After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

Chapter 719 New Year's Banquet Gift 4

Without wasting any words, Jiang Xiaoqi opened the nearest large box.

For a time, the colorful glass ornaments made the imperial study shine brightly.

"Please take a look, Your Majesty!"

The emperor was helped down by the chief eunuch, and one by one, exquisite and colorful glass ornaments lay quietly in the box, waiting for inspection.

"Excellent, excellent! It is indeed a masterpiece!"

"Minister Jiang, is the Ministry of Works' glassmaking workshop already able to produce in bulk?"

"Your Majesty, the styles you see are all ones that our artisans have mastered and can produce in batches. Some of the more complex styles will take some more time to make."

The emperor nodded slightly, his smile remaining unchanged.

"This is already very good. To achieve this in such a short time, your glass workshop under the Ministry of Works deserves credit and should be rewarded!"

Jiang Xiaoqi didn't pretend to refuse, after all, it was His Majesty who wanted to bestow the gift upon the entire Liuli Workshop, and he had no right to refuse on their behalf.

Jiang Xiaoqi opened several other large boxes, each containing a different glass design, each lined with a separate piece of fine cotton cloth.

"Your Majesty, these sets of glass bowls, plates, and cups were specially made for you. They can be sent to the Imperial Kitchen for use."

"You've put a lot of thought into this. It is indeed exquisite and translucent, even more delicate than those brought by foreign merchants, and surpasses even crystal cups."

Jiang Xiaoqi wanted to say that the crystal glass was more valuable, but she held back.

Scarcity drives up value, and glass cups are valuable at this time. Regardless of whether they can be mass-produced, an ordinary person could not afford a set of glass teaware even if they didn't eat or drink for a year.

Even if mass production were possible, he would not allow the workshop to produce glass products of the same style and shape in large quantities.

We have to follow the old path of scarcity marketing, since these glass products are aimed at the powerful and wealthy, as well as overseas nobles.

In any case, we can't cheat the poor and ordinary people out of their money. This thing has huge profit margins and is a very suitable project to generate revenue for the imperial court.

The emperor picked up a glass cup and examined it closely against the light. The glass refracted colorful light under the light, which was quite beautiful.

“Minister Jiang, this glass is so exquisite. It would be a wonderful thing if more people could appreciate it.”

"Yes, Your Majesty. After the spring blossoms, the ships will be going to Japan on business. We can take a batch of glass products with us and land there under the guise of business."

Last time it was a seagoing vessel, and it was genuinely going to do business and explore the area.

This time, eleven ships were dispatched, along with troops on board; it hardly looked like a merchant caravan.

However, if you can attract attention with novel and unique products, you may still be able to successfully launch your product.

After all, the current situation in Japan is one of internal power struggles between the king and the general, making it a rather chaotic period for the country.

At this point, neither side would easily let go of any opportunity to make money.

"That's a good idea. How many soldiers can be assigned to eleven ships at most?"

"The capacity of a seagoing vessel is approximately over a thousand people, but that includes the crew, as well as supplies, cargo, and other items."

For safety's sake, the number of soldiers on each ship should ideally not exceed five hundred.

"Five hundred people per ship? Eleven ships would be five thousand five hundred people. Isn't it a bit childish to send over five thousand people to fight against a country?"

Jiang Xiaoqi smirked, “Your Majesty, you may not know this, but when the Zhenhai ship went to Japan last time, it not only conducted business but also investigated Japan’s military strength.”

Although the Japanese king and the general were fighting, neither side had more than a thousand soldiers. Even if the two sides shook hands and made peace and joined forces to resist the enemy, they would only have about two thousand men.

Moreover, the Japanese are naturally short, and although there are some skilled fighters among them, they are no match for the well-trained soldiers of our Great Zhou.

Five thousand elite Zhou soldiers are more than enough to deal with two thousand rabble.

The emperor nodded slightly, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes. "That would be feasible."

It's unbelievable that a country has such a small, capable military force. Aren't they afraid of unrest on the border?

"Japan does have a geographical advantage; it doesn't have many neighboring countries, and even if it does, they are all weaker than them."

Those stronger nations are separated from the small island nation of Japan by the sea, and without a navy and ships, they cannot come to attack them.

However, even if those more distant countries had ships, they probably wouldn't consider Japan, such a small island nation, as Japan is indeed quite poor, aside from the silver mines we know of.

The emperor returned to his desk, took out the maritime map that the crown prince had given him, saying it was the one he had brought back from the last voyage, and did not reveal that Jiang Xiaoqi had drawn the map.

"This is a maritime map that the Crown Prince gave me. It was brought back by the captain of the ship that went out to sea last time. Minister Jiang may take a look."

"Yes!"

What other kind of maritime map could there be?

Jiang Xiaoqi naturally knew that this map was the one she had drawn based on the map in the system store, but she couldn't show that she had seen it before.

Since the Crown Prince is helping me hide it, I can't undermine him.

"To have such an accurate maritime map, the location must be extremely precise."

"Yes, they took some wrong turns on their way there, but with this map, the journey was shortened considerably on the way back."

Jiang Xiaoqi pretended to look at the map "seriously" and said, "If we go this way, after we finish fighting Japan, we can turn around and go to Goryeo."

"Goryeo has always been a vassal state of our Great Zhou. Does Minister Jiang intend to attack Goryeo as well?"

"Not necessarily. Japan may not be able to consume that much glass, so they can save some and sell it to the Goryeo royal family."

Even if they don't have the money to buy, it's alright. They can exchange it for Korean ginseng, a unique product of Korea. It's a barter system, but the price must be set by our Great Zhou."

"Well said! Hahahaha, cough cough cough cough, cough cough cough."

"Your Majesty, please do not be overjoyed or saddened. The imperial physician has repeatedly advised us to do so."

The chief eunuch quickly served the emperor a cup of ginseng tea at the right temperature, and the emperor took two sips to suppress his cough.

"I am simply pleased that the glass trade, once developed, might be able to reach even more distant places by sea."

This question was clearly directed at Jiang Xiaoqi, who pointed to the map, ready to answer any question without reservation.

He didn't know if he would have another chance to be alone with His Majesty like this, so he said everything he could.

So that he won't regret it, and neither will His Majesty the Emperor.

"Oh, Europe? Do the people there really have blond hair and blue eyes?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I also read about it in some miscellaneous books and biographies. Whether it is really as described in the books can only be verified by actually setting foot on that land."

At this point, the light in the emperor's eyes dimmed.

Perhaps he thought he wouldn't have the chance to verify such a strange event.