Great Tang princess

Chapter 770 Prince's Work

Li Xian, who was in the Eastern Capital, received a reply from Qingdao the next day. There were two letters in total.

The first letter was written by my mother, who made some comments on his ideas, and then let him go and do it himself.

This is tantamount to delegating power, allowing him to change from the supervising prince to acting emperor.

The other letter was from my younger sister, who encouraged him and said that the Ministry of War would fully cooperate.

Also sent over are documents with the seal of the Minister of War.

Seeing these two letters, Li Xian was both happy and helpless.

I'm happy that my mother trusted him so much for the first time in so many years and gave him support.

It's so helpless that I have to do more things, and I'm afraid I won't be free if I want to be lazy.

After thinking about it carefully, I felt that this was not going to work, and I had to bring my second brother and wife over to help me with work.

So he directly sent someone to call both of them to Jixian Temple.

Wei Lian'er's secret guard's office is in the imperial city, so they arrived very quickly.

As soon as he entered the door, he asked, "Your Highness, what are your orders for calling my concubine here in a hurry?"

"Auntie came back from delivering the letter, let me handle the matter. I still need Lian'er to help me with the details..."

Wei Lian'er smiled: "Why does Your Highness have to be so alien to my concubine..."

While talking, he sat down and discussed with Li Xian how to deal with it.

According to Wei Lian'er, although the Tubo school is already under construction, it still takes time.

So let him directly issue an edict to the Tubo officials, let them implement a benevolent government, and try to follow the current standards of the Eastern Capital.

But considering that after all it had just transitioned from slavery to feudalism, there were a lot of slaves to arrange.

So Wei Lian'er asked him to take all these slaves back to the yamen, give them three meals a day, and let them do some physical work such as land reclamation, grazing, or building houses and road repairs.

At the same time, simple education should be given to these slaves.

They don't need to be able to read and write, but at least they must be able to understand the words.

Tell them that if they work hard, they will be granted citizenship when they have children in the future, and they don't have to be slaves for life.

As for those former slave owners, they can be given some compensation, perhaps land or money.

Keep them from doing things dissatisfied because of the sudden change of the social system.

Of course, there is no need to worry about wasting money, because now Tubo Province is directly operating in accordance with the new law.

The compensation given out will eventually be returned as taxes, and the court is not putting money into it.

Of course, many slave owners would be dissatisfied with the law of dissatisfaction, but now that the war has just ended, even if they are dissatisfied, they dare not do anything.

After all, the scene of those dark soldiers marching neatly into Luosuo City is still vivid in my mind.

Of course, there is no shortage of smart people anywhere. Since the end of the war, many slave owners have sent people to investigate the current situation in the Eastern Capital.

One can draw a conclusion that now Dazhou has really improved the status of merchants.

Although the situation of tax collection has changed, correspondingly, the country has started to carry out trade activities, and the status of merchants will definitely be improved to a certain extent.

Therefore, many slave owners have begun to think about transforming their families.

And Wei Lian'er also thought of this, and reminded: "Your Highness, now that the animal husbandry industry in Tubo is well developed, the local yamen can give some support to merchants, allowing them to trade with nearby counties... At the same time, highland barley wine and other special products things can also enhance the local one..."

"Economic level!" Li Xian reminded.

"Yes!" Wei Lian'er nodded and said she was right, "At the same time, Buddhism in Tubo is flourishing, if it is guided, it will be conducive to the stability of the country..."

Seeing Wei Lian'er talking eloquently in front of him, Li Xian thought to himself that his thoughts were indeed right.

With my wife around, I really can relax a lot!
While chatting, Sun Jingbang came in to announce that the Second Highness had come down, and Li Xian asked him to invite someone in.

After Li Xian came in, he just sat down and before the tea was served, Li Xian handed Li Yuechen's paperwork to him excitedly: "I'll leave this matter to brother!"

"Why do you want to leave it to me?" Li Xian looked impatient, "Brother Wei is in charge of the logistics of the Ministry of War..."

"Brother, the Banknote Printing Factory is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. Now Yuechen is not here, so I can only hand it over to Brother." Li Xian said with a smile.

Hearing this sentence, Li Xian also felt helpless, and said to himself: "I am a common man, why should I worry about these..."

