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The West Garden is filled with pavilions, towers, embroidered windows, distant mountains and nearby water, carved railings and painted thresholds, creating a picturesque garden scene.
Qin Mu's study was very simple, divided into a bright room and a dark room. The inner room in particular only had a few bookshelves, a long couch, and a few chairs.
Apart from pens, ink, paper and inkstone, there were no other rare or valuable items on the desk.
There was only a painting of Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains hanging on the wall; the painting was painted in elegant and smooth ink, with undulating hills, winding paths, fertile rivers, and flat fields. Clouds and mists hid the village, and fishing boats appeared and disappeared in the water. The trees nearby were dense and sparse, and the mountains and streams were deep and far, vividly presenting the early autumn scenery of the Fuchun River area.
When Qin Mu walked into the study, he found a maid holding a rag, standing in front of the painting and admiring it. Perhaps because she was too engrossed, she did not hear his footsteps.
Qin Mu spent most of his time on the battlefield, so he was not familiar with the dozen maids in the mansion, and he didn't pay much attention to them. He casually ordered: "If you want to see it, make me a cup of tea first."
The maid was startled and turned back. Qin Mu asked with a slight exclamation, "Who are you?"
Although he couldn't call out the names of the maids in the house one by one, he had some impression of their general faces. The woman in front of him looked to be in her twenties, petite, and only slightly taller than the fan-like Li Xiangjun.
She had long, thick, soft hair like satin, an unusually fair and delicate face, a pair of slender eyes that looked around with affection, and beautiful and moving waves flowing under her eyebrows that were as curved as distant mountains. Her slightly open nose and tightly closed small lips gave her a decisive and heroic look.
Being stared at by Qin Mu, she was not panicked, she bowed and said, "The maid Liu Yin greets the King of Qin."
"Liu Yin? When did you enter the mansion and where are you from?" Qin Mu frowned slightly.
"I am originally from Wujiang, Suzhou, and I just entered the mansion the day before yesterday..."
"You go down first." Qin Mu interrupted her calmly. He was very dissatisfied with Han Zanzhou. He actually let a servant who had just entered the mansion enter his study alone. Did he know the seriousness of the matter? "After you go out, ask someone to find Han Zanzhou to see me."
"Yes." The maid bowed again. Her smooth forehead and graceful figure like a willow made her look elegant and charming even in her maid's clothes.
"Wait, who asked you to clean the study room just now?" Qin Mu subconsciously looked at her twice more. The age of this woman was like a mystery, which made people unable to see clearly.
From her mature and attractive demeanor, she seemed to be about 26 or 27 years old, but her delicate figure and skin that was as delicate as a finger made her look like a young woman in her twenties.
"Replying to the King of Qin, I am the maidservant of Lady Dong, and I just came here with Lady Dong."
At present, the ranks of Qin's concubines are divided into seven levels, namely, Queen, Princess, Concubine, Zhaoyi, Noble Lady, Beauty, and Selected Concubine. In addition to Queen Yang Zhi, only Dong Xiaowan and Li Xiangjun were given the title of Beauty.
"Xiao Wan? Did she bring you here?" Qin Mu was somewhat confused. He finally guessed who this Liu Yin was. Liu Rushi, no wonder she was so charming, but why did she change her name to Liu Yin? He waved his hand and said, "Come here."
"Yes, King Qin." As Liu Rushi walked over with graceful steps, she felt a little uneasy, but more curious about Qin Mu. She quickly glanced at him and found that his expression was very serious. The black royal robe embroidered with golden dragons made him look more calm and resolute, and his upright sitting posture was full of majesty.
As Liu Rushi approached, she heard Dong Xiaowan's voice coming from outside the door: "Sister Liu..." Dong Xiaowan's voice stopped abruptly the moment she stepped over the threshold.
She had just left for a moment, but when she turned around, she saw Qin Mu sitting in the study. Liu Rushi was nominally just her personal maid, and calling a maid sister was caught by Qin Mu, so Dong Xiaowan was inevitably a little embarrassed.
"King Qin, you are back." She then bowed, and the pearls hanging from the phoenix crown on her bun swayed gently, and her slender waist seemed to be about to break.
Qin Mu nodded, looked at her, then looked at Liu Rushi, and ordered: "Pour me a cup of tea."
Seeing that he didn't care about the address, Dong Xiaowan quickly gave Liu Rushi a look, then walked to the table and added water to the inkstone, preparing to grind ink for him.
After Liu Rushi made a cup of tea, she looked at Dong Xiaowan for help. She had just arrived in this unfamiliar environment and felt a little at a loss.
