Xie Yushu always drew two copies of the blueprints.
If Zheng Dacheng succeeds, she will offer the remaining portion to the imperial court.
Otherwise, if the imperial court doesn't even have weapons, wouldn't she be courting death?
If she couldn't produce it, that would be one thing, but Zheng Dacheng couldn't produce it either. If she rashly submitted it and the Ministry of Works couldn't produce it either, wouldn't she be deceiving the Emperor?
After finishing the blueprints, Xie Yushu took him to see Zheng Dacheng. Blacksmithing was Zheng Dacheng's specialty, so when he saw the blueprints Xie Yushu gave him, his eyes lit up immediately, and he patted his chest to guarantee that he could definitely forge it within a month.
Xie Yushu nodded and let him do as he pleased.
The next issue is manpower.
Buying people will cost another sum of money. It's been a long time since she's had any income. She went back to her room, took out her hairpin, and counted her silver notes. She still had more than seven hundred taels left.
To maintain order at the four factories and hospitals outside, as well as the security of the villa and the glass transportation, we need at least another fifty or sixty people. Moreover, these fifty or sixty people must be young and strong between the ages of seventeen or eighteen and twenty-five. If we calculate based on sixty people, the cost of buying people, providing them with equipment, food and drink will be six or seven hundred taels.
She's back to square one!
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, people usually go to temples to burn incense, pray to Buddha, and pray for blessings. The second day is the day to visit one's maternal home. From the third to the fifth day, relatives visit each other to exchange New Year's greetings. After the fifth day, friends visit each other.
Xie Yushu planned to take Sun Chongren to the Wen family in Jinyang on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, and take some glass products to Wen Da, that stingy man, to pluck a few feathers from him.
Then there's the Emperor. I don't know if he's satisfied with the glass mirror and the like, or how much he'll reward her. Han Zhongyu said it's at most three thousand taels, maybe a thousand. But she wants to build nine villas and four or five factories and hospitals. That's not enough money!
She couldn't sell the ginseng and snake gall anymore; she was planning to make them into life-saving pills in a couple of days!
Han Zhongyu had no money either!
Who else can I get some money from?
Xie Yushu was fumbling with the silver notes, at a loss, when Han Zhongyu arrived with the silver and the imperial merchant's token given by the emperor.
When Xie Yushu heard that Han Zhongyu had arrived, she rolled up the silver notes and stuffed them into her hairpin before going out to greet him.
"Lord Han has come to deliver New Year's gifts?"
Xie Yushu looked at the exaggerated cart of boxes behind Han Zhongyu and asked.
"Not only did they send New Year's gifts, but they also sent imperial edicts and imperial merchant tokens."
"Imperial Merchant Token? For me?"
I've become an imperial merchant! Haha! Being an imperial merchant in the Great Qi Dynasty is so easy!
Did the Emperor bestow any silver upon you?
Xie Yushu was overjoyed to hear that she had become a royal merchant and asked a series of questions.
Seeing how happy she was, Han Zhongyu handed her the imperial merchant's token and said...
"They only gave him the token, not any silver! However, the Emperor did invest with silver notes!"
We'll split it 40/60, you get 60%, but that includes the profits going to the government, he gets 10%, and the national treasury gets 30%.
Of course, this 30% is directly deducted from taxes, but it goes directly to the national treasury without going through local authorities.
"Investing in shares? Investing in shares is fine too! Anyway, we'll be paying taxes to the national treasury, so we'll skip the middlemen and not have to worry about being exploited at every level!"
By the way, how much silver did His Majesty invest?
"Thirty thousand taels, here, keep it safe!"
Moreover, the Emperor is going to hold a grand celebration for the Empress Dowager's 60th birthday on the 19th day of the second lunar month. Invitations to various countries have already been sent out. The Emperor's intention is to take this opportunity to make a fortune off them. You need to rush to produce a batch of glass and sell it to them at a high price.
"The ninth day of the second lunar month? It's only the fifth day of the first lunar month now, there are still more than forty days left. I'll have them rush to finish the work and add another furnace, try to make as much as possible!"
Xie Yushu took the silver notes and counted them quickly, looking at them again and again, extremely pleased.
"I was just worried about not having enough money, and here you are! You're truly my lucky star!"
Han Zhongyu smiled
"The money belongs to the Emperor; I dare not take credit for it!"
These are my New Year's gifts for you! Do you like them?
I didn't know what to give as a New Year's gift. I was originally going to give you some fabric and jewelry, but my mother also sent over some New Year's goods, most of which seemed more suitable for girls and I didn't like them, so I brought them all over for you!
The straightforward Eryu thought that his mother had given him these things, and that his mother missed her daughter terribly!
After all, it wasn't like his mother hadn't dressed him in skirts and put flowers in his hair when he was little.
However, his grandfather discovered him and took him to live in his own yard, which saved him.
He still remembers the comical way his grandfather's beard trembled with shock when he saw a little girl in the house.
Of course, he must have found it quite ridiculous himself.
But this time, he was really overthinking it!
Xie Yushu was also shocked. Looking at the six large boxes in the car, she asked with a country bumpkin-like expression.
"Do all people in Beijing give New Year's gifts like this?"
If you're going to give me a gift like that, I can't afford it!
Her question also caught Han Zhongyu off guard. Thinking back, he realized he didn't know how to send New Year's gifts in the capital. Over the years, he had been either studying or arresting and investigating people, and he really hadn't paid attention to New Year's gifts!
Moreover, in the capital, her mother and sister-in-law were in charge of the household, and the men didn't have to worry about trivial matters like New Year's gifts.
Around this time, on the first and second days of the Lunar New Year, some colleagues came to give him New Year's gifts, but he refused them all!
Although they looked a little unhappy when they left, he had already said that they should focus on their work and not bother with these useless things.
As for Xie Yushu, he spent a long time in the storeroom picking out two nice pieces of fabric and a white jade hairpin, and still felt it was a bit too little.
Just then, his mother brought him New Year's gifts. When he opened them, he saw that they were all light-colored materials, some high-quality leathers, and especially a lot of beautiful jewelry. He subconsciously thought that Xie Yushu would look very good in them, so he didn't even unload them from the car and just brought them over!
Upon hearing Xie Yushu's question, he realized it might be a bit much, but he didn't mind at all, and calmly replied...
"For those with whom we are closer, the New Year's gift will be more, but it's not too much!"
And you don't need to follow along. Didn't you send me all that glass, mirrors, cups, and stuff before the New Year?
"If I don't return the money, I'll be stingy!"
Hearing him say this, Xie Yushu found it difficult to refuse, so she said...
"If that's how you put it, then I'll accept it!"
Thank you, Lord Han!
There's no need for formalities between us!
The yamen hadn't started its work yet, and Han Zhongyu wasn't busy, so Xie Yushu invited him to stay for a meal. After the meal, she saw Han Zhongyu off and then called Zhao Hu and Nan Xing over. She gave them seven hundred taels of silver notes and told them to go to the brokerage and pick out sixty young men aged sixteen to twenty-five.
Now they are mature bodyguards, and they have mastered all kinds of training. Teaching others is no problem. If we buy them back, we can start training them directly in the training grounds they have used. They will be ready to be used in three to five months!
Sixty able-bodied men and six hundred taels of silver would be enough, and the remaining one hundred taels would be enough to buy clothes and daggers.
Having trained with Zhao Hu for so long, Nanxing could tell at a glance what kind of physique was suitable for training, so he took the silver notes and went out to select people.
Xie Yushu was also preparing to go to the Wen family to raise funds.
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