Si Xitong lived up to expectations; her commands always managed to gather a group of talented people.
Xie Lanzhi was considering whether to move the warehouse in the Southern Region to Tianjing. Without hesitation, Xie Lanzhi issued an order to the Southern Region, and Xie Bing began relocating the skilled craftsmen there.
The artisans from the Southern Warehouse were the first to be assigned to the Ministry of Works, which immediately became the busiest government office in the court.
Wei Zhao, the Vice Minister of Works, received a large sum of money as a windfall, and he was overjoyed. As a result, the Ministry of Works became the most lucrative place, attracting many sycophants to flock in.
Si Xitong directly mobilized the Censorate, ordering them to investigate these individuals' backgrounds and capabilities.
In a few swift moves, Zhang Ju arrested a large number of redundant officials and even executed ten of them. Only then did he stop the greedy people from entering.
The Shenxing Division was once again favored by Prince Fengning. For a time, Zhangju was the only person who was given important positions without having to attend court.
Because of his brutal methods of writing judgments, many officials impeached him, but Xie Lanzhi suppressed their accusations.
Zhang Ju still possessed Xie Lanzhi's waist token and enjoyed Xie Lanzhi's trust, so Zhang Ju also had a certain deterrent effect within the Xie family.
The Ministry of Works was the most popular official position since the imperial examination system was established. It also set up a recruitment office, and people flocked to it as long as they were associated with officials. Carpenters from the common people also applied for the positions.
Xie Lanzhi was worried that Si Xitong would be too busy, so she specially categorized the handicrafts, polishing, and ingenuity of each department, and let the engineering department plan the positions for the rest, and then use the assembly line method as the basic work positions.
The imperial examination system also required a significant investment; in the reprocessing department, ten million of the original one hundred million taels of silver were gone in an instant.
When she received the ledger, her right eye twitched. She knew industry was expensive, but she hadn't realized it was this expensive.
Even if she wanted to increase funding for Little Phoenix, she would have to consider Xie's speculations. Although Xie was wealthy in the Southern Region, they made their money entirely from rice and grain, and could not raise a large number of cattle and horses, so they had to import them from the Northern Region.
Vegetables still had to be imported from Shi Guofu.
The Southern Region's wealth amounted to only fifty million taels of gold, which was the Xie family's collective wealth.
Xie Lanzhi used the excuse that the Xie family also had artisans to send money to the Ministry of Works. Wu Qiu of the Ministry of War started to clamor for more funding. After Wu Qiu proposed increasing the budget, the other four ministries followed suit.
Xie Lanzhi allocated a sum of money to Wu Qiu. She knew Wu Qiu wouldn't squander it. The Ministry of War did need to be bribed, but other funds would be distributed normally. She wouldn't give him a penny more.
She also appointed over a hundred personal abacus users to monitor the daily accounts and transactions of each department, recording every single entry and keeping a tight rein on each department's profits. They would even detect if an ounce was missing.
Ultimately, it was discovered that Xie's staff received the most funding across all departments, so she directly fired a group of them and poached lower-cost, more efficient talent from the bottom up.
Xie Lanzhi began to befriend Zhou Bapi, and within a month or two, she tightly controlled the cash flow of the six ministries, making the Ministry of Works, which originally had the largest cash flow, the most strictly controlled.
Xie dared not be a parasite again, and did some practical work to keep his position, so the pressure was much less than that of others.
To solidify the foundation of craftsmanship for Little Phoenix, Xie Lanzhi opened up numerous positions for competition, and for a time, even those from Tianjing and other districts who could be of usefulness flocked to apply. At one point, three people were competing for each position.
Xie Lanzhi only needs to select the best performers. This not only lowers costs but also raises the bar.
Privately, she already had the nickname "Xie the Skinflint." Because she treated everyone the same, only caring about their value, and would squeeze them dry until they were completely drained, she added another nickname: "Xie the Leech."
Xie Lanzhi thought that starting a business was not easy, so she tried to save money wherever possible in the early stages, even calculating the cost of candles in detail.
When Si Xitong heard that she even limited the number of candles she could use each night, he came to ask for permission: "Lanzhi, the students in the academy and the Ministry of Works need quite a few candles. I can get a batch in advance."
