When the Ming Dynasty officials who came to greet him heard this, they couldn't help but twitching the corners of their mouths and feeling speechless.
You bowed so suddenly, I was shocked!
But the expression on his face was not obvious, he just smiled and led the way.
The Chinese are different from the white-skinned people in the West. In terms of quality, the average person in China is much higher than the white-skinned people.
Even if he looks down on you or discriminates against you, he will not show it openly.
On the surface, he is definitely polite and kind to others!
This is why China is called a land of etiquette.
Tokugawa Toyoyu followed the Ming Dynasty officials and prepared a conference room to meet with Sha Dingyuan, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Passing through the covered bridge and gardens, Ming Dynasty officials wearing official robes hurried past on the road from time to time.
There is a very busy scene everywhere!
Suddenly, Tokugawa Toyoyu, who was walking on the road, stopped suddenly because he saw another group of pedestrians not far away.
They were a group of Qing people with money rat tail hair accessories. Whether it was the robes and mandarin jackets they wore or their hairstyles, they all showed their identities.
The appearance of this group of Qing people brought a great sense of danger to Tokugawa Toyoyu.
Suddenly Tokugawa Toyoyu realized something he had ignored before, since the Tokugawa shogunate could purchase arms and weapons from the Ming Dynasty.
Then, it is also possible to clean up the invaders!
The Ming Dynasty official who led the way also noticed Tokugawa Fengyu's strange behavior, followed his gaze, and saw the group of Qing envoys.
The Ming official had a smile on his face and urged in a gentle tone.
"Messenger, please come with me, don't keep Master Sha waiting for too long!"
…
At the same time, the group of envoys from the Qing army also saw Tokugawa Toyoyu and his party here.
Little dwarf, Tsukiyotou, samurai uniform...
You can tell their identities without asking.
Nalan Rongruo stood beside his father, looking at the Tokugawa shogunate delegation that suddenly appeared and then quickly disappeared.
There is a thoughtful expression on his face!
This time they were able to see the Tokugawa Shogunate's mission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ming Dynasty. There was a high probability that it was deliberately arranged by the Ming Dynasty.
Otherwise, in such a large Ministry of Foreign Affairs office, if the Ming Dynasty did not want the missions of the two sides to meet, the missions of the two sides would not be able to meet at all.
The Ming Dynasty allowed the two missions to meet "accidentally", and the purpose is actually easy to understand.
It is nothing more than wanting to take advantage of the irreconcilable contradictions between the Qing and the Japanese to obtain greater benefits and gain more advantages for themselves in negotiations.
Nalan Rongruo felt very unhappy about this, and felt aggrieved that he had been plotted against.
However, there was nothing he could do about it!
What Ming Dynasty is doing now is conspiracy, not conspiracy.
Even if Nalan Rongruo knew that Daming was plotting, he would not be able to deal with it.
Could it be that he would not negotiate with Daming just because he knew that Daming was scheming?
Definitely not!
This is the terrible thing about conspiracy. You know that I am plotting against you, but you can only follow my plan!
Refusing?
If you don't want to, don't blame me for flipping the table!
…
In an open space on the outskirts of Nanjing, a factory building rose from the ground.
The factory covers an area of more than 300 square meters. The interior is separated by wooden boards into different areas such as employee lounge, office, restaurant, kitchen, and the most important production workshop, maintenance workshop... etc.
One side of the wall outside the factory was painted with white paint, and then the five characters "Shengli Machinery Factory" were written in red paint.
Li Shengli was wearing a clean one-piece labor protection suit, a rattan safety helmet, and gloves on his hands. He directed his apprentices to purchase second-hand machine tools and various mechanical parts.
Disassemble the car.
Then direct the workers to move into the factory and prepare to start assembly!
The apprentices began to prepare to assemble the machinery, and Li Shengli said goodbye to the several cart drivers who came to deliver goods to him with a smile on his face.
