Zhu Xuan sent people to find Chang Xiu to rush to the Yamen of the Ministry of Industry, and happened to meet Chang Xiu, who was just about to go out of the Yamen.

Hearing that the teacher was looking for him, Chang Xiu instructed the two Ministry of Engineering to do the things to be done, and he hurriedly came to see Zhu Xuan.

Along the way, he didn't ask anyone from the Prime Minister's Mansion about why Zhu Xuan was looking for him. Occasionally, when acquaintances or colleagues greeted him, he just threw his hand indiscriminately, did not stop at all, and just walked down the aisle with his head bored. His acquaintances also knew that he had a bad time lately, so no one blamed him.

As he walked, he thought about the official business at hand. This year, the Ministry of Industry has several major events to do, including liquor, glass, and the promotion of new agricultural tools and new practices, all of which are led by him. Speaking of which, it was because of the simplicity and ease of handling these three things that the Ministry of Industry Shangshu and the other squire gave them to him. This is also a piece of their kindness! Among them, it is easiest to promote new agricultural tools and practices. This is a proclamation issued by the Prime Minister's Office, and the Ministry of Industry only needs to compile the patterns and texts of the new agricultural tools and new practices into a booklet, and then add the results of several places around Gyeonggi last year to the truth, and send it to the local authorities along with the proclamation of the Prime Minister's Office, so that there is no need to worry about the rest of the matter. As long as the method in the book is followed, at least half of the harvest per mu of land will be increased; I don't think anyone will turn a blind eye to the ordinary harvest of white picking, right? The liquor thing is also very easy. The steaming process is provided by Huo's Liquor Farm, the steaming master is from the Ministry of Industry to draw experienced old craftsmen, and the new workshops built one after another years ago are located in the Dazhou Prefecture that produces grain, not only the grain needed for steaming wine is also guaranteed, but also saves the money of the feet of grain and liquor back and forth. With these preparations, the liquor thing is completely waiting for the performance and political performance! The glass-only thing takes a little effort. After all, this is a new thing, no one has ever seen it, and you have to slowly explore the process step by step. Bad luck, it's not uncommon for half a year to be ineffective. However, compared with the huge profits after the glass is fired, what is the strength of the Tao Fei in front of him?

However, no one could have imagined that these three seemingly easiest things were actually more troublesome than major things such as repairing river embankments and dredging canals. Not to mention the glass, at present, Xiaoluoyi's Ministry of Industry Workshop lights a fire kiln every day, but the progress is as slow as a snail crawling, and the colorless transparent glass has not been seen so far. A pamphlet promoting new farming tools and practices was distributed at the beginning of the year, but the results were poor, and with the exception of a few counties around the capital, which were fairly well implemented, other places submitted submissions saying that farmers were reluctant to accept them. In other places, because the Prime Minister's proclamation was very positive, forcing farmers to replace them with new farming tools and implement new practices, the result was strong opposition from local farmers. On the one hand, the prime minister's public office repeatedly issued orders, on the other hand, the peasants fiercely opposed, and the local government was sandwiched in the middle, and neither side dared to offend, so they shifted all the responsibility to the Ministry of Industry.

It is because of this incident that Chang Xiu has recently been impeached by the imperial history several times in succession. Coupled with a series of incidents on the liquor, it made him suffer all day long. Last month, before the steaming workshops in various places started the fire, Huo Ran found that there were already steaming workshops in the local area, and after inquiring again, the process was exactly the same as that of the workshops of the Ministry of Industry, which means that the liquor they steamed and the liquor produced by the Ministry of Industry are actually the same. When the news came, the whole ministry was shocked. The Ministry of Industry originally counted on the exclusive Huo's steaming process to seek high profits, since it is no longer exclusive, where does the profit come from? The Ministry of Industry first suspected that the Huo family had sold the craft to others. Looking for someone from the Huo family wine market in Beijing to come over to "ask for advice", the Huo family was anxious at that time. Huojia Liquor is indeed profitable, but it is more important to keep promises, since they have signed a contract with the Ministry of Industry, it is absolutely impossible to sell the process to the second company. As for why there are brewing workshops with the same technology in various places? The people of the Huo family sneered and said that the first workshop of the Huo family wine field only took a month from digging the foundation to producing wine, and all the people hired were children and children of the clan; It took more than half a year for the Ministry of Industry to start the workshop, and the process sketches of steamed wine were spread all over the capital, and it was not easy for others to learn? Moreover, before leaving, the Huo family kindly reminded that the contract signed by the two families was clearly written that the liquor sold by the Ministry of Industry every year had a "minimum yield guarantee", and the Huo family shared the profits according to this output. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry must hurry up to find a way, so as not to guard Jinshan and still lose money at that time......

