When Jiang Wenyuan returned to the government building, he immediately started writing a memorial. He wrote from morning till night, for a whole day, resulting in a very thick letter that could be bound into a book.
After finishing writing, he quickly sent it by urgent horse delivery to the capital city.
After returning to his residence, Jiang Yuqing immediately went out to look for a house that could be used to open a medicine clinic. Not that she insisted on opening it this year, but at least to provide the seventeen pitiful women she brought back a place to stay for now.
In addition to looking for a house, Jiang Yuqing also bought them winter clothes, shoes and daily necessities, and sent them to the inn where they were temporarily staying.
The bandits were all beasts. In order to prevent them from escaping, they didn’t even leave them a cotton-padded jacket. The women were all wearing single clothes, and their shoes were also homemade cloth shoes.
Because they had long suffered humiliation, many of them had experienced miscarriages. As a result, their spirits had been depressed for a long time. Therefore, more or less, they were all suffering from gynecological or other illnesses, all of which needed treatment and slow recuperation.
After looking for two days, she finally found a large courtyard with four storefronts and three rows of rooms on Huaying Street, two streets away from the government building.
There were cattle sheds inside, martial arts fields, wells, and very convenient living facilities. The asking price was two thousand five hundred taels of silver.
Such a layout of a courtyard was also rare in a place like Su Prefecture. However, there weren't many rich people in Su Prefecture, and it was close to the border, so there were often wars. As a result, although the owner had put up a "for sale" sign, no one had bought it for a long time.
With this price, in a place like the capital city where every inch of land was like gold, one could only buy a small courtyard in a remote place. For Jiang Yuqing, it was a bargain. She paid the deposit without hesitation.
Afterwards, both parties took the property deed and went to the Su Prefecture Municipal Bureau to transfer the property and pay off the balance.
Jiang Yuqing then took the women over, arranged their accommodation, and asked Granny Yan and Er Yu to take turns going there to teach them rules, etiquette, literacy and so on.
At the same time, a convoy of more than 30 herdsmen also braved the wind and snow and entered Su Prefecture City. They went to the government building to look for Jiang Yuqing.
The sheepskin Jiang Yuqing ordered had arrived, good stuff, a full twenty or so carts.
There were some that were newly peeled this year, and even more that were simply tanned and dried in previous years and kept at the bottom of boxes. It looked like they had brought out all the goods they had pressed at the bottom of boxes over the years, which was quite impressive.
Jiang Yuqing asked her dad to find her a tanning craftsman to take a look and ask if these skins could still be tanned.
The craftsman said it was possible, but the rich looked down on this stuff and the poor couldn't afford it. He wondered who she would sell so many skins to.
Jiang Yuqing just smiled without answering.
Jiang Yuqing asked the herdsmen to pull the skins into the large courtyard she had bought and unload them to verify the quantity. She then neatly counted out silver coins to pay them. There were a total of 31,000 sheepskins.
Jiang Yuqing bought them at a flat rate of 1.7 taels of silver per sheepskin, spending over 50,000 taels of silver in one go.
The herdsmen received the shiny silver coins, and bursts of brilliant smiles bloomed on their frost-bitten faces.
They were simple-minded people. They had never even seen a county magistrate before. Occasionally when they came out to sell some skins, they would get disdainful looks from others.
Today, not only did they successfully sell all their skins, but the highest official in Su Prefecture even treated them to a meal. This was something they hadn't even dared to dream about before.
At the beginning, they were all nervous and didn't know where to put their hands and feet. After Jiang Wenyuan plied them with several cups of liquor, the atmosphere became casual.
Jiang Wenyuan then told them to raise more sheep, and also raise more merinos. Raise them well, don't slaughter them. Every summer, shear all the wool and send it to the government city. He would buy it.
This was his precious daughter's idea. She said after processing, sheep's wool could be spun into yarn, and the yarn could be woven into woolen sweaters, gloves, hats, scarves and so on, lightweight and warm.
Although he hadn't seen them before, since it was his precious daughter's idea, it must be good.
Regarding his daughter, this was how much he trusted her.
The herdsmen were also happy. They could earn more without slaughtering sheep. This new prefect really was a great man!
When they returned home, Jiang Wenyuan asked his daughter, "Dear, where did you get so much silver?"
Jiang Yuqing set up a sound insulation barrier around the two of them and said, "Dad, do you still remember the Prefect of Dai Prefecture who was executed and had his family property confiscated early this year for privately mining gold mines?"
"I know about it!" Jiang Wenyuan said suspiciously, "What necessary connection does this have with your silver?"
Jiang Yuqing said proudly, "Of course there is a connection! It was me who reported it to His Majesty!"
Jiang Wenyuan instantly widened his eyes in surprise. "What did you say?"
Jiang Yuqing briefly explained how she discovered the treasure cave, and then said, "I have moved all the gold in the treasure cave into my spirit space. Your darling daughter now has plenty of money."
Jiang Wenyuan was both anxious and angry, and was worried that others might overhear them. He stretched out his hand to cover his daughter's mouth. Jiang Yuqing dodged and said, "Dad doesn't have to worry, I have set up a sound insulation barrier around us that no one can hear what we are talking about."
Only then did Jiang Wenyuan feel relieved. He marveled to himself that his daughter's abilities were becoming more and more unfathomable. Still, he carefully exhorted her that she must not use the gold recklessly.
