People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 713 The future of the Women's Textile Workshop is bright! !

As the night deepens, the bustle of Jinling Night Market is gradually left behind.

Zhu Yuanzhang and his party walked slowly along the stone road along the Qinhuai River. The river reflected the lights on both sides of the river, and the breeze blew through the waves. Chen Han saw that the time was ripe, so he mentioned Zhu Youwei's plan to establish a women's textile workshop.

"Grandpa, Youwei has an idea recently and wants to discuss it with you." Chen Han glanced at Zhu Youwei beside him. Seeing that she looked determined, he continued, "She plans to open an independent women's textile workshop based on Daming Engineering College, recruit female workers, and let them make money through their skills."

Zhu Yuanzhang heard this without stopping, but raised his eyebrows slightly: "Oh? Women's textile workshop? Tell me about it."

Zhu Youwei stepped forward and said in a clear voice, "Grandfather, your granddaughter is not just impulsive. Although the Ming Dynasty is prosperous now, the status of women is still low. Many women have talents but nowhere to display them. If we can set up a textile workshop and let them make money with their abilities, it will not only improve our family conditions, but also let the world see the value of women."

Chen Han took over the conversation, speaking in a steady tone: "Old man, I support Youwei's idea, but this is not an easy task. If we want women to truly have the right to speak, slogans alone are not enough. We must first let them have the ability to be financially independent. Only by making money can they stand up straight."

Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a moment, his eyes far away, as if recalling something. After a while, he slowly said: "I understand what you said. When we were conquering the world, the women like Empress Ma were not idle in the rear. They wove cloth, raised food, comforted the families of soldiers, and even helped to deal with military documents. If they hadn't done real work, how could we feel at ease on the front line?"

He looked at Zhu Youwei, and his tone was unusually gentle: "Youwei, you want women to have status, that's right. But you have to remember that anyone who wants to be respected must first prove their own value. The reason why Queen Ma can be respected by us is not because of whose wife she is, but because of what she did."

Zhu Youwei's eyes flickered, and she nodded seriously: "Granddaughter understands. Grandfather Huang meant that if a woman wants to change the status quo, she must show her real ability, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang hummed, and then said: "The textile workshop is a good start. If women can support themselves with their skills, and even earn more than men, others will naturally not dare to underestimate them. However..."

He changed the subject and looked at Chen Han, "This matter involves the change of atmosphere, and there will be considerable resistance. How do you plan to deal with it?"

Chen Han was well prepared and answered calmly: "Old man, I have ordered the Engineering College to improve the textile machines, which can increase the efficiency several times. By then, women's textile workshops will not only be able to produce high-quality cloth, but also seize the market at low prices. As long as women can create tangible benefits, merchants will naturally support them. As for those sour scholars..."

He chuckled. "If they dare to obstruct us, let's show them which is more powerful, their words or the women's looms."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed when he heard this: "Great! I like your energy!" He patted Chen Han on the shoulder, "In that case, just go ahead and do it. If you need anything, we will support you."

Zhu Youwei was overjoyed and bowed quickly: "Thank you, Grandfather!"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hands and said with emotion: "In fact, I have long been dissatisfied with those pedantic scholars. They always say that 'men are superior and women are inferior', but if women can really hold up half the sky, it will be a good thing for the country and the people. Although I am old, I am not confused."

Chen Han nodded in agreement: "Old man, you are wise. In fact, if women can participate in production, the human resources of the Ming Dynasty can be doubled, and the national strength will naturally be stronger."

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes, as if thinking: "That makes sense. If Empress Ma had participated in politics, our burden would have been lighter." He paused, and suddenly asked, "Youwei, how many people are you going to hire for your workshop?"

Zhu Youwei had already made a plan and replied, "We plan to recruit 50 people in the first batch. If the results are significant, we will gradually expand."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered and said, "Fifty people... is not a small number. In this case, we will allocate a sum of money from the inner treasury as support. In addition, you can first select people from the widows and poor women in the army, because they need this job the most."

Zhu Youwei was deeply moved: "Grandpa Emperor cares about the people, and I will definitely live up to your trust!"

Zhu Yuanzhang stroked his beard with satisfaction, and looked at Chen Han again: "Boy, don't just focus on helping your wife, you have to do more yourself."

Chen Han smiled and said, "Don't worry, old man. I have contacted several businesses. The cloth from the workshop will be sold without any worries."

As they walked and talked, they arrived at the palace gate. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the towering city wall and suddenly sighed, "This world belongs to the young after all. I am old, but I am happy to see you have such ambitions."

Chen Han said solemnly: "Don't worry, old man, we will live up to your expectations."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, his eyes deep: "Go ahead, do your best. We are waiting to see your results."

The night wind blew by, and Zhu Youwei looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's back, feeling a lot of emotion in her heart. She held Chen Han's hand tightly and whispered: "Husband, we will definitely succeed."

Chen Hanhui held her hand and said firmly, "Of course. Although this road is difficult, with the support of the old man and our common goal, there is no need to worry about failure."

