Xu Kuang walked up to the plant and asked:

"Is this planted here, or did it grow on its own?"

Zhao Cheng's face was dazed, he didn't know why Xu Kuang asked such a question, but he knew that Xu Kuang was now a great nobleman in Yuzhen, and he had to know everything.

"I guess I grew it on my own."

When Xu Kuang heard this, his interest became even stronger, and he squatted next to this plant and looked at it carefully.

Yes, that's right, this is what netizens jokingly called the military artifact in the previous life, tobacco.

This tobacco plant is one meter tall, and dozens of leaves grow alternately from top to bottom, Xu Kuang looks like an umbrella cover, and the sunlight can't pass through.

It may be higher than the tobacco in the previous life, Xu Kuang estimated that this tobacco alone may be able to produce nearly 100 cigarettes.

In this world, I am afraid that no one knows the value of cigarettes better than Xu Kuang, this thing can not only bring huge profits, but also relax the tense nerves of the soldiers.

Xu Kuang pointed to the tobacco and asked:

"Baron Zhao, do you want to get rich?"

Zhao Cheng looked at Xu Kuang in amazement, and then nodded in confusion.

Xu Kuang said to Zhao Cheng:

"Listen to me, take all the grain you have grown, and plant this thing instead."

Zhao Cheng raised his head in astonishment, looking at Xu Kuang with a hint of pleading in his eyes.

Xu Kuang immediately understood, and he said to Zhao Cheng:

"I can give you an allocation to help you replant this, and I can sell you grain at 30 percent below the market price before the first crop of tobacco grows, provided you grow this."

Zhao Cheng looked at Xu Kuang in amazement and asked:

"What is this?".

Xu Kuang said to Zhao Cheng mysteriously:

"You don't need to know, you just need to know that in the future, you can become the second richest person in a thousand miles with this alone."

Zhao Cheng was stunned for a moment, and he asked:

"What do I need to do?".

Xu Kuang said to Zhao Cheng with an extremely serious expression:

"First of all, we have to sign a contract, from now on, all the tobacco grown in your territory must be sold to Gladiolus City, and Gladiolus City must also accept it in its entirety, and the purchase price per mu must not be lower than the price of grain, and the specific terms will be discussed with you by my subordinates."

Zhao Cheng was dizzy, he had realized at this moment that a splash of wealth had smashed on his head.

Xu Kuang found his subordinates, searched for more than a dozen tobacco plants nearby, carefully shoveled them, and sent a special person to escort them back to Jianlan City, and ordered the Academy of Agricultural Sciences under the Department of Agriculture to try to cultivate this plant.

The contract has been signed, of course, Xu Kuang took advantage, all in all, Zhao Cheng wants to give a promise to plant the range, if the amount of land planted is less than this range, then he is in breach of contract, Yuzhen will belong to Xu Kuang, if Zhao Cheng sells tobacco to other merchants, Yuzhen will belong to Xu Kuang.

Zhao Cheng also got the 10,000 gold coins and 100,000 catties of low-cost grain that Xu Kuang invested in advance, these things were enough for Zhao Cheng to use for a while, and Xu Kuang also looked forward to Zhao Cheng being able to successfully grow tobacco.

Xu Kuang was quite happy in his heart, but he also understood that the tobacco business was not so easy to do, first of all, he had to implement the tobacco monopoly policy within his own territory, and there could only be one tobacco seller in the four million square kilometers of land, and that was Xu Kuang, the Viscount of Gladiolus City.

A series of plans emerged in Xu Kuang's mind, and several ideas for cigarette machines were also formed in Xu Kuang's mind.

Xu Kuang was no longer in the mood to stay here, so he hurriedly inspected Yuzhen and left in a hurry.

The rest is left to the professionals at Mushroom Ridge.

Zhao Cheng is also very happy, he knows that he is going to make a fortune, the staff of Mushroom Ridge is very affordable, thinking that one acre of land can produce six hundred to seven hundred catties of fresh tobacco, Yuzhen does not say much else, there are still tens of thousands of acres of land that have not been cultivated, even if only a small part of these lands are cultivated, it is enough to grow tobacco.

Zhao Cheng immediately ordered and called on the peasants to go to the wasteland, and he was responsible for providing grain and gold coins.

And the main price he paid was just a commercial area covering an area of thousands of acres, which belonged to Xu Kuang, and in the future, a commercial branch of Gladiolus City in Yuzhen would be established here, responsible for the circulation of goods with merchants in other territories, and all the taxes paid by the merchants here belonged to Xu Kuang.

Poor Zhao Cheng didn't know that he was in a daze, so he gave away the most profitable part, if he had been to Mushroom Ridge in person, he would definitely not have this kind of thought.

……

In the following month, Xu Kuang was patient and made rounds in the other three border towns, setting up a business name each.

Wei Town is the richest of the four border towns, with several characteristic industries, but the barons there are above the top, which makes Xu Kuang very helpless.

But Hesen Town is different, it has long been in contact with Gladiolus City, and almost all the timber produced here has flowed into Mushroom Ridge in the past year, and it can almost be said that it relies on Mushroom Ridge to eat, and the baron here is of course very cooperative with Xu Kuang.

The westernmost town of Taidong has no special products, but Xu Kuang is ready to help it develop, and Xu Kuang has already regarded Taidong Town as his personal product before he came to Taidong Town.

There is no other reason, Taidong Town is a transportation artery, and if Xu Kuang really wants to rebel against the kingdom in the future, this will become the first military station in front of the Rock Army.

But now, it is not very good here, Xu Kuang signed a contract with the baron Taidong at the cost of increasing the income of the baron Taidong here tenfold within three years, if Xu Kuang succeeds in doing it, then the 200,000 acres of wasteland near Taidong Town will belong to Xu Kuang.

After the contract was signed, Xu Kuang directly took out 300,000 gold coins and handed them to Baron Taidong.

This is equivalent to Xu Kuang spending 300,000 gold coins to buy the 200,000 acres of land.

Baron Taidong looked at the two boxes on the ground, and was a little overwhelmed for a while.

Xu Kuang just smiled at him:

"What happens in this land in the future has nothing to do with you."

Baron Taidong realized that he had been fooled, but it was too late, and Xu Kuang was not ready to entangle with him, so he directly ordered Mushroom Ridge to send two regiments and a cavalry battalion to garrison this place.

Baron Taidong was stunned for a moment, and he asked:

"Do you buy anywhere else? I lost 20,000 acres of land, and my territory has shrunk by more than half, and I ......."

Xu Kuang's face was expressionless, and he said to Baron Taidong:

"To be honest, I can buy it or not, so I'm afraid the rest of the land isn't as valuable as the land in front of me, do you understand?".

Baron Taidong wanted to cry without tears, but he also understood that he did not have the right to bargain with Xu Kuang, and in the future, Xu Kuang would do things on these 200,000 acres of land, and he would not be able to compete at all, and the land would shrink.

He pinched his nose and confessed, and in the end, Baron Taidong got more than 600,000 gold coins and disappeared with his family.

Xu Kuang's face was expressionless, he was not bullying Baron Taidong, if the more than 600,000 gold coins were for Baron Taidong to earn by himself, I am afraid it would take him seventy or eighty years.