Changlong Leather Shop and Dingtai Clothing reopened for business on the sixth day of the lunar new year.
At the same time, 60 top experts in water conservancy, agriculture, and carpentry dispatched from Beijing were also rushing to Suzhou under escort.
Jiang Yuqing had also taken out some corn and potatoes harvested from Lingjing these days. Not much, 100 jin of each grain for every county.
There was an excuse that they were grown with the mystic medicine water from Bianque Valley to speed up the growth. Any more would be hard to explain.
On the eighth day, the government offices opened for business. Jiang Wenyuan received a carrier pigeon message from Beijing saying that the water conservancy and carpentry experts had set off from Beijing. He was relieved.
To be honest, the plans he made were too ambitious that even he felt a little apprehensive. Fortunately, His Majesty had complete trust in him, which gave him more confidence in the grand vision he set.
Thus notices were issued to the county governments with two main points:
1. Take stock of farmlands lacking convenient water sources in the counties and get villages to coordinate manpower in preparation for digging canals and building aqueducts.
2. Select pilot bases and get ready to receive the new grain varieties.
3. The water conservancy, agriculture and carpentry experts dispatched by the imperial court are on the way to Suzhou. Local officials must make proper arrangements to receive them.
The fourth point was to vigorously develop the featured cash crops based on each county's conditions.
For example, counties around the prefectural city could grow cotton, pastoral areas raise more sheep, Shaqing county focus on cultivating black goji berries, and the desert areas in Yumen county can grow meaty stonecrop.
No matter what is grown or raised, the court will handle the sales.
When the news came out, the whole Suzhou prefecture was astonished. Common folks spread the word and rejoiced that they would have new grain.
Although there were only small batches for trial planting, people were still very happy because it meant mass cultivation would happen soon, just like in Qing Prefecture.
Sharp-eyed big merchants immediately went to Jiang Wenyuan, hoping to partner with him on promoting the new grains in other prefectures in the future.
There is a saying, to become rich, build roads first. If transportation is inconvenient, farm produces, however good, cannot be shipped out and would be wasted.
Despite this, Jiang Wenyuan still issued notices nationwide calling for investments. This triggered big merchants all over to swarm in.
Since people came with good faith to discuss cooperation, Jiang Wenyuan also demonstrated utmost sincerity. For this purpose, he set up an ad hoc “Investment Promotion” group.
He brought out the detailed plans his precious daughter had prepared earlier and made many copies to be distributed to every merchant coming to sign up.
The plans laid out over 10 construction and technology cooperation projects that would be open for bidding and investment, and included detailed descriptions and requirements for each.
For example, the project to expand and repair the official road from Suzhou to Beijing would be open for bidding.
As the ancient saying goes, to become rich, build roads first. If roads are difficult to traverse, even the best products cannot be shipped out and would be wasted.
The other projects called for investments and partnerships. Such as the national or regional distribution rights for corn, potatoes and wool products. Samples were even attached for the latter three.
When most of the people had arrived, Jiang Wenyuan chose an auspicious date and booked the most luxurious restaurant in Suzhou prefectural city to host an investment promotion conference.
After intense competition, 11 big merchant families came out top.
The Shen family business alone won 7 projects, including 3-year distribution rights for potatoes, corn and wool yarns in the 11 prefectures in the north.
Well, they were the richest in Great Xia, their capabilities were just superior.
The distribution rights in the 17 prefectures in the south were jointly obtained by another 4 merchant families.
Some other projects were also taken by other businessmen.
As for the official road from Suzhou to Beijing, it was won by the Mo family, a long line of artisan builders native to Suzhou. The Mo family used to exclusively build imperial mausoleums in previous dynasties.
However, historically, few fared well after building mausoleums for the imperial family. The Mo family was nearly wiped out.
Learning from painful experience after the founding of this dynasty, the Mo family swore off any projects building tombs, and only built above-ground structures.
Also, with superb skills and an excellent reputation among commoners.
In the past, corvée labor was used to repair and maintain official roads across dynasties.
The people of Suzhou had suffered enough. Jiang Wenyuan refused to add to their misery, and simply opened it up for bidding and outsourced it for merchant money to fund the project.
He said directly, "The construction will not be owed any payment. Just two requirements - complete the project on time meeting quality and quantity specifications. Secondly, when recruiting workers, Suzhou locals must be prioritized, who will be paid daily."
The Mo family head came to bid with a try-and-see attitude initially. After reading the project description, he sighed deeply.
He said to his son, "The dark clouds over our Suzhou for so many years is finally clearing." They bid aggressively and won the contract decisively.
Even if profits were thin, he was willing to do it, not for anything else, but to repay a debt of gratitude to the elders of Suzhou.
Jiang Yuqing represented Bianque Valley to win the distribution rights for meaty stonecrop and black goji berries.
The investment promotion conference concluded successfully, with total partnership funds of 417,000 taels of silver obtained.
Jiang Wenyuan tabulated the funds and displayed the ledger in the government office, stating clearly that all subsequent expenditures would be made public for supervision by the common folks. This move truly shocked everyone.
At end of February, after nearly 2 months of arduous journey, the experts dispatched by the imperial court arrived. Jiang Wenyuan happily arranged their accommodations and let these precious talents rest well for two days. After their rest he would arrange their work.
At the same time, the wool sweaters and pants sent by Jiang Yuqing to Beijing and his hometown Qing Prefecture were received.
In Beijing...
After receiving the goods, Emperor Xia Jing immediately changed into them. Indeed, other than the need to pull them over the head which was slightly inconvenient, the clothes were light, soft and warm, extremely comfortable to wear.
The gloves were also very practical. With separated fingers, not only convenient for working, even going out, the hands need not be tucked in sleeves all the time. One could do as one pleased, especially when riding.
