Cai Yong saw that Liu Xiu was very interested, and immediately invited Liu Xiu to visit the workshop. Although Liu Xiu was a little tired, he was encouraged by the news and happily went.

The workshop is not big, just a room in a corner of the school, and several Taoist priests of the Heavenly Master are busy in front of the furnace, and they pour the molten glass into a piece of clay, which is a foot square, and when it cools down, it is the formed window glass.

Mrs. Lu was in front of the workbench, and when she saw Liu Xiu coming in, she hurriedly beckoned everyone to come over to greet her. Liu Xiu was in a very good mood, greeted everyone with a smile on his face, and then turned to the workbench and asked them to continue working. After looking at it for a while, he shook his head.

Mrs. Lu was a little nervous: "My lord? ”

An old Taoist priest in charge of the workshop came over and bowed to Liu Xiu very formally. Liu Xiu returned the salute and asked with a smile, "Can the money you earn cover the cost?" ”

The old Taoist priest carefully calculated: "There is probably a profit." ”

Liu Xiu smiled, this was a little higher than he estimated, probably because this thing was very ordinary to him, but it was still very expensive to others, and the price was relatively high. However, for a new product with a certain technical content and an exclusive operation, the profit of one percent is obviously too low.

"You guys should at least double the profit, maybe even double to triple the profit." Liu Xiu pointed to the bench that was not as wide as a bed: "And your output is too small, you can make a few bucks at this speed." ”

"Your name is right, it's just that it's too slow." The old Taoist priest laughed and looked at Liu Xiu with warm eyes: "We have too few people, and we have to spend time making a sky viewing mirror, so we are really busy." ”

Liu Xiu immediately understood the meaning of his words: "Want to increase manpower? ”

The old Taoist priest smiled and nodded again and again.

"Nope." Liu Xiu directly interrupted his hope, "To increase the number of people, we must increase the quota." I'm poor right now and have no money for you. He shook his head as he spoke, and looked at the old Taoist priest very seriously: "Daoist, do you know, each of you here has an annual salary of at least 400 stones, you don't need to support your servants, your actual income is higher than that of a county magistrate, and if you add one person, you will have to increase the cost of 400 stones, which is 60,000 yuan at the current grain price of the state." ”

"Your Excellency is right, your adult is right." The old Taoist priest was a little frustrated, but he didn't dare to show it, so he had to nod his head again and again.

Liu Xiu further enlightened: "Find a few strong men and train them a little, they won't do worse than you." Jinyang's commission market seems to be only 15 to 2,000 a month. In a year, it's only 20,000 to 25,000 dollars, at least half of yours. ”

The old Taoist priest was stunned for a moment, then understood, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"And I invited you here to study new technologies, but not to do ordinary work." Liu Xiu further enlightened them. He paid the equivalent of a county magistrate to develop new technologies here, and the people turned themselves into hard work, which was too high and not worth it. He gave them the idea to find some workers to do it first, the labor cost is less than half, so they can naturally earn more, and they also provide job opportunities. The Taoist priests also spent their main energy on research and development, and as soon as there was a new development, they could experiment in their own workshops and then launch new products. Research and production should be linked, but not confused, Taoist priests and workers have their own division of labor, so that there can be continuous progress. If the Taoist priests put all their energy on these simple tasks, not only will talent be wasted, but technological progress will also be greatly affected.

"For example, I'm a general, of course I have to fight, but if I had already fought like an ordinary warrior, how could I do it?" Liu Xiu pointed to his bandaged left arm: "Well, this is the price." ”

The Taoist priests next to him couldn't help but laugh when they saw him making fun of himself, and regarded his great achievement of killing Tanshi Huai in battle as an inappropriate thing, they understood what Liu Xiu meant and knew what to do.

Liu Xiu continued to be kind and persuasive: "Give the specific production to the workers, you have to do something more meaningful, such as how to get rid of these bubbles, such as how to make them smoother, with bubbles and without bubbles, the price is not the same thing." ”

The old Taoist priest nodded happily.

Liu Xiu gave him another idea, for example, to plate gold or silver on a very flat glass to make a mirror, which is much more valuable than making a window, and it doesn't need to be too big to make a mirror, just a palm-sized piece.

The old Taoist priest agreed with half a doubt, he agreed very much with the business method that Liu Xiu said just now, but he felt that this suggestion of making glass into a mirror was a little unreliable. Mirrors are all cast, how can they be made of glass, can this work?

Mrs. Lu noticed the old Taoist's disapproval, she finally stayed, and said to the old Taoist priest very seriously, don't think that Lord Liu is not familiar with these craftsmen, he can stand in Luoyang, it is because he has made major improvements to the soup cakes, the Luofu noodle restaurant at that time, the current Taiji Taoist Hall, are all the handiwork of Lord Liu, and now the popular noodle restaurants in various parts of the state are strictly the results of adults. When the old Taoist priest heard this, he didn't dare to be careless, and promised to arrange someone to try it immediately.