Thinking of this, he suddenly said: "Well, I will give you a solution. Anyway, there must be a lot of printing in the future. It is better to separate it. The banknote printing factory is a forbidden area, and it is not suitable for long-term concurrent work. ..."

Li Xian thought about it, and it was true.

Today, there are only two printing institutions in the country, one is the newspaper printing factory, and the other is the banknote printing factory.

The scale of the newspaper office is not large, but the workload is not small, and there is no time for other printing jobs.

After all, they are also responsible for the publishing and printing work of Taiping Bookstore.

The Banknote Printing Factory usually seems to be quite busy, but the problem is that it is of a different nature and belongs to a forbidden area, and it is not easy for outsiders to enter.

Therefore, it is better to divide it into a separate printing factory, so that similar jobs can be handed over to the printing factory in the future.

It is conceivable that there are typewriters and printing presses today, and there will only be more and more places in the future.

So it is indeed necessary to separate a printing factory.

After figuring this out, Li Xian nodded slightly in agreement.

"Then quickly write to A Niang to explain the situation." Li Xian reminded.

"No need, Auntie has delegated the power to me and let me make the decisions myself." Li Xian shook his head, he doesn't need to bother his mother with such trivial matters, he can do it by himself.

He raised his head and asked, "It's just that now, will it take a long time to build another printing factory?"

"I'll have to ask the Academy of Engineering." Li Xian replied, "However, based on the technology of the Academy of Engineering today, the production of several printing machines can be completed within one month."

"Oh? It's so amazing?" Li Xian raised his head with a look of disbelief.

In fact, the technology of the Academy of Engineering has completely surpassed the times, so for people of this era, the things there are almost like artifacts.

"To tell you the truth, now that I am entering the Engineering Academy for my brother, most of the artifacts are completely incomprehensible." Li Xian shook his head with a smile.

Li Xian suddenly became interested: "Let's go and have a look together!"

"Wait!" Wei Lian'er stopped, "Your Highness is a crown prince, how can you condescend to go to everything? Why don't you ask the dean of the Engineering Academy to come and report..."

"Siblings don't know something. There are some utensils that you won't understand unless you see them yourself. Why don't you go and see them yourself..." Li Xian said next to them.

In fact, even if he is the prince's elder brother, calling the prince's concubine's brother and sister is already suspected of usurping.

But Li Xian didn't care at all, and even thought it was a good name.

Wei Lian'er obviously hasn't changed from the thinking of the superior, and she always feels that this is not appropriate.

After all, the Academy of Engineering is an institution of the imperial court. How pretentious is it to let the prince go there in person?
However, Li Xian didn't care about these things either. Ever since Dongdu Hongshui went to the disaster relief scene in person, he no longer regarded his royal status as before.

Not to mention that it is always boring to stay in this palace every day. Since there is an opportunity to go out for a walk, it is natural not to let it go.

So he waved his hand and announced that he was going to the Academy of Engineering.

The prince's travel is not as big as the emperor's, but it is not too small.

No matter how you dress lightly and travel lightly, as long as it is not a private visit in micro-services, at least a hundred or so people should be brought with you.

After getting ready, it was already half an hour later, Li Xian couldn't wait to pull Wei Lian'er into the carriage, and even waved his hands to urge Li Xian to follow quickly.

"It's fine for you and your siblings to ride a car, but for a brother, you'd better ride a horse yourself." Li Xian shook his head.

Anyway, he is still a prince. He is a common man, and it is always not good to ride in the same carriage with the prince and princess.

So he rode a horse and followed him, and he could talk through the window at any time.

The distance is not too far, and it will be there in a while.

Pei Bishu, who had received the notice in advance, came to greet him at the door, while thinking about how he should speak so as not to leave a bad impression.

After all, it is Li Yuechen who usually comes to the engineering institute the most, and they are all used to the way of getting along with the princess.

I don't know what to do with the prince, after all, even the emperor rarely comes here.

After the carriage stopped, Li Xian jumped out of the carriage with the support of Sun Jingbang.

Pei Bishu quickly came over to greet him: "Your Majesty has met His Highness the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess..."

"Forget it, let it go!"

Before he finished speaking, Li Xian waved his hands impatiently, "Take Gu to see the printing press."

"Yes, Your Highness, please follow me!"

Seeing that he was in such a hurry, Pei Bishu immediately took him to the laboratory.

