GBP Chapter 1228 It must be those two bastards plotting against us behind our backs!
Chapter 1228 It must be those two bastards plotting against us behind our backs!
Li Shanchang stared blankly at Yang Shaofeng, asking with a bewildered expression, "You yourself have no idea how to compete for people between industry and agriculture, and you even went so far as to deceive your superiors into going out to see the world. Now you're using this to make things difficult for me?"
Is this something a human being could do?
Yang Shaofeng nodded earnestly and said, "That's right. If I could handle this, why would I need to ask Han Guogong?"
Li Shanchang sighed, then suddenly took off his official hat, pointed to his already gleaming head, and said, "Then I beg you, Your Highness, please have pity on me, okay?"
Yang Shaofeng pursed his lips, took off his official hat, pointed to his hair and said, "Lord Han is joking again - since you don't have many hairs left to lose anyway, you might as well lose them all cleanly, so that my thick, black hair can stay for a few more years."
Seeing that Li Shanchang's gaze was gradually turning unfriendly, Yang Shaofeng quickly added, "Either the Duke of Han will lose his hair for me, or I will dump this mess on Brother Qi."
Li Shanchang stood there stunned, muttering to himself, "Did you hear what this person said?"
"If you can't solve this problem, do you think Brother Qi can?"
"Or rather, you think that by throwing this to Brother Qi, I can solve the problem for him?"
Yang Shaofeng chuckled twice and said, "Actually, if the Duke of Han agrees, you'll have to handle this matter. If you don't agree, your father-in-law will end up handling it with you."
Upper rank?
Li Shanchang's eyes lit up immediately.
Yes, I can't solve this problem.
But there's always someone who rises to the top, isn't there?
Just like Yang the Madman said, whether I accept this unfortunate task or not, it will ultimately fall on my shoulders.
Why not just admit it directly and then drag the person in power down with you?
Anyway, he was a monk before he came to power, so going bald again isn't a big deal.
While pondering the Emperor Zhu's hair in his heart, Li Shanchang looked at Yang Shaofeng and said, "Alright! I'll agree to your request, Your Highness. I'll shed a few more hairs for you, and in return, you should help Wang Guangyang and Yang Siyi solve some problems so they won't bother me. What do you say?"
Yang Shaofeng extended his palm. "A gentleman's word?"
Li Shanchang stretched out his palm and struck, "A swift whip!"
The commotion caused by Yang Shaofeng and Li Shanchang quickly attracted the attention of Heizhima Tangyuan, Liu Bowen, Yang Siyi, and others.
Black Sesame Dumpling looked at Yang Shaofeng suspiciously, then at Li Shanchang, and asked, "Who are you and the Duke of Han plotting against this time?"
Yang Shaofeng immediately shook his head and said, "I am a well-known honest man, how could I possibly scheme against others?"
Li Shanchang added, "That's right. The Prince Consort promised this old minister that he would help those two old scoundrels, Yang Siyi and Wang Guangyang, to handle a whole host of matters, including taxes, mining, and workshops. He didn't scheme against anyone at all."
Black Sesame Dumpling immediately became wary and looked at Yang Shaofeng, saying, "You're not here for my little brother, are you?"
Yang Shaofeng said with a dark face, "Your subject did not plot against His Highness the Crown Prince!"
Seeing that Heizhi Tangyuan still looked suspicious, Yang Shaofeng said again, "What I just talked to the Duke of Han about was the matter of competing for people in industry and agriculture."
This time, the black sesame dumplings were completely bewildered.
By the way, aren't we all here to watch bicycles?
The urgent report just delivered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard says that a large iron mine has been discovered in Yunlong County, Yunnan Province.
These things don't seem to have much to do with the issue of industry and agriculture competing for people, do they?
Just as Heizhi Tangyuan was pondering this, Li Shanchang stroked his beard and said, "Your Highness, this old minister was just thinking. If the Yunnan Provincial Administration Commission can discover the Yunlong Iron Mine, then could iron mines also be found in other places?"
"The more iron ore there is, the more manpower is needed. A single mine may require several thousand or even tens of thousands of people."
"Not to mention Xinming Island, which the Prince Consort has mentioned several times before. It is full of iron mines of all sizes."
"Given the current demand for steel in our Great Ming Dynasty, we would probably need hundreds, even thousands or tens of thousands of iron ore mines to meet our needs."
"If we calculate based on the fact that each iron mine requires a thousand able-bodied men, then there is a shortage of ten million able-bodied men."
"..."
Li Shanchang quickly confused the black sesame dumplings.
However, Li Shanchang did not intend to let go of the black sesame dumplings. Instead, he said with a bitter face, "Iron mines need manpower, and iron smelting requires high-quality coking coal, which means that coal mines also need a lot of manpower."
"Plus, there are all sorts of other miscellaneous workshops..."
"Unless the population of our Great Ming can increase tenfold, it really won't be enough."
The more Black Sesame Dumpling listened, the more confused she became. Suddenly, she looked up at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "In our Great Ming Dynasty, one ding (a unit of land measurement) is now fifteen mu (another unit of land measurement), right?"
Yang Shaofeng nodded, and Hei Sesame Tangyuan continued, "Our Great Ming Dynasty now has more than 70 million, nearly 80 million people, isn't that right?"
"If it increases tenfold, that would be a full 88,000 people."
"Assuming half of these are men, that's 400 million multiplied by 15 mu, totaling 600 million mu. One qing is 100 mu, so 600 million mu is 60 million qing—our Great Ming doesn't seem to have that much land, does it?"
……
"Achoo!"
An unexpected sneeze made Emperor Zhu unconsciously twist his body—assuming Emperor Zhu wasn't riding a bicycle, and the front wheel of the bicycle wasn't in the mud, then the sneeze would have been just a simple sneeze.
The problem was that when Emperor Zhu sneezed, the front wheel of the bicycle was still in the mud. Even the slightest change in force was enough to make the bicycle lose its balance and fall to the ground.
In Ningyang dialect, it's called "pie jiao zi" (the "jiao" here is pronounced "jue").
The only saving grace was that Emperor Zhu was, after all, a seasoned emperor who had fought many battles on horseback. Just as his bicycle was about to fall over, Emperor Zhu nimbly braced himself with his legs on the dry ground outside the mud pit.
Then, the entire examination room fell silent.
In order to ensure that Emperor Zhu could pass the exam on his first try, no water was poured in the examination hall for the past two days, and the so-called mud pits were almost completely dry.
Even so, how could this old man still "walk on his feet"?
Empress Ma, who had already passed the test, went to greet Emperor Zhu from afar, looked him up and down, and asked, "What happened? You were riding just fine, why did you suddenly sway like that?"
Emperor Zhu touched his nose, then said with a dark face, "I just sneezed suddenly and didn't control the force properly—I think those two bastards are plotting against me again!"
Empress Ma glanced at Emperor Zhu and said, "What do you mean by 'scheming against you behind your back again'? When have they ever not schemed against you? And when have they ever not done so openly and honestly?"
Upon hearing Empress Ma's words, Emperor Zhu's face darkened even further.
What I'm saying is, is there still a good person in Ningyang County?
What kind person would deliberately create a mud pit during a bicycle test?
And what are those two bastards plotting against us behind our backs?