The eunuchs brought in two large bags, carried by four of them.

Grand Eunuch Chi handed Qin Fang’s memorial to the emperor.

Once the memorial was submitted, everyone in the study could see it.

Du Ke felt a bit embarrassed; he knew Qin Fang had a tendency to be verbose and liked to include trivial matters in his letters, but he didn’t expect that a memorial for the emperor could be this thick.

He remembered teaching Qin Fang that a memorial should be concise and to the point—how had it turned into this?

“Hahaha…” The emperor laughed heartily.

The sovereign, who had just been serious, was now laughing brightly, which shocked the ministers in the study. “Du Ke, it’s only Qin Fang who would write such a thick memorial for me. Speaking of which, Qin Fang can be considered your student; how come he hasn’t learned your conciseness?”

When the emperor said this, everyone turned to look at Du Ke.

In fact, Qin Fang could indeed be considered Du Ke’s student.

In the civil examination, candidates could be said to be the students of the examiners.

Additionally, Du Ke was the one who brought the imperial edict when Qin Fang was granted the title of Wude General.

Moreover, regarding the situation in Huan County, Du Ke was also an imperial envoy.

Furthermore, Qin Fang had sent two letters to the Minister of War’s residence, so it was reasonable to refer to Qin Fang as Du Ke’s student.

Hearing the emperor say this, Du Ke let out a sigh of relief.

He was worried that the emperor might remain silent, guessing what he thought.

Du Ke quickly replied, “No matter whose student he is, he is still a pillar of the court and a minister of His Majesty.”

The emperor waved the memorial in his hand. “You’ve always understood him well. Tell me, does this memorial contain any trivial matters? My time is precious; if he includes petty issues in the memorial and I can’t punish him from afar, I’ll have to hold you, as his teacher, accountable.”

Du Ke thought to himself, this is really a case of wanting to accuse someone without cause!

However, he couldn’t say this out loud.

Stepping forward, Du Ke said, “Your Majesty, if Qin Fang wrote about trivial matters, I am willing to accept the punishment. But if he wrote about matters beneficial to the court, that credit also belongs to me, doesn’t it?”

The emperor laughed and scolded, “You shameless man, are you trying to take credit from Qin Fang now?”

The emperor often joked with Du Ke.

Although the people present were all trusted officials, there were distinctions among them.

Du Ke was one of the emperor’s closest confidants.

As the emperor continued reading Qin Fang’s memorial, the study fell silent.

Many were curious about who Qin Fang was, to have become Du Ke’s student.

The emperor valued Du Ke, and if Qin Fang was indeed his student, then Qin Fang’s future must be promising.

Moreover, from the emperor’s tone, it was clear he held a very good impression of someone named Qin Fang.

Some ministers began to plot secretly, wanting to find out more about Qin Fang.

Qin Fang began his memorial by praising the emperor.

Not being a scholar, his compliments were very straightforward—so straightforward that the emperor could understand immediately.

For instance, while others might say the emperor was wise, Qin Fang would say, “Your Majesty, you are truly impressive! After reading your letter…” Such direct statements, even for the emperor, who was thick-skinned, caused a bit of embarrassment.

However, the emperor maintained a smile, and everyone was watching closely.

When the emperor spoke of someone, his expression could reveal the person’s importance in his heart.

This Qin Fang, who had never been mentioned before, already held considerable weight in the emperor’s mind.

Some wondered if Du Ke had repeatedly reminded the emperor about Qin Fang.

The emperor initially smiled while reading but soon pursed his lips, his gaze becoming sharper.

Finally, he said, “Du Ke, stay behind. The rest of you may leave.”

Everyone was stunned. “Yes, we take our leave, Your Majesty.”

A few ministers exited the study, and one approached Wei Hong. “Lord Wei, do you know who this Qin Fang is?”

Wei Hong smiled, “You should ask Deputy Minister Du.”

His son, Wei Ting, was still busy with matters in Yunxiang County regarding the drug trade; he was confident about his standing in the emperor’s heart, so he didn’t feel jealous about certain matters.

Furthermore, the drug trade was a secret, so he naturally wouldn’t reveal anything about Qin Fang’s identity.

However, today, seeing the emperor value Qin Fang so highly, he began to have ideas.

In the past, when his second son, Wei Wu, had written about Qin Fang, he mentioned that Qin Fang’s wife was a maid from the Yang family and even joked about recognizing her as a sworn sister.

His son recognized her as a sister; it wasn’t Wei’s family that recognized her as a goddaughter.

Moreover, Wei Wu couldn’t represent the Wei family, so Wei Hong had no opinion on the matter.

He only replied to his son to be cautious and not to do such nonsensical things in the future.

But now… that person named Qin Fang had discovered the sulfur and saltpeter mines, and it must be said that this person indeed had some good fortune.

The emperor loved people with good fortune the most. If someone with good fortune were in the royal family, the emperor would surely dislike it.

The royal family does not need anyone with good fortune besides the emperor and the crown prince.

