I practiced magic in the Three Kingdoms

After all, he was born in a noble family, so when it comes to being particular, Xun You is even more particular than Wang Jing. When he was customizing, he even had different requirements for the hardware.

Some require gold plating, while others require silver plating.

The last idea was to make the shower head, exposed water pipes and faucets out of glass. It’s true that the crystal clear look is very pleasing to the eye, and the artistic value is at least as high as five or six floors.

Wang Jing was secretly resentful about this.

My goodness, Xun You just wanted to advise me not to indulge in pleasure and to work hard, but when he turned around, he himself was enjoying himself!

It seems that the monarch only needs to strictly restrain himself, while the counselors need to consider a lot of things, right?
In fact, this is not surprising at all. There are many ministers in history who advised the emperor not to be extravagant, but who themselves were extravagant.

why?
Because if the emperor is extravagant and lustful, then life will be difficult for people all over the world, including the aristocratic families.

What's this called?
This is called moral kidnapping, but moral kidnapping is something that only binds others and not oneself.

In fact, in Wang Jing's opinion, if the emperor only spends his own money for enjoyment and does not use the money from the national treasury, then he can spend it however he likes and others have no right to point fingers.

Wang Jing is like this himself. As long as the money is earned cleanly, he should spend it well and it can also revitalize the economy. How can he talk about luxury and waste?

On the contrary, saving money without using it is a miserly behavior that is extremely harmful. Only when money is circulated can the industry develop and the upstream and downstream of the entire industrial chain can benefit from it.

The money saved will only become dead money and will have no other use except to get moldy.

As he was thinking, Wang Jing pondered over Xun You's behavior of customizing the glass faucet just now, and thought that he might as well make a set of sanitary ware with glass.

A fully transparent flush toilet is too eye-catching and is unnecessary.

But a fully transparent bathtub is possible!
The thought of calling Diao Chan, Cai Yan, Gan Mei and the others to play in the bathtub together...

Just thinking about it makes one's blood boil. Wang Jing made a decision immediately and went to the glass factory in person to find Shi Zimiao to discuss the customized glass bathtub.

Although Shi Zimiao was an old Taoist priest who spent all day thinking about attaining enlightenment and ascending to heaven, he often went to Zuiyue Tower to watch belly dance performances by dancers from the Western Regions. Therefore, Wang Jing only mentioned his idea, and the old man understood it instantly.

"Reporting to Lord Qi, this glass bathtub is theoretically fine. Our glass factory can make it. But I'm afraid it's not strong enough and can't withstand a few times of tossing."

Shi Zimiao even deliberately emphasized the word "trouble". Even though Wang Jing was thick-skinned, his face turned red after hearing this.

However, he understood what Shi Zimiao said, which meant that the glass produced by the glass factory at present did not meet the strength he required.

Once the fish moves vigorously in the glass fish tank, the tank will crack on the spot.

Shi Zimiao is now addicted to glassmaking and has gained some experience. He explained to Wang Jing, "It's actually possible to make a large fish tank. At most, it can be made thicker and less transparent, which won't affect the use. But a bathtub won't work for now. Your Excellency's body is worth a lot of money, so we must not let any mistakes happen to you."

As Xun You spread the news, orders from the ceramic workshop suddenly came in like snowflakes. Under Xun You's leadership, Xun Yu, Guo Jia, and even old ministers such as Yang Biao, Huang Wan and Yuan Wei all sent people to place orders.

Such a luxurious and magnificent bathroom would make anyone unable to walk after seeing it. Many people sighed that Wang Jing really knew how to enjoy life.

As expected of someone who comes from a prominent family like Wang from Taiyuan, he really knows how to enjoy life.

But other people spend money to enjoy themselves, but Wang Jing can actually make money from enjoying himself. Even if someone wants to talk about it, they can't find a way to start. This is very infuriating.

In just two days, the ceramic workshop received a large number of new orders, which completely opened up the situation and expanded its market share.

The first batch of orders included dozens of toilets, sinks, matching hardware and pipes, and hundreds of boxes of colored tiles.

