Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it was April of the fifth year of Xuan Yuan.

After helping Jiang Mengxuan draft the military academy regulations, the old army organization, and the new procedures for the industrial zone, Shen Lang, in his capacity as "Imperial Procurement Envoy," once again set off for Shu.

On this trip, he took a train from Jinling Station to Lingnan to transport supplies, and a day later he got off at Yong'an Station and transferred to a horse-drawn carriage to head to Sichuan.

The convenience of the train was truly appreciated by the accompanying envoys; what would have been a half-month journey was completed in just one day.

It is said that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

After experiencing the convenience of trains, the sense of disparity suddenly intensifies when people travel by horse-drawn carriage on bumpy roads.

Everyone immediately made a decision: after this matter was resolved and they returned to the capital, they would definitely recommend expanding the scale of railway construction and strive to connect the north and south with the railway.

The group traveled for another ten days on the rugged and difficult Shu Road, and finally arrived in Shu County on April 13th.

However, it was not Jiang Chong who came to receive him, but Yang Song, the clerk in charge of the silk weaving workshop.

Upon seeing Yang Song, Shen Lang remarked sarcastically, "Your prince must be quite the busy man, not even having time to come and see me?"

Yang Song was quite embarrassed by this. It wasn't that Jiang Chong didn't have time to see Shen Lang; it was that he simply didn't want to come.

Fortunately, he had already prepared his explanation in advance, and said respectfully, "Please forgive me, Duke Zhenguo. Your Highness is too busy with state affairs to come here, so I have specially ordered you to prepare a banquet to welcome you."

Shen Lang: "Fine, it doesn't matter whether I see him or not. After all, the Duke of our country is here to inspect the progress of silk production."

Given his status as a prince, he probably wouldn't care about the quality of this silk brocade.

This was clearly meant for the courtiers in the crowd, so that they would relay his words to Jiang Chong.

Sure enough, several furtive figures in the crowd showed serious expressions after hearing Shen Lang's words.

Some people even took out a notebook and wrote something in it with charcoal, presumably to record everything Shen Lang said so they could report it truthfully to Jiang Chong.

"Alright, Clerk Yang, take me to the silk workshop and let me see how the silk brocade is progressing."

"Your journey must be tiring, Duke Zhenguo. Why don't you have a meal and rest for the night? I can take you there tomorrow."

"There's no rush to eat, especially since it's not mealtime yet. Let's check it first to put our minds at ease. Lead the way."

"Yes, Duke Zhenguo, please."

Yang Song had no choice but to lead the way for Shen Lang, and they walked together toward the silk weaving workshop.

As soon as they entered the silk weaving workshop, the noisy sound of mechanical wooden shafts turning immediately reached Shen Lang and the others' ears.

Upon entering the loom room, one could hear the sounds of looms in motion everywhere.

The female workers operated the looms listlessly, each one looking haggard and yawning constantly; it was clear at a glance that they were utterly exhausted.

"Lord Zhenguo, please."

Yang Song warmly invited Shen Lang to visit.

Shen Lang walked up to a female worker, looked at the brocade that was about to be finished on the loom, casually touched it, and asked, "How long has it been since you took a break?"

The female worker seemed not to hear Shen Lang's words and continued to numbly repeat the actions she was doing.

Seeing this, Yang Song hurriedly shouted, "I'm talking to you! The Duke of Zhenguo is asking you how long you've been busy. Why aren't you answering!"

The female worker then realized that she was surrounded by people, so she quickly stopped what she was doing, got up, and knelt on the ground.

"Please forgive me, my lord, I did not mean it."

Yang Song was about to continue his tirade when Shen Lang stopped him.

"You look so tired, how long has it been since you rested?"

The female worker hurriedly replied, "Reporting to you, sir, I haven't slept for two days and two nights. The foreman said that if I don't complete the production of three bolts of brocade this month, he will deduct my wages. I really dare not slack off in the slightest."

Shen Lang turned to look at Yang Song, his meaning clear: he was waiting for Yang Song to give him a reasonable explanation.

Yang Song quickly smiled apologetically, "Please forgive us, Duke Zhenguo. There's nothing we can do about it. We have so many Shu brocade orders to finish, so we can only ask them to make do for a while."