The Ministry of Industry officials who dealt with the Huo family were dumbfounded at the time. None of them remembered that there was such a clause in the contract. Isn't the Huojia Liquor Farm divided according to the output, why did it suddenly pull out a "minimum yield guarantee"? What is the "Minimum Yield Guarantee"?

When they re-read the "Contract for the Authorized Production of High-Purity Alcoholic Beverages (i.e., Huo's Liquor)" and carefully reviewed it, they found that there was indeed such a note: "Ten times the total output of Party A in the previous year is counted as the minimum output of Party B in the current year." Party A takes this output as the minimum standard for dividend. ”

I see! That's what "minimum yield guarantee" means. Teachable, taught.

Several officials shook their heads one after another, and consciously gained a little more knowledge, but no one cared about the output of Huo's Distillery last year.

Since it was not the Huo family who breached the contract and secretly sold the steaming wine process, the Ministry of Industry was also relieved. In this way, those workshops that seek profits with the workshops of the Ministry of Industry are "stealing teachers", and they will naturally teach them to disappear if they say hello to the yamen in various places. Of course, this matter requires the people of the Huo family's wine field to come forward to speak; After all, they are the "teachers". How do you know that the Huo family shook their heads and said that the process has been authorized to be transferred to the Ministry of Industry, so this is a matter for the Ministry of Industry, and it is impossible for them to come forward. Besides, these new workshops all appeared within the "market scope" of the Ministry of Industry, and according to the terms of the contract, all matters related to liquor that occurred in these places were handled by the Ministry of Industry itself, and had nothing to do with Huojia Distillery; This clause was signed at the beginning of the contract, and Lord Toshitsune repeatedly stated that it must be joined. What's more, the Huo family doesn't want to get involved in the lawsuit. Regardless of whether it is reasonable or not, whether it wins or not, in a word, the Huo family will not go to a lawsuit, let alone a lawsuit for others, even if it is a lawsuit from the Ministry of Help!

The Ministry of Industry officials were dumbfounded again. The Huo family is unwilling to file a lawsuit, is the Ministry of Industry willing to file a lawsuit? The lawsuit is won or lost, and no one dares to take responsibility for a single comment of "competing with the people"! That's when they really realized the magnitude of the problem. Now it is not whether the Ministry of Industry will not clean up those workshops that "steal teachers", but whether others will write a lawsuit because of the Ministry of Industry's "competition with the people"!

In the face of such a major issue of right and wrong, no one dares to act rashly. Shangshu of the Ministry of Works, who inspected the river workers in Xiangzhou, rushed back overnight and made a decision: all workshops in various places will be suspended and waiting for the future! As for when there will be an afterlife, let's talk about it......

Chang Xiu walked all the way with a sad face. The glass has not been burned, and there are many obstacles to the promotion of new agricultural tools, and even steaming a liquor is also a disaster. Alas, he couldn't figure out why a few simple things were so difficult to do in his hands?

He sighed and knocked lightly on the door of Zhu Xuan's office.

Zhu Xuan was reading the "Four Taxes for Business Travel in Quanzhou City" sent by the Bo Division of Quanzhou City. He had presbyopia, so he had to stretch out his arms to read the words on the paperwork. When he heard a knock at the door, he answered:

"Come in."

Chang Xiu entered the door, made a disciple salute, and asked, "Teacher, do you have something to do with me?" ”

"It's Wenshi who is here. You ......" Zhu Xuan's words froze halfway through. He originally wanted to tell Chang Xiu to sit down first and wait until he finished reading this document before speaking. But when he took a look at Chang Xiu's appearance, he was surprised to find that after half a month, the old disciple's face was extremely haggard, and under the two black eye bubbles, there were two obvious big eye bags, and he was listless. Such a fat person, even when he walks, his steps are light, and he looks like he has just given birth to a serious illness.

He hurriedly asked Chang Xiu to sit down, asked someone to bring a pot of tea, and handed the tea to Chang Xiu's hand, then asked with concern: "Wenshi, are you sick?" ”

Chang Xiu shook his head and said, "Let the teacher worry." One by one, the disciples were not sick. It's just that the affairs in the yamen have been complicated recently, and I am a little worried. After saying that, he sat in the chair with his head bowed and waited for the teacher to get down to business.

Zhu Xuan looked at him and said, "'Calm and carefree, calm and restless'." To be honest, you don't have to pay too much attention to the words of those officials, just concentrate on doing things. ”

Chang Xiu bowed from the seat, bowed his head and said, "Thank you for the teacher's advice." With the teacher's words, he also put a little bit of heart. It seems that the teacher and other prime ministers can understand his suffering, and know that the official affairs he is responsible for in the Ministry of Industry are happening so much, not because he is not diligent enough, but because he is a little unable to deal with it suddenly.