The next day, Wang Yun and Guo Yi came to Jinyang School with a group of Haoqiang. At the beginning, Liu Xiu's contract with them was about to expire in three years, and it was time to sign a new contract. In the past three years, they have borrowed a lot of money to Liu Xiu, and what they are most afraid of is that Liu Xiu patted his ass and left, Liu Xiu was promoted to the general of Zhenbei, and continuing to serve as the assassin of the state is the biggest good news for them.

Liu Xiu specially invited them to drink tea in his residence and discuss the renewal of the contract, so that they could see the wonderful use of this glass. In fact, Wang Yun and several of them have such glass in their homes, but most of them are only installed on the windows of the study, and no one has the luxury to change all the windows to be like this. Although those weaker Haoqiang didn't buy it, they had seen it somewhat, but Liu Xiu's room was filled with too much glass, and the room was bright without lighting, which was really enviable.

"By the end of this year, Jintang University Hall will be equipped with such windows." Liu Xiu smiled: "I hope that in ten years, the windows in your house can also be changed like this." ”

Guo Yi smiled and arched his hand: "My lord, don't say ten years, as long as we can do it within twenty years, we will be satisfied." ”

Everyone laughed and agreed, but there was still restraint.

"Actually, it's not that hard." Liu Xiu waved his hand, signaling everyone to relax. "For example, the battle that ended not long ago, my original plan was to prepare for five to ten years first, I never expected that the war would start in this era, nor did I expect that we would achieve such great results. However, I don't regret the original five to 10 years plan, after all, even now, there was nothing wrong with the plan. ”

Wang Yun and the others nodded in agreement. This battle was won, but there were many remaining problems, the court had no money, and the rewards of the soldiers could not be implemented until now. If you follow the plan formulated by Liu Xiu at the beginning, prepare for five to ten years, and then fight after a certain amount of accumulation, there will definitely be no such cramped situation. If it weren't for Liu Xiu's killing of Tanshihuai in Luoyueyuan, the overall result of this battle could only be said to be a miserable victory.

Extending from the topic of the war, Liu Xiu first thanked the Bingzhou family and Haoqiang for their strong support to him, and then said that the war is over, and the next time is the time to recuperate, and military spending will be greatly reduced, so you can rest assured that I will not borrow a lot of money from you on credit.

"Today is the last time, and I will borrow some money from you to give bereavement pensions to the meritorious soldiers." Liu Xiu arched his hand: "I also know that you have done your best, and my family has been almost wiped out by me, but so many soldiers are fighting with their lives for their families and countries, if they can't even get a little pension, it's a little chilling." I implore you to give generously so that they can return home to see their families with peace of mind and feel that this expedition is worth it. ”

Wang Yun didn't say anything, Liu Xiu borrowed money from them several times before and after, according to the original estimate, the taxes for the next ten years are already theirs, and then borrow money? Not to mention that everyone doesn't have enough money, even if they do, can Liu Xiu afford it?

"My lord, we also know that the soldiers fought hard, and the adults were seriously injured in order to kill the sandalwood acacia, and we are very grateful." Wang Rou said unhurriedly: "But the adults also know that although we did not go into battle in person, the price we paid was not small, and many people in power have no food at home now, so they can only eat porridge for the whole family." ”

Liu Xiu nodded again and again: "I know that you are also in trouble, but I promise you that the money borrowed this time will be repaid before the end of the year, and it will never be in arrears." ”

"Before the end of the year?" Everyone is a little unconvinced, Liu Xiu is now so poor, can he repay this debt before the end of the year?

Liu Xiu explained that the Son of Heaven arranged for Song Qi, the Marquis of Yinqiang, to go to Jiaozhou to sell, and the money obtained was a reward for the soldiers, but because no one expected the war to end so quickly, there was a time lag in between. You lend me the money now to save the emergency, and when Song Qi comes back from Jiaozhou, I can have the money to pay you back." In case something goes wrong with Song Qi, I won't be bad at it, I will sell all the properties in the capital and move my family to live in Jinyang Academy, and I will never lose your account.

He said it to this point, Wang Yun and the others didn't want to say anything more, everyone got together, and they made up more than 30 million, which was still some distance away from the amount Liu Xiu needed, but Liu Xiu knew that they had indeed been squeezed by him recently, and they were not reluctant, and the rest had to find a way.

In less than half a year's war, it is estimated that four or five billion yuan has been smashed into the war, and now there are more than 20,000 soldiers who died in battle to be compensated, and 50,000 or 60,000 meritorious soldiers to be rewarded. If it all depends on the imperial court, from the Son of Heaven to the hundreds of officials, and sew up all the mouths without eating or drinking, it will take two to three years to pay off.

