Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 179 Artificial Incubation
"Master! Please don't make things difficult for my father." Cui Shulan opened her pink red lips, trying to fight for her father as much as possible.

But Yang Chen, who had already changed his clothes, slapped her on the butt and reminded her:
"Okay, Xiao Cui, I told you I'll be there soon. What's the point of you getting anxious? Instead of rushing me here, you might as well go and tell Xiao Dong and the others to prepare breakfast for me."

Being teased by Yang Chen like this, Cui Shulan instantly felt a tingling sensation from the bottom to the top of her body, and she couldn't help but speak in a shy voice.

"Master, you are so bad! I will never wait for you to get up before coming here again!"

Cui Shulan stamped her feet on the spot and walked out without looking back.

Yang Chen, who was standing behind, just smiled and said nothing.

Ever since Zhenjiang Prefecture was liberated by the team formed by him and Zhu Chong, the Cui family has become a member of his merchant team, specializing in the management and sales of goods produced by the factory.

Although the Cui family used to be merchants and had salt permits, the scale of their business was limited, and it was impossible for them to become bigger and stronger.

Being able to sell products to the southern region is already a sign of Cui's strength. In the past, Cui's business was mainly in the north.

It was completely the first time to see how the South operated.

Fortunately, the goods are good. These things are very scarce. No matter how many are transported to Southeast Asia, they will soon become popular and are all sold out within three days.

This also attracted the attention of many southern merchants, who had already been criticized by Lan Yu and suffered a lot of financial losses.

In order to make up for the loss as quickly as possible, the products sold by Cui became their next prey.

Unfortunately, no matter how they raised the price to monopolize the market, every time Cui found out that this group of people wanted to monopolize the market, he would immediately stop selling, indicating that merchants could not buy in large quantities.

Faced with such a strange requirement of purchase restriction, the merchants had to spontaneously set out to Zhenjiang Prefecture to look for Yang Chen and get the goods directly from the source.

They were well aware of the sensation these items would cause once they were sold overseas.

By then, the wealth he lost in the Central Plains would be restored at the fastest speed.

Lan Yu, who was guarding Jiangnan, discovered this special situation and was about to take action to obstruct it, but Yang Chen entrusted Zhu Biao to tell the other party not to move.

Because Yang Chen himself also needed a lot of money, there was no other way, as Zhenjiang Prefecture had too many projects that required money.

Construction requires a lot of money, and all the money he and Zhu Chong had collected before ended up in the pockets of the people.

This is the truth. In order to better maintain the trust of the people, Yang Chen started from the day he was able to control Zhenjiang Prefecture.

The people of Zhenjiang Prefecture could receive three taels of silver from him for free.

Even though it is just a collection, it is not free. After receiving three taels of silver, you need to register your household registration.

This household registration is different, but something similar to an ID card.

It is carved using a tiny template and adopts a composite mortise and tenon technique. Unless one is a master carver, it is impossible for an ordinary person to imitate it.

Only with an ID card can you get corresponding benefits in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

For example, as long as there is someone in the family working in the fields, they can receive certain daily necessities for free every month, such as grain, cloth, calcium carbide lamps, etc.

Once you get something, you need to do your job well for Zhenjiang Prefecture. If anything happens, everyone who can move must go forward and are not allowed to hide behind.

Anyway, Yang Chen relies on this method to win over everyone and tighten them into a rope. Whoever does not cooperate will be troubled by Yang Chen.

Originally, the people thought it was just a joke.

After some examples happened, the people realized that this "Iron-faced Censor" who could chat and laugh while Zhou Shizhong's relatives were being beheaded was not joking with them.

At first, hundreds of thousands of people in Zhenjiang Prefecture believed that after Zhou Shizhong was killed, everything Yang Chen did was for his own selfish reasons. As time passed, people clearly felt the welfare around them, and then they understood that this censor was working hard for their livelihoods.

So everyone listened to Yang Chen. No matter how many people Yang Chen needed, they would be able to allocate them and do their best to do the work instead of just being perfunctory.

Nowadays, Zhenjiang Prefecture is very different from some places in later generations except for its construction, and most of the rest are also almost the same.

There are public schools, public hospitals, and even a public security bureau separated from the government office.

Every move was a decision made by Yang Chen after careful consideration. Without interference from outsiders, the execution of the move was very smooth in Zhenjiang Prefecture.

At the dining table, Yang Chen tasted the sweet potatoes and potatoes brought back from distant seas.

“I heard that this thing was poisonous before, but it was later screened by people from the American civilization and finally became non-toxic. Now it seems that the American civilization has a certain value for conquest.

