The rise of the prince

Chapter 433
King Pingnan is not here, and the palace always seems to be missing something, but it is no different than last time. King Pingnan is not going to the battlefield this time, and there is no danger. Jiangzhou is not as far apart as Luzhou, so everyone can rest assured.

King Pingnan has been away for nearly two months, and there have been many changes in the palace. For example, there are many fewer workers because most of the simple work has been outsourced, and the workshops in the palace have gradually begun to transfer to the new palace area.

The brewery in the backyard was expanded once, and it was completely moved out of Prince Xiao's Mansion. The brewery is too close to the Prince's Mansion, which poses a safety hazard. You must know that the high-quality wine in the Prince's Mansion will burn in case of fire.

Due to the increasing business and greater demand, the original Wangfu Winery is no longer enough.Gu Feng recruited a group of new apprentices from the family members of the royal family to help. Zhao Si selected a group of clever apprentice craftsmen from the new army according to the order of the prince, and went to work in the "advanced weapon experiment field" built around the back mountain.

This strange name was given by the prince, and he wrote the plaque with his own pen.

Although the name is very strange, this place is actually an open field surrounded by high cement walls. There are also several cement rooms for storing gunpowder and firearms. to someone.

The site hadn't been fully completed when the prince left, and it's only now being completed and put into use.

Zhao Si was naturally very happy. He used to experiment with firearms. Even if he drew the artillery calibration table, it was at the training ground of the new army outside the city. It took half an hour to go back and forth. Or if you want to change it, it is too far away from the firearms workshop in the palace, and it is very inconvenient to run back and forth.

Well now, I can experiment in the back mountain of Wangfu. If there are problems or new ideas need to be changed, it is only a few steps away from the Wangfu workshop.

Another big change is that the first battalion of Wu Desi sergeants who originally protected the grenade workshop in the back mountain of the palace were replaced by a battalion of new army sergeants. reasonable.

The reason why the new army was allowed to enter the city was because King Pingnan also served as the young supervisor of the Military Weapons Supervisor. The Houshan workshop would deliver grenades to the Military Weapons Supervisor every month.

At the beginning, the emperor gave a special order to allow a battalion of sergeants to enter the city to be responsible for security, and now it is just the reason for the palace to transfer new troops into the city.

Yan Shen is an officer of the New Army, not to mention the Commander of the Artillery, and Zhao Si also holds the title of Marquis of Yu, the capital of the New Army. In addition, he has repeatedly improved his firearms, and he is kind and has a high prestige among the New Army. It's all my own, so I feel more at ease.

In general, the staff of the palace is more streamlined and the production efficiency is improved.

As for the biggest change in the upper echelons of the palace, it is nothing more than that Yan Yan is gradually ignoring affairs due to his age and lack of energy, and many major and minor matters are handed over to the prince's concubine, Shiyu girl, for the management. This is beyond many people's expectations.

Because logically speaking, the prince is not here, so it should be the mistress Wang Lianshan who is in charge of the house, but in the end she did not expect to be a prostitute.

Of course, most of these are discussions between servants and outsiders. The upper echelons of the palace and even a few stewards have seen the ability of poetry and language, and they all agree with it. Everyone has gradually discovered the style of the prince's employment, which is to choose people based on their merits.

The most obvious examples are Qifang, Yan Kun, etc. apart from Shiyu. Yan Kun is smooth, and some people have reported him to the prince in private for accepting bribes, but he knows how to do things, and the prince didn't say anything.

Qifang, who manages the business in the Suzhou and Luzhou areas of the palace, is even more so. Although his father was the prefect of Ansu before, and later he was a member of Zhongshushe, many traditional and old-fashioned old people still shook their heads.

This woman obviously has a husband's family, but lives in the palace every day, which is out of place.

Even so, she is really powerful. In addition, she was the daughter of the prefect of Ansu before, and she unified the army of the prefecture. It is said that she also went to the battlefield with King Pingnan. She can be called a heroine.She has excellent means, and she manages the Wangfu's business along the river in Suzhou, Luzhou, and Guazhou in an orderly manner.

Nowadays, as King Pingnan became more and more famous, many Confucian scholars from famous schools came to visit with famous thorns. Although they didn't say it clearly, the meaning was to take refuge in the palace and become a guest of the palace.

