The eunuchs came in with two large bags, carried by four eunuchs. Chief Eunuch Chi handed Qin Fang's memorial to the emperor.
This memorial was sent up, and everyone in the imperial study saw it. Du Ke was a little embarrassed. He knew Qin Fang was a long-winded person, and liked to write trivial things in his letters, but he didn't expect that the memorial to the emperor could be so long. He remembered that he had taught Qin Fang that memorials should be long, short, concise and incisive. How could it be...
"Hahaha..." The emperor laughed loudly. The king who had a sullen face just now laughed cheerfully and happily, which shocked the ministers in the imperial study. "Du Ke, only Qin Fang would write such a thick memorial to me. Speaking of which, Qin Fang is also your disciple, why didn't he learn your efficiency?"
When everyone heard what the emperor said, they all looked at Du Ke.
In fact, Qin Fang can indeed be considered as Du Ke's student. In the civil service examination, the candidates can be said to be the students of the chief examiner. The imperial edict that Qin Fang was conferred the title of General Wude was brought by Du Ke, and in the matter of Huanshui County, Du Ke was the imperial envoy. Moreover, Qin Fang sent two consecutive letters to the residence of the Minister of War, so it is also possible to say that Qin Fang is Du Ke's student.
Du Ke was relieved when he heard the emperor say this. He was afraid that the emperor would not say anything and would speculate about him in his heart. Du Ke hurriedly said: "No matter whose disciples they are, they are all pillars of the court and subjects of the emperor."
The emperor raised the memorial in his hand and said, "You have always known him. Tell me, is there any trivial matter in his memorial this time? My time is precious. If he writes trivial matters in the memorial, he is far away and I cannot punish him. I will hold you, my teacher, accountable."
Du Ke thought, this is really a case of finding a pretext to accuse someone. However, he couldn't say this out loud. Du Ke stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, if Qin Fang wrote about chicken feathers being counted as a match, I am willing to accept the punishment. If Qin Fang wrote about meritorious service to the court, will the credit also be given to me?"
The emperor laughed and scolded: "You shameless man, why are you competing with Qin Fang for the credit?"
The emperor and Du Ke often joked that although the people present were all the emperor's confidants, even confidants had different degrees of closeness, and Du Ke was the emperor's closest confidant.
Therefore, they were used to what was going on between the Emperor and Duco.
The emperor then read Qin Fang's memorial. When he was reading it, the imperial study was silent. Many people were curious, who is this Qin Fang? How did he become Du Ke's disciple? The emperor valued Du Ke. If Qin Fang was Du Ke's disciple, then Qin Fang's future would be amazing. And judging from the emperor's tone, he must have a very good impression of the person named Qin Fang.
Some ministers had their own ideas in mind and began to inquire about Qin Fang's affairs.
Qin Fang started by praising the emperor. Qin Fang was not a scholar, so he was very straightforward in his praise, so straightforward that the emperor could understand it at a glance. For example, when someone said that the emperor was amazing, wise, or intelligent, Qin Fang said, "Your Majesty, you are really amazing. I read your letter..." and so on. Such straightforward words would make even a thick-skinned emperor feel a little embarrassed.
However, the emperor was smiling the whole time, and everyone was observing him carefully. If the emperor talked about someone, one could tell how important that person was in his heart from his expression, and Qin Fang, who had never been mentioned before, was already very important in the emperor's heart.
Some people thought that Qin Fang was Du Ke's disciple, and Du Ke must have reminded him many times in front of the emperor.
The emperor smiled secretly at first, but after a while, he pursed his lips, his eyes gradually became sharper, and finally he said: "Du Ke stays, the others leave."
Everyone was stunned: "Yes, I will take my leave."
A minister came out of the imperial study and walked up to Wei Hong: "Sir Wei, do you know who Qin Fang is?"
Wei Hong smiled and said, "Master You, you have to ask Minister Du." His son Wei Ting was still working on the drug business in Yunxiang County. The emperor told him about such an important matter. He was confident that he had a great deal of respect in the emperor's heart, so he was not jealous of some things. Moreover, the drug business was a secret, so he naturally did not tell Qin Fang about his identity.
However, today, seeing the emperor mention Qin Fang so highly, he had some thoughts in his heart. In the past, when his son Wei Wu wrote to him, he mentioned that Qin Fang's wife was a maid of the Yang family, and she was also a maid next to Miss Yang. He also joked that he recognized her as his adopted sister. It was his son who recognized his adopted sister, not the Wei family who recognized his goddaughter. Moreover, Wei Wu could not represent the Wei family, so Wei Hong had no opinion on this matter. He just wrote back to ask his son to be careful and not to do such a thoughtless thing in the future.
