DLWAV CH29

They had arrived in the capital!

From a distance, they heard the sound of gongs and drums.

Ao Ruize got out of the carriage to take a look, only to see flags fluttering not far away, almost obscuring the sun.

Under the flags, standing at the very front were the First Prince and a group of imperial relatives. Behind them were civil and military officials, surrounded by heavily guarded armored soldiers, followed by carriages stretching for miles.

Ao Ruize immediately stepped forward towards the First Prince and the others not far away.

“Big Brother, Fourth Brother, Eldest Sister, Eldest Brother-in-law, Second Sister, Second Brother-in-law, Third Sister, Fourth Sister…”

Although only three princes survived under Emperor Yuanxi, there were a total of eight princesses. However, apart from the Eldest Princess and the Second Princess, the other six princesses had not yet taken consorts.

Seeing Ao Ruize, the First Prince couldn’t help but be stunned.

“Taller, and stronger too. Good, good, good.”

Most importantly, he was more sensible than before.

Thinking of the news he had received these days about Ao Ruize sending food to Xia Jingyao every day, the First Prince became increasingly satisfied.

—He only thought Ao Ruize was helping him win people over, which was why he was so attentive to Xia Jingyao.

After all, Zhao Ruize used to give Xia Jingyao a hard time quite often.

Because of this, the First Prince used to have quite a headache.

After all, he still needed Xia Jingyao’s support.

Almost at the same time, the civil and military officials and common people behind them all knelt down and shouted, “Long live Prince An.”

Ao Ruize raised an eyebrow: “Big Brother, this—”

The First Prince said, “What, do you think this display is too grand?”

“I actually think it’s too small!”

He laughed loudly and said, “Eighth Brother went to Yunzhou for disaster relief this time. Not only did he successfully quell the floods in Yunzhou, but he also captured all the corrupt officials in Yunzhou in one fell swoop, returning a clear sky to the two million people of Yunzhou. It can be said to be a great achievement—”

“Since we are welcoming a great hero, we need such a grand display.”

“Not only that, I also specifically had people adapt your deeds of flood control in Yunzhou into a play. It will be performed at the Champion’s Tower in two days. At that time, I must call all of us brothers and sisters to go listen together, hahahaha.”

Hearing this, not to mention what the Fourth Prince and others thought in their hearts, but in front of so many people, they also had to pretend to be elated.

“Big Brother is right.”

Xia Jingyao raised an eyebrow.

The First Prince was afraid that the officials and people in the capital wouldn’t know about Prince An’s great achievements.

Of course, the First Prince did this to borrow this east wind to enhance his own prestige.

It was just a pity that the stage he set up this time was destined to benefit Prince An instead.

Ao Ruize also smiled: “I like it very much.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Big Brother.”

“No trouble, no trouble.”

Everything that needed to be said was said. The First Prince then stated, “Let’s talk about other things later.”

“Let’s go back to the palace first; Father Emperor is probably waiting anxiously.”

“Okay.”

The group immediately boarded the sedan chairs and set off towards the imperial palace in a mighty procession.

The milk dumpling emerged excitedly from the depths of Ao Ruize’s sea of consciousness, but upon seeing the scene on the street, it was exceptionally disappointed.

Because the capital of the Great Yang Dynasty looked not much different from Yunzhou City.

Like Yunzhou City, even the main roads here were paved with dirt. When the wind blew, the sky was filled with sand and dust. The only thing better than Yunzhou was that the vast majority of houses in the capital were brick and tile houses, unlike Yunzhou, where most houses were built of wood.

After entering the palace, it was even more disappointed.

Because the appearance of the imperial palace was too different from what it imagined. Although it looked magnificent enough from a distance, upon closer inspection, even though the ground was paved with gray bricks, the road surface was uneven. The paint on the vast majority of pillars had almost peeled off, and the bases of some pillars had even been corroded by rainwater.

However, it cheered up again very quickly.

