The Virginia newspaper two days later reported Charles' incident as its front-page headline.
However, the details of the incident were completely altered, turning it into a legendary tale. It was nothing more than praising Charles for his wisdom and bravery in infiltrating the royalist Party's lair, evading various assassination attempts arranged by the royalist Party, and ultimately exposing the true nature of Mrs. Paige as a royalist.
Unfortunately, at the critical moment when he was about to interrogate her about the royalist Party's next move, the cowardly royalist chose to commit suicide, defiling God's teachings and ensuring she would not enter heaven after death.
As for the unfortunate General Arnold, no one was willing to mention the former hero of Richmond anymore.
Being a corrupt official, coupled with his alignment with the royalist Party, these were all despicable acts. Even if he was a hero of the Battle of Richmond, people respected his leg, injured in battle, but not his entire person.
The report was entirely a eulogy to Charles. After its publication, the Independence Party's hatred for the royalist Party did not increase much, but Charles' supporters immediately grew significantly, opening a convenient door for Charles' recruitment efforts in Richmond in the following days.
Hearing them talk so much about the newspaper's content, Charles also became interested in Richmond's newspaper and specifically found that day's edition to read.
As it had been several days since the incident, the assassination's fervor had passed, and he couldn't find the content he wanted.
However, he unexpectedly discovered after reading the main reports that it was no wonder Richmond residents generally didn't know about his emancipation of slaves in Pittsburgh.
The news published there was primarily about Richmond's political news, with occasional reports from outside Richmond, usually still within Virginia.
One could even be certain that, apart from news from the Continental Congress, political matters from other states were unlikely to appear in this Richmond newspaper.
However, this doesn't mean the newspaper was particularly conservative.
In fact, besides politics, it was quite comprehensive in reporting economic news and miscellaneous interesting tidbits from various places.
Charles found several interesting reports on the second page of the newspaper.
Rubber, coconut, sisal, cocoa, and sunflower are all widely used economic crops.
However, their current utilization is generally not high, and some have not even begun formal development and utilization.
This newspaper, in a special column, actually reported on the strange properties of these crops in tropical and subtropical regions, as well as local customs and utilization, and formally discussed whether they could be planted in Virginia.
It is estimated that at this time, only places like Virginia and North and South Carolina, which rely on economic crops like cotton and tobacco as their Hashira industries, would have this kind of information.
"Quick! Tom, go and contact the author of this report and see when I can meet him. I finally found what I couldn't find in Pittsburgh here!" Charles exclaimed excitedly.
Actually, this was thanks to Virginia's geographical location, neither too far south nor too far north, right in the subtropical zone.
These crops were basically unheard of in Pittsburgh; as for places further south than Virginia, many people had heard of them, so it was not surprising.
Only in places like Virginia, which are close to the tropics and where these crops can be planted but are basically impossible to grow naturally, would there be interest in discussing the feasibility of planting these crops.
The author of that column was quickly invited.
The author was a very shy middle-aged man. It was evident that he had specially dressed up to meet Charles. Although he wore a hat and a suit, the fabric was dull and already looked a bit old.
Facing Charles, a high official of the Continental Congress, this white man, already in his thirties or forties, seemed a little uneasy:
"Good afternoon! Mr. George-Pan!" Charles looked at the byline on the column.
"Good afternoon! Your Excellency Godfrey, I heard you were looking for me because of my report?" George-Pan asked even more eagerly than Charles.
"Yes..." Charles replied.
But before he could finish, he was interrupted by the eager George-Pan:
"Respected sir, do you want to support my research?"
After asking this question, he must have been very nervous.
His eyes were fixed on Charles, and a perfectly good hat was being crumpled in his hands, completely oblivious to anything else.
Tom, the black servant next to him, gestured several times for the hat so he could put it away, but George-Pan didn't notice.
"Uh, yes, possibly. I'm very interested in the crops you wrote about in your column, like this rubber. You said the locals actually made rubber tree sap into balls and used them as interesting toys? Haha, that's indeed very interesting. How do you know so much about these things, these plants?" Charles smiled frankly.
Although he hadn't originally planned to support his research, if he truly was an agricultural expert, then he could not only support his research but even absorb him into his family.
"Phew! That's because I used to love traveling and have been to many places in Africa and South America. I'm also a botanist, and I've done feasibility studies on these crops with development potential. Unfortunately, because of the war, it's inconvenient to leave home, so I can only write about some interesting crops I saw during my travels in Africa and South America, hoping to get sponsorship from others so I can conduct in-depth research on the development and utilization of these crops in America," George-Pan spread his hands helplessly.
If it weren't for the war lasting so long and causing problems in his life, he wouldn't have thought of relying on column writing to gain sponsorship.
This time, he came to see Charles with certain intentions, hoping to recommend those economically valuable crops to this high official of the Continental Congress, thereby gaining his support and using government appropriations to experiment with planting and further development and utilization.
Charles nodded understandingly. At this time in Europe and America, many scholars enjoyed studying plants. Decades later, they would also be interested in studying animals. This was a hobby very beneficial to the long-term development of a nation.
As for supporting research, as long as there was profit to be made, he would definitely support it.
"Then do you think these crops have the potential to be planted here?"
