King Qian didn't care what Xia Jing thought and waved to Anu to bring over his precious wine.
"Come, let's drink from two cups together today." As he said that, he helped Xia Jing pour the wine.
Xia Jing stretched out her hand to stop him from pouring wine, grabbed the wine cup on the table, and played with the sterling silver wine cup in her hand, "I don't have the prince's hobby of drinking. If the prince wants to find someone to drink with you, he may be looking for the wrong person.
Already."
The most important thing is that the average life span of people in ancient times is not long, and she is now quite old. If she doesn't take care of herself, how can she live longer in ancient times?
King Qian paused slightly, "You really don't drink?"
Xia Jing shook her head, "Don't drink. Drinking is not good for your health."
King Qian's eyes turned around Xia Jing's face, but he did not force her. He poured a glass of wine on his own and said, "Then I will drink two cups alone."
Good wine and delicious food are the most enjoyable.
The two chatted while eating, and the topic of conversation naturally couldn't avoid the son they had together, Li Chengmu.
Speaking of Li Chengmu, it has been two months since he went to Linhai Town with 5,000 soldiers and horses. I wonder how he has trained the 5,000 new soldiers?
"Xiaowu has been playing outside for two months now. It's time for him to come back and have a look. He shouldn't be too busy having fun at the beach."
Xia Jing took a sip of green vegetable and tofu soup and said without raising her head: "The man has ambitions in all directions. Besides, he went to Linhai Town to train new recruits. He will come back when the new recruits are trained. It's useless for you and me to urge you. It also delays his work.
Business."
Li Chengmu is the youngest child. King Qian said that it is impossible not to love him. In the past, Xiaowu rarely left home and could see people basically every day. Now he has been gone for two months. King Qian thought about his youngest son.
Gotta be tight.
"His brothers are all training new soldiers outside the city. It's not convenient for him to travel so far for special purposes. Why bother?"
Hearing this, Xia Jing chuckled and said: "There are two main reasons why Xiaowu brought the recruits to Linhai Town for training. One is that the salt fields in Linhai Town were first built, and there are some bandits in the surrounding areas who need to be eliminated, and by the way, they can deter the surrounding people.
Bully and ruffian. The second reason is because I want Xiao Wu to take the new recruits to train their water skills at the beach to prepare for future water battles."
"Navy!" King Qian turned to look at her in shock, "Do you want to form a navy?"
This princess of his is very ambitious!
Xia Jing admitted frankly, "Yes, to be precise, I want to form a navy and an army with maritime combat capabilities to ensure security in coastal areas."
Of course, Xia Jing also has a more far-reaching plan, but the current situation is not enough to support the implementation of the plan.
King Qian thought for a while, and neither supported nor objected. He just told the truth about the current situation in Lingnan: "If you want to build a naval navy, building naval warships alone will require a huge amount of expenditure. According to the current situation in Lingnan, it is basically impossible to build a navy."
I can’t get this money.”
"Battleships or sea-going ships cannot be realized for the time being, but training a strong soldier who understands water skills does not seem to conflict with the two." Xia Jing raised her eyebrows and said in a good mood, "Besides, I always believe that the opportunity is to stay.
For those who are prepared, I will first train the new recruits in their water skills, and maybe one day a battleship will automatically arrive at your door."
"How can it be that the battleship is automatically delivered to your door?" King Qian said smoothly, as if thinking of some possibility, he widened his eyes and asked in disbelief: "Isn't the princess trying to rob the pirate ship?"
pirate?
Xia Jing felt happy. King Qian reminded her that there must be pirates on the sea. If she could snatch the pirates' big ship, wouldn't she have a ready-made warship?
King Qian noticed the happy expression on Xia Jing's face and asked in surprise: "You really want to rob the pirate ship, right?"
Seeing that Xia Jing didn't refute after hearing this, he hid his worries and said: "Even if you want to rob, you don't have a ship to go to sea. Even if you borrow someone else's ship to go to sea, you don't have the strength to defeat the pirates. Even if you have one
With the strength of the fighting force, you can’t find out the pirates’ lair in the vast sea. Finally, be careful if you fail to rob, and the pirates will kill you!”
"Okay." Xia Jing looked at him funny, "These are things that can only be realized in a year and a month. It's too early for us to discuss it here."
This topic ends here.
King Qian retracted his thoughts, and his mind was suddenly attracted by the delicious food on the table, "The food you made called tofu tastes good. Is it really made of soybeans?"
In this era, soybeans were used by the poor to fill their stomachs, but they were more commonly used by the military and wealthy families to feed livestock, and were the main food for war horses in autumn and winter.
Xia Jing was speechless. She had already finished half of the meal. Was it too late for him to ask this question?
"Yes, what do you think of the taste?"
"Yes, I like it very much. When will the princess make this kind of tofu next time?"
