"Zhang Munian pays respect to gongzi. Thank you for saving my life."
Looking at Wang Chong in the courtyard, Zhang Munian's body trembled slightly. He bowed respectfully and bowed deeply.
"It's you!"
Wang Chong was delighted. Meng Long had only said that an old friend of his had been waiting outside for a long time, but he didn't mention that the other party was Zhang Munian.
"Mister, please come in."
Even if Zhang Munian didn't appear, Wang Chong would still have gone to look for him personally. It wasn't to extort a favor from him, but for another matter.
Now that Zhang Munian had come knocking on his door, Wang Chong had been spared a lot of effort.
Wang Chong led Zhang Munian into the lounge and had the maids serve some fragrant tea before sitting down.
"Gongzi, please forgive me. I should have gone over to welcome you when you were released from prison yesterday. However, there were many noble figures in gongzi's sect, so I didn't dare to be rude. Thus, I waited a day and came to thank you personally. "
Zhang Munian said.
"Haha, so you came yesterday. If mister had informed me yesterday, I would have surely gone out to welcome you personally. "
Hearing those words, Wang Chong's eyes lit up.
"Where is mister staying at the moment?"
"This … In the maple tree culvert in the west of the city."
Zhang Munian didn't expect Wang Chong to ask about this, and he hesitated for a moment before answering.
"What?"
Wang Chong was taken aback. Didn't Zhang Munian mean that he had been roaming the streets for the past few days? "Didn't that Eunuch Gao give you any money?"
"He didn't. Instead, one of his guards gave me some silver coins. "
Zhang Munian said.
Wang Chong was taken aback. That Eunuch Gao wasn't just an authoritative figure, he was deeply favored by the emperor. At the same time, he was also a 'magnanimous merchant'. Wang Chong thought that the other party would at least give Zhang Munian some money after he was released from prison.
"Nobles tend to be forgetful. Given the other party's standing, he might not have noticed such a small matter. Perhaps, he might even think that we are old acquaintances, and I have already made arrangements for him. I have been negligent. "
Wang Chong reacted immediately.
Given that person's identity and standing, it was impossible for him to be bothered by a mere few thousand taels of gold. It was more likely that he had forgotten about it or misunderstood it.
"Do you have any plans for the future, sir?"
Wang Chong said.
Zhang Munian fell silent. The questions asked by Wang Chong were difficult for him to answer. What kind of future does a man on death row have?
This time, when he was released from prison, he originally wanted to return to his hometown. However, not to mention the long journey and the lack of travel expenses. Even if he went back, with his current reputation, would the villagers still accept him like before?
Besides, how would he make a living?
"I haven't thought about it yet. I'll just take it one step at a time."
Zhang Munian sighed. In prison, he had not hesitated, but after coming out, he really felt hesitant. How would he know what his future would be like?
"Sir, if you have nowhere to go, why don't you follow me?"
Wang Chong suddenly said.
"Gongzi, are you joking?"
Zhang Munian was taken aback for a moment before replying in self-mockery. "How can an old man like me be of any value to gongzi?"
Wang Chong chuckled. He knew that this request was too abrupt, and Zhang Munian didn't believe that he was serious. However, Wang Chong didn't argue with him. Instead, he picked up the fragrant tea on the table and sipped on it.
"I heard that sir worked in the Ministry of Agriculture in the past. The reason for your imprisonment was due to embezzlement of twenty thousand gold taels! "
Wang Chong put down the fragrant tea and said nonchalantly.
Weng!
Hearing those words, Zhang Munian's face warped, and his mind buzzed. This matter was the deepest secret in his heart.
In the prison, even when he was being beaten up, Zhang Munian had never once mentioned this matter to Wang Chong. He didn't expect Wang Chong to see through him with a single sentence.
"You … You … How did you know?"
At this moment, Zhang Munian seemed to have changed into a completely different person. Staring at Wang Chong, his eyes widened in fear. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead, and he looked extremely uneasy.
"Don't worry, I don't have any intention of pressuring you."
Wang Chong's expression was as calm as ever.
A lowly agriculture official of low standing had embezzled twenty thousand gold taels. Before Wang Chong made a name for himself, this was a huge sum even for a prestigious clan like the Wang Clan, needless to say, others.
For Zhang Munian to have embezzled so much money, those who didn't know him would think that he was a brazen scoundrel. However, to Wang Chong, the meaning behind this matter was completely different.
"If I'm not wrong, the twenty thousand gold taels … should have been used to compensate the farmers, right?"
Wang Chong's words were ordinary, and his voice wasn't loud or soft either. But in Zhang Munian's ears, it felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck him.
"How did you know?"
Those words left his mouth, and Zhang Munian widened his eyes in shock. He stared at the young man before him as though he had seen a ghost.
If Wang Chong had exposed the reason why he was imprisoned for the twenty thousand gold taels and exposed his secret, he would have felt guilty.