But now... The man named Qin Fang first discovered the sulfur mine and saltpeter mine. It must be said that this person is indeed lucky. And the emperor likes people with luck the most. If a person with bad luck is in the royal family, the emperor will definitely not like it. Because the royal family does not need people with bad luck except the emperor and the prince, but if it is a minister, and a minister without a backer, it is different. The emperor has a minister with good luck, which means that the monarch and the minister are of one mind. It is the emperor's blessing to have such a minister.
Therefore, Wei Hong's eyes darkened and he made a plan in his mind. However, he was not impulsive. The emperor said today that Qin Fang was Du Ke's disciple, which was a disguised way of finding a backer for Qin Fang. Why did the emperor want to find a backer for Qin Fang
The emperor didn't care about what outsiders thought. He showed the memorial to Du Ke: "Old Du, your student is really... a good subject of mine." What a lucky man. After Qin Fang discovered sulfur and saltpeter mines, and his wife discovered that saltpeter could make ice, the emperor said that Qin Fang was lucky. And now, how long has it been? Only a month or so, Qin Fang gave him another surprise. Although it was his wife who discovered it, they were a couple, and there was no difference between what Qin Fang discovered.
Du Ke was puzzled as to why the emperor said this, but judging from what the emperor meant, Qin Fang must have made another contribution. Du Ke muttered to himself, is Qin Fang really God's own son? How could he make such a contribution? Then he read the memorial written by Qin Fang while complaining. The memorial was very long, and Du Ke wanted to write a letter to scold Qin Fang.
Fortunately, although the memorial was long, it was not full of trivial nonsense like before. The reason why it was long was that Qin Fang wrote a plan for the franchise of potato flour and sweet potato flour. After Du Ke finished reading the plan, he had only one thought: "Your Majesty, it's a pity for Qin Fang to be a general guarding the city. He should be transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. If our Ministry of Revenue has money, why worry that Qiguo can't unify the world?"
Unifying the world has been the ambition of every emperor in history.
The emperor laughed loudly. He liked Du Ke's ambitious words the most. He dared to seize the throne, which showed his courage and ability. Du Ke came from the Ministry of War, so he was naturally warlike. That was why they got along so well. "It's a long way to unify the world. What do you think of the plan in Qin Fang's memorial? I will set up a grain alliance and recruit franchisees from all over the country. Franchise fees are required, and the franchisees will be auctioned. The highest bidder will join. I will give the secret recipes for making potato flour and sweet potato flour to those who join. In this way, the potatoes and sweet potatoes grown by the common people will be bought by many people."
Du Ke: "In terms of current grain production, potatoes and sweet potatoes have the highest yields. However, although potatoes and sweet potatoes have the highest yields, they are also the cheapest. Therefore, potatoes and sweet potatoes are not easy to sell. If potatoes and sweet potatoes can be made into powder like flour, then the income of ordinary people can indeed increase. Moreover, it can also improve the flour whose yield has always been low. In fact, the flour is more durable and not easy to spoil." The reason why potatoes and sweet potatoes are not easy to sell is because wealthy families and people with money look down on such things, thinking that they are something only poor people eat.
The emperor said: "There is one franchisee in each prefecture. There are a total of 120 prefectures in Qi State, which means there are 120 franchisees. How much franchise fee do you think the 120 franchisees can receive if they join?"
Du Ke said: "Even if each person offers 10,000 taels of silver, it would be 1.2 million. In fact, there are more than 100,000 people in a prefecture, and there is only one franchisee in a prefecture. There is only one output of potato flour and sweet potato flour, and the sales volume is very high. So if it is auctioned, I am afraid that each person will offer more than 10,000 taels of silver. If each person offers 50,000 taels of silver, it will be 6 million taels."
The emperor couldn't help swallowing his saliva after hearing this. He realized one thing: the power of one franchisee is limited, but it would be different if all franchisees united. For example, 50,000 taels of silver from one franchisee could not solve the problem of the imperial treasury, but 6 million taels of silver from 120 franchisees could indeed temporarily fill up the imperial treasury.
The emperor thought for a moment and said, "Who should be held responsible for this? Qin Fang mentioned in his memorial that this plan represents me. Franchisees are crucial. If franchisees exploit the people, then I will lose face. And if franchisees are of good character, this is an opportunity to help the people get richer. What is this called... The rich first help the poor later? Oh, what Qin Fang said is that I will help the people of the whole country get richer. Hahaha... This slogan is quite interesting."
Du Ke thought, it was not Qin Fang who said that, but Qin Fang's wife. Although Qin Fang wrote in his memorial that he and my wife came up with this plan... But Du Ke had met Qin Fang, and Qin Fang was indeed an honest person, not the kind of person who had a scheming mind. Similarly, he was not well-informed. He did not look down on Qin Fang. It might be possible for Qin Fang to lead troops to fight, but Qin Fang certainly did not have the ability to come up with such a plan. Not to mention Qin Fang, even he could not think of it, so the truly smart one should be the wife behind Qin Fang. "Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance. Who do you think can take on this important task in your name or in the name of the court?"