My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 173 Mirror
After Xu Qin finished speaking, Xia Yuanji felt a light bulb go off in his head, and then he turned to look at Song Li.

At this moment, Song Li turned his head to look at Xia Yuanji, and both of them had shining eyes.

Xu Qin smiled and said, "So, I really don't know what you are against. What is there to oppose? If the salary of the Trade Bureau increases, can you ask for a salary increase? Maybe you are not short of money, but the officials below are short of money. I think you are also clear about what these officials did when they had no money.

Why don't you take your salary honestly, but instead find ways to engage in corruption?
You are against the establishment of the Trade Bureau and all this. What do you want to do? Is it because the Trade Bureau is controlled by His Majesty, and the money from the Trade Bureau will flow to the army?

You guys want to restrict His Majesty from sending troops to fight. Don't you think too highly of yourselves?"

After Xu Qin finished speaking, he looked at them with a sneer. Sometimes, he found it very difficult to understand that group of civil officials.

Xia Yuanji bowed to Xu Qin and said, "We are indeed stupid and have never thought of this. Regarding the Trade Bureau, the two of us will persuade the other ministers not to submit an impeachment petition. However, since His Majesty has arrested someone this time, can you go to the palace and speak for them?"

"Me?" Xu Qin pointed at himself and asked in surprise.

"Yes! His Majesty will not listen to us now, but he will listen to you, so it may be useful for you to go to the palace to persuade His Majesty at this time." Xia Yuanji nodded and said.

"Don't joke, I can take care of such things. Besides, there is really no problem with those officials. If there is no problem, what are you worried about? Your Majesty, how can you kill innocent people? If there is a problem, why do you save them?" Xu Qin smiled and waved his hands. He didn't want to do such a thing. If Zhu Di knew that he was colluding with the civil officials, it would be troublesome.

Of course, there is no trouble now, but who can say.

"This!" The two hesitated for a moment, thinking about how to convince Xu Qin.

"The matter has come to this point. You don't have to think about begging for mercy. His Majesty has no money. What he wants is money. As long as he gets the money, as for those civil officials, if there is really no problem, I believe His Majesty will not do anything to them. If there is a problem, you don't have to think about saving them. It's impossible." Xu Qin continued to wave his hands and said.

"Yes, but I would like to ask Earl of Haozhou to clarify this question. Will the Ming Dynasty lift the maritime ban in the future?" Xia Yuanji looked at Xu Qin and bowed.

"Of course!" Xu Qin nodded and said with a smile. The maritime ban will definitely be lifted, but who knows whether it will be in a year, ten years, or a hundred years?
"Oh, then how long do you estimate it will take?" Xia Yuanji continued to ask Xu Qin.

"I don't know. I have no say in this matter. Your Majesty will consider it. However, given the current situation of the civil officials, if there is no change, I think it is unlikely that the maritime ban will be lifted. But I don't know how to change it. I guess only you know it. But who is willing to change yourself?" Xu Qin said with a sneer. It is beneficial for the civil officials to collude with businessmen now.

If their collusion is really investigated, many officials in the South will lose their jobs.

"This! Why should we change now?" Xia Yuanji looked at Xu Qin in confusion and asked.

"Why don't we need to change? There are so many things that need to be changed in the Ming Dynasty. Forget it, I don't have time to talk to you so much today. I'm too busy. If you two have nothing to do, please go back. I have to go out too. If it's not an important matter, then don't talk about it." Xu Qin served tea, stared at the two of them and said.

The two men stood up immediately and had to say goodbye to Xu Qin.

After the two of them left, Xu Qin went to the workshop outside the city. As for the affairs of the Trade Bureau, Xu Qin had now learned to be a hands-off boss. For some of the young men who performed well and completed their tasks, Xu Qin began to temporarily appoint them to take charge, evaluate their performance, and see how they did.
Today, Xu Qin started arranging people to make mirrors. Xu Qin wanted to make the mirrors quickly so that the cost would be lower than that of bronze mirrors. Not every citizen can buy bronze mirrors. Bronze mirrors, as the name suggests, are made of copper, and copper is money. If bronze mirrors are shipped out to sea, it means that a large amount of copper has been lost overseas. The Ming Dynasty was originally short of copper.

Moreover, Xu Qin had also thought it through. Even if it was a palm-sized mirror, if it was sold for a hundred coins, it would be a huge profit. In this way, the people of the Ming Dynasty could afford it. It was estimated that any common people with a little money would buy one for their daughter or wife. What woman doesn't love beauty?

The bigger the mirror, the more expensive it is. If the diameter is doubled, the price will be more than ten times higher. If the mirror is placed on the dressing table, Xu Qin is thinking of pricing it at fifty taels of silver.