Because after seeing Emperor Yuanxi, who was already in high spirits, and seeing Ao Ruize’s current energetic appearance, Emperor Yuanxi waved his hand and directly rewarded Ao Ruize with ten thousand taels of gold, plus a manor covering three hundred mu.

The milk dumpling’s eyes lit up instantly.

Because it didn’t expect to encounter the essential trope of ancient costume dramas.

Emperor Yuanxi then said, still unsatisfied, “Alright, you may leave. Go see your mother consort. In the three months you were gone, she hasn’t had a good sleep.”

Consort Xian’s residence was not far from the Qianyuan Hall, and Ao Ruize arrived very quickly.

Consort Xian had long been waiting at the palace gate.

Seeing Ao Ruize, she went straight up and grabbed his hand: “It’s good that you’re back, it’s good that you’re back.”

Ao Ruize looked at the dark circles under her eyes and the guilt flashing through them, and the smile on his face faded a little: “This son is unfilial, making Mother Consort worry…”

“What are you saying? I only have you and your Big Brother, two children. I just hope you can both be well.”

Consort Xian couldn’t help wiping the corners of her eyes.

Ao Ruize: “We will be.”

Consort Xian immediately pulled him into the house: “The sun is strong outside; let’s go inside to talk. I also made your favorite white fungus and lotus seed soup, chilled with ice water. Before, when your health was poor, I didn’t dare let you eat too much. Now that your health is good, you can eat as much as you want…”

Consort Xian was as talkative as before: “…You don’t know yet, your sister-in-law is pregnant again. The child in her belly is already more than four months old. Before long, you will have another little nephew…”

…

“A young noble lady in the palace also was diagnosed with good news, but her fate is average. The Imperial Physician said the child in her belly is most likely a princess.”

…

Ao Ruize chose to listen silently.

Until Consort Xian got tired of talking, and Ao Ruize accompanied her for lunch, he finally managed to get away.

Then Ao Ruize went straight back to Prince An’s Manor.

The milk dumpling couldn’t wait any longer.

“Quick, quick, quick, go see the ten thousand taels of gold Emperor Yuanxi rewarded you.”

It wasn’t that it hadn’t seen the world. After all, in the previous world, it had even seen bank cards with twelve-digit deposits.

And ten thousand taels of gold, calculated according to modern gold prices, was only three or four hundred million.

But it really hadn’t seen ten thousand taels of physical gold.

That scene must be spectacular.

“Alright.”

Ao Ruize didn’t refuse.

But unexpectedly, what appeared before them were only three chests.

Milk Dumpling: “…”

It quickly counted on its five chubby fingers: “…So ten thousand taels of gold is actually only a little over six hundred jin (approx. 300kg)…”

Plus gold has a high density, so having three chests was already pretty good.

Milk Dumpling: “…”

Its happy mood instantly got a fifty percent discount.

But in fact, fifty percent was an overestimation.

Because when Ao Ruize opened the chest, it was full of brass.

Milk Dumpling: “…”

“Did a thief enter the treasury?

Otherwise, how did perfectly good gold turn into brass???”

Ao Ruize picked up a brass brick: “No thief entered. This is the ten thousand taels of ‘gold’ the Emperor rewarded me.”

Milk Dumpling: “???”

This difference was too big.

It certainly knew that gold was precious in the past and the mining volume was too small, so when emperors rewarded officials, they would use copper and tin to replace gold to satisfy their vanity.

But this was already 1583 AD. In the previous world, the Jiajing Emperor of the same period dared to reward his grandson with one hundred thousand bolts of silk at the drop of a hat.

Calculating at the price of six taels of silver per bolt of silk, that was six hundred thousand taels.

However, thinking of the scenes they saw along the way just now, the milk dumpling understood.

Simply put, Great Yang was too poor.

“That’s not right. Emperor Yuanxi is already the fifth emperor of Great Yang, which means the Central Plains have been recuperating for nearly a hundred years.”

