Chapter 737: Yan Hao
"Replying to the lord's words, this ship is used for maritime cargo transport; it temporarily lacks fishing functionality."
"The king was very disappointed: 'The previous treasure ships always carried five extra fishing nets; even with fishing nets it wouldn't work? We currently have no maritime trade, only the need for fishing.'"
"Chen Chao saw he was determined to fish, so he said: 'It needs refitting. Just having the officially issued fishing nets isn't enough; we also need the corresponding winch frames and other supporting facilities. Since the lord already owns a fishing‑boat with fishing capability, the mall can purchase the corresponding replacement parts; the lord can buy them himself, and I can bring the other two to handle installation.'"
'"Good! Go rest first. I'll call you out again once I've bought everything in these two days."'
"Chen Chao left, and the king eagerly opened the mall to browse fishing‑boat facilities; when he saw the prices for those few pages of fishing‑boat facilities, he couldn't laugh at all."
'"Winch frame 35,000 ingots? That's not 350,000 taels? Why are these few broken frames still a product of the Canglang Realm? A shrimp basket costs 99 ingots? I'd spend a thousand taels for one basket? This isn't hard; I'll make it myself!"'
"Bai Ze's soul asked: 'Who just got rich?'"
"The king immediately opened the city square to restore health; at a glance it's clearly an infrastructure project."
"【Side Quest Four: Build the city square."
"Official subsidies: all raw materials; all tools and props; on‑site technical supervisor NPC x1……"
"Logic chain supplement: recruit 3,000 local laborers from the Da Jin region;"
"Estimated construction period: forty days;"
"Mission supplies: work uniforms x3,000; meals x3,000 × 40 days; wages x3,000 × 40……}"
"Seeing that he could again 'embezzle' thirty thousand taels of silver, the king realized. He and Meng Meng are each other's leeks, but there's an order of precedence. For now he's harvesting wool from the infrastructure project; in the future, when these items need replacement, that will be Meng Meng's time to get rich."
"First he took out the construction drawings and had a look; it wasn't a huge project, just a large site. Seeing the statue standing in the middle gave the king an idea. When Zhao Bao came in to call him up, he directly ordered: 'Melt down the weapons seized from the grassland campaign and have the Armory Bureau do it; let me replace the statue in the middle of the city square with one cast from the weapons of the northern barbarians… a Black Wind War Horse! Yes, cast a fully armored war horse that tramples the grassland and place it there.'"
"The more the king thought about it, the better the idea seemed; whenever he saw the war‑horse statue, he'd recall the miserable state of the Xiongnu."
"The king laughed three times, praising himself: 'I'm really too clever! Next time any foreign envoy comes, I'll take them all to check in—no one will be able to get away!'"
"Zhao Bao was bewildered; the idea is good, but 'Your Majesty, what is this city square, and where is it?'"
"The king: ……"
"It hasn't been built yet."
"."
"That morning the king was busy arranging these projects: the farm, the Five Prefectures connecting the expressway, plus this city square. The expressway was recruiting labor locally, and the king intended to let them also get a taste of the benefits."
"The orders were issued one by one; by noon Xie Yuan had received his."
"He had grown accustomed to the king's empty treasury yet grand projects; this could be listed as the top entry in the 'King's Bewildering Actions' award. All that can be said is that the king's privy purse is a mystery."
"However, from this allocation of grain and money, he could also see that the king was truly poor."
"The child no longer willfully tosses out three hundred cash coins."
"Approaching mid‑afternoon, the Internal Secretary hadn't yet come to report on the land‑survey progress; he was probably worrying. The king thought it over and still decided to go to the Lan Tai Hall; the article was truly forgotten, but on the way he had already thought up an excuse for yesterday's truancy."
"Who would have thought that upon seeing Xie Yuan, the other party's mood would actually be not bad?"
"The king stroked his chin."
"Something's off."
"Truancy plus damaging the Grand Commander's reputation—could that make one's mouth curl up? The king immediately became alert."
'"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Yan Hao arrived in Youzhou yesterday and also handed me an article saying he wants it published in the weekly. Tomorrow I will present him to Your Majesty…"'
"His delighted words had barely finished when his semi‑illiterate disciple muttered quietly nearby: 'Who is Yan Hao?'"
'"Cough!" Xie Yuan nearly choked.'
'"You haven't read the
"The king shook his head honestly."
'"What about the
"The king shook his head again."
"Xie Yuan covered his chest, took a deep breath, and said: 'Yan Hao, he's a descendant of the sages—you ought to have heard of him, right? Do you recall?'"
"The king: ……Should he nod or shake his head?!"
End of Chapter