Before leaving, each of these coachmen was given a box of cigarettes.
When he returned to the factory, several apprentices were already preparing to assemble it.
Li Shengli clapped his hands and waited until everyone looked over before he spoke.
"The lathes and machines have all arrived. Once these machines are assembled and the broken ones are repaired, our machine shop will be open by then."
"Everyone worked hard today and worked overtime to assemble these machines as soon as possible!"
"Starting from next month, everyone's basic salary will increase by 20%!"
"And, our factory also needs to participate in performance appraisal. If the performance is good, the factory will give you a commission!"
During this period of purchasing land and building factories, Li Shengli did not let things go to waste.
In addition to continuing to run his own machine repair shop, he also enrolled in classes to study business administration.
This kind of management method of salary increase and performance calculation commission is what he learned when he enrolled in the class.
Looking at the excited expressions on the faces of his apprentices, Li Shengli knew that this method was probably the right one.
That night, after assembling all the machinery, Li Shengli invited several of his apprentices to have a drink together.
It’s a celebration of the completion of the factory!
At the wine table, Li Shengli's face turned red as he drank, and he kept talking about the future of the machinery factory.
He usually has a dull personality, but after drinking, he completely let himself go.
Several apprentices were also drunk, talking and laughing loudly.
Li Shengli sat on his seat, tapped his wine glass with his kuaizi, and spoke to his apprentices.
"If you know anyone who wants to learn a craft, you can bring him to the factory!"
"Our factory is currently short of people. As long as people come, I will teach you! Seriously teach me!"
The reason why Li Shengli said this is because as the machine repair shop has turned into a machine factory, there are definitely not enough workers under him at present.
Li Shengli urgently needs a group of workers to work for him!
However, it is too expensive to hire skilled workers, so it is better to train apprentices yourself.
As we all know, when an apprentice learns a craft, he does not need to pay him wages. The master only needs to take care of food and housing, and then teach him the craft.
Is there a better workforce than apprentices?
It's not that Li Shengli is really that stingy. If he was really stingy, he wouldn't increase the wages of his apprentices who are already able to become teachers.
Apprenticeship and apprenticeship are also different!
The treatment of an apprentice who is able to become a master is definitely not the same as that of an apprentice who knows nothing.
The reason why he wants to recruit new apprentices is because Li Shengli is in the early stages of starting a business, so he must be able to save money on expenses.
After listening to Li Shengli's words, several apprentices agreed one after another.
One of them spoke.
"Master, my brother is fourteen this year, can I send him here to learn a craft?"
Li Shengli has a dull personality, but he is very down-to-earth. When teaching apprentices crafts, although he dare not say that he has no secrets at all, he can be considered as doing his best.
This apprentice has been with Li Shengli for two or three years. He knows what Li Shengli is like, so he wants his younger brother to learn the craft from him.
However, my brother is still a little young and lacks strength. It is the time when a half-grown man is living in poverty.
He was afraid that Li Shengli would be unwilling to accept it.
When Li Shengli heard this, he just waved his hand and said very generously.
"Come, come all!"
"Our factory has just been built and we are in short supply of workers!"
"No matter what happens here, master, your brother will never be short of food."
"..."
The next day, after he sobered up, Li Shengli began to repair the damaged machinery himself.
Only a few people can help with such a difficult task.
When he was repairing it himself, all the apprentices gathered around him.
He stared at Li Shengli's movements, wanting to learn how Li Shengli repaired the machine.
Seeing this, Li Shengli had no intention of hiding anything. While repairing the machine, he also explained to his apprentices the principle of machine operation, the cause of damage, and the method of repair.
After all the mechanical machine tools were repaired, Shengli Machinery Factory was officially opened.
In order to promote his machinery factory, Li Shengli even spent money to publish a section in the newspaper for publicity.
