Liu Yangxing picked up his tea and took a sip, sighing, "The County Prince wants more fertilizer. This matter is indeed difficult to handle."
De Chuan Jia Qi immediately understood what was going on.
Difficult to handle meant it could be handled, but it would require a certain price.
In other words, his proposal for Japan to contract all toilets on Kyushu Island with labor and materials was not enough to satisfy the appetite of this Grand Ming Governor of Kyushu Island.
De Chuan Jia Qi cursed Liu Yangxing as a scoundrel in his heart while smilingly picking up his tea. He said to Liu Yangxing, "Japan is poor and its people lead difficult lives. I hope Governor Liu can offer more assistance to this humble prince? Please rest assured, Governor Liu, this prince is certainly not someone who forgets favors and acts unrighteously."
Liu Yangxing also understood. De Chuan Jia Qi had his sights set on all the latrines on Kyushu Island. If he couldn't get his hands on all of them, this County Prince Shunyi would likely not stop.
The question was, what were the conditions?
Just because you say you are not someone who forgets favors and acts unrighteously, does that make it so?
To hell with that! You Japanese barbarians are not unrighteous people who forget favors; you are ungrateful white-eyed wolves who repay kindness with enmity!
Liu Yangxing cursed in his heart while solemnly saying, "This subordinate serves His Highness in the same court. Where does the talk of assistance come from? However, this subordinate also has his difficulties. I hope Your Highness can understand them a little?"
Seeing that Liu Yangxing was a stubborn fellow who wouldn't budge without silver, De Chuan Jia Qi finally said helplessly, "I have always heard that Governor Liu's calligraphy and painting are peerless. I wonder if this humble prince can borrow a piece of his treasured work to admire?"
Liu Yangxing nodded, got up, walked to the desk, and casually wrote a piece of calligraphy. He then returned and handed it to De Chuan Jia Qi, saying, "Please Your Highness offer your critique?"
De Chuan Jia Qi gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and tore the calligraphy to shreds. After throwing it into the trash can, he said with a look of regret, "It is indeed my fault to have ruined Governor Liu's beloved 'Pine Sound on a Mountain Path.' However, I do not have any money on me, so can I give Governor Liu a note of debt first, and then have someone deliver the silver later?"
Liu Yangxing laughed heartily and said, "What are you saying, Your Highness? It's just a matter of ten thousand taels of silver. Can this subordinate not trust Your Highness?"
After speaking, Liu Yangxing sighed and said, "Since Your Highness is insistent on contracting more latrines for the sake of the people of Japan, then if this subordinate were to block it further, it would truly be this subordinate's fault."
"How about this, please have the County Prince wait patiently for some time. This subordinate will first write a letter. If it works out, Japan will have no shortage of fertilizer. If not, this subordinate will also plead with the Ministry of Revenue on Your Highness's behalf, so that Your Highness can obtain more fertilizer from Kyushu Island. However..."
De Chuan Jia Qi pressed, "However what?"
Liu Yangxing frowned, "However, the Minister of Revenue has the temperament of a Pixiu; he is notoriously stingy. I fear he will be reluctant to part with the fertilizer from Kyushu Island."
Having said this, Liu Yangxing sighed again, "Never mind. For Your Highness's sake, this subordinate will do his utmost to facilitate this matter and will not disappoint Your Highness."
De Chuan Jia Qi cupped his hands in thanks, but cursed inwardly, calling Liu Yangxing truly unbearable – exchanging a few worthless characters for ten thousand taels of silver was one thing, but in the end, he was still asking this prince to incur another favor. His heart was blackened to the core!
Damn it all!
After De Chuan Jia Qi bid farewell and left, Liu Yangxing picked up his brush and wrote a memorial.
In the memorial, Liu Yangxing stated that he had not only solved the public toilet problem on Kyushu Island without spending a single cent, but he had also extorted ten thousand taels of silver from De Chuan Jia Qi. He would hand over the silver once De Chuan Jia Qi delivered it.
Furthermore, he had heard from Pierre from France and Howard from England that France and England were covered in excrement, making both countries stinky. By extension, it was likely that the entire continent of Europe was no better.
If possible, the Grand Ming should arrange for some personnel to go to Europe and, at a very low price, help the European barbarians deal with their excrement. Then, they could ship it to Japan and sell it to the Tokugawa Shogunate at a "very fair and reasonable" price.
In short, it was about making money from both the European barbarians and the short, stumpy Japanese, profiting from both buyers and sellers.
This was the situation, and this was the meaning. He hoped His Majesty the Emperor and the great ministers in the imperial court would study it carefully.
Then, the imperial court of the Grand Ming erupted in arguments over Liu Yangxing's memorial.
As for Liu Yangxing solving the sanitation problem on Kyushu Island without spending a penny and extorting ten thousand taels of silver from De Chuan Jia Qi, the great ministers in the court did not doubt it at all. If he lacked such ability, what face would Liu Yangxing have to serve as the first Governor of the Grand Ming stationed on Kyushu Island?
