After leaving the palace, Kou Ji was not in a hurry to return home, but instead went to Yizijiaozipu.
The news that he wanted to help the refugees build houses was spread throughout Bianjing City with the help of Li Shen and others.
Everyone in Bianjing City, from the dignitaries to the common people, regarded this incident as a joke.
Over the years, the refugees who suffered disasters either received relief food from the court and hid in one place to fend for themselves, or they were all transferred to the military and became soldiers of the Xiang army.
The imperial court has been doing something to give the refugees a bite to eat.
But helping the refugees build houses is unheard of.
No one in Bianjing believed that Kou Ji could build houses for the refugees.
To build a large adobe house, it costs a lot just for the wood, not counting the craftsman's labor.
Ordinary people also have to save three to five years before they can build a big house.
Some poor people may not be able to live in newly built big houses in their lifetime.
Kou Ji wanted to build tens of thousands of large houses in one go, which required a huge amount of money.
The treasury can't even afford so much money, let alone Kou Ji.
Kou Ji understood the thoughts of the people in Manbian capital.
But Kou Ji didn't care. If he cared, he wouldn't take this job.
After entering Yizijiaozi Shop, Lu Ming received the waiter's report and took the initiative to welcome him out.
"Master..."
When he arrived in front of Kou Ji, Lu Ming bowed first, then straightened up and asked worriedly: "Master, I heard that you took on a troublesome job?"
Kou Ji, led by Lu Ming, sat down in a guest room in Jiaozi Shop and said with a smile, "You heard the news so soon?"
Lu Ming ordered the waiter to help Kou Ji pour tea.
After the waiter left, Lu Ming said in a deep voice: "It seems that someone is deliberately spreading rumors, so the villain got the news after the court meeting."
Kou Ji nodded with a smile and said: "Some people are deliberately spreading rumors. I know that, so there is no need to care. What do you think of this job I took on?"
Lu Ming hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice: "I think, Master, you never do anything that you are not sure about, so if you dare to agree to this matter, there will definitely be a way to get it done."
Kou Ji said unexpectedly: "Then why are you so worried?"
Lu Ming closed his mouth and said nothing.
Because the waiter from Jiaozipu brought a cup of tea into the room.
After the waiter put down the tea and exited the room.
Lu Mingcai said in a low voice: "I just heard the Mu Dong family, the Qian Dong family, and the Meng Dong family talking in the backyard. From what they said, the mission you took on this time, young master, is simply impossible.
Not only will it fail, but you will probably get into trouble and be dismissed from office...
I am worried about you, young master..."
Kou Ji picked up the teacup, took a sip, hummed slightly, looked at Lu Ming, and laughed in a low voice: "You don't think much of me either?"
Lu Ming hurriedly shook his head and said: "I don't dare. In my heart, Master, you are the wisest person. I just think that Master, you should prepare more paths for yourself to avoid things going wrong."
, and fell into a dilemma."
Kou Ji stared at him with a half-smile but said again: "You still don't like me?"
Lu Ming hurriedly said: "The villain really doesn't..."
Kou Ji waved his hand, "Okay, I'm just teasing you. I know what I want to do."
Lu Ming nodded awkwardly.
Kou Ji ordered: "Go and call Muchong and the others over."
Lu Ming agreed and exited the guest room.
Kou Ji stared at Lu Ming's leaving figure and said with a mixture of laughter and tears: "That little guy is pretty good! He's only been in Jiaozi shop for a few months, and he's already very cunning."
Not long after Lu Ming exited, Mu Chong and three others arrived in the guest room one after another.
Upon arriving at the guest room, the three of them first saluted Kou Ji.
Later, Mu Chong took the lead and said: "In the Ministry of Industry, when the refugees come, my Mu family can help you share the burden of 10,000 people."
"My Qian family can share three thousand..."
"My Meng family can share five thousand..."
Meng Weizhong gritted his teeth and said the number five, as if sharing five thousand refugees was his greatest limit.
Kou Ji asked the three of them to sit down and said with a smile: "You three think that I came to you to let you share the burden of the refugees?"
Mu Chong smiled brightly but said nothing.
The same is true for Qian Le and Meng Weizhong.
Obviously, the three of them felt that Kou Jig just came to them after taking this job, just to ask them to help share the refugees.
Kou Ji saw through the thoughts of the three of them and still smiled: "I want to know where you three are going to resettle the 18,000 refugees after they have taken them?"
Mu Chongqian smiled and said: "My Mu family has a lot of fields in Sichuan and Sichuan, but we lack some tenants. I plan to bring these refugees to Sichuan and Shu to help our Mu family farm."
