It just happened that Liu Ji came today. Not long after, the shopkeeper Wu from the Beijing branch of "Risenchang" accompanied an old man with gray hair and a middle-aged man.. The second shopkeeper of the second shopkeeper immediately stood up and greeted the three of them. When he saw Tao Shu wearing casual clothes, he immediately bowed and said, "I heard that Lord Tao has been going to visit the mansion, but the housekeeper of the mansion has repeatedly thanked the guests. Today, Lord Tao came to the small trumpet, and happened to be the big shopkeeper of this number, so he stayed here for a meal."

Tao Shu smiled and was about to stand up to introduce Liu Ji, but Liu Ji pulled him to tell him not to show his identity. Tao Shu understood the intention, stood up to socialize Manager Wu, but did not introduce Liu Ji and others.

Manager Wu exchanged a few greetings with Tao Shu, turned around and introduced the two people behind Tao Shu. The older one was Lei Lutai, and the next one was Mao Hongsui, the assistant manager of "Rishengchang".

When Liu Ji looked at Lei Lutai, he saw that the man had silver silk on his temples and a small hat made of black silk on his head. There was a green jade in the middle of the hat. His face was dusty but very vigorous. He was talking to Tao Shu at this time, and his loud voice made people feel full of energy.

Liu Ji thought to himself that Lei Lutai was already fifty years old, and he should give him some rest when he saw him going all the way. What kind of ability does this man have? He will meet Bao Shichen today and take time to meet him tomorrow. Thinking of this, Liu Ji decided to recruit Lei Lutai and his assistant to the Old Summer Palace tomorrow.

After taking the time, Liu Ji called Tao Shu out. After he asked Tao Shu to convey his meaning to Lei Lutai, he stood up and said goodbye to the people who were "Rishengchang".

Lei Lutai looked at Liu Ji and Tao Shu and others who were leaving. He smiled politely and put them in his eyes. He was guessing whether this person's identity was the prince or the emperor, and whether it would be a disaster or a blessing to receive him tomorrow.

Although Lei Lutai was full of doubts about tomorrow's summoning, Liu Ji did not think so much. After they left "Risenchang", they arrived at Tao Shu's house within a few steps. Tao Shu's mansion was a small courtyard with a pair of stone qilins at the door and a vermilion gate. Because of Liu Ji's arrival, the gate in the middle was all opened. When he entered the middle gate, there was a spacious courtyard, and everyone in the room was waiting to greet each other on both sides of the yard. Among the crowd, Liu Ji saw a man dressed in a Confucian scholar in his 40s. He had a long face and wide eyebrows and a Sichuan-like pattern on his forehead. It was Bao Shichen that Liu Ji was going to meet this time.

Everyone welcomed Liu Ji to the main hall and sat down. Tao Shu called his wife and children to pay homage to Liu Ji. After the ceremony, Liu Ji gave him a red envelope one by one according to the rules. Then he asked Tao Shu to invite Bao Shichen to the house to sit down. Bao Shichen was very generous, although he did not lose etiquette or make mistakes in front of Liu Ji.

Liu Ji was not polite, so he got to the point of the matter with a few words. Liu Ji smiled and greeted Bao Shichen and said, "Shen Bo (Bao Shichen's name), the salt method you recommended to Lord Tao is very consistent with my wishes. I don't know that Shen Bo has any unscrupulous plans in his heart, so I will tell you together today."

Bao Shichen stood up from his seat and bowed, standing and said, "The emperor clearly understands the foolish people. The foolish people are recommended by Tao Engong to serve the country, which is a blessing for the people. Since the emperor does not despise what foolish people see, the monks boldly propose another policy, and is willing to serve the poor power of the emperor."

Seeing Bao Shichen stand up, Liu Ji waved his hand to greet him and sat down.

