The selection criteria for female officials in the Ming court are old and steady, knowledgeable, and regardless of appearance. During the Hongwu period, there were even widows who were selected, and most of the female officials served in the palace for several years or more than ten years, and they were still virgins when they left the palace. This is also praised by the literati as "it can be seen that the people are polite".

Although the female officials and female showmen were not selected for their beauty, they could not stand the emperor from being picky. Occasionally, there will be female officials who are favored by the emperor because of their virtue and talent, and they are accepted as concubines. These people often become the prototypes of the heroines of later palace fighting novels, and become legendary figures among female officials.

Nowadays, the situation in the crown prince's inner palace is somewhat special.

The crown princess has already decided on the daughter of the Ning family, but the Ning family did not flee with the car when the Jiashen Kingdom changed, which is basically tantamount to rebellion. Now that the Qing soldiers have occupied Beijing, the Ning family still hasn't escaped, and this kind of stay and stay again is an extremely shameful thing even for ordinary scholars and doctors, let alone the imperial family? Therefore, let alone being the crown princess, it would be good for the Ning family to escape the conviction.

Since the position of the crown princess is vacant, and the emperor has not mentioned the matter of the crown prince's engagement again, it is difficult to say who will sit in this position.

Although the selection criteria for female officials are different from those of concubines, as long as they are good-looking, they are more competitive than ordinary concubines. Yao Tao and Lu Suyao both belong to the same category, so it is inevitable that they will have some thoughts.

Lu Suyao came out of Yao Tao's office, and she also realized the gaffe of the right talent, and said secretly in her heart: In terms of help, now she follows the crown prince almost all the time, and she is not weaker than Yao Tao; In terms of relationship, he was originally sent by the queen mother to guide His Royal Highness the crown prince, and he was obviously closer to a female official like Yao Tao. Since the candidate for the crown princess is vacant, can't he fight for it?

- It seems that it is a great opportunity to sacrifice filial piety for the crown prince.

Lu Suyao's heart moved, and she decided to think about how to please the queen mother, even if she failed to become the crown princess. It is also haode to be able to point as a concubine. Although the crown princess can be promoted to the queen, the concubines and beauties in the palace can also be directly canonized as concubines.

……

"Grass people Xu Jiafu to meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! His Royal Highness Chitose Chitose Chitose! Xu Jiafu dragged his slightly chubby body and was about to make a big salute.

Zhu Cihong stretched out his hand to hold Xu Jiafu and said with a smile: "You look at this on the stage, right?" It's the first time I've heard anyone say that. ”

A layer of oily sweat broke out on Xu Jiafu's round face, and his mouth opened and his tongue trembled. Don't know how to speak.

Zhu Cihong motioned for him to sit down, and he also sat down in the chairman, and said: "Those steels are indeed on Haode Suzhou Steel, which is more suitable for my needs than Fan Jiagang." Your family is willing to donate so much good steel, and it is indeed commendable. ”

Xu Jiafu laughed and said, "The villain really donated all his family to His Royal Highness." ”

Zhu Cihong didn't believe it, but smiled and said, "There are not many righteous people like you. I can't give the court name privately, only from the East Palace, how about making you a baron? "There's a little bit of a difference. But ordinary people don't really care. Zhu Cihong made his words clearer, and he didn't coax him.

"The villain is not here for the title." Xu Jiafu hurriedly said: "The villain wants to dedicate himself to His Royal Highness." Well, I want to ask His Highness for an errand...... It's not all an errand......"

"Don't be in a hurry, speak slowly." Zhu Cihong high-fived the waiter and said, "Talk while eating." ”

Xu Jiafu was able to be received with a white body because he donated 100,000 catties of high-quality Sugang.

According to the market price of one pound of Sugang and two cents of silver, the 100,000 catties of iron is two thousand taels of silver. It doesn't look like a very large amount, but ordinary people have two thousand taels of silver. It may not be possible to buy enough 100,000 catties of high-quality iron. Especially for Sugang, a strategic material that has reached the quality of tool steel in later generations, large-scale ordering also needs to take into account the production capacity of the seller. as well as the price policy.

Donggong bought Sugang twice from the Fan family, and the price had already risen by two percent, which made Zhu Cihong helpless and secretly depressed.

Similarly, the Sugang produced in Wuhu, the steel material of the Fan family is better than that of others. The reason why the iron mold casting cannon has not been tried until now is also because the iron mold used before is not of good material, and the molten iron will bubble when it enters. So it really can only make the Fan family make enough money.

The 100,000 catties of Suzhou Iron and Steel donated by Xu Jiafu have completely reached the level of Fan Jiagang after testing.

