Yue Fuguang followed the system's guidance and looked over. At those few tables were teenagers, aged sixteen or seventeen, seventeen or eighteen, up to around twenty.
Well, with very few exceptions, they all looked decent enough, but this completely failed to attract Yue Fuguang's interest.
[Master, among them, several 'talents' will emerge later on.]
"Are the talents you speak of, proper talents?"
[There are proper ones, and improper ones, Master. Which would you like to hear about first?]
"Let's crack open the proper melon first."
[That one in blue and those two in gray over there. One named Gao Ziyou will achieve remarkable accomplishments in agronomy in the future.
Another named Luo Fengqing is, in modern terms, an engineering talent.
Unfortunately, he was born in the wrong era. His inventions and creations were dismissed as frivolous tricks and devious crafts, and his life was wasted without ever being put to good use.]
"So, isn't this Luo Fengqing the same type of talent as Zhou Qi'an?"
[Master, they are different. Zhou Qi'an's tech tree is lit up in weapon manufacturing, while this gentleman leans more towards civil applications.
I think if you gave him your "Tiangong Kaiwu" (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature), Great Yan would take off in agriculture, handicrafts, mining, and even the military field.]
"Take off? Do you think the current Great Yan can properly utilize these technologies and these talents?
Furthermore, for no reason at all, if I run over and toss someone a book that would be considered groundbreaking and epoch-making for this world, don't you find that very abrupt and strange?"
Tiangong Kaiwu? A miraculous book? How miraculous?
Since even the Divine Artifact has said it's a miraculous book that can propel Great Yan's agriculture, handicrafts, mining, and military fields to take off, it must be true.
Wang Shouchen, Huo Ying, Lu Qi, and others felt an unbearable itch in their hearts. Xie Zhiyan even hurriedly took a sip of tea to calm his shock, fearing he might accidentally blurt out a question, which would be terrible!
[That seems true too. This world's technology is too backward. I'm almost embarrassed to look at their so-called confidential 'cutting-edge technology'; it can't even compare to the Sui and Tang periods on Planet Aqua.
If they knew the secret weapon to counter the cavalry of the Western Qiang and Northern Li was hidden within the process of making those poisonous pills they're always thinking about eating...
I wonder what kind of expression they'd have! Master, if Huo Ying and Wei Shouyi knew that thing was hidden in their Emperor's alchemy palace, do you think they would demand the person from the emperor?]
The two exchanged a glance. After the wedding banquet ended, they would enter the palace overnight to see the Emperor. As for whether it was too late and might disturb His Majesty's... interactions with his consorts?
They shook their heads indifferently. They'd just ask the Emperor: is the kingdom more important, or a beauty more important?
Without the kingdom, which beauty would still pay you any mind?
Anyway, their Emperor's task of producing heirs was already over-fulfilled. Having a few less princes and princesses wouldn't matter much.
Emperor Mingxi: Having ministers like you is truly my blessing!
"Great Yan actually still has people taking elixir pills? Who likes seeking death so much?"
[Who else could it be but the Great Wise Emperor Mingxi? By the way, around this time next year, his health will begin to decline. The main sign is he'll suddenly realize that in these past two years, fewer children have been born in the rear palace.
Apart from Concubine Xian Zhou giving birth to a 'princess' for him, no one else produced any offspring. So, believing slanderous advice, he'll embark on his journey of massively taking elixir pills to seek death.]
"Xie Fei is somewhat pitiful. The only princess born wasn't even due to his efforts!
Taking elixir pills, no wonder he died before fifty. Serves him right!
I thought his health was still okay now and was wondering how he fell seriously ill so early, allowing the Zhou mother and son the opportunity to poison him.
So the root cause is here? Has he already started taking elixir pills now?"
The Crown Prince's heart skipped a beat. If he remembered correctly, a few days ago in the palace, coincidentally the two days the Junior Mentor was absent from court, several Taoist priests had arrived.
Later, they were all arranged in a courtyard not far from where Taoist Priest Xuanmingzi stayed. Although not inside the palace, it was just a wall away.
Moreover, the Ministry of Works was rushing to renovate a palace near the Hongwen Hall, supposedly for alchemists to refine pills. Why choose that location? Rumor had it one alchemist said that direction belonged to the Wood element, beneficial for alchemy!
Now the Junior Mentor says elixir pills are poisonous. If he knew Father Emperor had already started contacting those alchemists...
[Calculating the time, they've already made contact. Actually starting to take them would be next year or the year after. Master, do you want to warn him?]
"We'll see. If he's determined to seek death, we can only respect his fate!"
Far away in the palace, Emperor Mingxi, who had just cuddled a charming consort and stolen a couple of kisses, suddenly and inexplicably sneezed several times in a row.
This commotion frightened the attendant Eunuch Qian outside quite a bit. He patted the Emperor's back to soothe him while ordering someone to fetch the imperial physician.
This incident later alarmed the Empress Dowager, so much so that after attending the wedding, Xie Zhiyan directly met his father emperor in his grandmother's palace.
He immediately recounted the theory about the upper beam and the lower beam to him, infuriating Emperor Mingxi so much he wanted to take off his shoe and hit his son, but all that was for later.
At this moment, Xie Zhiyan was still eating dishes, drinking wine, and pricking up his ears to catch the gossip, and he wasn't the only one in that posture.
Listening to these two chat required, firstly, patience, because they truly had childlike mindsets, and their conversation could veer off topic by eight hundred miles.
Another requirement was a strong heart, otherwise, you really could be scared half to death or scolded half to death!
Yu Chongshan, seeing his granddaughter's grim face, quickly piled a bowl of food for her and placed it in front of her.
Most of the Bao family's banquet dishes were still stews, with only one or two dishes being stir-fries.
Currently, in Great Yan, only high-ranking officials' households were gradually starting to incorporate stir-fried dishes into their menus. The reason it hadn't been fully popularized, apart from the stir-fry technique itself,
was also because stir-frying generally required more oil and iron than stewing, both of which were difficult for ordinary commoners to manage.
Currently, both iron and cooking oil were still too expensive for the common people to afford.
For cooking oil, the focus could be on planting soybeans, peanuts, and corn.
As for iron pots, besides the iron ore at Mount Yeren, it would be necessary to guide Emperor Mingxi to mine new iron veins. Both the military and civilian life required large amounts of iron.
"Back to Gao Ziyou and Luo Fengqing. These two can be given some attention. If they are capable, we can have my brothers at home make contact with them in the future.
If they are willing, they can go develop my land. As for the costs and materials needed for training talents and experiments, this Immortal Lord is not lacking."
[To be noticed by Master, changing their original fate and having a chance to fully utilize their abilities, it's also due to the virtue accumulated by their ancestors!]
Everyone secretly nodded in agreement. Indeed! Maybe they should find an opportunity to send their own children before the Little Immortal Lord, whether daughters or sons. If by chance the Immortal Lord took a liking to them, it would be a great fortune!
This plan was feasible!
[Master, after discussing the proper talents, let's talk about the improper ones. These few are really bad!]
"How so? What have they done?"
[Look at that one in green named Song Mingwei. He comes from a merchant family, wealthy but without status, so he loves befriending people with power and influence.
His friendship with Bao Zihui is also aimed at Elder Master Bao and Bao Qianjun.]
