Chapter 95

Amidst the cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

The new kitchen maid had prepared local specialty cold drinks, milk tea, and ice fruits, which were emitting a soothing mist, making the air feel very refreshing.

There was also a new food item I had created—eight-treasure taro paste, which, after adding black and white sesame seeds, crushed peanuts, shredded grapes, cherries, sweet olives, hawthorns, and cheese crumbs, presented a rainbow of colors, making one's mouth water.

Several transparent long-necked glass bottles filled with herbal teas and fruit juices, freshly brewed or freshly squeezed, looked colorful and inviting.

Barefoot on the newly laid floor, the child was happily running and jumping, squatting and hugging their head, actually to aid digestion after eating too much.

In the cold and dry northern regions, people preferred to use whole animal skins or felt carpets as flooring, while in the humid and rainy Guangnan, raised wooden floors about half a foot off the ground were more common, serving the needs of daily life, both preventing dampness and keeping things clean.

Those with better conditions would inlay a layer of finely textured stone tiles on the wooden floor to achieve a cool and comfortable environment for most of the year, symbolizing wealth and status. The richer one was, the larger and more complete the inlaid tiles would be.

A mysterious creature in a dress was sitting on a leather sofa, slowly and deliberately tasting the various samples I provided.

She picked up a small gray pastry, took a bite, and immediately frowned.

"Seaweed-flavored... coarse grain?"

"Have you heard of navy biscuits...?"

"Those legendary things that are good for nothing but storage...?"

"This is the officer's version of the flavor..."

"There are also more refined products, but they are in smaller quantities, mainly for gifts or to appease superiors."

"If they were provided to soldiers, I doubt you would want to taste them; even large animals would refuse to eat them because of the grit..."

"These things, along with the barrel-packed salted meat that doesn't spoil even if the ship sinks, and the canned soup, are known as the three great sufferings of the naval troops..."

"Why does it sound so familiar to me..."

She pouted.

"That's probably because you spend too much time on forums..."

I eagerly offered her another plate of pastries.

"Try this fish floss meat roll..."

"This is a bagged fried rice imitating a Japanese rice ball..."

"This is a tube of assorted pickles, with radish, kelp, cucumber, and so on..."

"And this fried noodle cake comes with eight different vegetable and seasoning packets..."

"Isn't this just instant noodles?"

"Yes, and there are paper-packed, canned, and molded paper bowl versions..."

"Aren't you worried about contamination and leakage..."

"Do you think people in this era would care about a bit of chemical content..."

"Let alone the admirals who would treat their subordinates like livestock..."

"So..."

"My workshop provides tens of thousands of such mixed-flavor items to the naval headquarters in the lower city every year..."

"There are also uniforms, leather goods, and other miscellaneous items, with a procurement budget of several thousand strings of coins, and I can get about half of that..."

"The key is the network of relationships and the bulk of private purchases that come with it..."

"Don't underestimate the human drive to improve comfort and enjoyment..."

"Compared to the local army, which is entangled in complex interests, the naval garrisons, which rotate among various regions, have more autonomy and are more generous..."

"Moreover, many people are willing to help me retail to distant regions and bring back rare items from there..."

"This is both a benefit for the families of the garrison and an extra income for ordinary sailors and marines, generating several thousand strings of coins annually..."

"Because I allow them to buy on credit based on their rank and connections, I am also one of the sponsors of the naval support association..."

"So, in your new sister's case, it's about breaking through a bottleneck..."

The mysterious creature suddenly interrupted.

"Regardless, the annual logistics allocation of the Southeast Pacification Commission runs into the tens of millions..."

I smiled, not denying it.

"Even a small leak is a big order..."

"No one minds having more money... This position as a rear military supply officer, along with my sister's connections, can save me a lot of unnecessary trouble..."

"However, transportation will need your help..."

"You want to open up the market in the Southeast and the Eastern Sea regions."

She quickly grasped the key points.

"Mutual benefit and win-win..."

"Aren't you afraid of knock-offs..."

She thought for a moment and threw out another question.

"Of course, but no one can match my family's production..."

"Creativity can be imitated, but standardized production lines, raw material and cost control, and key technology monopolies are not so easy to replicate..."

"Putting in a lot of effort to copy something often results in a worse product..."

"Changing a well-established routine comes at a significant cost..."

"Even in internal competition, taking kickbacks involves choosing the lower-risk options..."

"Truly greedy people don't last long... It's a simple truth that blocking someone's livelihood is like killing their parents..."

"Smart people are just a bit more cautious than those who grab and run..."

"Of course, there are people with more background or capital than me..."

"The real issue is that those with the power to overshadow me don't care about this small profit..."

"As for those who dare to use underhanded tactics, there are cases of them being thrown into the river with broken limbs or their shops burned down..."

I could discuss such violent matters with her without flinching.

After all, this was not a gentle and tender era, and her current success was not built on sympathy or patronage, but on mutual understanding.

"Therefore, many franchise stores have been pulled in this way..."

"So far, there are no significant competitors, only a few agents under my name playing a double act in bidding..."

