My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 299 Chemical Dyes
Su Ze then remembered that his wife had several dowry properties outside the capital, but he had never visited them.

Last year, Zhao Lingxian was supposed to visit the estate, but she was pregnant and had to give up.

Since autumn, his wife had been trying to take Su Ze on a tour of the village, but it had been postponed until now due to Su Ze's busy official duties.

Thinking of this, Su Ze also felt indebted and quickly said:
"Then I'll leave the whole day to you, my lady, and obey your every command!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Lingxian's face lit up with joy. She then instructed her maid and accountant to prepare the relevant account books and documents, and the two of them boarded a carriage and headed out of the city.

To be honest, Su Ze didn't know how many properties his family owned after getting married.

All he knew was that the Zhao family had prepared a large dowry for Zhao Lingxian's marriage.

Su Ze was also uninterested in financial management, and he handed over all the dividends he received from the Eastern Palace to his wife to manage.

However, Su Ze also knew that it was not easy for Zhao Lingxian to manage the entire mansion.

Managing such a large mansion requires considerable effort, and maintaining this luxurious mansion also costs a lot of silver dollars.

Since their marriage, Zhao Lingxian has never had to worry about household affairs, and Su Ze's friends have all praised her for her skillful management of the household.

Today is a day off, and carriages are queuing up to leave the city.

Looking at the long queue ahead, Su Ze said helplessly:

“It’s always so crowded when we leave the city during our holidays, no wonder some officials have petitioned to demolish the city walls.”

Zhao Lingxian quickly said:
"If this city wall is torn down, what will happen to the defense of the capital?"

Su Ze smiled and said:

"How could we possibly demolish it? Even if there's no war, this city wall still serves other purposes."

Zhao Lingxian thought for a moment and said, "My husband is talking about collecting taxes, isn't he?"

Su Ze looked at his wife, surprised that his wife could come up with a use for the city wall so quickly.

Zhao Lingxian said:
“The commercial tax in Shuntian Prefecture has been tightened recently, and the farmhands outside the city are all complaining that they have to pay taxes on goods brought into the city.”

Su Ze frowned and asked:

"Is the amount being collected excessive? Or are there officials levying exorbitant taxes?"

Zhao Lingxian replied:
"It's not a matter of how many or how few. There are just too many tax checkpoints outside the city. Our family's servants have to go through several tax checkpoints to enter the city."

“If you queue for half a day for each tax card, the whole day will be gone.”

Su Ze looked at the long queue and it took him quite a while to get to his carriage.

The officials of Shuntian Prefecture conducted a simple inspection. Since he was dressed as an official, they quickly checked him and confirmed that he was not carrying any goods, so they let Su Ze leave the city.

"parking."

Su Ze ordered the car to stop and watched the flow of people entering and leaving the capital from near the city gate, as well as the officials checking, registering, and collecting taxes.

Sure enough, when the civil service examination was first implemented, things like "extortion and bribery" were still rare. At this time, the ranks of officials were undoubtedly much more motivated and pure than those of the old system.

Of course, how long such good governance can be maintained depends on other factors as well.

The administration in the early Ming Dynasty was also very clean and honest. In addition to the strict laws in the early Ming Dynasty, there was also room for promotion for officials.

Now that a six-rank official system is in place, officials can see opportunities for promotion, so naturally no one is willing to give up their future prospects for a little bit of benefit.

But who knows what will happen in the future.

The officialdom is a pyramid structure, with fewer and fewer positions available as you go higher.

Better positions will inevitably be filled gradually, and when that time comes, those low-level officials who have no hope of promotion will start to have other ideas.

This is where oversight bodies come into play.

Currently, the congestion in the capital is not a problem of poor governance, but rather a result of the excessive number of people in the capital.

This city, the largest of its time, required a massive amount of resources to maintain its operation. In addition, as the capital was the trade center of the north, overcrowding was to be expected.

However, such long queues are already affecting normal business activities.

The Su family's carriage continued on its way, and not far along, they came across another tax checkpoint.

When the officials came to inspect, there was no attempt to obstruct or solicit bribes; they simply checked the documents and let the people pass.

But this one tax checkpoint slowed the carriage down again. After passing three tax checkpoints, a full hour had passed and the carriage had only traveled less than ten miles.

"Do we need so many tax cards?"

Su Ze said somewhat angrily.

His wife, Zhao Lingxian, comforted him:

“My husband, these tax cards aren’t making things difficult for us. They’re mainly for catching those who evade taxes.”

