Chapter 718 The little sister of the Zhang family shows her prowess for the first time
Zhihu Qiang Xiaowei set his headquarters in Pingxiang. The five wool spinning workshops that won the quota last year all set their workshop locations in Pingxiang almost at the same time.
It’s just that in Hu Qiang Xiaowei’s plan, all workshops must be built outside the city.
With one exception.
That is Hanyang Manufacturing Bureau.
At present, all the craftsmen who make high-tube waterwheels for Pingxiang are under the name of Hanyang Manufacturing Bureau. At the same time, Hanyang Manufacturing Bureau is also responsible for the task of making spinning wheel looms for the five major workshops.
Even in the intense preparation of the five major workshops, it has also formulated industry standards for all workshops.
As the sun was about to set, Amei came out of the Hanyang Manufacturing Bureau. A group of Nanxiang Academy students behind her saluted her: "Best farewell, sir."
Amei nodded slightly.
A carriage stopped not far away, and several maids with knives were surrounding it.
Amei got on the carriage, and the carriage wheels began to turn.
No one thought anything was wrong.
Because at this time, Amei's identity is the chief engineer of Hanyang Manufacturing Bureau, a real chief engineer, not a maid or something like that.
She is even more valuable than a mid-way engineer like Wen Shi from the engineering camp.
Just when Chief Engineer Mei returned to the Huqiang Xiaowei Administration Office in the center of Pingxiang City, he became a cautious concubine of the Feng family.
“I’ve met Nujun, I’ve met Miss Zhang.”
When Amei returned to the house, the first thing she did was to pay her respects to the Feng family’s mistress.
Guan Ji was lying on the soft couch. Next to her was Zhang Xingyi, who was lying on the low table and writing and drawing with a pen.
“Come and sit.”
With a gentle smile on her face, Guan Ji pointed to the soft chair that had been prepared in front of her.
“Thank you, Nujun.”
Amei walked over, gathered up her skirt and sat down.
“How’s it going at the workshop?”
"Back to Nujun, the manufacturing bureau has made a batch of measuring rulers according to Nanxiang's standards, including copper, wood, and tape rulers, and they have been sent to the stewards of the five workshops."
"And inform them that all pieces of cloth and wool from now on must be measured according to these standards and cannot be changed without authorization."
Hearing this, Guan Ji nodded with satisfaction, "Remind me tomorrow, and I will formally establish this rule in the name of the Colonel Protecting Qiang."
"If anyone dares to change it without authorization in the future, the wool supply will be reduced at the least, and the workshop quota will be canceled at the worst."
Amei responded quickly.
"There is news from Alang that Banshi has been defeated. A lot of labor, cattle, sheep and horses have been captured this time, and Pingxiang's income will be more abundant by then."
“If you have any other needs over there, take this opportunity to tell us.”
Guan Ji is quite satisfied with this docile and obedient maid.
Ping Xiang’s various data were sorted out clearly by her.
Not to mention that she is also responsible for supervising the manufacturing of various appliances in Hanyang Manufacturing Bureau.
is Alang and his right-hand man.
“The man is coming back?”
Amei was happy when she heard this.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Xingyi, who had been immersed in writing next to him, suddenly made a sound, then turned his face slightly and squinted at Amei.
Amei’s face turned red and she lowered her head.
Guan Ji reached out her hand and patted Zhang Xingyi on the back of the head with dissatisfaction, "What are you doing weird?"
Zhang Xingyi rubbed the back of his head angrily, not daring to bare his teeth at Guan Ji. He even had to explain: "Sister, I remembered something."
“What’s the matter?”
“Speaking of which, you have taken a lot of beeswax from me since last year. Since the establishment of this Hanyang Manufacturing Bureau, there has been even more.”
“Every bit of beeswax produced in my beehive will be taken away by you before it can be heated.”
At this point, Zhang Xingyi glanced at Amei sideways again, "Mrs. Mei, you have to give me an explanation for this, right?"
Amei glanced at Zhang Xingyi and then at Guan Ji. She shrank back and squeaked, but she didn't say anything clearly.
"Oh, you woman, what's wrong with the beeswax? It's not for nothing! Besides, Amei took it on Alang's order."
Guan Ji, however, protected Amei, poked Zhang Xingyi in the forehead with her finger, and said angrily, "My family can still tell the difference so clearly!"
When Zhang Xingyi heard this, he immediately turned his head and asked through gritted teeth: "Sister, are you serious about what you said?"
Guan Ji leaned over with a smile and hugged her, "Don't you always call me sister? We are originally a family!"
Zhang Xingyi wanted to say angrily, "That's not what I'm talking about," but after thinking about it, he didn't dare to say it.
But the mention of the bee farm reminded Zhang Xingyi of something.
