I only wished to take up my fiefdom, but my elder brother forced me to rebel.

Inside the Imperial Study in the palace, Lu Cangqiong was so anxious he was about to explode.

"That unfilial son, he's so eager to sleep with people, but now that he's taken the immortal's treasure, he doesn't even know how to go to the palace?"

Lu Cangqiong pushed the dinner aside and walked around the imperial desk twice.

"In the morning, I accompanied Su Yuling back to the Yongning Marquis's Mansion, and in the afternoon, I accompanied Shen Hanqiu to the Shen family."

"When is it not allowed to return to one's parents' home after marriage?"

"The national treasury is practically starving, and he's still busy trying to please his father-in-law!"

As Zhou Fu led Lu Yuan through the door, he happened to hear the last sentence.

Lu Yuan's lips twitched violently, and he turned to walk out.

"stop!"

Lu Cangqiong had already spotted him, and rushed out from behind the imperial desk, grabbing his arm.

Lu Yuan could only force a smile.

"Your subject pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Stop with the nonsense!"

Lu Cangqiong pulled him to the imperial desk. "Liu Ruyan entered your residence yesterday. I've calculated the time; it's time for the old immortal to give her something."

"Where's the baby?"

"Take it out quickly!"

Lu Yuan's lips stiffened.

As he entered the palace, he went over and over again what he had learned in his previous life.

Gunpowder is too dangerous; if you make it, you might blow yourself up first.

The papermaking technique already existed in the Great Yong Dynasty; at most, it could only be improved.

Although glass is valuable, it requires the initial construction of a kiln for trial firing, so it cannot be delivered on the spot.

He couldn't even draw a complete blueprint for the steam engine.

If a few iron pipes were actually sent to the Ministry of Works, Xie Guangkun could lead the craftsmen to study them until his great-grandson was born.

When Lu Cangqiong saw that he did not react at all, the expectation on his face slowly turned into doubt.

"What happened?"

"The old sage didn't give it to you?"

Zhou Fu also came over and whispered, "Your Highness, His Majesty hasn't had a proper rest since returning from the Hundred Flowers Banquet."

"Today, the Ministry of Works sent a memorial regarding the expansion of the cement kiln. The emperor only read half of it, and spent the other half asking about the national treasure."

Lu Yuan cleared his throat.

"It was given."

Lu Cangqiong's eyes lit up immediately, and he reached out to take it.

"Give it to me!"

Lu Yuan simply smiled and tentatively asked, "Father, why don't you guess what the old immortal bestowed this time?"

After circling around the imperial desk, Lu Cangqiong began to scrutinize Lu Yuan.

"You brought Liu Ruyan back to the manor yesterday, and today the old immortal bestowed upon you a treasure."

"The Hundred Flowers Banquet was originally intended to address the empty national treasury."

"Are these items related to the imperial treasury?"

Lu Yuan nodded immediately.

"Father is wise."

"It's roughly in this direction, you can continue guessing."

Lu Cangqiong's brows relaxed a little.

Since it can solve the problem of an empty national treasury, it is a treasure for making money.

What the Great Yong Dynasty lacks now is not a hundred or eighty taels, but several million taels.

Ordinary gadgets simply cannot fill this hole.

"Is it some kind of strange and unusual treasure again?"

"Like a tree that produces gold, or a furnace that turns stones into gold?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan rolled his eyes at him.

"Dad, I'm your son, not a turtle in a wishing well."

Lu Cangqiong picked up a book of memorials.

Lu Yuan immediately stepped aside.

"However, Father Emperor's guess is already very close!"

Lu Cangqiong stopped holding the memorial.

"Where is it closest?"

Lu Yuan walked back to the imperial desk.

Improving public finances simply means increasing revenue and reducing expenditure.

If the imperial court wants to make money on a large scale, the most suitable things to target must be commodities that every household needs and that the imperial court can firmly control.

Food is a matter of life and death for people, and prices cannot be raised arbitrarily.

Cloth production involves farmers in mulberry fields and weaving households, and profits are unlikely to be seen in the short term.

Tea was mainly sold to the northern and western regions. Although the profits were high, the trade routes were limited.

The most suitable one left is salt.

Lu Yuan suddenly smiled and wrote the two large characters "refined salt" on the paper.

"Hey, this is the treasure given to me by the Old Immortal of Nanhua."

Lu Cangqiong's smile vanished as he read the words on the paper.

"Salt?"

"right."

"After guessing for so long, all you gave me was the word 'salt'?"