The tax card was designed by the Ministry of Revenue. To avoid double taxation, the Ministry of Revenue designed it so that after paying taxes at any tax card within Shuntian Prefecture, one could obtain a tax payment receipt.

With this certificate, merchants can pass through other tax gates and be exempt from taxes.

Once the goods enter the capital, the tax collectors will check the tax payment certificate and the goods again. After confirming that everything is correct, they will take back the certificate and stamp the goods with a tax payment stamp, allowing them to be sold in the capital.

"But why set up so many tax cards?"

Zhao Lingxian said:
"According to the villagers, tax evasion is still too serious, and the tax authorities can't complete their tasks, which is why they keep setting up checkpoints to crack down on smuggling."

Now Su Ze understood how Shuntian Prefecture's monthly commercial tax revenue was increasing, and how the situation was described as "very promising."

However, this situation is also quite detrimental to business activities.

Bureaucratic systems are made up of people, and people get tired and slack off at times.

Under prolonged high pressure, the system will gradually collapse, or corruption will breed to compensate for the hard work.

This is only possible during the period of benefit from the reform of new officials, but Shuntian Prefecture cannot recruit new officials indefinitely.

We finally arrived at our own estate.

The head of the manor and his servants lined up carefully to welcome Su Ze's carriage.

After getting off the carriage, the wife put on a completely different face, coldly sweeping her gaze over the head of the manor, which made the head of the manor, who had come as part of the Zhao family's dowry, tremble all over.

Su Ze had met this Zhao Zhuangtou at the end of last year when he came to the manor to deliver the farm produce.

At that time, Su Ze thought that Zhao Zhuangtou was an honest and simple farmer, and his wife was very polite to him.

Su Ze had also done some research on the way here. The Su family owns about three estates outside the capital. This estate is neither the largest nor the closest to the capital, but his wife came here first.

Seeing his wife's attitude just now, it seems there's something wrong with this Zhao Zhuangtou.

As expected, the wife sat down in the estate and had her personal maid bring the account books to begin checking the accounts.

Su Ze secretly took out a [lie detector leaf] from the system's inventory and stuffed it under his tongue.

Zhao Lingxian asked questions about the problems in the accounts, mostly about the reduced production of the farm, but this Zhao farm manager always managed to come up with a reason.

Although Zhao Lingxian had made many preparations, the head of the Zhao family was a cunning old fox. In addition, Zhao Lingxian was a well-bred young lady and did not really understand farming. After a series of questions and answers, he failed to find any clues.

Seeing his wife's discouragement, Su Ze put down his teacup, took the account book from her, and began asking questions again. This time, Su Ze asked questions about the parts that the "lie detector leaf" had indicated were lies.

This leaf is quite magical; it releases a sweet scent when the person lying is lying.

Su Ze pressed him with several questions that were clearly lies, and sure enough, Zhao Zhuangtou, who had been calm just moments before, began to show signs of panic.

Su Ze, of course, failed to get the truth out of him, but the expressions of the servants in the hall clearly changed.

Su Ze looked at the servants and called a few of them over to answer questions, all of which were related to the accounts just now.

After asking around, Su Ze dismissed Zhao Zhuangtou and the servants, then spoke to his wife:
"Of those people, only Zhao Chengda was the most honest; the rest were all colluding with the village head."

"But Zhao Cheng knows the least, probably because the head of the estate is always on guard against him."

Zhao Lingxian looked at her husband in shock and said:

"How did you know, my husband? This Zhao Cheng was planted in the manor by me, so the manor manager is very wary of him."

"But Zhao Yuan wasn't entirely lying. There was also dissatisfaction with the head of the estate in his words. We can start by targeting him."

Su Ze then looked at his wife and said:
"You should already know what Zhao Zhuangtou has embezzled from the estate, right? Just send him to the authorities."

Zhao Lingxian bit her lip and said:

“Zhao Zhuangtou is an elder in the family. If we deal with him casually, there will be gossip in the household.”

“I also want to give him a chance to confess. If he tells the truth today, the worst that can happen is that he will be transferred to a retirement home.”

Su Ze did not comment on his wife's actions, as managing a household and governing a government office are different.

Managing a large family requires both legal principles and human considerations. If the head of the family is perceived as too harsh, things will not go well.

However, not only did Zhao Zhuangtou refuse to confess, but he also colluded with other villagers to lie, which meant he failed to seize the opportunity.

Zhao Lingxian made up her mind and called Zhao Yuan, whom Su Ze had mentioned, in alone.

This time, Su Ze played the bad cop and Zhao Lingxian played the good cop, using both threats and appeasement, and Zhao Yuan quickly revealed everything that had happened at the manor.

