Unexpectedly, Queen Mother Guo was quite young. Qin Liang had heard her voice in the east hall before. He thought she was only in her twenties or thirties based on her voice, but when she thought about it, she must have been over thirty. Moreover, Queen Mother Guo's voice was surprisingly pleasant.
She is not the sweet and charming voice of the teenage Wang Xuanji, but has a dignified alto with a very feminine charm, but the occasional few syllables between the enunciations still give people a coquettish and charming voice.
Just listening to this voice, Qin Liang imagined that Queen Mother Guo might be good-looking. Thinking about it, she was snatched back by Emperor Wen and then favored by Emperor Ming. She was not the original wife of Emperor Ming, but she was able to straighten her up. It was probably unlikely
Ugly.
However, as the empress dowager of the Great Wei Kingdom, Empress Dowager Guo's appearance is no longer important. The name of this country is still Wei. The status of the empress dowager is not comparable to her appearance. Therefore, Qin Liang had not thought about Empress Dowager Guo at all before.
Maybe because he was very young, he subconsciously thought that the "Queen Mother" should be older, but in fact it was just his prejudice.
Qin Liang returned to the east hall again, still looking at the floor and holding a bamboo sign in his hand. He knew that it was impolite for a minister to look directly at a member of the royal family. If you are unlucky, you will be charged with disrespect.
It clicked out.
Today was the first time he had seen a real ancient palace, so he behaved very cautiously. When he walked to the middle of the hall, he leaned down and said: "Your Majesty, Qin Liang, respectfully wishes His Royal Highness the Queen Mother to pay her respects."
"Zhongming doesn't need to do this big ceremony, just stay calm." The voice behind the curtain said. Empress Dowager Guo seemed to be a good person, and her manner of speaking was very kind and kind. She also knew that his given name was Zhongming.
Qin Liang got up from the ground and said, "I thank you, Your Highness."
Suddenly a woman's voice said: "Can't you stand closer? Your Highness can't hear you clearly."
"I was negligent." Qin Liang was stunned for a moment, and let go of his fault first. What did the maid next to the Queen Mother care about with her? He then approached the curtain, but still couldn't look up. He could only vaguely see through the gauze curtain.
The cyan brocade skirt inside has beautiful embroidery patterns on the edges.
Qin Liang took the opportunity to walk and took a look at the palace maid standing outside the curtain, but found that this girl was not a palace maid. She was a little older, probably close to thirty, and she was wearing a Taoist robe and her hair was in a bun. She was quite beautiful.
The women in this palace are indeed of extraordinary quality. No wonder Cao Shuang wants to take back the palace wives left by the late emperor.
Queen Mother Guo's voice said: "I didn't expect you to be so young."
Qin Liang thought to himself, I didn't expect His Highness to be so young. But he said: "I have little knowledge."
The voice of Empress Dowager Guo said: "I have also heard that you are assisting General Wang and General Sun in Yangzhou to repel the Wu army. The people of Wu decided to deceive my emperor when he was young, so they raised an army to invade the country. Fortunately, you have ministers and talented people like you to do this.
Only when the country works hard can the Wei Dynasty be safe and secure."
Qin Liang was in a good mood when he heard that the Queen Mother knew about his merits and praised him, and said: "It is my duty to share the worries of His Majesty, and I will not hesitate to do so without any hesitation."
Empress Dowager Guo then said kindly: "The School Affairs Office is also an official office of the imperial court. You are still young. When doing school affairs, remember not to be arrogant and do not offend too many people. Always discuss everything with the ministers in the court."
Qin Liang was a little touched when he heard this. Queen Mother Guo would still consider him, just like a relative or elder. He nodded and said: "I must bear in mind His Highness's teachings."
And Qin Liang also heard that Empress Dowager Guo had a good impression of her, and she didn't know what happened that moved her. Maybe it was about helping the palace maid in Yongning Palace? After all, Empress Dowager Guo should also protect the palace maid, that incident
Most of the time things go to her liking.