She broke away from Guan Ji's arms, flipped through the documents on the low table, and frowned, "Didn't I remember that the second mother of the Xu family said that there might be a locust plague in Longyou this year?"
She raised her head, looked at Amei, and patted the documents in her hand, "But no one seems to have noticed this among the documents sent these days?"
"This is the time when the young locusts have emerged from the ground and have not yet taken flight. From tomorrow on, you will instruct the Secretariat to pay attention to this news."
Amei looked at Guan Ji, who nodded slightly.
Amei then agreed.
Zhang Xingyi noticed the little moves between Guan Ji and Amei and curled his lips.
"Okay, you've been tired for a long day. I've asked the kitchen to prepare food for you. Go down and have a good rest."
Guan Ji motioned to Amei.
Amei stood up, saluted again, and then turned around and went out.
After her figure disappeared, Guan Ji turned to look at Zhang Xingyi.
I saw her lowering her head and flipping the paper with a loud clatter.
“What’s the matter? Are you angry?”
Guan Ji touched her head lovingly.
Zhang Xingyi rolled his eyes and said angrily: "My sister is the wife of a prince. She is dealing with affairs with the concubine of the house. How can I interrupt?"
“That means you are really angry.” Guan Ji smiled, reached over and poured her a glass of wine with her own hands, “You are just greedy!”
“Why didn’t you tell me why I didn’t ask Li Mu to help, but asked you to come over to help? Have you never thought about the reason?”
Guan Ji said, pushing the ear cup over, "Here, drink."
Zhang Xingyi picked up the ear cup, took a sip, and then squinted his eyes, seeming to enjoy the taste.
“It’s strange. Normally you hate other people drinking, but you like this fruit wine so much.”
When Guan Ji saw her like this, the loving expression appeared on her face again.
Zhang Xingyi smacked his lips, "I don't want people to eat too much ice cheese, so I can only drink this to satisfy my cravings. Besides, this tastes sweet and is not intoxicating, so it's okay."
She hates other people getting drunk, but she doesn't object to this kind of sweet fruit wine that only has a slight taste of alcohol.
“I’m afraid it’s not just for this reason?”
Guan Ji said with a pun.
Zhang Xingyi blushed and pretended not to hear.
I heard that it was that guy who asked the people at the South Road Brewing Workshop to use the fruit to brew a sweet soup with a wine flavor according to the method of brewing mead.
This kind of fruit wine is rare in quantity, and since it was sent to Longyou from Nanzhong, it is even more precious.
Originally, Feng Junhou saw that his wife liked to eat sweet food, so he specially asked someone to make it.
Unexpectedly, Guan Ji was pregnant, so she could not eat anything that smelled of alcohol.
So it was natural that the young lady of the Zhang family would do the work and enjoy it exclusively.
“Are you not angry anymore?”
Guan Ji pinched Zhang Xingyi’s face.
“My little sister is not angry at all.”
Zhang Xingyi smiled.
"You're still lying. Looking at your appearance just now, I'm afraid you want to tear up these papers."
Guan Ji smacked her lips and gestured to the documents on the table.
"No." Zhang Xingyi shook her head. She was not a woman who couldn't tell the difference between importance and importance.
At present, all affairs in Pingxiang and the army are entrusted to Zhang Yi.
But the matter of governing the people is handled by Hu Qiang, but the actual handler behind the scenes is himself.
Sister, doing this is already a huge concession. If she wants to make trouble again, it will be unreasonable.
What I did just now was just to show my presence.
Zhang Xingyi said he was not angry, so of course he was not angry.
So her mind quickly turned to business, "Just now I saw the statistics sent by the Secretariat mentioned the wool supply of the workshop at the end of this year."
“What? What’s the problem?”
Guan Ji asked with concern.
"The problem is huge. There is not enough wool at all." Zhang Xingyi shook his head and counted on his fingers, "Pingxiang needs to reclaim land again this year, open up pastures, and raise sheep at the same time."
"Now Hanyang Manufacturing Bureau and Nanxiang are producing looms. Also, during the Northern Expedition, a lot of labor was obtained, and Li Mu is training weavers and handymen in the workshop."
“So, based on this calculation, by the end of the year, this workshop will basically be able to start work. But Longyou has just experienced a war, so it would be good to resume farming in the first year.”
"The wool that can be harvested this year is not much, so some of it will be handed over to the court. If we divide it among these five workshops, I'm afraid it will be a little short."
Guan Ji couldn't help but smile when she saw her serious consideration.
“I didn’t expect it to be in place all at once. Let’s start this year to give them hope. Next year, or even the year after, we can gradually increase the supply of wool.”
As the owner of the largest livestock ranch in the world, Guanda, the landowner and rancher’s wife, knows a lot about ranching.
The cycle of raising a sheep is almost one year.
Ewes can give birth to lambs after five months of pregnancy, plus three months of carrying lambs, which means they can give birth to lambs three times in two years.
