Chapter 305 What advice do you have on Brother Taiwan?

Author: There are dragons in Nanshan

Chapter 305 What advice do you have on Brother Taiwan?

Some vassal kings have used real money to rescue the market, and the stock market has stabilized, but the case in Caijiagou is very involved.

When Qian'an County was renewed, a large number of officials in Yongping Prefecture were dismissed and demoted, and many officials were also dealt with in the capital.

Chen Rong, the Minister of Personnel, was demoted to Yongping Prefecture as the prefect, and Chen Shiqing, the former prefect was demoted to Qian'an County as the prefect.

Two months passed in a blink of an eye. On this day, Zhu Qizhen suddenly had a whim and wanted to go to Yongping Mansion to take a look.

The Caijiagou case has a great impact on the new policy. If it is handled improperly, it will be difficult for Yongping Mansion to turn things around.

As for Chen Rong, demoting him to Yongping Mansion will also give him the opportunity to redeem his sins. If he does it well, he can still return to the capital. If he doesn't do it well, no matter whether you are a veteran of the four dynasties or an eight dynasties, just rub it to the end.

It only takes one day to get from the capital to Yongping Prefecture.

Chen Rong received the news and hurried to welcome him.

As a result, I waited left and right, but I was stunned. Later I found out that the emperor had visited Qian'an County in a private manner.

Chen Rong rushed to Qian'an County Government again and came to Qian'an County. When he saw the magistrate Chen Shiqing, he was also shocked, as if he had never expected that the emperor would suddenly come to inspect the work.

After reading various files in Qian'an County, Zhu Qizhen asked: "It's pretty good from the data. What industries are the main focus of small and medium-sized workshops now?"

Chen Shiqing replied respectfully: "When you go back to the emperor, the most common ones are brick and tile factories, cement factories, carpenter shops, and blacksmith shops."

Zhu Qizhen looked at the sky again. It was just past noon and there were at least two hours before sunset.

"You two change into casual clothes and accompany me out for a walk!"

Chen Rong was stunned and hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, I have not prepared in advance. There are not many servants who can be transferred at the moment. If you encounter a bad person, you will hurt your dragon body..."

Zhu Qizhen interrupted him: "What do you mean is that Yongping Mansion is extremely poor, will I be in danger?"

"No, no... I definitely don't have this intention!"

"What's the point? Go and change your clothes quickly and set off now!"

Zhu Qizhen did not make any big fuss about this trip, and only the cabinet chief Cao Nai and the guard commander Fan Zhong were around him.

There is also Yuan Bin, who brought some secret whistles to protect him.

Chen Shiqing led the way, and everyone walked along the river bank. From a distance, they saw chimneys emitting black smoke.

It turned out that clay was abundant here, so many kiln factories were built.

Everyone came to the nearest kiln factory, and soon, a man dressed in a robe shirt and a silk scarf came to welcome him.

This man behaves kindly, but after all, he seems a little excited when he sees him, and says, "Student Xia Wenhui asks the saints for peace!"

Zhu Qizhen was a little surprised when he heard that this person claimed to be a student.

"What, are you still a scholar?"

Xia Wenhui smiled and said, "It's shameful to say that the student studied hard for more than ten years and only won the scholar, which was a disgrace to his family."

When Cao Nai heard the words "disgraceful" and immediately began to feel curious.

Although scholars are not rare titles, they are already considered to be fame and fortune. If such a person says he is insulting his family, it means that this person must be the descendant of a famous family.

So he stepped forward and asked, "Where is your ancestral home?"

"Return to adults, the student's ancestral home is Changsha Prefecture."

Cao Nai's heart moved and asked, "Changsha Prefecture, surnamed Xia, can you be a descendant of Tai Shi Xia?"

Xia Wenhui still had a polite smile on his face and replied: "That's right."

The Xia Taishi mentioned by Cao Nai was Xia Yuanji, an important official in the early Ming Dynasty.

This person was a juren during the Hongwu period. He was recommended to the Imperial Academy for his hometown and was elected to the Secretariat for the ban on edicts. He went through the five dynasties of Hongwu, Jianwen, Yongle, Hongxi and Xuande. After his death, he was awarded the title of Taishi and was posthumously named Zhongjing.

It’s no wonder that when Xia Wenhui said that he was a scholar, he said with shame that he had insulted his family.

Cao Nai smiled with relief and said, "There is an article I have read and I have benefited a lot. I didn't expect that I would meet his descendants here today."

Xia Wenhui said: "The ancestors were important officials in the dynasty. My father was once the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple in Nanjing. When he reached his generation of students, he had achieved nothing in his studies. He was so ashamed."

Zhu Qizhen didn't like to see their Wen Zuo, so he asked, "Xia Wenhui, you are from Changsha Prefecture, why did you run so far and come to Yongping Prefecture?"

Xia Wenhui replied respectfully: "Go back to the emperor, since the court implemented the new policy, the students have planned to abandon literature and go to business. When some fellow villagers do business in the capital, they follow them out to make trouble. Later, they talked about a marriage in Yongping Mansion and settled down from then on."

Zhu Qizhen nodded and asked again: "Which kiln factory belongs to yours?"

Xia Wenhui said: "That's right."

Chen Rong, who was standing beside him, shook his head repeatedly, and Xia Yuanji was famous, so it was not an exaggeration to say that he was passed down from poetry and books.

