It's the next day in the blink of an eye.

It was only early in the morning that Song Yingxing went to the weaving yamen to find Ji Qingwen, saying that the weavers had arrived, and he was waiting for the weaving admiral to come and give a lecture.

Ji Qingwen was busy checking and reconciling accounts last night, so he didn't sleep until midnight, and his spirit was a little sluggish, so he slowly climbed down from the bed, freshened up and dressed neatly, and then slowly went out.

At this time, Li Yan had already gotten up and waited outside, and when he saw that Ji Qingwen was late, he smiled and said, "Brother Ji, this will be what you are going to drive, why are you the last to come out?" That's a bit of a rudeness, isn't it? ”

Ji Qingwen stretched and said, "What's so strange about this? Isn't it all about subordinates waiting to be led in meetings? It's impossible to make the leader wait for his subordinates, right? Even if the emperor is in the early court, only hundreds of officials kneel and wait for the emperor to summon him, and there is no reason for the emperor to arrive early and wait for his subordinates to meet him, right? ”

That's true.

Ji Qingwen's words made Song Yingxing speechless.

However, Li Yan knew his temperament and said: "Okay, there are a lot of heresies and heresies about your brother Ji, but others have arrived, so it's not good to let people wait like this, right?" ”

Unexpectedly, Ji Qingwen had already walked quickly outside the yamen while speaking, and did not forget to turn back and say to Li Yan and Song Yingxing: "Okay, now I'm waiting for you two, why don't you follow quickly, aren't you afraid of being rude?" ”

Li Yan shook his head and smiled bitterly, and beckoned Song Yingxing to follow.

Ji Qingwen originally thought that there were more than 700 craftsmen in the weaving yamen in Suzhou, even if there were seven adults, it would take nearly 500 people, but when he entered the weaving workshop, he saw that there were more than 300 people standing in the weaving workshop, and he was immediately a little unhappy, and said to Song Yingxing: "Song Xiaolian, I asked you to invite the weavers as much as possible yesterday, why did the weavers of more than 700 people only get to these few people?" ”

Song Yingxing hurriedly arched his hand and said, "My lord is like this. The number of seven hundred and sixteen is the number of the craftsmen on the register. But this also includes the elderly who are unbearable to work and the children who have not reached adulthood. It's a great thing to have these 300 people here today. ”

"I see." Ji Qingwen said, "I'm afraid this is also a major drawback in the craftsman system, right?" ”

Song Yingxing nodded, but said indistinctly: "It's good that adults know." Now that we've got all the people here, let's start the meeting. ”

Song Yingxing saw Ji Qingwen nodding in agreement, so he said loudly: "Everyone, please come over today, it is because Lord Weaving Admiral has an important matter to announce to you." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone among the weavers asked: "Song Xiaolian, you have always only come to repair the loom, and you have never had anything to do with the weaving yamen." Today, we gathered here because of your old face, but we didn't expect you to spread the word for the yamen? ”

That's a really good question.

The so-called improper name is not good, Song Yingxing is just a lifter, and he does not have the official position of weaving the yamen, so he is naturally not qualified to convene the weavers.

In this way, Song Yingxing, who was originally able to behave neither humble nor arrogant in the face of the former weaving admiral eunuch Guo Jing, was speechless by this sentence.

Hearing this, Ji Qingwen had already realized that the citizens of Suzhou were well-informed, and as long as they felt that they were in possession, they would dare to confront the imperial court head-on, which was very different from the peasant tenants in Shaanxi and Shanxi.

So Ji Qingwen took out his experience in dealing with Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng last year, and said loudly: "Everyone, please be quiet." Song Xiaolian summoned everyone over, he was entrusted by the official, and the official also intended to invite Song Xiaolian to serve in the weaving mansion, but Song Xiaolian has a serious reputation and a bright future, and he may not be able to look at the miscellaneous petty officials of the weaving mansion. Otherwise, as long as Xiaolian Gong moves his mouth and nods, he will be the one who weaves the yamen. Now, you're qualified to convene a meeting, right? ”

After Ji Qingwen finished saying these words, it was the turn of those weavers to be speechless.