"You, the majestic first-class prince, are you still worried that you won't finish your last meal?" Xia Jing rolled her eyes at him angrily, "Eat quickly."
After dinner.
Xia Jing looked at King Qian lying on his back on the soft couch and looked up at the sky speechlessly.
Anu helped King Qian wipe his face and hands, stood up and greeted Xia Jing respectfully: "Princess, the prince is drunk. It is not suitable to move at night. Why don't you let the prince rest here tonight?"
Xia Jing glanced at Prince Qian, who was lying on the soft couch with his belly rising and falling, and said with disgust: "Your prince has been exercising every day for many days, why hasn't he lost much weight?"
Anu: "Princess, the prince insists on exercising every morning, and now he has lost more than ten kilograms."
Xia Jing said lightly "Oh" and looked at Hongmei, "Did anyone bring it?"
Just as Hongmei was about to answer, Baimei's reply came from outside the door: "Come, come, the princess is here."
There is confusion in Anu's eyes, who is coming?
After a moment, the door curtain was opened, and Bai Mei led several personal guards in.
Xia Jing raised her hands towards the guards.
The guards tacitly stepped forward and helped the prince up from sleeping on the soft couch.
Anu was shocked when he saw this and stepped forward to stop him: "Hey, what do you want to do? Don't be rude to the prince!"
The personal guards were the personal guards of the princess. They only listened to Xia Jing's orders. They carried King Qian on their backs regardless of Anu's obstruction. The two of them supported him from behind and went out.
Anu followed anxiously, but he couldn't really take action against Xia Jing's personal guards, so he could only stomp forward and follow her.
After leaving the door, Anu discovered that the guards had come with a sedan chair. They carefully let King Qian lie down in the sedan chair. Several people motioned for Anu to follow them, and then they carried the sedan chair out of Yiguiyuan.
.
Seeing her guards go away, and missing the opportunity for the prince to stay overnight, Hongmei looked at Xia Jing helplessly, "Princess."
"stop!"
Xia Jing paused and said with a dark face: "If you want a man, let me know and I will help you choose a husband. Or if you fall in love with the prince, I will help you make arrangements for you.
Buy a pink dress?"
Hongmei didn't expect Xia Jing's dark face and was startled. She bent her knees and knelt on the ground, "This slave deserves to die."
Xia Jing looked down at the top of her head and said with a serious face: "As for sleeping in, I remember I told you very clearly before. I don't have the heart to compete for favors, and I don't want to embarrass myself in doing things I don't like to do.
, and asked you not to mind this matter. It seems that you have never taken my warning to heart."
Hongmei fell on the ground, so frightened that tears flowed out, "It's my fault, I won't dare to do it again next time."
“Remember what you said today and I won’t do it again next time!”
Xia Jing did not make things difficult for her again. She could only make small mistakes once and for all, but she would not be lenient if she made the same mistake again next time.
Let’s talk about King Qian who was sent back.
Anu sent his guards away and entered King Qian's chamber.
The dormitory mentioned here is really a dormitory. This shows how serious and exaggerated the illegal construction of the family is.
"Your Majesty."
Prince Qian, who was placed on the bed and was drunk and unconscious, now opened his eyes and sighed, "This bad idea you came up with will never work!"
How could that ruthless woman Xia have the heart to kick out her husband who was so drunk that he was unconscious?
Anu suppressed a smile and tried every means to sleep with his own princess. Moreover, he went to such great lengths and failed to stay overnight. I am afraid that only the prince in the world knew how aggrieved he felt.
Thinking of this, Anu asked thoughtfully: "Your Majesty, do you want to recruit other women to sleep with you?"
"No need!" King Qian gritted his teeth and said bitterly: "I am not in the mood now!"
Well, if you don't want women, you won't want women. Anu accepted the order and waited for King Qian to go to bed before quietly leaving the palace.
The next day.
After Xia Jing finished exercising, she took her maid and bodyguard out.
When we arrived at the blacksmith shop we visited last time, we could hear the tinkling sound of forging in the alley leading to the blacksmith shop.
Entering the blacksmith shop, the blacksmith and his apprentice were tinkering with their bare arms.
Next to the blazing stove, a young man with a turban on his head was sitting on a low pole, stretching and retracting the blower.
Xia Jing walked up to the young man who was dressed like a scholar and asked curiously: "Hey, when I came here last time, I remember that there was no such blower. Who made it? This method seems good!"
The young scholar raised his head when he heard the question. He was stunned for a moment when he saw Xia Jing, and then smiled: "In reply to Madam, this is what I made by myself. It can be installed at the mouth of the stove to blow air to support combustion.
.”
Xia Jing nodded. She didn't expect that a scholar would actually like to work hard, which was surprising.
"Oh, I didn't expect you to have such a talent. In addition to making this blower, have you made any other useful objects?"