……

As the night deepened, palace lanterns lit up one after another, making the stone paths of the Imperial Garden look like a river of stars.

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang and his entourage stepped into the palace gate, they saw Crown Prince Zhu Biao coming towards them with a glazed palace lantern. His apricot-yellow dragon robe glowed softly under the lantern.

"Father, you finally came back from your incognito visit?" Zhu Biao took the bamboo stick from the old man with a smile, but saw that the tip of the stick was stained with some sesame candy residue. He couldn't help but smile, "Oh, you even ate snacks?"

Zhu Yuanzhang wiped the remaining icing sugar from his beard, and suddenly tapped Zhu Biao's soap boots with his bamboo stick: "Boss, did you know that the drainage ditches in Jinling City are now embedded with copper funnels with gauze?" Seeing his son stunned, the old man raised his chin proudly, "There's something even more amazing... The Hu merchants selling baked naan at the night market actually know how to use biodegradable lotus leaf bowls!"

Laughter suddenly broke out in the pavilion. Zhu Youwei was pouring tea for Chen Han and almost knocked over the teacup when she heard this.

She pointed at the mud on her grandfather's collar and said with a smile, "My great grandfather just squatted by the bridge pier and insisted on trying the sewage trough himself to see if it worked. He scared the patrol officers."

"We are trying to understand the people's sentiments!" Zhu Yuanzhang snatched the palace lantern from Zhu Biao's hand and suddenly shone it on the soles of his shoes... The blue-gray brick powder fell down and actually spelled out the word "clean".

The old man boasted childishly: "Look, these are new non-slip tiles. The guys from the Physics Department said they mixed crushed clam shells into them!"

Chen Han almost spit out the tea he had just swallowed. He remembered that two quarters of an hour ago, the old man squatted in front of the public toilet at the entrance of the alley and insisted on using a bamboo stick to poke the pull rope of the clay water tank, resulting in splashes of water all over his face.

At this moment, the gray beard was still wet and curled.

Zhu Biao stroked the jade belt around his waist and suddenly sighed, "I didn't know that the revision of the City Appearance Order approved by me last month would be implemented so meticulously." He looked at the flickering lights outside the palace wall, "Those garbage sorting trucks..."

"More than that!" Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly pulled out an oil-paper package from his sleeve, and after unfolding it, it turned out to be half a piece of rose naan. "A chef from Kashgar! The skin is made of glutinous rice flour from Jiangnan, and the filling is made of rose sauce from the Western Regions..." He broke off a corner and stuffed it into his son's mouth. "Try it, it's ten times better than the cakes from Guanglu Temple!"

Zhu Biao coughed due to the sudden sweet smell, but his father took out a piece of blue paper like a magician: "Look, this is the stall owner's 'Special Spice Supply Certificate'! Three catties of Western spices are equivalent to one cent of tax, which is much better than smuggling!"

The old man imitated the Hu merchant's accent, which made his great-grandson in the wet nurse's arms giggle.

The night wind blew across the Taiye Lake, bringing with it the faint sound of stringed instruments. Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly fell silent, his fingers unconsciously stroking the marks on the bamboo stick... That was the summary of the "Food Hygiene Law" that he had secretly memorized at the night market just now.

"Biao'er." The old man's voice was a little hoarse, "I only understand today that the country we conquered back then..." He pointed to the brightly lit Wenhua Hall in the distance. That was where he reviewed memorials for thirty years, "It has long since become unrecognizable to us."

Zhu Biao's heart tightened, but he saw his father suddenly use a bamboo stick to pick up the "Jinling Evening News" on the stone table. The front page was printed with an illustration of "Garbage Classification Rhyme". The old man narrowed his eyes and read: "'Melon peels and fruit shells go into the green bucket, coal ash and broken porcelain go into the ash box', this rhyme is much better than those sour articles in the Hanlin Academy!"

Chen Han handed over a cup of warmed honey wine at the right time: "Old man, this is just the beginning. When the cloth from the women's textile workshop is on the market, you can go to the Qinhuai River to take a look... The shopkeepers of those silk and satin shops are guaranteed to be better at accounting than the Hu merchants!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhu Yuanzhang drank it all up, not caring that the wine stains soaked his front. He suddenly grabbed Zhu Biao's jade belt, "Boss, from tomorrow on, don't stay in Wenhua Hall all the time! Come with us to listen to a book..." The old man's eyes flashed with cunning, "Now in teahouses, everyone is talking about "Chen Gong'an", which is more lively than "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"!"

Zhu Youwei burst out laughing. She remembered the storyteller telling the story of her husband designing a public toilet, which was as exciting as Zhuge Liang's story of borrowing arrows from a straw boat. The most amazing part was the part about "not flushing the toilet and being punished by sweeping the streets for three days", which was turned into a rhyming allegro.

"Father..." Zhu Biao was about to dissuade him, but he saw the old man squatting on the ground, drawing a defense map of Nanjing with a bamboo stick: "I finally understand that it's not enough to just grow vegetables in the palace!"

The tip of the stick suddenly poked at the empty space in the southeast corner. "We need to build a bigger garbage dump here. The Physics Institute said they can refine something..."

