Chapter 179 The distance between books and reality
He Chengze was very surprised after hearing the boy's announcement. He quickly stood up, left the house, stood on the porch, and carefully looked at Li Xiaonan who was following the boy.
As Li Xiaonan walked, she turned her head and looked around carefully.
This old Ho Kee headquarters next to the Customs and Excise Department is very famous throughout Jiangnan.
This courtyard has a unique format, with houses on four sides surrounding a small square courtyard in the middle.
The houses on all sides have wide eaves and verandas, and the courtyard is covered with bluestones. There are no flowers, trees, or anything placed there. They have probably just been scrubbed with clean water. The bluestones are soft and clean, and they look very comfortable.
The wide eaves are supported by bluestone square pillars, with pots of blooming osmanthus placed on both sides of each square pillar.
The entire courtyard, starting from the steps in front of the gate, has no trace of the withered patterns common in the south of the Yangtze River. There is not a single superfluous component. It is made of the best materials and the simplest style. All the wooden parts are oily and extremely well maintained.
OK.
Li Xiaonan turned to the corridor of the main house facing south, bent her knees to salute He Chengze, and asked with a smile: "Is this also the masterpiece of Mr. Zhou?"
"This is Mr. Gong's system." He Chengze returned the gift and said with a smile.
"I have heard about this Mr. Gong. The Crown Prince said that Mr. Gong and Mr. Zhou are a perfect match."
"Yes, the construction method written by Mr. Gong is now regarded as Gui Gao by all walks of life." As he spoke, He Chengze leaned forward and let Li Xiaonan in.
"I have read that book. The two biggest words on the cover are "Fengchi". When I opened it, the first page showed a copy of Taizong's decree." Li Xiaonan leaned over to let He Chengze.
"That decree was written by Taizong himself." He Chengze smiled, gave in again, and entered the house one foot first.
"I heard from the prince that Mr. Zhou never married. Where is Mr. Gong? Does he have any descendants?" Li Xiaonan asked curiously.
"Mr. Gong only has two daughters. Both of his sons-in-law are scholars and have descendants, but no one has inherited Mr. Gong's skills." He Chengze asked Li Xiaonan to sit down and sat opposite her.
"Geniuses like Mr. Gong and Mr. Zhou are rare. No one can inherit them." Li Xiaonan stood up and bent her knees deeply towards He Chengze. "I came here specially to thank the old shopkeeper for his help."
"Don't take it seriously, don't take it seriously." He Chengze quickly stood up and bowed, "This is also our prince's mission."
"Shopkeeper He must be like me. I don't want to see turmoil in our Jiangnan. If it's just for the prince's mission, shopkeeper He must have asked the prince for instructions first, and he will transfer from other industries.
"Li Xiaonan said with a smile.
He Chengze laughed, "The prince is also doing it for the sake of his family, country and the world, for the prince's mission, and to prevent turmoil in Jiangnan. They are two different things, but also the same thing."
"The Crown Prince looks at the world and sees the overall situation of the empire. Even if Jiangnan is slightly turbulent..." Li Xiaonan paused, "I was born and raised here, and I don't want to see any turmoil in Jiangnan."
Li Xiaonan sighed.
"On the way here, Awu chatted with me and said that there have been almost no silk ships recently. There are many more porters on the dock here than before, but the work has been reduced by 20 to 30%. If the weaving mill continues to be suspended, not only the porters, but also other
People who rely on weaving mills for food will also be sad. Alas."
He Chengze looked at Li Xiaonan, did not answer Li Xiaonan's words, but asked with a smile: "How is Miss Li's fine cloth business going lately?"
"It's very good. I bought four to five hundred people from the weaving workshop. Four, five, five, six, seven or eight people in one county, and brought them to Guoxiang to learn how to run a weaver school. Now there are two schools.
There are thirty weaving schools." Li Xiaonan said with a smile.
