Seeing the emperor lowering his eyes and thinking, but raising his brows slightly, Hu Hengqiu seemed to have guessed some of the emperor's thoughts - what is clear is mine, what is mine is still mine, and the world belongs to me!

There is nothing wrong with this!

only……

"Your Majesty, it's really interesting what you said about Chu Qing. The two of you still share yours and mine," Hu Hengqiu said with a smile, "But that's right, the money for his son's school is all earned from the food street, and it comes from the people. If it is used by the people, it can also cultivate a large number of craftsmen."

The emperor raised his eyelids and looked at him: "Cultivation?"

Hu Hengqiu said: "Look, it says: No need to practice in the first year. If you don't pay, you will be taught skills for free. Isn't that just training?"

The emperor laughed: "That's obviously because I'm afraid that I won't be able to recruit people! Will we start collecting money next year?"

Hu Hengqiu: "Your Majesty is wise! However, who would teach their skills to outsiders? As the saying goes: 'Teach the disciple to starve the master to death'. These skills cannot be bought with money."

Emperor: "Humph, his son is so calculating. He takes someone else's job and makes them work for nothing. Even the master who recruits apprentices doesn't do that!"

In the emperor's opinion, running a school was the most profitable.

Why do people open various academies? Who would do such a thing if they don’t make money? This is a good way to earn both fame and money.

Xiaobao really thought so. The emperor was right.

Hu Hengqiu: "Yes! Your Majesty, you are wise, then her son should 'pay taxes'! Anyway, the skills taught in his school belong to his mother, and his mother has to 'pay taxes'. Why shouldn't he pay?"

The emperor suddenly choked.

The various techniques used in Chu Qing's industry were either invented by Chu Qing or improved by Chu Qing. They had never been used before. It was precisely because of these that the emperor intervened in Chu Qing's business and used some policies to replace them. Big "benefits".

It's not impossible to "rob" openly, but it would be too ugly. Chu Qing could just stop doing anything and be a rich man.

What's more, things like looms, improved spinning wheels, and blast furnace blueprints were all dedicated to the imperial court. If the imperial court went too far, she would have no way out.

The emperor looked at the "Cotton Picture" in his hand and glared at Hu Hengqiu: "You kid, you are going around the corner and scolding me for being greedy!"

Hu Hengqiu immediately put on a smile and said: "Look at what the emperor said, how can I dare? I am just thinking: Is it better to cut leeks or pull them out?"

The emperor disagreed with this statement: "Thankfully you are still a commander! Even Chu Qing's speech is more knowledgeable than you! What they are talking about is 'sustainable development'!"

Hu Hengqiu touched his nose: "That doesn't mean anything. Besides, the metaphor of leeks was also said by Chu Qing."

The emperor changed the topic and clicked his finger on the penultimate page of "Cotton Picture": "Hey, he is not greedy for merit."

Hu Hengqiu agreed: "Yes."

The emperor put the "Cotton Picture" aside and said: "This picture album should be stereotyped, printed into volumes, and distributed to various states."

Hu Hengqiu: "Chu Qing's son has already printed a batch of textbooks for his college."

Emperor: "It's also free?"

Hu Hengqiu: "Yes."

The emperor remained silent.

Hu Hengqiu couldn't guess the emperor's thoughts, so he said another thing: "Your Majesty, Chu Qing reported something interesting..."

Chu Qing's cotton purchase price in Daxuan was ten cents per catty, and after King Guli, the lord of Tu Huerte, broke the contract, he no longer imported their cotton.

This incident made several major silk merchants headed by the Meng family in Jiangnan see an opportunity, and they placed orders with King Guli one after another. Of course, the purchase price was the seven cents per catty originally set by Chu Qing.

King Guli has made a lot of money from cotton in the past two years, so he is no longer active in establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. He also suggested that the Voss royal family also plant more cotton.

King Guli said: "As long as we have money, there is no need to establish diplomatic relations. We are preparing to establish diplomatic relations because of the lack of food and iron, but we can buy these if we have money!"

King Vos believes that if you only rely on purchasing the key iron and grain, you will be very passive.

But King Guli said: “We can’t even grow enough food to eat, so we still have to buy it.

As long as we have enough money, we can buy grain and iron ingots. Businessmen are all profit-seeking people. As long as we pay for it, there is nothing we can't buy!

In less than ten years, we can directly attack Daxuan. By then, everything will be ours, and there is no need to negotiate terms with them!"

King Guli then suggested to King Vos: "Wise King, you should call on the whole country to plant cotton. Did you know that the people of Daxuan use cottonseed oil to make soap? We can sell them both cotton and soap."

,Isn’t this making two money?”

Chu Qing's workshop did not keep some simple techniques, such as soap, secret, so King Guli didn't have to worry about how to make them.

This is also the main reason why the two sides have not established formal diplomatic relations despite several exchanges of visits in the past two years.

The emperor of Daxuan was not in a hurry regarding the establishment of diplomatic relations. He considered it a dispensable matter.

But what Hu Hengqiu said next interested the emperor.

Hu Hengqiu said: "Several major silk merchants in the south of the Yangtze River began to compete for the cotton fabric business and wanted to squeeze out Chu Qing. However, Chu Qing's "Bao Qingxiang" had already established branches in many state capitals and had a good reputation, so they wanted to squeeze out the business.

It's hard to collapse.

These silk merchants found that the production cycle of cotton cloth was short and profits were quick, so they spent a lot of money on purchasing cotton.

The cotton in Daxuan is currently in the hands of Chu Qing, so these merchants have basically divided up the cotton in the Voss country, so much so that the Virat area, which originally cultivated grain, has also changed its grain fields into cotton fields."

"They don't grow food anymore?" the emperor asked.

Hu Hengqiu said: "Yes, Chu Qing's report mentioned such an incident: Duke Hong killed the leaders of two large tribes, Tuhuerte and Hesuote;

Only the leader of Virat returned alive, and he controlled the food of the entire Voss country, so the new leaders of the other two tribes always hated him and were helpless towards him;

The attitude of King Vos was also very cold, because only the leader Virat survived, which was a betrayal to King Vos. He believed that he did not try his best at the beginning, so his sons died and he was still alive.

In order to impact the cotton fabric market and defeat the Chu and Qing dynasties, the silk merchants of Daxuan not only purchased cotton, but also directly purchased their white laminated fabrics, making the supply of cotton in the Voss country exceed the demand.

So when King Vos ordered Virat to plant cotton instead, the leader of Virat, the Righteous King Jamba, could only agree."

The emperor slammed the table angrily: "We value profit over righteousness, and forget righteousness at the sight of profit. There is no limit!"

Attack the cotton market and defeat Chu Qing. Is this against Chu Qing? This is against me!

But it was useless for him to be angry. Only the three of them knew that he accounted for 20% of Chu Qing's property income.

"Is there no countermeasures for Chu Qing?" The emperor was not anxious to establish diplomatic relations, but was anxious about Chu Qing's profits.

What will happen if we establish diplomatic relations or not, that poor place!

Hu Hengqiu: "Yes..."

The emperor finally calmed down and listened to Hu Hengqiu's lecture: "Chu Qing re-disguised the spies of the Secret Detective Department as agricultural experts and taught them to manage cotton fields."

"What?" The emperor was about to slap the table again, but he felt that Chu Qing was not that stupid, so he stopped and looked at Hu Hengqiu.
Chapter completed!