I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 184 Flower Dew
The spies hidden in the Turkic capital kept reporting the changes in the Turkic Khaganate. After discussing with Jiang Yiming, King Xuan believed that the Turkic Khaganate did not have the energy or conditions to start a war in the short term. Therefore, he only ordered his soldiers to strengthen their defenses and patrols, and focused all his energy on the establishment of the military medical team.

"Has Zhaozhao not arrived yet?" King Xuan stood at the entrance of the military camp, peering out.

"No," Jiang Yiming said, pulling his tiger-skin cloak tighter around himself. "Your Highness, can't we wait in the tent?"

“That would be so insincere,” King Xuan waved his hand. “If Zhaozhao really develops alcohol that can reduce fever, I will personally go to the gate of the Protector General’s mansion to greet her.”

Jiang Yiming thought of the soldiers in the army who died every year from infected wounds and high fever, and stopped complaining. He just silently moved his feet, using the Xuan King's burly body to block the cold wind.

Half an incense stick later, several fine horses appeared on the ground, and King Xuan laughed and went to greet them.

"Father!" Tang Zhao reined in his horse with one hand, leaped down from its back, and held up the broken glass bottle he had been carefully protecting in his arms to Prince Xuan, saying proudly, "Guess what this is?"

Without hesitation, King Xuan exclaimed, "Alcohol!"

Tang Zhao:. . . ?
Alcohol?

Seeing Tang Zhao's smile freeze on his face, Xuan Wang's eyes showed doubt, then he suddenly realized, "It doesn't matter if we can't develop it. The 50-degree Dukang wine last time was very strong and could be used to treat the soldiers' wounds."

Tang Zhao:. . . .

Tang Zhao turned to look at Gu Ci.

Gu Ci led the horse to Tang Zhao's side, "It's cold here, let's go back to the tent and talk."

King Xuan realized what his good-for-nothing son had done, but because Zhao Zhao was present, he didn't want to ruin his image as a loving father, so he swallowed his anger and returned to his tent, preparing to settle accounts later.

"What happened?" Tang Zhao leaned closer to Gu Ci and asked in a low voice, "Didn't you tell Father that I developed standard medical alcohol half a month ago?"

Gu Ci remained expressionless. "I didn't have a chance to say it."

Since Tang Zhao proposed to establish a well-trained and highly skilled military medical team for the Northwest Army, and appointed the legendary Ghost Doctor who could revive the dead and the famous resident doctor of Renxintang as the head instructors, King Xuan was overjoyed.

Every time he sought out King Xuan to discuss important matters, he was interrupted before he could even open his mouth, with the king using both threats and inducements to ensure that he treated Tang Zhao with kindness—no, with respect.

In King Xuan's own words: "If you dare to make Zhao Zhao unhappy in the slightest, I'll castrate you!"

He's not even as good as a stepfather.

After several such incidents, Gu Ci became too lazy to pay attention to Prince Xuan. Apart from reporting important military matters to Prince Xuan, he spent the rest of his time either inspecting and training the troops or on his way to inspect and train the troops.

The father and son don't get along as well as the father-in-law and son-in-law.

Tang Zhao sighed, "I still have to do this." He then turned his horse around and rode alongside King Xuan. With a few words, he made King Xuan laugh heartily, and even Gu Ci seemed much more agreeable to him.

Gu Ci willingly admitted defeat.

"Father, the glass bottle contains flower dew. What is flower dew? You can think of it as the essence of flowers. Flowers are fragrant because of it."

King Xuan looked through the glass bottle at the liquid inside that resembled water but wasn't quite. "Oh, then, what's this for?"

"Sell it!" Tang Zhao said matter-of-factly. Her glass shop was gone, and her income had plummeted, but her daily expenses were still enormous. If she didn't come up with a way to make money soon, the Protector General's Mansion would be wiped out!
King Xuan, realizing he was in the wrong, coughed awkwardly and changed the subject, asking, "How are the preparations for that medical team going?"