After Bao Shichen sat down again, he briefly sorted out his thoughts and then said generously: "Now the country's population is growing, which is unprecedented. There are many people and few lands, and the people cannot live in a living. The refugees gather in the theory of gods and ghosts by the lawless people. When their strength is weak, they harm the country. When their strength is strong, they will harm the country. When the power is strong, they will attack the prefectures and counties, which is actually a major disaster. As the grass people traveled around the provinces, they saw wealthy merchants buying thousands of looms and employing tens of thousands of workers. Even if these workers do not farm, they can get enough food and clothing. There are big merchants in Guizhou who start mining and recruit tens of thousands of workers and recruit tens of thousands of large mines. Not only the poor people in Guizhou, but also in Sichuan and Guangxi, there are extremely poor people in Guizhou to mine and make a living. Therefore, the grass people are foolish in their opinion that the imperial court can develop mining affairs and develop industry and commerce, which can eliminate refugees, which is a good thing that benefits the country and the people."

Liu Ji was deeply convinced when he heard Bao Shichen's words. He happily called Bao Shichen to sit down and said to Tao Shu: "Zi Lin, I want to dig your corner and transfer Bao Shichen to me as an official."

Tao Shu laughed and said, "The emperor wants to use Shen Bo, but Shen Bo's blessing, so how dare I complain."

Liu Ji stood up and said, "Okay, what Shen Bo said just now is banned and the development of industrial and commercial affairs, you will give me a note tomorrow. As for the matter of salt tickets, Tao Aiqing will handle it yourself. Bao Shichen will first go to the Ministry of Revenue to name it tomorrow, and then go to Lord Tao's office to co-organize the matter."

******************

It was already dinner time when I came back from Tao Shu's mansion. It was said that it was dinner, but it was lunch. The dishes of four dishes and one soup were said to be the rules set by Liu Ji himself before. In fact, Liu Ji knew that it was ordered by the unlucky Emperor Minning. The dinner was eaten in the imperial kitchen. This place was not far from the arcade pavilion where Liu Ji practiced martial arts every day. Sitting in the attic of the imperial kitchen, you can also see the arrow target hanging on the big tree that was shot by Da Yintai, Yang Luchan and later Dong Haichuan.

Liu Ji looked up at the sun above the Forbidden City. It was about 12 o'clock now. Today is the eighth day of the lunar calendar in 1823. Liu Ji calculated that it was September 12 in the Gregorian calendar. The weather in Beijing is still a little hot, and a little eunuch is working hard to slap a piece of ice in the house. Liu Ji was enjoying the cool breeze, so he reached out to hold a piece of tofu and ate it. The seemingly plain tofu was fried, with fine chopped minced meat inside. The taste was fragrant and refreshing, and the taste was long.

Eunuch Cao next to the table was chatting about Liu Ji one foot away from the table when he was having lunch.

This was the task assigned by Liu Ji to Eunuch Cao. From him, Liu Ji learned a lot of things in the palace. As he was talking, Eunuch Cao talked about the porcelain on the dining table. After hearing Eunuch Cao’s nagging, Liu Ji realized that the set of porcelain he used every day was called "Beauty Sacrifice". It turned out that there was an allusion here.

When Cao Jinxi talked about this allusion, it was full of charm and had a bit of a storytelling. Cao Jinxi said that in the Ming Dynasty, there was an old kiln worker in the official kiln in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi. Because he was afraid that the emperor would blame him because he could not eat well and sleep well, he could not open his eyebrows all day long. Later, the old kiln worker's daughter learned about this. The next day when the porcelain was burning, the strong woman dressed neatly and jumped into the kiln while the person was not paying attention. The old kiln worker was extremely sad. However, the porcelain came out of this kiln is indeed a good porcelain with a red face and a soft and delicate face. The color was stable and not flowing. It was the best product in the red glaze. The kiln workers all said that this was the porcelain face dyed red by the blood of the beauty, like the blush on the girl's face, so they called "Beauty Red".

Liu Ji didn't know if this story stole the subject matter of Gan Jiang Mo Ye's sword, but he was a little curious about the story of Cao Jinxi's belly and the story. After asking, he found out that Cao Jinxi had also studied in a private school and could recognize some words.
Chapter completed!