Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 542 Team
Xie Yuyan took a sip of tea and looked at Zhao Zhongliang.

"Are your injuries healed?"

Zhao Zhongliang said, "Thanks to Lord Wang's help, I'm all better now."

A smile unconsciously appeared on Xie Yuyan's face.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhongliang became even more certain of his guess. Therefore, the eldest daughter-in-law didn't need anyone else in the court; as long as Lord Wang was there, that was enough.

Since that's the case, Madam must know more about what's happening in the Ministry of Justice prison than he does, which is why she sent Liu Erlang to deliver his food today, giving him a chance to discover these things... Unfortunately, Liu Erlang is useless.

No one else could enlighten Liu Erlang. To put it bluntly, it's just a matter of understanding the unspoken rules. Only when everyone understands this can things be done better. It's clear that Liu Erlang still needs a lot of practice.

Zhao Zhongliang snapped out of his thoughts and said directly, "I want to take the militia back as soon as possible and try to increase the number of militia members by half before Madam sends the porcelain to the market."

Xie Yuyan said, "Should we find someone from the nearby villages?"

Zhao Zhongliang nodded and said, "Besides that, there are some refugees in the mountains. Since last year, I have been regularly providing them with rice and grain. The reason I haven't included them in the militia is that I'm afraid that if there are too many militia members, it will attract the attention of the imperial court. If Liu Yigui's caravan is afraid to use us because of this, then it will be a loss."

“Now that the market is open and Madam wants to open trade routes, it is only right that we hire more people.”

Xie Yuyan asked, "The imperial court is implementing the Baojia system. How is it going in your area? How many large Bao (ten households make up one Bao, five Bao make up one large Bao, and ten large Bao make up one Du Bao)?"

Zhao Zhongliang knew about this. The new policy had been implemented since the year before last, but it was greatly compromised when it reached the grassroots level: "The daily drills of the village guards would take up the farming season, and no one wanted to go. So the government selected some powerful local families to be village heads and made them forcibly impose the quotas. As a result, the farmers had to bribe the village heads... In short, it caused widespread resentment among the people."

Xie Yuyan said, "If I were to put you in charge of the head of the village, could you do it well? Not only could your security force be included, but it would also be much easier for you to recruit people."

"They could complete the corvée labor assigned by the imperial court, and also have access to weapons and receive formal training."

Under the Baojia system, as long as the training and patrol duties were carried out on time, Zhao Zhongliang could continue to lead the Baoding team to protect the caravan at other times.

Du Baozheng was not a government official and did not receive a salary, but he could accumulate reputation and connections. Zhao Zhongliang's "Bao Ding Team" protecting the caravan became, in a sense, a real Bao Ding Team.

Having figured this out, Zhao Zhongliang said decisively, "I can do it."

Xie Yuyan handed an account book to Zhao Zhongliang: "This is the money I recently raised for the militia team. Take it with you when you leave. Everyone who joins the militia team will receive a wage. Don't worry about spending money, but you need to get the team up and running as soon as possible."

Holding the ledger, Zhao Zhongliang felt a surge of excitement.

Xie Yuyan said, "We also need to keep an eye on the people behind the Third Manager."

Zhao Zhongliang realized that the eldest daughter-in-law's arrangement was a way to deal with them. By expanding the militia, they wouldn't be subject to the control of the government and would have a force that they could deploy at any time.

“If it weren’t for our familiar Xu Duzhi, we would have had a hard time taking down the Third Manager on the Bian River this time,” Xie Yuyan said. “Xu En isn’t always available. Next time we face him, we might not need to ask anyone else.”

Zhao Zhongliang replied, "I will definitely do my best."

Xie Yuyan's most important task right now is to arrange this matter properly. Wang Yan had already thought of these things for her, which is why he brought Zhao Zhongliang out so quickly.

Even without Zhao Zhongliang, Xie Yuyan could still manage to subdue the militia, but she couldn't allocate her energy in that way. Doing everything herself is not what a leader should do.

"Go and rest for a while," Xie Yuyan said. "Let Sun Changchun and the others take you to the perfume shop."

Zhao Zhongliang stood up, bowed to Xie Yuyan, and then left the room.

Just as Xie Yuyan was about to take a break, Yang Xiaoshan came in and said, "Among the merchants who left earlier, two have returned and want to sign a new contract with Madam."

In less than two hours, someone had figured it out. That's truly remarkable.

Xie Yuyan said, "Bring them here."

The two merchants stood before Xie Yuyan again, bowed, and then one of them raised his head and said, "Before signing the contract, I have only one question for you, Master Xing."

Xie Yuyan gestured for him to continue.

The merchant asked, "Does Master Xing think that the price of porcelain will be lower next year than it is now?"

Xie Yuyan smiled and said, "Not entirely. I just think that the price of the porcelain you are going to buy in the contract will be lower next year."

The contracts for purchasing porcelain all specified the firing temperature and quality. The two merchants looked at each other, and Xie Xinglao meant that more porcelain of higher quality would be fired next year.

Is this possible?
Perhaps, what time is it now? The porcelain kilns have just begun using coal.

Think of the coal kilns in Daming Prefecture, and the reliquary that was rumored to be miraculous...

This isn't just something I said casually.

Therefore, the new contract states that if merchants purchase porcelain again next year, the porcelain shop can reduce the price by half a percent, or sell it at next year's market price.

With many new shapes being produced, who will still buy old porcelain? At least for a period of time, fewer people will buy it, and prices will definitely drop.

“Mr. Xing,” the merchant said without further hesitation, “we’ll get a new contract.”

They hadn't thought things through when they came, but as Lady Xie said, it was better to choose her than to trust Han Si, since she was the new head of the company. Now that they understood everything, there was no need to delay any longer.

The two merchants signed the contract without hesitation, without daring to ask about the perfume business. After leaving the South City Wharf, they agreed to leave Bianjing together early the next morning.

They didn't want to get involved in this mess anymore.

After the two left, Xie Yuyan instructed Yang Xiaoshan: "If anyone comes looking for me again, tell them I have other business to attend to and that they should go to the porcelain shop first thing tomorrow morning."

If we leave them out in the cold, they'll get even more anxious.

Xie Yuyan closed the ledger in her hand: "Let's go take a look at the kitchen." She suddenly became interested and wanted to give some pointers on a few dishes.

Then Yang Xiaoshan will send it to the Ministry of Justice.

Wang Yan has been working tirelessly to get Zhao Zhongliang released as soon as possible, so she should give him some compensation.

……

That evening, Xie Yizhi received a letter describing the current state of the porcelain business.

He held the paper over the oil lamp and lit it, his face ashen.

Where did Xie Yuyan get so many tricks up his sleeve? He made all the merchants panic.

Xie Yizhi took a deep breath. Xie Yuyan and Wang Yan had close ties, and Xie Yuyan even ran a dyeing workshop with Abbess Jingyuan of Ciyun Nunnery. Abbess Jingyuan was one of the Empress Dowager's people.

It was precisely because of these people behind Xie that he couldn't act rashly and had to temporarily leave the matter to others. These people weren't usually so ineffective; why did their methods become useless when facing Xie?