Chapter 267: Chang'an errands (Part 2)

In the Duke of Song Dynasty in Chang'an City, Xiao Yu and Xiao Cuo and his son sat opposite each other.

"Father, Wen Xin has never given birth, which has already caused great dissatisfaction in Concubine Yang. Moreover, when Liu Huang left Chang'an, he brought the Cui family woman with him. I heard that Concubine Yang also had a good impression of the Cui family woman. Will this affect Wen Xin's position as the princess?" Xiao Cuo asked with a worried look on his face.

"Well, I have also discovered this problem. Although Wen Xin's father was also called emperor, he was a rebel of the former Sui Dynasty. Therefore, in Yang Fei's eyes, Wen Xin was just a thief's daughter. In addition, Wen Xin had no descendants, which was indeed a big problem. Fortunately, Liu Huang was a person who valued love. As long as he did not let go, Concubine Yang could not do anything to Wen Xin. At most, she would suffer some grievances!" Xiao Yu sipped the tea and said indifferently.

"But father, Concubine Yang is Liu Huang's biological mother after all. If she doesn't like Wen Xin, will it affect the relationship between them and their husbands?" Although Xiao Cuo is not Wen Xin's biological father, in his heart, he always regards Wen Xin as his biological daughter. What's more, he has a special feeling for Wen Xin's mother, so he naturally cares more about Wen Xin.

After hearing this, Xiao Yu smiled and said, "Don't worry, I have asked your aunt for help from Concubine Yang. Although your aunt is not Concubine Yang's biological mother, Concubine Yang will not make too embarrassed for her sake. The most important thing now is to let Wen Xin get pregnant with Liu Huang's child as soon as possible. At that time, no matter whether the child is a man or a woman, Wen Xin's position will be greatly stabilized!"

When Xiaocuo heard that his aunt Queen Xiao was willing to help, he finally let down his heart. However, when he heard that Wenxin was pregnant as soon as possible, he also smiled bitterly. Pregnancy is not something that can be done by having it, and everything depends on God's intention. Unfortunately, Xiaocuo didn't know that Li Yan and Wenxin had never fulfilled their ward.

Xiao Yu also knew that they couldn't help with this matter, so he quickly changed the topic and said: "Chou'er, how about the person who went to Liu Ke with Liu Ke last time? Liu Ying is about to come back. Is there any news from them?"

Xiao Cuo was shocked and smiled and said, "My father was wrong. Now there is no more Liu Qiu, only Taiwan under the rule of the Qi Palace."

"Haha, yes, there is only Taiwan, no Liu Qiu!" Xiao Yu also laughed.

After the father and son laughed, Xiao Cuo said: "Father, a few days ago, another piece of news came from Taiwan that they had already set a large piece of land in southern Taiwan to make a plantation. However, because of the lack of manpower, in the first year, the entire piece of land would be only one-fifth of the area, and the harvested sugar cane will be purchased by the Taiwanese government and then made into sugar wholesale and sold. As raw material suppliers, we have priority wholesale rights."

"Yeah~" Xiao Yu nodded after hearing this, and then asked again, "Come on your estimate, how much profit will be in Taiwan this year? Can these profits be subsidized in Lanling's hometown?"

Xiao Yu comes from the Xiao family of Lanling, which is later Changzhou. It is located in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta. It has been a famous town of fish and rice since ancient times. Xiao family is a local famous family. Many of them rely on mulberry and silkworms to gain profits. However, with the impact of cotton cloth, the sales of silk are not smooth, and their Xiao family is naturally extremely affected, so even Xiao Yu, who has never valued money, thinks of Taiwan.

"This~" Xiao Cuo smiled bitterly after hearing this. His father Xiao Yu has always been aloof and does not understand the financial management of his family at all. If others hear his question just now, they may even laugh at him. However, as a son, he naturally dared not laugh at his father, so he had to explain, "My father doesn't know that although the Taiwanese plantation is a good way of wealth, he also needs to invest a lot of money in the early stage, such as buying slaves, tools, seeds, etc. So generally speaking, not only does there be no profit in the first year, but may also lose some losses. At the earliest, it will not only start the second year, and there will be a small amount of profit. Until all aspects are mature, this profit will become larger and larger!"

"Uh~" Xiao Yu was also a little embarrassed after hearing this. In fact, he didn't understand these things, but he was worried about the situation of the Xiao family in Lanling, so he made such a low-level mistake.

After Xiao Zhuo finished speaking, a look of hesitation appeared on his face. After a while, he continued: "Father, I don't know whether I should say something or not?"

"Oh? It's okay to say anything!" Xiao Yu said.