Originally they wanted to make some requests, such as having patterns on the edges and corners, and that they must be different, unique, and able to show individuality.

However, the reality is very bleak. It would take forever for the craftsmen to finish painting one stroke at a time at such an efficient rate.

Shi Zimiao asked someone to try the molding method, but no results were achieved in a short time, so in the end he simply changed everything to colored tiles.

It looked colorful and nice, and the customers were very satisfied. In the end, they reluctantly accepted the change, and everyone was happy.

For this purpose, the Taifu Mansion and the Situ Mansion specially added six sets of orders. The general requirements were similar to the previous ones, that is, they had their own color matching requirements for colored tiles.

Shi Zimiao originally thought it was too troublesome and didn't want to do it. After all, the Taoist priest also had a temper.

But Yuan Wei and Yang Biao were willing to pay more money. As long as they were willing to pay more money, there would be no problem.

Shi Zimiao immediately transformed into a follower of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect and expressed his willingness to bow down for the five pecks of rice.

The controversy over glass and bamboo bars has not yet subsided, and the toilet and bathtub have popped up again, becoming the focus of conversation among Luoyang residents after dinner. People can be seen talking about these things everywhere in the streets and alleys.

She Yuan and Huangfu Jianshou, who had bought the grain and loaded the first batch onto trucks for transport to Chang'an, did not leave with the caravan. They stayed in the capital, hoping to find out more news about Wang Jing. After all, Chang'an and Luoyang were closely connected, so they could not ignore it.

When Huangfu Jianshou got the news, his eyes widened in shock. After a long while, he said bitterly, "I can understand the glass and bamboo, but what are the toilet and bathtub?"

Huangfu Jianshou thought this was too outrageous. He had heard of bathtubs and used them every day, but a bathtub was a bit beyond his scope.

After all, the porcelain firing technology of the Han Dynasty was far from perfect. It was difficult to fire a bowl or a vase, and the success rate was frighteningly low. Porcelain could only be sold as an expensive luxury item, and most of them were small items.

For example, wine jugs and soup bowls, things as big as a bathtub are simply unheard of!

Just the size of this thing is enough to scare a bunch of local bricklayers to death.

If Wang Jing had not carried out the integration and established a ceramic workshop to carry out technical research, and if everyone had not worked together to overcome various technical difficulties, it might not have been possible to produce the bathtub.

As for the toilet, Huangfu Jianshou couldn't accept it: "Can a toilet made of ceramic be moved? How heavy would it be?"

Sheyuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this: "If you really want to know, why don't you go to Zuiyue Tower and try it?"

After that, She Yuan sighed a few more times: "I heard that Zuiyue Tower has a lot of new things recently. Toilets, bathtubs, wash basins and so on have already flowed out from the General Wei's Mansion. Not only the Grand Tutor and the Three Dukes are using them, but even Zuiyue Tower has specially ordered a batch of them and made a few VIP rooms."

"I thought this Qi Hou was a hero who could accomplish great things, but I never thought he was so good at enjoying himself."

Huangfu Jianshou had long heard of Wang Jing's name. His previous impression of Wang Jing was that of a domineering, ruthless, talented and heroic man.

But when he arrived in Luoyang, his opinion of Wang Jing changed completely.

Sheyuan gently opened the folding fan he had just bought and said with a smile, "He not only knows how to enjoy life, he also knows how to make money."

Huangfu Jianshou gave Sheyuan a disdainful look at the folding fan in his hand: "How dare you say that? You have to spend money on this broken thing. What's the use of it?"

The folding fan was originally a toy made by Zhai Cheng to please Wang Jing, but it unexpectedly became very popular in the market.

Especially the children of wealthy families, in order to increase their own literary temperament, they would like to have a folding fan in their hands and tie it around their waist. When they meet the beauty they like, they will take it out to show off their power, just like a peacock spreading its tail.

In response to Huangfu Jianshou's accusation, Sheyuan sneered: "It's fine if others say this, but you still have the nerve to criticize me?"

After saying that, he pointed at a long sword that Huangfu Jianshou carried with him and hung on his waist, and teased him, "Your cloud-patterned steel sword is much more expensive than my folding fan."

