My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 24 Zhu Di wants to trick his son
Zhu Gaochi couldn't believe it, but the machine was running right before his eyes.

Zhu Gaochi thought about it and realized something remarkable, so he asked Xu Qin: "The labor cost is about 50 coins a day. This is a huge saving in labor cost! Spinning saves 750 coins, and weaving saves 1,200 coins. Two such machines can save you about 2 taels of silver?"

"Well, you can't calculate it that way. I have 800 spinning machines and about 600 looms! Anyway, I can save about 1,300 taels of silver every day, which is about 40,000 taels a month. Of course, hehe, the machines here still have to work at night, and I will pay them. In fact, I can save about 60,000 to 70,000 taels a month!" Xu Qin proudly calculated to Zhu Gaochi.

"Dyed cloth, your cloths are all new colors and new patterns! And they are sold at such a high price, it is certain that they will be doubled, so the profit per month is about one hundred and twenty or thirty thousand taels?" Zhu Gaochi first calculated for Xu Qin.

"Hehe!" Xu Qin laughed at Zhu Gaochi.

"Good boy, both yours and mine!" Zhu Gaochi didn't know how to praise him. A cloth business with only a few machines could actually make so much money.

You should know that the Nanjing Weaving Bureau had nearly 30,000 spinning machines and more than 5,000 looms. After deducting the cloth used by the royal family, the monthly profit was less than 30,000 taels. If the royal family used more cloth, they would have to spend more money.

But Xu Qin can still make such high profits with just such a small number of machines.

"Let's go to the front yard. We're hungry!" Xu Qin put his arm around Zhu Gaochi's shoulders and pulled him to the front yard.

Zhu Gaochi was still thinking about those machines.

Of course, Zhu Gaochi was not interested in machines, but in money.

Now the court needs money everywhere, and Zhu Di likes to do big things, so money is needed everywhere. The Ministry of Revenue is managed by himself, and Zhu Di doesn't care anyway. Whatever he wants to do, he has to raise money for it, which makes him feel overwhelmed!

If these machines were in the weaving bureau, they would be able to bring a large amount of income to the court, and he would not have so much of a headache.

When he arrived at the living room, the food was not ready yet as Zhu Gaochi came too hastily.

Zhu Gaochi sat down, looked at Xu Qin, thought for a while, and asked: "My cousin, since the profit is so high, why don't you get some spinning machines and looms?"

"Don't you have no money? You sent me ten thousand taels today, and I can get some more!" Xu Qin said to Zhu Gaochi with a smile.

"Okay, okay!" Zhu Gaochi was happy when he heard it, and did not think about the problem too much.

After dinner, Zhu Gaochi left.

Xu Qin went to the dyeing workshop. Now the amount of dyed cloth was increasing every day, and Xu Qin was happy because all of it was hard-earned money. However, the dyeing workshop was outside the city, so he needed to go there more often. In case some foolish people came to make trouble, he had to scare them off.

After Zhu Gaochi returned to the Eastern Palace, he told Crown Princess Zhang that he had received a 20% share, which meant he could get a dividend of about 20,000 taels every month. Zhang was extremely happy.

However, Zhu Gaochi did not say much to Zhang and went to the Qianqing Palace.

When they arrived at the Shangshufang, Zhu Di was already sitting there handling state affairs. At the same time, several cabinet ministers including Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Rong and others were already assisting there.

Zhu Gaochi first went to Zhu Di and bowed.

"Did you go to your uncle's house?" Zhu Di asked as he flipped through the memorial.

"Yes!" Zhu Gaochi did not dare to hide it and nodded.

"Why are you suddenly going to your uncle's house in the middle of the day? What's the matter with your uncle?" Zhu Di looked up at Zhu Gaochi and asked.

"No, before, Sakyabao asked me to do business with him, but I ignored him. Now I know that Sakyabao is in the fabric business, and his business is pretty good, so I gave him 10,000 taels of silver!" Zhu Gaochi said this with a mixture of truth and lies, without giving any details, just a general idea.

"Shakyabao is in the cloth business? Humph! Look at this!" Zhu Di said as he took a memorial and threw it over.

Zhu Gaochi's heart skipped a beat. He walked over, picked up the memorial, opened it, and found that it was Chen Ying who impeached Xu Qin and robbed Xiao's cloth shop. The cloth was said to be from Xu's cloth shop, but it was actually from Xiao's cloth shop.

"Dad, this, this, this is not true. I have checked it out!" Zhu Gaochi looked at Zhu Di in shock. Isn't this an injustice?

"It's not true. Have you checked it? Have you been to Xiao's Cloth Shop? Have you investigated the fabrics in Xiao's Cloth Shop? Huh?" Zhu Di stared at Zhu Gaochi seriously and asked.

"That's not the case. But I don't believe that Sakyabao went to rob the Xiao family's cloth shop. Dad, I've been to my uncle's house. You don't know that there was no need for Sakyabao to do that!" Zhu Gaochi hurriedly defended Sakyabao.

Zhu Di narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhu Gaochi.

"Dad, if it is true, it would not be Chen Ying who came to impeach, right? There is no need to write an impeachment memorial for this matter, right? If it is true, the Xiao family will report it to the authorities, and the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture will accept and review it! If the Xiao family does not report it to the authorities, the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture will have no reason to investigate the matter, right?" Zhu Gaochi continued to bow to Zhu Di.

