She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 719 - 717 Lost the Opportunity to Earn Silver

Chapter 719: Chapter 717 Lost the Opportunity to Earn Silver

According to Ye Xinyan’s thinking, the first step was to make the engineering project’s losses large enough or sensational enough that neither the court nor His Majesty could ignore them. This would arouse enough fury for them to have a reason to pull out the instigator.

For this, one needed to adopt a tolerant attitude and create a relaxed environment that would let the spy planted by the opponent fully play their part and incur losses that would deal a heavy blow to the opponent—a fatal strike.

Of course, the premise was that the spy or spies had to be under one’s own control.

Jinrong finally understood the key point and stared at Ye Xinyan for a long while before suddenly laughing, "I never thought Ye Zi could be so ruthless—I’ve underestimated you all this time."

This statement seemed to imply a willingness to squander the court’s money and the hard labor of the people to achieve her goal.

Thinking of this, Ye Xinyan felt a bit embarrassed and defended herself, "Railway construction is different from building houses and towers. It can be managed in segments on a flat terrain, and if problems are discovered, remedies can be applied. My intention is to keep the problematic railway within a certain range, not to destroy the entire railway transport project."

Seeing her getting a bit flustered, Jinrong scoffed, "Of course, it would be best if you can control the extent of the disaster. Do you really want to set all eight hundred miles of railway ablaze?"

Ye Xinyan was not foolish and could tell that Jinrong was deliberately mocking her; the embarrassed look on her face immediately turned into one of vexation.

Qi Younian had not understood Ye Xinyan’s meaning at first, but after listening to a few exchanges between the two, he was beginning to grasp their intentions.

Still shocked by his granddaughter’s astonishing proposal and seeing that she was provoked by Prince Yu to the point of irritation, he quickly intervened, "Let’s speak calmly; let’s all speak calmly. There’s no need to get agitated; we’re still discussing serious matters. Sixth Master, since the court has already arranged the task, when will the work start, and where exactly will it be? How many laborers are you planning to conscript?"

In addition to paying various taxes to the court, labor conscription was also an important duty for the common people. Generally, for the court’s projects, besides a few court officials and a small number of craftsmen with skills and expertise, the vast majority of laborers were conscripted from among the public.

When Qi Younian laid the railway tracks in Peach Grove, he had put all of the Construction Industry and Mechanical Workshop’s staff into the project and hired many additional laborers, taking nearly a year to complete the work.

The court claimed the railway project to be eight hundred miles long, and the required manpower and resources were enormous. In an era without mechanization, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that such a project needed a war of attrition approach.

As an old craftsman who had led construction teams, Qi Younian naturally knew the role of conscripted labor in projects. He was also well aware that labor conscription was overseen by the Ministry of Works, the potential rival of Prince Yu—Prince Fu.

If indeed he had to undertake this project, he was genuinely worried that Prince Fu might sabotage the effort, creating labor-related troubles for him. Taking on a court project indeed meant earning a secure income, but if one delayed the court’s work, one could be accused of a crime.

Jinrong wasn’t worried about this, and said, "You don’t need to worry about that; ultimately, you are my subordinates. As I said earlier, laying the rails isn’t a lucrative job, and it’s not something I want to take on. If the Ministry of Works sabotages, then I can just as well drop the project. I, a prince who doesn’t toe the line, can afford to do this; Prince Fu, after all his years of operations, dare not."

As he spoke, Jinrong called for Hongzhi, who was waiting outside, to bring in the official document for the court’s task and handed it to Qi Younian. "Elder, take a look at this first. Tomorrow, I will bring the construction documents and the railway line from Jiangbei Prefecture to South Zhejiang Prefecture for you to familiarize yourselves with," he instructed.

Jinrong paused before asking again, "Without Wong Qiao, will there be a manpower shortage here? If so, why don’t we have Zhang Chang and Zhao Qiusheng come over tomorrow? Coming over earlier will allow them to become familiar with the wooden railway construction sooner."

Zhang Chang and Zhao Qiusheng were minor officials in charge of engineering at Prince Yu’s Mansion and were the first to learn construction work in Clear Water Village under Wong Qiao and Ye Xinyan. Later, Ye Xinyan assigned Zhang Chang to manage the construction of a cattle farm and dairy product workshop in Guanyuan Prefecture.

Upon hearing that these two were to familiarize themselves with the railway construction work under her, Ye Xinyan instantly thought, ’Familiarize’ must mean ’to learn,’ right? Could this be considered taking apprentices then?

Her eyes had only rolled halfway when Jinrong’s face darkened as he said, "Don’t talk to me about charging fees. If Duke An doesn’t need them, my mansion still has many places that need repairs, and they won’t need to come here."

Ugh, Ye Xinyan sighed inwardly, such a good opportunity to earn silver... alas, "Sixth Master, what are you saying? I am not that kind of person. I merely wanted to thank you for considering us workers. Since you do not need thanks, I shall say no more about it," Ye Xinyan said, her tone as clear and composed as the weather after a storm.

Jinrong was taken aback for a moment. This cunning woman was quick with her turns! He had made a tactical error and lost a great opportunity to have the upper hand over Ye Xinyan. He should have waited for her to mention charging silver and then rebuffed her firmly.

Having composedly spoken those words, Ye Xinyan, however, felt very indignant. If it weren’t for Wong Qiao working undercover for them, how would her family be short of people? And if they weren’t short of people, how could she have been blocked by Jinrong’s words, losing the opportunity to make silver?

After all, since Duke An had acknowledged her status, it seemed like she had never fallen out of favor.

Jinrong seemed to know what was on her mind and mumbled to himself, "If the Construction Industry hadn’t paid that much silver before the year ended, perhaps Wong Qiao’s mother wouldn’t have reason to think her son was treated unfairly."

Dammit! Ye Xinyan glared angrily at Jinrong, "Regardless, Wong Qiao is still doing your bidding!"

In vain had she thought Jinrong was rather generous and to some extent trustworthy, only to realize that was far from the case.

The way he spoke those words was not something a generous person would do.

Although Wong Qiao didn’t leave the Qi family because he needed to act as a spy, he also had no reason to resent her for earning three thousand taels of silver from the Construction Industry. The reason Wong Qiao left was because he has a mother who is incredibly difficult, right?

Jinrong disdainfully chose not to respond to Ye Xinyan and instead calmly continued discussing the project details with Qi Younian, infuriating Ye Xinyan greatly. Look at how poor Jiang Yifan’s judgment is, to have befriended someone like Jinrong!

......

Ancient times were not like the modern days, where maps and similar materials were not allowed to circulate among the public. The routes and locations for the railway construction were the same, only being handed over to Guangsha Construction after an official commission was received.

This railway was a transit line from Jiangbei Prefecture to South Zhejiang Prefecture. It was said to be eight hundred li, but considering the meandering and undulating terrain, it would likely span over a thousand li.