It's great that we were able to successfully bring back such a precious thing from America in less than four months."

As he ate, Yang Chen suddenly felt extremely heavy in his heart.

Zhu Biao took out his own money and joined forces with Jiangnan ship merchants to go out to sea. In the familiar waters of Nanyang, the caravan did not encounter any accidents.

But when the caravan crossed the Indian Ocean, it began to encounter some troubles.

By the time the fleet successfully reached the European continent, one-third of its crew had been lost.

If Wang Haihan and others had not proposed to form a death squad to continue moving forward, I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty would have missed out on this new world.

Holding the thing in his hand tightly, Yang Chen understood what he needed to do next.

He swore that he would fulfill the wishes of those warriors who sacrificed their lives at sea and fought for the Ming Dynasty.

After eating and washing up, Yang Chen instructed Cui Shulan who was busy behind him.

The head of the Cui family became the president of the Zhenjiang Chamber of Commerce in order to repay the favor.

Cui Shulan was arranged by her father to be by Yang Chen's side and to serve him.

To be honest, Yang Chen didn't want to accept such an unreasonable request at all. After all, he already had enough women around him.

The number of women from the palace throughout the year, plus those given to him by Hu Weiyong, added together, is too many to count with both hands.

If Cui Shulan was added, he could fall asleep in the arms of a different woman every day for half a month without any problem.

But unexpectedly, Cui Shulan also wanted to follow him and learn some knowledge.

Finally, after Cui Shulan's welcoming and constant persuasion, Yang Chen finally agreed to this matter.

"Xiao Cui, go find Uncle Chen and tell him I have something to ask him."

Cui Shulan, who was cleaning with a feather duster, was stunned at first, then asked:

"But sir, didn't you just say you would go find my father after dinner? My father has been talking with those merchants from Jiangnan for the whole morning, and he is waiting for you to go there to solve the problem."

Cui Shulan felt confused when she thought about her father being harassed by those businessmen. She didn't understand why Yang Chen changed his mind halfway.

Yang Chen glanced at her and sighed:
"I won't forget about your father. Now go find Uncle Chen first. I'll be there soon. Xiao Cui, you've been with me for so long, don't you know my temper?"

As he spoke, Yang Chen seemed to be showing signs of life. Noticing this, Cui Shulan immediately trembled all over.

She didn't answer, but stood up and left. On the way, Cui Shulan sighed and felt fortunate for her decision.

"Fortunately, the master is not angry today, otherwise I would be in trouble."

Although Yang Chen was always friendly to these maids, he could actually get angry too, and once he got angry, he could scold these delicate girls until they cried.

Cui Shulan still vaguely remembered that the last time Jiang Juan wanted to stay because she had served Yang Chen for so long that she forgot her identity.

As a result, Yang Chen scolded her until her eyes turned red from crying, and her throat became hoarse and she couldn't speak for two days.

From then on, Cui Shulan realized that Yang Chen was not as kind as he seemed. If they really made him angry, he would make them, the maids, regret it.

After walking around the mansion for quite a while, Cui Shulan arrived at a huge building construction site with a running track of about 400 meters in size. She found the entrance of the building with ease.

She pushed the door open and walked in. Compared to the cold wind and low temperature environment outside, the building was very warm. As soon as Cui Shulan entered, she felt what it felt like to be bathed in the spring breeze.

The reason for this is that Yang Chen used twenty large steam heaters to heat up the building, which enabled it to maintain such a high temperature in cold weather.

Inside the huge building, there is only an old man in his seventies. Although he is old, he can walk briskly in the vegetable field. His eyes are not cloudy like those of other elderly people, but are very bright.

His sharp eyes allow him to see all the changes in the vegetable garden.

The moment he heard movement at the door, he stood up immediately with his hunched back, squinting his eyes to look at the other person's position.

Seeing that the person coming was Cui Shulan, a faint smile appeared on her face.

"Xiao Cui? Why are you in the vegetable garden? Did the master ask you to come?"

"Uncle Chen is really smart. He can guess this. The master wants you to go find him right away."

"Okay! I'll pack up and leave."

After saying this, Uncle Chen really packed up and simply threw all his things into the corner of the vegetable garden. He washed his face before leaving.

Uncle Chen was originally a farmer in Qingshan County. He had been a farmer for three generations and had a very clean background.

Originally, he had been living a quiet life at the foot of the mountain. On weekdays, he raised chickens and ducks, planted fruits and vegetables, got up facing the sunrise, and went home facing the sunset. He had a daughter who had married out.

Being strong and healthy, he originally wanted to spend his remaining years in seclusion.