Xu Qin was not an official, so why did he write an impeachment memorial?
Zhu Di sat there, stroking his beard with one hand, staring at Zhu Gaochi.

"Father, I don't believe it anyway. If not, I'll go investigate!" Zhu Gaochi bowed to Zhu Di again. "Everyone get out!" Zhu Di waved his hand, and Xie Jin and the others went out, leaving Zhu Gaochi standing there alone.

After they left, Zhu Di stood up, put his hands behind his back, walked behind Zhu Gaochi, patted Zhu Gaochi on the shoulder, and said, "Boss, do you think that Shakyabao has the ability to dye high-quality cloth? And cloth that sells well?"

"I believe it!" Zhu Gaochi nodded affirmatively.

This answer made Zhu Di feel a little surprised. He walked in front of Zhu Gaochi and stared at Zhu Gaochi who was lowering his head.

"Are you also involved in seizing the Xiao family's business?" Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaochi in a questioning tone.

Zhu Gaochi knelt down immediately after hearing this, and said with his hands clasped, "Father, I didn't know about the cloth before. Today, I saw the Crown Princess buy the cloth from the Xu family, and then I remembered that Shakyabao asked me for money to do business together, so I sent the money.

Besides, Dad, Sakya Bao is not as bad as you think. It was Sakya Bao who cured Mom's illness. Also, Dad, in my uncle's house, there is a machine designed by Sakya Bao himself. The spinning speed is sixteen times that of the weaving bureau, and the weaving speed is twenty-five times.

Also, Dad, now the cloth in my Ming Dynasty is basically one foot and a half. There are some two-foot ones, but the cost is too high. But the cloth of the Xu family is all four feet wide.

The Xiao family doesn’t have this ability.

But I heard something. Chen Ying's youngest son had forced the head of the Xiao family to death. His daughter was desperate and stopped Shijiabao at the city gate, asking Shijiabao to save her. Shijiabao beat Chen Ying's youngest son! "

Zhu Di folded his arms, stared at Zhu Gaochi who was kneeling there, and said nothing.

Zhu Gaochi knelt with his head down.

"Do you think his family has such a machine, or did Sakyabao make it himself?" Zhu Di stroked his beard and asked Zhu Gaochi.

"Yes, Dad, if you don't believe it, you can go and see it for yourself!" Zhu Gaochi said with his head down.

"If I don't go, your uncle will not give me a good face!" After saying this, Zhu Di turned around, returned to the desk, sat down, and no one knew what he was thinking!
Zhu Gaochi knelt there without getting up, while Zhu Di stroked his beard and thought about something.

After a while, he spoke again: "You said that Shakyabao is a talented person? Can we let him work in the Ministry of Works?"

Zhu Gaochi heard this and looked up at Zhu Di in surprise, but soon lowered his head and said, "Dad, Sakyabao is only sixteen years old, and he is a playboy. What will the civil officials think of him going to work in the Ministry of Works? In addition, Dad, Sakyabao has been practicing martial arts since he was young!"

Zhu Di narrowed his eyes and stared at Zhu Gaochi, then said coldly: "Isn't it good to go to the Ministry of Works? Tell me yourself, isn't it good?"

Zhu Gaochi had no choice but to nod and say yes.
How could Zhu Di not know what Zhu Di's purpose was in sending Sakya Bao to the Ministry of Works? It was simply to keep Xu Qin away from the army and at the same time put him under the jurisdiction of the court, working under Zhu Di's nose. Once Xu Qin committed a crime, he could deal with him by punishing officials.

"Go and talk to your mother!" Zhu Di suddenly said this.

When Zhu Gaochi heard this, he suddenly looked up, his eyes widened, and he immediately shouted, "This, this, this won't do, Dad, this won't do, Dad, how about this, I'm going to beat up Sakyabao now, Dad, you can't betray your son like this!"

Zhu Di just stared at Zhu Gaochi.

"Or, Dad, you can just give me a beating! Then go talk to Mom yourself?" Zhu Gaochi was determined but didn't dare to provoke his mother.

"Look at yourself, do you seem to have any potential? Tell your mother, what are you afraid of?" Zhu Di shouted angrily, pointing at Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaochi said nothing and didn't agree. He thought to himself, if you have the guts, why don't you go talk to your mother?
Zhu Di saw that Zhu Gaochi didn't say anything, so he sat there stroking his beard and thinking about things.

After a while, he spoke again: "Speaking of which, it seems that I haven't seen Shakyabao for many years. It has been about thirteen or fourteen years. At that time, he was still a babbling child!"

Zhu Gaochi did not respond. He didn't know what trap Zhu Di would set for him to fall into. It was better to speak less in front of Zhu Di.

"What does Sakyabao look like?" Zhu Di asked directly.

"Well, he looks like my eldest uncle. He is much more handsome than us three brothers! He is also tall and strong!" Zhu Gaochi replied with a bow.

"Hmph, look at you three brothers. How about you, you're so fat? The second brother, you have a pointed face and monkey cheeks, and the third brother looks the same as the second brother! How are you like me, your father?" Zhu Di got very angry when he heard this, and pointed at Zhu Gaozhi and cursed.

Zhu Gaochi looked up at Zhu Di, sighed, and stopped talking.

I thought to myself, how does grandpa look like? Don't you know? How do you look like? Don't you have a bronze mirror? If it weren't for my beautiful mother, I don't know what I and my brothers would look like.

(End of this chapter)