Because of the publicity, Li Shengli's technology and reputation, and more importantly, the recent strong market demand for machinery in Nanjing, the newly opened Shengli Machinery Factory has received many orders...
But most of them are orders for mechanical repairs, and there are very few orders for machinery manufacturing.
…
The sun is high in the sky!
The weather has entered autumn, and a hint of coolness is gradually appearing in the air.
The entire Guanzhong Weihe Plain is filled with endless wheat fields.
Several artificially dug canals divide the wheat fields into different parts, and the ridges are planned very neatly.
The autumn wind blows, and the golden wheat waves are undulating and surging, which is very beautiful.
In Old Man Wang's memory, the last time he saw such a beautiful harvest in the Guanzhong Plain, he was still a young child.
In his opinion, the golden waves of wheat are really the most moving scenery in the world. Once you see it, you will never forget it.
Old Man Wang is already sixty this year. He was born in the 37th year of Wanli and has experienced the last truly prosperous age in Chinese history - the Wanli Prosperity.
At that time, there were few natural disasters in the Ming Dynasty, industry and commerce were developed, a large number of people gathered in cities, towns were unprecedentedly prosperous, and most people's lives were getting along.
However, for the Ming Dynasty, the prosperous age of Wanli was not so much a resurgence as a return to glory.
After the prosperous times, there will be decades of war!
First there were bandits, then there were slaves entering the customs, and the Ming and Qing dynasties were see-sawing...
After decades of war, the world's population has been reduced by half, and the once powerful Ming Empire collapsed.
After decades of troubled times, Old Man Wang thought that he was used to seeing various scenes.
However, he really did not expect that the Ming Dynasty, whose coffin was about to be nailed, could actually recover.
Perhaps, it is really the legacy of Emperor Taizu’s expulsion of the Tartars that has not yet been exhausted, and the destiny of the future is still unfinished, right?
How else could it be that in the past few years after the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, all the natural disasters that had occurred frequently had almost disappeared?
Especially Shaanxi.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the most severe natural disasters were in Shaanxi.
Successive years of severe drought have resulted in harvest failure in large areas of Shaanxi, and even the Guanzhong Plain is almost barren.
It is precisely because of this that most of the bandits in the late Ming Dynasty were from Shaanxi.
However, after the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, the natural disasters that were raging in Shaanxi have almost completely disappeared.
The beautiful scenery of the wind blowing the waves of wheat and the fragrance of rice and flowers appears again in the Guanzhong Plain!
It's really hard not to think about it too much.
Old man Wang stood at the end of the field, bent down, and waved his sickle vigorously.
Sharp sickles cut off the straw, and the golden wheat seedlings were harvested and then stacked together to be loaded onto trucks and shipped back.
It was not only Old Man Wang who worked, but almost all the young people in the village came to the fields.
Even some strong women and young men came to the fields to help.
Fields and ridges were harvested, and as the sun came to the middle, women and children in the village brought bamboo baskets to deliver meals to the laborers at home.
Although tired, everyone's faces were filled with heartfelt smiles as they looked at the waves of wheat swaying in the wind.
For farmers, nothing makes them happier than a good harvest!
Especially now that the Ming Dynasty has generously reduced or reduced local agricultural taxes in order to restore local people's livelihood.
Most of the harvest that farmers gain from a busy year can go into their own pockets.
They are naturally even more excited about the harvest!
When they think about how much grain can be put into their own granaries in the fields in front of them, these simple people can't help but smile on their faces.
Old man Wang sat on the ridge of the field, wiped the sweat from his forehead with a white towel that was stained yellow by sweat, and stretched.
I picked up the lunch brought by my wife and took a bite of a pancake in a bamboo basket. Instantly, the aroma of wheat mixed with oil exploded in my mouth.
Then I took another sip of millet porridge in a bamboo tube and ate a bite of pickles.
As a farmer, he was not particular about chewing his food carefully, so he finished his lunch in just a few clicks.
