The group of people welcomed Concubine Zheng into the house like stars holding the moon in their arms. Only then did they realize that they had just left in a hurry and had not had time to put away the scattered things on the floor. Mi Ji and others were about to step forward and put them away, but Concubine Zheng couldn't help but raised her hand gently to stop everyone's actions.
She looked at the two large snow-white bags of cotton wool lying aside with some curiosity. She walked over and reached out to touch them.
Fluffy, soft and comfortable.
"What is this?"
Concubine Zheng looked at Yue Ji who was holding her arm in surprise.
"Back to Mother, Your Highness calls this thing cotton. It is a rare thing from the Western Regions. It is said that when this flower blooms, the ground is white like white clouds, which is very beautiful. But what Your Highness values most is its function..."
Speaking of which, Yue Ji pointed to the quilts and cotton-padded jackets displayed in the room and explained.
"The ones spread on the ground are called quilts, and the ones placed next to them are called cotton-padded jackets..."
In fact, without Yue Ji's explanation, Concubine Zheng could guess a little bit. After all, the shape of this thing was laid out there.
Concubine Zheng walked over and tried it with her hands.
A fine silk quilt is filled with snow-white cotton. Even if it is only half-made, you can still imagine the comfort after covering your body. Then he picked up the corner of the quilt and leaned over to smell it.
There is no odor at all, but a soft and warm scent.
"nice one!"
Concubine Zheng couldn't help but smile on her face.
After saying that, he happily sat down on the blanket lying nearby and greeted Mi Ji and all the grandsons-in-law.
"Don't let people clean it up. I am idle when I am idle. Why don't we all sit down together and use this cotton to make bedding and clothes..."
Seeing that Concubine Zheng was interested in this, no one dared to refute her interest. They all came over and started working together. Because of this, the atmosphere gradually became more relaxed.
Yue Ji really couldn't help, so she consciously ran to the side again to spin her own cotton thread.
Fortunately, because of Zhao Ying's guidance, I can now spin in a decent and regular way. And because of my soft body, I am proficient in Yuezhi's dance, so when my arms are raised, it is indescribably pleasing to the eye.
Concubine Zheng couldn't help but look over in surprise.
"This thing can actually spin yarn?"
Concubine Zheng wouldn't think anything of it if it could only be used to fill things to keep warm. After all, if it could only be used to fill things to keep warm, it would be considered a rare item, but if it could be used to spin yarn, the meaning would be completely different. It’s different.
Because being able to spin yarn means that it can be used to weave cloth, and it can be used to weave cloth!
Being able to weave cloth means that this thing is most likely to be a national treasure alongside sericulture!
"It can spin yarn, and it's more convenient than silkworm cocoons. Ying'er said that this thing can also be woven into cloth. Although it is a little rough compared to silk, it is much softer and more comfortable than linen, and it is thick and durable..."
Before Mi Ji finished speaking, Concubine Zheng's expression changed drastically.
"How much does this thing cost?"
How could Mi Ji understand this? She shook her head in confusion.
On the contrary, Wang Nan on the side answered with a smile.
"I don't know the details yet, but I heard from my husband that this product is highly productive. An ordinary family of five only needs more than half an acre of cotton to support the family..."
Concubine Zheng couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
Although she doesn't care much about national affairs, she also knows that if this statement is taken seriously, it will be tantamount to auspiciousness from heaven for Da Qin.
Because, in Da Qin today, clothing can only come from two sources, one is mulberry and the other is hemp.
In order to ensure enough cloth, the Qin court even made detailed regulations on how much mulberry and flax each household in Da Qin must plant and how much cloth they must weave to pay taxes.
If you have too much, you will be rewarded, if you don’t have enough, you will be punished!
Planting mulberry, raising silkworms, and then weaving silk requires a considerable amount of time and energy. Therefore, it is expensive and ordinary people cannot afford to wear it. Although hemp is cheap, it is not as comfortable as it is. said.
Now, a piece of cotton suddenly appeared.
It sounded even more affordable than hemp. Why wasn't she excited?
"Is this true?"
Concubine Zheng blurted out subconsciously.
"Nan'er has never seen this thing before, and has never heard anyone talk about it, but my husband said so last night, so there shouldn't be anything wrong..."
Hearing this, Concubine Zheng smiled and nodded vigorously.
"Since it was Ying'er who said it, it must be the case! I never thought that there are such wonderful things in the world. It's such a good thing——"
Speaking of this, Concubine Zheng couldn't help but look around at everyone and said with a smile.
"No wonder that brat Ying'er thinks about the Western Regions every day and encourages His Majesty to use troops against the Western Regions. It turns out there are so many good things in the Western Regions - if His Majesty knew about this, I don't know how happy he would be in his heart..."