Xu Jiafu took a sip of wine before he froze his mind and said, "Your Highness, after the villain got the book "Theory of Experimental Law". Inspired and experimenting with all his might, he finally found a formula close to Fan Jiagang, and only then did he create today's Xu Jiagang. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded. The author of "Theory of Experimental Methods" is a student at a technical college named Xue Shuyan. was originally a showman, but he entered the academy for free food and accommodation. He summarized various experimental methods and compiled them into this book.

From the jishu point of view, there is nothing innovative, but it has cross-era significance in thought, and from now on, various experiments, especially materials science, have a general guiding idea, and it will no longer be difficult for people to start. The book also proposes requirements for various units of measurement, which stimulates the generalization of formulas.

Because of this, Zhu Cihong also met with Xue Shuyan after meeting Xu Jiafu to encourage him.

"When it comes to steel, in fact, everyone knows the truth in it, and the technique is not a secret, but the formula is not good." Xu Jiafu said with a smile: "I asked people to start from every small place, and there were six hundred furnaces, and finally tried this recipe." Please forgive the villain, the villain wants to borrow His Highness's name to open an iron factory in Xuzhou, and is willing to give half of the dry shares to His Highness. ”

——With a pig's face, his heart is bright.

Zhu Cihong smiled at each other and didn't speak, which made Xu Jiafu really worried for a long time.

"You have some meaning," Zhu Cihong said with a smile, "Isn't this kind of dedication supposed to be a eunuch?" You've just found Lonely. ”

Xu Jiafu didn't know whether he really didn't understand or pretended not to know, but he still said happily: "Your Highness, looking for a eunuch to donate is just a little less trouble in the place and to avoid some taxes." According to the villain's point of view, the country only collects one-fifteenth of the iron tax for a pound of iron, and it is not worth being infected with that commotion. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded slightly. No matter which dynasty or generation, the iron tax of 6.66 percent is definitely light. However, there are still the vast majority of iron merchants who are evading taxes, and the Fan family is unwilling to sell more, because they are worried about trading with the public and it is too easy to fall into the handle of tax evasion.

"The villain thinks that the country has no money today, precisely because of the flood of iron smelting!" Xu Jiafu's face suddenly rose with righteousness, which made Zhu Cihong a little uncomfortable.

"In all dynasties, how can there be such a magnificent emperor?" Xu Jiafu's aura is fully open, but he also has a bit of courage. He recited aloud: "Therefore, Song Yuanfeng only opened the people's pit for iron smelting in four years, but he had to draw two out of ten. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, the dynasty dismissed the official iron, opened the private enterprises, and fifteen taxes one, and later set an iron tax of ten thousand catties of iron and three taels of silver. If this is not satisfied, it is really not a son of man! ”

Zhu Cihong nodded, very satisfied with this person's political consciousness. However, in his experience, those who speak in a high-profile manner may not be reliable, and their deeds must still be examined, and conclusions should not be easily drawn.

"The villain thinks that today's state is rampant with thieves and Tartars, and the treasury is useless, and it is time to return the iron industry to the official camp!" Xu Jiafu changed into the smiling face just now: "With such an official household iron, it is natural to have as much as you want, and the price has also dropped." The iron tax will not flow out, and it will fatten those profiteers who have no king and no father in vain. ”

Zhu Cihong continued to nodded, it turns out that this guy is really a character who spends a little money to take advantage of a big advantage!

As long as the iron industry is state-owned, although he gave half of the equity, he got the monopoly market in the entire Ming Dynasty under the protection of the government - even if there is a black market private railway, it is an extremely terrifying market share. This is no different from those coastal tycoons who prohibit the sea in a high-profile manner and do maritime trade in private.

"Steel is bound to become the lifeblood of a nation." Zhu Cihong picked up the wine cup, "I am also willing to return it to the country." ”

Xu Jiafu had a smile on his face.

"However, in the first year of Jiajing, the iron output of Guangzhou and Huizhou alone was 18.58 million catties. In ten years, it increased to 27,630,000 catties. It's 10,000 catties! Zhu Cihong emphasized the unit, still looking at Xu Jiafu with a smile: "Don't you think your appetite is too big?" ”

Xu Jiafu's smile was completely frozen, and he couldn't figure out that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would care about the iron production of places like Guangzhou and Huizhou! And it's Jiajing's time! He was confident that he had done his homework, but he didn't pay attention to such unpopular data! (To be continued......)

PS: Ask for a monthly pass, recommend a ticket. By the way: the iron production data in this chapter comes from the Internet data, Xiaotang is really limited in energy, and this book is really a novel, not a history of faith, so I did not check the original history one by one, if there is any error, please understand.