My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 186 Hongli's Assistance to the New Policies
Shortly after Hongli arranged for his bondsers to investigate Lu Jinxian, six banner officers, including Er Rong'an, brought ten selected young bannermen who were literate and arithmetic to see him.

Hongli spent the entire morning interviewing these people.

Then, based on their expertise, he assigned them to be managers of the fertilizer plant and clerks in charge of financial management.

Yes, after returning from inspecting the reclamation project in Rehe, Hongli planned to develop the fertilizer industry and mobilize his own human resources to do so.

However, although he could directly appoint the bannermen under his banner command as stewards and scribes in the Prince's Palace, and the Prince's Palace would pay their salaries, he still needed to report to the Imperial Clan Court.

But the Imperial Clan Court would naturally not make things difficult for Hongli on such a trivial matter.

Hongli quickly appointed this group of Manchus as officials in his palace.

These Manchus were naturally overjoyed, and many even shed tears and choked with emotion.

As the number of Manchus surged, many Manchu leaders became complacent and lacked ambition, resulting in fewer and fewer opportunities for Manchus to hold official positions.

Now that they could become officials in the Prince's Palace, they were naturally very happy.

After assigning the person in charge, the next step is to arrange the technical personnel for fertilizer production.

Hongli ordered nine of the sixteen orphaned boys selected by E Rong'an who had passed the exam to learn from his Haha Zhuzi Wufu how to make calcium phosphate using alum, phosphate rock, and animal bones.

This substance, later known as the first artificially synthesized chemical phosphate fertilizer in history, was simple to produce; it involved treating phosphate rock or bones with sulfuric acid.

The latter is also possible because its main components are phosphorus and calcium compounds.

Emperor Qianlong's Haha Beads of Five Blessings had already mastered this craft through practical exploration.

It is worth mentioning that, apart from the eunuchs of the inner court, all the other servants who could become Hongli's personal servants were selected from the Eight Banners nobles.

Wu Fu's real name was Sun Wu Fu. His father, Sun Sike, once served as the Governor of Gansu, and his mother was Princess Heshuo Quejing, the fourteenth daughter of Emperor Kangxi.

He married Yinzhi's only daughter in the 61st year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, and was therefore later granted the title of Heshuo Efu by the Yongzheng Emperor.

However, Wu Fu, who is three years older than Hongli, has always served as Hongli's servant, so he is quite close to Hongli and is very proactive, hoping to change his unfavorable situation as Yinzhi's son-in-law.

For this reason, when Hongli arranged for Haha Zhuzi, who was by his side, to try to make calcium phosphate using alum, phosphate rock, and animal bones, Wufu did the best job.

Hongli now puts Wufu in charge of teaching the nine orphans that the Ortai family has raised for him.

He planned to teach the skills to the other bannermen under his banner commander after the nine orphans had learned them, thus solving their unemployment problem.

As for the sales of these calcium phosphates after they are produced, Hongli plans to leave it to the coating agents he has selected who are ready to take over.

Some of these agents have been assigned to intelligence work, investigating the background of Lu Jinxian, the former educational commissioner of Jiangnan.

That's right!

Hongli planned to have his personal guards work for him and also have them engage in intelligence work.

Later, he might set up a special internal agency within the Prince's Palace to train them, and also establish his own sticky pole office.

Right now, he's just letting some of his employees try out this kind of work, so it's naturally far from the level of professionalism he envisioned.

By the time Hongli finished these tasks, it was already May of the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, and the temperature was getting increasingly hot.

Therefore, apart from going to the Yuanmingyuan to learn about government affairs and to pay his respects to his ancestors morning and evening, he rarely goes out these days. He basically stays in the garden, enjoying the cool shade of the trees and the lake.

After adding five maids to Langrun Garden, Hongli also arranged for the remaining seven girls from the sixteen orphans reported by E Rong'an to be placed in the garden.

Suddenly, in addition to the eunuchs, Langrun Garden gained twelve maids, making the entire garden much more lively.

When Hongli strolls around the garden now, he often encounters young girls appearing in the rockery and covered bridges, and he does not feel too lonely.

On this day, when Hongli passed by a waterside pavilion, he saw Nian Yirou and Nian Zhu scattering corn kernels into the water to amuse the fish, and they were all laughing heartily.

Although corn has not yet been widely promoted in all provinces, the women around Hongli still have access to it.

After being sent to the Prince's mansion as a maid in the Imperial Laundry Department, Nian Zhu was assigned to Nian Yirou's side.

Because Nian Yirou was her cousin and they had grown up together, Nian Yirou did not treat her as an ordinary maid. She ate with her and slept with her every day.

Wherever Nian Yirou went in the garden, she would take her there, which made her feel less tired. Moreover, since the person serving her was her cousin, she didn't even feel lonely.

Gradually, she forgot much of the pain of her father and brothers being punished and her family business falling into ruin, and she would occasionally smile.

Besides, she was only a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, an innocent and carefree age, and couldn't possibly harbor too much sorrow and resentment.

Of course, after coming to Hongli's inner courtyard and seeing him every day, and knowing that he had become a prince and was increasingly admired by the court and the public, she couldn't help but have the thought of changing her family's current situation through Hongli.