If this were in other dynasties, with the accumulation of several generations, a golden age would have arrived.

Ao Ruize looked through the memories of the original host: “There’s no helping it. Yang Taizu only knew how to conquer the world, not how to govern it. The aptitudes of the following three emperors were more mediocre than the last. Emperor Yuanxi is a bit better than them, and they are self-aware enough not to be extravagant and wasteful. So although the Great Yang Dynasty is a bit poor now, the people can still survive, and the country is relatively stable.”

“Is that so!”

The milk dumpling was extremely disappointed.

But the next second, it reacted: “Does this mean we can perhaps start with Great Yang’s economy and find an opportunity to gain a firm foothold in the court…”

At least Xia Jingyao guessed one thing right: they indeed intended to fight for that chair.

Because the original host died a bit miserably.

And isn’t the highest level of revenge against someone to snatch away what they dream of?

Hearing the milk dumpling’s words, Ao Ruize raised an eyebrow: “This is indeed a good idea.”

The milk dumpling instantly got excited: “Leave this matter to me.”

Since the development laws and terrain of this world were similar to the previous world, the climatic conditions and the locations of mineral deposits should also be similar to the previous world. The problem was very simple then.

As a qualified system, the first task upon entering a new world was, of course, to collect basic information about the new world.

Coincidentally, because the previous world was the first mission world it experienced after becoming a system, it couldn’t bear to delete the data from the previous world—

This meant they could completely copy the development experience of the previous world and formulate a development plan.

With this, were they afraid their plan wouldn’t succeed?

Ao Ruize was also very satisfied: “Good.”

But besides this, he also had to think of a way to find a legitimate source of income for Prince An’s Manor.

Because although the original host was a prince, his annual salary was only one thousand taels.

When he left the palace to establish his manor, the Ministry of Revenue allocated a sum of money to him, and Emperor Yuanxi and Consort Xian also gave him some properties.

But he couldn’t help getting sick every few days. If it weren’t for the fact that he hadn’t married a wife or taken concubines yet, and the backyard didn’t have many expenses, the copper nails on the gate of his manor would probably have been pawned off already.

In other words, Ao Ruize’s current net worth was only the six hundred-plus jin of brass Emperor Yuanxi rewarded him today (converted to silver, probably around two thousand taels) and that three-hundred-mu manor.

This little money was barely enough to feed himself, let alone support a wife.

Thinking of the scene where Xia Jingyao brought ten or twenty servants to serve him even when traveling, Ao Ruize frowned slightly.

It was just a pity that if this were a modern world, he could repeat his old trick and take a trip to the stock markets of hostile countries to harvest some leeks. But now—

Ao Ruize’s peripheral vision fell on the carefully stored Ten-Thousand People Umbrella beside him, or more precisely, on the pearls adorning that umbrella.

He remembered that a river in the capital also seemed to produce pearls, although the quality of the pearls produced was very poor.

Most importantly—

Ao Ruize took the title deed of the manor Emperor Yuanxi rewarded him.

Coincidentally, that river happened to pass through that manor.

That afternoon, Ao Ruize went to the manor.

First, he ordered the head of the manor to dig all three hundred mu of land into interconnected ponds, and then he placed a suggestion on the nearby pearl mussels, telling them to produce pearls properly for him here.

Then he remembered that producing pearls seemed to be extremely painful for river mussels. He thought about it and opened his divine sea space, preparing to take out a dragon scale he had shed before to replace the medicinal herbs he prepared to cover up the truth.

Because the dragon scale had his residual dragon qi, it could nourish those river mussels.

But unexpectedly, as soon as he opened the divine sea space, he saw a mountain of glittering golden dragon scales more than ten meters high.

Only then did he remember that these were the scales he shed during those tens of thousands of years of overtime work.

There were already so many?

Taking up too much space—

Thinking of this, Ao Ruize grabbed a handful of dragon scales directly, put them in a sack, and threw them into the river.