Qian Lele laughed and said: "My Qian family's caravan travels all over the country and needs some manpower."
Meng Weizhong said dryly: "Keep it first, and when it is useful, it will not be too late to use it again."
Kou Ji shook his head dumbfounded and said: "I know the family background of the three of you. It is not difficult for you to raise eighteen thousand refugees. But you three families seem to have no shortage of tenants and caravans.
.
Bringing 18,000 refugees back will be a burden to you."
The smile on Qian Le's face was a little stiff, and he smiled dryly: "It doesn't matter, we can afford it."
Kou Ji smiled and nodded: "I'm very grateful that you can take the initiative to help me when I encounter trouble."
Mu Chong and the other three smiled and said yes.
Kou Ji smiled and said: "The reason why you are helping me share the burden of the refugees is because you are afraid that once I fall, Jiaozipu will have no support and the money you invested before will be in vain?"
Mu Chong and the other three were stunned for a moment, with awkward looks on their faces.
They took the initiative to help Kou Ji share the refugees, and they really had this intention.
"Are you still afraid that I will send you more refugees and bring down your three families?"
Kou Ji said again with a smile.
The expressions on the faces of Mu and Chong became even more embarrassing.
Kou Ji laughed loudly and said: "I don't care what your thoughts are, but you can reach out to help me at this critical moment. I will remember this friendship."
After a pause, Kou Ji said with a smile: "It's not in vain that I think about the three of you even if I have to make money."
"make money?"
The three of them, Mu Chong, stared at Kou Ji in astonishment.
Kou Ji nodded and said: "Yes, make money!"
Before Mu Chong and the others could ask questions, Kou Ji took the lead and asked: "In your eyes, those refugees are troubles?"
The three of them, Mu Chong, looked at each other.
Qian Le squeezed out a smile on his chubby face and said: "To be honest with the Ministry of Industry, those refugees are not only a trouble in our eyes, but also in the eyes of everyone in Bianjing City."
Kou Ji smiled and said: "Why do I think they are like walking gold ingots?"
Mu Chong and the other two people widened their eyes in astonishment.
Qian Le was about to retort when he was grabbed by Mu Chong.
Mu Chong pondered for a moment and asked suspiciously: "What's the explanation?"
Kou Jishaa smiled and said: "Tens of thousands of laborers working for free, what do you think you can say?"
Mu and Chong were shocked at first, then lowered their heads and pondered the profound meaning of Kou Ji's words.
They are businessmen, and the first thing businessmen think about is buying and selling.
They began to think about what tens of thousands of free laborers could do and what benefits they could gain from it.
While the three of them were meditating, Kou Ji continued: "The imperial court will pay for them to eat until next spring. The imperial court will provide them with a place to live.
We just need to keep them busy, find them a long-lasting job, and build some houses for them.”
Qian Le's eyes rolled. After a long time, he mused: "The price is a bit high, far greater than the price we paid to establish Jiaozipu. More importantly, the court will never allow us to control these people for a long time.
in hand.
In other words, we can only use this free labor for a while.
Once next spring comes and the imperial court ends supporting them, the money we invest will become even more.
So it’s not worth it.”
Mu Chong and Meng Weizhong nodded in unison.
Kou Jixiao asked: "I heard that large-scale silk weaving workshops have begun to appear in Sichuan and Sichuan?"
Mu Chong and the others were in a daze, wondering why Kou Ji mentioned silk weaving.
But they still answered Koji's question.
Mu Chong nodded and said: "Large-scale workshops produce silk very quickly, and the styles are not too deviated. Unlike those individual households, the quality of the silk weaved by is uneven, and the speed is slow.
The silks from our three families have been sold to other vassal states along the coast along with some of the porcelain from Jiangning Prefecture.
The requirements for quality and quantity are relatively high. Without large-scale workshops, we simply cannot meet the needs of maritime merchants."
Kou Ji nodded and smiled: "I heard that you in Sichuan and Sichuan start weaving silk when the farming is slack, and go to the fields to do farm work when the farming is busy?"
Qian Le hesitated for a moment and said: "The Ministry of Industry and Industry is talking about small households. For large households like our three, the female silk weavers only need to take care of the mulberry fields and weave silk well.
We just need to send people from the government to manage the female workers and pay them enough wages every month."
Kou Jixiao asked: "So, you three families can produce a lot of silk every ten days?"
Mu Chong and the other two laughed bitterly.
Meng Weizhong said dryly: "After the silkworm season, it won't work. Every year when the silkworm season comes, our female workers have to work day and night. After the silkworm season, they basically all stop."