This is also the reason why the Yuan family is hard, at present, only the Yuan family has such an appeal, which can raise so much money and food in a short period of time, and they didn't give it in vain back then, if the Son of Heaven doesn't give them the results they want, they will watch the Son of Heaven do a good day.

It is really faceless to be an emperor to do this, and the sensitive heart of the Son of Heaven must be burning again.

The next thing is to discuss the treaty, after three years of operation, they found some unreasonable points, made some improvements, arguments are inevitable, but fortunately, everyone's interests are in the same direction, and there are differences that are not principled. Wang Yun took out the new treaty that they had discussed and revised and asked Liu Xiu to look at it, Liu Xiu took it, gently put it on the table, patted it with his hand, and still had a smile on his face, but his eyes became sharp.

Seeing this scene, Wang Yun chuckled in his heart, subconsciously looked at the others, and the others also found the abnormality, slowly put away the smile on their faces, and watched Liu Xiu's every move nervously. Liu Xiu was still talking and laughing just now, but now he showed this expression, could it be because they were unhappy to borrow money?

Liu Xiu was silent for a while, then slowly raised his head and glanced at everyone: "You still remember the three-year agreement, it's very good." But I want to ask, do you remember that we signed the contract three years ago, do you remember the specific content of our agreement three years ago? ”

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what Liu Xiu wanted to say, they have supported Liu Xiu a lot in the past three years, especially last year when the Yuan family wanted to seize the state, but they chose to continue to support Liu Xiu, otherwise how could he have a chance to make meritorious contributions.

They held their breath and quietly listened to what Liu Xiu said.

"Although you are all from a family and a strong family, but you have all read the book of the sage, this benevolent and loving Taoist ideal will not be understood, I said at the beginning, I hope everyone will learn from Zigong, get rich while not forgetting benevolence and righteousness, don't be a rich but not benevolent bully, if such a thing happens, the assassin will definitely not sit idly by. I wrote these words clearly in black and white, but I found that you didn't seem to pay much attention to them. ”

He then named a few people, and those people stood up hesitantly, not knowing why Liu Xiu specifically mentioned them.

"I have received a report that your family's workshop has squeezed the wages of workers and arbitrarily extended working hours, which is not only contrary to the teachings of the saints, but also violates our original contract.

The faces of those people changed suddenly, and cold sweat dripped from their foreheads. Although they don't think these things are a big deal, but Liu Xiu specifically brought up this matter, it is not a trivial matter, and if they don't sign the contract because of this, their crime will be big.

Liu Xiu stared at them and asked sharply, "Is there such a thing?" ”

Several people hesitated for a moment, then nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

Liu Xiu snorted coldly, "In view of the fact that your situation is not very bad, and there are no fatalities, I give you a chance, I hope you will rectify as soon as possible, and compensate those workers in accordance with the relevant regulations, otherwise, I will intervene with you by force according to the authority given to me in the contract." ”

Not only were the few people whose names were named ashamed and ashamed, and they nodded in agreement again and again, almost all of them changed color in shock. Liu Xiu's statement that he would threaten with force for this matter is not a trivial matter. Some people vaguely remembered that there was indeed such a clause in the contract, but at that time they just thought that Liu Xiu was used for façade, and they never thought that he was really going to do it now.

Liu Xiu turned his head to look at Wang Yun: "I asked the relevant personnel of the Assassin Mansion to explain this, I know all about this kind of thing, why has the Assassin Mansion not reported it?" If you know but don't report it, you are dereliction of duty and immorality, if you don't know, you are dereliction of duty and incompetent, no matter what, you Wang Yun have an unshirkable responsibility. According to the agreement of the parties to avoid suspicion, I will now stop your non-driving function, and Guo Yi will be in charge of the Assassin Mansion, and Wen Shu will be responsible for the investigation and punishment of the relevant responsible persons. ”

Wang Yun's face was red and his ears were red, like sitting on pins and needles.

Liu Xiu looked at the people with different faces solemnly, and his voice was very stern. "A man cannot stand without faith, and since we have signed a contract, we must keep it. For ordinary people, if they don't keep their promises, they will only hurt one or two people, but if we powerful people don't keep our promises, we may be hurt by a group of people, and in the end it is we who will be hurt. Shang Ying still knows that Limu wins trust, can we who believe in benevolence and love only put the word Xinyi on our lips? ”

Liu Xiu turned his head and stared at Wang Yun's eyes: "I don't care what reason you did such a thing, but I can tell you clearly that I will take what you did as a typical report to the whole state." I also hope that you can be a real man and have the courage to face your mistakes, instead of escaping reality like a coward. Zishi, if you can't even be a state driver, how can you be a real king? ”

Wang Yun was embarrassed and couldn't afford it.

