The Fourteenth Prince was indeed powerful, but war is all about logistics. The Governor-General of Sichuan was in charge of the food supplies for the western war zone. It could be said that having this position meant having control over the Fourteenth Prince's lifeline. Even if something happened, there was no fear of him rebelling. If the food supplies were insufficient, the army wouldn't even be able to hold out until they returned to the capital.

The Fourteenth Prince's position as Grand General was of no concern to the Fourth Prince; on the contrary, it completely eliminated any possibility of him vying for it.

He even understood that whoever held the position of Governor-General of Sichuan represented who Kangxi's chosen successor would be. After all, if Kangxi had chosen him, the Fourteenth Prince and Yinyi, one with troops and the other with provisions, would have caused instability in the court. Kangxi would not have chosen him that way.

After the Fourteenth Prince left the capital, the Fourth Prince was still immersed in a brief period of depression when Yin Yi submitted a memorial. After reading the memorial, Emperor Kangxi immediately summoned him.

"Is what you said in your memorial true?"

"Your Majesty, I dare not deceive you. The improved rice is grown on my estate. I have only harvested a few acres. Your Majesty can personally take people to see the rest."

Food is the most important thing for people. The population during the Kangxi era was larger than that of any previous era. According to his investigation, this increase in population was mainly due to potatoes. However, potatoes are not easy to store for long periods of time, and occasional poisoning incidents occurred.

Under Anning's guidance, after leaving the palace and establishing his own residence, he began to spend a lot of money to secretly conduct research in several major grain-producing areas of the Qing Dynasty, as well as in the Manchu homeland of Northeast China, to increase the yield of crops such as rice and wheat.

Wheat yield still needs further research, while rice yields were the first to show results. Yin Yi suggested to Emperor Kangxi that rice yield could be increased by using more effective composting, changing breeding methods, and rationally arranging planting density.

These alone cost Yin Yi a lot of money. If An Ning hadn't handed over the silver ear fungus business to him and provided him with a huge sum of money, he might not have been able to figure it out.