After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

Chapter 636 Lord Qiu: The sky has fallen!

"Mining silver is just a side project; the main goal is to make the Great Zhou Dynasty stronger and prosperous, and to enable the people to live better lives."

Jiang Xiaoqi originally wanted to say that he wanted to improve the happiness index of the people of Da Zhou, but then he realized that he would have to explain the term "happiness index" and changed his mind.

"I admire your ideals and aspirations, sir!"

The second prince suddenly became serious and formally bowed to Jiang Xiaoqi as a disciple.

Jiang Xiaoqi turned slightly to the side, her hand reaching out to help the person faster than her brain.

"Your Highness!"

"Sir, I won't stand on ceremony with you for those ten ships. I will do my best to work with you to realize the ideal of making the people of Great Zhou live a good life."

"Your Highness need not do this. It was originally my idea to build the ship; it was Your Highness who gave me this opportunity."

“Sir, you have also given me the opportunity to broaden my horizons, to go beyond the present hardships, and to see the silver mines in the distance.”

Uh oh! I don't think I ever said that viral quote to the Second Prince, did I? Did I become self-taught?

"Very well, Your Highness, for the sake of our common ideals and ambitions, let's start by building ten ships right now."

Tongzhou Wharf —

"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!"

First you think about it, then you curse it, then you worry about it—hey? Who's worrying about themselves?

As soon as Lord Qiu returned to Tongzhou Wharf, he sneezed three times.

"Sir, have you caught a chill?"

"It's alright. Maybe we've been exposed to the sea breeze too much these past few days. Let's go back. There are still so many craftsmen at the dock. If we stay any longer, we'll have to give them extra compensation."

"I don't know what Your Highness was thinking. The ship is already built, yet you're keeping so many old people eating for free. Sigh... it's all just wasted money."

"Your Highness may have other plans for the future. We will simply follow your orders."

After disembarking, Qiu's right-hand men submitted a detailed record of the voyage from Tianjin Port to Qiu Cheng. Seeing their superior's continued concern for money, they were reminded of the profits from selling seafood at the docks.

"Sir, the fish we brought back from the sea sold for quite a bit of silver, enough for the craftsmen to eat and drink for a while. It's also a way to save money for our employer."

Master Qian and Master Xing nodded silently. They now knew who the boss was, and they really didn't expect to have boarded such a big ship.

I thought I'd be set for life by following the county magistrate, but I never imagined that I'd end up involved in such a huge project in my old age.

Jiang Wenqing has been coming to the dock frequently lately, mainly because he is now the largest supplier in the dock's kitchen, and he supplies it for free.

The fisherman, blessed by heaven, finally had a place to use his catch, and Jiang Wenqing was happy to send his fish to the dock kitchen for free.

"Right, right, I forgot about that silver. How much was it in total? Who kept the account?"

"It's Brother Wangchuan. He's right outside and is about to come over to settle accounts with the adults."

"Alright, then Mr. Qian, please do me the trouble of compiling a list of expenses at the docks recently. If we can use the seafood from Tianjin Port to balance the accounts, that would be the best!"

"Yes, sir. Let's settle the accounts now."

Wangchuan and Master Qian were checking accounts in a corner of the office when Jiang Wenqing strolled out to see what they would have for lunch.

At this moment, Lin Feng delivered a letter from Jiang Xiaoqi.

Jiang Wenqing wasn't here, and Master Qian and Master Xing had little contact with Lin Feng, so they didn't have much of an impression of him.

Wangchuan had often heard Jiang Xiaoqi mention Master Lin, but he had only heard of his deeds and had never met him.

So Lin Feng was temporarily treated as an ordinary messenger. Lin Feng wasn't embarrassed. He just stood aside and waited for Lord Qiu to finish reading the letter, since the letter contained arrangements for him.

Qiu Cheng opened the letter, his face displaying a complex and varied expression, like a spilled palette of paints.

This made everyone around curious about the contents of the letter.

Besides the name of the ship, the most important part of the letter was actually what was written on the second sheet of paper.

Build ten more ocean-going ships!

Ten, ten ships!

Qiu Cheng almost fainted. Had the Second Prince put all his wealth into this?

No, I reckon the Empress herself gave her quite a bit more.

Your Highness is leaving yourself no way out at all! One ship costs tens of thousands of taels of silver, ten ships cost more than a million taels of silver. Is Your Highness going to starve?

Qiu Cheng's first reaction was to refuse the assignment, but this was a personal order from His Highness.

Lord Qiu frowned slightly and continued reading the following content.

The selection of the captain of the Zhenhai...

Qiu Cheng pulled his eyes away from the letter and finally saw the man standing before him, as still as a pine tree.

The man was around forty years old, and he looked very strong and powerful. He was obviously a trained fighter, and there was even a hint of military bearing about him.

Although Qiu Cheng had never led troops into battle, he had come into contact with some people in the military, including some military generals.

After all, he had served as an official in other places for many years, and when he was a prefect of a certain place, he had cooperated with the local garrison.

Seeing that Qiu Cheng had finally turned his attention to him, Lin Feng immediately clasped his hands in a traditional martial arts salute.

After all, he hasn't officially taken office yet; he's still just a figurehead.

"This... uh, brave warrior!"

"My name is Lin Feng, and I pay my respects to Lord Qiu!"

"Uh, Captain Lin, no, Captain Lin. His Highness made it clear in his letter that the Zhenhai will be entirely handed over to Captain Lin from now on."

"Yes, Your Highness and the other officials will not fail in their trust."

Lin Feng did not want to reveal his relationship with Jiang Xiaoqi, not because he thought he was a relative, but precisely because he did not want to take advantage of the young master or cause him trouble. So he deliberately created the impression that "that's right, I am the person appointed by your prince."

Qiu Cheng didn't think much of it, after all, the words written on these letters were all written by the Second Prince himself.

Of course, he didn't know that Jiang Xiaoqi, who had a cheat code, could imitate anyone's handwriting.

Only the inscription for the "Zhenhai" ship was written by the Second Prince himself; the rest were written by Jiang Xiaoqi on his behalf.

After all, it's necessary to explain the construction of ten more ships, so it's not unreasonable for Jiang Xiaoqi, the major financier, to write the later parts.

Qiu Cheng thought that since the people had just arrived, he couldn't immediately assign them work, otherwise he would seem like a wicked landlord.

So the only one who was currently free became Master Xing, who became a temporary guide, responsible for showing Lin Feng around, especially the Zhenhai Ship.

The ship is currently docked at the pier, and the crew is cleaning the cabins and decks. Everyone is very interested in this new and impressive ship.

After the two left the office, Qiu Cheng turned his attention back to the letter. Ten ships! No wonder, no wonder His Highness was spending money to support the craftsmen.

It turns out that they had already made plans to build more ships and form a fleet.

Lord Qiu felt like the sky was falling; building ten ships would take forever!