After Wu Sheng left, Ao Chen's expression gradually became serious: "Master, during the time you were away, King Wu sent people to attack Taoyuan County and wanted to seize the gunpowder."
"The people sent from the capital may have discovered something, but we sent people to test their attitude, and they have been living quite comfortably in the past two years. And since there has been no results for such a long time, they probably won't go back and tell everyone about it."
Fang Zheng said, "I already know something about this matter. Xiao Tao told me a little bit about it."
"We can no longer hide the gunpowder, and there is no need to hide it. Give them some real stuff in the next few days and get some results. Then I will report this to His Majesty."
Ao Chen nodded: "Besides, Master, do you still remember Feng Ya who was sent to the Prince of Wu's Palace? He is back, and he brought back a lot of exotic plants from the Prince of Wu, and now they are planted in the greenhouse."
"It's growing well. I've sent someone to get it in advance. It will be delivered to you soon."
Could it be that the King of Wu’s crops were potatoes?
Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow, but did not continue to ask. Instead, he said, "Go on."
"Penicillin has been basically developed, but... the research institute used prisoners for research, sir, please see..."
He has repeatedly forbidden the use of prisoners for experiments unless they are volunteers and are safe and controllable. These lunatics really dare to do anything!
Fang Zhengyi was furious. "Hang all those involved on the city wall for three days as a warning to the public. Take them down when you need to eat, drink, defecate or urinate. Don't blame me for being cruel if this happens again."
"But His Majesty has already commended him..."
"I don't care about your Majesty. Anything beyond the bottom line must be punished! Didn't Xiaotao stop their funding? Let's talk about it in half a year." Fang Zhengyi said calmly: "Doing science also requires morality and humanity. Will these lunatics continue to cooperate with human traffickers over time?"
"There is nothing to discuss about this matter. We need to be humane. Do you understand humaneness?! If anyone dares to do this again, we will directly hand him over to the government and expel him from Taoyuan County! What will happen to the captives?"
"It was thrown into the back hills to dig coal."
"Good job."
Ao Chen continued to talk about the various major and minor events in the county, which were extremely trivial, but fortunately they were not very important.
Fang Zhengyi rubbed his brows and kept thinking. After Ao Chen finished his report, he said, "Call Feng Ya."
Ao Chen responded and turned around to go out to make arrangements.
Not long after, Feng Ya walked in with high spirits. When he saw Fang Zhengyi, he excitedly said, "Master, long time no see!"
Fang Zheng smiled and waved his hand: "You hid well enough. I sent people to look for you several times but couldn't find you. I'll give you credit for your great achievement this time and let you have enough time off."
Feng Ya smiled and said, "Thank you, sir, but I can't sit still, so I don't need it. Anyway, it's quite relaxing to watch the casino every day."
"Okay, since you are willing to help, I have an important task for you!" Fang Zheng said.
Seeing Fang Zhengyi's serious expression, Feng Ya couldn't help but become serious: "Master, please speak."
"Well, I won't waste any more time. I went to Haiyuan City and robbed a salt merchant."
"The salt merchants were very rich. At that time, the government officials took away no less than one million taels of gold and silver from the Lu family's silver vault. We bribed them because we were in a hurry and did not have enough manpower."
"You have experience. Bring a group of experienced people to do some "business" with them to recover the dirty silver. No matter how much is recovered, you will get 10%! The rest of the silver will be returned to the county and it will be legal income."
Fang Zhengyi pulled out an envelope from his sleeve and threw it over: "Here is the list, with all the addresses on it, be careful."
Feng Ya opened the envelope and turned it over twice, then looked up and asked, "Master, did you give them this money?"
"That's right." Fang Zheng stroked his chin and recalled the scene at that time: "It is indeed what I gave them. Of course, how they spend it is up to them. If they lose money doing business with you, then they can't blame me."
"Money can only maximize its value if it is placed in the right hands. This is called acting on behalf of heaven."
Feng Ya was happy and asked tentatively: "If I can get back one million taels, can I get 100,000 taels?"
"Not only that, I will also reward you with a house!" Fang Zheng waved his hand!
Feng Ya was overjoyed: "Okay! Master, I will choose the person myself then."
"You can choose whatever you want. If there's nothing else, you can go back and prepare now."
Feng Ya nodded excitedly, then turned around and left in a hurry!
As he stepped out of the door, the servant who was going to fetch the crops passed him by and ran in, placing a small basket in front of Fang Zheng's desk. "Master, these are the new crops grown in the greenhouse. Please take a look!"
Fang Zheng poked his head into the basket and immediately stood up.
"Potato!?"
Ao Chen also leaned over and pointed at the potato and said, "Master, is this what you are talking about? I heard from Feng Ya that King Wu calls this thing "yang ya". Have you seen it before?"
"I've seen it...more than just seen it." Fang Zhengyi murmured.
He picked up the potatoes in the basket in a daze.
He vaguely remembered that potatoes were a native crop of South America. Where did the King of Wu's fleet go?
This thing is different from sweet potatoes. Potatoes can be said to be the real staple food! The problem is not the nutritional elements, but the experience and taste. In times of famine, people can still rely on sweet potatoes to make ends meet, but it is a torture to live a normal life and eat sweet potatoes every day. Moreover, it has too much crude fiber, and the nutritional absorption is worse than potatoes.
In contrast, potatoes can completely replace traditional crops such as rice and wheat.
Moreover, it can be prepared in a variety of ways and can be used as a dish or as a staple food.
Although the yield of potatoes is not as high as that of sweet potatoes, they can be grown for two seasons in some places, so they may even surpass sweet potatoes.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com