The most arrogant in history

Chapter 246: Hot pot condiments are available!

Xie Baochan is a smart man and can see through Ye Kun's thoughts.

"Baochan, get up quickly. What are you doing?"

Ye Kun pulled Xie Baochan up and said with a smile: "Sister Yourong doesn't like red tape. From now on, everyone should respect each other."

Xie Baochan wiped her tears and nodded with a smile.

Ye Kun smiled and said, "Yourong is in Chunhui Garden, meeting those noble ladies, I'm afraid she can't handle it. You came just in time, go and help Yourong take care of her."

"I obey."

Xie Baochan went there obediently.

After this contest, Xie Tong and others became much more honest and well-behaved.

Jiang Yourong made a lot of money because the gifts sent by those noble ladies were worth more than ten thousand taels of silver in total.

Immigrant craftsmen from Dongba County also arrived one after another, bringing their families with them.

Ye Kun allocated half of the land confiscated from the evil gentry in the early stage to build workshops and settle the craftsmen's families.

The gentry in Yizhou certainly don't like these foreign immigrants.

They were afraid that these people would come to share the cake and strengthen Ye Kun's power.

But Ye Kun said that these were all skilled craftsmen who served the people of Yizhou.

With just one sentence, the mouths of the Yizhou gentry were shut.

But large-scale construction and resettlement of immigrants both cost money.

Ye Kun earns a lot, spends it fast, and it is never enough!

Chengdu Prefecture has money, but it can only be used for infrastructure construction around Chengdu, such as building bridges and roads.

Fortunately, there are many places rich in gold and silver to the north of Chengdu. Zitong County, Jinning County, Fu County, Jinshou County, and Gangdi County all have gold sand.

It is said that the local officials embezzled so much gold and silver that they could not spend it all in their lifetime.

Without money, we have no choice but to fight against corrupt officials.

Ye Kun assigned Ma Zhao to search for evidence of corruption among those officials and then confiscate their property for emergency use.

Ye Kun had already agreed with Ma Zhao beforehand - seven parts of the confiscated property of corrupt officials would go to the government treasury, and three parts would belong to himself, which would be considered as borrowed property that he would repay later.

Ma Zhao hates evil and is incorruptible, and he loves doing this the most!

After investigating and punishing a number of corrupt officials, Ye Kun appointed Guan Yafu's son Guan Bao as the mining officer of Yizhou, in charge of all minerals in the territory, including gold and silver mines, to further control the economy of Yizhou.

The Yizhou gentry, represented by Xie Tong and Han Chun, watched Ye Kun control Yizhou step by step, but they could do nothing about it.

Ye Kun inspected Luocheng and Mianzhu again, arranged the military and political affairs of the two places, and replaced all the important departments with his own people. Only then did he feel relieved.

He completely controlled Chongqing, Luocheng, Mianzhu and Chengdu, and basically controlled Yizhou as well.

Even if a small group of people rebel, they can be quickly suppressed.

However, the southern barbarian areas and the Western Qiang soldiers have been constantly harassing and causing minor frictions.

Ye Kun sent a message to General Wu Xuan, the Zhennan General, asking him to use the strategy of making the enemy arrogant, lure the enemy deep into the territory, and give the southern barbarians a big blow.

As for the Western Qiang, Ye Kun was also trying to appease them by sending them some porcelain and fragrant oil to paralyze them, intending to find an opportunity to teach them a severe lesson.

As July approaches, the weather becomes hot.

Merchants from the south wanted to see Ye Kun and brought him some plants and seeds.

Ye Kun dug into it and was surprised to find that there was something that looked like chili pepper in it!

"Where does this thing come from? Can I eat it?"

It has always been Ye Kun’s regret that there are no chili peppers in Dading Kingdom.

Unexpectedly, the merchants actually came to me!

The merchant laughed and said, "This is edible and very spicy. It is a specialty of the southern barbarians in the west. The locals call it spicy pepper. The poor can't afford salt, so they eat this with their meals."

Yunnan chili pepper?

I have read in a history forum before that chili peppers were already present in Yunnan during the Qin and Han dynasties.

