The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

"Your Majesty, I would never dare to deceive you! The secret that the Ganluchuan Yunjin Sword cannot cut through was told to me by General Gan himself."

When my mother celebrated her birthday, she received a brocade robe.

I used all the strength I had ever had, and the sharpest cleaver, but I still couldn't cut off the sleeve.

"This fabric, when used to make clothes, requires extremely high temperatures to melt it during cutting."

Emperor Qianwu: "."

he believe!

He then asked the Empress to bring him a brocade robe she had worn before, so he could test the knife on her!

Since it's new, we naturally wouldn't take even the slightest risk!
This wasn't the first time he'd heard of Ganluchuan Yunjin; his son-in-law had given his daughter four bolts.

Finally, the empress made it into an outer robe and wore it back to the Shang capital.

But what he didn't know was that Ganluchuan Yunjin was so special!
I couldn't resist touching the dragon pattern again and again:
"The dragon robe I wore at the beginning of this year when I offered sacrifices to Heaven was said to have used thousands of feet of twisted gold thread and more than 10,000 pieces of gold thread, plus pearls and gemstones, weighing about 30 kilograms."

If I remember correctly, the cost reported by the Jiangnan Textile Commissioner was more than 33,000 taels of silver.

General Gan and his wife were truly honest; they even revealed the cost price of Ganluchuan brocade weaving!

Who in this world would present a gift as something cheap and inexpensive? Most people would be more eager to present a worthless rock as a priceless treasure. It seems it's time to put a tighter grip on those people at the Jiangnan Textile Bureau!

Jiangnan Textile Bureau was one of the royal textile institutions of the former Bei Kingdom.

In addition to providing textiles for the imperial palace, its functions included managing the silk industry in Jiangnan, collecting relevant taxes, and supervising local silk production.

The person in charge of the Jiangnan Textile Bureau was known as the "Supervisor of Textile Bureau," and held the rank of fifth grade.

Although their rank was not high, they were involved in silk production and taxation, and their actual power was considerable; only the emperor's confidants could hold such a position.

After the founding of the Yongtai Dynasty, the eldest brother of Consort Ni became the Governor-General of the Imperial Textile Bureau in Jiangnan.

This is a reward for his family's dragon lineage.

and then.

Then Emperor Qianwu was busy leading his troops on a personal expedition, and busy massacring those unruly aristocratic families who were unwilling to return the land to the people.

In addition, the number of civil officials in the imperial court was limited, with one radish in multiple positions.

The oversight mechanism was not yet perfected, and local officials were basically in charge of everything.

From the production cost quote of this dragon robe, Emperor Qianwu gained a clear understanding of the complexities involved in the weaving industry.

He inherited a half-finished empire.

Normally, he would wish he could split every silver ingot in the national treasury in two to spend.

If it weren't for recovering some health points at the Zan family in Sichuan, I wouldn't have been able to win.

Following General Gan's advice, they established a nationwide chain of large banks, which would leave the imperial court strapped for cash for many years to come.

Previously, there was some hope for the treasure map belonging to the Zuo family, but after more than half a year, there is still no clue.
"I will wear this outfit for the first grand court assembly after the New Year! From now on, a textile bureau will be set up in Kansai, and my clothes will be supervised by the Kansai Textile Bureau."

Xiong Zhen: Scholar Zuo has really made something of himself this time!
He was destined to become a fifth-rank textile superintendent!
Empress Jiang was also happy for Gan Minglan and her husband. She touched the black phoenix robe with gold patterns that matched the dragon robe and smiled broadly.

Men don't understand the beauty of fine clothes.

When she returned to the palace last year, she was fortunate to have the battle robe made for her by Ganluchuan Yunjin.

Otherwise, some people would laugh at her for spending almost twenty years in the Northwest and turning her into a country bumpkin. After Wu Yue Ni took over the Jiangnan textile bureau, she showed absolutely no interest in Jiangnan brocades.

With just a word from the emperor, the fashion trends in the capital city might just shift.

Left Commander, I have high hopes for you!

The imperial couple received ten cartloads of Kansai specialties and warmly invited Marquis Zhongyong to dine in the palace.

The banquet ended.

The meetings between the emperor and his ministers continued in the study.

Emperor Qianwu took a sip of tea, gesturing for Xiong Zhen to speak freely:

"Don't just pick out the good things to say. Tell me what difficulties you've encountered in developing the Northwest granary and horse farms, and what your future plans are."

Xiong Zhen clasped his hands in a fist salute:

"Your Majesty, it's not that I'm only reporting good news and not bad, it's just that I'm afraid of putting you in a difficult position! Actually, the biggest problem in Kansai right now is the lack of manpower."

Emperor Qianwu: "."

Once Xiong Zhen started talking, he couldn't stop:
"Like the Iri River Valley, this newly acquired territory is home to more than twenty different races and thousands of tribes of varying sizes. The registered population has exceeded 350,000."

These alien tribes mostly live a nomadic lifestyle, essentially a disorganized group. To govern this territory, we need sufficient power to influence them! A mere 20,000 troops stationed here are not enough!

Upon hearing this, Emperor Qianwu felt a slight toothache:

"Not to mention Guanzhong, the entire country is short of people, especially able-bodied laborers! Previously in the southwest, I promised the Grand General that prisoners serving sentences of more than three years would be exiled to Guanzhong. However, this proposal was met with strong opposition from the Ministry of Justice and the censors in the court."

Emperor Qianwu readily agreed at first, but after carefully reviewing the existing criminal and prison regulations from the previous dynasty, he was completely stunned.

The previous dynasty implemented a system of classified management for prisoners.

Prisoners will be separated into different groups based on the severity of their crimes, gender, age, and other factors.

Furthermore, prisoners are required to perform labor during their imprisonment.

The types and intensity of labor vary depending on the severity of the crime and the individual's physical condition. Routine labor includes cleaning, moving goods, etc.

Some able-bodied prisoners were also assigned to specific labor camps, such as mining, building city walls, and dredging waterways.

For local officials, these are also free laborers.

Taking away free labor from other places affects the interests of many people.

The Ministry of Justice was naturally unwilling for the emperor to get involved in this matter.

Therefore, Emperor Qianwu did feel guilty for his slip of the tongue towards Gan Minglan, a great contributor to the cause.

Xiong Zhen nodded, his tone very sincere:
"Your Majesty is in trouble, and we will naturally understand. When we came, General Gan also said that we could not let you be troubled by the Guanzhong region!"
You wouldn't believe it, but in the first year that Kansai received those 500,000 immigrants, I lost two-thirds of my hair. There was the plague, and so many mouths to feed—human lives were at stake everywhere.

These people have finally managed to survive in Kansai, and now they are not only alive, but living quite well! Over the past year, many village chiefs from immigrant villages have gone to the garrison to plead for help.

They said that they had lost many relatives during their escape, and now that the world was at peace, they wanted to ask the caravans traveling to and from Kansai to send a message back to their hometown to inquire. If their relatives had returned home and were living in hardship, they hoped that they could come to Kansai to stay with their relatives.

"Your Majesty! Surely the local officials won't forcibly obstruct such a reasonable request?"

Emperor Qianwu: "."

It must have been that lousy idea that Marquis Zhongyong came up with!
With all the people under his jurisdiction having gone to live with relatives, who will cultivate the local fields? Who will do the work of dredging the rivers, building bridges, and repairing roads? (End of Chapter)