The key issue was that Liu Yangxing's proposed plan was too outlandish.
As everyone knew, excrement could be used to ferment fertilizer. Even if the European nobles and dignitaries disdained it, would the common people of Europe also disdain it?
Pierre and Howard said so?
That made it even less believable. Pierre and Howard, those two barbarians, were somewhat abnormal. Europe, in their mouths, was even worse than the countryside of the Grand Ming. Could their words be taken seriously?
Moreover, even if Pierre and Howard were telling the truth, and Europe was indeed covered in excrement, and those European barbarians did not know how to ferment fertilizer with excrement, what was Liu Yangxing thinking, actually wanting to transport European feces to Japan?
Did you even consider that even if you made money from both ends, how much feces could one ship carry? How much money could one ship earn? Don't forget that going to sea also incurred costs!
However, besides those ministers who felt Liu Yangxing was dreaming, another group of ministers found Liu Yangxing's proposal very reliable.
For instance, Liu Huaiwen, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, and the ministers from the Five Chief Military Commissions and the Imperial Guard.
Liu Huaiwen was driven by the pursuit of profit.
For Liu Huaiwen, even the smallest mosquito leg was still meat. Any opportunity to make money should not be missed – how depleted was the Grand Ming's national treasury? How many mice had starved to death!
As for the ministers from the Five Chief Military Commissions and the Imperial Guard, money was not so important.
Where would there be a large amount of excrement?
There would certainly be a large amount of excrement where there were people. Although there might be some in the wilderness, it would not be much.
In other words, as long as they figured out where in Europe there was a large amount of feces, they would know where the population was denser. If the Grand Ming really sent people to Europe, wouldn't it be easy to understand the terrain, population distribution, city layouts, and other situations in Europe?
More importantly, this would not only allow for overt intelligence gathering but also save a portion of military expenses and prevent Liu Huaiwen from constantly complaining about poverty.
As for Zhu Jinsong's idea, it was similar to the thoughts of the ministers from the Five Chief Military Commissions and the Imperial Guard.
As the saying goes, not taking advantage of a bargain is a fool's mistake. If they didn't strike while the European barbarians hadn't reacted, should they wait until after they had fought their bird manure wars?
As for De Chuan Jia Qi wanting more fertilizer from Kyushu Island, that was also not a problem. Kyushu Island was not designated for cultivation anyway, so it wouldn't lack that bit of fertilizer.
...
As Mr. Lu Xun once said, ideals are plump, but reality is gaunt.
While Zhu Jinsong and the ministers of the Grand Ming court were discussing how to profit from both ends, an unexpected incident occurred with one of the parties being studied.
Louis XVI had never told George III that the main reason he decided to thoroughly clear the dung walls of Paris, besides envying the poetic and picturesque environment of Jinan Prefecture, was that Louis XVI learned that feces could be fermented into fertilizer.
This was thanks to Pierre, a loyal supporter of the Grand Ming.
To gain a deeper understanding of the Grand Ming, Pierre had visited the villages around Jinan Prefecture multiple times. Through these visits, he learned that feces could be fermented into fertilizer.
Before this, the barbarians of Europe had also tried using feces to fertilize the land. However, directly applying unfermented feces to the soil would only burn the roots of the crops.
More importantly, Europe had always been sparsely populated, so there was a large amount of land available for crop rotation. The demand for fertilizer was not very urgent. Of course, the consequence of not valuing fertilizer was that grain yields were also not high.
When Pierre witnessed how the people of Jinan Prefecture fermented fertilizer, he did not shy away from the dirt or the smell. Instead, he humbly asked the old farmers for advice on why fertilizer was fermented and the methods for doing so.
The common people of the Grand Ming did not care about such things.
If Pierre had asked them about the composition and operation of farmers' associations, or about the manufacturing methods of firearms and artillery, the common people of the Grand Ming would have handed Pierre over to the authorities.
But when Pierre inquired about the method of fermenting fertilizer with feces, the common people of the Grand Ming had no reservations. Not only did they teach Pierre everything in detail, but they even enthusiastically invited Pierre to try it himself.
If Pierre knew the benefits and methods of fermenting fertilizer with feces, Louis XVI would also know.
Louis XVI decided to conduct a secret experiment in France. If it proved the benefits of fermenting fertilizer with feces, then he would quietly promote it throughout France to increase France's grain yield.
As for George III and England...
Who cared if they died!
In Louis XVI's view, although George III was one of the "Five Virtuous Ones" of Little Pot like himself, England and France had a hundred-year-old feud. Now, they were competitors for the second seat in Little Pot. How could he possibly tell George III the method of fermenting fertilizer with feces?
I, Louis, am not a fool!
Having made up his mind,