The Princess of the Zhou Kingdom

"Is this Yanhuai City? It certainly seems quite prosperous."

Yanhuai City Yanhuai City, Zhou Kingdom's envoys arrived once again.

This time, however, they came with the purpose of making purchases.

So this time, when they came in, they had a bit of leisure and were able to look around.

This time, however, their arrival brought them a sense of surprise.

This time, after arriving here, they could clearly feel that everything around them had changed a lot compared to the last time.

It hasn't been that long since they last came, but the changes here are so dramatic that they feel like the world has been turned upside down.

"Yes, Princess, this is Yanhuai City."

Upon hearing this, the envoy glanced around, his face still showing a hint of confusion.

The princess inside the carriage had already lifted the curtain, looking around with intense curiosity on her face.

She was curious about everything she had heard about Yanhuai City back in China.

Now that she has finally arrived, she is carefully observing, wanting to see if Yanhuai City really has so many magical things.

"Putting everything else aside, the journey here was indeed extremely smooth. If I hadn't heard about that, I wouldn't have come here."

Upon hearing this, the Zhou Kingdom princess lazily replied.

Then, she walked directly down from the carriage, having already learned the details from the envoy.

What you're standing on is cement.

This cement is truly as amazing as the envoy described.

The road, though so long, seemed to flow seamlessly as one, which was truly breathtaking.

Why do you have that expression on your face?

Zhou Kingdom turned her head, about to say something, but saw a puzzled look on the face of the minister beside her.

Upon seeing this, she frowned and looked at the other person with some curiosity.

The envoy snapped out of his daze upon hearing this, and seeing the princess looking at him with a puzzled expression, he quickly said, "Your Highness, I am merely somewhat astonished by the speed of development here."

"Hmm? Is there anything different since your last visit here?"

Upon hearing this, the princess immediately looked around.

This was her first time here, so she didn't know what changes the other person was referring to.

However, judging from what she saw at the moment, the appearance of this place was indeed somewhat surprising.

For example, the surrounding area appears extremely prosperous at first glance.

The people coming and going were dressed in very bright and stylish clothes.

At first glance, it seems that there are no beggars or homeless people to be seen.

In this respect, she did indeed feel the power and strength of this place.

"When I last visited this place, the people here, while not starving, were certainly not able to afford such luxurious clothes."

"But today, I've noticed a significant change in the clothing of the people here, which has truly surprised me."

"In addition, there's the issue of repairing the houses here. When I last came, many of the houses here were in disrepair, but they're all gone today."

"Besides these, there are many other things..."

The minister standing nearby was somewhat surprised.

Based on what he has seen so far, a great deal has indeed changed here.

But how long has he been gone? How come Yanhuai City is in such a state now that he's back?

If given more time, it's hard to say how far the Jiang Kingdom could develop.

Is this the power of the Human Sovereign? To be able to govern his dynasty to this extent?

The envoy was filled with confusion, but also a sliver of respect.

He knew that such a change was completely impossible to achieve in his own dynasty.

However, it was done here, truly proving the saying that a dynasty with Human Sovereign should not be underestimated!

"I can see that their clothes are indeed very luxurious; even in our country, they would cost a lot of money to buy. Furthermore, the fabric of their clothes seems to be of some unusual quality..."

At this moment, Princess Zhou Kingdom watched the common people walk past her, a hint of curiosity creeping into her heart.

Putting everything else aside, just looking at the clothes these people were wearing, she felt something was very wrong.

Ordinary people could never afford such luxurious clothes.

However, at present, these clothes seem to be quite ordinary here.

At this moment, her curiosity about this place grew even stronger.

She immediately beckoned to her attendants, and the group then dispersed from Yanhuai City.

But just moments later, the Zhou Kingdom princess was astonished.

Because she witnessed something that utterly shocked her.

There is a street with a wide variety of goods on both sides, which is nothing special in itself.

But when she inquired and learned about the prices of the goods, she was completely shocked.

The best-dyed cloth, which originally weighed 0.8 taels for two bolts, is now worth 0.3 taels for ten bolts!

There was also white cloth, which should have been 4 bolts weighing 0.8 taels, but now it's 20 bolts weighing 0.2 taels.

Beef, mutton, live fat chickens, longan, cotton, and other common commodities can be found in ordinary markets.

The prices here are ridiculously low.

The princess felt a chill run down her spine.

There's also grain...

When she saw that the price of the polished rice piled high on this side was only one-third of what it was on her side, a glint of light flashed in her eyes.

With such a low price, wouldn't I be able to make three times the money simply by buying it and shipping it back?

The princess's heart skipped a beat at the thought.

Moreover, this sound can continue for a long time!

In this way, she will no longer lack these necessities in the palace.

Thinking of this, the princess quickly waved to the envoy beside her.

She wants to share this idea with the other party and then persuade them to do this business together.

She finally understood why the people here were so prosperous.

With prices this low, everyone could live a very comfortable life!

However, after the envoy approached and heard the princess's words, he shook his head.

"Princess, that's the price after conversion, but you can't buy it with silver. They have their own money and don't need it anymore."

The money has been settled.

"They use Kaiping Treasure Currency, and exchanging Kaiping Treasure Currency for silver is significantly more expensive. So, the actual price difference isn't that much."

