Generally speaking, the general judgment is only the third-in-command in the state capital, and its direct prefects are the officials of the political secretary and the judge, if there is anything to be done to the central government, it needs to be reported layer by layer, and he himself cannot directly give the emperor the fold.

But Gu Yunji is different, he was originally sent from the capital to Xuzhou Mansion, and he has a wide range of contacts in the court. Not to mention anything else, let's just say that his cousin Gu Yuanhui is the secretary of the criminal department of the imperial court, and he is also a cabinet assistant minister who can go directly to the heavens, he can tell Gu Yuanhui about the potato seeds, and then Gu Yuanhui will transfer it to Emperor Jingfeng.

If Gu Yunji just wanted to increase his political achievements through high-yield potatoes, he had too many methods at his disposal, and there was no need to go to great lengths to set up a potato banquet and rub his tongue with Yan Zhengqian and Chen Xunzhou in the mansion.

Yan Zhengqian was naturally aware of this, and his face suddenly changed. He has been re-elected as the prefect of Xuzhou for three consecutive terms, this is the seventh year he has sat in this official position, and he only needs to wait another two years before he can be transferred and promoted.

In two years, it is difficult to say how much the potatoes can be promoted, not to mention that natural breeding can also take decades, whether it is two years or decades, Yan Zhengqian has not seen any effect during his tenure as the prefect of Xuzhou. But if he pays 5,000 taels of silver now, it will put the finances of the Xuzhou government into a tight situation, and the risk is in front of him, so he is unwilling to take this risk.

But Yan Zhengqian also did not forget Gu Yunji's origin, with the other party's connections in the court, it was easy to make a stumbling block for him in the performance evaluation two years later. He can not curry favor with Gu Yunji, but he can't offend him.

Thinking like this, Yan Zhengqian's expression changed several times, and finally he pulled the corners of his lips and squeezed out a smile, and said with a smile: "Master Gu, don't be angry, I'm just talking for a while, and I don't really think so." Master Gu has a heart of love for the people, how can we not know? ”

Gu Yunji tightened his face and suppressed his anger, and sat down without saying a word.

"What Master Gu wants to do is a big move to benefit the people, and Master Chen and I will definitely support it." Saying that, Yan Zhengqian looked embarrassed, "It's just five thousand taels of silver, it's really difficult for the government finances." In this way, let's give you 1,000 taels of silver first, buy 10,000 catties of seeds and come back to see the situation, if the effect is good, we will continue to invest money, how about it? ”

Gu Yunji frowned: "Let's not talk about whether 10,000 catties of seeds are enough, no matter how many seeds there are, this kind of seed has to be transported across the ocean by the Franc machine, and they can only earn 1,000 taels of silver for one trip, and they are afraid that they are unwilling to do this business." ”

Chen Xunzhou is different from Yan Zhengqian, he is a nominal prisoner "generation of Tongzhi", there is no hope of promotion in this life, and there is no need to worry about Gu Yunji's connections and relationships in the court. According to Chen Xunzhou's own thoughts, he didn't want to give a thousand taels of silver, but he had to make concessions when Yan Zhengqian spoke.

Chen Xunzhou didn't expect that he and Yan Zhengqian had already taken a step back, Gu Yunji still didn't appreciate it, and he didn't even bother to do face work for a while, and sneered: "It's a thousand taels of silver, and Lord Gu can't look down on it, so we have nothing to give." ”

"Our Xuzhou Mansion is a small temple, and it can't accommodate the big Buddha of 'high-yield artichoke', so it's better to send a letter directly to the Son of Heaven as you said. Let Your Majesty order that the household department allocate money to buy seeds, not to mention five thousand taels of silver at that time, even one hundred thousand taels of silver is nothing, do you still need to talk nonsense with us here! ”

"Eat people with a soft mouth, I Chen don't dare to eat today's meal, and I can't afford to eat it, so I say goodbye!" After saying that, Chen Xunzhou glanced at Gu Yunji, and then angrily brushed his sleeves away.

"Hey—Lord Chen......"

