CH 90

After the start of spring, there were indeed several carriages coming from the north, in different styles. Now it was the day when the dragon raised its head, and the temple fair was lively. The difference from a few years ago was that there were more stalls on the street, and everyone had a more sincere smile on their faces.

After all, life was indeed much better than in previous years.

At present, Jiangnan’s position as the pivot of the entire continent was more obvious. It was not surprising that people came here. There were a lot of carriages of all kinds, and nowadays a luxurious carriage entering Luanzhou wouldn’t even attract much attention.

After all, no matter who it was, he wouldn’t dare to cause trouble in Jiangnan.

A few years ago, Chen and Jing were merged into Jilin. Although they still had their monarch families, they were actually completely controlled by Jilin. The barbarians and the ancient kingdoms of the Western Regions also became more and more peaceful.

Jiangnan was a very special place in the whole continent, and since the appointment of the King of Jiangnan, the imperial family of Jilin had never managed it anymore. Not only did they not manage it, they also had a lot of respect for Fu Zhiyu.

Today, after waiting at the residence, Fu Zhiyu welcomed the person inside the carriage.

He hadn’t seen Fu Yanxi for a long time. It turned out that the originally nerdy boy had also grown up a lot. He was taller and looked more elegant, but some things still hadn’t changed.

After Fu Yanxi got out of the carriage, he first saluted Fu Zhiyu in a regular manner, and then said with a smile: “I haven’t seen Wang Zhao for a long time, but Wang Zhao’s style is still the same.”

He was now also a Wang and also had an official position in the Grand Secretariat. According to the rules, he did have to salute when he came to Jiangnan.

“Forget it,” Fu Zhiyu waved his hand and said, “On this occasion, you don’t need to be so polite. I received a letter from the emperor saying that there were envoys from the imperial city. At first, I planned to set up a banquet outside, but I heard that it was you, so I thought that since we’re brothers, there’s no need to go to all that trouble. Let’s just set up a banquet at home. Mother also said it was not easy for you to come here, and she wanted to cook a few dishes for you.”

When Fu Yanxi heard this, his whole body relaxed a lot, and his upturned face showed a simple smile, just like when he was a child.

“Good, oh,” he said, “I haven’t seen the widowed Imperial Noble Consort Yun for a long time. I miss her quite a bit.”

With that said, he asked the servant to carry out a large box from the back of the carriage.

“I brought gifts for both my imperial brother and the Imperial Consort,” he said. “There is the qin of the Imperial Consort inside. You left in a hurry last time and didn’t take it with you. This qin is the best in the palace. Except for the Imperial Noble Consort Yun, the other people are not worthy of it.”

“Come in,” Fu Zhiyu said, “Mother will be happy when she sees it.”

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Fu Yanxi had really come here on business. The changes in Jiangnan were obvious to everyone; he was here to learn things by order of the emperor. Besides he had to record them and write them down to pass them on to future generations.

The changes in farming tools and facilities such as waterwheels could be used widely, not only for the benefit of Jiangnan, but also for the benefit of the rest of the country. But this step should not be left to Fu Zhiyu; Fu Yanran was the emperor and this was his responsibility.

Fu Zhiyu was quite willing to share these things. Fu Yanxi didn’t come alone. He also brought craftsmen. Those craftsmen were to contact the craftsmen of the Lin family. Fu Yanxi, who was in charge of taking notes, followed Fu Zhiyu and looked left and right for a few days, having an eye-opening experience.

Fu Yanxi also reminded him: “The barbarian King Xidan will be here in a few days as well. It’s not a problem for the Jiangnan Lin family to farm on their territory. The barbarian area is so big that it’s already very good to be able to grow things there. But later he heard that the Lin family actually got the seeds from you, and the yield was getting better and better in the past few years, so he couldn’t sit still.”

King Xidan knew about the barley seeds. After all, it was his territory, and everything passed through his hands, but this wasn’t enough.

When it came to the canal, the section in Jilin had actually been almost dug up.

The reason why efficiency could be so fast was really not due to Fu Zhiyu, but due to Fu Yanran’s efforts. Moreover, not only ordinary people, but the army also joined. With more people and more power, efficiency increased exponentially.

“In fact, everyone knows who did this.” Fu Yanxi, who had eaten enough at the dinner table, looked more relaxed as he had become accustomed to the surroundings in the past few days. In Fu Zhiyu’s house, he dared to say anything, “The young General Xie Ke. Back then, after the emperor ascended the throne, he retreated.

At that time, the whole capital knew about his injury and he didn’t show up much after he got better. Many people outside said that he was dead, and the Xie family didn’t even clarify it. Even the emperor rarely saw him, once in half a year or so. I don’t know where he spent so much time.”

Fu Zhiyu’s hand holding the wine glass paused slightly. He changed the subject subtly: “Then… how are you getting along with the emperor? Is he doing well?”

“Very well. We are the monarch and the subject on the surface, but we are still brothers in private,” Fu Yanxi said. “He hasn’t changed much. He does what he has to do seriously, and he is very busy. Sometimes he negotiates with Prime Minister Shen all night, and he can’t have a good sleep for several days.

