Ch 106: The Regent’s Farmer Husband

The cloth woven by the family textile workshop was extremely popular. From the very first day it went on sale, it had already shifted into a reservation-based sales model, and ever since then, supply had never been able to meet demand.

After the New Year, Jiang Ji added two more looms to the workshop, but production was still not enough. Word had already spread to the surrounding counties that their cloth was comfortable and pleasant to wear, and its reputation had already been established ahead of time.

Master Zheng knew Jiang Ji was eager to expand the factory buildings, so he had partnered with two other construction teams to help build them together. That was why the new factory could be completed so quickly.

Meng Dahai wrote in his letter that all the machinery had already been assembled, recruitment had begun, and production would be able to start very soon.

This truly was good news.

That evening at dinner, Jiang Ji told his family, “The new factory buildings back home are finished. When Meng Dahai wrote the letter, they had already started recruiting workers. A few days have passed now, so they should have begun operations by now.”

Zhao Ru said happily, “They finished construction that quickly? It’s much larger than the previous one, yet they still built it so fast?”

“Mhm. Master Zheng found people to build it together, so the pace was much faster,” Jiang Ji nodded.

Jiang Xia said happily, “Then we’ll be able to produce a lot more cloth. Everyone is fighting to buy our family’s cloth anyway. We don’t have to worry about selling it.”

It was now the height of summer, and the heat was difficult to bear. Aside from Lu Huaizhou, who had to wear official robes, Jiang Ji and his family were all wearing clothes made from their own cotton cloth. It was soft and comfortable, cool and sweat-absorbent.

Even Lu Huaizhou wore cotton clothes on his rest days.

Jiang Ji had also set up a complete weaving setup for Zhao Ru at home, just like when they had lived in their old home. Whenever Zhao Ru had nothing to do, she would weave cloth at home herself. Besides their own family, Lu Jiu and the other guards, as well as the servants of the Regent’s Residence, had all received new cotton clothes.

Madam Lu sometimes came over to weave as well, making clothes for her own family. This cotton cloth was soft, and it was truly comfortable when made into inner garments.

Though Jiang Ji’s family had been in the capital for several months, as long as they were not going out to visit other households, the family still maintained very simple living habits.

After dinner, Jiang Ji picked up his brush and wrote a reply to Meng Dahai, instructing him to train more skilled weaving workers and managers. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. He also told the manager of their cloth shop to begin cultivating talent early.

The family cotton textile factory targeted low-to-mid-end customers. Its advantage was a massive customer base, but the prices were relatively low. Jiang Ji also planned to open a silk textile factory aimed at high-end customers, specializing in premium silk and brocade.

Right now, what worried him most was not technology, but talent. All kinds of managerial talent.

He was not worried about money either. Once the new factory back home entered operation, it would quickly earn back the initial investment, and there was also the restaurant income.

Dingsheng Food House in the capital had been packed every single day in just a few short months, with reservations already booked out half a month in advance.

As expected of the capital, the prices of dishes here were three to four times higher than back home, and the profits were several times higher than the old hometown restaurant.

Jiang Ji had already instructed Han Qingshan to train new chefs and asked the manager to find a new storefront. It was time to open a second branch.

Dingsheng Food House had actually run into an incident over a month ago.

A wastrel from an earl’s household had gotten drunk after eating at the restaurant and caused trouble, smashing many things before leaving without compensation.

The next day, before he had even fully woken up, his elder brother dragged him out of bed and demanded that he go to the restaurant to apologize and compensate them.

The wastrel still had not understood what was going on and stubbornly refused to go.

After giving him a beating, his elder brother grabbed him by the ear and shouted, “Is that thing growing on your neck a pig’s head? Didn’t you recognize that Dingsheng’s dishes tasted and looked familiar?”

“Brother, brother! Let go! Hurry and let go! My ear’s about to fall off!” The wastrel covered his head with one hand while shouting, “Familiar, familiar! I only ate food that delicious at Duke Chang’s housewarming banquet!”

“And since you ate it before, you still didn’t bother using your brain?” His elder brother was truly disappointed that this pig brain never thought things through.

