The Young Dragon of the Ming Dynasty: Bound to an Industrial Blueprint from the Start

"On my upcoming northern tour, those roads and carriages," Zhu Di added, "I will personally see whether they are truly effective."

Zhu Zhanji knelt down and bowed, saying, "Your grandson wishes Your Majesty a safe journey."

Zhu Di said nothing more.

He turned his horse around, spurred it on, and with a long neigh, the horse galloped north.

The dragon flag fluttered in the wind, and a large army followed.

Dust rose up, obscuring the sky and the sun.

Zhu Zhanji knelt on the spot until the bright yellow dragon flag became a small dot in the distance and disappeared into the clear autumn horizon.

Zhang gently helped him up: "Get up, the ground is cold."

Zhu Zhanji stood up and patted the dust off his knees.

"Mother," he suddenly spoke, "from now on, will I be discussing matters with Grandfather more often?"

Zhang was taken aback, unsure how to respond.

Zhu Zhanji did not ask further questions.

He simply looked up at the northern sky and whispered:

"Then the child needs to study more books."

September 27th, the third day after the Northern Inspection Army left.

Beiping City returned to its former tranquility.

The autumn wind swept through the streets and alleys, blowing down the golden leaves of the locust trees, which rustled on the bluestone slabs.

In the Listening Snow Pavilion in the backyard of Mingyue Tower, however, a lively scene unfolded.

Qian Lai got up early and personally cleaned the pavilion until it was spotless.

Freshly brewed Longjing tea was laid out on a long sandalwood table, along with four plates of pastries arranged in a pleasing manner: jujube paste pastry, osmanthus cake, almond cookies, and cloud cake, all custom-made from the most famous pastry shop in Beiping.

At the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), people gradually arrived.

Guo Sheng arrived first, wearing a slightly worn blue robe, carrying a stack of account books in his arms, his face calm.

He nodded to Qian Lai at the door, then walked straight to the left side of the long table and sat down, neatly stacking the account books in front of him.

Sun San, Wu Langzhong, and Lin Xiuniang came together.

The three of them emerged from the workshop in the back building, still carrying a faint scent of wine and herbs.

Lin Xiuniang was clutching a small bundle in her hand, which contained samples of the perfume she had been experimenting with these past few days.

Finally, a small sedan chair made of blue cloth arrived.

The sedan curtain was lifted, and Chun Tao got off first, then helped a small figure to the ground.

Zhu Zhanji was dressed in a plain white silk shirt today, with only a jade hairpin in his hair, looking no different from a child from an ordinary wealthy family.

However, those eyes swept over everyone in the room as he entered, and he nodded slightly.

"Master," Qian Lai greeted him.

Zhu Zhanji waved his hand and walked to the head of the table, where Chuntao helped him sit down on a raised chair.

"Please sit down," he said, his voice still childish.

The four people sat down, and all their eyes fell on the four-year-old child.

Zhu Zhanji did not speak immediately, but looked at Guo Sheng: "Steward Guo, let's talk about the accounts first."

Guo Sheng opened the top ledger, speaking steadily and clearly:

"When the workshop was handed over to Mingyue Workshop, the account had a balance of 1,200 taels of silver, 300 catties of copper, 5,000 catties of refined charcoal, and 2,000 catties of base liquor in stock. This is the inventory at the time of the handover. Master Sun checked it and had no objections."

"In the following twenty days, the expenses of Mingyue Workshop were as follows: For Master Sun, three new distillation stills were cast, using 180 catties of copper, and five craftsmen were hired. Three months' wages were paid in advance, totaling 240 taels of silver; For Doctor Wu, twelve kinds of herbs were purchased, totaling 85 taels of silver; For Madam Lin, four new female workers were hired, and raw materials such as dried flowers and beeswax were purchased, totaling 120 taels of silver."

"Regarding income: the prepayment of 500 taels for the Shen family's flower dew order has been received; the first batch of Jingchuang dew payments from the Ministry of War, totaling 300 taels of silver, has been disbursed by the Ministry of Revenue and will arrive within three days; Zuixian brew has not yet been put on sale and there is no income at the moment."

