Building a new government office was something that had never happened in the Tang dynasty. If it were someone else, he would have been at a loss. Fortunately, Meton had the experience of building the Mo's Village. He came out of the Ministry of Personnel with the documents and went straight to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The saying "before the troops and horses, the provisions and fodder must go first" was applicable to any place. It was impossible to build a government office without a large amount of money.
"Money?" Dai Zhou looked at Moton's seventh-rank official robes in shock. A seventh-rank official asking the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs for money was something that no one had ever done before.
"Yes!" Meton said confidently, "I was ordered to build the Firearms Supervisor. Now there are many things waiting to be done. Naturally, I need money and provisions."
In the past, he was chased to the Mo's Mansion by Dai Zhou to collect taxes. Now it was his turn to ask Dai Zhou for money. Such a change made Meton feel happy.
"Meton, you are the famous God of Wealth in Chang 'an City. The Mo's Village is rich. How dare you ask the Old Man for money?" Dai Zhou waved his hand to send Meton away.
Meton said discontentedly, "Who said the Mo's Village is rich? Have you seen a rich man who owes 40,000 strings of cash? Besides, this is a public weapon. How can I pay for it privately? "
Dai Zhou looked at Meton in shock. If ordinary people owed so much money, they would be poor. But for the Mo's Village, tens of thousands of strings of cash was nothing. However, what Meton said was reasonable. The Firearms Supervisor was a government office of the imperial court. It was inappropriate to use private money to build the Firearms Supervisor.
"Now the imperial court is about to go to war. The Ministry of Civil Affairs is short of money. But since Meton came here in person, the Old Man will give you face. Come on, give Merton 1,000 strings of cash and provisions." Dai Zhou ordered a manager of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
"1,000 strings of cash? Do you think I'm a beggar?" Meton shouted discontentedly. 1,000 strings of cash was not enough to rebuild a government office.
Dai Zhou was stunned for a moment and asked, "Then how much do you need?"
Meton raised a finger and said word by word, "10,000 strings of cash."
Dai Zhou's expression immediately changed. "Ten thousand strings of cash is impossible. Even if you scour the entire Civil Department, you won't be able to find that much money."
Meton smiled and said, "Is that so?"
At this time, an official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs came in and reported in surprise, "Minister, the twelfth month tax of Village Mo has been paid. It is a total of 10,030 strings of cash."
At the end of the year, the goods of the Mo Family Village sold well, and the tax paid by the village was more than ten thousand coins.
Dai Zhou was overjoyed, but when he saw the faint smile on Meton's face, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So this was Mo Jiazi's plan.
"Two thousand strings of cash, no more. This tax has already been planned in advance." Dai Zhou was like a miser who had lost his fortune. He endured the pain and said.
"Eight thousand strings of cash. The Firearms Monitoring Unit has not been built, and we still need to recruit craftsmen and buy raw materials. Eight thousand strings of cash is only the first batch of money?" Meton argued.
"The Firearms Monitoring Unit, building houses, and recruiting craftsmen can all be done by the Ministry of Works. It will save you a lot of money. Three thousand strings of cash, no more." In order to save money, Dai Zhou directly sold out the Ministry of Works.
Meton's eyes lit up. Directly recruiting craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, needless to say, the craftsmen's loyalty was also guaranteed.
"Five thousand strings of cash!" Both parties seemed to be in a tug-of-war before they finally reached an agreement.
"Little cunning guy!"
"Old fox!"
The two looked at each other and cursed in their hearts.
In fact, they both knew that five thousand strings of cash was nothing to Meton. For Meton to be able to coax the Ministry of Civil Affairs for five thousand strings of cash, wasn't he abiding by the rules of the imperial court?
Meton took the money, walked out of the Ministry of Civil Affairs proudly, and went straight to the Ministry of Works.
The Ministry of Works didn't make things difficult for Meton. A fourth-rank assistant minister of the Ministry of Works personally receiving a seventh-rank Meton was giving Meton enough face.
After Meton took out the document from the Ministry of Personnel, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Works readily agreed to Meton's request to provide fifty skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Works. He also had Yuwen Bo, who had received Meton last time, personally take over with Meton until the Firearms Monitoring Unit was completed.
"Please give me your instructions, Merton!" Yuwen Bo said excitedly. Last time, Meton had taught him the principles of heating without holding back, and he had benefited greatly. He didn't expect to work with Meton again so soon.
"You and I are of the same rank. You don't have to be so polite!" In terms of rank, Meton and Yuwen Bo were both seventh-rank.
Yuwen Bo smiled bitterly and said, "Marquis Merton must be joking. My seventh-rank rank is common in the Ministry of Works, but Marquis Merton is in charge of a Firearms Monitoring Unit. How can we be compared? If you have any instructions, I will try my best to complete them."
Meton nodded and said, "Go to the Mo Skills Exhibition in the south of the city first. Get a batch of cable cranes from the Mo Family Village and head to the mountain behind the Xuandu Temple. When the materials are ready, start immediately and try to complete it in the shortest time possible."
Meton wasn't a pedantic person. If the Ministry of Works' craftsmen were to build the Firearms Monitoring Unit, it might not even be completed by the time the Battle of Tuyuhun started. However, with the advanced equipment from the Mo Family Village, the speed of building the Firearms Monitoring Unit would be greatly accelerated.
"The mountain behind the Xuandu Temple!" Yuwen Bo's face changed and said, "Merton wants to build the Firearms Monitoring Unit there."
The explosion at the mountain behind the Xuandu Temple had caused an uproar in Chang 'an. Yuwen Bo naturally knew about it. Now that Meton had chosen this place to build the Firearms Monitoring Unit, he couldn't help but ponder.
Meton nodded and didn't explain.
The Firearms Monitoring Unit needed to be hidden, safe, and spacious. In the entire Chang 'an City, there was probably no other suitable place at the mountain behind the Xuandu Temple.
Walking out of the Ministry of Works, Meton gave the task of building the Firearms Monitoring Unit to Yuwen Bo and then walked out of the imperial city.
"Young Master!"
Tie An greeted him.
Meton nodded and got on the carriage. He closed his eyes and thought about today's gains and losses. Now that the Firearms Monitoring Unit's craftsmen, craftsmen, and money were all in place, it only needed time to build the Firearms Monitoring Unit. However, it was impossible to make gunpowder without raw materials. The reason why Meton asked for so much money from the Ministry of Civil Affairs was because he spent most of his money on raw materials.
There were only three kinds of gunpowder formula: saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. If the Firearms Monitoring Unit bought these three kinds of gunpowder, even ordinary people would be able to decipher the formula. At that time, if the formula was leaked, Meton wouldn't be able to escape the blame.
"The Mo Family Village will buy the charcoal for me!" Meton thought. The Mo Family Village had been making steel all year round and used a lot of charcoal. It wouldn't be conspicuous if they bought more.
"The imperial palace needs a lot of saltpeter to make ice in the summer. The Imperial Household Department can buy saltpeter. As for sulfur, the Firearms Monitoring Unit happens to be at the mountain behind the Xuandu Temple. It's best to buy it in the name of the Xuandu Temple."
"Then we can buy some other items for the External Alchemy Faction to study and confuse the public. This will be perfect."
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