This feeling of having a full stomach made Old Man Wang feel very satisfied.
"This crop of wheat is growing extremely well this year. It is truly a rare bumper year!"
In the surrounding fields and ridges, the villagers in the same village almost all acted in the same way.
While everyone was eating, they gathered together in twos and threes and chatted.
"Who says otherwise? If we can have this harvest every year, then we ordinary people will have a good life!"
"After harvesting wheat this year, while I have some food and savings, I plan to find a wife for my son later."
"When my daughter-in-law gives birth to a grandson, her life will be complete!"
"Haha, I'm going to borrow some money from the government to buy an ox to plow the land. This will save me some effort when plowing next spring."
"Indeed, indeed, during spring plowing every year, driving cattle to help people plow the land is also a good job."
Old Man Wang listened with a smile on his face as he listened to the busy discussions of the villagers around him and their yearning for life outside.
Only those who have experienced wind and rain can know that peace and tranquility are true happiness.
"Mr. Wang, your daughter-in-law is about to give birth, right?"
A man with somewhat dark skin asked.
When Old Man Wang heard this, he nodded and said.
"Yes, yes, that girl Cuihua is about to give birth!"
"According to Po Wen's words, it's just the past few days!"
The dark-skinned man heard this and spoke with a flattering look on his face.
"Then I would like to congratulate the old man in advance on the new baby!"
When Old Man Wang heard this, a smile appeared on his old face and he spoke.
"Haha, you're welcome, but I still don't know whether Cuihua is pregnant with a grandson or granddaughter this time!"
"But it doesn't matter. Whether it's a grandson or a granddaughter, I care about the old man."
In the traditional Chinese concept, there is indeed some preference for boys over girls.
But this does not mean that Chinese people do not like daughters!
The most fundamental reason why sons are favored over women is actually because men are a better quality labor force than women.
If you give birth to a boy, wait until he is over ten years old and he can help with the household chores.
Although girls can also help with household chores, they will be married off after only a few years of working.
The water thrown out by a married daughter will only get a betrothal gift at most, and she will definitely not be able to come back to help the family.
In comparison, it is definitely more profitable to give birth to a boy!
This is also the reason why in years of famine, when there are too many children in the family to feed, more babies are drowned than girls.
To put it bluntly, any so-called ideological concepts are fundamentally derived from the word "interest"!
However, nowadays, there are very few social conflicts within the Ming Dynasty, the land is not concentrated, and the development of industry and commerce has provided more jobs for the society.
The Ming Dynasty is now in a historical cycle, a period of unprecedented material satisfaction!
That is the so-called prosperous age!
Per capita food security is very high.
Most people don’t have to worry about being unable to feed themselves if they have more children, so even if the baby is a girl, few people will commit suicide.
Old man Wang thinks the same way now. It doesn't matter whether his daughter-in-law gives birth to a grandson or a granddaughter.
Anyway, their family is not afraid of not being able to support them now!
Grandchildren are the same!
When he thought that it wouldn't be long before a grandson or granddaughter would sweetly call him grandpa in his arms, Old Man Wang couldn't control the smile on his face.
After lunch, Old Man Wang lay down on the field ridge, covered his face with a straw hat, and prepared to take a nap.
The sun gradually set towards the west, and after almost half an hour, Old Man Wang took off the straw hat from his face and stretched himself leisurely.
He picked up the bamboo tube next to him, took a sip of the low-quality tea that had already cooled down in the bamboo tube, picked up the hoe, and prepared to continue working.
The sickle was waved, and the wheat plants were knocked down one after another.
While these simple farmers were working, they were also singing Qin opera.
The powerful and honest, yet rough and heroic singing voice symbolizes the attitude of these old Qin people towards life.
As long as they can survive, they will be the most docile and good people.
But if life becomes difficult for them, they don't mind rising up and knocking off the person who made it possible for them to live!
