Steel Dynasty - Chapter 48

[Chapter 48 Li San returns]

“As long as it’s food, it’s fine.”

These were the last words Xiao Ming said before sending Wang Shijie away.

At present, he doesn’t want to waste too much time on the Four Families. The reason why he shares interests with the Four Families is just to give the Four Families the illusion that we are still friends.

For him, he could not tolerate the existence of noble clans in his fiefdom, because this would seriously threaten his rule.

The current shortcomings of Dayu Kingdom’s wealthy and noble clans, which cannot be eliminated, are right in front of them, and he will not repeat the same mistakes.

After sending Wang Shijie away, Xiao Ming was short of money and rich enough to call Pang Yukun over. Now with the export of technology, the equipment department and the palace will produce more and more products in the future.

He arranged for Zui Qingzhou and Xiang Xiang to be kept in the palace, and only the palace servants participated in order to keep it secret.

He did not believe that other people would be so honest and would not send people to spy on the craftsmanship in the Equipment Department and the palace, so he now asked Pang Yukun to officially establish the Patent Department.

All the technology of the Equipment Department will be registered in the Patent Department, and Chen Wenlong will be personally responsible for it. Any individual, businessman, or official who plagiarizes patents will be sentenced to a felony, and in serious cases, he will be executed directly.

Anyone who uses a patent needs to pay patent fees.

Of course, Xiao Ming currently has no plans to sell patents, but patent regulations need to be established in advance.

At the same time, he also discussed with Pang Yukun that any private invention can be patented to promote a research atmosphere among the public.

In addition to the establishment of the Patent Department, the Minerals Department was also established at the same time. This was a prelude to Xiao Ming’s preparations to build a government-run mine. As long as he mastered the minerals, the industry would be in his hands.

Pang Yukun had no objection to the measures introduced by Xiao Ming one after another. In his opinion, as long as King Qi was willing to do the right thing, there would be nothing wrong with it, and the remaining implementation issues were his problem.

Because the snow stopped, Qingzhou seemed to have come to life, and the city suddenly became lively again.

Xiao Ming took advantage of Wang Shijie to buy cooking oil and organized the servants of the palace to make soda ash. Although this method of boiling limestone and plant ash together is crude, it is indeed the most suitable method at present.

In this busy life, days passed day by day. On this day, a person suddenly appeared in the palace, and everyone in the palace was excited.

“Your Highness, Li San is back.” Xiao Ming, who was studying how to mass-produce disposable soap, was suddenly interrupted by Luluo’s surprised cry.

Xiao Ming threw down his writing brush and laughed and said: “After counting the days, I think it’s time to come back.”

Just as he was talking, he saw Li San carrying a package in front of him. When he saw Xiao Ming, Li San bowed and said: ” Your Highness, the slave is back.”

“No courtesy.” Xiao Ming smiled. He was eager to know the details of Li San’s trip to Chang’an, so he asked, “How about telling me?”

Li San handed the package to him. Green dill, he said: “Empress Zhen sent Liuli to tell me that your highness’s perfume is very popular with the empress, and the concubines in the palace also like it very much. It is said in Qingzhou that the emperor couldn’t bear to throw away the glass when he was drunk at the empress’s place. The emperor also praised His Highness for the good wine he made. “

Luluo’s face flushed with excitement, “I said the ladies would like it.”

Xiao Ming nodded. It was abnormal for them not to like these magical things. He asked: ” Is there nothing else?”

Li San smiled knowingly and said: “This time, Emperor Longyan Dayue personally ordered Cui Zhang, the Minister of Household Affairs, to allocate 200,000 taels of silver to His Highness, saying that if His Highness can be diligent in government affairs in the future, he will Give the one million taels of silver to His Highness in batches. “

Stingy.” Xiao Ming was speechless. This million taels of silver was allocated by the imperial court for every prince.

The purpose is basically the same as the entrepreneurial funds given by modern wealthy businessmen to the rich second generation.

It has been more than a hundred years since the founding of the Great Chongqing Kingdom. Although wars have continued in the north, the people in the south still live a very comfortable life, and commerce and handicrafts are also very developed. In Xiao Ming’s view, the annual taxation level of the Great Chongqing Kingdom is basically comparable to that of the Song Dynasty during the prosperous period. .

Therefore, the imperial court is still wealthy, but Xiao Wenxuan is still stingy with this little money, which he can’t help but despise.

At this time, Qian Dafu was also alerted. He came over and said with a smile: “Your Highness, two hundred thousand taels is quite a lot. It can always alleviate the urgent need. Why don’t you give these silver taels to the Minerals Department? We need money to build the mine.” “

Xiao Ming had a headache and said, “You are a new official and you already know that you need money. You can’t give me all of the two hundred thousand taels, but only half of it.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Qian Dafu said with a smile. Two is better than nothing. After the establishment of the Minerals Department, he has a heavy responsibility, because not only coal mines, iron mines, limestone mines, and graphite mines need to be mined, but also other mines designated by Xiao Ming.

The one hundred thousand taels of silver were probably like snowflakes falling into the water, without even a sound being heard.

Li San bowed to Qian Dafu and said, “Your Highness, in addition to the silver given by the emperor, this time Concubine Zhen asked the slave to bring you two hundred thousand taels of silver notes.”

“Where did the concubine get so much money? “Xiao Ming was taken aback.

Li San said: “Of course it is the credit of His Highness’s perfume. This is the deposit given by the ladies to His Highness. The reasons for this are all in the letter.”

With that, Li San gave a letter to Xiao Ming.

After opening the letter and looking at it, Xiao Ming suddenly frowned. The money was used to customize special perfumes for the concubines, but that was not the point.

The point is that Concubine Zhen mentioned Empress Zhao and the Prince in her letter. It would be understandable if she mentioned Empress Zhao, but it would be a big problem if she mentioned the Prince.

Although Concubine Zhen only mentioned a few words in the letter, Xiao Ming also understood that Queen Zhao’s purpose of helping him this time was not simple.

“Your Highness, what’s wrong?” Qian Dafu asked when he saw Xiao Ming’s expression was wrong.

“Trouble, I was misunderstood and together with the fourth prince, I was assassinated. This time Queen Zhao intends to win over me as a support for the prince. Isn’t this king offending all the princes who want to depose the prince?” Xiao Ming He handed the letter to Qian Dafu.

After glancing at it, Qian Dafu frowned, “That’s true. The letter said that Queen Zhao and the Crown Prince were sympathetic to His Highness’s hardship in Qingzhou and would give one hundred thousand taels of silver to accompany the Emperor’s money to Qingzhou. This would be obvious to outsiders at a glance. I understand.”

After thinking for a while, Xiao Ming said lazily: “Since the money has been sent, let’s not waste it. The most important thing now is the development of the fief. It would be best if we could have both sides of the princes. “

What His Highness said is that even if there is no Crown Prince, His Highness has been framed by the Fourth Prince. Instead of letting the Fourth Prince take advantage of him, it is better to stand on the Prince’s side and reap the benefits. After all, the Crown Prince is the orthodox one now. “

Xiao Ming thinks so too. As long as Xiao Wenxuan is still there, it is almost impossible for the prince to be deposed. If he takes advantage of this time to develop vigorously, by the time the prince is deposed, his fiefdom will be stronger by then. If the prince is not deposed, he will be happy to be a free prince. , how could the other princes be afraid at that time.

(End of chapter)