thefictionvixens Chapter 385
Chapter 385
After the meal.
"Have you ever thought of teaching those dishes to the chefs in the restaurant?"
Li Shimin remembered the way Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji looked at him during the meal, which clearly meant that they had not thought of the delicious food.
Fang Xuanling and others had indeed not tasted the boiled fish and boiled pork slices.
"I forgot about this. Let's arrange for the chef to teach them tomorrow!" After Li Shimin's reminder, Su Chen thought his idea was indeed good.
Li Shimin nodded and then asked, "When can the explosives be detonated? Go now?"
"Wait a little longer. Zhang Long and the others went to the mine to dig a hole. They will come back to report when they are ready." Su Chen shook his head and suddenly remembered that Princess Changle said that they had not been paid, and asked:
"Your Majesty, I have a question. Why didn't the Ministry of Finance pay Li Zhi and the other three?"
After lunch, Princess Changle and Empress Changsun had left. They should have gone to study wool.
Li Shimin smiled calmly and said, "Haha, ask them." He immediately put the blame on Changsun Wuji.
"Haha, I know." Su Chen understood instantly and didn't plan to continue asking.
"Su kid, your majesty plans to build schools in various counties and prefectures in the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty currently has more than a thousand counties, and the prefectures are not included. If the construction starts at the same time, the national treasury may not be able to support it.
I wonder if you have any good ideas?"
Fang Xuanling's main purpose of this trip was to ask Su Chen for advice without hesitation.
Anyway, they had long since stopped caring about the so-called prime minister's face.
Su Chen thought for a while after hearing this, and said, "It doesn't cost much to build a school, how can the national treasury not support it? Isn't there more than 9 million strings of cash?"
Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling looked at Li Shimin at the same time.
Good guy!
He even told Su Chen about his family background.
Su Chen ignored what they were thinking and continued, "You have all seen the five red brick teaching buildings in the school. That one is relatively large. There are ten classes in one building, which can accommodate 500 students."
"Each teaching building consumes an average of about 220,000 red bricks, and the cost of red bricks is more than 100 guan.
Brick walls require about 50 bags of cement, and the cost of cement is more than 40 guan. The rest is labor and wood. The interior and exterior walls can be left unpainted for now."
"Finish it first, and then build the school first."
Su Chen didn't believe it at all. The population of the Tang Dynasty was only tens of millions, so how could more than 9 million guan not be able to build a school.
Without considering the purchasing power, how much would more than 9 million guan be in later generations?
After listening to Su Chen's calculations, Li Shimin and others felt that they really didn't need to spend so much money.
"It won't cost much, so let's consider the manpower and red brick transportation issues first. My suggestion is to advertise it in the newspaper. After all, it's a good thing to build a school so that the people's descendants can read."
"Maybe some people will volunteer to work, and it can save a little money."
Su Chen saw that Li Shimin and the other two were somewhat interested, and raised the issue of insufficient manpower.
"Also, don't imitate my school. Tuition and books can be free, but food and accommodation must not be free. The Tang Dynasty is not at this level yet. I just wanted to build a school for the children of the villagers in the manor to go to school, and I didn't think about recruiting students outside the manor."
Su Chen reminded solemnly.
Li Shimin nodded when he heard this, and signaled Fang Xuanling to write down everything Su Chen said.
An hour later, Zhang Long returned to the manor to report that the mine had been installed and he could go there to arrange the explosives.
Li Shimin couldn't hold back any longer, and hurriedly got up to urge Su Chen.
"Your Majesty, go ahead! Li Tai has mastered the whole process of explosive detonation. I have something to do later, there is nothing interesting about blasting a mountain with explosives."
Li Shimin was about to ask Su Chen what important matter he had, but then he remembered that Li Tai had said that Su Chen had to pick up Princess Changle from school every day.
He looked at Su Chen with extremely contemptuous eyes, "Humph! Most likely he is a henpecked guy again!" He snorted coldly, called Li Tai and walked out of the living room with his sleeves swung.
Fang Xuanling felt that Li Shimin had scolded him as well.
"Henpecked?"
"What does this have to do with henpecked? What's interesting about blasting a mountain? It's really inexplicable!"
After Li Shimin and others left, Su Chen said angrily.
Everyone had left, and Su Chen was the only one left in the living room complaining.
"Strange! Didn't they say last month that Li Ke and Rengui would return to Chang'an? I haven't seen them yet.
What are those two doing out there!"
Butler Wang Xi stood by with a smile on his face, listening to Su Chen talking to himself.
Su Chen got up and prepared to go to the study to take a nap. Unless there was something special, he usually wouldn't go to where Princess Changle and her friends lived.
The main hall where Su Chen lived was built by Li Shimin according to the palace, and it was very grand.
There are many rooms, and currently only Su Chen and Li Tai and his brothers live there.
Princess Changle's residence is slightly inferior in specifications, but it also has a few rooms. Now Fang Jingyi, Changsun Yao and Jin'er live there..
"I'll tell you something. From now on, the wages of the school teachers will be borne by the court, and there will be no need to pay from the manor."
Su Chen looked at Wang Xi's smiling face and felt a little strange.
"Okay, my lord, I'll remember it." Wang Xi bowed respectfully and replied.
"How much is the monthly wage of the servants and maids in the manor now?" Su Chen remembered that there was a servant named Luo Youfu before, who was said to be a slave and had no wages.
"Reply to my lord, the servants' wages will be paid according to what you told me last time, 800 coins per person per month.
Other servants and palace maids will be in the charge of the court's eunuch department."
The composition of the staff in the manor is quite complicated. At the beginning, Li Shimin was considerate of Su Chen and bought more than a dozen servants from outside to serve in the manor.
This can avoid being full of people from the palace, so that Su Chen will not feel that he is being monitored.
However, Su Chen has never thought about this.
"Okay, I know!"
Su Chen nodded in response and walked towards the study.
It's only a little after one o'clock now, and there's still a lot of time before the afternoon school starts.
...
"Mother, you can pick whatever color you like."
Princess Changle brought out a pile of woolen yarn, which was thick, thin and of various colors.
"Well, mother is planning to knit a pair of gloves with all ten fingers for your father. Every year when the cold winter comes, your father's hands will be frostbitten."
Empress Changsun carefully selected three suitable woolen yarns and said slowly.
"Lizhi, the gloves you are knitting are Su Chen's, right!"
Princess Changle nodded, and instantly felt that the fingerless gloves she was knitting were not so good.
However, her kung fu was not yet perfect, and she would not shrink the needles when knitting the gloves with fingers.
"Haha, when you knit a pair of gloves, mother will have more than enough time to knit a sweater." Empress Changsun hit her mercilessly.
"Mother, I can only knit in my spare time, and I have to go to class on weekdays!"
Princess Changle defended herself.
Empress Changsun smiled but said nothing.
"Mother, I'll take you to see the quilt, okay?" Princess Changle suddenly remembered the warm quilt.
"Isn't Sizi taking a nap?"
Princess Changle tilted her head and smiled, then took Empress Changsun's hand. "Little Sizi is taken care of by Jin'er at noon, not in my bedroom!"
"Okay, mother hasn't seen your boudoir in the manor yet." Empress Changsun slowly stood up.
...