The events occurring in the capital are temporarily unknown to Zhao Yao, far away in Lingnan, and he has no intention to pay attention because Uncle Gao has returned with gold and silver mined from Japan.
Besides bringing back over a dozen ships of gold and silver, Uncle Gao also brought back quite a few unique items from Japan. Of course, there were also five thousand slaves.
In recent days, Zhao Yao has been busy settling the gold and silver brought back from Japan. This time, the amount of gold and silver brought back is not considered much, totaling nearly one thousand pounds.
A thousand pounds of gold and silver might seem like a lot to others, but to Zhao Yao and his men, it’s not much because these are just the tip of the iceberg of Japan’s gold and silver mines.
The gold and silver mines in Japan can be mined for hundreds of years, which speaks volumes about their yield. Not to mention a thousand pounds, even ten thousand pounds or one hundred thousand pounds wouldn’t be considered much.
Actually, Uncle Gao’s men mined more than a thousand pounds of gold and silver; it’s just not feasible to transport them all back to Great Zhou at once, lest it attracts too much attention.
This time, even transporting a thousand pounds of gold and silver was quite noticeable; fortunately, the five thousand slaves were able to cover it up, or else the dozen or so ships of gold and silver would have definitely been exposed. Thankfully, it was transported safely back to Swamp Prefecture without incident.
The thousand pounds of gold and silver transported back from Japan were arranged by Zhao Yao to be placed in the underground vault. The five thousand slaves were immediately assigned to work.
Zhao Yao felt that five thousand slaves were somewhat too few, and he asked Uncle Gao to send another five thousand or ten thousand slaves back after returning to Japan.
Swamp Prefecture has too many construction needs, hence, a large workforce is essential. Luckily, these five thousand slaves from Japan arrived in time, otherwise, the trade fair in May would have been challenging.
The five thousand people were divided into several groups. One group was arranged to build roads, working on cement roads. Another group was assigned to construct docks.
The docks had been under construction since last year but weren’t pleted. Zhao Yao planned to have them thoroughly finished before the trade fair, so the slaves sent back by Uncle Gao were timely.
One group was arranged to build factories, porcelain factories, and farms. Another group was assigned to smelt iron, with the rest tasked with experimenting with cowpox inoculation.
Uncle Gao was quite astonished to see the five thousand slaves he brought back immediately allocated, yet still not enough.
Since Uncle Gao brought back the gold, silver, and five thousand slaves, Zhao Yao became extremely busy. Uncle Gao only saw Zhao Yao in the few days following his return, and thereafter, he didn’t see Prince Han’s figure again.
Uncle Gao lifted the large bowl in front of him and drained the white wine in one gulp. After drinking, he let out a sigh: "Refreshing! Truly refreshing!" With that, he grabbed a leg of lamb and started eating heartily. "Drinking heavily, eating heartily, it’s truly refreshing."
He Lianfang couldn’t help but remember the days of marching and fighting upon hearing Uncle Gao say this. Back then, they would eat meat and drink wine after winning a battle, enjoying unbridled joy.
"The wine brewed by His Highness is indeed good wine." Uncle Gao exclaimed after drinking another bowl of wine, "After drinking His Highness’s wine, I realize the wine we’ve been drinking before was mere water."
"He indeed brews excellent wine."
"By the way, where is His Highness, why haven’t I seen him these few days?" Uncle Gao asked curiously, "What is His Highness busy with?"
"Either in North Mountain or in Nanshan." He Lianfang picked up the freshly grilled meat and sprinkled some chili on it. Grilled meat without chili loses half its flavor. "If he’s in North Mountain, he’s busy with factory matters. If in Nanshan, then it’s farm matters."
Mentioning farm matters brought a slightly strange look to Uncle Gao’s face.
"Was His Highness serious when he asked me to bring back chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs, cows, and sheep from Japan?"
He Lianfang said, "He was serious."
Uncle Gao wore a baffled expression: "Doesn’t Great Zhou already have chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs, cows, and sheep? Why need those from Japan? Japan’s aren’t particularly special, and I find they’re not even as tasty as those from Great Zhou. Why does His Highness want those from Japan, for crossbreeding?"
"I suppose so." He Lianfang wasn’t quite sure either.
"Japan’s chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs, cows, sheep aren’t bigger than ours in Great Zhou, transporting them all the way back for breeding seems unnecessary."
"He even instructed people to buy chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs, cows, and sheep from Annan and Johor to be crossbred with those from Great Zhou, to see if better breeds can be developed." He Lianfang continued, "He’s also sent people to buy from Mysir."
Uncle Gao: "..."
"Is His Highness planning to buy all sorts of livestock from around the world for breeding?"
He Lianfang: "He really is."
"It’s my first time seeing a Prince being particularly fond of buying foreign chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs, cows, and sheep." Uncle Gao sighed, "Our prince here is quite unique." While other princes might prefer to spend their money on beauties, land, and fine horses, only Prince Han has this unique obsession.
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