It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

"...?"

Li Cheng glanced at the little girl who looked like she'd been to prison, slowly formed a question mark in his mind, and then turned back to continue his work.

...We won?

Agnes stared nervously at Li Cheng's back, and when he saw that Li Cheng hadn't turned around, he immediately smiled with delight.

This is Agnes' first victory.

Indeed, only the military police could subdue this evil man.

Just then, Li Cheng suddenly turned his head and said, "I'm going to Lincoln City tomorrow, and I'll take you home to see it while I'm there."

"Oh!"

Agnes was startled and nodded repeatedly in a flustered tone.

That was terrifying. For a moment, she thought she was going to get a spanking again, but thankfully she didn't.

------

Another ordinary day has passed.

Li Cheng's planned date with Lavoisier was cancelled.

The reason was that his bluffing of Newton had somehow reached Lavoisier's ears. The silver-haired girl, who had just been lectured at Versailles, listened, her eyes glazed over, half her face seemingly shrouded in shadow, and she kept muttering something under her breath: "Old woman, heh heh, silver-haired old woman, heh heh heh..."

Emotional wounds take time to heal.

Nothing can be done.

Li Cheng had no choice but to take Louise and Agnes, the two little ones, to Lincoln City—the former was to take her out to play, and the latter was to send her back to see her parents, which should be considered a family visit.

After Smith became mayor, through his efforts, Lincoln City presented a vibrant and thriving scene.

From the most obvious perspective, pedestrians on the street are walking in a noticeably faster pace, and there are far fewer idle loafers. As job opportunities have increased, most of them have found jobs and are going to work regularly, while the small number of die-hard loafers have either been driven away or imprisoned for reflection.

As a result, the security situation in Lincoln improved significantly.

After leading the two little ones around for a few hours, Li Cheng nodded in satisfaction.

Although individual efforts are so insignificant in the face of the tides of the times, unless a truly extraordinary hero appears out of nowhere, Smith's efforts were ultimately lacking.

It should be noted that even with Su Xunzong's personal abilities, he could have turned the tide in the US-Soviet rivalry by relying on rising oil prices and economic crises, creating a situation where the Soviet Union was on the offensive and the United States was on the defensive.

Even if Smith does nothing, and even goes out of his way to make money and award medals, as long as he lowers taxes and enacts laws favorable to businessmen, given Lincoln's geographical location and surrounding mineral resources, he's guaranteed to have a large number of businessmen vying to move into Lincoln, truly achieving effortless success.

But that doesn’t mean Smith’s efforts were worthless.

Especially for ordinary people living in the era, whether they can get a share of the benefits of the times often depends on the rulers.

After taking a walk around.

Li Cheng went to Mayor Smith's home.

Upon seeing her long-lost parents, Agnes, who is usually disobedient, almost shed tears of emotion. As soon as she saw them, she rushed into the arms of the Smiths and acted like a spoiled child. Her obedient appearance was a stark contrast to her usual unruly behavior at home.

The Smiths were also very happy to see their daughter.

However, after seeing their daughter, who had experienced the harsh realities of society, display an unusually obedient demeanor, the couple exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

Send them back to education for another year!

They had originally planned to send Agnes to study for only six months. But now it seems they could keep her for a longer period...

Li Cheng patiently waited for the three family members to reunite. After Agnes and her mother returned to their room, he then spoke to Smith about the purpose of their visit.

"Promoting potatoes?"

Upon hearing this request, Smith was somewhat perplexed.

Although potatoes had entered England as early as 1590, they first came to the attention of Elizabeth I.

However, because her cook was too consistent, when faced with unfamiliar potatoes, he actually chose to cut off and throw away the potato tubers, and put the green leaves and stems into the pot to cook a potato soup without potatoes. This successfully sent Elizabeth and her guests to the hospital, causing potatoes to become a poisonous crop.

Although it was later proven to be the cook's fault, potatoes were considered a Satanic crop due to their habit of being buried deep in the soil, and their shape resembled the arm of a leper, which led to their slow adoption in England, where they were only used in small quantities as animal feed.

Even the Irish, who were among the first to accept potatoes, did so in the late 18th century.

For Europeans at that time, potatoes were not something to eat at all; at most, they were grown to admire the potato flowers or to feed pigs.

This is precisely why Smith hesitated.

Even considering the obstacles he would face in promoting potatoes, he couldn't agree immediately.

"Don't rush."

Li Cheng glanced at the hesitant Smith, sighed, and said, "I know many people can't accept eating potatoes, but I've developed a method to brew spirits using potatoes."

Smith's eyes lit up: "Potatoes can be used to make liquor?"

Compared to food, wine is more readily accepted for brewing—especially considering the importance of wine to maritime peoples.

By the way.

The person who invented the method of brewing potato wine was Eva Braun, a Swede, and this paper even helped her get into the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, thus beginning the history of large-scale potato cultivation in Sweden.