Xie Lanzhi took out her abacus, counted three up and two down, then six down: "Is this enough?"
Only six more were given.
Si Xitong: "......"
"Lanzhi, this is just enough," Si Xitong said. "However, aren't you going to overdo it?"
Xie Lanzhi said, "Not too much. Little Phoenix faced difficulties in its early stages of starting a business, and it needed to be frugal with every penny."
"Come here, I'll tell you how to maximize your profits."
She told Si Xitong about modern accounting practices and the success stories of famous entrepreneurs. She even shared grassroots stories of people who became millionaires by collecting garbage and dumping excrement.
Si Xitong's eyes lit up upon hearing this, her thirst for knowledge ignited. She believed that Si Xitong would soon learn how to attract talent, thereby reducing labor costs and overall expenses.
On this day, the Ministry of Works began to intensify its internal competition, distinguishing between official and reserve positions. Official positions included promotions and titles, as well as the allocation of a courtyard. Reserve positions, on the other hand, received 70% of the official funds and shared courtyards.
The more intense the commotion, the more people joined in.
People in ancient times didn't know what lying flat meant, nor did they have the means. Now, they don't even have enough to eat, so the competition is fierce.
The Ministry of Works also became the official department that spent the least money and contributed the most effort.
Si Xitong even held an audience to receive outstanding talents from the Ministry of Works. How many people in the world have the opportunity to meet the emperor in their lifetime? Although Prince Feng Ning is not the emperor now, he is still second only to the emperor. It's hard to guarantee that his status won't rise even higher in the future.
To meet the Lord is an immense blessing. It is something to be envied and praised if word gets out.
Wei Zhao, from the Ministry of Works, brought his ten most outstanding disciples and their handicrafts to Si Xitong.
There are waterwheels that require less effort but have greater power, as well as watercraft with outer wheels, pulleys, and ladders. In agriculture, some people have formulated fertilizers that surpass current standards, and others are inoculating and cultivating new sweet potatoes. I heard that there's a farmer who enjoys grafting, and he's produced quite a few successful results.
A batch of successes were achieved within three months.
Si Xitong was overjoyed and immediately rewarded the outstanding talents with ten plates of pastries, a few words of encouragement, and a written commendation before sending them away.
Wei Zhao returned to the Ministry of Works in a depressed mood with his apprentices.
Soon, Si Xitong was given a nickname in private: Rice Cake Princess.
The nickname "Rice Cake Princess" spread to the farmland, and Xie Shangguang, who was carrying manure, laughed so hard he could hardly stand up straight. The buckets on both sides of his shoulders were almost overflowing with rice and excrement.
Si Xinian's handsome face darkened, and he avoided him: "Isn't there another one called a leech?"
He did his best to protect his elder sister's image.
Xie Shangguang immediately said, "I think those people have a death wish. How dare they call Marshal Xie a bloodsucker!"
Si Xinian squatted down, pulling weeds with one hand as he said, "My elder sister is not a stingy or miserly person. Her change in temperament must be due to her husband's influence."
“You can’t blame the Marshal,” Xie Shangguang argued vehemently. “The Marshal is just stingy.”
Si Xinian froze as she pulled the weeds, unsure whether he was smearing his own marshal or protecting her.
Ten acres of farmland were cultivated day and night, with weeding, manure collection, and watering done, after five months of guarding. The boundless melon fields were shrouded in white mist in the early morning. Occasionally, a minor official carrying a basket would pass by to inspect the farmland, followed by the farmers coming to check on their work.
With one stroke of the hoe, a sweet potato, two palm-lengths long and bigger than a fist, bursts out of the soil along with its root!
"What a big sweet potato!" Xie Shangguang took the sweet potato and wiped it on his body. Then he took a bite and found it sweet and crunchy, enjoying the sweet potato that he had worked so hard to grow.
Xie Shangguang's eyes immediately welled up with tears, and he wiped them with his sleeve as he ate, saying, "It's so delicious."
"Eat or wipe your tears, choose one." The more Si Xinian looked at him, the more he resembled a farmer, completely lacking the air of a young general: "Don't do both at the same time!"
Xie Shangguang disagreed. He picked up the sweet potato covered in teeth marks and exclaimed, "I grew this by watering it with my urine and excrement."