"Not good," Tang Zhao said, her voice filled with worry. "We can't find a female doctor."

"If you can't find one, take your time, boss." Wait, what kind of doctor do you want to recruit?
"Father, I remember that Eighth Sister studied medicine. Would she be interested in becoming the first female military surgeon in the Great Yu?"

You must be really hungry. King Xuan remained silent. He did not oppose women achieving great things, and even supported and admired such women, but he never thought that his own daughter could become such a woman.

However, King Xuan glanced at the free-spirited and magnanimous Tang Zhao and thought he seemed quite good. "I have no problem with that. You can handle Consort Qin yourself."

Tang Zhao turned to look at King Xuan and asked, "Are you sure?"

King Xuan hesitated, "Let Father go and speak to him."

Since Consort Qin was forced to return to Luoyang, she has been looking down on Tang Zhao and provoking him several times. Although she was always thoroughly humiliated, she persisted relentlessly.

In the end, Princess Xuan couldn't stand it anymore and forcibly took Consort Qin and her daughter back to Lanzhou, which brought this farce to an end.

"Father is too busy to return to Lanzhou for a while, Zhaozhao, please wait a bit," King Xuan thought of Consort Qin's crying and fussing, and decided to stall for time.

"There's no need for Father to go to Lanzhou. Eighth Sister and her daughter are currently at the villa in Wuwei. After we finish looking at the steel furnace today, Father and Zhaozhao can go back together, which will save you trouble."

King Xuan: ...

King Xuan, having been clearly instructed, followed Tang Zhao to the newly built steel furnace kiln. The tall, large chimneys continuously spewed out black smoke, causing severe environmental pollution.

However, there was no other way. The steelmaking method provided by the system was very modern and environmentally friendly, but the technological level of Dayu was simply not up to par. So Tang Zhao forced the system to switch to the old steelmaking method, embarking on the old path of polluting first and then cleaning up.

Fortunately, Chongqing's environment is very good; pollution for decades won't cause any major problems... right?

Tang Zhao shook his head, clearing his mind of the jumbled thoughts, and calmed down to listen to the steel furnace craftsman.

"Your Highness's method of steelmaking is excellent, with a very high steel yield, but it consumes too much time and coal."

The craftsman spoke while looking at Tang Zhao expectantly.

Tang Zhao:. . . .

So this is what it feels like to be manipulated. At that moment, Tang Zhao empathized with King Xuan.

Tang Zhao waved his hand weakly and said, "I know."

Gu Ci stepped forward and whispered in her ear, "There are illegal coal mines in Jinzhou."

Tang Zhao knew that not only Jinzhou had it, but Qinzhou also had it. She had also passed the geography exam and knew the basics.

But the question is, where will the money come from?
Their gazes naturally fell on the glass bottle filled with floral dew.

"The flowers in Mother's garden," Tang Zhao hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can I pick some more?"

Gu Ci was silent.

Upon hearing this, King Xuan's brow twitched slightly, and he pointed at the dew-covered flower in alarm, asking, "This flower, was it picked from your mother's flower garden?"

Tang Zhao nodded.

During the New Year, she and Gu Ci returned to the mansion to pay their respects to the Princess Consort of Xuan. The flowers carefully cultivated by the florist in the flower room were in full bloom. Tang Zhao couldn't resist and encouraged Gu Ci to pull up a few pots, uh, more than a dozen pots of peonies.

Princess Xuan was heartbroken and gave Gu Ci a good beating. Before the tenth day of the month was over, she kicked this troublesome son out of the palace.

Prince Xuan gave a thumbs up, sighing that people's fates are truly different. Back when he and Princess Xuan had just gotten married, he accidentally plucked a peony petal from Princess Xuan's dowry, and Princess Xuan chased him all over the palace.

To compensate Princess Xuan, a large sum of money was spent to build a flower garden and greenhouse in the Lanzhou Prince's Mansion.