The wastrel thought for a while. “Brother, are you saying they once went to Duke Chang Residence to cook? Next time our family has a joyous occasion, we should invite them to cook at our residence too.”

His elder brother: “……”

With a sharp twist of his hand, ignoring his younger brother’s pig-slaughter-like cries, he said, “The housewarming banquet at Duke Chang Residence was prepared by Duke Chang’s own chefs. Those chefs were personally taught by Duke Chang. Do you understand now?”

Although the wastrel did not have much brain, he had at least a little. Only then did he react.

“Brother, are you saying the owner of Dingsheng used to be Duke Chang’s family chef?”

“What do you think?”

The wastrel was shocked. “Duke Chang is the backer behind Dingsheng?”

His elder brother sneered coldly. “Looks like the food you ate still had some use after all.”

The wastrel stood frozen for a long while before obediently going to Dingsheng Food House to apologize and compensate them for everything he had smashed.

In the capital, most people who had attended Jiang Ji’s housewarming banquet and later eaten at Dingsheng Food House could more or less detect the connection. That was why Dingsheng Food House had operated smoothly since opening. There had been a few minor disputes, but the manager and staff had resolved them themselves, and nothing had ever escalated to Jiang Ji or Lu Huaizhou.

After Jiang Ji finished writing the letter, he studied the new fabric samples Meng Dahai had sent over.

Based on the fabric patterns Jiang Ji had previously designed, Meng Dahai had drawn inspiration and developed several new variations.

Jiang Ji examined them one by one and selected several he thought were good.

Lu Huaizhou was seated across from him handling official documents. Seeing Jiang Ji studying them so carefully, he asked, “Is the family cloth shop going to expand into other counties?”

“Mhm. We’ll see what the new factory’s production output looks like. If other county shops are willing to come purchase stock from us, we might not even need to open new cloth shops. That would also save us transport costs and storefront expenses.” Jiang Ji smiled. “If the cloth sells well, it’s fine to let other cloth shops come find us. Then we can focus purely on production.”

Many cloth shops on the market did not actually have their own weaving workshops. They purchased stock from other textile workshops and earned the price difference.

“If supply eventually exceeds demand, we can open cloth shops elsewhere then.”

“Mhm.” Seeing that Jiang Ji already had a plan, Lu Huaizhou said no more and returned to reading memorials.

After Jiang Ji finished examining the fabric samples, he set them aside, folded the now-dried letter, slipped it into an envelope, and sealed it.

Once done, he stood up and walked around for a bit before leaning against Lu Huaizhou’s desk. Casually picking up one of the memorials, he glanced through it.

It was one Lu Huaizhou had not yet reviewed or replied to.

Jiang Ji skimmed it himself and was immediately startled.

“Yong County is suffering a severe drought, and there’s also a locust plague?” Jiang Ji frowned. “Are the losses heavy?”

At the mention of this matter, Lu Huaizhou’s handsome brows also furrowed with worry.

“Yong County has gone an entire month without a single drop of rain. The riverbed water levels have dropped by half. The grain was nearly ready for harvest, but it was all eaten by locusts. Many farmers had no choice but to harvest early, yet the losses are devastating. The disaster victims are going hungry. And it’s not only Yong County. Areas of neighboring Chen County near Yong County have also begun seeing large numbers of locusts. The locust plague in Yong County still hasn’t been brought under control, and they’re migrating toward Chen County. This morning at court, it was discussed that the Ministry of Revenue should begin preparing disaster relief.”

“Locusts can migrate, and their reproductive ability is extremely strong. Relief alone isn’t enough. The locusts have to be stopped, otherwise more and more people will become disaster victims.” Jiang Ji frowned and asked, “How long has this been going on?”

“Eleven or twelve days,” Lu Huaizhou replied.

Jiang Ji frowned in thought for a moment before immediately sitting back down at his own desk. “I’ll give you some methods to control the locusts. Have people send them to the disaster areas as quickly as possible, especially to the places in their migration path so they can prepare.”

“You have a method?” Lu Huaizhou immediately walked to his side.