Now his grandson has opened a kiln factory here, which... is really a disgrace to the family. If Xia Yuanji was alive, he would not have been angry to death.

Zhu Qizhen became interested and continued to ask: "What does this kiln factory do?"

Xia Wenhui said truthfully: "The main thing is to burn bricks. Now that the population has skyrocketed, many people need to build houses. In addition, there are many projects in the county that require this brick. Many newly built workshops and kiln factories also have a great demand for bricks. Therefore, students recruit craftsmen here and set up this brick kiln!"

"The bricks produced by students are mainly red bricks. The firing of these red bricks is more difficult than that of blue bricks. They require raw materials such as clay, shale, and gangue. The advantage is that they can consume a large amount of coal gangue, and the quality is that they cannot be said."

His tone was very calm and he didn't seem to care about other people's eyes.

Obviously, he has seen such strange gazes these days.

Zhu Qizhen nodded and asked Xia Wenhui to take him away. The kiln factory occupied a considerable area and brought a large amount of clay, coal gangue, shale and other raw materials. Then the craftsmen began to crush the water and mix it into mud, and then used the mold-inverted tools to make bricks one by one.

The next step is to fire. There are chimneys in the kiln. The smoke from the chimney is rolling. As soon as you enter, a wave of heat comes to your face.

Zhu Qizhen walked around and asked again: "How many bricks can you burn here a day?"

"Back to the emperor, the output of a kiln is 20,000 yuan, and the students have two kilns here, which is 40,000 yuan."

“Can you sell it?”

"No worries about sales, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is in short supply."

Zhu Qizhen became more and more interested and asked again: "How much does the monthly profit?"

Xia Wenhui thought for a while and said, "Profit depends on the specific situation. At present, there are many orders. After deducting raw materials and labor costs every month, the net profit of each kiln can reach 500 taels of silver, and two kilns are 1,000 taels of gold."

Zhu Qizhen was secretly surprised. One thousand taels a month, but this year, isn’t it more than ten thousand taels?

This is all pure profit!

Just burning a brick, how profitable it is?

Suddenly, Zhu Qizhen had an idea, was the court also building an official kiln for such a profitable business?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask: "How much does it cost to build your kiln factory?"

Xia Wenhui said everything: "In fact, it is not much. It is mainly because you need to apply for land from the county. If you do not sell land here, you only rent it. For example, the monthly rent for this kiln in this kiln is 100 taels, which is not too much. As for the expenses for building a kiln, it is not large. Within 1,000 taels, you will definitely be able to build it. The main cost is still the monthly salary of the workers."

"As long as the kiln is built, the rest will be easy to handle. Of course, this business will depend on quality and credit after all. Brick kilns are not difficult to do. The threshold is very low, and reputation is particularly important."

As he spoke, he picked up a pile of red bricks.

"The bricks here are all marked with names. Due to their good quality, their reputation has spread. Nowadays, many people have a demand for bricks, and there are not other kiln factories nearby, but most of them are still willing to come to students to buy bricks."

Zhu Qizhen looked carefully and found that there was an inscription on the brick. It was obviously carved in the brick mold when the brick was made.

"In this way, if your kiln factory continues to expand, you must make a fortune!"

Xia Wenhui smiled and said, "The emperor is joking. If the business is to be expanded in the future, students will no longer build brick kilns. Although the red bricks are higher than the selling price of blue bricks, the profits are small after all, and there are many brick kiln factories now. The students have trained a group of kilns here. If they build kilns again, they may try firing ceramics."

After hearing this, Zhu Qizhen laughed and said, "The military strategy is full of clouds, the military has no constant power, and the water has no constant shape. The same is true for doing business. You cannot always stick to one method. If you do well, you will be afraid of making a lot of money in the future. As the saying goes, if you are poor, you will be safe; if you are prosperous, you will be helpful to the world. When you are rich in the future, remember to take care of the local people."

Xia Wenhui hurriedly saluted: "According to the auspicious words of the Emperor, students should do their best."

As soon as Zhu Qizhen said, his eyes fell, and saw a water truck standing far away along the river.

"Do you have a water truck?"

Xia Wenhui replied: "It is mainly used to draw water."

Zhu Qizhen is now very interested in these folk tools, so he went up to take a closer look, and then said, "This water truck is not good, it's too old."

At this time, the magistrate Chen Shiqing stepped forward and said, "The emperor is right. This is a water truck from the Song and Yuan dynasties and has been used to this day."

Zhu Qizhen thought for a while and said, "The fundamental reason for the water truck is the shaft. Do you often need to repair the shaft, especially the shaft, which is easy to collapse. Not only that, the paddle fan also needs to be replaced."

Xia Wenhui looked surprised and said, "Yes, yes, that's it!"

Zhu Qizhen looked at Chen Shiqing and asked, "Are the water trucks here all in this style?"

Chen Shiqing nodded: "It's basically the same."

"Let's go to the Academy of Sciences and find Belin and ask him to send someone to change it for you."

"This...isn't it necessary..."

Chen Shiqing suddenly felt flattered. Where is the Academy of Sciences? It is specialized in studying new technologies and methods, and letting others transform water trucks. Wouldn't it be useless to use it?

Zhu Qizhen was very serious: "If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools. The efficiency of production tools is crucial, why is there no need?"

Others may be confused when they hear these words, but Xia Wenhui understands them.
To be continued...