Chapter 86 Difficulties

It was already dark, and Zhao Xiao sneaked into the inner courtyard, "Second Master, you are back!" The little yellow door on the night side saw that it was the prince and hurriedly opened the door to salute.

"Shh, let me say softly, don't let the high-ranking official hear it. Don't say I'm back when he asks!" Zhao Qi hurriedly covered the mouth of Xiaohuangmen and said. Xiaohuangmen nodded vigorously. Zhao Qi let him go with satisfaction. He saw that there was no movement in the winter garden where Huang Jingchen lived, and then he crawled into the summer courtyard along the wall. Xiaohuangmen turned his head and saw the prince's appearance and smiled.

Since Huang Jingchen came back from Beijing, Zhao's mansion has become busy. Those who could talk to him in the capital asked him to make a mirror for himself no matter what. The big ones are not as small as the small ones, and they didn't ask for the price, and they also had to stuff a red envelope for him. He was so scared that he didn't dare to stay for too long. Pan Heng ran back in half a month. Fortunately, Zhao Qi was prepared and had prepared the first batch of goods for him, so he temporarily sent the empresses in various palaces, concubines from the prince's family, and ladies in the prime minister's mansion. But those who had not received the goods followed him here and lived in the inn and waited. Huang Jingchen had no choice but to urge Zhao Qi to find a way quickly. Zhao Qi was so scared that he didn't dare to stay in the house for a minute, and was floating outside every day.

"Your Majesty, you will be back. I have already prepared the food in the kitchen. I will serve you with food now!" As soon as Zhao Qi entered the yard, Huang Jingchen greeted him happily.

"Uncle Huang, just let me take a break. At least twenty days after the order is placed!" Zhao Qi said with a wry smile. He had expected that a magical glass mirror would definitely arouse the interest of many people after the queen's palace. In ancient times, people were also people and would definitely regard the preferences of leaders as their own consumption guide. But one thing he did not expect was that there were too many rich people in the Song Dynasty. He felt that he had set the price of the mirror to a sky-high price, which could be said to be sold by bribes, but it still could not stop people's enthusiasm for purchasing.

"Haha, it doesn't matter. I've left them all in our restaurant. It costs a lot of money to eat and live a day. We won't suffer any losses if we live for a few more days. Will the fat and water flow from outsiders' fields?" Huang Jingchen waved his hand and asked Guihua and the others to go out and personally served Zhao Qiong to wash up.

"Uncle Huang, I find you are becoming more and more smart. Are they treating you to dinner? If you invite, you can name our soju and pick the most expensive dishes. Anyway, they pay for it and eat more, so I will ask the restaurant to give you a commission!" Zhao Qi said relieved when he heard that the old man was not trying to urge him. The mirror he made was the most primitive method. He pasted extremely thin tin foil on the back of the glass, and then applied mercury to melt the tin foil to form a mirror. Of course, the effect is not as good as silver plating and aluminum plating, but it is much brighter than the bronze mirror at that time. Although this primitive process is simple, mercury is poisonous and evaporated slowly, resulting in a long production cycle. Another thing is not easy to make flat glass now. The ancient "blowing drum method" is even less efficient. Now the cheeks of the two people with the two candy blowing men are blown and cannot keep up with the speed of demanding goods.

"Prince, today someone from the East Gate Office in the palace came." Huang Jingchen asked Zhao Qi to sit down and put him a bowl of pork rib soup.

"What do they do? Why don't they enter the mansion when they come?" Zhao Qi couldn't understand what the Dongmensi did, so he interrupted Huang Jingchen and asked.

"The Neidongmen Office is the yamen of the Escorts' Province. It is the place where the eunuchs dream of going. The department is in charge of the entry and exit of people and things in the palace. Each house and warehouse transfer treasures must register the quantity and value here. All tributes and items purchased must be registered here. In addition, the benefits of you and other royal relatives are also issued by the department. The most important thing is that they are also responsible for the construction of the palace and the holding of banquets and celebrations. This time they are here to buy things for the New Year. Of course, they dare not harass you, Your Highness, the prince!" Huang Jingchen explained with a smile.

"Oh, that's a big yamen. What are they buying this time? Don't think about the mirror. No one comes. It's okay to use the banner of the palace!" Zhao Qi said, holding a piece of meat and chewing it hard.

"Prince, you don't know how much face and good things are responsible for tribute to the palace. You still don't like it!" Huang Jingchen said, "Mirror's business has always been for me. They dare not. This time I came to buy fireworks. I took it all for you. It's a big deal of more than 100,000 yuan!"

"Cough, cough" Zhao Qi was choked, his little face turned red, and he pointed at Huang Jingchen and coughed constantly. Huang Jingchen quickly beat and hula, and then he gasped and said in a panting, "Uncle Huang, do you really treat me as a god? A business worth more than 100,000 yuan, and that 40,000 to 50,000 boxes of fireworks, I urged him to drive it. He only made less than 20,000 boxes in a month. Now there is still one month left before the New Year, so where can I get it for you!"

