Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

The ancestors of the Li family were also officials.

Although it is said that there has never been a senior member of the third rank or above, but he has also served as a parent officer of a prefecture, and can be a magistrate of a prefecture. This Li family is also a well-known gentry in the local area.

However, his ancestor was too rich and unlucky, because of the turmoil of the great etiquette in the previous dynasty, his Li family was unlucky. Although the family was preserved, the official must have been lost.

The Li family in Suzhou had no choice but to find another way out after losing their official position and started doing business.

Fortunately, there were still some connections in the past, and the Li family gradually became a big family by doing business. It was originally a family of officials.

After all, losing an official is too common.

Today you may lose your official position because you followed the wrong person. Tomorrow, when the emperor is happy, your official position may come back.

Therefore, for criminal officials, as long as they do not confiscate their property, abandon the market, etc., and can still protect themselves and even their wealth, the local yamen and gentry will not offend them. After all, who knows when they will be restored?

In the Ming Dynasty, or in other words, from ancient times to the present, all dynasties have always focused on human relations and connections. It is normal for human relations to be greater than the legal system. After all, the law is the law of the royal family. The emperor can promote you today if he is happy, and dismiss you tomorrow if he is not happy. , Jurisprudence is always inferior to human feelings, regardless of things.

Therefore, whether it is a local government office, a gentry, or a powerful man, there are few who can survive in the local area. You can be stupid, but you can't be stupid. You can be arrogant, but you must have eyesight. This is true whether the place is still in the imperial court.

In Li Shan's generation, the Li family is already a gentry under the care of the local government, but after all, it is a family of officials, and the family still wants to restore their former status, so there is no need to bully men and women in the local area, and there is no need to be arrogant and domineering. , On the contrary, he often helps poor families, and he is very supportive of some policies of the local government.

For example, building bridges and roads, as long as the Yamen has this idea, the Li family will definitely contribute money and effort.

Therefore, the Li family also has a good reputation as the first good family in Suzhou, whether it is the government or the gentry.

People carry people in flowery sedan chairs, and everyone helps each other, and the situation of the Li family is getting better and better.

Up to now, the Li family has money and shops, and being rich means being rich, but without being an official, I always feel that something is missing. Everyone in the family analyzes the current political situation and believes that: the emperor chases death and chases the north, the Ming king fights south and north, the emperor's His prestige was comparable to that of Taizu and Chengzu, and no one inside or outside the court could resist.

Now the emperor is young and strong, and his will will haunt the world for decades in the future, and judging from the current attitude, the successor king must also implement the New Deal and encourage trade.

Therefore, the Li family believes that if the business grows bigger, it will still be favored by the court, and it will be good to be able to enter the commercial office at that time.

After all, it was also rumored between the government and the opposition that Shoufu had always wanted to upgrade the commercial office and the water conservancy office.

The idea of ​​the family is also Li Shan's idea. As the current head of the family, Li Shan also wants to expand his family's business, just in time for the New Deal to be implemented in Jiangnan, and Jiangnan will open five ports to trade with foreign barbarians. It's a great opportunity to make big money.

It is nothing to develop in Suzhou alone. If you really want to be in the eyes of the court, you must at least have a certain scale, so Li Shan went to Yangzhou again, where he opened the Li family's silk reeling factory and weaving factory.

After all, whether it is Yangzhou or Suzhou, they are the first places in the south of the Yangtze River to open commercial ports. If the Li family wants to gain momentum, they must not be limited to Suzhou, but must have their own reputation in the whole of the south of the Yangtze River.

Don't you see those real big shopkeepers of big chambers of commerce, even those who can be interviewed by the chief minister of Ming Dynasty?
In such an era when there are no low-ranking people, the court still encourages commerce and pays attention to merchants, it is undoubtedly a rare good time for merchants. They don't have to worry about being targeted by corrupt officials because of their wealth. Their social status is constantly improving. Children can also go to school, and even enter the court as an official.

Implementing the New Deal, developing science and technology, encouraging research on things, liberating people's livelihood, and developing commerce, this is undoubtedly the best era for daimyo.

