The five words "mastery of eight-part essays" really hit Zhang Chen's soft spot. He didn't know how Zhu Er learned martial arts from the martial arts instructor appointed by the emperor. He only knew that he learned relatively easily in the classes at Banshan Hall every day, but he was dying to learn the eight-part essay training given to him by the old Hanlin every three days!
He didn't want to touch the topic, the theme, or the beginning of the speech at all... He just wanted to get rid of the standard essay! Princess Yongping, a beautiful lady, why would she prefer eight-part essays to poetry? Poetry is easy to remember, at least it is much easier to recite a poem than an eight-part essay! What a weird temper!
"Young Master, can you not bring this up?" Without mentioning the eight-legged essay, we are still teacher and student...
Seeing Zhang Chen complaining but still sitting back down, Zhang Shou said with a smile, "I'm not worried about the group of people from Jiuzhangtang going to Xuanda, because Wang Dayin is a man of integrity and ability, and most importantly, he is responsible, so the others just need to follow suit. But going to Xingtai to promote the new textile machinery is likely to be a thankless task, to be honest."
"It's difficult because the eldest prince is in Cangzhou. It can be said that people who go to Xingtai are always compared with the two sides. However, the status of Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu is far different from that of the eldest prince. The disadvantage is too great. The support and resources received by the two sides are incomparable. As for the unpopularity, it means that those people in Xingtai who make a living by weaving are likely to be hostile to you."
"Why is that?" This time, Zhang Lu couldn't help but ask in disbelief, "With the new spinning machines, they can spin several times more yarn every day. Wouldn't their income increase a lot? Why are they hostile to us?"
Zhang Shou glanced at the others and saw that Zhang Wu also looked like he agreed with Zhang Lu. Zhu Er was also nodding his head repeatedly. Zhang Chen frowned and obviously couldn't figure it out. Qi Liang frowned and thought hard. Only Lu Sanlang looked as if he had gained something but couldn't quite put it into words.
At that moment, he said directly: "A few days ago, I remember telling you about Wang Anshi's reforms in Banshan Hall. He was obviously dedicated to the public, so I have explained why these new laws that seemed to be very good failed. Think about it, are there similarities between the Qingmiao Law and the promotion of new textile machines that the emperor wants you to promote now?"
"You should know that the first plan I mentioned to you was just to rent the new spinning machines to the spinners on loan, and let them use a portion of the yarn produced every day to pay the rent." Zhang Shou wanted to start a discussion, but he didn't mention it at all. He already had a very detailed plan for the emperor.
As soon as these words came out, Lu Sanlang clapped his hands vigorously: "I understand what you mean, young master. The Qingmiao Law was originally a loan from the imperial court to poor people who had no money to buy green crops to grow crops. However, the poor were illiterate, and the application documents had to be written by clerks. Moreover, after being exploited by the government, the money they received in the end was not only less, but the interest increased by dozens of times!"
"The same goes for the spinners. Those who can afford a spinning machine only have one spinning machine like this one, and they can't afford to buy a new one. Before they came into contact with the new spinning machine, it is very likely that some wealthy families had already used the excuse of greatly improved spinning efficiency to lower the price of yarn, and at the same time spread the word that the court promoted the new spinning machine for profit and so on!"