The envoy immediately spoke to the princess about everything.

In terms of face value, Kaiping Treasure Currency and silver were almost identical.

However, the problem is that the exchange rate between Kaiping Treasure Currency and silver is asymmetrical.

The people here earn Kaiping Treasure Currency; they no longer need silver.

The princess was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, and then stomped her feet in anger.

In that case, wouldn't she have been disappointed?

Just thinking about all the things she had just seen, each one was incredibly cheap.

I never expected there would be such a trap here!

Princess Zhou Kingdom became somewhat annoyed upon thinking about this.

She hadn't expected this to happen.

"Then when we buy these things, won't we still be paying the original price?"

"Your Highness, that's not the case. When we made the purchase, the officials of the Jiang Kingdom promised us a certain discount. However, we didn't come here specifically to buy these items; we wanted to buy the jewels, bath gel, and other such things."

Seeing that the princess's attention was entirely focused on the items here, the envoy cautiously added a comment.

Didn't we already say that before we came?

These aren't the things they want to buy.

Why is the princess staring at these things now?

The princess, who was standing nearby, was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, but then immediately realized what he meant.

yes.

What was she staring at that thing for? The most important thing was still those rare and unusual items.

Those items are not only easy to transport, but also very valuable.

With that thought, she immediately felt relieved, nodded to the minister beside her, and continued walking forward.

She was still very curious about this place and wanted to explore it further.

Therefore, she began to wander around the area.

The more she looked at it, the more surprised she became.

She had only recently left the capital, and she was very clear about the situation there.

The capital of the Zhou Kingdom and the capital here are basically incomparable.

The capital city here looks so different from the rest of the city.

However, the princess standing nearby was not quite sure what exactly was different.

She couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong, but she could sense a very obvious difference between the two places.

"It's really strange. There's a clear difference between the capital of the Zhou Kingdom and this place, but I just can't figure out what it is."

The princess watched for a long time, but still couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.

"Perhaps the people here are a bit different."

Upon hearing this, the envoy standing nearby thought for a moment and then spoke up.

Upon hearing this, the princess paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

Yes, there really are some differences among ordinary people.

The people of the Zhou Kingdom were only slightly poorer compared to those here.

But most importantly, the people of the Zhou Kingdom looked somewhat like elderly people in their twilight years.

The people here, however, appear to be young people, full of vigor.

When the two are compared, many differences immediately become apparent.

This was also what made the princess, who was standing nearby, feel that something was amiss.

I hadn't noticed it before, but now it's as if the envoy understood it immediately.

"The people here have become much more energetic, like children, while the people of our dynasty are like withered old men."

"Given this comparison, it's no wonder we haven't produced a single Human Sovereign."

Looking at all this, the princess couldn't help but admire it.

She was a princess, and she was well aware of this.

If the people under a dynasty are all so proactive and full of energy, how can the nation not be strong?

As the nation grows stronger, so too Human Sovereign's power...

The thought of this always made her expression change.

He thought of his father's worries.

If one day the Human Sovereign of the Jiang Kingdom starts to have designs on expanding his territory, then they will be the first to be affected.

I wanted to submit before, but the other party didn't agree, and I don't know if they were prepared to do so.

The more she thought about it, the more worried she became.

My initial desire to take a closer look here has faded considerably at this moment.

"Oh, the princess of the Zhou Kingdom has arrived in Yanhuai City?"

In the palace, Fang Weiyan was looking at the memorial in his hand when he heard this, and he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

He knew that people from the Zhou Kingdom were likely to arrive, since they had already reached an agreement with them.

This includes information on preferential prices for certain goods in trade, as well as other procurement matters.

As requested, the other party also wanted to purchase some grain from us at a low price.

Fang Weiyan carefully calculated that there was quite a lot of farmland near the border, so this year should be a bumper harvest.

If the other party wants to buy grain, it's not that we can't sell it to them.

Since future grain production is expected to continue to increase, Fang Weiyan also felt it was worthwhile to sell some of the grain.

Besides this, the other party also requested some other goods.

Fang Weiyan had prepared all of these.

"Yes, our people are already protecting us secretly."

Upon hearing this, the guards immediately responded. Since the other party did not intend to come directly to the palace to pay their respects to Fang Weiyan, the guards under their command sent a few men to protect him secretly.

Fang Weiyan nodded upon hearing this; having someone to protect him was sufficient.

"Well, if they're unwilling to come to the palace to pay their respects, then so be it. There's no need to make this public; just have your people protect them secretly."

Fang Weiyan nodded, quite satisfied with the arrangement of the guards.

After receiving the order, the guard immediately turned and left.

Fang Weiyan thought for a moment after seeing this, then picked up the memorial next to him and glanced at it.

The autumn harvest is approaching.

When the autumn harvest comes, we can simply collect some grain from the border and sell it to the Zhou Kingdom.

This year's grain harvest is expected to be several times greater than last year's.

In the past six months, reports from various regions have indicated that crops in the farmland are growing very well.

It looks like this year is destined to be a bumper harvest.

In addition, it's time to start putting the canal into operation.

Shipyards near Yanhuai City are now capable of manufacturing some relatively high-performance vessels.

This is exactly what can be used.

Currently, the cargo-carrying capacity of these ships is sufficient to meet current needs.