Jiang Yuqing patted her chest and promised that she would not. She said that these gold had no markings. Her spirit space had magical fire that could easily melt them down into little goldfish or golden melon seed-sized ingots that would be easy to sell without arousing anyone's suspicion.
"Anyway, you still have to be careful." His daughter was too smart and capable, which wasn't good either. It made him, as her father, feel useless.
The next day, Jiang Yuqing had the women in the courtyard pick out the sheepskins with long fur and shear off the long fur. The raw wool sheared off was boiled in hot water to remove grease and impurities, then dried to become finished wool.
It was then combed into strips and spun into yarn using spinning machines, then dyed in dye houses, after which it could be woven into clothes.
As for the remaining sheepskins, she found Changlong Leather Shop, which had a good reputation, to discuss the tanning of this batch of sheepskins. Together with the batch purchased in Sha Qing County last time, there was a total of 47,000 sheepskins.
Old Master Gao Changlong, the owner of Changlong Leather Shop, had never received such a huge order before. He laughed so widely that he almost couldn't close his mouth, and gave Jiang Yuqing a very favorable price.
Jiang Yuqing also paid decisively. Her requirement was that while ensuring quality, production should be as fast as possible.
She wanted to produce as many sheepskin boots as possible before the New Year to send over to the troops at the frontier, which would be a little gesture from her!
Gao Changlong readily agreed.
At the same time, Jiang Yuqing also went to the largest clothing store in Su Prefecture City, Dingtaifeng Clothing Store, to tell the boss that she wanted to customize a batch of waterproof sheepskin boots.
The main sheepskin material would be provided by her, while the clothing store would provide other materials.
When Dingtaifeng’s boss Xie Yuangjia asked her how many pairs she wanted to order, Jiang Yuqing thought for a while and said, "I have a total of 47,000 sheepskins. Use up all these to make as many as you can. What do you think?"
Xie Yuangjia thought he had misheard. "How many did you say?"
Jiang Yuqing repeated: "47,000 sheepskins. Use them all up to make boots. Is that clear enough?"
Xie Yuangjia stammered: "C-clear enough." After a pause, he asked again: "Young Miss, you're making so many boots, where are you going to sell them?"
Jiang Yuqing said, "Not selling them. The New Year is coming soon. I want to give the officers and soldiers at Yumen Pass a little gift from me!"
Xie Yuangjia was silent for a while, then gave her a big thumbs up. "Young Miss is high-minded. I admire you!"
Xiao Ren said to you frankly, this one adult sheepskin can at least make two pairs of boots. Your 477,000 sheepskins can make over 90,000 pairs."
Jiang Yuqing said, "Then I will think of ways to buy some more to make up 100,000 pairs!"
"Ok," Xue Yuanjia said, "But it's already the end of November now. By the 27th and 28th day of the 12th lunar month, we should stop working too. With so many quantities, I'm afraid there is no way to finish them before the new year!"
Jiang Yuqing said, "I know, it doesn't matter. Finish as many as possible before the New Year, and quickly make the unfinished ones after the New Year. The winter in Suzhou is long, and they can still use them after the new year."
"Good! When will the leather be delivered?"
Jiang Yuqing said, "Probably in two days, the first batch of leather will be delivered."
The two sides negotiated some details, signed a contract, and paid a deposit. So it was settled.
Jiang Yuqing calculated that the material and labor cost of a pair of warm sheepskin boots was about one or two silver coins. 100,000 pairs would be 130,000 silver coins.
No wonder it's hard to maintain an army.
Just the consumption of food, weapons, medicine, etc. for the 100,000 troops of the Yumen Pass Garrison Camp in one year is an astronomical figure. The Great Xia has such a vast territory, several 100,000 troops, how much would the total consumption be?
No wonder the emperor was anxious to make money and food, no wonder Minister Zhang from the Ministry of Revenue cried poor every day.
It really is difficult!
Because of Jiang Yuqing’s super large order of 100,000 pairs of boots, the originally bleak Suzhou city instantly came alive.
Whether it was Chang Long or Ding Tai Feng, they posted notices and recruited a lot of temporary workers. When people heard the news, they braved the wind and snow to rush to these two places to apply for a job and earn some money to celebrate the New Year.
The old people all said that the winter in Suzhou City has never been so lively.
On November 28, the first batch of tanned sheepskin was delivered to the garment factory, and the garment factory began intensive processing.
On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, the first batch of 3,000 pairs of boots was rushed out, and 8,000 pairs on the tenth.
December 12 was a sunny day. Early in the morning, Jiang Yuqing rode on her white pony Xiaoshi, carrying her small medicine box and three carts with a total of 10,000 pairs of sheepskin boots of different sizes, and headed to the Yumen Pass Garrison Camp alone under the worried eyes of her mother.
Jiang Wenyuan patted his wife's hand to reassure her, "Don't worry. You don't know our daughter's ability now. Ordinary bandits who encounter her, who robs whom is still unknown!
Besides, it’s still relatively peaceful outside the pass this year. The Tartars have not invaded the border so far, so there should be no major issues."
Lu said worriedly, "Although you say so, I still can't help worrying..."
On the way, Jiang Yuqing went smoothly for three or four days and arrived outside the Yumen Pass Garrison Camp on the morning of the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Qin Yijian, the commander-in-chief of the Yumen Pass Garrison Camp, was discussing matters with several deputy generals when he was informed by a subordinate that a young girl named Jiang Yuqing had come to seek an audience.
Qin Yijian felt that the name sounded familiar, but couldn't remember for a moment. He only said, "Why does this name sound so familiar?"