"Prince, I didn't expect that our workshop really can't produce it? If it doesn't work, find more people to work!" Huang Jingchen was stunned for a moment, and then quickly came up with ideas to find a solution.

"Uncle Huang, making fireworks is not like making pancakes. Just get a few people to come. If you don't pay attention, you will explode and kill people!" Zhao Qi said with a wry smile.

"What should I do? The emperor appointed a name to use the fireworks in our mansion. Lao Li was afraid that we would not give it to me, so he found my door. I thought that the price he paid was not low, so I agreed. When I was happy, I forgot about this matter. If I didn't work, I would turn it off. Anyway, he wouldn't dare to do anything to us!" Huang Jingchen thought for a while and said.

"I think about it again. It's a pity to throw out the money delivered to you!" Zhao Qi put down his chopsticks and said, Huang Jingchen nodded vigorously at him, looking at him with anticipation on his face.

Zhao Qie walked around the house twice, thinking that his workshop was mainly lacking skilled workers, and as long as there were enough workers, they could complete the order. In the past, newspapers and TV announced all day long that they would build China into the world's largest OEM factory. If he subcontracted his products to those small fireworks factories and then returned to the factory to package them, he would be able to eat no matter how many orders he had!

"Uncle Huang, there is a way!" Zhao Qi said, "When you see Xi, you will immediately ask all the managers to attend the meeting in the meeting hall. You will arrive soon, and no one can be left behind!" He shouted outside the door again.

It was the end of the year again. The Zhao Mansion, which had been silent for three years, was organized and moved with all the villages. After three years of hard work, the place was no longer as poor as before, and the lives of tenants had changed greatly. The deployment of water conservancy facilities, the use of machinery, and the fertilizer produced by breeding increased the output of grain and liberated the labor force. Many people went to workshops to work and had a relatively fixed income. Even if the women raised chickens and pigs or went to weaving factories to do short-term work for half a year, they could support their families. Although they had not yet reached a well-off level of eating meat every meal, they could still get some meat every day. There was even a commercial center around the dock, where various goods were traded here, and this was already a prosperous town.

After the New Year's Eve dinner, Zhao Qi did not stay with everyone like in previous years. He sat alone in the study and looked at the stars outside the window. A year has passed. If the world had not changed because of its own travel, Aguda, who was far away in the northeast, had succeeded to the leader of the Jurchen Alliance and would go to attend the fishhead banquet of Emperor Tianzuo on the Huntong River. Because he did not give the Liao emperor Tianzuo face to dance and sing on the table, and had conflicts. He rose up and fought against Liao in anger, and began to start his career in the Jin Dynasty. Ten years later, the entire Central Plains would moan under his feet, but the Song Dynasty was now confused. From the emperor to the ministers, they were still intoxicated by singing and dancing and peace.

"What will I do?" Zhao Qiong asked himself more than once. The enemy had appeared. With his current ability, he could not stop his rise at all, but he could not sit still. It was time to realize his next plan.

This year, his mansion has earned less than one million yuan, and his mother has become the queen. It can be said that money and power are not a problem. Now the time is ripe. Zhao Qi stood up and opened the window. He wanted to build his own army, but what should he do?

In this cold weapon era, Dangxiang in the northwest, Jurchen in the north, and Mongolia that later rose were all ethnic groups on horseback. They had to learn how to ride horses and shoot archery since they were young. They were already qualified soldiers at the age of sixteen, and the cavalry composed of them was an unstoppable army. The army of the Song Dynasty is now just an army composed of peasants. Although it is known as one million, it is no longer a hundred battles at the founding of the country. A century of peace has transformed them into a tool for making money for dignitaries. The most important thing is that they have no horses and lose their fast mobility. They can only be passive everywhere and cannot compete with those grassland power brigades.

The biggest difficulty in front of us is how to form an army. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Song Dynasty has regarded the royal family as the target of strict control, and will never give real power, let alone lead troops and build an army privately. That is a death sentence. Even if the son is killed, he will not be lenient. Do you have to wait until the day when the army is overwhelmed by a great chaos in the world? Zhao Qiong was stumped by a more realistic problem again.

"If you don't have any difficulties, you have to go up, and if you have difficulties, you have to go up. No one can stop me from striving!" Zhao Qi pounded the table and made up his mind. The time left for himself was not enough. As a soldier in his previous life, Zhao Qi knew deeply that the cultivation of an army could never be achieved overnight. From personnel selection, training, training, and until actual combat baptism, it will be a long process, especially in this era of war-weariness from top to bottom, it is difficult to cultivate a war-friendly army.
Chapter completed!