Lu Cangqiong turned to look at Zhou Fu.

"Does the imperial kitchen have salt?"

Zhou Fu quickly replied, "Of course."

"Bring two cans over, one for Lao Jiu and one for that old immortal."

"Let them share it!"

Lu Yuan quickly grabbed Lu Cangqiong.

"Father, please let me explain."

"This is not ordinary salt, it's snowflake salt."

"What kind of snowflake salt?"

Lu Yuan did not answer. He sat down on the dragon throne, pulled the paper in front of him, and began to write.

Zhou Fu offered to grind ink for Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan wrote down the steps on the paper, such as dissolving the coarse salt, filtering, removing the bitter brine, and boiling it again to crystallize it. He also drew several utensils that would be needed next to it.

Lu Cangqiong initially looked disgusted.

Looking behind him, he had already stood beside Lu Yuan.

"Put coarse salt in water, then filter it through fine sand and charcoal?"

"That's right."

"The salt will dissolve in the water, won't it?"

"Boil the water away and the salt will naturally come out again."

Lu Cangqiong pointed to the part where the bitter brine had been removed.

"What is this next step?"

"The coarse salt that people eat nowadays is yellowish-black, containing mud, bitter brine, and many impurities. Eating too much of it can easily make you sick."

"After several filtrations and purifications, the resulting salt is as white as snow, has no bitter taste, and is not mixed with sand that would gritty your teeth."

Lu Yuan put down his pen and pushed the written method in front of Lu Cangqiong.

"This is snowflake salt."

Lu Cangqiong picked up the paper and looked at it several times, his face still showing doubt.

"Even if this salt is better than coarse salt, how much silver will it earn for the imperial court?"

"We can't expect ordinary people to all be paying exorbitant prices for salt, can we?"

"Of course not."

Lu Yuan stood up and returned the dragon throne to Lu Yuan.

"Ordinary people will continue to use the same salt as before, and the price will remain unchanged."

"The imperial court only needs to select a portion of the coarse salt transported from various places, set up salt fields in various places, refine it, and produce snowflake-shaped salt."

"Snowflake Salt was first sold to royalty, powerful families, and restaurants!"

"They spend tens of taels of silver on a single garment; would they feel the pinch of spending a few extra coins a day on salt?"

Zhou Fu's eyes lit up. "Your Highness means that ordinary salt will be sold at the original price, while snowflake salt will be sold to wealthy people?"

"That's right!"

Lu Yuan took another piece of paper and wrote three levels on it.

"The finest snowflake salt can be stored in porcelain jars and offered to the royal palace, nobles, and caravans from the Western Regions."

"Medium-grade salt is supplied to restaurants and wealthy families in the capital!"

"Coarse salt is still reserved for ordinary people."

"The imperial court does not need to increase salt production; it can simply reprocess the original coarse salt and sell it for several times the price."

Lu Cangqiong picked up the paper, his breathing gradually quickening.

Although the annual salt tax revenue of the Dayong Dynasty was substantial, the majority of it ended up in the hands of salt merchants and local officials.

If the imperial court possessed the exclusive formula for snowflake salt, there would be no need to impose additional taxes on the people.

Those powerful and wealthy families would naturally offer their money to anyone who wanted a mouthful of clean, fine white salt.

Lu Yuan continued, "Snowflake Salt can also be sold to the northern kingdoms."

"They lack tea, and they lack salt."

"Trading a pound of snowflake salt for a sheepskin isn't unreasonable, is it?"

"Ten catties in exchange for a warhorse, is that negotiable?"

Lu Cangqiong pressed the formula under his palm, a smile already appearing on his face.

"Zhou Fu!"

"This old servant is here."

"Immediately have the imperial kitchen clear out a kitchen, and then go to the salt storehouse to fetch the worst coarse salt."

"I'll try it tonight!"

Zhou Fu took the formula and had only taken two steps when Lu Cangqiong called him back.

"This formula is classified as a top secret within the palace."

"All those involved in the trial production must register, and no one may leave the palace without my permission!"

Zhou Fu bowed and accepted the order, then hurriedly left.

Lu Cangqiong circled around Lu Yuan, and the disdain in his eyes had completely turned into satisfaction.

"Ninth Brother".

"What are you doing?"

"Tell your father the truth, which girl have you taken a fancy to this time?"

"I will now issue an imperial decree to grant you this marriage."

Lu Yuan took two steps back in fright. "Father, I am your son, not a breeding donkey or horse!"