"It was built in one day and is indestructible!" The little emperor Wanli flushed with excitement and began to show off his knowledge to his two queens. "Even the ice city in the novel is nothing more than this! Our Ming Dynasty has such gods. Why worry about Tartars invading the territory?"
Empress Chen smiled and encouraged, "The emperor is right. This thing is really great. If you use it to build the mausoleum for Emperor Daxing, you will never have to worry about it."
Concubine Li added a key question, "Sister is right, but Emperor, don't get carried away, because according to what Gao Pragmatic said, the price of this thing is not too cheap. I heard that after yesterday, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry Several yamen are also discussing that if cement is used to build border walls, fortresses, and passes, I am afraid that it can only be used in some key places, such as Shanhaiguan. If you want to use it all Cement, Wang Guoguang must resign immediately."
Wang Guoguang was the new Minister of Household Affairs in July, replacing Zhang Shouzhi. This person is a rare and practical minister. Historically, he was the leader in compiling the Wanli Accounting Records, a financial classic that future generations must read when studying the economy of the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yijun naturally did not dare to go against the wishes of the two palaces, and quickly changed the subject, saying, "What the mother and concubine said is very true. I think that since Gao Pragmatic has this intention to repay his kindness, the mausoleum project should be settled." ?As for the high price of cement, he said he would bear the cost of the mausoleum construction himself."
This time, it was Concubine Li who spoke first. She started criticizing, "He said that, and you accepted it with peace of mind? It's your imperial examination, not his. Although he is very loyal, even the materials, I am willing to pay for all the labor costs myself, but you are the emperor, and you must know that the emperor does not lack hungry soldiers."
Zhu Yijun nodded repeatedly, thought for a while and said, "Then give some rewards?"
Concubine Li nodded in agreement at first, then frowned a little, and muttered, "Rewards should be given, but he is not a Jinshi after all, and officials cannot give excessive gifts." It was obvious that she was also a little hesitant.
Empress Chen then said, "In that case, since he is the emperor's companion and you two are familiar with it, why don't the emperor test his voice in private first to see if he has any ideas, and then we can discuss it further."
Concubine Li thought about it and felt that it was feasible. After all, she just wanted to listen first. If his request was easy to handle, that would be the best. If it was too much, she could refuse it.
The next day, Zhu Yijun came to report again and said that he had talked with Gao Pangshi. Gao pragmatically plans to start his own factory to make cement to avoid future need.
At the same time, because not everyone can use cement, we need to train a group of craftsmen, so we have to set up an engineering team. The members of the engineering team are easy to recruit. He has taken in many refugees in Henan and can choose from them. But the engineering team can't do it without practice, so he hopes to take over some projects and use them as practices to lay the foundation for building passes and city defenses in the future.
Empress Chen didn't hear anything wrong. Besides, she was not embarrassed and pragmatic, so she was ready to agree immediately. However, Concubine Li thought about it and asked, "Isn't he planning to do a big job for the imperial court? His cement is a bit expensive." , if those major projects in the imperial court suddenly want to switch to cement, not to mention whether he can have sufficient supply here, even if he can, the cost will inevitably increase accordingly, and Wang Guoguang and Zhu Heng may not agree to it by then."
Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "My mother and concubine were really worried, but my son asked me about it at that time. Gao pragmatically said no, he just wanted to find the project by himself and it was none of the court's business."
"Oh, looking for it yourself?" Concubine Li said in surprise, "Since it has nothing to do with the court, then what does he mean by asking for a reward?"
"This son-in-law has also asked." Zhu Yijun laughed, "He said that sometimes the local government will build some things, and he can take on these jobs as long as the son-in-law approves. And he also said that he will take it. The quality of the projects is guaranteed, and depending on the project standards and costs, he underwrites them based on the number of years.”
"What does underwriting mean?" Concubine Li became more and more curious.
Zhu Yijun explained, "Gao Pragmatically said, we now have some yamen that just ask for money when building some projects, but the quality of the construction is not accurate. Some can manage it for ten years, some can only manage it for five years, and even some It was just repaired this year, but there will be an accident next year. This is a waste of money and food for the court! He did not intend to do this when he took the project. He would provide quality insurance according to different costs. For example, a city wall in a certain county was broken and needed to be repaired, and he was hired to do it. If he wants to repair it, then he will tell the county based on how much money the county gives him, and the city wall will be under his control for a number of years after it is repaired. If it breaks down before the end of the year, he will pay for it out of his own pocket."
Zhu Yijun finished speaking with a smile, and then suddenly remembered something, and quickly added, "But this is only under normal use. If the county's city walls are man-made damage, such as Tatar invasion, bandits attacking the city, etc., that's not the case." Scope of coverage.”
Of course, even if Li Guifei doesn't understand military affairs, she can understand it. Otherwise, if Gao Pragmatic takes over the city wall facing the Beibei, and the Beibei invades from that place in consecutive years, he will die?
Well, in that case, it sounds pretty good.
Concubine Li nodded, "He is an honest gentleman. Although doing these things is somewhat unprofessional, it is a good thing for the court. What do you think, sister?"
Of course Empress Chen put in good words for Gao Jingshi. She smiled and said, "My sister is right. I remember that before I entered Yu Mansion, in my hometown in Tongzhou, the city wall had to be repaired every now and then, but none of it was completely repaired." At that time, I didn’t know how much money the local officials at that time had embezzled. It was the first time that Gao Pragmatic took the job and clearly guaranteed the service life. I just hope that he would not destroy the soap factory. It’s better to lose all the money you make.”
Concubine Li shook her head and said, "I'm afraid my sister is worrying too much about this. I heard someone say that Gao Pragmatic has never lost money in business. He even spent hundreds of thousands of taels on recruiting refugees in Weihui Mansion last year. Now I'm afraid It’s all earned back.”
Empress Chen really didn't know this, and said in surprise, "Really? How do you make money back?"
However, Concubine Li only knew this and didn't know why. She could only vaguely say, "Anyway, there are some private mines and workshops opened on the left and right. My little sister didn't ask carefully."
Zhu Yijun saw that both of them seemed to have agreed, so he happily said, "Mother, concubine, if you two agree, I will go and give him the calligraphy."
Concubine Li quickly stopped him, "I agree, I agree, what's the point of giving a word?"
Zhu Yijun said nonchalantly, "He said that if you two agree, he would like to ask Erchen to give him a name for this workshop for good luck. However, he has thought of the name himself, and Erchen will just write four characters for him." "
"What four words?"
Zhu Yijun said, "Jinghua Infrastructure."