But unexpectedly, a month ago, Yang Chen brought Zhu Chong to find him in person.

The reason is very simple. Uncle Chen is a well-known breeding expert in the area. Not only can he identify the problems of cattle, sheep and horses at a glance, but he can also accurately grasp the breeding techniques of chickens, ducks and pigs.

It is difficult for other people's hens to lay eggs in winter, but his hens can maintain the best egg-laying rate no matter what.

For an average family, having a dozen chickens is considered wealthy, but Uncle Chen went to the mountains alone and caught three pairs of pheasants, and managed to raise them to seventy or eighty.

Sometimes if one or two cats get lost, Uncle Chen doesn’t feel it’s a pity because he lives alone anyway.

With so much capital, Uncle Chen is always kind and generous, and he makes good friends with others. Many people admire him very much.

According to rumors from others, Uncle Chen's ancestor was once a giant in agriculture among the Hundred Schools of Thought, so he inherited the agricultural heritage as a family heirloom.

He doesn't care about these rumors.

With rich knowledge of animal husbandry, he quickly attracted Yang Chen's attention.

So Yang Chen went to find him, and after learning more about him, he found out that Uncle Chen actually mastered the probability of increasing the temperature to increase the chance of eggs cracking, and he also had very profound research on livestock pathology.

This is even more true in plants. He found that some flowers are clearly only one color, but they can produce many messy colors among the flowers.

Although Uncle Chen had not studied much, he was able to record all these discoveries on his own.

He once tried to share it with others, but unfortunately, no one knew what the use of his things was.

Until Yang Chen appeared, Yang Chen told the other party that this was a kind of knowledge of genetics and heredity.

Although Uncle Chen didn't know what genetics and heredity were, he understood that by following Yang Chen, he would be able to learn this strange knowledge and might even become a pioneer.

At present, Uncle Chen is specifically responsible for the artificial hatching of chicken and duck eggs at Yang Chen’s mansion.

Artificially hatching eggs seems difficult, and it is actually very difficult. The reason why Uncle Chen can display such amazing skills is, firstly, because he has a lot of experience, and secondly, as time goes by, his advantages will be revealed through accumulation of little by little.

If he had mastered the artificial hatching technology 100%, he would not have had dozens more chickens than others in half a lifetime, but hundreds more chickens.

Fortunately, things have become simpler now. With the technological innovation brought by Yang Chen, the thermometer has been successfully manufactured some time ago.

This thermometer does not have a very precise scale, but it can be used to perform standard tests by exhaustive method.

Twenty days later, if the second batch of eggs can be successfully hatched and more than 80% of the eggs are hatched, it means that the thermometer made in the Ming Dynasty can indeed be marked at 38 degrees or 39 degrees.

Led by Cui Shulan, Uncle Chen quickly came to Yang Chen's study. At this moment, he had changed into a new set of clothes.

Compared with others, Yang Chen's clothes already vaguely reflect the shadow of modern aesthetics.

Take the woolen thermal layer for example. It is sewn directly using the same sewing techniques as sweatshirts. Apart from the monotonous color, the style is completely the same as modern clothes.

Unfortunately, the tailoring skills were too poor, and Yang Chen couldn’t even get a long windbreaker.

It’s not that he doesn’t like Ming Dynasty clothing, but because Ming Dynasty people wear too many layers of clothes for winter, three layers inside and three layers outside. By the time they are dressed, they look like dumplings.

Not only is it troublesome to wear, it is also inconvenient to move around. How could Yang Chen go out wearing this in winter?

"Sir, why did you ask me to come here?"

Cui Shulan left the room and closed the door. There were only two people left in the room. Uncle Chen asked first.

Yang Chen put down the information in his hand and pointed:

"Uncle Chen, this is what happened. Today I heard that you have made considerable progress in artificially hatching chicks, but I don't know if you have made any progress in plant hatching."

Ever since Uncle Chen was assigned to the constant temperature building by Yang Chen, he has been studying various things, mainly the artificial hatching of chicks, and other things followed closely.

Uncle Chen hesitated for a moment before speaking:

"Master, I have done what you said, but I am afraid that it will not be possible in a short period of time if I want those crops to germinate before January next year.

We still need to wait for some more time.

I predict that it will take at least until February next year. With the effect of fertilizers, by that time, corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes should be able to sprout."

"Okay, then I will wait for you for this long. Remember, this matter must be done well, otherwise His Majesty will be angry, and neither you nor I will be able to bear it."

"I understand. I will definitely not disappoint the Master and His Majesty."

(End of this chapter)