My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 121 Cotton War

Zhu Gaosui caught up with Zhu Gaochi and asked if there was any way to get Xu Qin out to work.

Zhu Gaochi smiled bitterly and said, "Last time, Sakyabao blocked all the roads. I suspect this guy did it on purpose. According to Sakyabao's character, he will not honestly starve and freeze in the imperial prison for a whole night.

Look at this kid, he doesn’t care about anything now and only cares about his own business!
However, I don't think it's useful to force him out. The more you force him, the less likely he is to come out. Besides, my father and mother owe him something in this matter. He made so much money for us, but got nothing in return and got into trouble. So it's difficult.

Also, I remind you, don't mention this to Xu Qin, and don't even think about trying to do it. If you end up making things worse, your parents won't let you go. Just wait and see, talk slowly, and show your sincerity, then it will be possible.

But this sincerity is not from us, it is from Dad. Do you think Dad will compromise easily?"

Zhu Gaosui shook his head and said, "It's difficult!"

"Then it's over. It has nothing to do with us. Just do your own thing." Zhu Gaochi smiled and waved his hand. If he had no money, what could he do? He had already arranged the normal taxes in the court. Dad, you insisted on doing so many big projects. Do you have any way?

For the next period of time, Xu Qin was busy with the affairs of the new mansion. On the sixth day of February, Xu Qin's family started to demolish the house. Demolition of the house required sacrifices. Xu Qin and Xu Huizu offered sacrifices to the ancestors of heaven and earth and the guardian gods before they began demolition.

Xu Qin has already made lime. Lime has been used by the ancients, and Xu Qin can make it quickly. However, cement still needs time, and the kiln has not been fully built yet, so Xu Qin needs to go and keep an eye on it.

That afternoon, Xu Qin came back from outside the city and wanted to go straight to the mansion. Xu Qin hadn't been to the workshop for some time.

Not long after returning to the courtyard, Mu Feng came over and said that Xiao Ningyue wanted to see him.

Xu Qin nodded and let Mu Feng bring Xiao Ningyue in. After all, he hadn't seen her for a while and hadn't paid attention to business matters, so he had no worries about selling his cloth.

After a while, Mu Feng brought Xiao Ningyue in. Xiao Ningyue bowed to Xu Qin first, and Xu Qin smiled and nodded, asking her to sit down.

"But what's the matter? How is business recently?" Xu Qin asked Xiao Ningyue.

Xiao Ningyue nodded and said, "There is no problem with the business, but now I have received some news, but I don't know whether it is true or not, so I want to ask Master Xu."

"What news?" Xu Qin looked at Xiao Ningyue in confusion. He had not received any news.

"I heard that all the major cloth merchants, as well as those selling cotton, and even those selling silk cocoons this year, are not planning to ship in large quantities and want to stockpile them. And even if the cloth has been woven, they are not allowed to sell it in a hurry." Xiao Ningyue said to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin frowned when he heard this, stared at Xiao Ningyue and asked, "What does this mean? A unified price increase?"

“I don’t know, I heard that this is the case, and someone even hinted to me that I should do the same, otherwise I would offend people without knowing it.

In addition, now, the amount of cloth on the market is decreasing and the price has increased.

Moreover, cotton is not easy to buy. Every time I ask for a certain amount, they will give me a 50% or even 70% discount. I originally wanted to order more at one time, but they would not give me more than 1,000 kilograms each time. "Xiao Ningyue said to Xu Qin.

"Isn't there enough cotton?" Xu Qin asked, frowning.

"I don't know, but it is estimated to be enough. After all, the Weaving Bureau brought back a lot of cotton from this trip to the sea. They can weave twice as much as they sold in the beginning. There has been no shortage of cotton in previous years, and it is unlikely that there will be a shortage of cotton this year." Xiao Ningyue said to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin nodded. In his heart, he already knew what was going on. To unite all those weaving workshops, dyeing workshops, and cotton workshops was something that ordinary businessmen could not do. Not even three or five people could do it. But the group of civil officials could do it.

Maybe those civil officials didn't have merchants to support them, but they knew merchants. For example, if a county magistrate hinted to the merchants under his jurisdiction to raise prices, those merchants would not dare not raise prices. After all, the market has already raised prices, so it's okay for them to follow suit. If the county magistrate asked him to ship less, he would not dare to ship more.

After all, it was too easy for the county magistrate to kill those workshop owners.

Of course, the emperor can be killed easily, but the emperor needs to find a reason. If the reason is not good, those civil officials will spread the emperor's tyranny, kill innocent people indiscriminately, squeeze the people's wealth, etc., and this will also be recorded in history books. This is the power of those civil officials. The emperor has no choice. You can't kill all the civil officials. If you kill them all, who will govern the world for you?

"Mr. Xu, you also need to stock up some silk cocoons in advance. I heard that the price of silk cocoons will also increase. Of course, the price sold by ordinary people probably won't change, but those silk cocoon buyers will definitely increase the price, and they will control the shipment volume." Xiao Ningyue suggested to Xu Qin.

