Hearing this, Li Chen finally showed a smile on his face. He nodded and said, "Yes, this matter was done very well. I think I did not misjudge the person."
Zheng Baorong was very sensible and hurriedly gave the greatest credit to Li Chen. He raised his hand and said: "The humble minister just did what he should do. It is all thanks to His Highness's wisdom and prowess that we can achieve our current achievements. His Highness is the one who deserves the most credit.
"
"Come on." Li Chen waved his hand and said whether I can still take the credit from you.
"How are the second crop of sweet potatoes used now?" Li Chen asked again.
Zheng Baorong replied: "Most of what our court grows ourselves is used as welfare and distributed to officials at all levels, and some of it is kept for research."
"Earlier, Mr. Xu from the Ministry of Revenue proposed that the Ministry of Revenue purchase this portion of sweet potatoes. However, Wei Chen did not dare to make his own decision on this matter and was planning to report it to His Highness."
Li Chen pondered for a while and said, "Did Xu Changqing ever say why the Ministry of Revenue wanted to purchase these sweet potatoes?"
Zheng Baorong smiled bitterly and said: "It's not that the national treasury is really empty, but most of the sweet potatoes are grown by the court itself, and a small part are grown by farmers for the promotion of the second crop, so if the Ministry of Household Affairs purchases them, the price will be very low.
Mr. Xu’s intention seems to be that he intends to distribute this portion of sweet potatoes as welfare to officials to offset part of their salary.”
If the salary is not enough, can sweet potatoes be used to make up for it?
Li Chen can be regarded as subdued by Xu Changqing's petty temperament.
"No matter how poor the national treasury is, it will not waste time on this little money."
"Go to the Liu family in Beijing to communicate with them about this matter, and use the Liu family's channels to put the sweet potatoes on the market."
"How to sell, how much to price, and which regions to sell to are all up to you."
"I have only one purpose, and that is to use market means to test the people's reaction to sweet potatoes. With the previous reputation, the people should not be too resistant, as long as the price is low enough.
There will always be people who try it, and as long as they try it and see its benefits, there will be people who will accept it.”
"If you spread the word from ten to ten, the publicity and promotion in the later period will be much easier."
After listening to Li Chen's arrangements, Zheng Baorong stood up and said: "Your Highness is wise, Wei Chen will go and take care of it now... As for Mr. Xu, has Wei Chen returned?"
"I'm back." Li Chen responded.
He was about to ask Zheng Baorong to go down to do something, but a memorial he saw in his hand made him call Zheng Baorong back, who had already retreated to the door.
"Look at this."
Li Chen asked the eunuch to pass the memorial in his hand to Zheng Baorong, Li Chen said.
Zheng Baorong took the memorial with both hands and looked at it carefully.
"Your Highness, have tea." At this time, Wan Jiaojiao made a pot of tea and delivered it to Li Chen.
Li Chen blew the tea leaves and took a sip.
Then Li Chen looked up at Zheng Baorong. At this time, he had read the contents of the memorial, and was frowning with a wry smile.
"Your Highness, Mr. Xu is still inexperienced and seems a little immature."
"The way he dealt with the problem was too fierce and tough, which caused a backlash, so much so that other ministers wrote a letter of impeachment, which is reasonable."
This memorial was handed over by a censor.
The content inside only said one thing, and that was to describe all kinds of unfair and illegal behaviors since Xu Junlou took office as the governor of the capital. To put it bluntly, it was just a snitch, and the words were so violent that he wished Li Chen could order him immediately.