“For the past few months, I haven’t been willing to pee in the wild. Even if I need to, I hold it in until I get to the hut.” Xie Shangguang said, pointing to the surrounding green vines with emotion, “This melon field has truly not wasted a single drop of my urine.”
"It's all a gift from nature!"
Si Xinian had just dug out the rice, washed it clean with water, and was about to eat it when he suddenly lost his appetite.
The hoe in his hand was itching to be used; he was wondering whether to wield it like a sword and chop this loose-tongued brat to death.
The Minister of Agriculture then led his men to inspect the crops at the opportune time. The Minister of Agriculture specifically sought out Si Qinian, offering a small token of respect: "My lord, I have come to begin calculating the yield per mu for you today."
Si Xitong said calmly, "Please."
Xie Shangguang then remembered that the Grand Marshal had ordered him to plant sweet potatoes, with a minimum yield of 1,000 jin per mu, or he wouldn't be allowed to return to the Xie family's main camp. Wouldn't that mean he'd have to plant sweet potatoes for the rest of his life?
No way! Xie Shangguang immediately put his arm around the Minister of Agriculture's shoulder and pulled him over: "Could this general wash my sweet potatoes before weighing them?"
The agricultural official said, "The marshal said that washing is not allowed, and the mud on the sweet potatoes must not be thicker than a hair, otherwise the yield per acre will not be counted."
"What?!" Xie Shangguang's face fell, losing confidence in the sweet potato he had painstakingly raised day and night, which was now like his own son.
Then I realized that mud can't contain even a single hair—that's how meticulous they are!
"The marshal is indeed a leech that licks your skin!"
Si Xinian's lips twitched: Skinned leeches... and they're all grouped together.
Yet it fits inexplicably.
Immediately, the official in charge of agriculture, seeing the pressure in Xie Shangguang's eyes, began to have people pull up vines, pry up soil, and dig up sweet potatoes. First, they dug up one mu of land belonging to Si Qinian, and then they kept wiping the soil with straw.
Xie Shangguang was supervising from the side. When he saw a sweet potato with a broken skin and a missing corner, he immediately dug up the pieces from the ground.
He kept repeating, "Many a little makes a mickle, and a pile of sand can build a tower."
Si Xinian couldn't help but frown: "Don't be so petty. If it's not enough, this little bit of stuff won't even make up a thousand catties."
"How could you, a prince, understand this?" Xie Shangguang said seriously, "Also, you can't break the sweet potato with the hoe, otherwise the sweet potato juice might come out and it will weigh less."
The official in charge of agriculture said, "Young general, there's no need to be so particular about weighing and measuring."
"Don't worry, we'll do a good job of hoeing."
The agricultural official instructed his men to harvest sweet potatoes. Harvesting this one acre of land was extremely difficult, while the young general next to him kept chattering away, fussing over even the smallest details of a sweet potato shred.
Then I remembered how Xie Shuai had been haggling and haggling over every penny these past few months, and the young general was the same.
Is the Xie family a place known for producing leeches and roosters?
A note from the author:
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 11:47:21 and 18:23:19 on December 14, 2021!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: 20 bottles of "Red and Blue are a perfect match"; 10 bottles of "Mi"; and 5 bottles of "51838864".
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 72 Sweet Potato Yield of 1,000 Jin per Mu
The two acres of melon field have finally been dug up.
The agricultural official brought a carrying pole and a scale to weigh the basket: "This basket weighs a total of three hundred catties."
"What's mine is mine!" Xie Shangguang shouted, raising his hand.
The official in charge of agriculture automatically muffled his voice and weighed the catty again: "Three hundred and fifty catties."
Xie Shangguang switched the 300-jin (150 kg) and gave it to Si Xinian: "This is his."
The official in charge of agriculture raised an eyebrow: "Young general, this basket is yours."
Si Xinian was too lazy to argue with Xie Shangguang, so he said, "Consider it mine."
After saying that, the official in charge of agriculture felt that the sweet potatoes planted by the fourth prince for half a year seemed to have matured quite a bit. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a boy secretly throwing clods of soil into his basket.
The official in charge of agriculture stopped him, saying, "Young general, I am not blind."