The standard for selecting female officials in the Ming court was to be mature and steady, well-educated, and not care about their appearance. During the Hongwu period, there were even widows. Most of the female officials served in the palace for several years and were still virgins when they left the palace. This was also the praise of literati, "It can be seen that the ruling king is polite."

Although female officials and scholars were not selected for beauty, they could not resist the emperor's unlucky food. Occasionally, female officials were favored by the emperor because of their virtues and talents and adopted them as concubines. These people often became the prototypes of the heroines of later palace fighting novels and became legendary figures among female officials.

The situation in the inner palace of the Crown Prince is a bit special now.

The Crown Princess had already decided to be a woman from Ning, but when the Jiashen Kingdom changed, Ning did not escape with him, which was basically equivalent to rebel and surrender. Now that the Qing army occupied Yanjing, Ning still did not escape. This kind of staying again and again is an extremely shameful thing for ordinary scholars and officials, let alone royal relatives? Therefore, it would be good if the Ning girl could escape the conviction, let alone the princess.

Since the position of the Crown Princess was vacant and the emperor and the empress did not mention the engagement to the crown prince again, it is difficult to say who will sit in this position.

The selection criteria for female officials are different from those of concubines, but as long as female officials are good-looking, they are more competitive than ordinary concubines. Yao Tao and Lu Suyao both belong to this category, so they will inevitably get some thoughts.

When Lu Suyao came out of Yao Tao's office, she realized her fault just now and said in her heart: In terms of help, now she is not inferior to Yao Tao now. In terms of relationships, she was originally sent by the Empress to guide the Crown Prince's rituals to uphold the etiquette of His Highness, and was obviously closer to the female official in affairs like Yao Tao. Since the candidate for the Crown Princess is vacant, why can't I fight for it?

——It seems that showing filial piety for the crown prince is a great opportunity.

Lu Suyao's heart moved and decided to think about how to please the Empress. Even if she failed to become a Crown Princess, it would be good to be a concubine. Although the Crown Princess could be promoted to the Queen, the concubines and beauties in the secret residence could be directly enthroned.

...

"The grass-roots Xu Jiafu greets His Highness the Crown Prince! His Highness is thousands of years old!" Xu Jiafu dragged his slightly fat body and was about to give a big gift.

Zhu Cixuan reached out to hold Xu Jiafu and smiled and said, "You look at it on the stage, right? It's the first time I heard someone say this."

A layer of oily sweat appeared on Xu Jiafu's round face, his mouth and tongue trembled, and he didn't know how to speak.

Zhu Cixuan signaled him to sit down, and he also sat in the chairman, saying, "Those steels are indeed the best Sugang, which is more suitable for my needs than Fanjiagang. Your family is willing to donate so much good steel, which is indeed loyal and commendable."

Xu Jiafu chuckled and said, "The villain really donated all his family to His Highness."

Zhu Cixuan didn't believe it, but just smiled and said, "There are not many righteous men like you. I can't give private titles to the court, but I only talk about the Eastern Palace. How about you, a baron?" There is still a little difference between them, but ordinary people don't care much. Zhu Cixuan made things clearer, and it didn't count as coaxing him.

"The villain was not for the title." Xu Jiafu said quickly: "The villain wants to give himself to His Highness. Uh, I want to ask His Highness to give him an errand... not all of it..."

"Don't hurry, speak slowly." Zhu Cixuan slapped his high-high to signal the eunuch to pass on the dishes, and said, "Speak while eating."

Xu Jiafu was received by his father because he donated 100,000 kilograms of high-quality Su Gang.

According to the market price of Sugang, two cents of silver, this 100,000 kilogram of iron is 2,000 taels of silver. The amount does not seem to be very large, but ordinary people may not be able to buy a sufficient amount of 100,000 kilograms of high-quality iron with these 2,000 taels of silver. Especially, Sugang, a strategic material that has reached the quality of tool steel in later generations, large-scale ordering also requires the seller's production capacity and price policy.

The Eastern Palace bought Sugang twice from the Fan family, and the price had increased by 20%, which made Zhu Cilang helpless and could only be secretly depressed.

The steel materials of Sugang, which is also produced in Wuhu, are better than those of other families. The reason why the iron mold casting cannon was only tested now is because the iron mold material used before was poor, and the iron foamed when it entered, so it can only make the Fan family make enough money.

