Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 720: Chapter 353: Tenth Prince is the God of Wealth_2

Li Jue’s face rarely showed such obvious surprise. He knew that the method of brewing tea had spread from the palace, but he didn’t expect it was the Tenth Prince who had developed it.

"All the fine teas and famous teas you’re drinking now were made at the behest of my lord, and they were selected by him as well." When it comes to tea, no one can compare to his lord. "Do you think my lord understands tea or not..."

Zhao Yao interrupted Tong Xi’s boasting, "Tong Xi, keep it low-key."

Tong Xi obediently shut his mouth and said no more.

"Tenth Prince, my apologies." Li Jue didn’t expect that their current way of drinking tea, as well as the fine teas and famous teas they frequently consumed, were all Zhao Yao’s doing.

"Brother Jiao, if you want to discuss tea with me, I can chat with you for a bit." In the realm of tea, he still had some authority. The famous teas Tong Xi mentioned were all his creations, and every year these places had to contribute these fine teas to the court.

Speaking of tea, another matter must be mentioned. The tea farmers were infinitely grateful to Zhao Yao, and the tea merchants even treated him as the "God of Wealth," hoping every year that Zhao Yao could innovate new teas.

Before Zhao Yao introduced a new way of drinking tea and new teas, tea was not as popular as it is now. Previously, when drinking tea, most people sipped a bit of tea, and a small number of people treated tea as soup, adding salt or other things.

Also, drinking tea was mostly for officials, while the common folk drank very little. The common folk didn’t much like drinking tea, treating it as medicine and only drinking it in dire circumstances.

In fact, many officials didn’t like drinking tea either, but not drinking tea would make them feel insignificant, so they had to drink it reluctantly.

After Zhao Yao introduced a new way of drinking tea and new teas, both the aristocratic families and the common folk fell in love with drinking tea. They didn’t expect that tea would taste so good when consumed in a new way.

After developing a new way of drinking tea, Zhao Yao wanted to bring out the famous teas from the world of Zhao Yao in his dreams. This led to many places producing famous teas. People in many areas began large-scale tea cultivation, greatly increasing their income.

Of course, the emergence of new teas also earned the court a lot of money. Zhao Yao’s new teas were extremely popular abroad, and the tea sold abroad each year brought immense wealth to the court.

New teas supported many people, turning many into wealthy merchants. Tea not only brought wealth to the people of Great Zhou but also brought them health.

Long ago, tea was a medicinal herb, capable of treating some ailments. However, the previous way of drinking tea actually destroyed its effectiveness. The new way of drinking tea largely retained tea’s benefits.

Not to mention other effects of tea, the energizing effect made many people fond of it. Scholars and literati originally liked having tea, and the new way of drinking tea made them love it even more.

The emergence of new teas not only profited the tea farmers but also made those in the porcelain industry earn profits.

Previously, drinking tea was done with tea bowls or cups, but without tea lidded bowls. After Zhao Yao introduced the new way of drinking tea, he incidentally developed the tea lidded bowl.

The appearance of the tea lidded bowl brought a large fortune to those making porcelain in Great Zhou. Now, Great Zhou had all kinds of tea lidded bowls, with each set made exquisitely beautiful. Tea lidded bowls were sold abroad along with tea.

Prime Minister He once told the emperor, not even mentioning the other inventions Zhao Yao had made before like curved plows, horse saddles, and printing technology, just new teas and tea lidded bowls alone brought unexpected wealth to Great Zhou from the Tenth Prince.

Over the years, the national treasury of Great Zhou being able to rapidly become affluent, the Tenth Prince contributed to half of it.

Unfortunately, the things Zhao Yao did were still overlooked by the court ministers, who continued to regard him as a useless prince.

Speaking of tea, some other matters must be mentioned.

To make tea more profitable, tea merchants held tea competitions every two years, which were grand and lively events, well-received by scholars, literati, and the public.

The tea competitions mainly compared the quality of tea from various places as well as the methods and yield of cultivation. Moreover, they had tea farmers research making new types of tea leaves.

Because of tea, Zhao Yao’s status in the minds of tea merchants and tea farmers was extremely high. Besides viewing Zhao Yao as the God of Wealth, many people in various places regarded him as the "God of Tea."

Li Jue, usually fond of tea, was not much keen on drinking tea before the new teas emerged.

He didn’t expect that the new teas were Zhao Yao’s creation, so he chatted with Zhao Yao about the new teas.

Nobody understood new teas better than Zhao Yao. Speaking of new teas, Zhao Yao explained them thoroughly, broadening Li Jue’s knowledge considerably.

Just by listening to Zhao Yao talk about new teas, one could discover that he was not the foolish prince of legend.

The Li Family, although part of the Salt Gang, also engaged in the tea business. Although tea did not bring as much profit as salt, it was still considerable. No one would ever think they had too much money.

"This year, there hasn’t been news of new tea from the capital. Is it that Your Highness hasn’t thought of new tea?" Every year, new teas were introduced from the capital, specifically from within the Imperial Palace. This year, with no new teas emerging from the palace, tea merchants and tea farmers across the regions were anxiously waiting.

"I didn’t have time to think this year," Zhao Yao shrugged. "So many things happened this year, I didn’t have the time to think about new tea." He planned to go to Yangzhou to think of new tea. Since he hadn’t gone to Yangzhou yet, he hadn’t thought about it for now.

"Doesn’t Your Highness have spare time now to think about this year’s new tea?"

"Brother Jiao, I’m busy dealing with you now; where would I find the time to think about new tea?" Zhao Yao propped his chin, gazing at Li Jue with interest, "Brother Jiao, you didn’t invite me here just to drink wine or to chat about tea, did you?"

In the midst of the exciting tea chat, Li Jue nearly forgot the main reason.

"Tenth Prince, I now realize your value."

Zhao Yao, upon hearing this, feigned surprise and raised an eyebrow, "Brother Jiao, you don’t plan to kill me anymore?"

Li Jue laughed, "That’s right, I don’t plan to kill you anymore."

Zhao Yao pretended to look flattered: "Just because I can create new teas?"

Li Jue lightly nodded, speaking with a tone full of indulgence toward Zhao Yao, "Correct."

"Then should I thank you for your mercy in not killing me?"

"Naturally."

"Hahaha..." Zhao Yao suddenly burst into laughter, then collapsed onto the table, unable to straighten up from laughing.

Li Jue watched Zhao Yao’s unending laughter coldly, "What are you laughing at?"

Zhao Yao laughed until tears came out. He wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes, looked at Li Jue amusedly, "Brother Jiao, who gave you the confidence to think you can kill me?"

Li Jue slightly narrowed his eyes, a playful smile tugged at the corners of his lips, "Do you think I can’t kill you?"

"You can’t." Zhao Yao spoke with firm confidence, "On the contrary, I can kill you."

"You could kill me?" Li Jue found the words so amusing that he couldn’t help but let out a mocking laugh. "Tenth Prince, who gave you the confidence to think you could kill me?"

"Myself, of course," Zhao Yao winked at Li Jue, "Brother Jiao, if you don’t believe it, you can try, and see whether you control my life or I control yours."