readytorunbook Chapter 142 Snake Oil Preparation
Chapter 142 Snake Oil Preparation
It is early July, still summer, but the weather in Jindu is so cold in the morning that you need to put on more clothes.
Zhou Chang gathered the bed sheet around himself, sat on the stands of the West School Field, and yawned again.
The West Parade Ground of the Imperial Palace is located at the westernmost part of the entire palace. It is usually used for training of the imperial guards, and few people come here other than that.
Yesterday, Zhou Chang had fought hard in the west parade ground of the imperial palace for a whole day, and at night he temporarily slept in the official residence under the tower of the west parade ground.
Since the night before, almost no one in Prince Yi's Mansion or the Yuan family had any rest.
After a night of preparation, the Yuan family was able to deliver three thousand live snakes into the West Parade Ground as soon as the Xihua Gate opened yesterday morning.
Three thousand live snakes were divided into thirty large boxes, with one hundred snakes in each box.
At the same time, fifty large iron pots for marching were set up on the open space of the West Parade Ground.
The commander of the imperial guards, Sun Chuliang, dispatched fifty people to cooperate. Each two people shared a pot, and they took turns, one stirring the food while the other added firewood and fire.
Twenty-five were lit yesterday.
Zhou Chang hopes to have twice as many people today.
Emperor Lin issued an order and ordered the chief eunuch Fang She to coordinate and select eunuchs and palace maids from various palaces to volunteer to come to the West Training Ground to kill snakes.
Fu Mingze temporarily borrowed several folk snake oil makers from Siwei Medicine Store to provide guidance.
Everything was ready. Zhou Kai offered ten cents for killing a snake and skinning it.
This is an unimaginable price in outside workshops.
The monthly salary of a low-ranking eunuch in the palace was only two or three taels of silver.
Yesterday, Zhou Chang suppressed his nausea and watched from a distance for a while. Killing a snake is not like killing those furry animals. Basically, under the guidance of the master, if the technique is right, one can kill a snake in two or three strokes.
By this calculation, if a person is skillful and can kill a hundred snakes a day, including skinning them, he can earn one or two taels of silver, which is equivalent to ten days or half a month's silver.
The high unit price was set to motivate these eunuchs and palace maids.
The Ministry of Revenue was in charge of silver and salaries.
Qian Liang, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, brought four of his subordinates and prepared several large boxes of silver coins, totaling 20,000 taels.
Zhou Chang specifically requested for the small change.
Money should be distributed and settlement should be made on the spot, so as to boost the morale of everyone working.
In this regard, it was the experience she gained from working in her previous life. Negative experiences abounded, so she just had to use them in reverse.
The more you work, the more you earn. Settlement is made on the spot, and people can see and touch the money.
Not only that, the fifty people transferred from the imperial guards will also be settled at ten taels of silver every day.
Generally speaking, an ordinary soldier only received about twenty taels of silver a year. The officers and soldiers in the imperial guards received the most silver than ordinary soldiers, which was one to three times more.
That's only about fifty or sixty taels of silver a year.
Now, just three days of work can earn you a year's salary.
The imperial guards were eager to try out this good thing that came as a pie in the sky.
Only Qian Liang, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, objected angrily, as if he was being robbed on the spot.
"How about Minister Qian also go and skin the snake, and I'll pay you the money?" Zhou Chang made a "kind" suggestion yesterday when he heard Qian Liang objecting that the price was too high.
Everyone in the world knows what the Ministry of Revenue is.
He was very calculating about money. Every year, he collected more than tens of millions of taels of taxes from the people under various names. Why did he come to Prince Yi to count the "details" at this time?
Qian Liang stared at the boxes of small change, feeling uneasy, but he was also a newcomer, so he had to swallow his anger.
Zhou Chang took advantage of the opportunity and had four large boxes of 10,000 taels of silver taken away, saying, "This is advance payment for the snakes and herbs. Minister Qian just needs to keep the accounts."
Qian Liang was angry but dared not say anything, so he could only make a note of it in the account as he was told.