Coupled with the construction of the pasture, after two years, the current workshop size will be almost able to be supplied normally.
Of course, these five wool spinning workshops are not too big, and there is no way to compare them with the workshops in Nanxiang.
But this is because the supply of wool is limited. In a few years, it can be further expanded. How to expand and how to pay for food will be discussed at that time.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Xingyi had other ideas.
“Sister, this time that guy robbed so many sheep from other people’s homes, why should he use them? Otherwise, wouldn’t it be too wasteful?”
Zhang Xingyi wrung her fingers, which was a sign of her thinking about the problem.
At the same time, there was a dangerous gleam in his eyes, "If there is not enough wool, it is because there are not enough sheep. If there are not enough sheep, it is because there is not enough pasture."
"Now we have to farm, divide pastures, and provide food to the barbarians. The money and food we spend is like running water. This burden is really too heavy."
“We have to do everything, so this delays the progress. Since those companies are anxious to get wool, why don’t we let them help?”
Although Guan Ji knew that she was always good at making plans, she was a little confused when she heard these words.
“This wool was originally sold to them by us, not to mention that planning the pasture is part of the duty of the Qiang Protector.”
“If we allow them to intervene in this kind of thing, wouldn’t we be giving them authority? How will they be willing to pay for wool?”
"Borrow!" Zhang Xingyi ignored Guan Ji's worries, and saw her Bai Shengsheng's little hands clasped together, snapping, "Borrow money, food, and people from them!"
Guan Ji thought this little girl was confused: "Who is still willing to borrow it now?"
It’s not her fault, just because her family Alang’s reputation among the rich and powerful families in Sichuan...
It doesn’t mean you can’t borrow, but if there isn’t enough benefit, who will borrow? Who dares to borrow it?
Zhang Xingyi said with a smile: "As long as it is related to their interests, they will naturally be willing to borrow it."
"How to say?"
Guan Ji asked quickly when she saw that she really seemed to have a solution.
"Sister, this is what I think. We have planned the pastures and divided the tribes. Then we will divide the pastures again and let each of the five families receive a piece of pasture."
“At that time, the wool produced on this pasture will be given to other families first, except for those that are to be handed over to the court.”
Upon hearing this, Guan Ji flatly refused: "No. Caochang and those barbarian tribes are originally under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. How can they be divided among those people?"
“Oh, sister, please listen to what I have to say first!” Zhang Xingyi said coquettishly and dissatisfied.
“Okay, you go ahead.”
“Who said these pastures and tribes are under their control? Of course they are still under the control of the imperial court! It’s just that the wool produced is given priority to the family who is willing to help open the pastures.”
Guan Ji finally caught the clue and asked, "What do you mean? Tell me clearly!"
“Sister, look, the money, food, and manpower required to open the pasture are very expensive. If they were willing to help, the pasture could be built a day earlier.”
“In this case, they will benefit as early as possible. The money they invested in the grain can be folded into wool later. In fact, they are using the money collected from wool in advance to build pasture.”
"Hello, hello, hello, everyone, how could they not be willing? Look at the ranch in Yuexi, aren't there also wealthy families involved? They can send out accountants to check the incoming and outgoing of money and grain."
“The same goes for the pasture. As long as the wool produced by the pasture has not exhausted their money and food, they can buy wool from this pasture first.”
Hearing this explanation, Guan Ji looked at Zhang Xingyi in surprise. This woman really has a wonderful idea!
“When the wool produced by the pasture is different, will it make them feel unbalanced?”
Guan Ji thought for a moment and asked another question.
"Don't be afraid." Zhang Xingyi's face was full of confidence, "We just mark out the pasture and let them choose. Then it will depend on their own abilities."
"If you have poor vision, you can't blame others for having good vision. If two families are interested in the same piece of grassland at the same time, the one with the highest price will get it."
When Guan Ji heard this, she took a deep breath.
Little sister Zhang family, you are indeed very evil!
It's not enough to use other people's money to build your own pasture, but you also think of ways to provoke competition from them and make them spend more money.
The level of black heart is almost the same as that of my own Alang!
“This is a good idea!” Mistress Feng’s wife was full of praise. “You can sketch the book and let someone pass it on to Alang to see what he decides.”
“This is a great idea!”
Just then Feng Junhou, who was escorting the loot through the Nan'an County Zhipi Road, received a letter from Ping Xiang. Although he was far away, he could still say the same words as his mother-in-law.
“This is simply a commercial housing pre-sale model!”
Feng Tibi was extremely shocked, "The brain of the Zhang family's little sister is absolutely amazing!"
In this way, the wool spinning workshop in Longyou can get back on track at least one year ahead of schedule.
The idea of selling workshop quotas was also thought up by Zhuge Lao Yao.
This top-notch person is truly top-notch in any era...
(End of this chapter)