At this moment, a young man stumbled over from the field ridge in the distance.
"Dad, dad, Cuihua is going to give birth, Cuihua is going to give birth!
"
Wang Dazhu's face was full of excitement and he ran towards his father in large strides.
A clear layer of sweat soon appeared on his forehead.
When Old Man Wang heard this, he immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at his son who was running towards him.
"What's going on? Didn't Po Wen say it would take a few more days to give birth?"
Old man Wang is quite calm.
He is also a father.
When his son was born, he was very nervous as a young boy.
Now that I heard that my daughter-in-law is giving birth, although I am happy, I am not losing my composure. I am still very stable.
Wang Dazhu ran to his father in one breath and said while breathing heavily.
"Cui...Cuihua accidentally fell down when she was helping my mother feed the chickens, and then her amniotic fluid broke..."
"My mother has already gone to invite Mrs. Wang Wen!"
"Dad, what should I do?"
Old Man Wang was not in a hurry, he just said.
"Dad will go home right now. You can go to your father-in-law's house now."
"Your wife is about to give birth. You cannot let your father-in-law know about such a thing."
"..."
Then, Old Man Wang explained several more things.
Wang Dazhu nodded hurriedly.
Old man Wang simply packed up the farm tools in the field and walked home.
Visible to the naked eye, the pace is getting faster and faster.
Although he is already a father, this is his first time becoming a grandfather.
How could you really not be excited at all?
After Old Man Wang arrived home, Po Wen came not long after.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Old man Wang began to boil water and prepare the equipment needed for delivery according to Po Wen's instructions.
Not long after, Wang Dazhu rushed over with his father-in-law and mother-in-law.
The family kept struggling until it was completely dark, and then the child was finally born.
Hearing the loud crying coming from the room, the expressions on the faces of the Wang family instantly relaxed.
Not long after, I saw Po Wen walking out of the room and said with a happy face.
"Congratulations, mother and son are safe!"
When Old Man Wang heard this, the smile on his face could hardly be concealed.
Wang Dazhu took a step forward and asked.
"Boy or girl?"
Po Wen said with a smile.
"She's a female doll who will find a way for her brother in the next world!"
Po Wen is a good talker, and he knows that many people prefer sons over daughters.
Generally speaking, if the baby is a boy, she will directly congratulate her on the birth of a baby boy.
If it is a girl, she will say that she is here to explore the way for her younger brother!
Talking like this can satisfy many people!
Wang Zhuzi said happily after hearing this.
"It doesn't matter if it's a daughter or a daughter!"
Old man Wang took a few steps forward, took out a bunch of copper coins from his arms, stuffed them into Po Wen, and said with a smile.
"Although he is a money-loser, there is still a woman who has taken this trip!"
However, although Old Man Wang said he disliked her, he said that his daughter-in-law gave birth to a loser.
But he was actually very happy in his heart.
After Wenpo left, Old Man Wang planned to personally slaughter the big fat pigs that he had raised for almost two years this year during the Chinese New Year.
I plan to transport it to the city, sell it, and buy some supplements for my daughter-in-law!
With a pop, the sharp blade penetrated the flesh!
Blood gushed out along the wound and was caught in a large wooden basin. The big fat pig that had been struggling just now gradually stopped moving.
Old Man Wang pulled out the butcher's knife from the pig's neck, and while preparing to boil water to remove the pig's hair, he turned to his son and said.
"Dazhu, go and kill our big rooster and stew it!"
"Take some good care of your wife!"
Obviously, although Old Man Wang was harsh and said that his granddaughter was a loser, he still cared about his first granddaughter.
The pigs that have been raised at home for two years were killed as soon as they were told!
What you need to know is that the Wang family is not a very wealthy family!
Although after the Ming Dynasty came back, the Wang family was divided into fields, and with the tax reduction and exemption provided by the court for several consecutive years, life was pretty good.
But this pig is still the most important property of the family!