However, if it’s a minister, especially a minister without a powerful backing, it would be different.

Having a minister with good fortune means a united front between the ruler and the subjects, which is a blessing for the emperor.

Thus, Wei Hong’s gaze darkened as he formulated plans in his heart.

However, he did not act impulsively.

The emperor had mentioned today that Qin Fang was Du Ke’s disciple, which was tantamount to providing Qin Fang with a backing.

Why would the emperor give Qin Fang a backing?

The emperor did not care about the thoughts of outsiders and handed the memorial to Du Ke: “Old Du, your disciple is indeed… truly a good minister of mine.”

Truly a fortunate person.

When Qin Fang discovered the sulfur and saltpeter mines and when his wife found a method to make ice using saltpeter, the emperor had already remarked that Qin Fang was lucky.

And now, how long had it been?

Just over a month, and Qin Fang had given him another surprise.

Although it was his wife who discovered it, the couple was one, and it was no different from Qin Fang discovering it himself.

Du Ke did not understand why the emperor said this, but judging by the emperor’s expression, it seemed Qin Fang had achieved another merit.

Du Ke thought to himself, was Qin Fang really favored by heaven?

How could he achieve so much?

While he grumbled, he looked over the long memorial written by Qin Fang.

The memorial was lengthy, so long that Du Ke felt like writing a letter to reprimand Qin Fang.

Fortunately, although this memorial was long, it wasn’t filled with trivial nonsense like before.

The length of this memorial was due to Qin Fang including a business plan for the franchise and distribution of potato flour and sweet potato flour.

After Du Ke finished reading the plan, he had only one thought: “Your Majesty, it’s a pity to have Qin Fang as a city defense general; he should be transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. If we have silver in our treasury, how can we worry about not unifying the world?”

Unifying the world was the ambition of every emperor throughout history.

Hearing this, the emperor burst into laughter.

He loved hearing Du Ke speak of such grand ambitions.

He dared to seize the throne, showing both courage and ability.

As a military officer, Du Ke was naturally combative, which is why they worked so well together as ruler and minister.

“Unifying the world is far off. What do you think of the business plan in Qin Fang’s memorial? I plan to establish a grain alliance and recruit franchise dealers nationwide. The franchise will require a fee, and the fee will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The people who join will be given the recipes for making potato flour and sweet potato flour. This way, the potatoes and sweet potatoes grown by the common folk will have buyers.”

Du Ke replied, “Given the current grain production, potatoes and sweet potatoes have the highest yield. However, although they have the highest yield, they are also the cheapest.

Therefore, potatoes and sweet potatoes don’t sell well. If potatoes and sweet potatoes could be made into flour like regular flour, the income of the common folk would indeed increase.

Moreover, it could also improve the production of flour, which has always been low. Furthermore, flour has better storage and does not spoil easily.”

The reason potatoes and sweet potatoes don’t sell well is that wealthy families look down on these items, considering them food for the poor.

The emperor said, “One franchise dealer for each province; there are a total of one hundred and twenty provinces in Qi Guo, so there would be one hundred and twenty franchise dealers. How much franchise fee do you think we could collect from them?”

Du Ke replied, “If each person pays ten thousand taels of silver, that would be one hundred and twenty thousand taels.

However, each province has hundreds of thousands of people, and with only one franchise dealer, and only one source of potato flour and sweet potato flour, the sales volume would be extremely high.

So if it’s an auction, it’s likely that each person would offer more than ten thousand taels. If each person bids fifty thousand taels, it could reach six hundred thousand taels.”

Upon hearing this, the emperor couldn’t help but swallow hard.

He realized one thing: the power of a single franchise dealer is limited, but when all the franchise dealers come together, it’s different.

For example, a single franchise dealer providing fifty thousand taels of silver cannot resolve the treasury’s issues, but one hundred and twenty franchise dealers providing six hundred thousand taels could indeed temporarily fill the treasury.

The emperor thought for a moment, “Who should be in charge of this matter? Qin Fang mentioned in his memorial that this plan represents me, and the franchise dealers are crucial.

If the franchise dealers exploit the common people, then my reputation will suffer.

However, if the franchise dealers are of good character, this is an opportunity to help the common people become prosperous.

This is called… the rich helping the poor. Oh, Qin Fang said that I will help the common people become prosperous. Hahaha… this slogan is quite interesting.”

Du Ke thought to himself, it’s not that Qin Fang said it, but that it was said by Qin Fang’s wife.

Although Qin Fang wrote in his memorial that he and his wife came up with this plan… Du Ke had seen Qin Fang in person, and Qin Fang was indeed a sincere person, not someone with ulterior motives.

Similarly, he didn’t have much knowledge; he didn’t look down on Qin Fang, but while Qin Fang could lead troops into battle, he likely didn’t have the ability to come up with such a plan.

Not to mention Qin Fang, even he couldn’t think of it.

Therefore, the truly clever one must be Qin Fang’s wife behind him. “Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance. Who do you think can take on this heavy responsibility in your name or in the name of the court?”