Royal Gold Magistrate

Gan An was mortified with shame, covering his face and not daring to make a sound.

Fang Zheng was about to go crazy!

It’s one thing to be discovered, but to be discovered because of your underwear, that’s completely ridiculous!

Fang Zheng’s face was full of disappointment. He poked Gan Ning’s shoulder hard with his finger and angrily said, “Disgraceful! How disgraceful!”

“You defecated in your pants and still had the nerve to wear underwear!?”

“Even I don’t wear any, how dare you wear them!?”

“Since you and Feng Ya went in together, is it possible that everyone in that batch might have been inspected?”

Gan Ning mumbled, “Perhaps, but Feng Ya wasn’t wearing underwear. I gave him two pairs, but he said he wasn’t used to wearing them.”

“Don’t! Fucking! Mention! Underwear! To me! Again!”

Fang Zheng finally lost it.

His subordinates could fail, but they absolutely couldn’t be this disgraceful!

It’s enough to make one laugh their teeth off!

“Is there anything else? Speak!”

“Yes… After King Wu’s mansion knew I was from Taoyuan County, they let me go. They don’t have any hostility towards us.”

Fang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief: “Go on, get out of here. I’m giving you six months of paid leave! Go wherever you like!”

Gan An left as if granted a great pardon, running away in a flash.

Ao Chen covered his mouth, shaking uncontrollably.

No wonder Gan An didn’t tell him anything when he came back, so this was what happened?

Fang Zheng looked at Ao Chen with ice-cold eyes: “What are you laughing at?”

Ao Chen immediately became nervous, stammering: “I thought of something happy…”

“Are you wearing underwear?”

“Y-yes… I am. W-what’s wrong?”

“Take them off! From today on, no one in the county office is allowed to wear underwear!”

Hearing this, Ao Chen hurriedly tried to run to the back hall, but was stopped by Fang Zheng.

“Wait a moment, finish your report before you go. Are there any other matters in the county recently?”

Ao Chen turned around and sighed: “Yes, Master. The penicillin you asked us to research still hasn’t been successfully developed.”

“We’ve killed batch after batch of monkeys, and now we’re collecting monkeys in Hengjiang Prefecture. It’s become very difficult to collect them!”

“Now there’s a rumor outside that someone is buying large quantities of monkeys to brew monkey wine.”

“And then?”

“Then our county’s winery started brewing monkey wine. They made a fortune, earning 40,000 taels in just these few months.”

“Huh?” Fang Zheng’s face was full of confusion, “Can monkeys really brew wine?”

“It’s just our Peach Blossom Fan wine mixed with water and fruit juice… It’s called monkey wine, but we never said monkeys brewed it.”

Fang Zheng was speechless.

“Then what if the partners come to the winery to see?”

“We’re raising monkeys in the winery now. We even found acrobats to train them. The monkeys can throw fruit into the wine vats, hitting the target every time.”

“It’s foolproof, no one has discovered it.”

Fang Zheng suddenly felt much better. At least there was some good news, which was comforting.

“Besides that, the road connecting us to the capital has been completed.”

“But we don’t dare to open it, fearing that a large number of people will flood in, and we won’t be able to control it.”

“Now glass is selling hot in the capital. Master, are we still selling glass?”

Fang Zheng thought for a moment and firmly said: “Sell! Sell second-rate glass! From now on, only flawless ones are called diamonds!”

“Take those inferior quality glass we made before to the market to sell.”

“We must distinguish them well in the future! Only the perfect, flawless ones deserve to be called diamonds. Remember to control the production.”

“Also, from now on, new things produced by our official businesses are not allowed to be sold on the market without approval!”

Good glass is called diamond, and it’s been made into diamond rings. The diamond industry of the future probably won’t have much chance to develop.

The diamond industry was initially a completely exploitative industry. For profit, who knows how many lives were sacrificed.

Unexpectedly, he had saved countless lives across hundreds or thousands of years. Infinite merit points.