Mu Chong nodded and said: "If the three of us produce silk every ten days, the price of silk cannot be so expensive."
Kou Ji smiled and said, "Then have you ever considered expanding your silk weaving workshop?"
“If it’s too big, it’s hard to manage, and it’s easy to lose money.”
Qian Le said with a wry smile.
Kou Ji pointed out: "Don't just focus on silk. Cotton, linen, and wool can also be considered."
Qian Le was still smiling bitterly.
Mu Chong heard the meaning of Kou Ji's words.
He was slightly surprised and said: "The Ministry of Industry and Commerce plans to use the women among the refugees to establish silk weaving workshops?"
Kou Ji smiled and said: "It's not just silk weaving workshops, but also cotton, linen, and wool. As long as we plan well, the women among the refugees can weave all year round. They can support themselves and help us make profits."
.”
Meng Weizhong pondered: "It is true that silk fabrics cannot continue to be woven after the silkworm stage, but hemp can. With proper planning, it is indeed profitable. But cotton..."
When Meng Weizhong said this, he hesitated.
Seeing Meng Weizhong's hesitation, Qian Le said, "I know that cotton can weave threads. In my early years, when I was doing business in the Western Regions and other places, I saw local people weaving threads with cotton.
Local people also use cotton to weave cloth.
It's just that the fabric produced is not satisfactory.
Moreover, cotton is always inferior to silk and linen, and only a small number of people grow it.
It is simply impossible to use it in large quantities for weaving.
At present, only some frontier troops in the northwest are borrowing cotton-woven fabrics to keep out the cold, but you can’t see it anywhere else.”
Mu Chong and Meng Weizhong nodded in unison.
Cotton was introduced to China as early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but it was mostly planted in border areas. Many people in the hinterland of the Central Plains did not know the goodness of cotton and did not plant it in large quantities.
It was not until the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty that it was cultivated on a large scale in the hinterland of the Central Plains, and it was also exported to make profits.
At present, cotton has not been planted on a large scale in the hinterland of the Central Plains, so many people do not understand this thing.
As early as when he was in Baozhou, when Kou Ji saw the cotton clothes sent by the imperial court, he asked the local people in Baozhou. Not many local people in Baozhou knew cotton.
After returning to Bianjing City, Kou Ji also paid attention to this matter.
It seems that few people in the DPRK care about cotton.
Only the Forbidden Army guard guarding the northwest border felt that this thing was good at keeping out the cold, so he got some for his soldiers, stuffed them in fabric, and used them as cotton-padded clothes.
The guard general of the Forbidden Army also wrote to the imperial court, requesting the imperial court to promote cotton cultivation on a large scale.
But the court ignored his proposal.
In the eyes of the important officials in the court, the fertile land in the Song Dynasty was not enough to grow food, and there was nowhere left to grow cotton.
Later, when the imperial army changed defenses, they changed out of their cotton-padded clothes and were all thrown away from the warehouse.
If Kou Ji hadn't been in a hurry to get clothes for the soldiers and civilians in Baozhou to keep out the cold, these cotton-padded clothes might have been piled up in the imperial warehouse until they rotted.
It is precisely because of this that Kou Ji also knew about the cotton planting situation in the Song Dynasty.
Kou Ji smiled and said to Mu and Chong: "Don't underestimate cotton. Although the fabrics it spins are not as good as silk fabrics, they are better than linen fabrics.
The most important thing is that you don’t need to worry about the silkworm stage with this thing.
It can be stored, and as long as enough is grown, textile workshops can weave fabrics all year round."
Mu Chong and the others' eyes lit up.
Mu Chong asked: "What about the output? Are there any requirements for the land?"
Kou Ji smiled and said: "It can be grown in Guanshan and other places, and it can also be grown in Jiangning and other places...the yield is not small."
The eyes of Mu Chong and the others lit up again.
Guanshan and Jiangning spanned the north and south of the Song Dynasty.
In other words, cotton could be grown in most places in the Song Dynasty.
As for the problem of planting cotton and occupying land and being unable to produce food, it was not within the scope of their consideration.
They are businessmen.
Businessmen pursue profits.
As long as growing cotton is more profitable than growing food, they will of course choose to grow cotton.
"Shall I send someone to the Western Regions to bring back some cotton?"
Qian Le proposed enthusiastically.
It's not that Qian Le is easy to fool, but that he has confidence in Kou Ji.
He doesn't think highly of Kou Ji when it comes to dealing with refugees, but he trusts Kou Ji when it comes to doing business.
Because so far, he has never seen Kou Ji suffer losses in business.