Preparing Goods

Edward was stunned when he heard that Lily Evans had actually organized a literacy drive for the common folk. His jaw dropped, and he gave a big thumbs-up: "Your Majesty the Queen, your vision is truly remarkable!"

Lily chuckled, "Haha, Mr. Edward, you flatter me. Well, the goods have all been unpacked now, you've worked hard enough—go get some rest. The rest of the work is up to us."

Edward was exhausted from his travels. After saying goodbye to everyone, he went off to rest.

Next, Lily began assigning specific tasks to the group.

"First, send all the foreign instruction manuals to the Foreign Languages Academy and have the students translate them into plain, easy-to-understand Chinese. Belle, you'll be in charge of this."

"Second, take the instructions for pesticides and fertilizers to a printing house and have them made into booklets. The wording must be simple enough that even a granny can understand at a glance. Then, train a group of instructors to go into the villages alongside the literacy campaign, answering questions and providing guidance. Lola and Martin Wu, this is your responsibility."

"Third, secretly gather the best craftsmen in Charleston and have them study the machinery assembly diagrams. I want them to learn not only how to assemble the machines, but also how to replicate every single part. In the future, I hope our own people can manufacture these machines, without relying on imports. Sean Hayes, this is your job—remember, utmost secrecy! Build a secret factory in the mountains near Charleston, and don't let outsiders find out."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Everyone responded, their eyes gleaming with eagerness, ready to get to work.

Finally, Lily smiled, "As for this silver, take it all to the Royal Treasury. If you need funds while completing your tasks, just submit a report to apply."

With everything finally settled, Lily was sore all over from exhaustion. But knowing she still had a mountain of things to handle, she headed back to the Chancellor's study.

Sure enough, she had only just sat down when something came up.

Yuan Jie and Mrs. Chen arrived together.

Yuan Jie said, "Here is the list of goods prepared for the next voyage. Please take a look, Chancellor Su."

Lily was always cautious in business matters. She took the list, read it carefully, and nodded with satisfaction. "Uncle Yuan, this is well done. We'll procure the goods as listed for the next shipment. Oh, and let me notify you in advance: the shipment after next will require ten more ships, so the cargo will need to increase accordingly."

"Ah, ten more ships—that's wonderful!" Yuan Jie and Mrs. Chen both knew that overseas trade was like picking up money; every extra ship meant an extra ship's worth of profit.

"By the way, Edward said that the Kingston porcelain we provided last time was especially loved by foreigners. Kingston porcelain is the best in our region, and now that it's part of Qin, let's order exclusively from Kingston from now on," Lily said.

Mrs. Chen smiled, "Yes, I understand. Our Chen family has always worked with Kingston, and we've always ordered their porcelain. We'll continue to cooperate—no problem at all."

"Good, that's settled. As for silk, we'll rely on your family, Aunt Chen, so that's reassuring. As for tea..." Lily rubbed her brow, "If only we could produce tea locally. It would give the people another way to earn money and help boost the local economy."

Mrs. Chen nodded, "If we could produce tea locally, that would be best. But just like porcelain, the cultivation and processing techniques for good tea are tightly controlled by a few porcelain and tea families—they won't share their secrets easily."