Royal Gold Magistrate

At the dining table, Li Yuanzhao kept shoveling all kinds of dishes into his mouth.

Palace dinners were usually served early to begin with, and young people with developing appetites ate a lot.

After the bumpy journey, he was starving by midday.

The cuisine of Taoyuan County was unique, favoring stir-frying over high heat! They used oil and salt heavily, so the food was especially flavorful.

Hearing his son making pig-like noises, Emperor Jing’s face tightened. He couldn’t help but lightly kick him a couple of times under the table.

Li Yuanzhao reluctantly slowed his rice-inhaling speed.

Fang Zheng noticed Emperor Jing’s embarrassment. He chuckled, holding his chopsticks. “Being able to eat is a good thing! When I was his age, I could eat way more than him!”

Li Yuanzhao gave Fang Zheng a grateful look.

This guy surprised him. He was nothing like the demon Wu Sheng made him out to be! He seemed like a really good person!

His Highness approves!

Fang Zheng continued, “Speaking of business, this official still doesn’t know how you two gentlemen’s porcelain trade is faring in the capital.”

“If the profits aren’t substantial enough, why not focus your efforts on the tea business! This Celestial Immortal Tea is just the first step. Our county will be launching even higher quality teas in the future.”

“I’m sure by then they’ll be on a whole other level compared to Celestial Immortal Tea!”

Emperor Jing hesitated for a moment before slowly saying, “The Jianjiang region has flooded, greatly impacting Li’s porcelain business. The southern porcelain can’t be transported over.”

“Moreover, the rain is still falling and the flood disaster is far from over. It’s giving Li quite the headache as well!”

Guo Tianyang looked at Emperor Jing in surprise.

What did His Majesty mean by this? Was he seeking Fang Zheng’s advice?

No matter how capable he was, a minor official like him could only do so much. He still couldn’t solve a flood disaster!

His Majesty was grasping at straws!

Fang Zheng furrowed his brows. “The Jianjiang region flooded? And the heavy rains are ongoing? It’s only February…”

Emperor Jing let out a long sigh. “Indeed, Heaven sends strange omens. Our Great Jing is truly plagued by disasters.”

Fang Zheng glanced at Emperor Jing. As expected of a patriotic merchant, his worries ran deep.

However, Fang Zheng also began to take an interest in the Jianjiang flood. Many people in Taoyuan County had fled here from Jianjiang during times of war and famine while heading for the capital.

Quite a few still had parents and children left behind in Jianjiang.

In recent years, as life in Taoyuan County improved, those who had settled down started thinking of seeking out their relatives.

Over the past couple years, nearly a hundred people had already left Taoyuan County to find family, and the trend was gradually increasing each year.

Of course, the vast majority ultimately returned to Taoyuan County.

As for those who didn’t come back, they had likely met with misfortune or stayed away for other reasons.

“May I ask…whereabouts in Jianjiang did the flooding occur?” Fang Zheng inquired curiously.

“Guo Da, fetch the map!”

Guo Tianyang took out a three-foot long map from the luggage and slowly unfurled it.

Fang Zheng glanced at the map and was instantly alarmed. He immediately grew wary!

Well, well! This was a national map! Even he couldn’t get his hands on one of these. It was a state secret. To think these two merchants actually possessed such a thing!

“Where did you obtain this map?”

Emperor Jing put on an air of mystery. “Magistrate Fang, you need not worry. We have some connections in the Ministry of War. Plus, with our porcelain business spanning the entire country, we took special pains to procure a map.”

Heh, they sure had guts…

Before he could say more, Fang Zheng’s attention quickly shifted to the map. Upon inspection, he couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.

It did have coastlines marked, but they were completely different from the maps of his previous life that he remembered.

Emperor Jing started pointing at the map and explaining. “The flood erupted from here…passing through…”

“……”

“If nothing unexpected happens, I’m afraid the dikes at Pingwang have probably been breached by now. The disaster continues to spread…”

Then Emperor Jing said in a low voice, “I heard the Jianjiang Governor is asking the court for 200,000 taels of silver for emergency disaster relief.”

“But the court is also at a loss. If someone could turn the tide, they would surely rise to great heights in the future!”

Fang Zheng didn’t respond, silently pondering as he followed the direction of Emperor Jing’s finger.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He pointed to a spot on the map. “This place called Yintuo is flanked by mountains on both banks. If heavenly thunder struck and collapsed the mountains to block the river, wouldn’t the floodwaters recede on their own? I just don’t know the lay of the mountains…”

The moment he finished speaking, Emperor Jing and the other two were stunned stupid.

Guo Tianyang secretly rejoiced. Little brat, you too will have your day of reckoning!

Li Yuanzhao’s eyes shone with excited light!

In this moment, he felt a tremendous sense of rapport, a meeting of the minds!

This was what they called game recognizing game!

“Dad! What did I say? I said we should gather the magicians of the world and call down heavenly thunder to solve the flood problem! How about that? Magistrate Fang had the same idea. Goes to show great minds think alike!”

Li Yuanzhao immediately became smug, not even eating anymore. His chin was practically raised to the sky.

The other three instantly looked at Li Yuanzhao like he was an idiot.

Faced with everyone’s strange gazes, Li Yuanzhao sheepishly sat back down and resumed stuffing his face.

Now Emperor Jing felt extremely disappointed. He said with a wry smile, “Magistrate Fang jests. How could there be heavenly thunder? Don’t tell me Magistrate Fang can summon heavenly thunder?”

Fang Zheng took a sip of tea without replying, as if lost in thought.

Because Taoyuan County really did have heavenly thunder!

Back when the Qian and Jing Dynasties were at war, if Qian emerged victorious, they would surely march straight on the capital. Taoyuan County would also likely suffer.

Therefore, Fang Zheng’s top priority after getting rich was to manufacture and stockpile gunpowder in bulk!

Given the circumstances at the time, there wasn’t enough time to train soldiers and replenish equipment!

Steel was exceedingly hard to obtain, but mixing gunpowder was a breeze in comparison.

So when the war ended, that batch of gunpowder went unused.

The only time it saw action was when an asphalt deposit was unexpectedly discovered in Taoyuan County.

But it was never used again after that.

Tons upon tons of gunpowder were sitting in the warehouse. Forget about it going bad, the real worry was it exploding!

Using it to blast a mountain was more than enough! Letting it go to waste was the only other option.

Emperor Jing saw Fang Zheng pondering and suddenly his whole body trembled!

Could it be he really had a solution!?

Although Fang Zheng was a bit eccentric, from their two encounters, he definitely didn’t seem like someone who spoke nonsense!

Moreover, judging by his expression, he really appeared to be considering the feasibility of this matter!

Emperor Jing asked again with renewed hope, “Does Magistrate Fang have a way?”

“Hmm…let me think some more.” Fang Zheng replied offhandedly.

He was currently torn between saving people from disaster and exposing himself.

Once gunpowder entered the world, it would undoubtedly be an earth-shattering development. No matter what, he would be exposing himself to the court’s attention.

Although it might not succeed, since he had this ability and it was no skin off his back, if he didn’t do it, Young Master Fang’s conscience would be in quite a bind.

As he was thinking, little did he know the three of them were already casting looks of utter shock his way.