The Li and Cui families, two of the four major families in Suzhou, fell from grace overnight, finally making the other two families realize that something was wrong.
It was too late. The Li family was gone, the Cui family was gone, and the remaining two families were also in dire straits. What the four families could do together, the remaining two families could no longer do.
With the help of insightful individuals, many academies in Jiangnan underwent changes. Many teachers left the academies, and all the connections they could make in officialdom were used. After doing all this, business was reduced as appropriate.
That brought the matter to a close.
Emperor Kangxi was satisfied with this.
Emperor Kangxi had no intention of using and discarding Third Master Li and Third Young Master Li. Since Third Young Master Li was ambitious and willing to take the imperial examination, he would give him a chance and see how far he could go.
After things were settled here, Kangxi left Suzhou.
Emperor Kangxi planned to visit Zhejiang again before returning home.
Kangxi's trip to Zhejiang was mainly for sightseeing; nothing major happened there. However, he did encounter some unpleasant things during his trip.
This matter may not seem like a huge deal initially, but it's not insignificant in the long run.
This matter, though not insignificant, concerns overseas trade.
Zhejiang is a coastal province with many wharves, and foreign merchant ships often approach here. This place has more imported goods than the capital.
It made Emperor Kangxi's eyes somewhat dizzy and confused.
Emperor Kangxi inquired about the specifics and discovered that the industry was indeed extremely profitable.
However, due to the small audience and the high risks of maritime trade, there are not many people engaged in this field.
Generally speaking, only people from poor families who are hardworking and resilient would join merchant ships and stockpile cargo.
The money earned from one trip is enough for an ordinary person to live a peaceful life for half a lifetime, and two trips would be enough to live comfortably for a lifetime. However, only two-thirds of the people could safely disembark from the ship.
One-third of the deaths occurred because only those who couldn't make ends meet boarded the ship.
Kangxi had the young Qing dynasty and also had a system, so he saw a lot of things, but he also saw something else.
Some things that were common in the Qing Dynasty were quite rare in other countries.
When Emperor Kangxi heard that a merchant had sold a vase of average quality for enough silver to buy a small house, he realized the enormous profits involved.
"I plan to form a caravan specifically for overseas trade. What do you think?"
Youqing was taken aback upon hearing this.
Although she wasn't very good at history, she was quite interested in the history of the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods, so she naturally knew a lot about the policy of closing the country to the outside world.
The Kangxi era was not a true period of isolation, but foreign trade was not very open. At most, foreigners were not excluded, and there are foreign officials in the court today.
But that's all.
Although Emperor Kangxi did not prohibit maritime trade, he did not support it.
Only some coastal areas have experienced "wild" development.
Now that Kangxi has seen the enormous profits involved and his horizons have broadened, he is no longer afraid of the series of troubles that would come with opening up to the outside world, so it is not impossible for him to do it.
"This is good news. Have you made up your mind?"
Kangxi said, "This matter is not urgent, let's take it slowly."
You can't get fat in one bite.
Let's assess the situation here first, and only proceed with this matter once things have stabilized at the imperial court.
Youqing was truly pleasantly surprised.
As a Chinese person, no one is unaware of that tragic history. The country was closed off from the world and failed to keep up with the times. The backwardness of thought and technology was the main reason.
If Emperor Kangxi has such awareness now, there will surely be major changes in the future.
"What's wrong with Father Emperor these days? He's been going to the beach every day, doesn't he care about getting sunburned?"
The Crown Prince dared to say such things in private.
"Master, should I go and inquire about it?"
The Crown Prince shook his head: "No need. I know Father's temperament. He doesn't like others asking about these things."
"yes"
The crown prince was also terrified; no matter how much he did, he made mistakes, and he was truly afraid.
After touring Zhejiang, Emperor Kangxi then mentioned his intention to return home, though he left many people behind.
The return journey was much more relaxed, mainly focused on getting to the destination without much stopping. By the end of August, we had arrived in Beijing before September.
After returning to the capital, I was extremely busy.
After dealing with the remaining trivial matters, Emperor Kangxi got busy again after only two days of rest.
Kangxi encountered many things on his journey to Jiangnan, which gave him much to consider. He was determined to implement reforms, but reforms cannot be accomplished overnight. He planned to first build up his own team.
He plans to add an extra exam, scheduled for early next year. At the same time, he plans to announce before the exam that candidates who fail can take another exam.
However, the content of this performance was not the traditional Four Books and Five Classics.
The imperial court was not short of officials, but Emperor Kangxi planned to replace a group of local officials after the special imperial examination. He also wanted to wake up those local officials who only knew how to eat and wait to die in their localities, and make them understand that if they could not make the people live a good life, they could not expect to live off the results of the imperial examination for the rest of their lives.
Emperor Kangxi also discovered that while officials who passed the imperial examinations were well-educated, they were not necessarily good officials.
Emperor Kangxi also considered this point.
He planned to gradually abolish the rule that those who passed the imperial examinations would directly become officials, or at least add a practical assessment to the process.
That is, the internship performance in various departments in the capital.
This is not good news for students who have passed the imperial examinations and become Jinshi, and it is quite difficult to do so.
This is an extremely difficult task.
Therefore, Kangxi should start making preparations now.
First, he needed to get the approval of those bookish old officials in the court. If they disagreed, they could really incite the candidates, which was not something Kangxi wanted to see.
So Kangxi then threw himself into the battle of wits and courage with the court officials, and he seemed to enjoy it.
Even when Emperor Kangxi was busy, Youqing was not idle.
The glassmaking process is now quite mature, and she needs to consider selling the glass nationwide.
“Master, according to what you said, I have calculated that it is more cost-effective to set up workshops in various places. However, this will make it less convenient to manage them.”
The existing glass workshops are all located on the outskirts of Beijing, but the transportation costs for glass production in Beijing are relatively high.
Youqing agreed that if the glass workshop were located where the glass raw materials were sourced, a lot of costs could be saved.
However, this makes the glass business more difficult to manage.
Travel was slow back then, unlike in modern times where you can travel to other places in just a few hours if it's not far, making inspections much more convenient.
Glass is still a highly profitable industry, and if it is not properly managed, it can easily lead to corruption.
Youqing also had some considerations about this, and she planned to recruit people to join her.
Glass is extremely profitable, and the profits are distributed proportionally to those who manage the glass workshops. In this way, they are essentially turning working for others into working for themselves, which naturally forces them to put their heart into it.
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