"Some of them are very likely to be planted. At least like sunflowers, we have them in Virginia.
However, some would need to be tested. These crops can only be planted in hot regions. Perhaps Georgia would be a very good experimental base," George-Pan hinted.
Charles did not immediately agree to sponsor but instead asked about the crop he was most interested in:
"Can this rubber tree be planted in the Georgia area?"
"Rubber tree? Uh, this rubber tree isn't very useful. Only the indigenous people of South America would casually collect a little while hunting and knead it into a ball to give to their children at home to play with.
However, that kind of tree has strong vitality, and theoretically, there should be no problem planting it in Georgia."
George-Pan felt a chill in his heart. Why was this high official interested in things with little practical value?
When he first wrote this column, he deliberately included various interesting stories to attract readers' interest.
Now, this high official was only interested in such anecdotes, so he certainly wouldn't have any additional interest in supporting his crop development plan.
"What about Florida? Planting rubber trees there certainly wouldn't be a problem, right?" Charles still clung to rubber.
"Mr. Godfrey, if you want rubber, just send a merchant ship to South America, and they can bring you a whole ship full. This stuff is neither aesthetically pleasing nor useful, there's no need to plant it at all," George-Pan couldn't help but sarcastically remark.
Rubber itself had little direct utility. Its earliest development and utilization through vulcanization technology would still be more than a hundred years away.
"Uh..." Charles didn't understand how they were talking so well just now, but his face suddenly changed.
"If Your Excellency has nothing else, then I shall take my leave!" George-Pan stood up resolutely.
Since he wouldn't support his economic crop development plan, there was no need to stay here any longer.
"No! Mr. George-Pan, I still have many things to ask you," Charles stood up with a smile, sincerely trying to persuade him to stay.
Although he was a little angry in his heart, he showed no trace of it on his face.
George-Pan had just been eager to leave, ready to use his scholarly pride to bid farewell, but as soon as Charles asked him to stay, he didn't dare to leave.
Worried that truly offending Charles would lead to retaliation, he immediately stammered and sat back down in his seat.
"Mr. George-Pan, besides these rubber trees and sisal, are there any other economic crops? I mean, crops that have development potential in the United States but haven't been extensively developed yet," Charles continued to ask.
"Developing crops? Are you saying you're also interested in developing other economic crops?" George-Pan suddenly stood up again.
"I know, of course I know many such crops! As long as you are willing to persuade the state governments to allocate funds to support the development of new economic crops, I will tell you everything I know!"
Charles was almost startled by George-Pan's strong reaction, but seeing his final expression, clearly one of self-sacrifice for the nation and its people, he smiled with relief.
He probably was just another simple researcher!
"Don't worry, as long as there is real utility, I will definitely propose it to the state governments, and even directly ask the Continental Congress for research funding. But I still want to ask, which economic crop do you think has the most potential for development in our United States right now? Which one can yield immediate profits?" Charles was using the name of the Continental Congress to inquire about benefits for himself.
"The most profitable? This... should be coffee!" George-Pan gave an answer that surprised Charles.
"Coffee?" Charles gently shook his head.
Although coffee had already been introduced to America in 1620, it wasn't until 1723 that a French official, De Clieu, brought coffee seedlings to America and began planting them.
At this time, there was basically no large-scale training within the territory of the United States.
"Respected sir, the potential and profit of planting coffee are absolutely huge.
Currently, due to the British naval blockade, tea from the East cannot be sold directly in the United States, and coffee has become the primary beverage for Americans.
However, the coffee currently grown in the United States is all of extremely poor quality, and we mainly rely on imports from places like Brazil.
In fact, from what I understand, there are many places in the United States suitable for growing coffee. If we can successfully experiment, it will definitely bring huge profits," George-Pan, having finally learned that Charles was interested in developing economic crops, naturally seized the opportunity to advocate for it.
Charles still shook his head.
It wasn't that he thought coffee had no development value, but rather that historically, the United States had no particularly famous coffee growing regions.
Even if coffee could be grown, its quality and scale would certainly be limited.
What he wanted was something that could bring him huge profits, like rubber, which he could utilize with technology to become a monopoly industry, not coffee, which others had already grown into very famous varieties.
"There's no need to discuss coffee training anymore. I know coffee has several suitable training bases. Closer ones include the West Indies, currently controlled by France and Spain, and Mexico, among other places.
Although America also has many places where it can be grown, it's definitely not as good as those places, right?" Charles, who used to drink coffee frequently, knew that besides South America and Africa, Latin America also had several famous coffee producing regions.
In fact, in modern society, coffee training can barely be considered a labor-intensive agriculture.
As a developed country, it is unlikely that Americans would spend a large amount of manpower to train it.
The unit cost of planting it in the United States is not as good as directly purchasing better but cheaper coffee trees from the international market.
There are also some relatively good planting areas within the United States, where the produce is generally sold locally and basically not exported, so its reputation is not well-known.
"But..." George-Pan still wanted to say more.
"Haha! If you are really interested in growing beverages, then why not help me research the few tea trees in my estate?"
"Tea trees? But the British already started trial planting a few years ago. They have trial bases in America and India. It might be too late for us to start now."