In such an era, Li Shan is also proud of being a Ming person.

This is Daming!

Now that the imperial court has come out with the latest policy, in addition to opening ports such as Suzhou and Yangzhou, it also encourages businessmen to recruit female workers and encourages women to come out to work and earn money.

When this new policy came out, Li Shan did not hesitate at all. In order to show his attitude and show that he would always stand with the imperial court, Li Shan immediately announced that his Li family's silk reeling factory and textile factory hired female workers from Yangzhou City, but the livelihood was not easy. , Anyone who needs to work to support their family can come to his factory to sign up.

As the first factory in Yangzhou City to adopt the attitude of recruiting female workers, Li Shan's name was quickly remembered by the people of Yangzhou City. It's not easy.

In short, there are different opinions, making Li Shan famous in Yangzhou city.

After employing these female workers, these female workers were indeed very serious. Everyone worked seriously and carefully, whether it was reeling or weaving, they were very diligent, which also made Li Shan feel that it was worth the money.

It has to be said that the female workers are hardworking and hardworking, and they are meticulous in their work. Although Li Shan doesn't give these female workers much money, these female workers are enough to supplement their families.

Moreover, Li Shan's factory also manages a lunch, which makes the female workers even happier. They all say that Li Shan is a kind person, and even Li Shan himself thinks that he is a kind person.

Not only that, Li Shan also reached an agreement with five farms outside Yangzhou City to purchase ingredients from these farms and recruit workers.

Now, Li Shan has confirmed his benevolence and kindness. Not only has he gained word of mouth in Yangzhou City, but he has also found a group of good friends.

After gaining a foothold in Yangzhou, Li Shan often called out a few friends, went in and out of teahouses and brothels, and everyone talked and laughed happily to discuss how to do business.

This brothel is not a low-end place. On the contrary, the brothel is quite a high-end place. courtesan.

The status of this prostitute is even higher.

Nowadays, Jinling is naturally the best famous prostitute. The Qinhuai River is full of beauty, and although Yangzhou is not as good as Suzhou, Hangzhou and Jinling, there are also Yangzhou skinny horses. Not the same.

The brothels in Yangzhou City are all a family business. I don't know who the main family behind Yanliu Lane is, but from the fact that they can monopolize the brothels in the entire Yangzhou, we know that the main family is very powerful.

However, I have come here to listen to music and watch a lot of plays, and Li Shan also knows some of the truths in it.

In this brothel, there are not no volunteers, but this is only a minority, and most of them are forced to enter here due to helplessness, livelihood or status.

Some were abducted, some were criminals, some had their families destroyed, some were sold, and so on. When they arrived here, they had to be retrained from the beginning before they could come out to receive guests.

In fact, it is not bad to be able to enter the brothel. Those family members who have been abused by gambling or sold by patriarchal families may not be able to come to this brothel. In that kind of place, things like dignity are not mentioned, and they cannot even be viewed as human beings.

These days, Li Shan knows that these people are suffering, so he takes care of them.

This made many sisters and sisters in the brothel very fond of this Li Shanren, and Zhang Xiaowan was one of them.

Speaking of which, Zhang Xiaowan was originally a kind-hearted family, but her parents valued sons over daughters and looked down on her as a daughter. She had already learned knowledge in school and could write and keep accounts to support the family, but her parents sold her out for a sum of money. Give it to someone else's family as a daughter-in-law.

The reason for the joy is that the man in that family is a sick and consumptive ghost.

Although Zhang Xiaowan is desperately unwilling to marry a sick and consumptive man, but at the moment, what can she do with her parents' orders and the words of a matchmaker?
The fate of parents is greater than the sky, and it is unfilial to disobey them, so Zhang Xiaowan finally married the sick and consumptive ghost of Feng's family.

However, the sick tuberculosis did not get better because of this wedding, and died of illness shortly after the marriage. Her husband's family thought it was Zhang Xiaowan's problem, and they thought she was a bereaved star, so they drove her back to her natal family.

And Zhang Xiaowan's parents were very happy when they got a fortune for nothing, but seeing Zhang Xiaowan came back, they wanted to marry Zhang Xiaowan again and earn more money.