"How can they be the same? This is a magical weapon! Do you understand what a magical weapon is?"

Huangfu Jianshou, who loved swords like his life, was immediately displeased when he heard his friend compare the folding fan with his big sword. He had spent all his savings to win this cloud-patterned steel sword from Fumanlou in an auction. It was so sharp that it could cut hair and iron like mud.

With this sword in hand, the world can be conquered. Therefore, after getting this sword, Huangfu Jianshou always treasured it very much, just like his shadow, taking it with him wherever he went, never leaving his body.

As the two talked, Huangfu Jianshou couldn't help but sigh: "Alas, Luoyang City under Wang Jing's rule has been developing rapidly. We have only lived here for a few months, but more changes have taken place than we have seen in our entire lives. I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing."

Luoyang, South Zhuque Street.

Huangfu Jianshou and Sheyuan were strolling around casually, experiencing the rapid changes in the capital city firsthand.

Looking at the crowds of people walking around, everyone has a calm smile on their face and their eyes flash with beautiful expectations for the future. It doesn't feel like troubled times have come at all, but rather like living in an era of peace and prosperity.

She Yuan couldn't help but sigh, "Under the rule of Marquis Qi, it's so prosperous. By the way, the South Gate is not far away, and the Imperial College is about 300 steps away. There are tens of thousands of students from other places. Why don't we go and take a look together?"

In this era when transportation was extremely underdeveloped, people who could come to Luoyang from other places to study naturally could not be poor.

Rich people also need to eat, drink, defecate and urinate, which leads to a lot of consumption.

After Wang Jing put Jia Xu in charge of governing Luoyang, he focused on developing the local commerce and people's livelihood, and now he has done a very effective job.

Huangfu Jianshou looked around curiously, "How strange! At first glance, there is nothing special about it. Why is Luodu so prosperous under Wang Jing's governance?"

The situation in Chang'an City, governed by his father Huangfu Song, whom he admired and respected, was now very bad. Whether in terms of economy, people's livelihood or public security, it was far behind Luoyang. The gap was so big that it was visible to the naked eye.

As a son, how could Huangfu Jianshou admit that his father was not as good as Wang Jing?

But this was an ironclad fact that left him powerless to refute.

Huangfu Jianshou and Sheyuan both wanted to find out the truth, or at least hoped to learn useful experience from Wang Jing and then change the current situation in Chang'an.

However, South Suzaku Street had a strong business atmosphere, but Huangfu Jianshou was unable to see anything from it.

Sheyuan suggested, "I heard that there is a new market called Beimen Market near the river in Mengjin Port. There should be a lot of new things there. Maybe we can go there and take a look."

Mengjin Port is becoming more and more prosperous, with a constant stream of foreign merchants coming in, many of whom come for the popular goods in Qiqiao Pavilion.

In order to sell goods better and provide better services to out-of-town customers, Wang Jing specially paid a sum of money to let the county magistrate of Mengjin build a new market. Because it was located at the north gate, it was also called Beimen City.

Everything here is in its infancy, and the management model is unique, which has aroused the curiosity of many people.

Even Sheyuan has been heard of in the city in recent days.

Huangfu Jianshou naturally hoped to better understand the actual effectiveness of Luoyang’s new policies, and also hoped that Chang’an under his father’s governance would be able to change and develop like Luoyang.

The two hired a carriage and came to Beimen City.

In less than a month, the empty space outside the north gate has been transformed into a large number of shacks as if by magic, forming a dark mass and looking quite spectacular.

In Wang Jing's eyes, this place was not even as good as many town markets he had visited in later life.

But in this era, the development here is already a very impressive achievement.

Even Huangfu Jianshou was shocked by the business atmosphere of Beimen City and exclaimed: "How could this place be so lively?"

At the edge of this large area of ​​shabby shacks, close to the moat outside the north gate, stands a three-story building made entirely of red bricks, standing out from the crowd.

