The Three Spirit Stones

Half a month later, the big ship finally arrived at the canal dock in Linping. They first sent people to contact for a place to stay. After staying on the ship for two days, they finally contacted a manor that could accommodate so many people.

Early in the morning, everyone got off the boat and walked towards the town in a mighty procession. Cheng Yu and Ma Sheng rode horses and hired a donkey cart for Ruo Xian. The others walked, and it was not until noon that they arrived at the farm that they had contacted earlier, and a simple host received them.

After settling everyone, Cheng Yu went to Hangzhou the next day with the imperial edict issued by the Secretariat and his own certificate.

The governor of Hangzhou, Hu Taishou, received them. After chatting with them, he learned that Cheng Yu was Cao Wei's nephew, and his attitude immediately became much warmer.

It’s really easy to get things done if you have someone in the court!

Soon, Governor Hu signed an imperial edict to the magistrate of Renhe County, ordering Li Anlin, the magistrate of Renhe County, to fully cooperate with Cheng Yu in the planting and promotion of new crops. When he left, he also gave him two generous gifts, one for Cheng Yu and the other for Cao Wei when he returned to Beijing.

The governor Hu was so understanding that the relationship between the two men immediately warmed up, and they were just one step away from burning yellow paper to become sworn brothers!

The next day, Cheng Yu went to Renhe County. The magistrate, Li Anlin, was tall and thin, in his thirties. He took the imperial edict from Governor Hu and checked it carefully. Then the two of them exchanged greetings.

After a conversation, Li Anlin was surprised to learn that the high-quality potato varieties Cheng Yu brought back could produce up to three to four thousand kilograms per mu!

Then he talked about the sweet potatoes that they were going to plant in Linping, which were estimated to yield two thousand kilograms per mu and could be harvested twice a year.

With such a high yield, if the crop can be successfully cultivated, County Magistrate Li will have added a brilliant political achievement!

He immediately became enthusiastic towards Cheng Yu and arranged for people to set up a banquet to entertain them all. During the banquet, the two of them toasted each other and praised each other, almost as if they were going to burn yellow paper to become sworn brothers!

The next day, Li Anlin personally led his men and Cheng Yu to Linping Town.

At that time, Linping was full of wasteland. Apart from some shops and markets in the town, there were a few scattered villages elsewhere.

County Magistrate Li came to visit, and the town mayor came out with a group of village heads to greet them. When they saw the county magistrate, they knelt down to salute. Li Anlin helped everyone up and then introduced Cheng Yu to the town mayor.

The mayor was Wang Fu, a local villager. When he heard the magistrate say that the elegant young man in front of him was actually a marquis from Bianjing,

Is this okay?

He was so frightened that he fell to his knees again with a plop. Cheng Yu quickly helped him up and said, "Mayor Wang, there's no need to be so polite!"

Then, he asked people to distribute some novel but not very valuable gadgets brought from Bian Jing to everyone present, so that they could take them back home as toys for their children.

Isn’t it strange that there are so many people?

No matter when, giving gifts is the fastest way to bring people closer together.

Most of these people are local tycoons and gentry in the village. The farthest place that many of them may go in their lifetime is the county town.

Now seeing this exiled immortal-like marquis actually giving them gifts, they were flattered for a moment, and didn't know where to put the hands holding the small gift? They just felt that this big shot was really approachable!

Cheng Yu lived from the Northern Song Dynasty to the modern era. What kind of people and things had he not seen?

The current official is not as good as the current manager, and the dragon from the river is not as good as the local snake.

If you want to do things in other people's place, you must first establish good relations with the locals. If you rely on your status and look down on others, you will suffer sooner or later.

Don’t underestimate the low status of grassroots personnel. They may not be able to carry out construction, but they can definitely cause destruction!

A large group of people marched towards the town government office. It was called a government office, but it was actually a row of bungalows, with a slightly larger entrance. The lobby inside could only accommodate about 20 people. The magistrate asked the extra people to stand outside the door according to their positions.

After everyone was seated, Cheng Yu had people bring out sweet potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes. While explaining these crops to them, he had people peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into small pieces for the village heads to try.

To put it bluntly, these village heads are just richer farmers, who may have one or two more cows, a few more houses, more food, etc.

Now, when we heard from this great man that the yield of sweet potato per mu can reach 2,000 kilograms, and it can be harvested twice a year, we were all very surprised. When we tasted it, it was sweet and delicious!

Some people were eating, and I don't know what they were thinking about. They were so sad that they even wiped the tears from their eyes with their sleeves.

"Everyone, I plan to plant these crops in a place you choose in Linping. Who here is willing to try planting them?"