Finally, he only instructed the manor head: “This is a secret medicine I found for raising pearl mussels. When you dig the ponds, do not fish it up.”

The manor head immediately bowed: “Yes.”

Ao Ruize went back satisfied.

Although this was suspected of cheating—

But he was here for a vacation, not really to do a mission, so why not cheat if he could?

That night, the milk dumpling finished the development plan.

Before Ao Ruize could finish reading those few pages of the development plan, it asked impatiently, “How is it?”

In its calculations, the most profitable and quickest money-making industries in ancient times were: first, mining; second, selling salt; and third, maritime trade.

—After all, these were essential elements of time-travel novels.

It just so happened that there was a large gold mine in Fuzhou, above the capital, that had not yet been discovered by the court.

Zhangzhou, below the capital, was by the sea. And right in Zhangzhou’s jurisdiction, in a place called Zhao County not far from the sea, there were relatively rich natural gas resources underground.

So the milk dumpling’s plan was simple: go to Fuzhou to mine.

Go to Zhangzhou to channel seawater to Zhao County and use the natural gas resources in Zhao County to boil salt.

Then use the money earned from mining and boiling salt to build ships in Haizhou, go to sea to search for high-quality seeds, and trade with other countries…

Just these three points could instantly revitalize three prefectures.

Once these three prefectures were revitalized, were they afraid other prefectures wouldn’t rise?

Although this plan was simple, it was obvious that the milk dumpling had put a lot of thought into it.

But Ao Ruize still said, “There are a few problems.”

“What problems?”

Milk Dumpling: “Tell me, I’ll change it for you right now.”

Ao Ruize said, “No rush.”

The next day, Ao Ruize sent out two groups of people: one group went to Fuzhou, and one group went to Zhangzhou.

Seven days later, when these two groups returned, Ao Ruize took that plan and a forged travelogue into the palace.

As soon as Emperor Yuanxi opened that plan, his expression changed directly.

Especially after seeing the sentence ‘Estimated within a hundred years, stable daily production of sixty jin of gold.’

Calculating it, that was an annual production of three hundred and fifty thousand taels of gold.

Equivalent to increasing the annual income of the Great Yang treasury by forty percent.

“Is… is this true?”

Emperor Yuanxi couldn’t believe it.

Ao Ruize: “Answering Father Emperor, it is all true. This son has already sent two groups of people to check Zhangzhou and Fuzhou, and indeed found that gold mine in Fuzhou.”

Saying this, Ao Ruize placed the box in his hand on Emperor Yuanxi’s imperial desk and opened it.

Inside the box were several pieces of ore of various sizes, with grains of gold faintly visible in them.

“Good, good, good.”

Emperor Yuanxi touched the ores, his excitement almost uncontrollable.

Then, as if thinking of something, he hurriedly grabbed the plan and continued reading.

Upon seeing the sentence ‘High-yield grain seeds with a yield of over five hundred jin per mu’, his eyebrows twitched violently.

High-yield grain seeds with over five hundred jin per mu, and more than one kind—

If this was true, even finding one kind would be enough for the Great Yang Dynasty to break free from its current predicament, and he, the emperor, could leave his name in history.

Thinking of this, Emperor Yuanxi’s fingers trembled uncontrollably.

So much so that it took him a while to calm down.

“This Mr. Lai Tuanzi of the previous dynasty was truly a great talent!”

According to Ao Ruize, when he was managing the floods in Yunzhou, he found a travelogue written by Mr. Lai Tuanzi. While traveling in various places, Mr. Lai discovered the Fuzhou gold mine, the Zhangzhou natural gas mine, and the existence of high-yield grain seeds overseas. However, because he was dissatisfied with the imperial court harming the Han people at the time, he didn’t tell the government about these things, but he still recorded them, hoping that subsequent dynasties could see this book and use these to benefit the people.

He initially didn’t take this matter to heart, so he only remembered it after returning to the capital.