"Okay, I get it. You need to prepare yourself as well. You don't have to worry about me." Xu Qin said to Xiao Ningyue. For this matter, it's useless to make preparations in advance. The throughput of your company is so large that no matter how much you make preparations, it won't be enough for a year.

Moreover, if an accident occurs, the loss will be huge, so most workshops will not store a lot of raw materials, and they cannot afford the loss. A fire can burn everything. Xu Qin then asked Xiao Ningyue some questions, and Xiao Ningyue went back.

In the evening, Xu Qin came to the front yard to eat. Xu Huizu was sitting there looking at the blueprints. Xu Qin gave all the blueprints to Xu Huizu. Xu Huizu had nothing to do anyway, so it would be best to let him oversee the construction of the house.

Although Xu Huizu had many opinions on the drawings, Xu Qin refused to listen and refused to make any changes. He had already discussed with the craftsmen that what they were building was a garden, not traditional houses. Seeing that so much land was wasted, Xu Huizu complained to Xu Qin.

Xu Qin responded with one sentence: "Why do we need so many houses? There are only so many people in our family. Even if I have more than ten or twenty sons in the future, it will be enough for them to live in.

Xu Huizu thought it made sense as there were too few people in the family.

Xu Qin was eating when Li came in and sighed.

"Mom, it's time to eat. What's wrong?" Xu Qin saw Li sitting there sighing and not eating, so he asked.

"The price of cotton has gone up by 10%, and they don't give us the full quantity. The order was clearly for 10,000 kilograms, but they only gave us 1,000 kilograms. It's always 1,000 kilograms. Moreover, they raised the price for no reason. The price has gone up everywhere. You said to raise the price, so you raise it. Just give us the full quantity. Our family's cloth has a high profit, so we are not afraid of them raising the price. But, hey, Baoer, our family will need to build more warehouses to store cotton in the future." Li said with a sigh.

"They don't give us enough food?" Xu Qin put down his chopsticks and asked Li.

"Yes, if the supply is not sufficient, it's the same for everyone. Those cotton merchants have warehouses full of cotton, but they say there is not enough cotton." Li said with a sigh.

"Hehe, they are going to cause trouble!" Xu Qin laughed when he heard it.

"You're still laughing. The machines at home are about to stop working, and you're still laughing." Li glared at Xu Qin and said.

"Don't laugh, don't laugh, mother, eat, I will take care of this matter." Xu Qin immediately comforted Li.

Xu Huizu glanced at Xu Qin and knew that there must be something going on, and that Xu Qin might know something.

After dinner, Xu Huizu called Xu Qin to the study, and Xu Qin made tea for Xu Huizu first.

"Baoer, what's the matter with the price increase of cotton this time?" Xu Huizu took the teacup handed over by Xu Qin and asked.

"Those civil officials want to stop the Weaving Bureau from going overseas for trade. Dad, don't you understand such a simple thing?" Xu Qin sat down with a teacup in his hand and smiled.

Xu Huizu frowned.

"In the past few days, there has been no news about the establishment of a customs office in Nanjing. I guess those civil officials have temporarily given up forcing Your Majesty, but they will not compromise easily. They don't want Your Majesty to get the money.

If you want to stop the overseas trade, then you can’t get the goods from the Weaving Bureau. The goods from the Weaving Bureau alone are not enough. I guess it’s not just the cloth that’s in short supply, but also the porcelain, tea, and everything else that’s preventing the Weaving Bureau from going overseas. "Xu Qin explained to Xu Huizu with a smile.

"Well, will Zhu Di let them go in this way?" Xu Huizu frowned and asked Xu Qin.

"Tsk? Confiscate property? How many properties can he confiscate? No need for reputation? His reputation is already bad enough now, and he has always wanted to clean it up. Why did he dredge the canal? Why did he compile the Yongle Encyclopedia? Why did he fight the Tatars? Isn't it just to prove that he did a better job than Jianwen?
If he touches those merchants, one or two will be fine, there will always be an excuse, but what's the use of one or two? He has no way to deal with the things those civil officials have done. "Xu Qin said with a sneer, looking at Xu Huizu.

Xu Huizu sat there and sighed, then said worriedly: "What about us?"

"We? I will go find Xia Yuanji tomorrow and ask him what he means first. Is he going to force me? If so, don't blame me for being rude!" Xu Qin said with a smile.

"Then isn't that the same as helping Zhu Di?" Xu Huizu said to Xu Qin.

"So I have to go talk to Xia Yuanji and see what he means. Is he going to force me to cooperate with His Majesty? As long as they don't force me, I won't get involved in their affairs." Xu Qin said with a smile. He didn't want to do those thankless tasks. He had already proved his ability in the last incident. Who can he blame if you, Zhu Di, don't value him?

"Well, I don't think we can reach an agreement." Xu Huizu said while sitting there and sighing.

"We have to talk about it. Maybe we can come to an agreement. Xia Yuanji is a smart man." Xu Qin nodded and spoke. In his heart, he also hoped that they could come to an agreement. He didn't have time to cause trouble, not this year!
(End of this chapter)