The rest of the accompanying people were stopped outside, and the guards at the gate of the engineering institute were all active-duty soldiers.

Wei Lianer frowned, and was about to scold, Pei Bishu quickly explained: "Your Highness, this engineering institute is a secret place after all..."

"No problem!" Li Xian waved his hand, "Just follow the rules here!"

In the end, only Li Xian, the princess and the personal eunuch Sun Jingbang could enter.

Even the close-fitting maids with shotguns were only allowed to enter, and the others were stopped outside.

After arriving at the laboratory, Li Xian's eyes widened before he entered.

It can be seen from the outside that a lot of smoke is constantly coming out of the huge factory building.

All kinds of complex machinery are driven by a steam engine, and the huge gears turn to make various mechanical torsion sounds.

These rotating wheels are connected to belts or chains, which transmit power to various machines of different shapes.

On one of the iron plates, the spinning wheels were too fast to be seen clearly.

A young apprentice put a log on it and pushed it forward slowly.

In just a few breaths, one side of the log was cut into a plane.

After a while, the log became a square log.

Seeing this scene, Li Xian was amazed. He turned his head and saw that behind another machine next to him, a young mechanic was operating the machine to drill holes.

Just within the time from here to the door, five or six holes have been punched in a piece of wood.

And it looks like every hole is exactly the same size and spacing...

Li Xian's reaction was pretty good, after all, he had been to this place a few times and played with shotguns.

But Wei Lian'er next to her was different. Although she didn't know craftsman's knowledge, she still felt unbelievable when she saw the silky smooth operation process. After all, it was completely beyond her understanding.

It was even more unbelievable to see the inside of the factory next door. I saw an unmanned hammer constantly rising and falling.

A blacksmith put a red-hot iron block under the hammer, and with continuous beating, in just a few minutes, the red-hot iron block was beaten into long strips...

And a young apprentice not far away was grinding another iron bar that had already been laid on a constantly rotating disc.

A large number of sparks splashed nearly a foot away, forming an extremely dazzling waterfall.

Although she doesn't know how to forge iron, Wei Lian'er feels that, judging by this efficiency... it seems that several knives can be forged in a day, right?

Seeing his wife froze in place, Li Xian thought she was scared by a group of shirtless gentlemen inside, turned around and reprimanded: "How can you let them not wear clothes..."

Pei Bishu quickly explained: "Your Highness, I don't know. The iron is already hot. Wearing clothes is not conducive to heat dissipation, and there is a risk of being caught! Besides, once the sparks splash on the body, it is easy to ignite! Therefore, the place where the iron is forged In this way, even women are no exception..."

While speaking, he pointed into it.

There are indeed many women in the blacksmith workshop, some are children and some are apprentices.

This group of girls is also naked except for a leather bust.

The streamlined arms, shoulders and waist are all exposed to the air, allowing the sweat to slide off, looking shiny.

I don't care much about it these days. Every year, a group of shirtless old men pour cold water on each other, and all men and women in the city will watch it. It's no big problem.

Seeing this scene, Li Xian didn't ask any more questions, but instead said, "Speaking of which, the reason why I came here alone is because I plan to set up a separate printing factory and make a few printing machines. How long will it take?"

Pei Bishu thought for a while: "Returning to Your Highness, the movable type printing machine is actually a troublesome type. The materials are all ready-made. Every month... two or three sets can be produced."

"Oh? So fast?" Li showed a look of interest.

"Returning to Your Highness, there is a small mill. As long as the craftsman has a steady hand, he can carve two or three characters with the effort of a cup of tea."

As he spoke, he brought him to a machine and roughly explained it.

After observing and explaining, Li Xian finally understood.

This machine mainly relies on a metal pen fixed on the shelf.

The tip of the pen is a whetstone the size of a little finger, and it spins rapidly after being turned on. This pen cannot move left, right, back and forth, but it can move up and down.

The craftsman takes the pasted block and moves it underneath to carve the complete character.

Novices don't master it very well, and their speed is slow, but veterans are quite fast, and can make more than 100 blocks a day.

Of course, it also has something to do with the size. The smaller the characters, the harder it is to make, and the slower the speed.

But even so, it is much easier than carving out one by one with a carving knife.

Li Xian nodded: "Okay, let's make a few sets first!"

(End of this chapter)