The prince has already explained that young and highly skilled craftsmen can be taken in, but others will not be kept.

Although Yan Yan objected, because he understands that these so-called famous people will be terrible if they open their mouths. If you don't take him in, if he goes outside and talks about it, the reputation of the palace will be ruined, but the prince will not give in at all. He only said that the population of the palace will increase in the future. , Can't accommodate wine bags and rice bags.

He also had no choice but to give up, no more words, but Yan Yan's worries were justified.

In the middle of the night, in the small courtyard of the Wangfu, Shiyu was slowly reading the accounts, the candles were flickering, and beside the pear blossom wooden table, there were two stools lying flat, the one on the left was Shiyu, and the one on the right was Gillian.

Gillian flipped through the accounts lightly, and then reported it to Shiyu.

"This month, Qifang, the steward of Suzhou, Luzhou, and Guazhou, hired 150 new laborers. According to the prince's order, he gave priority to hiring the demobilized soldiers of the Luzhou Army who fought with him at the beginning. " Gillian said.

Shiyu thought for a while, then nodded: "Of course, it's fine to let the steward make up his own mind about these trivial matters. You don't have to send letters to the palace all the time. That guy is not in the palace now." She said a little displeased.

That woman Qifang always gave her a sense of crisis. Did she know that Qifang had a good relationship with that guy? It is said that Qifang recruited a son-in-law and bought it with money, in order to inherit the family property, because Qifang's two older brothers They all died in the war disaster in Suzhou, and she was the only one left in the family.

This woman obviously has bad intentions, and she is the kind who doesn't hide it, and is not afraid of other people's gossip, so Shiyu has always been wary of her.

Gillian nodded, then picked up a pen and wrote "Please judge yourself" in beautiful small characters on one corner.

Then he said: "Also, Yan Kun has recruited 27 new skilled boatmen, and he said he wants to talk to Sister Shiyu."

"I've made a note of it." Shiyu nodded.

With the candles flickering, Gillian continued to look through: "Building a new palace, and what the prince hand-picked. What kind of weapon testing ground, the labor and materials cost a total of 12 Wen."

Shiyu wrote it down briefly, and said in surprise: "So little!" She estimated that such a large project would cost at least 30 taels, but she didn't expect it to be 12 taels in the end.

Gillian looked at it carefully: "It was reported by Zhu Rong, and it has been verified three times, so it can't be wrong.

He said that cement saves time and labor, saves a lot of effort in grinding stones, and it hardens quickly. The canal can be filled with water in just a few days. It is not comparable to glutinous rice water and ashes, which saves a lot of man-hours.The key is that it is much cheaper than glutinous rice water and ashes. "

Shiyu sighed in her heart, and she knew this as soon as she heard it. Glutinous rice water and glutinous rice are expensive and rare, while ashes need to be slowly soaked in slaked lime for about a month, which is time-consuming and laborious.

The cement in the Wangfu is just common clay and limestone, plus the unnecessary iron powder waste used in smelting Xiaogang. It can be fired in a graphite furnace. As long as the manpower is increased, there is no need to wait, as much as you want.

"This cement is really a good thing. This is just a small project of the palace. If it is at the border, it will take at least a million taels of silver to build a border town. But if there is cement, maybe a million taels can build three or four, and it will be stronger and more reliable. .” Poetry said with emotion.

Gillian laughed: "Sister Shiyu really cares about the country and the people."

"I just finished laughing." Shi Yu gave her a white look, and couldn't help giggling, yes, the two little girls are concerned about the affairs of their family and country, and then said: "Go on."

"Yeah." Shiyu nodded, and then said: "Qiu'er wants 2000 taels. She said she has a new idea and designed a new blueprint. What is she going to remake? She also wants to transfer it from the Fuzhong Firearms Workshop. The two blacksmiths listened."

Shiyu nodded: "That guy said, no matter what Qiu'er does, let her do it. I'll go to the cashier to pay for the money tomorrow and send it to Qiu'er. I'll ask Tie Niu to arrange it."

"My lord really dotes on Qiu'er." Gillian said with her head tilted.

"Jealous?"

"No." Gillian blushed and shook her head in panic.

(End of this chapter)