Chapter 125: Encountering Mountain Bandits

Yan Ning said, "One thousand taels of silver per kilometer of road. From here to the Capital, it only requires one hundred and fifty thousand taels. If we were to pave the roads for the nearby villages and towns as well, it is estimated to cost three hundred thousand taels of silver."

"If the routes are well-constructed, it will be much more convenient for the villagers to come to the Capital; selling paper or other goods will also be much easier."

The Minister of Revenue was unwilling no matter what, "Your Highness, this—the current roads are completely sufficient. This road to Jincheng alone costs so much money; if you want to build roads all over the country, how much would that cost?"

The Vice Minister of Revenue also said, "Your Highness, building roads is truly a waste of manpower and money. Building official roads is one thing, but why must you also build village roads?"

Building roads can stimulate economic growth and facilitate the movement of carriages.

Nowadays, every household makes paper during the farming off-season, but it is inconvenient to push carts in the mountains, and if it rains, they cannot go anywhere.

Yan Ning insisted on building the roads.

After the roads are built, the surface will be level, and the journey from the Capital to Jincheng will also be much more convenient.

Not only must they be built, but Yan Ning planned to widen this official road, which could only accommodate two carriages, to allow four or five carriages to travel side by side.

"Your Highness, please think twice!"

"This, this, this, building one road costs so much silver; it would be better to build an imperial palace."

Yan Ning said, "How about this: the tax revenue shall be managed by your Ministry of Revenue, but the State-run Workshops I have established shall be under my control."

The Minister of Revenue hesitated for a moment, thinking there seemed to be no problem, as those were, after all, factories Yan Ning had opened herself.

Yan Ning said, "Currently, the Glass Factory and Liquor Workshop in the Capital have profits approaching five hundred thousand taels in just over two months. Additionally, I have opened branch factories in various places, and they will settle their accounts in three months."

"Hiss—"

The court officials gasped.

What was she saying?

Just the Glass Factory and Liquor Workshop here in the Capital earned five hundred thousand taels in over two months?!

Good heavens, they wouldn't even dare to dream of such a thing.

If other factories were added, wouldn't the profit reach over two million?

Yan Ning smiled and said, "Can we build the roads now? There is no need for the common people to perform corvee; I can pay to hire people to build them."

Including labor costs, a few tens of thousands of taels should be enough to solve it.

It is not a big problem.

Yan Ning acted as soon as she spoke, finding people to build the road. She found two hundred people in total, with a daily wage of thirty copper coins.

Usually, when those local gentry wanted to build houses, the monthly wage was only ten copper coins. This time, Yan Ning tripled it and provided meals, so many people came to sign up.

Five hundred people came all at once.

Yan Ning thought about it and felt that five hundred people would also work; the official road was not wide, so the road had to be paved wider first.

And now, Yan Ning began to open a Cement Workshop.

To save money, Yan Ning opened the workshop in the suburbs of the Capital, which was also convenient for transportation.

While Yan Ning was busy with the construction of the official road, Lady Xie requested an audience.

Yan Ning set aside her paper and pen and stood up to welcome her.

Lady Xie was carrying a basket. She opened the lid, and inside were actually all kinds of glassware.

Each one was flashy and colorful.

Glass Inkstones, Glass Paperweights, Glass Pens, Glass Osmanthus, Glass Ink Bottles—in short, there was everything.

Looking at the color schemes of these pieces of glassware, they were much better looking than the tribute glassware; there were blue-pink, pink, completely transparent, and green ones.

Moreover, the craftsmanship of these glass ornaments had improved significantly, and each one was becoming more and more exquisite.

Lady Xie took out a Glass Vase, poured water into it, and inserted fresh flowers. After some fussing, the Glass Vase looked exceptionally beautiful.

Lady Xie smiled and said, "These glass ornaments cost one hundred taels of silver at the cheapest, and the expensive ones do not exceed two thousand. The profit is still quite considerable."

Yan Ning thought for a moment. The Autumn Examination would begin before long, so she suggested, "Lady Xie, how about this: open a special section at Liuli Pu specifically for items needed by scholars."

Lady Xie's eyes lit up, "And then I will find people to spread some news. These items have good connotations; maybe they will have a smooth time in the imperial examination if they buy them?"

Yan Ning was amused by her.

Lady Xie was truly a marketing genius. Several times she had offered a not-so-perfect suggestion, and the other party could immediately think of a suitable method.

Yan Ning pondered for a moment and began to draw blueprints.

These were carefully selected from the various glass products she had seen in videos over the past few days.

Glass Candlestick, which could be made in various colors.

Glass Hanging Basket, which could be filled with water to keep mini fish or some easy-to-survive plants.

Cherry Blossom Glass Dish, the pink and tender color should be very popular.

Frosted Glass Inkstone, several colors could be chosen, but white would be more beautiful.

She drew several pictures in one breath, and Lady Xie's eyes were sparkling.

These new products were all so good-looking!

Lady Xie took the blueprints and prepared to leave, saying, "Your Highness, rest assured, I will make all of these."

Yan Ning nodded.

Lady Xie's glass-making technology was already very good now, so she would definitely be able to make them.

Yan Ning remembered that she had not attended class for several days.

She pondered slightly and decided to go tomorrow. Today, she would first go to the official road to see how the Cement Road was coming along.

Five days had passed, so a section of the road must have been completed.

Yan Ning took two guards, thinking of taking a shortcut to the official road, when unexpectedly, she encountered more than twenty mountain bandits ahead.

There were actually mountain bandits near the outskirts of the Capital!

Yan Ning was wearing that black robe with a Dragon Pattern and a jade crown on her head, looking like a young boy.

Her outfit looked very valuable.

When the mountain bandits saw her, their eyes glowed with greed.

From far away, the mountain bandit leader stabbed his blade into the ground, "If you want to pass, pay a toll of one hundred taels!"

Yan Ning would not pay the money.

She had only brought two guards, so she certainly could not defeat them.

Yan Ning turned to leave, but who would have known that there were mountain bandits blocking the path behind her as well.

Seeing them getting closer and closer, Yan Ning threw an Explosive Package directly at them.

The mountain bandits in front had not even seen what it was before it went "Bang!" and exploded.

Yan Ning was not very close to them, but she still felt some discomfort, and looking at her and the two guards, their faces were all covered in dust.

She held a Bomb and looked at the people behind.

Meeting Yan Ning's gaze, those few turned and ran.

Yan Ning did not want to let them go, so she used another Explosive Package.

Those few people behind were also killed.

Yan Ning rode her horse forward and took out a handkerchief to wipe her face clean.

She only frowned, thinking the public security here was a bit too poor.

Passing through this forest, it did not take long for Yan Ning to reach the cement road area.

Yan Ning looked around; they were working overtime to build the road, and everyone was working very hard.

However, the time had been too short, and only a small patch of cement ground was finished.

It had not yet dried, and Yan Ning did not know what the final result would be.

Early the next morning, Yan Ning attended the morning court.

That day, after waiting for the other officials to finish speaking, Yan Ning stepped forward: "Yesterday, when I went to the official road and passed through a forest, I actually encountered mountain bandits; this is the outskirts of the Capital!"

"The mountain bandits are truly detestable; I think we can dispatch soldiers from the frontier to deal with them."

The Minister of War hurriedly stepped forward, saying the same sentence they said most often:

"That must absolutely not be done!"