But news of Feng's family's tuberculosis ghost's death spread, making the neighbors feel that Zhang Xiaowan was the fate of Kefu. Seeing that their daughter could not be sold, Zhang Xiaowan's parents had no choice but to give up.

But who would have expected that the people from Zuixianglou, a famous brothel in Yangzhou City, would find them. Zhang Xiaowan was pretty, with a good face, and she would be a good seed if she was trained. Knowing that Zhang Xiaowan's parents had always wanted to sell Zhang Xiaowan , and suggested that the brothel spend money to buy Zhang Xiaowan.

Zhang Xiaowan's parents were moved, and Zhang Xiaowan begged bitterly, but her parents signed a contract to sell Zhang Xiaowan to a brothel for the money.

On the same day, the thugs of Zuixianglou forced her to be transported to Zuixianglou for training. Although Zhang Xiaowan refused to obey and even planned to hang herself, the people in the brothel watched her strictly, and she never succeeded.

The sisters in the brothel also sympathized with Zhang Xiaowan's experience, but in this brothel, how many of them came here voluntarily to make fun of it?
It is said that it is a show but not a body, but those rich gentry and officials have taken a fancy to it, so what can they do?

Now that they know that Li Shan has opened a factory in Yangzhou city, specially employing female workers for silk reeling and weaving, Zhang Xiaowan and the others feel that Li Shan respects women.

While chatting at night, a younger sister said: "All the men in the world are the same, how many of them are good?"

Zhang Xiaowan knew that this younger sister was tricked by her lover into selling it to a brothel, so she sighed lightly: "That Li Shan respects us women. Speaking of which, it's not that we women can't work, work, or If you support yourself, why can you only end up like this.”

The younger sister said: "Why don't we find a chance to escape, at worst we go to Li Shan's factory and work to support ourselves, it's better than being here all day long and being picked like meat."

Zhang Xiaowan was obviously moved.

One night, the two of them really found a chance and escaped from Zuixiang Building with the help of other sisters.

After escaping Zuixianglou, they first found a place to hide, and when they saw that Zuixianglou didn't look for them again two days later, they dressed up and went to Li Shan's factory to apply for a job.

In front of the factory, Zhang Xiaowan and Zhang Xiaowan said that their family was ruined and they had already understood the whole body. They wanted to find a job to support themselves. The manager of the factory is also a woman. I can't see this young girl like this. Think about the hard life I have endured. , the soft heart left them and let them work, but Li Shan didn't know about this yet.

After all, whether it is a silk reeling factory or a textile factory, there are mainly female workers. He is a big man, how could he run to the female workers' workshop? He is the shopkeeper, not the manager, as long as he grasps the general direction.

So Li Shan continued to live his own life, sometimes drinking tea with his friends and watching a play, sometimes visiting the factory, and at the same time actively preparing, studying new products with master craftsmen, hoping to sew a kind of good-looking fabric. It's time to sell it to the barbarians in the West.

Sister Zhang Xiaowan also lived in the silk reeling factory. She worked and ate in the silk reeling factory on weekdays, and did not go out of the factory unless necessary.

But such a good time didn't last long, no matter how careful Zhang Xiaowan's whereabouts were, they were still found by the people from Zuixianglou.

Seeing sister Zhang Xiaowan entering Li Shan's factory, the thugs from Zuixianglou immediately went back and reported it to their master.

This master also has status, he didn't pay attention to a mere Li Shan, and immediately gave an order to his thugs: "Go and catch those two sluts back."

"Also, teach that Li a lesson, and because of some benevolent name, he can do whatever he wants?"

That night, Zuixianglou's thugs rushed directly into the silk reeling factory. Amidst the exclamation of women, they smashed up the machines in the reeling factory, wounded several workers, and arrested sister Zhang Xiaowan.

The leader looked at sister Zhang Xiaowan who was dragged by her hair and couldn't help but sneered: "You two bitches, where do you want to escape?"

As she spoke, several slaps were slapped across the face, Zhang Xiaowan's cheeks were red and swollen visible to the naked eye, and the corners of her mouth were also oozing blood.

