Renzhou. The prefect is the head of a prefecture, and he can recommend families with good conduct in each prefecture. Then we will investigate and if there is no problem, we can let these families bid. This way it will be much faster."
Qin Fang Qin Fang and Yang Haiyan had never been involved in these livelihood issues. After listening to his wife's analysis, he said, "We have to send people to investigate the situation in each prefecture in advance, so that when each prefect recommends those families, we can compare them."
Du Ke nodded: "Yes, in fact, before I came to Yunxiang County, I had already sent people to investigate in each state and prefecture."
Yang Haiyan didn't expect Du Ke to do things so quickly. He is indeed the most popular person around the emperor today.
Du Ke said again: "But it is still unknown whether the imperial grain joining plan can succeed this time. Before I came, the emperor had already announced this matter through the morning court. Do you know what the pros and cons of the court are now?"
This?
Qin Fang and Yang Haiyan looked at each other. They didn't know. Qin Fang was born in a mud-legged family and had never known the court. Naturally, he didn't know these. Yang Haiyan is just a little girl, relying on some plots she knows from books and some little cleverness she has learned in the present world, but if she really understands these major events in the court, she doesn’t understand them.
Du Ke said: "Let me talk about the advantages of the court now. The advantage of the court is that the emperor has seized the throne and is very powerful. The court is almost a one-man show by the emperor. The ministers in the court now are all people who have helped the emperor in the past, such as me, Wei Ting’s father Wei Hong and others. Because of the relationship between us, in the morning court, almost everything the emperor says is what it is. Therefore, in the royal grain joining plan, no one dared to object. Even if someone dared to object, the difference between them and the supporters was so great that they could not do anything.
This is the first advantage.
The second advantage, The emperor has three sons, and the princes are still young. The factions in the court are not obvious. People like us who are the emperor have not yet taken sides, so the court is very harmonious in the morning. But since ancient times, the court has been divided into factions, and no dynasty has been an exception. It's just waiting for the princes to grow up. "
Qin Fang heard: "The disadvantages you are talking about, are the factions that will appear when the princes grow up?"
Du Ke said: "Yes, but the emperor is in good health, so it's too early to deal with this disadvantage."
Yang Haiyan wanted to say, you don't have to worry about this, the emperor is in good health now, and he will be fine when you retire.
"This time I am appointed as an imperial envoy, and many people are waiting to see me laugh. They naturally hope that this plan of joining the imperial grain will fail. If this plan fails, I will not be able to raise my head in the capital for a long time, so this plan cannot fail." Du Ke said this, and his voice was a little more serious.
The next day
Du Ke sent someone to deliver a letter to the six prefects of Renzhou.
The six prefectures of Renzhou: Hedong Prefecture, Anren Prefecture, Qiongli Prefecture, Liangshan Prefecture, Daohe Prefecture, Jiujiang Prefecture. When the six prefectures received Du Ke's letter, they were not surprised, because the court had already issued the plan of joining the imperial grain, and Du Ke was the imperial envoy of this incident, so they were all waiting. The court did not give clear rules for the imperial grain joining plan this time, and no one knew about it. Everyone was curious about what kind of plan it was. But from the literal meaning, it must be related to food.
This time, the six prefects of Renzhou received Du Ke's letter and rushed to Yunxiang County without stopping.
In the past, the six prefects of Renzhou were not very close, but this time, when they arrived at the gate of Yunxiang County, they did not enter the city immediately, but waited for a few people to arrive before entering the city together.
The prefect of Anren Prefecture said, "I don't know what the specific plan of the imperial grain franchise plan organized by Lord Du is. Lord Liu, this is your territory, have you heard any rumors?"
Lord Liu was the prefect of Hedong Prefecture. When he heard the prefect of Anren Prefecture ask this, he said, "Not yet. We will know the specific plan when we meet Lord Du."
The two of them just had a verbal fight, and then the six prefects went into the city. They went directly to the post station in Yunxiang County to receive court officials. As soon as the
six prefects arrived at the post station, the post station's postmaster immediately sent people to the general's mansion and the county government. Soon, Du Ke, who served in the general's mansion, and Yang County Magistrate, who served in the county government, went there. However, the county government office was closer to the post station, so Yang County Magistrate arrived first.
When the prefects arrived at the post station, they went to their respective houses to rest. Yunxiang County, which was under the jurisdiction of Yang County Magistrate, was under the jurisdiction of Hedong Prefecture, so he naturally went to see the prefect of Hedong Prefecture.
The prefect of Hedong Prefecture took a bath and changed his clothes. When he heard that Yang County Magistrate had arrived so soon, he let him in.
The last time Yang County Magistrate saw the prefect of Hedong Prefecture was at the beginning of this year. The prefect of Hedong Prefecture was transferred here at the beginning of this year. When the new prefect took office, the county magistrates under his jurisdiction naturally had to go and pay their respects.
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