Rule the Ming Dynasty Alone

As the sun sets, the entire Xiyuan looks golden.

Zhu Youtang was lying on the soft couch. Since the hot summer had passed, he now chose to sip fragrant tea while leisurely fishing in the waters of Tingchao Pavilion.

The breeze comes slowly and the water waves are calm.

On the left is the Tingchao Pavilion for viewing and sheltering from the rain, on the right is the fishing pavilion, and in the center is naturally the 700-acre Taiye Pond. A gentle breeze stirs up shallow ripples, and everything is like being in a painting.

This pristine lake is home to all kinds of fish, and the focus now seems to be the waters of Tingchao Pavilion, where fish are constantly looking for the smell of bait.

As the fish mark sank, Zhu Youtang lifted the pole with quick eyes and hands, and an extremely beautiful red carp jumped out of the water, shaking its golden tail very vigorously.

Zhu Youtang likes the feeling of lifting a fish on a pole very much. The instant surge of adrenaline hormones brings a strong sense of excitement. This is an unstoppable experience.

Since there are too many fish in this lake, it is impossible to judge. Now I see a beautiful original red carp caught, and I can't help but smile on my face.

The color of the carp's skin, the vigor of the carp, and the greediness of the fish swimming in the lake are probably only possible in this era.

A few drops of water brought by the red carp fell back to the lake, and everything seemed so close to nature.

Although there are a lot of government affairs handled every day, based on my vision and knowledge in my previous life, after figuring out the matters that need to be paid attention to when dealing with memorials, I am already very comfortable now.

Although Wan An was looked down upon by others in later generations, this man was indeed a diligent and responsible old chief assistant. The most important thing was that he was able to recognize his position.

Like this time when he learned that he was going to go to war against Li Chao, he not only did not try to stop it, but also worked diligently to allocate food, soldiers and weapons.

Zhu Youtang is ultimately responsible for the rise of China, but he cannot help but feel pressure. Only by fishing here can he completely relax.

He turned his head and saw Liu Jin skillfully taking the fish and throwing it into the wooden basin, but he felt that he was doing quite well as an emperor, at least it was much better than the blessing of 996 in his previous life.

"Your Majesty, please have some tea!" The tea lady had a pair of slender hands and gently brought a cup of freshly brewed tea to the table, filling the air with a faint fragrance.

The girl is about seventeen years old, with a delicate face, a bit of strong eyes, and a pair of proud long legs. She looks very obedient as she sits here making tea.

After most of the day's observation, this girl has a maturity that is incompatible with her youth. She is also a woman who knows the rules very well. At least all her actions are better than those of the previous tea girl.

Zhu Youtang reached out to pick up the tea cup and asked indifferently: "Han Youying?"

"My slave is here!" Han Youying responded respectfully when she heard Zhu Youtang calling her name.

Zhu Youtang looked up and down at this well-behaved woman, but suddenly said seriously: "Did you almost drown my little cat yesterday?"

Judging from this woman's appearance alone, I really didn't expect that this woman had such a vicious heart.

Since the little cat has been clinging to Niu Mengmeng, and Niu Mengmeng has to assess the remaining fifty show girls, so when he has something to do, he will take the little cat to the West Fifth Institute of Qianqing Palace.

Just yesterday, the little tabby cat ran to this woman's residence, and the woman actually drowned the little tabby cat in the water tank in the courtyard. Fortunately, someone discovered it in time, otherwise the little tabby cat would have been drowned by her.

"I don't dare! I don't know that it's just a royal cat. I just help it bathe!" Han Youying's pretty face changed, and she knelt down to defend herself.

Liu Jin was hanging the bait. It was only at this time that he realized that the little tabby cat had almost drowned. He couldn't help but turn his head to look at Han Youying in surprise.

Zhu Youtang took a sip of tea, frowned slightly and said, "Do you know what it is to deceive the emperor?"

"Your Majesty, we all hold our own opinions. Why do you conclude that the slave is lying? You are acting unfairly!" Han Youying said with a bit of stubbornness in her eyes, seeming unwilling to do so.

"Bold, are you tired of living? How dare you question His Majesty's injustice?" Liu Jin had already hung up the bait and shouted angrily.