Shen Lang waved his hand: "I know this batch of goods is being rushed, but there's no need to rush it to this extent. If you overwork yourself, you'll lose everything."

"Yes, the Duke of Zhenguo is right. I will certainly keep that in mind."

Seeing his obsequious demeanor, Shen Lang didn't pursue the matter further. He simply glanced at the female worker again before heading to the next workshop.

There were 16,000 looms, divided into four workshops, with 4,000 looms in each workshop. The space was small and cramped, and the working conditions for the female workers were extremely harsh.

In contrast, although the workload at Jiang Mengxuan's textile factory is just as heavy, the environment and benefits provided to the female workers are far superior to what's offered here.

Upon comparing the two, Shen Lang even wondered which was the real sweatshop: Jiang Mengxuan's textile factory or the weaving workshop before him.

"Duke Zhenguo, the room where the finest brocade is woven is just ahead. Please allow me to lead the way."

"Ah."

Yang Song led Shen Lang and his group into the weaving and embroidery room.

Upon entering, everyone's eyes were immediately drawn to the interior.

The environment in the weaving and embroidery workshop is vastly different from that in the loom workshop.

The environment here is serene and peaceful, far removed from the noise of rolling wood.

On the exquisitely decorated floor, a dozen embroiderers each stood in front of a screen displaying finished silk brocade pieces, meticulously embroidering patterns stitch by stitch.

These embroiderers were all fair-skinned and beautiful. Their slender arms rested lightly on the screen as they steadily sewed silk threads back and forth on the brocade.

Seeing this, Shen Lang couldn't help but sigh: Sure enough, no matter when, those with skills are always in high demand.

After spending about half an hour in the beautifully decorated room, Shen Lang stopped in front of a woman with a delicate embroidery mark on her forehead.

"How are these embroiderers treated?"

He asked Yang Song in a low voice, afraid of disturbing the embroiderer's work.

"Replying to the Duke of Zhenguo, these embroiderers receive at least two taels of gold per month as salary. This Yan Jiaojiao before you, in particular, entered this profession at the age of nine."

Now that he's nineteen, and his skills are the most refined among them, his monthly salary is naturally higher than the others.

She would receive eight taels of gold per month, and a specially provided residence for her and her family.

Shen Lang nodded. These embroiderers did indeed belong to a high-income group, but their income was earned at the expense of their health.

However, what Shen Lang didn't know was that the female workers in front of him, including those in the workshop just now, hadn't received their wages for two months.

The money from the weaving workshop was used to purchase looms and buy silk from Sichuan merchants.

"Go out."

After observing the condition of the silk embroidery workshop, Shen Lang stopped visiting and had Yang Song lead him to the front hall.

Once the group arrived at the front hall, Shen Lang went straight to the point: "How many bolts of silk brocade have you produced in your weaving workshop so far?"

Yang Song hurriedly brought a cup of tea to him: "Reporting to the Duke of Zhenguo, the weaving workshop currently has 58,000 bolts of low-grade silk brocade in stock for His Majesty."

We have 3,500 bolts of high-quality silk brocade, and we expect to receive over 60,000 bolts of lower-quality silk by the end of the month.

"Once June arrives and the new mulberry leaves are available, there will be even more raw silk produced. My weaving workshop will certainly be able to deliver the silk brocade required by the imperial court on time."

Shen Lang immediately stood up: "Take me to the warehouse to check."

Yang Song was startled and quickly said, "Why is the Duke of Zhenguo in such a hurry? If you want to inspect the goods, I will have someone send them to you."

Shen Lang's attitude was very firm: "No, I want to inspect the goods myself. I can only feel at ease after confirming it with my own eyes. Lead the way."

"Ah, this..."

"What, is it inconvenient?"

"No, no, no, it's convenient, it's convenient."

Yang Song's forehead was covered in sweat. He never expected that Shen Lang would actually want to inspect the goods himself, which stumped him.

"Let's go then. It's almost noon. Let's finish the inspection and then have lunch. Let's go."

"Yes……"

Helpless, Yang Song had no choice but to steel himself and lead Shen Lang toward the warehouse.