jdhmnovel Chapter 587 Mobilization Meeting
Chapter 587 Mobilization Meeting
"Father, everyone's here, let's begin!"
Qiu Feng was also brought to Tongzhou Prefecture by Qiu Cheng to serve as a temporary assistant. Qiu Feng will not leave until a more suitable person is found.
"Yes, let's invite Master Qian as well."
"Father, Master Qian and Master Xing have arrived. I'll go invite them right away."
After receiving his son's letter, Jiang Wenqing lent Master Qian and Master Xing to Lord Qiu.
After all, Jiang Xiaoqi's original words were, "Father can choose to go and help himself or send his advisors, depending on the circumstances."
Oh dear, is there even a need to choose? Anyway, he's not the one who pays the two advisors' monthly salaries, so he won't mind being transferred out.
But making myself supervise the construction site under the scorching sun is worse than killing him.
It's a time when the government offices aren't too busy, and with the absence of clerks Qian and Xing, he can at least manage to get by on his own.
It's not that I can't write at all, I'm just lazy.
Of course, he was never lazy when it came to fishing; he was a dedicated and unwavering angler.
After sending out the two clerks, Jiang Wenqing went out every other day instead of every day. The yamen couldn't be left unattended all the time, could it?
As for spending money to hire a secretary, that's simply unaffordable, and even if I could, I wouldn't hire one. Why waste that money?
Money is only truly yours when it comes from your own pocket; it hurts to take it from someone else's (your own child's) pocket. You don't feel anything when it comes from someone else's (your own child's) pocket.
Besides, he's not stingy. His son is already fifteen and might get married in the next couple of years, so he needs to save up more for his son.
Sigh, there really aren't many good fathers like him in this world.
"Ouch! It's biting! It's biting!"
"Sir, the two advisors have arrived."
"This student greets Lord Qiu."
Both of them only held the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations). Calling themselves "commoners" was inappropriate, and calling themselves "lower officials" was even more unsuitable. Calling them "students" would be perfectly fine.
After all, Lord Qiu was a scholar who passed the imperial examinations twice. As the saying goes, "A master is a teacher," so it is not abrupt for him to call himself a student.
"There's no need for formalities, gentlemen. The best craftsmen are all here today. We should meet up in Tongzhou to lay the foundation for future shipbuilding."
"Yes, sir, that's the proper thing to do. We will follow your orders. Please give us your instructions."
"Specific arrangements will be made after the drawings are delivered. Today, we're just explaining the rules of the dock to the workers."
These are experienced craftsmen who used to build large ships for crossing rivers and even the sea. With several master craftsmen guiding the others, we won't be completely lost.
Six craftsmen sat below, some from families with a long tradition of craftsmanship, others highly experienced. Qiu Cheng had put a lot of thought into bringing these people together.
"We wouldn't dare say that, sir. We will do our best to fulfill our duties, but we cannot make any guarantees until we see the blueprints."
"Yes, yes, sir. The key is to see if the blueprints are reasonable. I wonder which official in the Ministry of Works was responsible for drawing these blueprints?"
Qiu Cheng was asked this question. He only knew that the blueprints would arrive in the next couple of days, but he didn't really ask which official had designed them.
I was careless! I should have asked Lord Jiang a question before leaving Beijing.
Wait, isn't the Vice Minister of Works Jiang's great-uncle? Since the blueprints were produced so quickly, Jiang must have gone through Vice Minister Jiang's connections.
"Ahem, this blueprint certainly wasn't drawn by any particular lord. After all, shipbuilding, especially ocean-going ships, is a major undertaking."
This drawing was jointly drafted by several officials from the Ministry of Works, but the one who led the drafting of the drawings was Vice Minister Jiang of the Ministry of Works.
When the craftsmen heard that a fourth-rank official was in charge of the blueprints, their hearts, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.
At first, I thought it was a makeshift operation, but after arriving and seeing the salary, benefits, and food, I felt much more at ease.
Later, with the addition of the county magistrate's two most capable advisors, they felt even more at ease.
However, nothing put their minds at ease as much as today's news. Could the blueprints provided by a fourth-rank official be ordinary blueprints?
They had originally planned to finish the job in a few months and go home for the Chinese New Year, but now it looks like they'll have to work for a year or two. This job is quite stable.
Once this big job is finished, I can even rest for a few months without worrying about going hungry.
Qiu Feng said this without any guilt, because that was his own belief.
Where else could the blueprints come from if not from the Ministry of Works? Surely it couldn't have been drawn up by Chiang Kai-shek himself?
It's no wonder that Lord Qiu thinks that way, since Jiang Xiaoqi has never said anything about being able to draw blueprints.
"Sir, when exactly will the blueprints arrive? We've been eating for free and receiving wages for nothing these past two days, and we can't help feeling uneasy about it."
"Yeah, yeah, we eat rice every day, with vegetables and soup too. Anyone who didn't know better would think we came here to enjoy a life of luxury and fatten ourselves up!"
"Haha, who can argue with that? My wife sees me coming home looking radiant every day and is starting to suspect I'm having an affair. If I don't start working now, I'll never be able to explain myself!"
"Hahahaha, with your looks, you expect anyone to be interested in you? Even if they are, they'll only be interested in the money you can make in the future!"
After a round of laughter and banter, the craftsmen finally got back to the main topic.
Lord Qiu was quite open-minded about this, and did not require everyone to refrain from joking and playing around, after all, the project had not officially started yet.
He knew how tiring shipbuilding was, so since there was no work now, he let everyone relax for a while. Once the work really started, there wouldn't be time to joke around.
He made it clear to everyone that he needed to catch up on the project as soon as possible, and the weather was just right for working, neither too hot nor too cold.
In late autumn and early winter, it's not too cold to work if you can bear it. But when the coldest days of winter arrive and snow falls, you have to stop working.
When we can resume work, it will be springtime.
So we'll try to catch up in the next few months.
"You've all had a few meals at our dock these past few days, and the standards will only be higher, not lower, so please don't worry."
However, we also hope that everyone will pay more attention to the shipbuilding project. Our employer has spent real money, and we can't just hand over a pile of scrap metal.
Putting ourselves in their shoes, our employers take good care of us, so we should repay them in return. Don't you all agree?
Everyone nodded. "You're right, sir. You're also an official, so your employer must be an even higher-ranking official."
Everyone says that officials don't care about the lives of ordinary people, but I don't think you and your boss are like that. For a good official and a good boss, we must show our true abilities and live up to their trust!
Who says a rough person can't speak eloquently? They just haven't had the chance. If they did, they'd have a whole repertoire of eloquent phrases.
Qiu Cheng couldn't help but sigh, "This small place, Tongzhou, is surprisingly a place with outstanding people and abundant resources. It's interesting."