Thinking of this, Concubine Zheng became more energetic. He turned around and gave instructions to the female officer who followed.
"Go and inform your majesty that Ying'er has found another good thing called cotton from the Western Regions. It can be used to weave cloth, protect against cold, and is economical. The cost may be less than 10% of the cost of growing mulberry and raising silkworms..."
When the female officer heard this, she immediately left in a hurry.
"Come, let's work together and try to put on a good show before His Majesty arrives..."
Hearing that His Majesty would come to test the results in person later, everyone couldn't help but get very excited. In order to speed up the progress, Mi Ji even called several maids and women in the house who were responsible for the house's beauties.
After all, compared with others, they are just for fun, and they are professionals.
Sure enough, with the participation of several maids and women, the speed of work suddenly accelerated a lot. Not only did they quickly make quilts as requested by Mi Ji and Wang Nan, they even made a so-called cotton-padded jacket.
People in the Qin Dynasty wore robes. This cotton-padded jacket was actually a cotton-padded coat. Zhao Ying had a whim yesterday and drew it casually for someone to make.
It is a kind of memorial to the past life.
…
Inside the palace.
The First Emperor and Zhao Ying were listening to Zhi Su Nei Shi Teng and Shaofu Shi Lu reporting on this year's tax harvest.
"...In the first half of this year, there was not much rain. Although it affected the harvest a little, the harvest of silkworm cocoons in many places was half a percent higher than before. Judging from the taxes that have been completed in various places, the cloth should be half a percent higher than in previous years. …”
Having said this, Zhi Su Nei Shi Teng glanced at Zhao Ying, the eldest grandson of the emperor, and continued in a deep voice.
"However, the pressure on the imperial court's silk fabrics this year is even more intense than last year - Hexi County consumes too much, and one county only occupies 10% of the imperial court's silk fabrics. In addition, the weather in Anbei County is freezing. It seems that Autumn is coming soon, so I’m afraid I need to buy two more jackets to keep out the cold..."
As he said that, he glanced at him with a resentful look.
If His Royal Highness hadn't been so troubled, in such a good harvest year, he would have been so worried that his hair would become thinner.
Zhao Ying:......
Even Shi Lu, who had always been close to supporting Zhao Ying, had to bite the bullet and say.
"Ahem - the Hexi side is indeed a bit expensive. How about we squeeze in a little bit?"
Zhao Ying:......
No wonder you two money managers came to the palace together today. Your feelings have been colluded for a long time. You want to take action on His Highness, right?
However, he was not angry either.
Because he knew very well that what the two Da Qin people said about their money bags was absolutely right. Even if Da Qin's cloth harvest was better than in previous years, it still couldn't make ends meet.
After all, the land for planting mulberry and hemp has not increased much, and the number of women used for weaving has not changed significantly. Suddenly, two more people from Hexi County and Anbei County need to wear clothes. It would be strange if you are not nervous. .
But can Hexi County and Anbei County move?
Obviously you can't move!
That is his base camp.
"Ahem - you two can't look at the problem in such a one-sided way..."
Zhao Ying coughed lightly and said seriously while considering his words.
"The new construction of Hexi County and Anbei County cost the court a lot of money in food and cloth, but it also provided the court with a large number of cattle and horses. The pressure on the local use of livestock was greatly reduced. For this alone, our country, Qin Dynasty, has more than Thousands of hectares of land have been reclaimed, and these lands will be cultivated for two years, which is fertile land that can be used for farming and paying taxes. Not to mention, there are also many furs, bones, etc., which also greatly relieves the court of consumables for making leather armor and crossbows. pressure……"
Nowadays, most of the government affairs of the imperial court are done by Zhao Ying. In addition, Zhao Ying has a photographic memory. Therefore, he knows the situation in various places in Daqin and the information of various departments. He is probably better than the two principals. All officials must know three points.
Speaking of which, of course it hits the nail on the head.
"I remember that this year Guanghe East County sent nearly 10,000 pieces of cloth..."
As Zhao Ying spoke, he casually picked up the brush, pulled out the paper, and made a small table for them of the income and expenses of various places. Clear, understandable, clear at a glance.
The most important thing is that with such a pull, it seems that this year's cloth is tight enough for use!
It's like a batch of cloth was born out of thin air.
The two people couldn't help but be stunned.
"Your form is pretty good..."
It was the words of the First Emperor that made the two of them come back to their senses. Only then did they suddenly realize that the small form that His Royal Highness the Emperor Sun had drawn just now seemed to be a really great thing.
Compared with previous account books, this form is too clear, too concise, and too intuitive!