Throughout the morning, Xu Qin took the Xu family's reliable servants, put on homemade gas masks, and went in to make mirrors.

In one morning, we finished more than ten large pieces, but we were all new and worked very slowly, so there were some flaws, but it didn't matter, we could cross them out later.'

In the afternoon, when the mirrors were made, Xu Qin began to cut them open with bricks and stones. Then he took out the wooden mirror frames that had been made in advance and began to assemble the mirrors. There were dozens of mirrors of different sizes. Xu Qin took them back directly and asked the workers here to continue production.

Xu Qin first came to the courtyard. His mother and concubines were already packing up. Some things had already been moved to the Duke of Wei's mansion. Even his father was helping to direct the packing.

"Mother, aunts, let me show you something nice." Xu Qin entered the living room, followed by several servants carrying the mirrors in.

When Li and the others heard what Xu Qin said, they all looked over curiously. The concubines doted on Xu Qin very much, so they were of course happy to hear what Xu Qin said. Regardless of what it was, as long as it was something Xu Qin gave them, they would be happy. After all, they would be counting on Xu Qin to take care of them in their old age.

"Baoer, what did you bring back?" Li asked first.

At this moment, Xu Qin asked the servants to put the things on the ground, and at the same time picked up a larger mirror and displayed it directly in front of Li.

"Oh, what is this? A mirror? Why is it such a bright mirror, and it reflects so clearly?" Li immediately saw herself in the mirror and was very surprised.

"Mirror?" Upon hearing this, the other four concubines all came over and saw themselves in the mirror.

"Here, there is such a clear mirror, Baoer, how did you make it?" Aunt Wang asked in surprise.

"Here are some more, mother and aunts, five pieces each for each of you. Then I will make some dressing tables for you and embed mirrors on them so that you can see more clearly when you are dressing up." Xu Qin said with a smile.

The four concubines also squatted down, picked up the mirrors, looked at them carefully, and began to discuss.

Even Xu Huizu came over to take a look, and examined it carefully with a mirror, and said, "Is this what your glass workshop made?"

"Yes, Dad, the mirror in my mother's hand is worth five taels of silver. What do you think?" Xu Qin nodded and asked.

"Of course you can. For a bronze mirror this big, fifty taels of silver would not be enough. Baoer, five taels of silver is so cheap, won't you lose money?" Li said happily when she heard it.

The second aunt Qin also asked, "Yes, Baoer, isn't five taels of silver a little cheap? The bronze mirror is very expensive."

Xu Huizu sighed and said, "Is this guy doing business at a loss? I estimate that if you calculate the cost of the mirror in your mother's hand, it is less than 500 coins!"

Xu Qin said proudly: "How can it be so expensive? Not even fifty cents, and that includes the finished frame!"

"Ah!" Li and the four concubines all looked at Xu Qin in shock.

"Mom, do you think it can be sold?" Xu Qin said happily when he saw how proud they were.

"Of course you can. By the way, this small one, the smallest one!" Li said as she took out the smallest piece and put it on her palm.

"One hundred wen. I estimate the cost of the mirror is less than one wen. It's just that the frame is too small, which also costs money. Let's just say it's two wen." Xu Qin said with a smile.

"It's so cheap? And the profit is so high. If that's the case, the women in the capital city would probably have one every single one!" Li and the others were still very surprised.

Xu Huizu said helplessly: "Hey, kid, you are going to make all the old masters in this field lose their jobs."

"There's nothing we can do about it. There aren't probably many experienced masters who can make bronze mirrors. Besides, at most my workshop will give priority to recruiting those experienced masters to work there. Besides, copper is in short supply in the Ming Dynasty. It would be a waste to use it to make bronze mirrors." Xu Qin said indifferently. There was not much pressure in this line of work and there were not many experienced masters.

"Well, okay, just do it according to your own ideas. But as for the Trade Bureau, are you going to give them some to sell overseas?" Xu Huizu said, staring at Xu Qin.

"I don't think I can make it in time. It will take at most ten days before I go out to sea. I can make the mirror in ten days, but not the frame. So, I'll have to do it next time. I will definitely go out to sea next time." Xu Qin shook his head. He originally wanted to catch up with this voyage.

"Well, it's a good idea to use this to earn money overseas." Xu Huizu nodded and said, the profit is huge.

"Bao'er, please take some time to go to Duke Dingguo's Mansion tomorrow and send some to Jinxi. Also, send some to your future mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. You have to go there. Also, go to the palace and send some to your aunt and the concubines." Li thought of this and said to Xu Qin.

"Can you go to the palace?" Xu Qin didn't want to go to the palace, and even more so didn't want to see his aunt. Every time the queen saw him, she would pinch him, which made him very depressed.

(End of this chapter)