Mama Gui hurriedly said: "This is as it should be, please rest assured that the county lord." These people were brought out by me, we are in the embroidery room in the palace, there are a lot of people, these people are all irrelevant, when I was a grandmother, I did not take care of them. They are all my people, they all listen to me, and they will listen to what I want them to do. I know very well what is going on at home. They have all entered the palace since they were children, and their families are very poor, so they should be able to go to Nanyang with them. I'll leave this to me. ”

Chen Wenhui was overjoyed and said: "That's good, that's it." It's just that, Mama Gui, you have been out of the palace, it is not suitable to be called Mama, besides, although you are over thirty years old, you are still a girl's family, and you should not be called Mama, I don't know what your real name is, it will be good to call you in the future. ”

Mama Gui hurriedly said: "Well, I, I, I don't have a name, when I was a child, I was called a big girl in my mother's house." ”

Chen Wenhui laughed, thinking about it, her sweetheart's name is Da Niu, so it is normal for her to be called Da Niu. said: "Then what was your name before you entered the palace and didn't become a grandmother?" ”

Mama Gui said: "The name given in the palace is Fanxia. ”

Chen Wenhui said: "Well, this name is too vulgar. Well, why don't you just ask my mother to give you a name? ”

Mama Gui hurriedly said, "Of course, please give the name to Mrs." ”

Bai smiled and said: "You are the person next to Hui'er, and in the future, the needlework around Hui'er will depend on you more." Now, the people around Hui'er all start with the word jade, so it's better to call it Yuxia. “

Mama Gui hurriedly said: "Mrs. Xie gave me a name, and I will be Gui Yuxia in the future." ”

Chen Wenhui said: "Yuxia, you go down first, settle down, I will send Yujin to send the eight of you the silver in the afternoon, as well as this month's monthly money." By the way, our house is different from other houses, they all pay first. After the work. ”

Gui Yuxia was overjoyed and hurriedly retired.

Wait until Gui Yuxia is gone. Chen Wenhui said: "Mother, I think this Gui Yuxia is a smart person, it is rare to be so loyal and righteous. ”

Bai said: "No, since Feiguang has been a steward. I'm worried about what to do with the needlework around you in the future, now it's okay, these embroidery girls from the palace are better than Feiguang. ”

Chen Wenhui said: "These embroiderers have been arranged. The next step is to arrange the craftsmen. Red carp, you go and pass on the big butler of Chen Cai. ”

The red carp hurriedly took the order.

After a while, Chen Cai came and said, "Madam, girl, but I want to ask about the situation of those craftsmen yesterday?" ”

Bai Shi smiled and said: "It's worthy of being old, this hasn't been said yet." I guessed it. ”

Chen Cai smiled and said, "I have already brought these craftsmen over and are waiting outside the courtyard." ”

Chen Wenhui said: "That's good, it saves time." So be it. Steward Chen, you can tell me about the situation of these craftsmen first, I know it well. ”

Chen Cai said: "Oh, these craftsmen are all craftsmen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they are all generations of craftsmen, they are originally slaves of generations, and there is nothing to say about their skills." These craftsmen are all from the capital, and the wages of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are not low, therefore. These craftsmen are doing well at home, and they are not very happy to come to our house now. Their status as artisans in the Ministry of Internal Affairs is hereditary. All of a sudden, there was no more, and. The children and grandchildren can't bear it, so they are naturally unhappy. ”

Chen Wenhui said: "In this way, this is a little difficult to do, how do you think it is good to impress them?" ”

Chen Cai said: "Although their lives are better than ordinary people, they are not rich, so they should be able to use silver." In addition to silver, they also have a fatal flaw, that is, their low status. If the girl can give them a good future, it will definitely attract them. ”

Chen Wenhui smiled: "That's easy to do." Okay, Steward Chen, tell them all to come to the courtyard, and I want to say something to them. ”

Chen Cai hurriedly led the order out, Chen Wenhui and Bai walked to the courtyard, looking at the more than 20 craftsmen standing, all of them were in the prime of life, Chen Wenhui was very satisfied and said: "I know, you are a little unwilling to leave the Internal Affairs Office. But this is the emperor's order, and it is not up to you. Therefore, you still work well in my house, and if you do well, it will be better than in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Just now I have already told the embroidery girls who came out of the palace about the treatment of our Chen family, and now I will tell you again. You people, I'm going to take you to Nanyang. For each person, I will pay a settling-in allowance of five hundred taels of silver. ”

After saying this, Chen Wenhui deliberately paused to see everyone's reaction. These craftsmen are all people who do rough work, and they don't have the rules of the palace maids, and after hearing so much money, they immediately became calm, and they didn't expect the new master to be so generous.