Yan Zhengqian pretended to chase two steps, but seeing that he really couldn't catch up, he turned to Gu Yunji and said with a smile: "Master Gu, you have also seen it, Lord Chen is such a temper, it will be fine in two days." As for the purchase of seeds...... I'll see, let's talk about it. ”

As he spoke, Yan Zhengqian arched his hand towards Gu Yunji, and then left.

Gu Yunji was silent, rubbing his eyebrows with a headache, a little depressed.

As Yan Zhengqian said, of course he can report the matter of potatoes to Emperor Jingfeng, but now he can't even convince the prefect and the same governor of a mansion, where does he have the confidence to convince the king of a country?

Gu Yunji originally planned to wait for the potatoes to be planted in Xuzhou Mansion, and then report to the Political Secretary as evidence of high yield, and then report to the central government. With visible results, it is naturally easier to be convincing and thus promote potatoes nationwide.

Otherwise, if the potatoes are reported like this, Emperor Jingfeng is likely to treat this as something strange and rare, and forget about it after enjoying it. Even if he attaches enough importance to it, it will take time to try and experiment, and the forces in Beijing are thousands of times more complex than those in Xuzhou, and maybe it will not be as efficient as his promotion in Xuzhou.

Gu Yunji originally planned to soften the attitude of the two of them today, so that he could ask for five thousand taels of silver, but he didn't expect that the silver didn't come now, and he offended the prefect and Tongzhi, and I am afraid that it will be more difficult to promote potatoes in the future.

However, Yan Zhengqian and Chen Xunzhou are such people, and now they can be regarded as an inevitable result. One of them only wants to get promoted and make a fortune in the past two years, and the other wants to keep the existing power structure of the Chen family in Xuzhou Mansion so that he can enjoy wealth and prosperity, neither of them is a down-to-earth and hard-working official, and they will not be willing to jump out of their comfort zone to seize opportunities.

The Tao is not the same, Gu Yunji and them are not people on the same road, but they were forcibly placed in this position and forced to conspire with the two of them for the development of the Xuzhou Mansion. However, the reality is that he is the only one seeking development, and Yan Zhengqian and Chen Xunzhou are both seeking their own personal interests.

At this time, Chen Peishi came in and reported: "My lord, Fan Li asks to see you." ”

I guess I'm here to ask for money to buy seeds. Gu Yunji paused, raised his hand and said, "Let him come in." ”

Fan Li saw Chen Xunzhou and Yan Zhengqian who left outside, both of them didn't look good, and guessed that they might break up unhappily. When he walked into the room and felt the gloomy atmosphere, he was more sure of what he was thinking.

Seeing Gu Yunji with his head down and a sad expression, he cautiously shouted, "Lord Gu? ”

Gu Yunji raised his head and sighed: "You have also seen that Lord Yan and Lord Chen do not agree to take money to buy seeds, and this matter is no matter." You have worked hard for the past few months to contact the Francophone businessman, negotiate the price, and find a way to get lucky, but unfortunately you can't use it now. ”

Fan Li hurriedly said: "How dare you speak hard for Lord Gu, this is the honor of the villain." ”

Gu Yunji was in no mood to deal with his compliment, so he pulled the corners of his lips and smiled, but did not speak.

Seeing this, Fan Li's heart moved slightly, peeking at his expression, and asked tentatively, "Master Gu...... Do you really want to buy seeds to promote high-yielding artichokes? ”

Gu Yunji said: "Of course. You have also seen how high the yield of artichoke, one acre of land can grow nearly two thousand catties, if it can really be popularized throughout the country, I dare not say that there will be no hunger in the world from now on, at least there will be many fewer people who starve to death. ”

"Without good artichoke seeds, we might have spent decades breeding them, and we don't know how many people will starve to death in those extra decades."

Hearing this, Fan Li's face was hesitant, and he struggled for a while, but finally made up his mind, gritted his teeth and said:

"Lord Gu is dedicated to the people, and Fan admires it. Artichoke planting is a thing that benefits future generations, and there is no harm in it, in order to help Lord Gu complete this business, Fan is willing to take out 5,000 taels from private property, all of which will be given to Lord Gu to buy high-yield seeds! ”