Fang Zheng was almost moved to tears by himself.

“Also, open the roads normally.”

“But we should still have some restrictions.”

“Within the range of our Taoyuan County, set up a toll station every 300 zhang.”

“We’ll call this road a highway. Charge a toll fee, a highway fee, a road maintenance fee, and a passage fee for those passing through.”

“The horses should be tired by the time they reach our county from the capital, so set up a fodder station too. Prepare some meal sets for horses, charge according to different fodder specifications.”

“Screen in the rich people, and keep the poor out!”

“Our county has such good conditions. If poor people come in and can only look but not enjoy, wouldn’t that be suffering?”

“I can’t bear to see others suffer!”

Ao Chen listened with great admiration.

“Master, you’re brilliant!”

“By the way, if outsiders can’t come in, can’t we go out? Doing business in the county every day, with such a small market, how can we get rich?”

Ao Chen sighed: “I’ve talked about this in the county, encouraging some capable people to go out and increase revenue for the county.”

“But people said that those coming from the capital are all poor beggars and country bumpkins. They look down on outsiders and are unwilling to go out even if it means earning less.”

Fang Zheng immediately became angry: “Damn it, are they trying to rebel?”

“A group of people ate their fill for two days and developed so many bad habits!”

“Go and make statistics for me. Let’s see whose family has so many problems. We’ll inspect their fire safety!”

“Also, if there’s nothing else, call Xiao Tao here. You can go about your business.”

Ao Chen hurriedly said: “There is one more thing. Those researching gunpowder at the Research Institute, the people sent from the capital, many of them say they won’t go back to the capital after this and want to stay in Taoyuan County. What should we do, Master? Should we accept these people?”

“Accept my ass! Those are His Majesty’s people! Go find Xiao Tao for me first.”

After hearing this, Ao Chen said: “Xiao Tao… she probably won’t be back for a while. At noon, I heard her say she was going for a milk bath.”

“What? Milk bath?” Fang Zheng looked surprised.

What on earth happened in these few months while he was away?

Has Taoyuan County’s consumption upgraded to this level?

Milk is not cheap at all. He himself only drinks it a few times a month in the county.

Mainly because the Great Jing doesn’t have dairy cows, just some water buffaloes and yellow cattle for milk.

The milk yield is extremely low. It’s sold in the capital too, but it hasn’t reached the extravagance of bathing in it, right?

Ao Chen explained: “Yes, the competition among businesses in the county is fierce. Everyone can only think of new ways to make money.”

“This thing isn’t cheap, twenty taels for one bath. I’ve seen Xiao Tao and Xiao Bai going there these past few days.”

“Twenty taels…” Fang Zheng murmured.

“Isn’t twenty taels too extravagant? Even using human milk for bathing shouldn’t be this expensive! This is too wasteful.”

Ao Chen smiled: “Human milk is so gross!”

“Don’t worry, Master. There’s no waste at all.”

“I heard that all the leftover bathwater is bought by the pig farm. They feed the pigs with this milk-diluted water.”

“Oh, and the pig farm even hired people to play erhu for the pigs. They’ve already advertised it: pigs raised listening to music and drinking milk, called milk-fragrant pigs. They’ll be ready for sale next month.”

“I’ve ordered one. It must be delicious!”

Fang Zheng’s face was full of bitterness. Compete! Compete harder!

Being an official in the capital really has no flavor! The life of the common people under his rule is even better. What kind of life is this!

Fang Zheng sighed: “Go then. I’m tired. Arrange all the matters.”

“The Crown Prince is also in the county. Find someone to arrange his food, accommodation, and travel.”

“When Xiao Tao comes back, tell her to come see me.”

After speaking, Fang Zheng walked towards the back courtyard. After a few steps, he turned back.

“Oh, right, order one of those milk-fragrant pigs for me. Tsk, never mind! Don’t wait for it to be ready for sale. Roast one for me tonight! I want to taste it too!”