"I heard that in this weaver's school, you can give copper coins on the spot, or you can use the fine cloth weaved later to pay it slowly. There are only fifty copper coins in total. The weavers you bought can be taught to one person.
To take away forty copper coins as wages, this girl's weaver school is a loss-making business." He Chengze looked at Li Xiaonan and said with a smile.
"Well, the purpose of opening the weaver school is not to make money, but to let them learn to weave fine cloth so that they can spread the loom and receive enough fine cloth." Li Xiaonan replied with a smile.
"Those women in the girl's church may have loomed on credit from the girl, or they may have obtained looms from other families. The fine cloth may not always come to the girl. Is there any trick that the girl hasn't used yet?" "No, the cheapest four-heddle loom costs ten taels of silver. If they really want to borrow the loom from me, I don't have that much capital at all. It's best to borrow it from someone else.
"Up to now, the credit looms have been used according to the rules I set. There are several companies that want to grab business and are cheaper than my rules. Those who are diligent can pay off the looms in more than half a year.
, and then they can sell the woven fine cloth to whomever they want, and it will be fine by then." Li Xiaonan answered in detail.
"At that time, how much fine cloth can the girl collect? Has the girl left a backup plan?" He Chengze asked closely.
"There is no backup plan. I just take it one step at a time and wait until the time comes. I will accept as much as I can." Li Xiaonan wanted to sigh but held it back.
"I have thought about this fine cloth business many times, but I really can't figure out how my family can be the only one in this business, or where is the money that only the girl can make, or is it with the prince?" He Chengze stared at Li Xiaonan. p>
"I only told the prince about the fine cloth taxation. There must be a suitable method, neither too harsh nor too loose. As for the other things, I think if he interferes, the fine cloth business may not be able to continue.
”
He Chengze raised his eyebrows and looked at Li Xiaonan, waiting for her to continue.
"What I want to do now is to teach enough people to weave fine cloth and let enough people have heddle looms. As for the future, I haven't thought about it yet. I'll see what happens next."
Li Xiaonan paused for a moment, then spread her hands and said with a smile: "Maybe by then I won't be able to compete with others and won't be able to make any money at all, so that's okay. I'll just do other business.
"If more than half of the people in Jiangnan could weave and sell fine cloth, and collect fine cloth as they are now, the fine cloth weavers would be able to earn two, two, or three taels of silver in a year. With money, they would need to eat, wear, and buy things.
, so many people have extra money on hand, so any business is easy to do."
He Chengze looked at Li Xiaonan for a moment, bowed slightly, and said with a smile: "The girl has great wisdom, which is admirable." After a pause, He Chengze smiled and said: "Does the girl like to listen to storytelling?"
"Huh?" Li Xiaonan was startled, "Pingtan?"
"Our Pingjiang Prefecture is called Pingtan. There is no such thing in the north. Beating the snare drum, singing and telling legends is called storytelling. The storytelling in the north is the same as the Pingtan in our Pingjiang Prefecture. It is passed down from master to apprentice and taught orally. p>
"There is a school in Nanzhao City that only writes one book called The Legend of Sang Shuai. It's very good. If you have time, you might as well give it a listen." He Chengze said with a smile.
"I've seen this biography of Sang Shuai." Li Xiaonan said with a smile, "In the Bieye Library, I saw the story about Tiansha Kuigang at the beginning, so I didn't read any more. Is this it?"
"Yes. If there is one in Bieye Library, it must be this one." He Chengze nodded with a smile.
"Then I'll take a look when I get back."
"The dog Ruiming was given the name Xiangsheng by the prince, and he served beside the prince. According to him, he spent most of his time in other industries doing his bidding.
"If you have any questions about your business, harvesting autumn silkworm cocoons, etc., just ask him to come over and ask. He knows a thing or two." He Chengze continued with a smile.
"Okay. Thank you." Li Xiaonan stood up.
"Girl, you're welcome." He Chengze stood up and sent Li Xiaonan out of the hospital.