Cheng Yu said to everyone,

When the village chiefs heard this, they thought this was like pie in the sky.

What's more, this senior official was so approachable and kind to them, giving them gifts as soon as they met. How could such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity be snatched away by others?

At one time, many people raised their hands and volunteered to try planting.

One said that our village had the most land, another said that our village had the flattest land and it would be easy to reclaim it, and another said that our village was close to the town and had convenient transportation.

As they talked, they turned into mutual abuse and accusations. One pointed at the other and said, "Your cow ran into our village and ate the rice seedlings." The other said, "Your dog ran into the door of our ancestral hall and defecated..."

Seeing that the group of people were about to fight, Li Anlin and others hurriedly stopped them.

Cheng Yu said, "Stop arguing about where to plant. We need to go to the site to investigate whether the geology is suitable. Now sign up and sign the letter of intent."

As soon as they finished speaking, everyone rushed to sign the letter of intent. Finally, they planned to conduct on-site inspections according to distance.

Linping is truly an ecologically livable paradise, with flat fields and ponds dotted across the horizon, a typical Jiangnan water town.

There are many sandy loam soils and many semi-clay and semi-sandy loam soils. The sandy loam soils are used to plant sweet potatoes, and the others are used to plant peppers and tomatoes.

During the inspection, Cheng Yu finally found the sugar cane he had been dreaming of, and not only that, he also discovered a small sugar factory.

This is so great!

At this time, all the sugar was the most primitive brown sugar flakes, and white sugar had not yet appeared.

Cheng Yu decided to build a white sugar factory here.

White sugar is sucrose crystals made through the processes of cleaning, concentrating, crystallizing and separating sugarcane. Lime powder is also added to clarify the sugarcane juice, and its sugar content can reach more than 90%.

It sounds simple, but it is very complicated for a product that has never been made before. At the very least, many production tools have to be specially made.

Fortunately, before coming, in addition to asking Ah Cai to list the entire process in detail, she was also asked to design a complete set of production tools based on the Northern Song Dynasty's technological level.

All these tools have been brought here now, and we can start trial production as long as we find sugarcane.

He contacted the small sugar factory and asked them to be responsible for the purchase and cleaning of sugarcane. He then built a tile house next to it for the production of sugar.

In fact, the work of purchasing and cleaning is very simple, and they can do it themselves, but if you make sugar in someone else's place, the interests must be tied together to make it last long.

Moreover, when it comes to dealing with sugarcane farmers, they are definitely most familiar with where to get high-quality sugarcane.

The owner of this small sugar factory is surnamed Cai. The sugar he makes is mainly supplied to some wealthy families near Renhe County. After all, there are many people who can't even get enough food to eat, so how can they have money to buy sugar?

Boss Cai is so excited that he doesn't know where to put his hands and feet when he sees such a high-ranking official wanting to cooperate with him? The conditions are quite generous.

As soon as the terms were agreed upon, Cheng Yu immediately gave him a deposit and asked him to buy the sugarcane as soon as possible.

It is now the end of March and the beginning of April, and the sugarcane harvest is in its final stages. The next day, before dawn, the boss had already taken his men to the countryside to harvest sugarcane.

Now that the raw materials are available, the only thing left is equipment installation.

With the help of Li Anlin, the county magistrate, a dozen skilled craftsmen were brought in to install the equipment. After the equipment was installed and the sugarcane was in place, trial production began.

On the day of trial production, incense was burned and gods were worshipped with three animals and six rituals according to local customs.

However, the gods don't seem to bless you.

The first trial production ended in failure. Then we continued to try production for more than a month. The equipment had to be repaired again and again. Pile after pile of sugarcane was wasted, which made everyone feel heartbroken.

After all, in this environment where there is not much food to eat, sugar is a luxury.

What a waste!

Sin!

Cheng Yu was also under a lot of pressure. The process was strictly followed, but it just didn't work. He regretted not bringing Ah Cai with him, otherwise he wouldn't have no one to ask. He planned that if all the raw materials were not successful, he would have to wait until he returned to Bianjing to bring her over to study together.

But sometimes success comes unexpectedly!

A craftsman accidentally tinkered with the equipment and unexpectedly made white sugar!

Everyone cried with joy when they tasted the hard-earned sugar!

The success of a product is a process of continuous trial and error, plus a little bit of luck!

Ah Cai had said this to Cheng Yu a long time ago.

Now I really admire her. She designed these equipments that meet the current technological level without any precedent. Although they need to be improved according to local conditions, they can all be used normally in the end. This is already amazing!

This ability requires a lot of professional knowledge as a foundation.

No wonder in modern times, international chemical companies were willing to hire her with an annual salary of one million!