He closed the ledger and concluded, "Currently, there are 1,157 taels of silver in the account, and the materials are valued at about 500 taels. If we don't consider future expenses, it will barely last for three months."

Qian Lai frowned slightly: "Will the Ministry of Revenue withhold the funds from the Ministry of War?"

"Scholar Yang has already spoken to them, so it shouldn't happen," Guo Sheng said.

"But the Ministry of Revenue's allocation of funds has always been slow. It's best if the funds arrive within three days, but it's common for them to be delayed for ten days or half a month."

Zhu Zhanji nodded, offering no comment.

He turned to Sun San: "Master Sun, when does the work on that batch of cars from the Ministry of Works start?"

Sun San immediately sat up straight: "Reporting to the master, the official document from the Ministry of Works has arrived, and the material list has also been sent. Elm wood, jujube wood, iron, copper, cowhide, everything is clearly listed."

I've already had Lao Wang check the market prices. The materials allocated by the Ministry of Works are 20% cheaper than the market price, but we have to go pick them up ourselves, which is a hassle and a lot of running around.

He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket: "This is the schedule outlined by Xiao Renlu. First, we'll make a model to confirm that the steering shaft is usable, then we'll start the actual material production. If all goes well, we can produce a prototype in a month and a half."

Zhu Zhanji took it and examined it carefully.

The handwriting on the paper was crooked, but the steps were clear: model, material selection, processing, assembly, and debugging; each item was marked with an estimated number of days.

"Okay." He handed the paper back to Sun San. "I trust Master Sun to handle things. If you encounter any difficulties, just let me know."

Sun San agreed, but a hint of hesitation appeared on his face.

Zhu Zhanji saw this and said, "Master Sun, speak frankly."

Sun San rubbed his hands together and whispered, "Master, I have an idea, but I don't know if I should say it."

"speak."

"The vehicles the Ministry of Works ordered were made according to the client's blueprints, but I'm wondering if the methods in those blueprints could be applied to other places?"

Zhu Zhanji's eyes lit up: "For example?"

"For example, horse-drawn carriages," Sun San said. "I've heard that those horse-drawn carriages in the city that haul goods can't even travel a few dozen miles a day, and their axles are always breaking down."

"If we could install the company's steering shaft and add shock absorbers, wouldn't it be able to run faster and lift more?"

He spoke with increasing confidence: "And then there are farm tools. When you plow the fields in the village, the plowshare gets dull and has to be replaced, which wastes iron. If we could make a plowshare that can be disassembled, we could just replace the plowshare when it gets dull, instead of replacing the whole plow..."

Physician Wu couldn't help but interject, "Master Sun, you're quick-witted."

Sun San chuckled, "I'm just speculating."

Zhu Zhanji listened attentively, then turned to Qian Lai: "Manager Qian, what do you think?"

Qian Lai pondered for a moment: "Master Sun's idea is good, but we have limited manpower. The work at the workshop is already busy enough. If we want to expand further..."

He suddenly understood something and looked at Zhu Zhanji: "What does Master intend to do?"

"What I'm thinking is," Zhu Zhanji said slowly, "that we can't just rely on the court for our livelihood."

He gestured for Chun Tao to spread out a piece of paper, took out a charcoal pencil from his sleeve, and began to draw while speaking:

"Bright Moon Workshop will be divided into three parts from now on."

"The first thing, under Master Sun's guidance, is to specialize in work for the imperial court, specifically the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War. In the future, there may be other ministries as well. Whatever they need, we will do. This is the foundation of our livelihood, and we cannot abandon it."

"The second part, led by Dr. Wu, focuses on the in-depth development of wound cleansing lotion, including treatment, frostbite prevention, and disinfection. We can also slowly try out the 'miasma-repelling water' and 'rust-preventing oil' that Dr. Wu had previously thought of."

"The third one is with Madam Lin. She specializes in making floral perfume balms. The Shen family's orders need to be delivered on time, and we also need to develop new products. We can give the 'body fragrance balm' that Madam Lin mentioned before a try."