Chapter 48: The Return of Li San
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“Any kind of edible oil will do.”
That was the last thing Xiao Ming said to Wang Shijie before sending him off.
Right now, he had no intention of wasting too much time on the four major families. The only reason he was sharing profits with them was to maintain the illusion that they were still allies.
In reality, Xiao Ming could not tolerate the existence of powerful aristocratic clans within his fiefdom. Such factions posed a severe threat to his rule.
The Great Yu Empire was already suffering under the unchecked power of noble families. He would not repeat that mistake.
After seeing Wang Shijie off, Xiao Ming ordered Qian Dafu to summon Pang Yukun. With the expansion of industrial technology, more and more products would soon be produced by Machinery Department and the Prince’s Mansion.
Both Drunken Qingzhou wine and perfume were produced exclusively within the Prince’s Mansion, with only trusted household guards involved in their manufacturing—strictly for security reasons.
Xiao Ming was well aware that others would not sit idly by. Spies were surely lurking, eager to steal the secrets of his factories and workshops. Thus, he was now formally establishing the Patent Bureau.
From now on, all technological innovations from Machinery Department would be registered under the Patent Bureau, with Chen Wenlong personally overseeing it. Any individual, merchant, or official caught stealing patents would be severely punished—and in extreme cases, executed.
Furthermore, anyone wishing to use a registered patent would have to pay a licensing fee.
For now, Xiao Ming had no intention of selling patents, but the legal framework had to be established early.