In response to Smith's question, Li Cheng nodded affirmatively: "Of course. In fact, I don't intend to keep this method to myself. I'm just telling you in advance so you can prepare."

The reason Li Cheng thought of brewing wine from potatoes was because he had thought it over and over and felt that he needed to prepare for the food problem in advance.

Food security is of paramount importance.

Although it seems Lincoln will soon be flush with cash and can buy whatever it wants, with domestic options and overseas options if necessary, what if war breaks out one day and the sellers stop selling?

At this point, it is necessary to promote potato brewing technology. This will not only avoid resistance from the general public, but will also naturally promote potato cultivation and bring potatoes into every household.

Don't be fooled by the fact that a bunch of people are feeding potatoes to pigs now. When there's a real food shortage and people are starving, they'll eat whatever they can get their hands on.

Fast forward to how delicious it is!

Chapter 352 Thank you, thank you!

Lincoln.

At the Smith's house, Li Cheng and Smith sat across a coffee table, discussing how to use potatoes to make wine and thus promote the potato industry.

How do you turn potatoes, which everyone dislikes, into vodka?

After Li Cheng gave a brief introduction to the general process, the doubts that had been lingering in Smith's mind completely disappeared, replaced by a deep sense of surprise.

Vodka.

It is said to have originated in the 15th century and is a popular drink. Also known as bread wine, spirits, or grain wine, it is relatively inexpensive and has a high purity, making it popular among ordinary people who cannot afford expensive wines, especially in Northern Europe and Russia—those places are too damn cold, and they can't afford firewood, so they can only drink strong liquor to warm themselves up.

The only problem is that brewing wine consumes a lot of grain, so the output is relatively limited.

But if potatoes could be made into vodka... Smith immediately thought of that scenario and...

Potatoes are a clear disadvantage to wheat in terms of both arable area and yield, with the only drawback being their storage capacity.

Smith nodded repeatedly.

soon.

He finalized his plan to promote potatoes, including corresponding publicity and land reclamation...

It sounds complicated, but ultimately, as long as you convince farmers that potatoes can really be made into vodka, they will eagerly and voluntarily plant potatoes. You don't need to worry too much about the rest; you just need to give them a little push.

Potatoes can be harvested in less than six months, and they have low requirements for soil and do not require seeds for planting.

Two years, no, just a year and a half, and potatoes could be quickly spread throughout Lincoln. Sufficient potatoes could not only be used to brew and sell alcohol, but also increase the amount of rations because they replaced the grain originally used for brewing.

After thinking for about five minutes, Smith suddenly realized that Li Cheng hadn't left yet, and quickly came to his senses and apologized.

"Sorry, I was too engrossed."

"It's alright, as long as you accept it," Li Cheng waved his hand and said.

“Actually, I have another question,” Smith asked.

"Go ahead," Li Cheng nodded.

"Excuse my bluntness, but there's a huge business opportunity here. Are you sure you want to tell the farmers the method directly?"

Smith said, somewhat puzzled.

If the technique of brewing vodka from potatoes is kept secret, a simple investment in a few distilleries and hiring workers could guarantee a steady profit.

"Money is just a means to an end; don't let money hold you hostage."

Li Cheng glanced at the mayor and said tactfully, "It's not that money isn't important, but besides being a businessman, I have other identities, not just as a businessman."

Although he was subtly taught a lesson by the young man, Smith didn't get angry. After all, the young man was better than him, and what he said was true.

But being criticized was quite embarrassing, so he changed the subject and looked at a little girl next to him, asking:

Who is this?

Accompanying Li Cheng to the house were Agnes, who had already gone back to her room with her mother, and a cute little girl who was slightly older than Agnes.

While the two were discussing the potato brewing problem, the little girl sat obediently on the sofa next to them, her little hands and feet perfectly placed, and her delicate face showed no sign of impatience. She was like a well-behaved doll, which made Smith extremely envious and jealous—he wished his daughter was as well-behaved as her.

Oh, I almost forgot.

Li Cheng slapped his forehead.

First, there was the father-daughter reunion, then he was busy discussing the potato promotion plan and the potato brewing scheme. His attention was always occupied, and he didn't have time to give Louise a brief introduction.

Hello, Uncle.

However, before Li Cheng could introduce her, Louise spoke up first, saying, "Louise's name is Louise. She will marry you, brother, and will be your future wife."

After introducing herself, the little girl looked at Li Cheng expectantly, waiting for his praise.

Louise is a smart and well-behaved child. She could tell at a glance that her brother would definitely ask her to introduce herself, so she took the initiative to share the burden for her brother in advance, which deserves praise.

Li Cheng: "......"

Smith: "......."

A moment of silence fell over the living room. Seeing this, Li Cheng felt extremely embarrassed and quickly spoke up to explain:

"Don't misunderstand, we are not related by blood."

...So, your future wife is real, right?

Smith's prepared lines, such as "Heh, what a funny little guy," were all swallowed back. It took him a while to recover before he finally managed to stammer out: