Steel Dynasty - Chapter 21

[Chapter 21 Production Team]

Snowflakes like cotton wool are still falling on the ground.

Pang Yukun walked all the way, covered with a layer of crystal white. When he arrived in front of Xiao Ming, he bowed and said: “Your Highness.”

“Excuse me, Pang Changshi came over to bake the briquettes in the stove. It’s also warm and comfortable.”

Pang Yukun was wearing thin clothes. His face was a little purple from the cold. The country of Chongqing was no better than modern times. Every household had cotton-padded jackets and down jackets. Cotton-padded jackets were considered luxury goods here, and at least Pang Yukun couldn’t afford them.

Shivering because of the cold, Pang Yukun said: “Your Highness, there is a difference between superiority and inferiority. I’d better stand

as a low-ranking official.” Xiao Ming has already experienced Pang Yukun’s rigid character in the past month. Every time he behaves out of the ordinary, This Pang Yukun would rebuke him righteously, not caring that he was the majestic King of Qi.

Xiao Ming generally understood why Pang Yukun was like this after asking Aster and Pothos.

There is no other reason for this, because Pang Yukun served as a spokesman when he was in Chang’an.

To be more specific, they do nothing with their salary and stare at other officials all day long to find the wrong person. These officials are of very low rank, but they can range from a ninth-grade sesame official to a first-grade official in the current dynasty, or even the emperor. None of these people dare to scold.

The reason for this is because there has been an unwritten rule in all dynasties, that is, officials who have spoken out are not to be killed.

As time went by, anyone who killed Yan Guan was scolded as a foolish king.

With this level of moral restraint, even if the emperor doesn’t like speaking out, he still has to endure it.

Pang Yukun was sent here by Xiao Wenxuan to kill two birds with one stone. First, he could keep an eye on Xiao Ming to prevent Xiao Ming from acting recklessly, and secondly, Chang’an would have one less person to annoy him.

“Pang Changshi, there is no need to be restrained. You and I are in Qingzhou together. According to my father’s wishes, I am afraid that neither you nor I can return to Chang’an. In this case, we should help each other more.” Xiao Ming’s eyes flickered. With all his energy, he began to sow discord.

Pang Yukun’s expression moved slightly. His parents were both in Chang’an. Like Xiao Ming, he had only returned to Chang’an once in the past five years.

The chance that the emperor would let him return to Chang’an was slim.

Pang Yukun has an upright personality, but he is not a fool, but he understands that Xiao Wenxuan sent him to Qingzhou because he was angry with him.

“Your Highness is the King of Qi, and I am the long history of Qingzhou. It is the duty of a lower official to assist His Highness. As long as His Highness works diligently and loves the people and does not do anything deviant, I will naturally not sue His Highness to the Emperor.” Pang Yukun looked serious. .

Elm bumps! Xiao Ming secretly cursed that it might be impossible to accept Pang Yukun as a personal minister in the short term, because Pang Yukun only pretended to be the country of Chongqing.

Xiao Ming is working so hard now, but in the end it is for his own fiefdom. As for the Great Yu Kingdom, he doesn’t have much feelings, and the person sitting on the throne has little to do with him.

“Pang Changshi’s words are reasonable. Those who understand the past should not be remonstrated, but those who know what is coming can pursue it. In fact, the lost path is not far away. I feel that what is right now is not what it was yesterday. I was ignorant and ignorant in the past. If I have offended someone, please bear with me. The reason why I asked Pang Changshi to come here today despite the heavy snow was actually for farming.” Xiao Ming leaned on the chair, and the warmth of the stove gave a hint of laziness to his voice.

Pang Yukun said: “Since His Highness issued the order to reclaim land, the people of all states have cheered. In just one month, the number of acres of land reported by the state governments has reached more than 300,000 acres, and the names of those who reclaimed the land have been registered.

“Three acres?” Xiao Ming weighed it

.

According to Qingzhou’s household registration statistics, there are a million households in the six states of his fiefdom. Based on the minimum number of people in a family, it has a population of three million. If there were five people, that would be five million people, and he believed that the figure of five million was more accurate because the mortality rate was very high in this era, and ordinary families generally had three or four children.

The population of five million in Great Chongqing is neither too much nor too little. Because of the unification, the population of Great Chongqing has grown greatly in a stable environment.

In Xiao Ming’s opinion, it is almost on par with the Song Dynasty.

Seemingly sensing that Xiao Ming was not very satisfied with this number, Pang Yukun added: “There is nothing we can do about it. Some wealthy families have cattle, so they plow more, while poor families lack tools, so it is naturally slower. “

Xiao Ming nodded, “This is exactly why I came to you. I plan to set up production teams in various counties and villages.”

Pang Yukun looked confused. He had never heard of this term. , and what Xiao Ming said just now, don’t rebuke him in the past, he felt that what is true now is wrong yesterday also made him a little surprised.

Because Xiao Ming could not say such elegant words before.

Xiao Ming waved to Pang Yukun, “I’m afraid this will take a long time. Pang Changshi should sit down and talk slowly.”

At this time, Luluo ran over from the snow holding her skirt and trotted into Xiao Ming’s house. In the bedroom, a chair was brought out and placed next to the stove.

Smiling at Xiao Ming, Lu Luo rubbed her red face and ran to play with Zi Wan again.

Pang Yukun felt that his feet were numb from the cold. Xiao Ming’s words “a long time” made him unable to hold on any longer. If he continued like this, he might be frozen to death.

He had no choice but to walk unnaturally to the briquette stove in front of Xiao Ming and sit down.

As if to cover up his embarrassment, Pang Yukun said: “This is the briquette stove invented by His Highness. It is indeed a good thing to keep in the house this winter. I heard that the Qin family’s briquette stove business has been very hot since the beginning of winter.

“That’s natural. This briquette stove is convenient and practical, especially in the cold winter. But if the Qin family makes money, it means our Equipment Department makes money. Now the Equipment Department earns hundreds of taels of silver every day.

“

Xiao Ming looked excited. The heavy snow really helped him.

Pang Yukun was slightly surprised that the equipment company, which was a big money-consuming company, had now become a big money maker. But what he never expected was that the real money maker was the briquettes business, and Xiao Ming also took 30% of the profits from the Wang family.

“In this case, I hope Your Highness can make good use of this money and don’t use it to do romantic things.”

Pang Yukun’s old habit happened again. Xiao Ming was stunned and smiled helplessly. This Pang Yukun really stayed true to his profession.

He said: “Pang Changshi, don’t worry, I didn’t use the silver. Instead, I asked Chen Wenlong to purchase a batch of cattle from the fiefdom of Emperor Wei and forge a batch of farm tools.”

“Oh?” Pang Yukun was really surprised. .

Xiao Ming continued: “The production team thing I just mentioned is also related to these materials. Because of the inequality between rich and poor, the acres cultivated by the people are also different. Now we divide the people into production teams, and each production team A captain is selected, the government provides cattle and farming tools, the production team is responsible for management, and the people of the entire production team use them together. This will greatly speed up the reclamation of wasteland and future planting…”

(End of this chapter)