In the past few years, on the contrary, General Xie relaxed a lot. He is also getting older and slowly returning some power to the emperor. The two get along very well. Now Jilin does look a lot better than before. Before I came, Prime Minister Shen wanted to follow, but he had too many things on his hands and couldn’t leave. And more importantly, he looked…  as if he didn’t dare to come. He told me that you probably didn’t want to see him, so he just asked me to tell him when I came back if you were doing well.”

Fu Yanxi didn’t understand the relationship between Fu Zhiyu and these people very clearly, and he didn’t want to understand. Sometimes it was better to be confused.

Fu Zhiyu drank the wine and then faintly responded: “Actually, it’s fine. Tell him that I have forgotten the previous things a long time ago.”

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In the past few days, Fu Yanxi had almost finished writing down everything, so he invited Fu Zhiyu to take a look at the canal.

The canal to be dug in Jiangnan was not long, only a short section, and more was still outside Jiangnan. Fu Zhiyu was very willing to accept this invitation.

The canal that had been dug up so far was not the end. There was a longer section in the plan to the north, where the barbarians lived. It was not something that Jilin could decide, and it was still under negotiation.

Therefore, this time King Xidan came to Jiangnan with many tasks.

Although this man had a weird temper and didn’t play cards according to common sense, he was a king after all, and he also had to consider the development of the barbarian grassland.

The barbarians lived in the north, the land was barren, and the climate was very bad. Many supplies were scarce, and the roads were difficult to travel, making transportation extremely complicated. The improved barley seeds and wheat seeds given by Fu Zhiyu saved many lives, and King Xidan took notice.

This person had many useful things in his hands.

This was the first time King Xidan had come to Jiangnan, and when he faced Fu Zhiyu this time, he didn’t have his previously sloppy look.

“Sure enough, the water and soil are good, something we the barbarians can only envy,” he said with emotion. “When I looked at you back then, I knew that you must have been hiding something, not as simple as you seemed on the surface. None of you Fu imperial family are fuel-saving lamps (easy to deal with).”

Fu Zhiyu smiled and said, “I’ll take your words as a compliment.”

“It is a compliment,” King Xidan glanced at him, “Hiding many secrets and astonishing, truly impressive.”

Fu Zhiyu didn’t have any extra expression in reply to this compliment. He just smiled and said, “I would also like to thank King Xidan for helping me back then, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to control them.”

“You mean the Qian family?” King Xidan remembered with a little smile on his face, “Actually, it has nothing to do with me, you know, Xie Ke did it.”

Fu Zhiyu didn’t say anything.

“I’m really curious about what happened between you two,” King Xidan looked at him, “It’s all like this, still no progress?”

“…Are you digging the canal or not?”

“Dig, dig, dig!” King Xidan responded smoothly. Fu Zhiyu didn’t want to talk about this topic, so he closed his mouth, but the interest in his eyes became heavier.

Together, they went to see the canal dug in other places except Jiangnan. On the way, Fu Zhiyu also met Deng Jinghe.

He was responsible for the docks along the river. The setting point of the dock was also very important. After the dock was built, it was the matter of which way the goods would go, and even what shops would be suitable for opening around the dock.

In fact, Fu Zhiyu didn’t know Deng Jinghe well; they were not even acquaintances. It was just that Deng Jinghe stared at him for a long time, then turned away and lowered his head to go on doing what he was doing.

Deng Jinghe’s affairs were actually a family matter of the Deng family for Fu Zhiyu. Back then, Fu Zhiyu told Deng Qian about the situation and asked him to make his own decision.

“Your family education is really not good, you have to admit this,” Fu Zhiyu said. “One son was educated to have more abilities and insufficient virtues, and in the end, he even wanted to kill his father. The other son is deficient in ability and talent. Although he didn’t try to harm you, if you hand over your family business to him, you will be indirectly killed by him in the future.

Therefore, I tell you these things because I want you to choose for yourself. People say that the son’s shortcomings are the faults of the father. It’s your responsibility, I won’t do anything to the two of them on your behalf. I just leave it to you. Do it yourself.”

Deng Jinghe was different from the previous life. Now that he had no family business and no other background, it was easy for Deng Qian to control him.

Deng Qian felt that, in fact, he was actually at fault before. When the child was born, he should have been responsible for him. The family had always paid little attention to Deng Jinghe, and had always told him that the family’s business would not give him a single coin. With such a difference in treatment, anyone would have crooked thoughts in his heart.

“Children are our debt collectors,” Deng Qian sighed, “It’s time for me to pay off my debts.”

He had restrained some of his romantic temperament, and while strictly disciplining his son from the main wife, he also gave Deng Jinghe some opportunities. Of course, Deng Qian still kept an eye on his movements, afraid that he might come up with something he couldn’t control.

But he didn’t expect Deng Jinghe to be very obedient afterwards, doing everything he was given to do, and doing everything beautifully. If it hadn’t been for that incident, perhaps Deng Qian would have given him more of the family business.

Every family has its own difficulties. For the time being it was fine, so Fu Zhiyu stopped caring.

In this free world, too many things have changed, and this one in front of him was just a trivial one.