Jiang Ji nodded. “Once a locust plague has already broken out, the only option is to eliminate as many locusts as possible. But there’s no guarantee it will work completely. It can only reduce losses as much as possible and salvage whatever grain can still be saved. Also, ideally, they should be destroyed before laying eggs. If that can’t be done, then the egg masses must be found and destroyed as much as possible. Locusts can lay eggs roughly every twenty days, and the fastest eggs can hatch in about half a month.”

Hearing this, Lu Huaizhou’s expression darkened.

The situation could not be delayed any longer.

“You write. I’ll have people handle it.”

Lu Huaizhou did not leave. He stood beside Jiang Ji and watched him write.

Jiang Ji searched through every locust-control method in his mind. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. First, he drew several diagrams of tools used to catch locusts.

Methods that were too modern could not be used here, so he wrote down historical methods used by ancient people to prevent and control locusts: using various tools to catch insects, planting vegetation that locusts disliked in the future, encouraging people to capture more birds, how to locate locust eggs, how to destroy egg masses, and so on…

Lu Huaizhou looked at what Jiang Ji had just written, his brows drawing together slightly. Puzzled, he asked, “Transport large numbers of chickens and ducks there?”

Jiang Ji nodded. “Mhm. Just like raising ducks in rice paddies. Let the chickens and ducks dig up and eat the eggs and larvae to prevent the locust plague from getting worse.”

Lu Huaizhou asked, “What about the adults? Won’t chickens and ducks eat them?”

Jiang Ji said, “Adult locusts in the gregarious phase produce toxins, so chickens and ducks won’t eat them. But when they’re about to lay eggs, they land on the soil, and at that point the toxins disappear, so chickens and ducks can eat them. That’s why the chickens and ducks need to be transported over quickly.”

After a pause, he continued, “Many people in Changping and the surrounding counties practiced raising ducks in rice paddies this year. They’re only three or four days away from Yong County, not very far. We can send people there to buy ducks.”

“In the future, places prone to severe drought and locust plagues should raise more chickens and ducks. They should also plant more cattails, chinaberries, and similar plants in the fields. Locusts dislike the scent of those plants.”

Lu Huaizhou had farmed alongside Jiang Ji before, so he understood the benefits of raising ducks in rice paddies and easily grasped Jiang Ji’s meaning.

Jiang Ji wrote down every method for preventing and controlling locusts that came to mind.

He wrote so much in one night that his hand grew sore.

Seeing this, Lu Huaizhou patted his shoulder. “Rest for a while. You speak, I’ll write.”

Jiang Ji stood and gave up the seat, then stood beside him and continued explaining.

After the two took turns finishing everything, Lu Huaizhou immediately summoned people and had them take these methods away for printing and distribution.

“I can also exchange for some sticky insect boards, insect-catching nets, and loose fishing nets, but transporting them will take too much time. I’ll go down with them.”

Although Lu Huaizhou was reluctant to let him go, the situation was urgent, and Jiang Ji understood this better than anyone. He touched Jiang Ji’s face. “You’ll have to work hard.”

“It’s fine. Controlling the locust plague is what matters. Locust disasters have always caused devastating losses. In areas prone to drought, prevention must be done properly. That can reduce losses.”

“Mhm. I’ll issue the requirements tomorrow.”

Jiang Ji said, “Have the Ministry of Revenue quickly transport disaster relief grain there too, to stabilize the people.”

“I know. They’ll set out first thing tomorrow morning.”

By the time Jiang Ji finished writing and everything was handled, it was already deep into the night.

Jiang Ji rested for four or five hours while Lu Huaizhou entered the palace overnight to arrange matters.

Early the next morning, Jiang Ji set out at top speed for the areas suffering from the locust plague, bringing Lu Jiu and Lu Wen with him, along with the documents and prevention methods signed by the Regent.

Traveling with them was also a General Xuanwei, who carried military orders.

The Ministry of Revenue’s large grain transport convoy soon set off for Yong County as well.

Another team departed for various counties to have them gather chickens and ducks and send them to Yong County.

During morning court, many officials heard that in the middle of the night, the Regent had ordered the government printing office to print locust prevention methods and had people send many supplies to the disaster area.

They also learned that Duke Chang had already personally led people toward the disaster zone.

At that moment, looking at the locust prevention methods in their hands, they were all deeply shocked and equally puzzled that Duke Chang was going to control a locust plague.