"Madam! Master! These things were all done by the head of the estate; this scoundrel has nothing to do with it!"

Su Ze was also a little angry after hearing this. In addition to exploiting the tenants and raising the rent privately, Zhao Zhuangtou had also sold the good seeds cultivated in Su Ze's manor to others, while planting inferior seeds in his own manor.

Because the farm's output was unrelated to the farm manager, Zhao, the farm manager, caused the entire farm to suffer a poor harvest this year just for a little money from selling seeds.

He was greedy for big money and small money alike; he even sold the lamp oil and charcoal allocated by the government.

With witnesses present, physical evidence was quickly uncovered. Seeing that he was about to be implicated, Zhao Zhuangtou tried to rally the other corrupt villagers to resist.

However, the guards who accompanied Su Ze were not just for show; they quickly subdued Zhao Zhuangtou.

After being captured, Zhao Zhuangtou repeatedly kowtowed and shouted:

"Grandma, spare me! Uncle, spare me! I'll never dare to do it again!"

This time, Zhao Lingxian did not soften her heart, but instead ordered her servants to take the group of people to the Shuntian Prefecture government office.

Given Su Ze's influence, the Shuntian Prefecture government will surely handle this case quickly, and Su Ze won't need to worry about anything else.

The family boarded the carriage again, and Zhao Lingxian was visibly downcast.

Su Ze said:

“My wife, you don’t need to blame yourself too much. These farms are too far from the city, and I’m usually busy with government affairs, which has emboldened these scoundrels.”

Zhao Lingxian said with shame:
“My husband is busy in the court, but I can’t even take care of this little business at home. It is only my husband who can keep these villains in check.”

Zhao Lingxian thought for a moment and then said:
"My lord, I want to sell this estate."

"sell away?"

“A few days ago, Mrs. Shen came to visit us and expressed her desire to open a clothing store in the capital.”

"A clothing store?"

Zhao Lingxian said:
"This is a type of shop that appeared in Jiangnan. They sell ready-made clothes, and of course, the prices are relatively cheap. They are mainly made of cotton fabric."

"Madam Shen's family is a major cotton merchant family in Jiangnan, and they are now preparing to open a cotton mill in the north,"

Su Ze then remembered that after Shen Shixing became the Zhigu Military Commissioner, he left his family in the capital.

Zhigu was not far from the capital, which was even more prosperous.

Shen Shixing's wife would often visit Su Ze's residence. A few days ago, the two of them even organized a charity event to donate winter clothes, together with several noblewomen from the capital.

Of course, these officials' families are not really doing charity work when they participate in the event; it's more of a social activity.

The donated winter clothes were probably not knitted by the officials' families themselves, but more than 500 pieces of winter clothing were still donated in several events.

These clothes were sent to the front lines of Jiubian by the Ministry of War, which did alleviate the shortage of winter clothing in Jiubian.

The wife added, "The cotton cloth is supplied by the Shen family, but the shop's female workers also need to spend a lot of money. Moreover, according to Mrs. Shen, cotton clothes need to be dyed to sell at a good price, which requires opening a dye shop."

Su Ze asked:

"Why?"

Hearing her husband's interest, Zhao Lingxian launched into a long explanation:

"Cotton is not as high-end as silk; it can only fetch a good price if it is dyed properly."

Su Ze said:

"Why not just sell coarse cloth clothes?"

“My lord is joking. Ordinary people buy cloth and make their own clothes. They don’t spend money to buy ready-made clothes from outside.”

That's true. The textile industry was developed in the original timeline, which led to everyone buying clothes. In reality, for decades, most ordinary families bought fabric and made their own clothes.

But his wife's words gave Su Ze an idea.

As commercial activities increased, the income of the people in the capital also grew, and they naturally pursued a better life.

Since silk is unaffordable, many families buy dyed cotton fabric to make new clothes for the New Year.

Su Ze also remembered several dye formulas.

In modern history, the most famous chemical dye is Prussian blue.

This dye was used on Prussian military uniforms, hence the name Prussian Blue, and became even more famous because of the Prussian army.

The formula for Prussian blue is actually quite simple. The earliest Prussian blue was made by mixing cow blood with wood ash and then adding a ferric chloride solution.

The Ming Dynasty can reliably supply all three of these raw materials.

Compared to indigo extracted from plants, chemical dyes have a better coloring effect and are less prone to fading after washing. Therefore, Prussian blue became very popular in the civilian sector after its emergence.

Since his wife wanted to open a dye shop, Su Ze naturally wanted to support her. He said:
"I have a dye recipe that you can try, my wife."

(End of this chapter)