novelraw Chapter 151
Chapter 151
The prerequisite for a deal between two parties is that both sides have capital and can gain profit afterward.
Regarding the white sugar matter, the noble families of Yizhou faced the court’s most advantageous capital, which was the raw material—mulberry.
After all, within the Great Wei territory, only Jiaozhou and Yizhou could grow mulberry, and the quality of Yizhou’s mulberry was better.
From the perspective of the noble families, even though the government was firm about lowering the price, since most of Yizhou’s land was in their hands and they controlled the production of mulberry, it was impossible for the government to mass-produce white sugar and completely replace Yizhou sugar.
A protracted war always harms the enemy a thousand while injuring oneself eight hundred. In the eyes of the head of the Xie family, rather than constantly being at odds with the government and suffering heavy losses, it was better to sit down and have a good talk with the government.
Right now, this was also the best option.
The noble families of Yizhou discussed for a long time and finally agreed to this approach.
Led by the head of the Sun family, the noble families paid a visit to the prefect of Yizhou, presenting generous gifts and explaining their intentions.
The prefect of Yizhou, Yu Min, though not exactly colluding with the noble families, had become quite slick over the years due to being surrounded by them and needing to survive.
At first, he was shocked by the white sugar issue. Before he could finish processing the news, when he heard that the noble families intended to negotiate with the Jiaozhou government, Yu Min almost burst out laughing!
They deserved it!
Such a schadenfreude attitude was understandable for Yu Min.
When he first came to Yizhou as prefect, he was sincere, wanting to serve the court and make contributions, but reality slapped him hard.
Because the noble families were deeply entrenched and their power far exceeded the government’s, many of his policies could not be implemented. Whenever something happened, news would leak in advance, and the prepared noble families would cause trouble everywhere.
Just as he cleaned up one place, problems would appear elsewhere. During his tenure, whenever he tried to do something even slightly unfavorable to the noble families, various spies and sycophants would emerge. Over time, even the most motivated people would be worn down into uselessness by the situation.
Yu Min was one such victim.
He came to Yizhou full of fighting spirit, thinking he could be a clean and capable official, but reality made him a slick and worldly-wise failure in the eyes of many.
But now things were different.
After years of overt and covert struggles with the noble families, he had never seen them like this before.
These high and mighty noble families actually came to him, a minor prefect, hoping he could broker a deal for them?
Yu Min thought through all the disappointments of his life before restraining himself from losing face in front of the nobles.
He had to admit the court did well to crack the secret sugar formula they treasured!
Although Yu Min knew nothing about what Jiaozhou was doing, he was not worried or upset about the court’s suspicion.
When doing big things, it was normal to keep some things from certain people until the dust settled. As long as it could make the noble families of Yizhou lose face and prevent them from being arrogant, Yu Min felt it had done well no matter what.
He accepted the gifts from the noble families without hesitation.
One should not refuse gifts—they just compensated for his losses over the years perfectly!
Although he took the gifts, Yu Min dawdled for a few days before sending a letter to Jiaozhou.
Wei Yu truly thought the people on Lu Fushan were all good people.
Each one was very conscientious.
Typical self-motivated research talents!
Since that day when Master Fusheng came over and was taken inside by Xuan Lingzi to do chemistry, in less than two days, the old man volunteered to stay with Wei Yu.
Not only did he stay, but after Wei Yu agreed, he brought all the apprentices and disciples from Lu Fushan!
A total of nineteen people, plus four including Fusheng, so Wei Yu immediately gained twenty-three chemistry talents.
Those who could enter Fusheng’s school as alchemists were either diligent researchers or naturally gifted individuals. Both types were exactly what Wei Yu needed.
Especially Master Fusheng, who after just a few nights of staying up, reading several chemistry books, and buying some materials from the street, actually made soap using pig pancreas!
This really made Wei Yu, who hadn’t even had time to leave, extremely happy.
Nowadays, people clean things using soapnuts in wealthy families and wood ash in ordinary families; soap simply didn’t exist!
That the master could create soap from nothing by reading a few books was not just talent, but genius!
Talents were important, but geniuses were even more precious.
After all, geniuses could accomplish so much more!
Especially when Wei Yu thought of the gunpowder and shells he promised to his father—now that these people appeared, how could he not use them well?
Although Fusheng made soap, he knew it was all thanks to Wei Yu, so he didn’t hide the recipe but organized it and handed it over directly.
He knew Wei Yu was the Wise King and had decided to follow him for the rest of his life.
Not for anything else, but to learn chemistry with the Wise King and so that the Wise King would allow him to focus on “immortal arts”—no, experiments—peacefully.
Fusheng knew he was old and didn’t know how many years he had left. To have a chance to study chemistry and follow a powerful and wealthy person to do what he liked peacefully in his remaining years, how could he refuse?
Unless he was crazy.
If the backbone of Lu Fushan thought this way, the disciples below would certainly not object.
Wei Yu was very satisfied with the conscientiousness of these talents. Regarding Fusheng’s soap formula, Wei Yu also gave Fusheng a promise: once they returned to the capital, he would provide them a dedicated experimental place and establish a research department. Each person’s creations would be rewarded according to their usefulness to the people and daily life.
This promise was truly surprising.
After Fusheng told the disciples, everyone was excited.
Being able to do what they loved without worries was great, but making real money from what they loved—who wouldn’t like that?
It was definitely better than tricking people into buying elixirs.
Wei Yu would not neglect meritorious officials, and he certainly wouldn’t let these chemical talents remain in Ziyang County.
He planned to take them all with him when he left, but before that, he had to arrange everything in Ziyang County properly.
Especially for the unexpected boon—the soap arrangement—after thinking it over, Wei Yu entrusted it to Deng Zhengde.
Since Deng Zhengde was going to establish a business alliance in Ziyang County, such a novel product like soap would help him quickly attract merchants from various places, thereby revitalizing the economy of Ji Prefecture and even Jiaozhou.