Chen Wenhui continued: "In the future, you will be in the house, take a monthly money, and follow you to Nanyang, because the road is far away, you will give another monthly money." This is the double salary, I think it is more than what I got in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not less. Not to mention, there are also four seasons of clothes throughout the year, some are thin and some are thick, and shoes are distributed. During the New Year's holidays, there are festive things and rewards. If you work hard and bring many apprentices, you will be able to improve your stewardship according to the size of your contribution. As long as he becomes a steward, his annual salary is generally more than 200 taels. ”

At this time, Chen Wenhui paused again to look at these people.

These people are even more excited, and the salary of two hundred taels of silver a year is much better than that in the Internal Affairs Office. Even the chief steward of the Ministry of Internal Affairs doesn't have so many years. Of course, there is extra money in the big stewards, but for people like them who work, they never think about extra money or anything.

Chen Wenhui said: "It may take me four or five years to come back from my trip to Nanyang this time. If you have family members to bring, you can also take them with you, and you can find work to do when you get to Nanyang. Dependents can do needlework, and children can go to school for free. In addition, the land there in Nanyang is very cheap, and one or two pieces of silver can buy two acres of land, but it is all wasteland, and it needs to be cleared. The climate in Nanyang is warm, and there are three crops a year, even if you are slower, you can also grow twice, so the things grown in the land are sold for a lot more money than those in the capital. You can consider whether you want to bring your relatives and friends, we are all free to bring to Nanyang. ”

These three points are said one by one, and the minds of these craftsmen are alive. Chen Wenhui said: "In the afternoon, a settling-in allowance of 500 taels will be issued, and you can go home with the guards in the house to settle down." After a while, we are about to set off, and how many people and things you want to bring must be reported to Steward Chen in advance. ”

After speaking, Chen Wenhui waved his hand and let everyone disperse.

As soon as these people returned to their homes, they were very excited and began to talk about it.

The name of the leader of the craftsmen is Liu Lin, and he knows each other with Cao Suo, the leader of the goldsmiths, and Chen An, the leader of the porcelain craftsmen. At this moment, the three of them gathered together to discuss.

Liu Lin said: "You say, is what this county lord said true?" ”

Cao Suo said: "I don't know anything else, since she said that she would give each of us five hundred taels of silver to settle in, I think it should be true." I have long heard that the Xiao Chen family is richer than the big Chen family, and some people say that they are the richest people in the capital, where can they care about this silver? ”

Liu Lin said: "This is not a small number, is it? Five hundred taels per person, we plus the embroidery girls, a total of thirty-two people, but more than 10,000 taels of silver? ”

Cao Suo said: "More than 10,000 taels of silver is a lot in our opinion, it is nothing in Xiao Chen's family, don't forget jì, their family is the mother of the patent, and the money earned by the patent is millions of taels of silver just handed over to the emperor." If their family had no money, would they have handed over this huge amount of silver? ”

Liu Lin nodded. Chen An said: "Money, it shouldn't be less of us." These five hundred taels of silver are really important to us. With this money, I can settle my mother-in-law and children at home. ”

Chen An said: "You say, since that money is true, are the other things that the county lord said true?" Is the land in the South Seas really that cheap? ”

Liu Lin said: "This is true, that place in Nanyang is vast and sparsely populated, as long as the place is occupied, it will naturally be able to be sold, and it is naturally very cheap." However, that land is not a cultivated land, but a land where weeds and trees are reborn, and whether it can grow food after buying it is another matter. ”

Chen An said: "As long as it is land, it can grow food. Like those of us who have been craftsmen for generations, we want to have a family business, to have thirty or fifty acres of land, so that we don't have to worry about food and clothing, work, do more, have money to work, and if we do less, we won't starve to death. How wonderful. In the capital, our family has worked hard for generations, and we only saved money to buy six acres of land, and the land around the capital is too expensive. ”

Cao Suo said: "You are already good, there are still six acres of land at home, but our family does not have one." So, I'm also thinking about what the county lord said about the land of the South Seas. Our family has a large population and a lot of labor, and if we can go to Nanyang together to mix with a landlord, it can be regarded as buying a family business. Originally, a large family relied on this hereditary craftsman position, and their lives were not good, but now it is good, this craftsman position is gone, and we can only find another way, maybe we can create a way. ”

Chen An said: "I think so too. It's the same in our family, not only do I want to get all the people in my family to Nanyang, but I also want to gather my apprentices, as well as my father's apprentices, to see if I can get more people, so that I can get a steward sooner. Although a few of us are technically good in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, we are not good at flattery, and we have been excluded. Even if he becomes a steward, he doesn't have as much money as the steward of the Chen Mansion. ”

Liu Lin said in his heart: "Your method is good, we also have many brothers and sisters in our family, all of them can work, but there is only one hereditary position, I still have a lot of land, and my brothers also have many apprentices, my father has several old brothers, all of them have apprentices, if we can recruit them all and go to Nanyang together, we will not all become stewards all of a sudden, but I don't know how many stewards this Chen family needs?" (To be continued)