"Biogas lamp." When Chen Han answered, he saw a piece of naan crumbs stuck to the sole of the old man's boots. Just now at the night market, the old man insisted on personally testing the authenticity of the "biodegradable" label, and ended up chewing on the lotus leaf bowl for half a day.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stood up, and the palace lantern stretched his hunched shadow long: "Biao'er, pass the order to the Ministry of Works..."

He grabbed the clay model on the stone table. It was the small sample of the flush toilet that Chen Han had just taken out. "All the toilets in the palace should be modified according to this!"

Zhu Biao took the exquisite model and found that the bottom was engraved with "Made in the 25th year of Hongwu". He suddenly remembered the worn-out copy of "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" in his father's study, with dense annotations on the margins like spider webs.

"Your son obeys your command." As the prince saluted solemnly, he caught a glimpse of a bronze badge of "Jinling Little Urban Management" pinned on his father's waist... It must have been pinned on him secretly by some child.

The moonlight shone on the small badge, reflecting a blurry word "净".

The night dew was getting heavier, but Zhu Yuanzhang insisted on going to see the vegetable patch he had planted. When everyone followed him to the imperial vegetable garden with palace lanterns, they saw the old man suddenly use a bamboo stick to push aside the newly sprouted vegetable seedlings and dig out a tin can from the soil.

"Look!" He shook the jar proudly, and inside it were flower seeds obtained from sorting garbage. "When we plant them in spring, our vegetable garden will be as beautiful as a night market!"

Chen Han looked at the old man's smiling face reflected under the palace lantern, and suddenly remembered the old man secretly hiding the garbage classification score card into his sleeve pocket by the river bank. At this moment, the wrinkled card was showing a corner of red edge from the cuffs of the dragon robe.

Zhu Biao suddenly asked softly, "Father, would you like me to accompany you to the market more often?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was bending over to cover the seedlings with soil. Hearing this, he said without even raising his head: "Go and review your memorials!"

He suddenly plucked off a piece of tender leaf and put it into his mouth to chew. "It's enough for us to have Chen kid as our guide... This kid even knows how hot the Hu merchants use to bake naan!"

While everyone was laughing, no one noticed that the old man secretly buried half a piece of uneaten rose naan in the most fertile vegetable patch.

The moonlight shines on the slightly raised earth mound, like a sweet and fragrant quilt covering the smoke of war twenty years ago.

……

After Zhu Biao finished listening to Chen Han and Zhu Youwei's story about the women's workshop, the teacup in his hand was suspended in mid-air, and he slowly put it down after a while.

A gleam of light flashed in his eyes, and he tapped his fingertips on the stone table twice. He suddenly smiled and said, "Youwei, you just said that this workshop will recruit 50 people in the first batch?"

Zhu Youwei nodded, her eyes reflecting the light of the lantern under her veil: "Father, I have calculated that if we use the improved textile machine, the monthly output of fifty people can be equivalent to that of a hundred ordinary people. Moreover..."

She paused, took out a roll of silk cloth from her sleeve, and slowly unfolded it. "This is the new 'linked spindle diagram' made by the School of Engineering. Six spindles rotate at the same time. A woman only needs to step on the wooden wheel to spin six strands of thread at the same time."

The mechanism on the silk cloth was as fine as a spider web. Zhu Biao took it and looked at it carefully, and his brows gradually relaxed. He suddenly raised his head, his eyes burning: "The widows in the army are in need of such work!"

Chen Han replied at the right time: "Your Highness, are you having trouble settling the families of the soldiers who are on the Northern Expedition?"

Zhu Biao sighed and took out a blue book from his sleeve. When he turned to a page, the ink was still fresh: "Last month, the Ministry of War reported that there were more than 300 widows of fallen soldiers in Yingtian Prefecture alone, and half of them made a living by washing and mending. If the old system is followed, the court will have no money left after paying out the pensions, but the money will eventually run out..." He stroked the line "Pensions are exhausted, and there are many beggars" with his fingertips.

Zhu Yuanzhang was originally dozing on a rattan chair, but he suddenly opened his eyes when he heard this: "Boss, didn't we allocate charity land?"

"Your Majesty, I see." Zhu Biao smiled bitterly, "Most of the charity land has long been swallowed up by local nobles in the name of 'farming for you', and the widow only has a few buckets of coarse grain. Although I have ordered the Jinyiwei to conduct a thorough investigation, it is ultimately only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution."

The night wind swept through the pavilion, making the pages of the account book rustle.

Zhu Youwei suddenly held down the flying corner of the paper and said in a clear voice: "Father, what if the charity land is changed to 'labor-remunerated land'? Women who work in workshops can pay rent according to the amount of cloth they weave, and those who work harder can even accumulate land deeds!"

"Great!" Zhu Biao clapped his hands, and a few drops of water splashed out of the teacup. "Work-for-relief not only prevents the wealthy from interfering, but also allows them to gain a foothold with their skills!" He suddenly turned to Chen Han, "Can your 'tiered salary' method be used in the workshop?"

……

(End of this chapter)