hsntnovel Chapter 2337: Inspection of the Workshop Area
Chapter 2337: Inspection of the Workshop Area
"Your Majesty, I believe that after what happened with Wang Wencheng, Shopkeeper Wang has become too cautious, and therefore has been unable to find anyone he can trust."
Once bitten by a snake, one will be afraid of ropes for ten years. Wang Xuance guessed that Wang Hongfu was just afraid, and he was afraid of finding another Wang Wencheng to come over.
By then, his life and property may not be safe.
So I have been hesitating all the time.
"If he can't be found, will this mean I won't have any of my Xizhou assets?"
No matter what the reason is, Li Shen just wants the result.
Xizhou's industry cannot remain leaderless forever. It's okay for him to be here now, but what if he leaves?
According to the current situation, he is likely to leave before Yuanzheng.
As long as the Western Expedition Army in front returns to Anxi, he can return to Chang'an City.
And now it was snowing heavily, so he guessed that the Western Expedition Army had already started to return.
"Yes, I will write a letter to Wang Hongfu right away." Wang Xuance accepted the order.
"By the way, let him report on what's been going on in Prince Ji's Mansion recently. I've been away for almost half a year, and I haven't asked about the affairs of the palace."
Li Shen added.
"Yes." Wang Xuance saluted and walked out.
"Daowu, please write a letter as well and have someone take it back to Chang'an City."
Li Shen looked at the remaining Zhou Daowu and said something.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
After saying that, Zhou Daowu also left the study.
Li Shen thought about it and stood up and went to the desk again, picked up the pen and started writing the letter.
The first snow did not last long. Li Shen rested in Xizhou for three days. On the second day, Wang Bao returned to Chang'an City with the letter given to him by Li Shen and the letter from Zhou Daowu.
He had to get back before winter really came.
During these three days, the people of Xizhou discovered that large-scale construction had begun in the city, and cartloads of soil were continuously transported in from outside the city.
There are also some stones and other things.
Soldiers in the military camp and prisoners of the rebels were constantly entering and leaving Xizhou City.
The black stones that were constantly being transported in also attracted the attention of the people.
Li Shen’s more than 30,000 sets of cold-resistant military equipment have been distributed.
There were 20,000 soldiers from the Xizhou Army, 10,000 palace soldiers protecting Li Shen, and more than 3,000 soldiers from the imperial guard camp. Each of them was given a set.
When the soldiers felt the warmth brought by the cotton equipment, they were all grateful to Li Shen.
A set of cold-resistant supplies like this would cost at least several strings of cash, but Prince Ji actually took out 30,000 sets at once, which is tens of thousands of strings of cash.
Three days later, Li Shen took the guard battalion to the workshop area in a carriage. He also brought with him more than a thousand sets of remaining equipment.
When Li Shen came here again, there were some changes. An area not far from the workshop had been roughly fenced off.
It should be the address of Zhuangzi.
There is a team patrolling the entire area from time to time.
When they saw Li Shen's large army coming, some people immediately ran over to check, while others ran back to deliver a message.
He looked well-trained, which was kind of what Li Shen wanted.
"I see His Highness Prince Ji."
Soon a group of people came running over, led by the three rebel leaders who had surrendered earlier. At this moment, the three of them were dressed in tight clothes and looked radiant.
It is no longer as dire as it was before.
They thought they had made the wisest choice. Even if they were leaders at the time, they would not have lived as well as they do now.
They had more than 2,000 men under their command, all of whom obeyed their orders. Prince Ji's mansion had sufficient supplies, allowing them to eat meat every meal and drink wine to their heart's content.
You can't do this when you're a rebel.
More importantly, they don’t have to worry anymore. Sometimes when the Xizhou Army comes to patrol, they will take the initiative to go up and inspect.
This made them feel so happy. It was never like this before. They would run away overnight when they heard the word "officers and soldiers".
So they are now very satisfied with this kind of life, and their subordinates are even more so. They live a comfortable life, have no worries about food and drink, and all they have to do is patrol every day.
This is a day I never dared to imagine before.
"No need for formalities." Li Shen got out of the carriage, wearing a purple cloak, and stood on the shaft looking around.
"Let's go to the textile workshop first, and call Xu Jinyuan from the threshing workshop."
Li Shen looked around and then shrank his neck. The cold wind here was a bit chilly.
The three leaders agreed, and Li Shen's caravan continued to move forward until they arrived at the prevention workshop.
"Welcome, His Royal Highness Prince Ji." Ma Wenchang was already waiting at the door. As soon as Li Shen's carriage stopped, he and several servants bowed and saluted.
Li Shen was helped out of the carriage and came before Ma Wenchang.
"I'm honored to meet His Royal Highness Prince Ji." Ma Wenchang bowed quickly.
"Okay, let's go in and talk." Li Shen nodded. It was a bit cold outside.
Ma Wenchang agreed and led the way, taking Li Shen to his study, which was also his office.
The room was warm and there was a stove burning, probably with charcoal burning inside.
"How's it going here?"
Li Shen took off his cloak and threw it to the stone beside him, then sat in the main seat and asked.
"Your Highness, everything is fine. Nothing has happened and the craftsmen are working very hard," Ma Wenchang reported.
"That's good, something happened this year that will make the price of cotton go up.
I suspect that other merchants will take advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune, so you need to be quick.
This king does not want the price of cotton to rise too much."
Li Shen nodded. He planned to give cotton to the common people and he would not make money from it.
But because he massacred the nobles' workshop area, it is very likely that the price of cotton will rise.
He didn't know whether other noble families had any stocks.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. I have urged them to speed up their progress. Not long ago, Manager Wang sent people to transport over 7,000 horses, saying they were urgently needed in Chang'an."
"Wang Hongfu transported a batch away? When did it happen?"
Hearing Ma Wenchang's words, Li Shen was a little surprised. Why didn't he know this?
Although he didn't know many things and was a hands-off boss, he was in Xizhou, so why hadn't he heard about it?
"Your Highness, just ten days ago, someone came and told Shopkeeper Wang that this shipment might not be possible until next spring."
Ma Wenchang thought for a moment and replied.
“Ten days ago… Fine, I understand.
Your workshop is very important. Whether it is cotton-padded clothes or other cotton products, your cloth is needed.
We have enough materials now, and if we don’t work hard, I’m afraid we won’t be able to finish it next year.
This king intends to continue recruiting craftsmen and expand the scale of the textile workshop.
It's winter now, and the people probably don't have much to do, so it would be nice to let them earn some money."
Li Shen had robbed too many things this time. The cotton of the entire Xizhou tribe, plus the cotton of the noble families,
All the year's output went into his pocket. He estimated that even if he worked overtime, he might not be able to finish it in a year.
The main reason for this is backward technology. Although the newly developed shuttle loom is faster than the traditional one, it is still operated by humans and the speed is limited.
We can only rely on manpower to increase production.