Zhu Youtang gently raised his hand, looked into Han Youying's eyes and said, "Niu Mengmeng was the one who stood up to protect me when I had the least authority. Do you think I should trust her or you?"

"Is she really that good?" Han Youying's eyes flickered and she murmured in surprise.

Zhu Youtang drank the rest of the tea in one gulp, then nodded gently and said: "Yes, she is very loyal, otherwise I would not let her walk around the Forbidden City at will! You don't have to quibble, just tell me what's going on Is something going on?"

"Your Majesty's draft was unfair, and I have a grudge in my heart!" Han Youying knew that she could no longer hide it, so she immediately decided to go all out to speak out.

Zhu Youtang put down the tea cup gently and found that this woman was becoming more and more similar to his first love. He asked calmly: "How do you say this?"

"My slave has obviously worked very hard and done an excellent job! But in this round of assessment, I only got sixth place, but the one named Lin is obviously far inferior to me, so why did she rank fifth?" Han Youying said angrily as she had gained insight into the inside story of this selection.

Zhu Youtang was stunned for a moment, then looked at Liu Jin next to him and said, "Who's surnamed Lin?"

"Your Majesty, you told me this!" Liu Jin looked embarrassed and reminded softly.

Zhu Youtang knew that several of the 300 beautiful ladies had already been escorted to the palace, so he pretended to cough and said: "One concubine and two concubines must know their family status and origin, so you will not be like this." No, but you can compete for the ninth concubine!"

Now most of the three hundred beautiful ladies have been eliminated, leaving only the last fifty people competing for the title of the first queen, two concubines and the ninth concubine. And this woman can be ranked fifth, which proves that she has a great chance to win the title of the ninth concubine.

Of course, at this stage, their appearance and etiquette are not much different, so the important thing is their origin and family status, and the scholarly family has always had a natural advantage.

Han Youying's eyes flashed with a stubbornness that seemed to be innate, as if she was fighting against fate and said: "I have no ambition to be a queen, but I also want to be a noble concubine, instead of working hard to win a ninth concubine!"

"You are just a tea farmer, but you still want to be a concubine? You are really wishful thinking!" Liu Jin was so amused that she laughed angrily and couldn't help but sarcastically said.

Han Youying's eyes suddenly turned red, but she bit her lower lip hard, looking very unwilling.

"Your Majesty, Tan Ji has been waiting here for a long time!" Liu Jin reminded him softly without paying any attention to this girl from a humble background.

"Your Majesty, please greet me!" Tan Ji, who had been waiting here for a long time, immediately knelt down and said politely.

Zhu Youtang's face darkened slightly, and he glanced at him and said, "Tin Ji, the daily output of the Royal Weaving Factory has increased instead of falling?"

"Your Majesty, there was indeed an accident in the new factory recently, but today's daily output has reached two hundred pieces!" Tan Ji was the main person in charge of the Royal Weaving Factory, and he immediately reported the report.

Zhu Youtang glanced at the empty teacup and then at Han Youying.

Han Youying was kneeling on the ground with red eyes. When she saw Youtang's gaze, she immediately gathered her mood and started making tea for Zhu Youtang again.

Zhu Youtang was not satisfied with this data, and immediately snorted: "Two hundred pieces? In other words, only 6,000 pieces of cotton cloth can be produced in one month, so what are you going to do with it?"

As the birth of the shuttle loom improved the production efficiency of cotton cloth, and the quality of the cloth produced was more solid and durable, it was like opening Pandora's box, and the popularity of shuttle cotton was far beyond imagination.

The first batch of cotton cloth produced by the Royal Weaving Factory was sold to North Korea, but the situation on Sanji Island was more optimistic than expected.

Xu Shiying not only started trading with North Korean cloth merchants, but also opened the market for the Muhu and Nanshan tribes on Shenzhi Island. As a result, the 10,000 pieces of cotton cloth were not only digested, but also ordered 10,000 pieces.

The Mongolian mission came to pay tribute, and after seeing the royal weaving's high-quality and low-price shuttle cloth, the leader of the mission booked five pieces of cloth from the royal weaving factory through the bridge of Bei Fei Ikesi. Thousands of horses.

