"Minister Dai, you have done very well. I will reward you handsomely."
Then Kangxi announced a long list of rewards, including promotions and monetary bonuses, which were the most tangible.
As for the Mongol princes accompanying him, their faces were turning ashen, their brows furrowed, and their hearts filled with unease. This was not something that Kangxi would concern himself with.
Emperor Kangxi was very satisfied with the victory banquet at noon, but the Mongol princes and others lost their appetite. After returning from the firearms camp, the princes discussed that they should leave as soon as possible!
"Your Majesty, the Mongolian princes staying at the post station are planning to take their leave."
Kangxi was not surprised.
The Mongolian prince came ostensibly to pay his respects to Emperor Kangxi, but in reality, he was there to demand money and goods. Mongolia was the border of the Qing Dynasty, and the stability of Mongolia was crucial to the stability of the Qing Dynasty's frontier.
"Is there anything you'd like to ask for this time?"
"Your Majesty, no."
Kangxi couldn't help but burst into laughter. This was truly the first time. Every time a Mongol prince came, it was to freeload. They always asked for a lot. If those things could actually be used by the Mongol people to get through the winter, Kangxi wouldn't say anything. In reality, those things just ended up in the hands of the Mongol princes for their own enjoyment.
He always knew he was being taken advantage of, but for the sake of Mongolia's stability, he had no choice but to be the one to suffer.
When Emperor Kangxi saw that the Mongolian prince was taking the initiative to return and hadn't asked for anything in return, he was overjoyed and excited!
This is all thanks to the power of the mother-and-child cannons; otherwise, they wouldn't be so well-behaved.
"Prepare one-tenth of the ingredients as they requested and let them take it back."
It's impossible for Emperor Kangxi to give nothing at all, but giving everything and giving only one-tenth are very different things.
“Zha”
The Mongolian prince hadn't expected to receive a reward. Although it was less than what he had asked for, they had all planned to leave empty-handed after seeing the mother-and-child cannons. The unexpected reward was a pleasant surprise, so he left the capital with the reward with trepidation.
After seeing off the Mongolian prince, the first snow fell in the capital. At this time, Youqing was not idle; she took out her first batch of greenhouse vegetables.
Originally, Youqing planned to build a vegetable greenhouse, but the technology was not up to par. At this point, there was no thick plastic sheeting that was transparent and windproof.
The oil paper was translucent, but not very translucent. In winter, a strong wind would not only blow it away, but also tear it apart, so she gave up the idea.
Last year, I was able to eat vegetables in Beijing, all from hot spring resorts. The quality of the greens was average, and they cost about two taels of silver per pound, which was ridiculously expensive.
As soon as winter arrived this year, Youqing prepared to start growing vegetables in the heated room. The heated room was set up like a large communal room. There were quite a few empty houses in the village, so growing vegetables on the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) would use some low-grade coal, but it wasn't too wasteful.
The vegetables were grown, and Youqing set aside enough from her own estate to feed the emperor, sending some to Kangxi. Vegetables are more precious than fruits in summer and autumn, so the amount given was not much.
There was still quite a bit left, so Youqing took it to the fruit shop where she used to sell it.
Winter vegetables are much more expensive than autumn fruits, and the profit from selling crop after crop of vegetables is quite substantial.
This made Youqing think that greenhouse vegetables were a very promising business, and she planned to start doing it next year.
The farm shop does have recipes for making plastic products, but they are too expensive, costing 100,000 gold coins per recipe. This is because plastic is considered a futuristic item and it is prone to causing pollution.
Youqing didn't want to actually develop plastics so quickly, so she planned to build a glass factory after spring, and then build glass houses to grow vegetables in the glass greenhouses. That would be much better than plastic greenhouses, although the cost would be higher. Fortunately, Youqing could afford to fail.
Youqing made a lot of money before the New Year. At first, vegetables were one tael of silver per catty, but Youqing limited the quantity, and later they were sold for two or three taels per catty.
The reason the price is so high is mainly because the young and fresh vegetables are of good quality and look fresh. Wealthy families don't care about a few taels of silver, and ordinary people don't buy fresh vegetables in winter, so it won't affect the general market.
"Master, these are the accounts for this month. Please take a look."
Youqing checked the accounts and found nothing wrong.
Then Cheng Ying said, "By the way, Master, Eunuch Liang just sent someone to say that the Imperial Household Department has acquired a lot of wool yarn and asked if you want some."
Youqing thought for a moment and nodded: "Go and buy some, buy more."
Youqing only learned last winter that although some people have been using wool yarn in recent years, it has not become widespread. The reason is that wool yarn is extremely difficult to process, and the price of yarn delivered from pastures is simply unaffordable for ordinary families. Furthermore, some people are unwilling to wear it, even if the wool is extremely clean, they still feel it is not clean.
Emperor Kangxi initially entrusted the wool issue to a special person, and although there were some results, they were not significant.
Chengying was instructed to buy wool yarn, and then Youqing asked Sangzhu to find some skillful women in the nearby villages, about thirty or forty people.
Cheng Ying brought a lot of wool yarn, mainly because this stuff wasn't popular in the capital. You Qing asked for so much and even paid the market price, which made the Imperial Household Department very happy!
Chengying and Sangzhu, who were by Youqing's side, were both skilled at knitting sweaters, scarves, gloves, and socks. Thirty or forty skillful women gathered together to learn knitting techniques, and within two days they all mastered them.
Before the Lunar New Year, Youqing opened another shop, which sold clothes, scarves, gloves and socks made of wool yarn.
In the dead of winter, few ladies and young women are willing to go out shopping, and few servants dare to make decisions on their own to buy things for their masters. Ordinary women are also reluctant to spend a lot of money on wool products, so business in the shops is not very good.
Business was bad, which Youqing hadn't expected. After inquiring about the reasons, and considering that the New Year was just around the corner, Youqing made a request to Emperor Kangxi.
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