In this way, on the first day, three thousand snakes were killed very smoothly, and dozens of large pots of snake oil were boiled.
But this morning, as soon as Zhou Chang stepped onto the stands on the east side of the West Parade Ground, he felt that the atmosphere in the field was not right.
It seemed as if half the people were missing. There were only the imperial guards and old masters in the west training ground, and there was no trace of palace maids or eunuchs.
The imperial guards were standing around idly, and no one was working.
The Yuan family delivered another thirty large boxes today, which were piled up at the easternmost corner.
He Xi personally escorted them and informed them that this was the limit of the Yuan family and there would not be any more.
The helping masters gathered around the thirty large boxes, looking at each other in bewilderment.
Three thousand snakes were alive and well, but the main force of snake killers disappeared overnight.
"What's going on? Where are the people?" Zhou Chang asked Shi Song from the Imperial Pharmacy who was already waiting there.
The Imperial Pharmacy in the palace was responsible for overseeing the production of the snake oil.
Shi Song, the head of the Imperial Pharmacy, was a sixth-rank eunuch. He was also bewildered: "I don't know either. I heard this morning when I came here that those people are not coming."
"Not coming? Why?" Zhou Chang sat under the awning that had just been set up on the stands yesterday, staying away from the snakes under the east wall.
"I didn't see anyone coming to kill snakes this morning, so I sent people to inquire, but they all made various excuses not to come." Shi Song answered truthfully, "They said they were voluntary, so even if they don't come today, you can't force them."
I wonder what trouble these eunuchs and palace maids will get up to next?
Especially the eunuchs, they were the main force yesterday, and they were having a lot of fun, right?
It took about a hundred people one day to kill all three thousand snakes. Everyone settled the bill on the spot and went back happily with the money they received.
Zhou Chang expected that more talented people would come today.
Don't think too much, the construction period cannot be stopped no matter what.
Now we can't waste even a second.
"Ah..."
Zhou Chang stood up, threw down the bed sheet, and glanced at the imperial guards who were still standing idle on the west side of the playground: "Go and call the captain from yesterday."
"Yes." The skinny monkey ran away.
In a moment, the Imperial Guard Supervisor Tang Mao came running over and said, "Your Highness Prince Yi, what orders do you have for me?"
He was the deputy left behind by the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guards, Sun Chuliang, yesterday. He was in his early thirties, dressed in military uniform, and looked strong and capable. He was mainly responsible for cooperating with Zhou Chang to complete the refining of the frostbite ointment in the next three days.
Emperor Lin had previously promised to provide help with manpower, but after much coordination, he only managed to send a small number of manpower, including the imperial guards and eunuchs, and they were not very obedient.
"Duwei Tang, can you transfer some more imperial guards?" Zhou Chang asked, but he didn't hold much hope in his heart.
As expected, Tang Mao answered directly: "Your Highness, all the troops that the Imperial Guard can deploy are here. In order to free up these three days, the others will have to take an extra shift. There is really no more room for them."
This statement was made yesterday by the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Guards, Sun Chuliang.
Zhou Chang then proposed a second solution: "Then tell your people to quickly learn how to kill snakes from the master, and then make snake oil. I will increase the salary today by 20 taels of silver per person."
"This..." Tang Mao hesitated.
"What's the matter? Are you having difficulties? Not enough money?" What Zhou Chang lacks most now is time, so he simply doubled the salary to avoid nagging.
Tang Mao thought about it, but still hesitated: "Your Highness Prince Yi, the imperial guards have always been guarding the safety of the imperial capital. If it is His Majesty's order, cooking and refining snake oil are also for the battle situation at the front, but when it comes to killing snakes..., they are not cooks after all..."
"If you have to choose between a starving general and a gluttonous cook, which one would Tang Duwei choose?" Zhou Chang was at a loss. "Those who are already rich want more, those who are getting rich want more, and those who are still poor have no desire. There is no need to hope anymore, just keep getting more."