Everyone was silent for a moment, and suddenly someone squeezed through the crowd, stood in front of Ji Qingwen, and bowed deeply at him, saying, "I just heard this adult's tone, it seems to be the new weaving admiral, right?" ”

Ji Qingwen was stunned when he heard this, and said, "Haven't I introduced myself yet?" How do you know I'm the new weaver? ”

The man had a short figure, a slightly convex belly, and a typical southerner face, smiled at Ji Qingwenle, and replied: "Lord Ji arrived yesterday, and without saying a word, he scolded Guo Jing away, and we weavers have already made a sensation, and we are all waiting to see Lord Ji's face!" ”

Ji Qingwen was also polite when he heard him, so he introduced himself to everyone along the way, and asked, "This ...... This senior. I see that you are also an old weaver, I don't know what to call it? ”

The man said, "The grass man Ge Sheng is just an ordinary weaver." ”

Song Yingxing on the side said: "This Brother Ge Sheng's father is amazing. I remember that it was the twenty-ninth year of Wanli, when the eunuchs in the palace came to Suzhou City to urge taxes and set up checkpoints indiscriminately, which made people panic. It was still Ge Cheng, the father of this brother Ge, who waved his banana leaf fan and instigated the people of the whole city to revolt, so scared that the dead eunuch would leave with a roll cover, which can be described as a good story. ”

Ji Qingwen couldn't help but nod when he heard this, but asked: "But the eunuchs are not small, and most of them are narrow-minded, Mr. Ge is afraid that he will be persecuted by the eunuchs, right?" ”

Song Yingxing replied, "Lord Ji's expectation is good. However, in three days, the government sent troops to search for the uprising people, Mr. Ge was afraid that innocent people would be implicated, so he simply came forward and surrendered. ”

"Alas!" Ji Qingwen sighed, "It's a pity that such a righteous man was caught by the eunuch, I'm afraid he was going to be murdered......"

Song Yingxing smiled and said, "Lord Ji is slow to sigh. I, the people of Suzhou, are grateful for Mr. Ge's loyalty, and I have walked all the ways that can be walked up and down. Therefore, Mr. Ge is still in prison awaiting trial, and he is served three meals a day, but he is not free. ”

Ji Qingwen heard the inspiration and said, "I think Mr. Ge is probably over sixty, right?" It's not a problem to stay in prison all the time. In this way, after we have dissolved today, I will write a letter to the Jingshi to keep Mr. Ge from prison in a few days. ”

When Ge Sheng heard this, a pair of mung bean-sized eyes glared like broad beans, and asked, "Really?" Don't lie to me! ”

Song Yingxing said with a smile: "Ge Cheng, this Lord Ji is a senior disciple of the old superintendent Sun Chengzong, and when today's son is a person who can speak, your father was framed and imprisoned by eunuchs." Now that the emperor is sage, as long as Lord Ji makes the truth clear, the sage will definitely be allowed to play, so why doesn't the prefect of Suzhou let people go? ”

Before Song Yingxing finished speaking, Ge Sheng was already full of tears, knelt on the ground with a "poof", and kowtowed three times to Ji Qingwen: "I didn't expect Lord Ji to have such a background and such ability." Just now, the grass people were rude, and I ask the adults to forgive their sins, and I also ask the adults to forgive their sins......"

Ji Qingwen hurriedly attached himself and helped Ge Sheng up, and heard Li Yan say in his ear: "Brother Ji, you have a good heart, why don't you hurry up and strike with hot iron?" ”

Ji Qingwen was greatly inspired and said, "Why should Senior Ge do it? Since this official has done such an official position, then, like all of you, they are also people who weave the yamen, and everyone is a family, so why do you say such two words? ”

He said this in a popular and sincere way, so that all the weavers present nodded silently.

So Ji Qingwen introduced the topic to the topic, coughed lightly, and said, "The emperor sent me over this time because he had a major task entrusted to me to do. ”

Speaking of this, he deliberately paused to let everyone's attention focus on himself, and then continued: "Today, the Holy Lord is benevolent and righteous, and he is willing to subtract half of the offensive fabrics woven in Suzhou to raise 200,000 taels of silver every year to enrich the treasury. Yesterday, the official calculated with Song Xiaolian that if half of the tribute brocade was paid, he would be able to earn about 160,000 taels of silver. There is still a gap of 40,000 taels here, so ......"

Ge Sheng continued: "Therefore, Lord Ji wants us to weave more brocade so that we can sell it in the outside market?" ”

Ji Qingwen didn't expect this Ge Sheng to be a straight intestine, but it was refreshing to speak like this, so he nodded and said, "That's right, that's it, I don't know if there are any difficulties?" ”

Ge Sheng's brows twisted like a roll of hemp rope, and said, "Lord Ji is kind to me, but I have to tell the truth about some things." It is not easy for us weavers to complete the quota of the imperial court every year, and it will be very difficult to increase the output even more. ”