"It's okay. If it's used for accounting, it will definitely be useful - with this, even if there are some subordinates who want to do something in the account book, I'm afraid it won't be that easy..."
In the past, Zhao Ying did not care about money and food accounts and did not pay attention to this issue. Today, this is because Zhi Su Nei Shi Teng and Shaofu Shi Lu are eyeing him. He drew it with his own hands and realized that in this era, double-entry accounting Law is still a bug-like existence.
At this time, seeing that both the First Emperor and the two of them were interested in this kind of form, he simply pulled out a piece of white paper and carefully explained the principle of this kind of accounting to the three of them on the spot.
The more the three of them listened, the brighter their eyes became.
"Every loan must be borrowed, and a loan must be equal. How wonderful!"
Zhi Su Nei Shi Teng couldn't help but praise him.
"With your highness's method of keeping accounts, all the officials in the world who want to commit crimes and profit from it can stop doing it!"
In any dynasty, as long as it is related to money and food, there will always be some blood-sucking silverfish.
Although the imperial court arranges people to conduct audits every year, these people themselves are good at it, and the people who do these things often collude with each other and cover up each other.
Let alone an era like Da Qin where bookkeeping was relatively primitive and crude, even in later generations, it would not be easy to find out.
But the kind of double-entry accounting described by Zhao Ying is a dimensionality reduction blow to people of this era. It is more than two thousand years ahead of the curve. At least in a short period of time, it will be difficult for them to come up with ways to deal with it.
This is enough for Da Qin.
While Shi Teng and the Shaofu were still thinking about how to implement this new accounting method in their own departments, the First Emperor had already narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking about how to use this method to check accounts all over the world.
Especially those counties and counties in the Six Kingdoms of Shandong that have more fun!
Of course, Zhao Ying did not expect that Da Qin would once again cause a bloody storm because of the accounting method he introduced on a whim. In fact, speaking from his heart, he does not want this situation to occur. At least in the past two months, he does not want there to be too much turmoil in Great Qin.
Because, I remember that in history, it was because of frequent problems in various places and the Guandong jade pendant incident that the First Emperor made up his mind to go on patrol again.
It is now mid-August, and the date of the First Emperor's last tour is gradually approaching.
The first goal is that the First Emperor does not go on tour, and the second goal is to recuperate the First Emperor's body. Even if he does go on tour, he must do his best to ensure the physical condition of the First Emperor.
Come back alive!
This is the bottom line.
He proposed this simply because he wanted to help Nei Shiteng and Shaofu Shilu solve the problem of cloth pressure, so that these two guys would not have to stare at their own Hexi and Anbei every day.
Zhao Ying spoke seriously, and the First Emperor, Nei Shiteng, and Shi Lu also listened attentively. Even Hei, who had never paid much attention to what was going on here, couldn't help but secretly pricked up his ears and looked over here from time to time.
With this accounting method, Hei Bingtai would be even more powerful if he wanted to check the account books of certain officials.
Zhao Ying's facial senses are so sharp now. When he saw this guy, he honestly pushed towards himself and couldn't help but laugh. He stopped what he was doing and waved to him.
"Hei Lao, if you don't mind, you might as well come over and listen together - maybe it will be of some use..."
Hei looked at the First Emperor, saw the First Emperor nodding slightly, and immediately said with a smile and cupped his hands.
"Thank you, Your Highness——"
After saying that, he quickly came over.
A group of people were learning the double-entry bookkeeping method when they suddenly heard rapid footsteps outside.
The First Emperor couldn't help but frown slightly and looked at the guards who were walking in quickly.
"Your Majesty, the female official in Concubine Zheng's palace would like to see you——"
When the First Emperor heard this, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows slightly, and subconsciously glanced at Zhao Ying beside him.
He naturally knew exactly what Concubine Zheng was doing today.
Now, suddenly he came asking to see me...
Could it be that something happened to my eldest grandson?
He was already thinking about whether to let Nei Shi Teng and Shi Lu stay away for a while. After all, if his eldest grandson really had something to hide, he, as the eldest father, would have to worry about his face.
However, I think it is unlikely. After all, if there is really a problem with this kind of thing, Concubine Zheng should come to her personally instead of asking a female official to inform her.
Thinking of this, I hesitated.
"Did you tell me what happened?"
"Yes, Concubine Zheng discovered a good thing called cotton at the residence of His Highness the Emperor's Grandson..."
When the First Emperor heard this, he looked at Zhao Ying who was standing aside, but he couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as his eldest grandson was not unable to have children, everything else was no big deal!
Zhao Ying didn't know that at this time, his beloved eldest father was already secretly doubting his basic ability as a man, and thought he was asking about cotton.
(End of chapter)
