Chapter 2280: Chapter 2277: Building Factories

"Judging by what’s written in the newspaper, it shouldn’t be too difficult; just requires careful attention. But if the imperial court guarantees to purchase at market price, it’s indeed a way to earn money."

"Yes, my family is large but we have little land. Normally, farming in the village doesn’t take much time, so we can only find work in the county. If we can grow cotton, based on the calculations above, planting two or three acres could earn three to four taels a year!"

"I usually work in the county, earning only four or five hundred wen a month, and in winter there’s no work at all, so I can only work for half a year at most, earning just two to three taels of silver. This cotton farming is quite good, allows me to take care of the children at home."

"Do you really believe the yield per acre written there? Is it really that much? You must know that newly cleared wasteland doesn’t have much fertility. If the yield isn’t as much as promised, wouldn’t it be a big problem?"

"Look quickly, there’s a method to register fertile land, does it really work?"

"Indeed, trying it out will confirm its effectiveness."

These discussions were voiced among many rural people.

However, the city dwellers were less concerned about this matter as their economic resources were not based on farming, and for many years, they haven’t been engaged in agriculture.

Nonetheless, across the entire Great Chu, rural people constitute at least eighty percent of the population, and even county city residents typically own land, so the news spread widely.

Moreover, compared to growing cotton, the method of making fertilizer was evidently more appealing to the people.

People continued to discuss this matter for several consecutive days.

Meanwhile.

Emperor Xuanming, after concluding the early court session that day, arranged officials to go to other regions to oversee the construction of factories.

Additionally, the factories being built included paper factories.

Hygiene paper and affordable book paper were also profitable, as the project was forcibly arranged by Emperor Xuanming. Although some officials opposed it, many in the Imperial Loyalist Faction and Neutral Faction supported it, with only a few stirred up individuals affected by interests.

Some noble families initially thrived on high-grade paperweights, naturally unwilling to let go of their interests in this area.

With Emperor Xuanming advocating for the populace to read and become literate by producing affordable paper, even if some officials regretted it internally, they could not hinder his actions.

Emperor Xuanming currently holds favor with the people!

Moreover, military power still largely remains under his control.

Even if the Minister of War were to rebel, his forces wouldn’t be sufficient to counter Emperor Xuanming.

As expected, the populace grew increasingly satisfied with Emperor Xuanming due to the issue of producing cheap paper.

Meanwhile.

The Yonghe Bookstore, which opened long before, also experienced a boom, with practically every family with some property purchasing suitable books.

Yonghe’s book prices were not expensive, with content especially suitable for beginners, even offering pinyin versions of books like the Three Character Classic.

Thanks to the Imperial Decree previously issued by Chu Heng and Emperor Xuanming.

No one dared openly engage in the pinyin business.

This indeed led to Yonghe Bookstore earning quite a lot of silver, with just one month’s revenue recouping the initial investment.

Certainly, the popularity of Yonghe Bookstore was also due to the presence of a Master teaching some easy pinyin literacy methods, available for all book purchasers to audit.

Consequently, once Yonghe Bookstore was on the right track, making money became effortless.

At this time.

Minister Qi and Vice Minister of Revenue Zhang Zhi set out together to inspect Jiangnan.

Now, it’s nearly November.

The capital has yet to see snow.

But it has become somewhat chilly.

However, traveling from the capital to Jiangnan will bring warmer weather.

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