Prime Minister Shen asked, “Regent, were these prevention methods written by you?”

After all, they had not existed yesterday.

Lu Huaizhou shook his head. “They were written by Duke Chang.”

“Duke Chang?”

“It was actually Duke Chang?”

“Duke Chang went to Yong County?”

“Duke Chang even knows how to control locust plagues?”

“Why mobilize so many chickens and ducks?”

Lu Huaizhou explained it to them briefly, and after listening, everyone was stunned.

“So that’s how it is.”

Lu Huaizhou said, “Wait and see.”

The disaster area was to the west. Jiang Ji and the others rode hard for three days before arriving. He did not go to Yong County first, but headed to Chen County instead. The locusts had already reached this place.

The magistrate of Chen County was overjoyed to receive the prevention methods. Their county had already been suffering from the locust plague for several days, all migrated over from the neighboring county.

The locusts came in overwhelming black clouds, impossible to guard against. Many crops had already been eaten clean.

The people of the entire county were anxious and unsettled, all trying to drive off the insects and rush to harvest grain.

In addition to the prevention methods, the court had also issued a notice instructing them on what to do first, what to do next, and to follow Duke Chang’s arrangements.

The magistrate looked at the prevention methods. One line said many chickens and ducks would be mobilized from other counties. He could not understand it. With so many locusts flying in the sky, what use would chickens and ducks be?

But since the court had ordered it, there must be a reason. He only needed to obey.

After Jiang Ji arrived, he held a meeting with the magistrate and assigned tasks. He also had the same instructions sent to Yong County.

Jiang Ji found an empty mountain estate and exchanged for insect-catching nets, sticky boards, and fishing nets.

The magistrate immediately had Duke Chang’s instructions printed and distributed to each village and town, and also handed out the insect-catching nets and sticky boards.

By the time Jiang Ji and the others arrived, nearly twenty days had passed since the locust plague had first appeared.

The first thing Jiang Ji ordered was for the water fields to be filled with water, preventing the locusts from laying eggs in the fields.

The second was to organize everyone to catch and kill locusts.

When the people saw that the court had sent Duke Chang down to help them, they were immediately filled with confidence.

Over the past year, Duke Chang’s reputation among the common people had become very well known.

This year, they had finally planted the new rice variety with great difficulty. Seeing the heavy rice ears, they had been just about to enjoy a bumper harvest, only for a locust plague to strike.

This was a locust plague. Everyone had heard from their ancestors that once a locust plague passed through, not a single grain or leaf would remain.

But now Duke Chang had come.

Duke Chang would definitely have a way!

Everyone immediately threw themselves into action. Following Duke Chang’s orders, they took sticky boards and nets to catch locusts. When there were no more nets, they made insect-catching tools according to the booklets issued by the officials.

Many people also sewed tightly woven insect-catching nets from fishing nets, just like the ones the court had distributed. These could catch many locusts at once and were convenient to use.

Following Duke Chang’s instructions, groups of several people held large nets supported by poles and ran along the ridges between fields. In one sweep, they netted countless densely packed locusts.

Those without tools simply caught them by hand, and some even used their clothes to scoop them up.

Chen County was swept up in a frenzy of locust catching. They were even reluctant to waste the sticky boards.

At night, they used bonfires to lure and kill locusts.

General Xuanwei carried the court’s military orders and brought nearby garrison soldiers over to help exterminate the locusts.

After several days, chickens and ducks from the surrounding counties were delivered one after another.

Jiang Ji ordered them all released.

These chickens and ducks had been deliberately kept hungry for a day beforehand. The moment they saw the locusts, their eyes practically glowed green, and they rushed forward flapping their wings.

This was all food!

By now, many of the locusts had begun laying eggs, and their toxicity had disappeared. The chickens and ducks charged into the grass, causing locusts to burst into the air. The birds stretched their necks and snapped them up one by one, eating at incredible speed.

Crunchy and crisp.

Through the combined efforts of the local people and soldiers, together with the chickens and ducks delivered from other counties, eighty percent of the adult locusts in Chen County were eliminated, greatly reducing their reproductive speed.

More than a month later, the court received a victory report.