Therefore, Nian Zhu paid more attention to Hongli than Nian Yirou. When Hongli suddenly appeared, she quickly stopped smiling, tugged at Nian Yirou's sleeve, and looked at Hongli.

"Fourth Master!"

Nian Yirou then bowed to Hongli first. "No need for formalities, you all seem to be in high spirits."

Hongli raised his folding fan, smiled and then looked at the water. But when he looked up, he caught a glimpse of Nian Yirou's profile, half-hidden by her catfish whiskers.

Hongli had to admit that Nian Yirou was indeed a stunning beauty who could make anyone's heart flutter at first sight, with a natural allure and graceful figure.

He couldn't wait to enjoy her body as soon as possible.

However, during this time, due to his relationship with his adoptive mother, the Empress, and his birth mother, the Noble Consort, he has spent all his time on Nara Minxuan and Fucha Yuyan, and has not yet bestowed his favor upon Nian Yirou.

Now that Nara Minxuan and Fucha Yuyan have consummated their marriage with him and their relationship has become even closer, with them talking about everything, he can now find a time to enjoy the pleasures of love with Nian Yirou as well.

There's no better time than now. Hongli had been restraining himself for a while, so that very night, he summoned Nian Yirou.

That same night, Nian Yirou underwent a transformation, but she remained silent throughout, only gritting her teeth, furrowing her brows, and shedding tears.

The more silent she remained, the more excited Hongli became, until he was completely exhausted before it ended.

After a long while, when Yi Rou staggered out, supported by Nian Zhu, she pouted and said to Nian Zhu with tears streaming down her face, "It hurts so much!"

Nianzhu blushed, but still spoke up, "Sister, didn't you beg Fourth Master?"

"Don't dare!"

Nian Yirou replied.

Nianzhu pursed her lips: "Then next time there is such a time, I will ask Fourth Master for you."

"besides?"

Nian Yirou looked up at Nian Zhu in astonishment and panic, and tears rolled down her cheeks again.

Nianzhu said, "Sister is so beautiful, there should be another chance to be favored by her."

Nian Yirou didn't say anything more.

It wasn't until three days later, when Nian Yirou woke up one morning, that she asked Nian Zhu, "Will there be a next time?"

Nian Zhu got out of bed first, then put away the bed curtains and hooked them with a gold hook. At the same time, she asked Nian Yirou, "Sister, are you so afraid of being favored by the Fourth Prince again?"

After asking, Nianzhu opened the door and woke up the maid who was sleeping in the outer room: "Princess is awake."

The maids sleeping in the outer room are new girls who have just entered the garden. They are younger than Nianzhu and are at the age where they love to sleep, so Nianzhu has to wake them up.

Fortunately, they were either born into noble families or were orphans with no one to rely on, and they knew they were not entitled to have a temper.

Therefore, when Nian Zhu woke up the new maid who was standing next to Nian Yirou, the maid did not get grumpy when she was woken up, but obediently got up.

Nianzhu then returned to Nianzhu and began to style Nian Yirou's hair.

But Nian Yirou suddenly spoke up at this moment, saying, "I'm not afraid, I just miss Fourth Master a little."

Nianzhu was taken aback.

"Fourth Master, a letter has arrived from Fo Biao, the military governor of Rehe. He has completed the application of phosphate fertilizer to the winter wheat in the experimental field you requested to be set up."

Not long after Hongli defeated Nian Yirou, Li Yu came to his study and handed him a letter from Commander-in-Chief Fobiao.

After he inspected the Rehe reclamation project, he instructed the commander-in-chief, Fo Biao, to designate an experimental wheat field when organizing the Manchu people to plant winter wheat, and to try adding calcium phosphate fertilizer made by Haha Zhuzi Wufu.

of course!

The experimental wheat field was a reclaimed field under his banner's command. The bannermen responsible for reclaiming the experimental field would receive grain directly from him, the lord, as compensation for the possible failure of the experiment.

Hongli then took the letter and began to read it.

In the letter, Fo Biao said that the winter wheat in the experimental field was growing much better than the winter wheat in other farmland, with thicker stalks and more robust ears, and was expected to yield several times more than winter wheat without topdressing.

Hongli was very pleased with this, as his development of fertilizer production was not originally intended to increase his own income.

Because he's not short of money.

He did this simply to develop productivity, especially agricultural productivity in the border towns, in order to further strengthen the border region in the future.

He believed that if this were the case, once calcium phosphate was widely adopted, and nitrogen fertilizer made from bird droppings and saltpeter was added, grain production in North China, Northeast China, and even Northwest China would definitely rise to a new level, and the population of the Qing Dynasty might be able to exceed 300 million ahead of schedule.

"I have heard that you have recently selected many bannermen from your banners to produce some kind of phosphate fertilizer?"

There are no secrets in this world. Soon after, Yongzheng also learned about Hongli's development of the fertilizer industry. When Hongli came to the Hall of Diligent Governance and Appreciation of the Worthy, he asked him about it.

Hongli did not deny it, and said: "Your subject also wants to let the banner people who are engaged in land reclamation really create more wealth through their labor, so that other banner people will know that going to the border to cultivate their own land is not hardship, but an opportunity to get rich, and they will be more willing to go to land reclamation."

(End of this chapter)