Emperor Xia Jing loved them very much. He thought, so this is the wool yarn Prefect Jiang spoke of in the memorial, it is truly versatile.
Empress Qin also really liked this set of wool clothes. After receiving them, she insisted on putting on the full set except the hat, and even excitedly took a walk around the imperial garden.
As for Jing Yan, this guy who usually disliked wasting any time, even circled his father and mother's palaces repeatedly in a fluster.
Initially Emperor Xia Jing did not really understand, but later seeing glimpses of his son's wool sweater sleeves and conspicuous gloves occasionally, he became speechless.
Ungrateful child, what are you showing off? Putting on airs like you're the only one who has them!
Thus he deliberately shook the gloves on his hands at his son, successfully provoking him to leave in anger.
Qing Prefecture, Marquis Qiu's Mansion. When Doctor Qiu received the wool clothes sent by his precious apprentice across thousands of miles, he was so moved that tears flowed.
People grow useless when old. He missed his little apprentice.
The old man wiped his tears, put on the clothes his precious little apprentice sent, wore the gloves and muffler properly, and decided to quickly settle his unfinished business. He wanted to go to the Northwest to find his little cotton-padded jacket.
In Qing Prefecture, everyone in Jiang Yuqing's family were overjoyed to receive the wool clothes he sent back from the distant Northwest.
What a pity the weather had turned quite warm now. These clothes were too well-insulated that they started sweating profusely shortly after putting them on. They could only put them away to wear next winter when the weather turns cold.
Jiang Yuchuan passed the county-level imperial examination in August last year, placing first. He was also the youngest "xiucai" scholar in Qing Prefecture on record.
His maternal grandfather told him "read ten thousand books, walk ten thousand miles". He suggested Jiang Yuchuan consolidate for a few years before attempting the provincial exam. Moreover, his father's letters also said the same, even directly asking him to train in Suzhou for two years.
Jiang Yuchuan felt going to Suzhou to train for two years sounded good. Thus he went to invite his two "xiucai" cousins for company, since their fathers were also in Suzhou.
But eldest cousin Lu Huaidao said his grandparents were getting on in years. With his father not around, one of the brothers had to remain to attend to the elders. So he hoped his younger brother Lu Jin would go.
Lu Jin declined as well, saying that fulfilling filial duty was also incumbent on the elder brother, hence if elder brother was not going, neither was he.
Jiang Yuchuan was rendered helpless. He could only set off for Suzhou alone. His family then hired an escort from his aunt's husband's security company to travel with him to Suzhou.
At this time, Jiang Wenyuan in Suzhou still did not know that his son had already come to Suzhou to find them.
At the moment, he was holding the drawings of the waterwheel, explaining his requirements to the craftsmen again.
It had to be said that those who were able to get into the Ministry of Public Works and be on the state payroll were all top masters in the industry.
They only added a gear similar to the windmill on the central shaft of the waterwheel, which perfectly solved the problem that had troubled the father and daughter for a long time.
In this way, when the river water was about to freeze, clipping the gear slot could make the water wheel stationary and avoid damage to the blades. Wait until the river water completely thaws next year before opening it.
The subsequent matters would be the turn of the experts in water conservancy to take the stage. Jiang Wenyuan didn't understand this, so he didn't make gestures.
As for the agricultural officials, because they had never seen corn and potatoes, in order to give them a more intuitive impression and experience,
Jiang Yuqing found more than ten flower pots and planted corn and potatoes respectively, forcing them to grow into different growth stages. Let Jiang Wenyuan take them to explain and train the agricultural officials.
Fortunately, the agricultural officials also had rich planting experience. They almost understood it immediately. Jiang Wenyuan was a little more at ease.
After everyone had determined their future work direction clearly, Jiang Wenyuan assigned people to the county governments.
The time came to March. Even in the cold north, the ice and snow had melted.
The spring girl dragged her skirt slowly, and the green trees and grass made everything fresh and new, red flowers blooming by the roadside.
Inside and outside the village, by the riverbank, on the ground, the whole Suzhou was bustling with noises, with all kinds of tools on their backs. Under the command of water conservancy officials, some were erecting waterwheels to build dams, digging ditches and canals, while others were repairing bridges and roads, reclaiming wasteland.
Maybe they were in rags and skinny.
But the smiles on their faces were the brightest ever. The light in their eyes was brighter than the sun, it was the yearning for a better life in the future.
Soon, the waterwheels were erected, the dams were built, and the ditches were unblocked.
The icy snow water from Lianyuan Mountain was continuously drawn from the river, flowing through ditches and canals, flowing into the ground, seeping into the soil, and moisturizing this parched land.
The joyful cheers of the common people were carried by the wind very very far.
In April, under the guidance of agricultural officials, the spring ploughing in various parts of Suzhou started in full swing.
The common people planted crops like millet, wheat, and cotton with all their might. Now that there was water, they were no longer afraid of droughts, and did not have the capacity to irrigate the land.
Enough fertilizer was also applied to the land, farm manure, rotten leaves, grass and wood ash, and even the fertile river silt scooped from the river.
No matter what, everything went into the soil.
In mid-April, the distributed corn and potato seeds were also planted in the experimental fields amidst the eager anticipation of the common people.
From the day the seeds were planted, the magistrates of each county had sent special personnel to guard them for twelve hours a day, so that these precious beans would not have any accidents.
When Jiang Wenyuan was busy running around, Jiang Yuqing was also busy with things at her clinic.
After the first month, she had people renovate the yard. After more than two months of construction, it was basically renovated.
After laying out medicine and recruiting a chief physician to sit in the hall, the clinic would be able to officially open.
As for the name of the clinic, it would be called He'an Hospital.
It was like helping her second senior brother pioneer new land.