Wake up Chang Xiu with two sentences, and Zhu Xuan turned the topic to borrowing money. He asked Chang Xiu: "Is there an eyebrow for the firing of glass?" ”

Chang Xiu shook his head again.

Zhu Xuan nodded, and sure enough, as he expected! He felt that Shang Yanshan's proposal was unreliable. From ancient times to the present, where is there colorless and transparent glass in the world? Even if there are occasional glass cups brought by the Hu people in the Western Regions in the market, they are only lighter and lighter in color at most. Even if one or two of them can be vaguely seen through the thin glass mold, it is already a rare treasure. Of course, in the deep mountains and wilderness, under the clear water and cold pools, there is also colorless and transparent water jade, but that kind of rare and rare thing is a treasure of heaven and earth, how can it be compared with the kind of glass burned by a fire kiln advocated by Shang Yanshan? He said: "This matter is very costly, and I can't see the result for a while. I think it's better for you to plan ahead. ”

Chang Xiu agreed, but was noncommittal. He can't make up his mind about this alone. Even if there are already people making noise behind their backs, asserting that the matter of firing glass is purely Shang Yanshan talking nonsense with his eyes open, the Ministry of Industry will have to do it hard. There's no way, the Ministry of Industry is now riding a tiger! In two or three months, more than 20,000 yuan have been invested, and four new kilns have been built in Xiaoluoyi alone. It doesn't matter if you move a place, which official's career can be smooth sailing? But it doesn't matter if you sharpen your career, your face is the most important! In order to save his face, he and his two colleagues have the same opinion: the Ministry of Industry is to smash pots and sell iron, and the glass must also be burned!

Zhu Xuan also knew that with his two sentences, it was impossible to teach Chang Xiu to change his mind, so he stopped talking about this topic. He took a sip of tea soup, was silent for a while, and asked Chang Xiu: "I asked you to come, because I want you to help with something." I remember that you were in charge of the burning of glass in the Ministry of Industry, and you had a sum of money in hand. I'd like to talk to you, can you lend some out for the time being? That's right, the inventory of acres in Gyeonggi counties is a bit unsmooth......"

Chang Xiu didn't wait for him to finish speaking, he already understood what was going on. He was too busy to care about anything else, but he had heard a lot about the situation outside. Don't look at the teacher's complexion is still as pure and calm as before, but since the "Notice on Nuclear Land and Acres" was announced, the opposition and criticism inside and outside the government and the opposition have not stopped for a moment, and the teacher has almost become a street rat that everyone shouts and beats. He thought for a moment and said, "If it's only between one or two thousand, I can promise the teacher." ”

"Enough!" Zhu Xuanqing's face suddenly showed a happy smile. With these two thousand yuan, he felt that he was able to cope with the land inventory and audit of the various counties of Gyeonggi. When the situation in Gyeonggi was opened, he would naturally be able to use this as a basis to persuade others to have the household department allocate a special sum of money and grain to comprehensively carry out the inventory of acres in all prefectures and counties. He also planned to take this opportunity to beat up the officials of Gyeonggi Prefecture, and to punish those who should be degraded and promoted, so as to warn those who are disobedient and encourage those who do things in a down-to-earth manner.

Listening to Zhu Xuan's plan, Chang Xiu was a little uneasy and worried. He couldn't think of the reason for his irritability for the time being, so he planned to stand up and say goodbye, and there were still a lot of things waiting for him to go back and deal with them.

He was about to find a conversation when he heard a knock on the door.

Zhu Xuan stopped talking and asked, "Who is it?" In. ”

It was Li Mu who pushed the door in.

Chang Xiu nodded to him, but he didn't notice Chang Xiu at all. Even though the light in the chamber was not too sufficient, Chang Xiu still noticed that Li Mu's face was very pale, as if he had encountered something terrible.

Li Mu walked to Zhu Xuan's side in two steps, leaned down and muttered two words in Zhu Xuan's ear. Chang Xiu naturally drank the tea soup. He didn't listen to what Li Mu was saying, and he didn't pay attention to Zhu Xuan's expression. But his lowered gaze still saw Zhu Xuan's legs on the ground tremble violently, and then he trembled as if uncontrollably, obviously something very unusual had happened outside! At this time, he did not dare to raise his head. He only heard Zhu Xuan asking:

"Reliable information?"

He didn't hear Li Mu's answer, so he thought that he was nodding affirmatively. I heard Zhu Xuan say again:

"I'm going to see Zhang Xiang! You go back first, and I'll look for you when I'm free! ”

By the time Chang Xiu hurriedly agreed to raise his head, Zhu Xuan had already taken Li Mu through the door......