When Xiao Cuo heard this, he stood up and bowed and said, "Father, although the population of my Lanling Xiao family is not large, the number of rooms together is at least two or three thousand. Moreover, relying on the output of the clan field, most of them have received good education. However, the journey of the imperial examination in the Tang Dynasty is too difficult. Among these educated clans, few of them can pass the imperial examination, and most of the remaining ones are scattered in the clan."

When Xiao Cuo said this, he secretly looked at his father's face, but found that his father listened very seriously and did not show any anger. This made him feel relieved and continued: "Also from what the children know, it is not that they don't want to go out, but that they don't know what they want to do and what they can do? Since that's the case, then we'll just make a choice for them and send these idle tribe members to Taiwan. First, it can reduce the burden within the tribe. Second, Taiwan is at the time of employing people. With their ability to read and write, they can definitely get a background in the local government. Third, it is also to express our Xiao family's attitude to Liu Huang to let him know the support of the Xiao family in Lanling. This will also increase the weight of Wen Xin in Liu Huang's heart."

Xiao Chou’s method is reasonable and it also lists three benefits at once. After hearing this, Xiao Yu nodded repeatedly and said to himself: “This method is good. I won’t mention the others for now. I heard that Liu Huang blurred the boundary between officials in Taiwan, and officials can only be selected from minor officials. In this way, let the tribe members start with minor officials first, and there will always be a few excellent people who will be promoted. Maybe in the future, our Xiao family will have more pillars!"

Thinking of this, Xiao Yu did not hesitate anymore. Not only did he praise Xiao Chou, but he immediately wrote a letter to Lanling and sent some of his tribe members to Taiwan. In fact, the reason why Xiao Yu was able to make such a determination was because he firmly believed that under the leadership of Li Yan, Taiwan's future development will definitely be limitless!

In a factory in the western suburbs of Chang'an City, Wang Zihao was visiting here with a group of people. The group behind him was of different heights, but most of them were dressed in gorgeous clothes. You could tell at a glance that they were either rich or noble.

"Please look, here are our King of Qi Mansion, Jiangxia Mansion, Hejian Mansion, Duke Lu Mansion and other companies, integrating bicycle workshops from each company to establish a largest bicycle factory in Chang'an. The factory had 2,300 workers. After the factory was established, the bicycles produced were known for their low prices and easy maintenance. As soon as they were launched, they almost destroyed most of the bicycle workshops. Now, it not only occupied most of the market in Chang'an, but also began to be sold wholesale to the outside world. Even Hu merchants on the Silk Road ordered a large number of bicycles." Wang Zihao led the people behind him to walk forward while speaking with a proud face.

"Brother Wang, I won't say these words. We all know the situation of your bicycle factory, so please tell me what kind of assembly line!" At this moment, a thin and tall old man said. The old man's surname is Fu, and he is the largest carriage manufacturer in Chang'an. Today, like the people around him, he came to Wang Zihao to learn from him.

"Haha, Brother Fu, don't worry. Assembled line production is not a secret. It can even be said to be just a layer of window paper. It can be broken with one finger. Please follow me!" Wang Zihao said in a slow look, then turned around and took everyone into the factory's production building.

Everyone followed Wang Zihao into the factory and saw the workers in the factory coming and going, looking very busy. People with keen eyes would find that the work of these workers seemed messy, but in fact they were still working according to a special rule, such as the same parts placed in front of the same group of workers.

I saw Wang Zihao casually walking to a group of workers, then picked up a cylindrical cast iron from their workbench, showing it to everyone, and said, "Please see, this is a part on the bicycle, with a small square hole in the middle. According to the industrial weights and measures newly formulated by His Royal Highness Qi, the length and width of this hole should be 08 centimeters. Of course, there will definitely be errors in actual production, but as long as the up and down does not exceed 01 centimeters, it is considered a qualified product. If you are interested, you can measure it with a ruler!"

As soon as Wang Zihao said, he immediately attracted many people's curiosity. They picked up the ruler on the stage and measured it. They found that as the other party said, the error was really within 01 centimeters.

"Brother Wang, this part is indeed very standard, but what's the use of it?" The person who asked was a short and fat man, and Wang Zihao's friend. Li Yan also knew this person. Qian Gui, a famous businessman in Chang'an, now mainly engaged in the textile industry.

"Hehe, Brother Qian asked this question well. I can tell you that the parts produced in this factory are produced according to new standards set by industrial weights and measures. Each part has strict sizes and materials. Each group of workers is only responsible for the production of one part. After these parts are produced, they will be sent to the assembly workshop. The situation in the assembly workshop is similar to that here. Each group of workers is only responsible for assembling a certain step and then immediately sending it to the next group. In this way, not only does the workers' learning time be reduced, but also increases the workers' proficiency. When the proficiency increases, everyone will find that the production speed of bicycles has almost increased by a huge step, and this is our assembly line production method!"
Chapter completed!