At this moment, a gust of wind came in from outside the open door of the East Hall. The wind blew the curtains up. Qin Liang hurriedly lowered his body a little and didn't look at it. The wind swirled around with the scent of Queen Mother Guo. Qin Liang might have felt that
Queen Mother Guo was kind to people, so she felt good about her. When she smelled her fragrance, she felt that the fragrance was refreshing.
Empress Dowager Guo said: "The things you presented are delicate and white, and are not ordinary products. I feel your thoughtfulness and am very pleased. I have also read the good prescriptions."
Qin Liang said: "There is no problem with the process of Fangzi. I personally supervised the work and made samples according to the process."
Empress Dowager Guo's voice said: "I will give the good recipe to the ministers of the imperial court, and use this method to make salt and sell it for the benefit of the country."
He felt that Queen Mother Guo was easy to talk to, so he couldn't help but give her more advice: "I have a plan, but I don't know whether to talk about it or not."
Queen Mother Guo said softly: "Let's talk."
Qin Liang said: "Yezhe Pushe (the chief officer in charge of Yezhe Taiwan) has the power to supervise the salt officer. Your Highness can give the recipe to Yezhe Pushe and let Yezhe Pushe supervise the production of refined salt. The process will be kept secret for the time being.
In order to make tribute salt specially for the royal family. The empress dowager is a saint and a benevolent person, and can also give the excess tribute salt to the salt official for sale, and the proceeds can be used for state purposes (discuss the issue of sharing)."
Gao Rou asked the criminals to take money to atone for their sins and clearly marked the price. For this kind of money, the two governments can negotiate the share. What can't the royal family and the salt official discuss? He couldn't explain it clearly. In fact, the meaning was obvious, that is, monopoly.
Cut off the supply of goods, and then share profits with the monopolized channel merchants. Moreover, the common people of the Wei Kingdom have long been squeezed dry. Even if the salt is turned into flowers, there is no way to get more oil and water from the common people; but
The wealthy nobles also have high requirements for the quality of life, and they will compete with each other... In this case, the way to maximize profits is to make refined salt into a luxury product, without compromising on quantity, and only earn the excess of the rich.
Profit | Profit. Anyway, it's not that common people can't eat ordinary salt that has a bit of a bitter taste.
Only the royal family can do this trick. Qin Liang can't do it, otherwise he would also want to use this to make extra money.
Empress Dowager Guo often listens to political affairs. Her knowledge should be much better than that of ordinary women. She should be able to understand what Qin Liang means.
Qin Liang thought to himself: If you think highly of me, I will give you some advice and make some money. I am a person who knows how to repay kindness, right? Say something to me in front of those two powerful officials and give me a promotion. I will never forget your kindness.
.
Empress Dowager Guo's voice said: "You have contributed a good prescription and have done great service to the country. I will ask all the princes to remember your contribution and reward you according to your merit."
Qin Liang was stunned for a moment. He once doubted whether he had spoken out what he was thinking. Queen Mother Guo seemed to have heard his thoughts. But she could say this, so she should have understood Qin Liang's money strategy.
.
But Queen Mother Guo changed the topic and said: "But the good prescription is beneficial to the country, and I cannot use it privately."
Hearing this, Qin Liang couldn't help but curse: Cao Shuang and Sima Yi are all looking at the military power of Chinese and foreign armies, the military power of foreign towns, and the personnel power of the court; what they want is power, and they don't care what happens to the public. The Queen Mother
If you just make some legal extra money and don't use their power, it's no problem. Don't be too cautious.
But Qin Liang couldn't say anything. He could only make an idea, and it was the Queen Mother's business to listen or not. So he said: "The Queen Mother is benevolent and selfless, and I respect her greatly."
Queen Mother Guo was silent for a while and suddenly said softly: "I understand your kindness."
When Qin Liang heard this, he immediately guessed that Queen Mother Guo should have had a good impression of him before they met, otherwise today's conversation would not be so pleasant.
The two of them were in the upper and lower positions, and they said a few words in a grand manner so that others could not find fault. Qin Liang then resigned and left.
Empress Dowager Guo issued a decree to reward Qin Liang with fifty pieces of silk, which was allocated by the Shaofu, and asked Zhang Huan to take Qin Liang there to receive it.