But now, Zhang Munian was truly in disbelief.
Even the Bureau of Punishments, which was responsible for investigating the matter, wasn't able to find out that he had distributed the gold taels to the farmers. No one knew where the twenty thousand gold taels went.
Yet, the young man before him was able to expose it for him!!!
If it was in the middle of the night, Zhang Munian would have been frightened out of his wits.
"As I thought!"
Ignoring the shocked Zhang Munian, Wang Chong heaved a long sigh. Zhang Munian couldn't possibly spend so much money alone.
From the moment he saw the file, Wang Chong already knew what was going on. No one could embezzle ten thousand gold taels without leaving behind any traces that even the experts of the Bureau of Punishments wouldn't be able to find out.
Unless … that person wasn't embezzling at all!
There was a price to pay for any reform!
The process of reform was filled with twists and turns, and it was destined that one would have to pay a huge price. There would be many failures along the way before one could find the correct path!
In this world, other than Wang Chong himself, probably even Zhang Munian himself didn't know the significance of the experiments he had been secretly conducting in the name of the government over the past few decades!
In Wang Chong's plan, Zhang Munian was a crucial link. His importance far surpassed that of the Hyderabad ores or the meteorites on the islands.
Even the 《Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art》 and 《Art of God and Demon Obliteration》 couldn't compare to it!
Food was the most important thing to the people!
In this world of martial arts, everyone was pursuing power, status, wealth, reputation, and influence. Yet, other than Wang Chong, no one knew that there was another thing that far surpassed all wealth, status, power, and influence.
It was inconspicuous, but it was the foundation of this world.
It was' food '!
How long would it take for the most powerful empire to fall from the glorious peak of having a luxurious life to the point of eating grass roots and tree bark?
Ten years? Twenty years? Fifty years? A hundred years?
None of them!
The real answer was a mere "two years"!
This was a fact that Wang Chong had witnessed with his own eyes. Wang Chong had experienced the splendor of the Great Tang, but he had also seen its decline, its decline, and its miserable state of cannibalism.
To those who lived in this world, this was an indescribable tragedy.
When the Wang Clan fell, the Wang Clan wandered the world alone. Wang Chong would often go hungry for two to three days, and sometimes even longer.
In those lonely days, Wang Chong had witnessed the sight of starving corpses strewn all over the ground. And Wang Chong's mother was the last person to fall into his embrace, her body emaciated.
That moment was something that Wang Chong would never forget!
Food was the most important thing to the people. No matter what time and space, this was a theme that would never change.
When Wang Shichong and Li Shimin fought, the palace in Luoyang was filled with mountains of silk (silk was the most valuable wealth, and the emperor rewarded his ministers with silk). But because there was no food in the city, the army starved and lost to Li Shimin.
In Wang Chong's memory from another time and space, the year 755 was still peaceful and prosperous during the Tianbao era. When Tang Minghuang went to the warehouse to check, all the precious items, weapons, and food were still piled up like mountains.
And in 759, Du Fu wrote 'Three Officials and Three Farewells'!
'Don't say that the wine tastes thin, and the millet fields are unplowed.' Once war came, no one would farm the fields, and food would become the biggest problem. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had many military achievements. He conquered the Xiongnu, pacified the Western Regions, and conquered Jiaozhi. But because of the war, many people died, and the fields were unplowed, this led to the decline of the Han Dynasty.
In history, he was charged with the crime of 'using the military to build up power'!
Sometimes, war wasn't just a competition of military strength, equipment, and morale. There was also 'food'!
Wang Chong didn't think that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was wrong to 'use the military to build up power'. However, he was wrong to not leave enough manpower to cultivate 'food'.
As long as there was sufficient 'food', the population would be able to flourish. Even if the population was depleted in war, there would still be more soldiers to replenish it.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty didn't see this point, and that was why he was charged with 'using the military to build up power'.
The Tang dynasty faced enemies from all directions — the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganate, the Ouzan Empire, the Goguryeo Empire, the Abbasid Caliphate, Erhai Mengshe Zhao … All of their enemies were fully fledged.
No one knew better than Wang Chong how frequent wars the Tang dynasty would face in the future.
In these frequent and drawn-out wars, those who possessed 'food' would have hope, and those who possessed 'food' would have a 'future'.
In this empire, there was no one who held more weight than 'Zhang Munian'! And there was no one who contributed more to the empire than Zhang Munian.
When Wang Chong said before Gao Lishi that Zhang Munian was beneficial to the Tang dynasty and the empire, he wasn't spouting nonsense.
This person held the 'future' of the empire in his hands!
— — Even though he knew nothing about it!
These thoughts flashed across Wang Chong's mind, and he soon calmed down.
"Mister Zhang, if I were to say that I would provide you with sufficient funds, standing, and research facilities, what do you think?"
Wang Chong looked at Zhang Munian and suddenly asked.
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