The blacksmith threw the forged iron into the water, wiped his sweat, and after listening to Xia Jing's words, he said with disgust: "I worked hard to make the iron and made money so that he could go to a private school to learn how to read, but he did the opposite of me and only liked to mess around.
These little gadgets really answer the saying: Playing with things makes one lose one’s spirit!”
The young scholar was exposed by his father and scratched his head in embarrassment: "They are just gadgets and cannot be considered elegant."
Xia Jing did not ask any further questions, but started chatting with him, "What is your name, and which private school are you attending now?"
"The junior student's surname is Shan, and his given name is Wen. He is currently studying in a small private school opposite the academy."
Shan Wen said and looked at the blacksmith, "That's Xiaosheng's father. He has been blacksmithing all his life. His craftsmanship is one of the best in Lingnan. He relies on this craft to support our family."
After hearing his son's praise, blacksmith Shan's serious expression eased. Perhaps considering that Xia Jing and his son were chatting, he did not stop blacksmithing, but sat down to drink water and listen to their chat.
Xia Jing felt the same way and asked: "Blacksmithing requires physical strength. It is not easy for your father to support a family. How much can this shop earn in a month?"
Shan Wen turned to look at his father and saw that Blacksmith Shan had no objection. He pursed his lower lip and the smile on his face became much lighter.
He said: "You can earn two or three taels in the peak season, but less than one tael in the off-season. Although blacksmithing requires skills, you earn hard-earned money."
Xia Jing nodded and looked sideways at Blacksmith Shan, "If I offer you a job here and pay you five taels a month, would you be willing to work here?"
This was the purpose of Xia Jing's coming here, and it was an unexpected surprise to discover that Shan Wen liked tinkering with gadgets.
"Fifty taels a month?" Blacksmith Shan picked his ears and thought he heard wrongly.
"Yes, January 50." Xia Jing said, looking at the other apprentices in the shop, "You can continue to teach apprentices, and your apprentices can also go to my place to work together.
One tael of silver per month, and two taels of silver after leaving the army."
Several apprentices who were sitting or standing next to Blacksmith Shan looked at Blacksmith Shan with surprise after hearing Xia Jing's generous conditions.
In this era, if you want to learn a craft as an apprentice, you can't even expect to get paid during these years as an apprentice. Not only do you not get paid, you also have to be diligent. In addition to learning skills, you have to actively do everything in life.
For example, help Master with all the housework and serve Master.
At this time, Xia Jing proposed this condition. One tael of silver a month was like a pie in the sky that hit them. The surprise came so suddenly that several people were a little confused.
Blacksmith Shan has rich life experience, is steady and calm in dealing with situations.
After hearing Xia Jing's generous offer, he was not dazzled by the surprise. Instead, he pondered for a while and then asked: "What specifically do I do to help you? Or is it blacksmithing?"
Xia Jing raised her lips slightly, "Yes, blacksmithing is your old profession."
"Where do you work?"
“It’s within the city, so you don’t have to worry about being too far from home.”
Blacksmith Shan was very moved after hearing this, but he still had doubts in his heart, "You are..."
Xia Jing was not impatient because of his many questions. She chuckled and said, "Our ironworks workshop is recognized by the government, so you don't have to worry about breaking the law."
Now, Blacksmith Shan was relieved.
With just a few promises from Xia Jing, Blacksmith Shan would not impulsively sign a contract with her.
If you want to sign the contract, you have to wait for Xia Jing to find a venue and then go to see it on site before making subsequent arrangements.
The two of them agreed that after Xia Jing found a venue, Blacksmith Shan would go to the venue to take a look and see if there was anything missing that could be purchased.
Before leaving, Xia Jing waved to Shan Wen, "Boy Shan, if you are interested, you can come to work in our workshop. How about I give you three taels of silver a month?"
"Ah?" Shan Wen pointed at himself, widened his eyes and asked, "You give me thirty taels of salary? But I don't know how to blacksmith!"
He had no idea that Xia Jing would want to hire him.
Everyone present was shocked. They wondered why Xia Jing recruited a scholar?
Can the gadgets he makes be sold for money?
"Yes, I don't need you to know how to blacksmith. Think about it carefully. I'll wait for your reply tomorrow."
Leaving the blacksmith shop, Ye Fei, the captain of the personal guard squadron, asked curiously: "Princess, what is the amazing ability of this last scholar?"
"I love studying and using my brain. Is this considered a skill?" Xia Jing was in a good mood after recruiting talents today.
Thank you Minmin, forgetfulness, 45. Looking up, your former simplicity, ChaoQiong, papa cow, heart as still as water, Ye Xingchen 3399, Ainianyu, A! Ziye, book friend 160526143038001, Yanyu*jiangpan’s recommendation and support~