This is the newly built Beimen Municipal Bureau of Commerce, an administrative department dedicated to managing commerce. In order to implement Wang Jing's new policy, this department was directly separated from the county government offices and became a special agency that only he could control.

Wang Jing would only set up a separate Commerce Bureau where there was a need.

There is a corridor in front of the office building of the Bureau of Commerce, which can provide shade and shelter from rain. There is a stone platform in the hall at the main entrance, on which three different scales are displayed.

A set of mass scales, one jin, one liang, and one gram of stone weights; a one-meter-long ruler and a one-liter water jug ​​when filled.

Promoting new weights and measures and establishing unified standards is also an important task of the Commerce Bureau.

Although the practice of unifying weights and measures has been in place since the Qin Shihuang era, its effect has been limited among the people.

Weights and measures have never been truly unified in ancient society, and the problems and errors involved are really hard to describe.

Although each industry and each region used the same name for weights and measures, their essences were different, and some were even very different. This not only caused many disputes and conflicts, but officials and merchants of all dynasties also used this to make profits and harm the people. For example, they used a large bucket when collecting grain and a small bucket when distributing grain, playing tricks on the measuring tools.

Therefore, Wang Jing set up the Commerce Bureau in order to demonstrate his determination and resolve through this department.

His battle to unify weights and measures began in the relatively undeveloped Beimen City at that time, in an effort to implement a standard system of weights and measures during his lifetime.

It’s a pity that this kind of thing can’t be seen just by watching the excitement.

When Huangfu Jianshou was strolling around, they just glanced at the weights placed in front of the Commerce Bureau and didn't pay any more attention to them.

Sheyuan seemed to have figured out something, and found the setting of weights and rice very interesting: "One catty is ten taels? This is quite interesting."

After the Qin Dynasty unified the country, it set the weight of one catty as sixteen taels. The idiom "half a catty is eight taels" originated from this. After the Han Dynasty established its capital in the Central Plains, it also followed this system.

However, the hexadecimal system was too tricky, and it was so frustrating to calculate in actual transactions. Therefore, in order to facilitate calculations and transactions, Wang Jing specifically ordered that one catty be changed to ten taels, and that decimal system be used for settlement. As expected, it was very popular, and many businessmen were delighted.

Therefore, all purchases and sales in Beimen City are measured and priced according to this new set of weights and measures.

As for the private transactions between merchants, the Bureau of Commerce cannot control them for the time being, so it can only let them go.

Anyway, for things like this, we can just slowly change the trend. Simple and convenient things will sooner or later spread and be accepted by everyone.

She Yuan looked at everything in the Commerce Bureau with curiosity. In his opinion, this organization was full of mystery and had a strong Wang Jing style. It was different from all the departments of the Han Dynasty court at that time.

Because of their status as envoys and the fact that both parties are now in the honeymoon period of cooperation, She Yuan and Huangfu Jianshou's request to enter the Commerce Bureau to listen was approved.

In a conference room on the second floor of the hall where public standard weighing instruments are displayed, an internal meeting on the operation and management of the North Gate City is currently taking place.

The conditions in the conference room were harsh, with only limestone on the walls, and because the construction was so hasty, the limestone had not yet completely dried.

A glass oil lamp, hung high below the roof, was so exquisitely crafted that everyone who entered the Commerce Bureau couldn't help but look up and take a few glances.

As soon as this thing was produced, it was sold like hot cakes at Fumanlou, fetching 10,000 coins per lamp. The profit margin was faster than making money by robbing people with a knife.

If the outlaws knew about this, they would probably cry out on the spot.

After all, robbery requires setting up checkpoints and ambushes personally, and if you encounter tough guys, there might be casualties. It is actually a dirty and tiring job.

Robbery is hard work and the risks are very high. How can it be as easy as making money at Fumanlou?

The shopkeeper Lai Fulai just sits there and collects money every day. He has gained weight recently and his belly has become as fat as a swimming ring.

In the Commerce Bureau, wooden furniture such as tables, chairs and benches are very luxurious, such as large mahogany painting tables, red sandalwood official hat chairs, and rosewood round stools. It is simply an exhibition hall of rare wood. (End of this chapter)