The Young and Vigorous Eighth Prince

Chapter 107: Monster Star Rumors

Emperor Yan's bet between his son and Chu Yan'er has been decided, and he is considering whether to announce the end of the bet now or wait until a month later to announce the result.

He didn't expect that this disaster relief work would be completed in less than ten days. His son was still a complete winner.

Thinking of this, he became more and more excited, and the more he thought about it, the more satisfied he was with his son Jiang Fan.

However, he felt that he still had to listen to his son's opinion on announcing the bet. It depended on whether his son was anxious or not, or whether his son had other plans.

So, he asked Shadow to write to the recorders and ask them to ask Jiang Fan for his opinion. After Jiang Fan received the news, his reply was that the end time of the bet remained unchanged.

It wasn't that Jiang Fan didn't want to end the bet earlier, but he still had things to do. There were still about 20 days left in the bet, which was enough time for him to make the next arrangements.

He came to Huainan Prefecture not only for the bet, but also to build the entire Huainan Prefecture into his own commercial capital. The number of disaster victims he had was enough for him to develop more industries.

In addition to the few products he currently has, he also wants to build a few papermaking workshops. He used to work in a paper mill and learned a lot about papermaking technology.

He could make paper even from straw, at a lower cost. In addition to making paper, he also wanted to make movable type printing.

At present, all kinds of books in Dayan are copied by hand. After paper and movable type are printed, it will be a groundbreaking product.

He could make a lot of money just from selling paper and books. In addition, he also engaged in weaving, clothing, dyeing, and food production.

He had enough people under his command, and the more than 60,000 disaster victims in Huai'an Prefecture were also helpers. He even set his sights on the disaster victims in Chu Yan'er's hands.

Of course, the main reason is that another county town in Huainan Prefecture that was flooded was once a land of fish and rice. There were nearly 100,000 acres of farmland alone.

Today, those fields are flooded and most of them are destroyed.

If he could take these fields into his hands and then use technology to grow crops, then he would not only have money, but also food!

As long as the people can provide him with a livelihood, which is more promising than farming, and it is difficult to reclaim the destroyed fertile land, they will be willing to sell the land to Jiang Fan.

However, it might take some effort for the landlords to get the land from them.

However, he was a prince, and because of the flood, some of the landlords fled. Even if they didn't, the value of their destroyed fields was greatly reduced. It wouldn't be a big problem for him to take the land into his hands.

Jiang Fan had plenty of money. He still had more than two million taels of silver left from his winnings from a bet, not to mention the money he had already made from his other businesses.

Now that he has people and money, he can open any stall.

At present, what Jiang Fan is most worried about is the flood in Huainan Prefecture. If the more than 100,000 acres of land are hit by floods again, he will suffer heavy losses.

Therefore, Jiang Fan decided to help Chu Yan'er build the river embankment. The cement in his hands could be used to build the river embankment, and there would be no need to worry about floods.

So, after the trade fair, Jiang Fan started his own plan, building a papermaking workshop, deploying papermaking workers, and then, the textile workshop.

He planned to go to Huai'an County after he finished dealing with the matters in Huaining.

Jiang Fan was busy in Huaining Prefecture. In the capital, the princes who had been defeated and the court officials who depended on them were not calm after the trade fair. They were extremely anxious.

Previously, they thought Jiang Fan was cheating, and they were absolutely sure to make Jiang Fan lose. However, once the trade show started, not only was Jiang Fan's victory certain, but they also didn't even have a chance to fight back.

"Grandpa, what should we do now? Jiang Fan has won again... If Chu Yan'er gives up the next bet, then it's a foregone conclusion that they will be tied together."

The eldest prince looked at his grandfather anxiously, while the third prince, the fifth prince and other court officials all looked at Ye Ren.

The three princes are now tied to the same rope. Jiang Fan's strong rise makes them further away from that position.

Upon hearing this, Ye Ren glanced at Jiang Yi and the others, his eyes as dark as water, and a sinister look on his face.

"No hurry. No matter what, I will not let the Chu family be tied to that kid. His late return has given me a chance."

The other princes were stunned, and the court officials who were attached to them also looked puzzled.

The current situation is extremely unfavorable to them, but Ye Ren said that Jiang Fan’s late return would be good for him. What does this mean?

"Everyone, haven't you noticed that the weather has been a bit hot recently? Is the temperature difference between day and night a bit big? The southwest wind hasn't blown yet?" Ye Ren glanced at everyone indifferently and said something inexplicable.

Everyone was stunned and wanted to ask something, but Ye Ren just smiled faintly and turned away. Everyone was stunned by Ye Ren's mysterious mumbling.

Just as several princes and dependent court officials were puzzled, a series of rumors began to spread among the people early the next morning.

"The evil star appears, bringing disaster to the world. First there is a flood, then there is a drought. All kinds of disasters will come. If the evil star is not eliminated, the world will be in turmoil, the people will be uneasy, and the country will no longer exist!"

The meaning of the rumor was very simple. An evil star had appeared in the world and would bring disaster to the world. First there would be floods, then droughts, and then a series of disasters. If the evil star was not eliminated, not only would the world be in turmoil, the people would also suffer, and the country might even be destroyed.

Once this rumor appeared, with someone fanning the flames from behind, the rumor spread more and more widely, and even vaguely, the evil star in the rumor pointed directly at the eighth prince Jiang Fan.

Although the people loved Jiang Fan because of his work in Huaining County to help them make a living, they were not well-educated and were influenced by feudal ideas in the feudal dynasty, so they were ignorant.

Gradually, people began to doubt Jiang Fan. Some believed that Jiang Fan was not the evil star, but some believed that Jiang Fan was the evil star.

Even the public attributed the flood disaster in Huainan to Jiang Fan. Soon, rumors spread among the people that the capital and several surrounding prefectures would be hit by a drought that would occur once in a century.

The director of the Imperial Observatory also jumped out at this time and confirmed the rumors among the people that the drought relief work had really started since Jiang Fanxiao's exhibition.

Following the words of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, the people found that the weather was getting hotter day by day, the temperature difference between day and night became extremely large, and even the monsoon stopped blowing. Wasn't this a sign of the coming drought?

Feeling that a drought was about to happen, all the people immediately panicked. You know, now is the time when grain crops are ripe. If a drought comes at this time, all the grain crops will die, and a year's work will be in vain.

The entire capital city and the surrounding prefectures were suddenly in panic.

As the rumor spread on the fourth day, it had almost penetrated into the people, and most of them had begun to believe that the demon star was Jiang Fan.

In the eldest prince's palace, Ye Ren, Huang Zhenren, several princes and a dozen dependent court officials were gathered together at this time, with smug expressions on their faces.