The current market demand has far exceeded previous estimates. Not to mention the delivery of 15,000 horses from North Korea and Mongolia, it is also difficult to pay the cloth coupons that were awarded to cotton growers earlier.

Although the Royal Weaving Factory operates at full capacity every day, its daily output is only about two hundred pieces, which is simply unable to meet market demand.

Unfortunately, the original plan was to build a new factory to increase production capacity, but a fire from nowhere burned down half of the newly built factory.

In addition, Tan Ji could manage the imperial dining room in the palace, but it seemed beyond his ability to complete such business operations.

"Your Majesty, I promise to increase production from behind!" Tan Ji swallowed his saliva and said confidently.

Zhu Youtang picked up the tea that had just been brewed, and immediately expressed doubts: "If I remember correctly, you said something similar at the end of last month, but it was also a little bit added!"

"Your Majesty, I will do my best to ensure that enough cloth is produced on time this time!" Tan Ji felt Zhu Youtang's doubts and said seriously.

"No need! I don't need people who work hard, I need people who can do things well!" Zhu Youtang directly objected, and then directly made arrangements: "The royal weaving factory you manage has a daily output of 200 The joint workshop will be responsible for producing 4,000 horses, and the remaining 5,000 horses will be directly subcontracted!"

"What is subcontracting?" Tan Ji was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion.

Han Youying, who was making tea, raised her head slightly and observed Zhu Youtang secretly, but she didn't understand what it meant.

Zhu Youtang drank the rest of the tea in the cup and then gave guidance: "You immediately find all the cotton workshops in the capital and cooperate with them. You provide them with shuttle looms and they are responsible for producing cotton, but All the cotton they produce must be sold back to the royal weaving factory for five cents!"

Originally, the best way was to expand production capacity, but now it is too late, so we can only take the outsourcing route.

The so-called subcontracting actually means outsourcing part of the orders and borrowing the personnel and space of other weaving workshops to create gaps in this batch of cotton cloth.

Since they need to produce cotton cloth of uniform specifications and quality, they also need to provide shuttle looms to the workshops.

"Your Majesty, are we going to suffer too much by doing this?" Tan Ji swallowed his saliva and said with reluctance.

Liu Jin found that the purchase price was indeed very high, especially since they also provided shuttle looms. He couldn't help but turned to look at Zhu Youtang in confusion.

Han Youying noticed that Zhu Youtang was drinking tea very slowly, so she stopped making tea and looked thoughtfully at this unfathomable emperor.

Zhu Youtang realized that there was a generation gap with these people, so he gently put down the tea cup in his hand and said: "We made a profit as soon as we changed hands. Where did we lose?"

"Your Majesty, we provide them with machines and buy back cotton at such a high price. Is this too much?" Tan Ji looked at Zhu Youtang and said cautiously.

Zhu Youtang realized that Tan Ji was indeed short-sighted, and suddenly felt dissatisfied and said: "People die for money, and birds die for food! If you want people to work hard and learn to use shuttle looms, then you can't be too careful. Stingy! Do this immediately according to my wishes. If you can't complete the order on time, you don't have to go back to the palace, just wait for Liang Fang!"

"This servant obeys the order and will definitely live up to His Majesty's expectations!" Tan Ji was immediately excited and hurriedly expressed his position.

Zhu Youtang waved his hand gently and found that Tan Ji might have relatively strong management experience, but his vision was still a bit lacking.

Although they provide machines and buy back cotton at high prices, which seems like a lot, it is the price that needs to be paid to ensure on-time delivery.

Money can make the world go round. This can be said to be a wise saying in business. Now when you encounter difficulties, you naturally need money to clear the way. What's more, you still get the majority of the whole transaction.

Even though subcontracting will increase the production cost of cotton cloth, the quality of cotton cloth is guaranteed, and what you make yourself is not a one-shot deal.

For the Ming Dynasty, the most important thing was not how much money was made from this transaction, but to establish industrial scale through these production processes, thus forming the advantages of the country's textile industry.

On the other hand, as long as they can continuously provide high-quality cotton cloth, whether it is produced by the royal weaving factory or not, this kind of cotton cloth can be exchanged for resources from various countries.