I didn’t expect it to be true!

Ye Kun was ecstatic. He tore open a small chili pepper and took a lick.

Sure enough, it’s extremely spicy!

With chili peppers, the hot pot condiments are complete.

"Haha, this is good stuff!" Ye Kun shook the merchant's hand and asked, "How much of this chili did you bring?"

"I brought five or six kilograms of dried chilies, several kilograms of fresh ones, and whole chili seedlings. I put them in buckets and brought two buckets. I just don't know if they can survive here."

"Great!" Ye Kun was excited and rewarded the merchant handsomely. He then said:

"When you go back, buy me a large amount of dried chilies. I'll take as many as you can. Also, dig me some fresh chili seedlings. Be careful to protect yourself from the sun on the way and keep yourself hydrated."

The merchant shrugged: "It would take at least half a month one way, and only one out of ten of the chili seedlings I brought are still alive."

"It counts as long as you survive. It's not your fault." Ye Kun was very tolerant.

Since you already have dried peppers, it is not too difficult to germinate and grow them yourself.

There were also merchants who presented Ye Kunjing with a kind of "immortal grass", which was said to be able to be used to cook porridge and relieve heat and thirst.

Ye Kun had never seen this thing before. After learning about it, he suddenly realized: "Liangpi grass!"

This thing is like leeks. It can be harvested in batches and has a high yield.

Boil water with liangpi grass, filter out the juice, add starch, and you will get liangpi.

In times of hunger, this thing can indeed fill your stomach and is definitely more nutritious than Guanyin soil.

Ye Kun kept his word and rewarded the merchants generously, asking them to continue helping him find various plants and seeds.

I have heard before that there was wild cotton in the Hainan Island area in southern China during the Qin and Han Dynasties, but the quality was very poor and the yield was very low. It could not compete with mulberry, hemp and silk, so no one planted it in large quantities.

Ye Kun described the appearance and properties of cotton, as well as sweet potatoes, potatoes, peanuts, corn and other crops to the merchants, and asked everyone to go looking for them.

It seems that peanuts, corn, yams and sweet potatoes all come from America.

The chances of finding these crops are slim at the moment, so hope is slim.

On that day, Ye Kun used dried chili peppers as a seasoning to stir-fry dishes and also made pickled pepper chicken feet.

I’m afraid that everyone might not be used to it, so it’s only slightly spicy at the beginning.

Jiang Yourong and others tasted the dishes and thought they were delicious and were very hungry!

Chili peppers can be paired with just about any dish. In later generations, almost all dishes cannot be separated from this ingredient.

Ye Kun called ten agricultural experts, gave each of them one or two pepper seeds, and asked everyone to start germinating and cultivating them immediately.

The temperature in Chengdu is suitable and the winter is not too cold. I hope to plant it now and harvest a batch by the end of the year.

If frost occurs during the ripening period, you can also build a solar greenhouse to keep warm.

As for the Liangpi grass, Ye Kun also arranged for everyone to experiment with transplanting it in multiple locations.

The next day, Ye Kun brought the prepared pickled pepper chicken feet to let Lao He and his daughter taste them.

Lao He was working with blacksmiths and carpenters in his own experimental workshop to tackle technical problems related to steel bearings.

Bronze roller bearings, now well made, began to be used in large numbers.

However, the performance of bronze is definitely not as good as that of steel, so Ye Kun set up a separate project and asked everyone to conquer steel bearings.

In addition to steel bearings, there are also technical projects for steel springs, steel pipes, steel precision castings, large steel parts, and screws and nuts.

Every project has a master craftsman in charge, and Lao He is the overall person in charge.

Moreover, Ye Kun offered a reward of 100 taels of gold for each project. As long as the person in charge could complete the technical research, the 100 taels of gold would be shared among the project team members!

The craftsmen felt respected by Ye Kun. Their living allowances and wages were very high, and there was a reward, so they were all very motivated.

Ye Kun invited the craftsmen to taste the pickled pepper chicken feet and asked about the progress and technical difficulty.