Zhang Xiaowan remained silent, allowing her hair to be picked up, she knew that after going back, she would be worse off than dead.

When Li Shan learned that his factory had been smashed up, he rushed over in a hurry. As soon as he arrived, he saw some men in black with sticks leading Sister Zhang Xiaowan away.

Li Shan immediately shouted: "Who are you? Why did you come to my place to beat up and arrest my workers?"

The manager at the head saw Li Shan, the rightful lord, arrived. He was not afraid, and he didn't feel that he had violated the law. Hiding our people?"

Li Shan was stunned: "What are your people?"

Seeing that Li Shan was pretending to be confused, the manager directly brought Sister Zhang Xiaowan up, pointed and said, "These two bitches signed our contract of sale and sold them to us from Zuixianglou, but they escaped a few days ago, so It's hidden in your factory, don't you know?"

Li Shan looked at Zhang Xiaowan and Zhang Xiaowan, and now he recognized him: "You, you are not"

Then Zhang Xiaowan said Qi Qi: "Li Shanren, I have caused you trouble."

"We escaped by ourselves. It has nothing to do with Li Shanren. We are just hiding here. Don't embarrass Li Shanren."

The manager smiled: "You bastard, you can't even protect yourself, and you still protect him?"

"But you said you escaped by yourself, then it's easy to handle, shopkeeper Li, did you hear that, these two bitches escaped by yourself, take them back!"

Originally, Li Shan should have asked the supervisor to take Zhang Xiaowan and the two back, but he didn't know if it was because of his passion, or because he felt pity for those women in the brothel, or because he couldn't bear to see the miserable appearance of Zhang Xiaowan and the two now. , Li Shan actually stopped in front of these people: "This is a worker from my Li family. You smashed my factory and came here to arrest people. Is there any law?"

"Believe it or not, I'll sue the officials!"

After hearing the complaint, the manager smiled even more happily: "Then you go and sue the officer, let's go!"

Watching sister Zhang Xiaowan being taken away by the people from Zuixianglou, and looking at his smashed factory and injured workers, Li Shan was angry and had to clean up the mess first: "Injured workers, send them to the hospital as soon as possible." Healing, everyone subsidizes one month's wages, and rests well."

"Record all the damaged machines and make a list. I will sue the officials tomorrow, sue them!"

The next day, Li Shan really went to the Yamen to sue the officials.

"Mighty~Wu~"

Accompanied by the voice of the yamen servant, he was promoted.

Wu Renxing, the prefect of Yangzhou, patted the gavel: "Who is in the hall, and what are you suing?"

Li Shan bowed and saluted: "My lord, Caomin sued Zuixianglou. They smashed Caomin's factory, injured workers, and captured two female workers from Caomin's factory!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Renxing immediately said, "Bring the steward of Zuixianglou."

Soon the steward of Zuixiang Building came, and Wu Renxing respectfully saluted: "Caomin has seen Mr. Zhifu."

Wu Renxing said: "Boss Wang, shopkeeper Li said that your people smashed up his factory, injured his workers, and even arrested the female workers. Is this true?"

Wang Guanshi bowed and said: "It is true, but the magistrate, we have no other choice."

Wu Renxing smiled: "I have no choice? I smashed the factory and injured the workers. Is this called no choice?"

Steward Wang hurriedly complained: "My lord, it's all because shopkeeper Li's factory hid our people! We went to ask for it, but they didn't hand it over, so they pushed each other when there was a conflict. It's not our responsibility." .”

Li Shan was furious when he heard this: "Obviously your people rushed into my factory with sticks at night and beat people when they saw them, and smashed machines when they saw them. Why are we pushing and shoving to stop you?!"

Wu Renxing listened to the quarrel between Li Shan and Wang Guanshi, frowned and patted the gavel: "Shut up!"

"Boss Wang, shopkeeper Li said that you took two female workers from him. You said that these two female workers are yours. What evidence do you have?"

Guanshi Wang quickly said: "Yes, there is a contract of sale, and the contract of sale for those two bitches is with us!"

Wu Renxing said: "There is also a contract of prostitution to lead a female worker."