The 100,000 kilograms of Sugang donated by Xu Jiafu completely reached the level of Fan Jiagang after testing.

Xu Jiafu drank a sip of wine before calming down his mind and said, "Your Highness, after the villain learned the book "Experimental Methods", he was inspired. After all his efforts to experiment, he finally found a recipe close to Fan Jiagang, and then he created the current Xu Jiagang."

Zhu Cilang nodded. The author of "Theory of Experimental Methods" is a student from the Technical College, named Xue Shuyan. He was originally a scholar, but he entered the college for free food and accommodation. He summarized various experimental methods and compiled them into this book.

There is no innovation in technology, but it has a cross-generational significance in thought. From now on, various experiments, especially materials science, have roughly guided ideas, and it will no longer be impossible to start. This book also puts forward requirements for various measurement units, which stimulates formulaic promotion.

For this reason, Zhu Cixuan had to receive Xue Shuyan after meeting Xu Jiafu, and hereby encourage him.

"When it comes to steel, everyone knows the truth inside. The technique is not a secret, but the recipe is not easy to do." Xu Jiafu laughed and said, "I asked someone to start from every little thing, with a total of 600 furnaces, and finally tried this recipe. Please forgive me for the courage of the villain. I want to use your highness to open an iron factory in Xuzhou, and I am willing to give half of the dry shares to your highness."

——With a pig's face, my heart is loud.

Zhu Cilang smiled at each other and didn't say anything, which made Xu Jiafu feel really nervous for a long time.

"You are quite interesting," Zhu Cixuan smiled, "Don't you look for eunuchs in such a dedication? You just found orphans here."

Xu Jiafu didn't know whether he really didn't understand or was pretending to know, but he still said happily: "Your Highness, asking eunuchs to offer is just a little trouble in the local area and evades some taxes. According to villains, the country only charges one-fifth of the iron tax per pound, which is not worth it to be tainted by the body."

Zhu Cilang nodded slightly. No matter which dynasty or dynasty, the iron tax of 6.66% is definitely light. However, most iron merchants are still evading taxes. The Fan family refused to sell too much, and they were worried that they would be too likely to lose the tax evasion handle when trading with the public.

"The villain thinks that the country has no money today is because of the flood of iron smelting!" A sense of righteousness suddenly appeared on Xu Jiafu's face, which made Zhu Cilang feel a little uncomfortable.

"How could the imperial court be as fond as the emperor's kindness in all dynasties?" Xu Jiafu was so bold that he had some courage when he was fully open. He recited: "Therefore, in the fourth year of Yuanfeng of the Song Dynasty, the people were smelted with iron, but they had to draw 2 out of ten. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, the government dismissed from office and opened a private enterprise, and the 15th tax was 1. Later, he even set a tax of 10,000 kilograms of iron and three taels of silver. If this is not satisfied, he really would not be a son!"

Zhu Cilang nodded, very satisfied with this person's political awareness. However, based on his experience, anyone who speaks high-profile may not be reliable in doing things. He still needs to examine his actions and cannot easily conclude.

"The villain thinks that nowadays, the state-owned domestic thieves, the Tartars are rampant, and the treasury is useless, so it is time to bring the iron industry back to the official camp!" Xu Jiafu changed into the smiley face just now: "There is such an official household to use iron, and the price will be reduced. The iron tax will not flow out, and the tyrants who have no king or father are scattered."

Zhu Cilang continued to nod, and it turned out that this guy was really a person who spent a little money to take advantage of him!

As long as the iron industry is state-owned, although he has offered half of the equity, he has obtained a monopoly market in the entire Ming Dynasty under the protection of the government. Even if there is a black market private iron, it is an extremely terrifying market share. This is no different from those coastal tycoons who are high-profile and do sea trade privately.

"Steel will inevitably become the lifeblood of a country." Zhu Cilang picked up the wine cup and said, "I am also willing to take it back to the country."

Xu Jiafu's face was full of smiles.

"But in the first year of Jiajing, the iron production in Guangzhou and Huizhou alone was 18.58 million kilograms. It increased to 27.63 million kilograms in ten years. It was 10,000 kilograms!" Zhu Cixuan emphasized the unit and still looked at Xu Jiafu with a smile: "Don't you think your appetite is too big?"
Chapter completed!