Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 392 Empty Gloves White Wolf

"Suzhou Weaving and Dyeing Bureau?" The three officials were not sure. "Is it the one east of Tianxin Bridge?"

As local officials in Suzhou, they certainly knew of the existence of the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau.

Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, Suzhou has been the national silk weaving center.In order to meet the needs of the court, the court has set up a weaving bureau in Suzhou since the Yuan Dynasty.After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it was changed to the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau.Because Boss Zhu practiced thrift, not only was the scale of the Suzhou Weaving and Dyeing Bureau much smaller than that of the previous dynasty, but the specifications were also downgraded from the supervision of the palace to the supervision of the local government.

Therefore, in the eyes of the three officials, the Suzhou Weaving and Dyeing Bureau is basically a department under their jurisdiction. How can they borrow food from the reserve warehouse?
"Oh, I forgot to tell you all that the emperor has given permission to change the Suzhou Weaving and Dyeing Bureau directly under the palace's jurisdiction." King Chu said, and handed a letter to the three of them:
"Father ordered me to temporarily take charge of the weaving and dyeing bureau. During this period, I will be jointly and severally responsible for all the debts incurred by the weaving and dyeing bureau."

After Zhu Zhen finished speaking, he stared at the three of them and asked word by word: "Now, the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau is qualified to borrow food from you, right?"

"Yes, yes..." The three of them wiped their sweat and looked carefully at the handwriting. Finally, Li Heng nodded with difficulty and said, "It's just that your Highness, you must pay it back in autumn, otherwise we will die."

"Don't worry, my majestic prince, will I still rely on you?" Zhu Zhen patted his chest to assure first, and then said with displeasure: "This is using your own food to help your own people, and I have to be the guarantor." , have you ever seen such a resentment like this king?"

"Your Highness calm down, the rules are really unbreakable..." The three of them hurriedly accompanied and said cautiously: "Actually, even so, we still bear the responsibility."

"After all, His Highness did not use an inch of land as collateral, and the scale of the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau is indeed a bit small."

"How small?" King Chu asked.

"There are only a dozen looms in total, which are not as good as larger weavers." Fei Zhixian replied softly.

"Don't worry, the scale will increase soon, and all the weavers in Suzhou City will work for this king!" His Royal Highness King Chu said proudly.

~~
Regardless of what the three officials thought, the matter of borrowing grain from the reserve warehouses in one prefecture and two counties was settled by the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau and the King of Chu as a guarantee.

In order to avoid long nights and dreams, the king of Chu immediately ordered Luo Guanzhong to draw up a contract and sign it with the three officials on the spot.

Then, with Li Heng and the other three, they finally finalized the detailed rules of the 'Suzhou food stamp'.

The two parties agreed that the Suzhou grain stamps would be issued by the Royal Bureau of Weaving and Dyeing, and the reserve warehouses in one prefecture and two counties would be responsible for exchanging grain with the stamps, but the total amount should not exceed 20 shi.

Because one prefecture and two counties lent a total of 20 shi of grain to the Royal Bureau of Weaving and Dyeing.

Moreover, the king of Chu promised that if the Royal Weaving and Dyeing Bureau could not return the grain on time, he would be responsible for returning it.

The prince has [-] shilumi per year, which is the fundamental reason why Li Heng and the others dared to open a warehouse to borrow food...

When everything was finalized, the three officials felt deeply sorry to His Highness King Chu.

"It's clearly our business, but His Highness has to bear such a heavy burden." Li Heng apologized to the King of Chu, "I'm really sorry, Your Highness."

"It's okay!" His Royal Highness King Chu's round eyes were full of concern for the country and the people: "Father often teaches us to be brave in taking responsibility. Besides, my king's salary is all taken from the people, which is considered useless." It is for the people."

The three were deeply moved, and they all felt that the dragon had nine sons, each of them was different.Unlike the cruel and cunning King Jin, His Royal Highness King Chu is simply a bodhisattva...

~~
After the three people who sent away thousands of thanks for His Highness turned back, Luo Guanzhong finally couldn't help complaining: "They don't know His Highness, aren't they eligible for salary?"

"That's right, my pocket is cleaner than my face." His Royal Highness the King of Chu said without any shame, "Otherwise, sir, the King of Chu's servant, wouldn't have to hang around my uncle for nothing."

It is different from the Royal Guard Army, which is organized as a regular army and paid monthly.Only after the prince opens the mansion can the officials of the prince's mansion receive their salary.Of course, except for Liu Bowen's kind of Wang Fu personally hired by the emperor.

"It's a huge Suzhou city. There are no less than 20 households relying on the textile industry for food. How can a mere 100 shi food stamps be enough?" Luo Guanzhong heard the king of Chu say in surprise: "This king wants to print [-] million shi food stamps." !"

"..." Luo Guanzhong opened his mouth wide enough to stuff a duck's egg into it.

But he knew that King Chu's words were true...

After arriving in Suzhou, Luo Guanzhong was ordered to conduct a thorough investigation of the textile industry in Suzhou City.

By questioning the investigation, he came to a conclusion.There are about [-] looms in Suzhou City.

Each huge and complex loom required three weavers to operate.Together with the workers responsible for warp pulling and weft dropping, each loom requires an average of five workers, or 1 workers.

However, the silk weaving industry is a long industrial chain, with silk reeling upstream and dyeing, jacquard, and satin embroidery downstream. In addition to transportation and sales personnel, the entire industry is conservatively estimated to have 5 people.

And the average monthly salary of these 5 people is [-] cash, which is not counting the profits of Zhihu and other owners.

Food in Suzhou is relatively expensive, and one stone of rice costs five hundred cash.Therefore, the 20 shi food stamps are only enough for one month.

"And to start production, we have to purchase looms and raw silk, right?" Zhu Zhen settled the accounts for Mr. Luo on the spot: "So don't say 20 shi, it's a food stamp of 100 million shi, and it will last for three months at most. , barely able to wait until the city ship fleet comes back."

"Okay, I admit that 100 million shi is enough." Luo Guanzhong nodded, stared at Lao Liu and asked loudly: "But you have borrowed a total of 20 shi of grain, how can you exchange it for the common people?!"

"Hahaha, this is the beauty of food stamps." Zhu Zhen laughed triumphantly and said, "This king issues food stamps worth 100 million shi, so as long as you prepare 20 shi of grain, it will be more than enough!"

"Why?" Luo Guanzhong was a little puzzled.

"Because there is no food shortage in Suzhou, it's just that the workers have no money and can't afford food." Zhu Zhen explained in a way that Teacher Luo could understand as much as possible:
"And the wages of the workers cannot only be used to buy food, but also to buy firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea. So we only need to survive the first month, and the food stamps will enter the circulation. If you don't believe it, let's wait and see. At that time, the number of citizens who come to exchange grain will drop sharply, and 20 shi is enough."

"Is that so..." General Luo Guanzhong was skeptical, and asked again: "But Your Highness, is this a breach of contract?"

"Hahaha. The contract document is here. You can see clearly. It only stipulates that the Suzhou government accepts 20 shi of rice with two counties, but it doesn't stipulate how much the king will issue." Zhu Zhen smiled slyly, and comforted him with an uneasy expression. Teacher Luo said:
"Don't worry, can this king still deceive the common people? I will definitely not let them suffer - when the city ship fleet returns, I will recycle all the food stamps!"

(End of this chapter)