"Wen Jun, I'll give you a month, and after a month, I want to see the results of your investigation." Liu Xiu turned his gaze to Wen Shu: "I want you to understand that I asked you to do an investigation, not because you have anything to do with Zishi, but because you don't hold any official position in Bingzhou. I hope that you can handle it impartially, impartially, worthy of your conscience, and able to withstand everyone's doubts, including the teacher. ”

Wen Shu was shocked into a cold sweat, he began to think that Liu Xiu gave him this task to give him a chance to take revenge on Wang Yun, only after hearing this sentence did he know that it was not so simple, the results of the investigation must be conclusive, and if he didn't make it, he would be notified to the whole state like Wang Yun. If you succeed, you will be famous, and if you lose, you will be ruined.

Liu Xiu painstakingly explained some truths, so that these families and heroes could leave some leeway while exploiting the people. He used Shuofang and Wuyuan counties as examples, because of the long winter, there are many handicraft workshops, and a large number of items produced are not only for the military, but also for many civilian items, some of which are used to trade with the Xianbei people, and some of which are sold domestically.

Money can only generate value when it is circulated, and it is just a pile of copper in the treasury. If the people have money, they can stimulate consumption, and only then can the goods you produce sell quickly and generate profits. Even if you all have money and spend a lot, how much can you spend?

These people don't understand Liu Xiu's words, some people understand better, some people don't think so, but there is a contract, they don't dare to carry it openly, the sage classic can be a fart, but Liu Xiu's force is real, even a celebrity like Wang Yun was restrained by Liu Xiu, and others didn't dare to act rashly.

"The contract will stay with me first, and after I read it, if there is no problem, I will renew the contract with you." Liu Xiu glanced at everyone: "However, I hope you take this contract seriously, and don't think that this is just a few empty words, otherwise, I will be very happy to see the result of breaking the contract." ”

The people were terrified, and if they broke the covenant, they would be miserable. Liu Xiu has soldiers in his hands, they are not opponents at all, and now doing anything that violates the contract is playing with fire.

Everyone looked at Wang Yun and Wen Shu, especially those who did not break the contract, in their opinion, Wang Yun's shielding of those who broke the contract was actually unfair to those who did not break the contract, he not only lived up to Liu Xiu's trust in him, but also betrayed the support of other families for him. And whether Wen Shu can come up with an investigation result that satisfies Liu Xiu as soon as possible also determines to a large extent whether this contract can be signed for another three years. It's not just a matter of whether they can get rich, it's a matter of whether they can get their investment back.

Everyone's mood was a little heavy, and Wen Shu felt that the burden on his shoulders was not light, so they left together, but did not divide their things, but met in the lecture hall to continue the discussion, hoping to give Liu Xiu a result as soon as possible, so that the contract could be signed first, so that everyone could rest assured.

Wang Yun was in a heavy mood, he came in a hurry today, but he didn't expect this result, speaking of coming from Liu Xiu to Bingzhou, he was still meritorious, Liu Xiu reprimanded him in front of so many people, and he had to report this matter to Quanzhou, which made him feel very shameless. He really wanted to leave, but when he thought that so many people knew about it, he didn't even have a chance to turn over as soon as he left, and he couldn't make up his mind.

"Zishi, who is at fault? After that, it can be changed, and it is very good. Cai Yong couldn't bear to see Wang Yun's lonely back, and walked over to comfort him: "The general still values you, and it is precisely because of the importance of the weapon that he takes you as an example, and others will not make irresponsible remarks." The general did this, but also hoped to sign the contract, otherwise if you violate one article today, someone will violate three tomorrow, isn't this contract in name only, how can the general explain to the court? ”

Wang Yun smiled bitterly and bowed in thanks: "Thank you, Mr. for explaining, Yun knows that he is wrong." ”

Cai Yong smiled gently: "You are a smart person, you don't need me to rap." It's just that I live comfortably in Jinyang Academy, and I don't want to be ruined just after seeing a little improvement, so I have a few more words. Zishi, what I want to say is another thing, the school has been running for three years, and a group of students are about to graduate, how to arrange their employment, you have to discuss more with the general, otherwise, this place will become Taixue, there are countless students, but it goes against the original intention of the establishment. ”

Wang Yun slapped his forehead and smiled gratefully, this kind of thing Cai Yong himself can report to Liu Xiu and let him say it, just to give him an excuse to talk to Liu Xiu privately. "I was about to mention this to the general, but I forgot about it. Please rest assured, sir, I will report to the general. ”

Cai Yong laughed and didn't say anything more.

(To be continued)