Thinking that it might be true, he sent two groups of people to Fuzhou and Zhangzhou to investigate.

Unexpectedly, what was said in this travelogue turned out to be true.

Thinking of this, Emperor Yuanxi looked up at Ao Ruize with a relieved face: “You did well too.”

If the First Prince and the Fourth Prince had discovered this travelogue, they would have probably pocketed it long ago instead of bringing it out.

Ao Ruize: “This son only did his duty.”

So who should implement this plan?

Calming down, Emperor Yuanxi immediately began to ponder.

Send a heavy-weight court official to do it?

No.

What kind of credit was this?

If a subordinate official got it, what if they threatened the Zhao family’s rule in the future?

Send a prince to do it?

Did the First Prince and the Fourth Prince have the ability to handle this matter well?

As for the other princes… better not mention them.

Just then, his peripheral vision suddenly fell on Ao Ruize below. Remembering his actions in Yunzhou, Emperor Yuanxi paused, then suddenly said, “This plan you formulated is very good, but do you know that implementing this plan is actually very difficult?”

Ao Ruize smiled: “This son knows, because the one currently governing Fuzhou is Liu Chaoying.”

Liu Chaoying was the fifth-generation grandson of Liu Kangcheng, the sworn brother of Yang Taizu.

The greatest contributor to Yang Taizu’s conquest of the world back then was Liu Kangcheng.

After Yang Taizu ascended the throne, he titled Liu Kangcheng the Duke of Zhenguo, ordering him to guard Fuzhou for generations and resist Japanese pirates.

By Liu Chaoying’s generation, the original heir to the Duke of Zhenguo was not him but his elder brother. However, because both his father and brother unfortunately died on the battlefield, and his brother’s son was too young, plus Liu Kangcheng had solemnly vowed that he would return the title to his nephew when he grew up, the court allowed him to succeed as the Duke of Zhenguo.

But a few years later, his nephew accidentally fell into the water and died; even the body wasn’t found.

After succeeding as Duke of Zhenguo, because he completely defeated the Japanese pirates based on the foundation laid by his father and brother, his ambition gradually swelled. Externally, he provoked the court from time to time; internally, he ruthlessly exploited the people to build palaces, even appointing titles to his harem comparable to the emperor’s harem. Because there weren’t enough beauties in Fuzhou, he even targeted the wives and concubines of his own father and brother.

The current Fuzhou was effectively his independent kingdom.

The key was that the court really couldn’t do anything to him for the time being. After all, he held fifty thousand troops, and the Japanese pirates recently showed signs of making a comeback, so the court still needed him to resist them.

Fortunately, the court could still temporarily restrain him with grain and military pay.

One could imagine that if they wanted to mine in Fuzhou, how could Liu Chaoying agree?

In all likelihood, he would try to seize the gold mine.

Once this gold mine fell into Liu Chaoying’s hands, and he had sufficient military funds without being constrained by the court, his rebellion would be a matter of time.

Emperor Yuanxi looked at him and asked again, “Then how do you think this matter should be handled?”

Ao Ruize lowered his eyes slightly: “This son humbly thinks…”

After listening to Ao Ruize’s plan, Emperor Yuanxi froze on the dragon throne.

It wasn’t that his plan was bad, but that it was too good, and also… too ruthless.

For a moment, a strong sense of dread and disgust rose in Emperor Yuanxi’s heart.

But the next second, he remembered how Prince An risked his life in Yunzhou to plug the dike breach, personally supervising the work on the dike, nearly dying in Yunzhou, and the Ten-Thousand People Umbrella he received…

Emperor Yuanxi then realized.

No, Ao Ruize wasn’t too ruthless; he was just rational, knowing what was most beneficial to the people and the court.

Thinking of this, Emperor Yuanxi’s expression softened.

After a brief silence, he finally made a decision: “Alright then, I’ll leave this matter to you.”

Support me on Ko-fi