This is something rulers throughout history have always wanted to do.
Yunzhu felt a deep sigh in his heart. He understood the desire, but it was easier said than done.
It's not that he wanted to throw cold water on General Yves' plan, but take the recent drought for example—he had to use both pressure and persuasion, and even then, only managed to get some money out of the wealthy by relying on capable people under his command.
He ruled strictly, and his subordinates were strong and capable. By bringing people along to apply pressure and persuading with words, they finally managed to get some of the local gentry and rich folks to cough up money.
But if they tried to ask again, those same people would probably resist fiercely.
General Yves smiled and asked, "Aside from force, what do you think could make people willingly hand over their money?"
The question completely stumped Yunzhu.
What could possibly do that? Nothing could make him voluntarily open his own wallet.
These rich folks weren't even afraid when a knife was pressed to their necks. How could anything else make them willingly hand over all their wealth?
The two of them stayed silent as they continued on their journey. General Yves didn't rush to explain further.
As they got closer to the county town, the streets became livelier, and they slowed their horses.
There were still people doing business along the streets.
Watching the buying and selling going on, Yunzhu suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Business! Trade—when someone can get what they want, they naturally don't mind paying for it."
His eyes lit up as he turned to General Yves for confirmation. "General, am I right?"
The smile on General Yves' face confirmed it.
"When we get back, release the fine rice and wheat flour I brought. Tell them that for every five jin of old rice or coarse flour, they can exchange it for one jin of fragrant rice and one jin of fine flour. If they exchange one hundred jin, we'll give them half a jin of white sugar as a bonus."
As they spoke, they arrived at the government office.
General Yves' off-road vehicles were still parked out front, and the earthmovers and drilling machines had already been put to work under Yunzhu's arrangements.
With orders from General Yves, Yunzhu went to inspect the grain and flour they had brought. Whether it was the rice or the flour, it was noticeably different from what he was used to eating.
Even the worst grains from modern times were far beyond anything people in the past could access.
After checking, Yunzhu felt more confident.
He immediately took over a shop and had people start spreading the word.
At first, no one paid much attention.
These rich gentry already had plenty of fine rice and flour. To them, this offer wasn't attractive at all.
At that point, General Yves gave Yunzhu some unusual items.
In the hall, there were various oddly shaped iron objects—some black, some white, some with leaves on them. Yunzhu stared curiously at all of it.
"General, did you call me here because of these things?" Yunzhu asked.
General Yves had a guard hand him a booklet they had prepared. "That's right. The grain and flour shop we just opened isn't doing well, is it?"
When he heard this, Yunzhu thought General Yves was blaming him. His face turned a little awkward.
"General, it's true. Business hasn't been good. I was actually about to visit the wealthy families one by one."
He had already been thinking of ways.
General Yves said, "Read this booklet carefully first."
"Have a seat."
Yunzhu sat down. The booklet was quite thick, and what surprised him was how lifelike the pictures inside were—almost like the real items had been pasted onto the pages.
But before he could finish marveling, he was already completely drawn into the contents.
The fan had settings from level 1 to 3, which could be adjusted to change the wind speed.
There were also hoverboards for kids to play with on flat ground.
Later, there were even tablets, computers, MP3 players, headphones, and more. Smaller items included thermos bottles, desk lamps, mirrors, and so on.
Yunzhu was completely absorbed in the booklet. After a while, he looked up in disbelief and asked, "General Yves, were these all given to us by the higher being? This is incredible!"
"We've already tested them all," General Yves nodded in response.
Yinok, standing beside them, couldn't stop praising, "Master Yunzhu, just look at those large vehicles parked outside our gate. That should be enough proof they're real. If the higher being gave us machines like those, there's nothing they can't make."
After going through so many things with General Yves, the guards who had followed along had all become loyal supporters of Sophia.
Yunzhu kept nodding in agreement. "Exactly! I was going to say, with those large vehicles, it wouldn't be hard for us to conquer both the Wu and Zhao kingdoms!"
Having such powerful machines on the battlefield would be like having divine help.
"General Yves, should I have someone move these fans and computers to the shop first?" Yunzhu asked. "Could you assign someone to help me and guide us?"
He hadn't forgotten that Yinok had just said they were already very familiar with how everything worked.
General Yves immediately assigned Yinok to assist.
At the same time, the disaster relief official, Zhao Ankang, was busy leading people to dig wells and prepare the land for planting.
The goal was to help people return to normal life as soon as possible.
The items Yunzhu brought were soon being tested at the shop.
Sophia not only provided the electronic devices but also the power source.
She sent over more than a hundred batteries. Since these weren't high-power devices, the batteries would last them a long time.
The shop was left open to the public, and soon, many people passing by were drawn in.
The area was in the heart of Yan Yun County, which wasn't as badly affected by the drought. People were coming and going as usual.
With the court sending disaster relief, even more people were traveling through the area.
Suddenly, loud music started blasting from the shop:
"The vast horizon is my love, flowers bloom at the foot of the green mountain!"
"The girls of Alishan are as beautiful as water, the men as strong as mountains!"
"I'm the Taishan next door, holding tight to the vine of love!"
At first, Yunzhu was shocked by the sound. Once he realized what the lyrics were, his already dark face turned red. "This is completely inappropriate!"
He quickly skipped to the next song, but every single one was about love and romance, making the big, serious man feel awkward and restless.
"Yinok, these songs are just indecent and inappropriate."
To be honest, Yinok and the others had thought the same when they first heard the music.
But somehow, the more they listened, the more they liked it. The tunes were catchy, and they couldn't help but hum along.
Yinok cleared his throat and said, "Master Yunzhu, don't you think the songs are actually kind of catchy?"
"They're just songs. No need to make a big deal out of it."
He was subtly hinting at Yunzhu.
Since General Yves had already approved it, it meant they could play the songs publicly.
Yunzhu scratched his head.
"Alright, let's test the other items too. Once we've tried everything, I'll go promote them to the local landlords and wealthy families."
"By the way, Master Yunzhu," Yinok reminded, "Silver isn't worth much right now—it won't buy much grain. If someone wants to buy these items, try to get them to trade porcelain, paintings, or other valuable goods instead."
That was something General Yves had emphasized along the way.