Dong Xiaowan smiled and gestured for her to go and burn incense, but Liu Rushi didn't know where the spices were, and she didn't dare to ask for fear of disturbing Qin Mu.
Dong Xiaowan pursed her lips and smiled, and simply asked her to come over to grind the ink. She walked to the bookshelf, took out some ambergris from a lacquered gold box, lit it, and put it into a Xuande lion-button cloisonné enamel incense burner.
Ambergris is used to treat dizziness and shortness of breath, and has the effect of refreshing the mind, but it is expensive, selling for 50,000 coins per pound. Qin Mu usually only uses ambergris when reviewing memorials.
He picked up a memorial and saw that it was submitted by the newly appointed Huaiyang Governor Lu Nancun. The memorial stated that a large number of people had fled south. Preliminary statistics showed that the number had reached more than 300,000, and the number was increasing every day.
As winter was approaching, these people were in urgent need of resettlement and relief. The memorial submitted by Lunan Village was to request the court to allocate money, food, clothing and bedding as soon as possible to provide relief to the refugees.
Lu Nancun's memorial included a plan drafted by the cabinet: all refugees were to be assigned to different groups according to their households, and work would be used as relief. During the winter, water conservancy projects would be overhauled in all counties and cities in Huaiyang to prepare for a bumper grain harvest next year.
Qin Mu finished reading the whole thing at a glance, and when he picked up his pen to write his comments, he realized that Liu Rushi hadn't had time to grind the ink yet. "Hurry up," he urged her casually.
"Please forgive me, King Qin." Liu Rushi apologized while speeding up her movements.
Qin Mu found that there was not much fear on her face, and she seemed to be detached from life and death.
Her fingers were slender and round, and looked even more delicate and fair against the vermilion ink strips. Her long nails were transparent. These details showed that she had led a very comfortable life before.
Qin Mu did not hide his gaze and fixed it on her delicate body. She was only slightly taller than Li Xiangjun and equally petite, but perhaps because of her age, she looked fuller; her breasts were also more upright and fuller, swaying slightly as she ground the ink, and her moving curves were drawn in at the waist, outlining a beautiful figure that could be held in one hand.
After she had ground the ink, Qin Mu picked up his pen and wrote his seal on Lu Nancun's memorial. He then asked the eunuch outside the door to take it immediately to Han Zanzhou to copy and archive it, and then sent the original copy with the seal to the Ministry of Revenue.
Qin Mu then picked up the second memorial, which was submitted by Xu Yingjie, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and it mainly reported that Xu Yongshun and others were interested in operating the Longjiang Shipyard.
Qin Mu smiled when he saw it. It seemed that these former dignitaries were so hungry that they even wanted to take over Longjiang Shipyard. It would be a good idea to let these people devote their energy to industry.
In fact, the investment required for Longjiang Shipyard was not very large. With the existing infrastructure, an investment of at most 200,000 taels of silver would be enough. Many wealthy families in the Jiangnan area could come up with this money.
Now that these former dignitaries wanted to take over, Qin Mu decided to rip him off again. The shipyard covers an area of about two miles long and one mile wide. According to the land price in the capital, it would be worth at least one million taels. Forget it, just give him an integer.
In this way, the imperial court would not have to spend a penny on rebuilding the Longjiang Shipyard and would still make a fortune, without having to worry about the cost of custom-making ships in the future.
When Zheng He sailed to the West, the treasure ship that was 44 meters long cost about 4,000 taels to build, of which 3,000 taels were for materials and 1,000 taels were for labor.
Zheng He had sixty-three large treasure ships, which cost about 200,000 taels to build. Including other Fujian ships that cost 300 to 1,000 taels, the total cost was just over 300,000 taels.
By this calculation, one million taels is enough to build three fleets like Zheng He's.
Thinking of the spectacular sight of three invincible fleets dominating the four seas, Qin Mu smiled even more.
Well, in order to make these people more willing to pay the one million taels, Qin Mu decided to give them some unoccupied official positions, so that they could at least get some exposure to the world, and they would work harder in the future.
Qin Mu was busy for more than an hour, and it was already dusk. Dong Xiaowan and Liu Rushi were still waiting outside. Qin Mu stretched and said to Dong Xiaowan, "Wan'er, go and get some hot water. I'm sleepy and need a bath."
"Yes." Dong Xiaowan responded lightly and walked out with Liu Rushi.
When Qin Mu came to the bathroom later, he found that it was Liu Rushi who stayed inside.
She changed into a milky white dress, showing off her charming curves, tender skin and high peaks. It is true that the mountains are charming when I see them, and the mountains are the same when they see me.
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.(To be continued..)
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