For example, in this trade with Mongolia and North Korea, it has solved the domestic market demand for cattle, horses, ginseng and medicinal materials, and thus has more social resources.

Han Youying watched Tan Ji leave, but suddenly said softly: "Your Majesty, I don't know whether to say something or not!"

"Say!" Zhu Youtang said calmly as he took the fishing rod and threw it down.

Han Youying looked at Zhu Youtang's side face and said with certainty: "Your Majesty, this person is short-sighted. If you let him handle this matter, he will definitely get kickbacks from it, and it will probably delay your Majesty's overall layout!"

"My overall layout?" Zhu Youtang asked with a little interest when he heard this wording.

Han Youying nodded softly and spoke eloquently: "The reason why Your Majesty promotes the endless trade of Yibu, horses and medicinal materials with North Korea is like our Ming Dynasty and the Northwest Tea Horse Company. My servant has just been observing Tan Father-in-law, Eunuch Qin cares so much about a city and a pond, but he completely fails to understand your majesty’s painstaking efforts! Now if you want others to switch to new machines, you can only impress them with enough profits, and even the business with the royal family has to be paid in advance A deposit, otherwise I won’t feel at ease. In my opinion, Eunuch Tan may be short-changed, and he may end up with something wrong in the end!”

"How do you know these things about merchants?" Zhu Youtang asked curiously, looking at the face that resembled his first love.

Han Youying hesitated for a moment, looking a little disappointed and said: "My family is engaged in tea selling business, and there is a small tea-frying workshop at home. My slave has liked to study how to make money since she was a child!"

"Liu Jin, keep an eye on Qin Gui. If he really goes against his will, take him down directly!" Zhu Youtang believed in this woman's judgment and immediately ordered him.

"Yes!" Liu Jin glanced at Han Youying in surprise and said very respectfully.

While talking, the fishing rod suddenly sank.

Zhu Youtang lifted the pole with quick eyes and hands, and a beautiful crucian carp jumped out of the water. It looked very lively and vigorous, but it was caught by Liu Jin.

Han Youying found that Zhu Youtang's eyes were on her, and she felt both happy and uneasy.

"I heard from Niu Mengmeng that the little cat scratched your foot yesterday?" Zhu Youtang just didn't want to call for punishment, but wanted to beat him.

Han Youying pursed her lips, then nodded lightly and said: "To be fair to Your Majesty, this slave didn't know that she was a royal cat! Because she was ridiculed yesterday as the daughter of a lowly businessman, and because the draft selection was unfair, so at that time I felt sulky! When I crossed the threshold and entered the house, the slave girl stepped on the tail of the little cat and was scratched by it. The slave girl had not been liked by her parents since she was a child, and her temperament was unavoidable, so she was so angry that she scratched the cat. Get up and put it in the water tank to drown!"

"You really want to drown that cat!" Zhu Youtang frowned slightly and asked with a straight face.

Han Youying did not dare to look into Zhu Youtang's eyes, but she shook her head gently and said, "I don't know! I just had to relieve my anger at that time, so I picked up the cat and was about to throw it aside, but someone happened to bump into me!"

"It's no wonder that you are shunned by others because of your temperament. I'm also afraid of you!" Zhu Youtang said seriously as he looked at this unconventional good woman seriously.

Han Youying's eyes suddenly filled with tears, but she turned her head and glanced at the glow in the west, then smiled miserably and said: "Your Majesty, I just vented my recent dissatisfaction on a cat, but how many people kill people without blinking an eye!" It’s not that I don’t want to be a good woman, but I have been a concubine since I was a child, and I have obviously taken good care of the workshops and shops, but in the end, they gave me money to help me pass the first few rounds of the draft. I just don’t want to be bullied!”

"How can we ignore family status and origin after this election? Since you have made a mistake, it is inconvenient to go back to the Fifth West Institute of Qianqing Palace. Stay and join Qianqing Palace to make tea full-time!" Zhu Youtang knew that this was actually the case. A stubborn woman made an immediate decision.

Han Youying knew that her fantasy of choosing a noble concubine was shattered, but this was indeed not a title that could be won through hard work alone, so she nodded silently and said: "I obey the order!"