"The products I can currently introduce to Guangzhou are mainly for women..."

The mysterious creature turned her head and spoke again.

"Mainly cosmetics, perfumes, clothing, and cleaning and bathing products..."

"Also, some local specialties like tea, tung oil, and candied fruits..."

"This is not a problem. We can establish a joint agency to specialize in women's goods and sell other products alongside them..."

"There are people in the old city who specialize in this. For a few hundred strings of coins, you can get all the necessary licenses within three days..."

"Local employees can be hired, and key positions can be filled by your people..."

"I will maintain the premises, and I will have people greet you in the nearby area..."

"The prices and consumption levels in different districts of Guangzhou vary, so I suggest you start in the old city or the left city..."

"Once you establish a good reputation among the upper and middle classes, you can consider opening lower-end branches in other districts..."

"Guangzhou is a large market, but it's also very deep. I've had my share of hardships in the past..."

I laughed self-deprecatingly.

"For the wealthy consumers, it's like a friendly paradise on earth..."

"But making a legitimate profit is not so easy..."

"By the way..."

"I heard you're looking for a good source of iron?"

"Yes, I want to try processing a batch of high-strength parts..."

"Do you know why our family, the Yuwen, is called the Silver Clan?"

"Why..."

"Because our ancestors not only mined but also smelted..."

I saw two intersecting lines, like veins, appear on her forehead.

"Then..."

"Our ancestors mined more than just silver in Japan..."

She seemed to be defeated by my slowness, touching her nonexistent sweat on her forehead.

"Moreover, our family has good coal mines in Yizhou..."

"You mean you have a good source of iron..."

"Bingo, you're not completely hopeless..."

She proudly raised her nose.

"The four major iron sources of the Southern Dynasty, Ryukyu iron and Japanese iron, are both operated by our family..."

"Our family is also one of the many suppliers to the Privy Council..."

"Did you think our family established a foothold in Guangzhou by chance..."

"Although orders have to wait for the summer monsoon, there is a batch in the local branch's warehouse now..."

"It should be enough for you to experiment with for a while..."

Of course, after inspecting the warehouse, her face turned a furious liver color.

If a pile of rusted iron lumps, unrecognizable in their original form, could be considered the famous Ryukyu iron, then my paper cutter would be a divine weapon.

The news of the disappearance of the accountant and the main clerk made her face even uglier.

"I want to kill someone..."

"Have you lost contact with Zhu Mian and the others..."

Chen Zihé stood in the ruins of what was once the government office, muttering to himself about the new information.

He had faced the most intense resistance here, paying a heavy price of hundreds of casualties, including sixty-seven old comrades from the Qingyuan Army's two regiments.

The bloodstains on the ground were from the former militia commander who had cursed him as a rebel and was beaten to death with an iron hammer, starting from his feet.

Chen Zihé personally led dozens of household troops who fought to the end in this government office, only to be defeated by the internal chaos among the clerks.

Although Chen Zihé's "army" had captured another district and obtained more supplies and troops from the towns and markets, he felt even more hopeless about the future.

After the Qingyuan Army's uprising, at least five groups had set out in different directions, vowing to leave the most painful memory for the imperial court. However, as the unrest spread and time passed, all but Chen Zihé, who had entered the seemingly empty capital, encountered various troubles and difficulties, and their messages gradually ceased.

Among them, the former commander of the Fourth Regiment, Fang Yingkan, who led his old troops into the Dongjiang region, had his head accurately hung on the city wall as a symbol to boost the morale of the troops and civilians.

Zhu Mian, who led half of the Third Regiment to attack the Guan-Gui region, was the last of these groups. Their plan was to invade the former Annam Protectorate, obtain reinforcements from the local tribes, and then make further plans.

Now, the Guangzhou authorities showed no intention of negotiating or making any statements, only continuously deploying more troops to block his possible routes, even if they were just newly armed militiamen.

Even these weak opponents made them numb and fatigued from constant killing.

However, any slight confusion and weakness in his heart were quickly cast aside. He could not turn back and could not afford any hesitation.

By this point, he had completely abandoned control over his subordinates, and the rebel army had grown like a snowball to a "massive" force of tens of thousands.

Many long-term underprivileged northerners, local poor, ruffians, and even a few former militia and government troops, had joined this chaotic feast, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

They formed dozens to hundreds of groups, fighting and compromising with each other, and then, according to the divided districts, they would gang up to extort the rich and powerful, and then torture their families and women to vent and relieve their frustrations.

The brutality and ugliness in human nature, fueled by hatred and resentment towards the wealthy and powerful, rapidly fermented and expanded into all kinds of indiscriminate and wanton violence.

After killing, they would inevitably set fires, and after looting, they would inevitably rape, before finally feeling satisfied and reluctantly dragging their empty and exhausted bodies, being named, assigned, deceived, or forced by Chen Zihé to continue to other districts as decoys to confuse the enemy.

The goal was not to achieve too much, but to make the Guangzhou authorities feel threatened and prevent them from concentrating their forces to attack a single point. That was enough.