If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

Now all that's left for the workers over there to do is practice making the glass jars. Next, Zhou Wu will start steaming the fruit, which is quite simple.

After selecting some fruit, washing and cutting it into pieces, I started steaming it, added sugar, and let it cool before it was done.

"Perfect."

The process is complete; all that's left is for the glass bottles to be produced before we can begin production.

"My lord, there is something I am not sure if I should say."

Deng Yuanliang tasted a piece of the canned fruit and found it to be sweet and delicious. However, he immediately discovered a very serious problem.

"Old Deng, just say what's on your mind."

Zhou Wu was also eating canned food heartily, and even packed some to take home for his family to try.

"Sir, this canned food seems to need added sugar, and not just a little?"

"Yeah, how can you eat canned food without sugar?"

"Sir, this candy isn't as precious as gold, but it's not cheap either."

"What~"

Deng Yuanliang's reminder made Zhou Wu realize that he had forgotten such an important thing: sugar production in this era was very low, and they even had to import it, so sugar prices remained high.

"It's over, it's over, Old Chen is waiting for us, this is terrible, what are we going to do?"

Zhou Wu was truly anxious. If this matter only concerned himself, then it wouldn't be a big deal to slow down, and it wouldn't matter if he didn't start. But he had already discussed it with **An, and **An had already started working on it. If he stopped now, he wouldn't be able to explain it to them.

"Sir, very little of the sugar produced domestically in our Great Dragon is produced; most of it is sold by foreign merchants, resulting in high prices and excessively high costs. I estimate that the price of this canned fruit can only be sold to the wealthy."

Zhou Wu understood Deng Yuanliang's words perfectly. He could accept that canned fruit was temporarily expensive, but he couldn't allow it to remain out of reach forever, as that would contradict his original intention.

“Yuanliang, when our trading caravan goes out to sea to trade recently, we should increase our sugar purchases and send people to start looking for sugarcane on the island.”

"Yes."

Although the purchase price is high, it can ensure that the production schedule is not delayed. On the other hand, the search for sugarcane on the island is to solve the problem of sugar supply in the future.

Sugar comes from only a few plants, with sugarcane being the most common and producing the most sugar. Given the location of the South China Sea islands, the probability of sugarcane growing there is very high.

The glass factories in Nanhai rose up almost simultaneously with those in Jinshanfu.

A glass factory has created hundreds of jobs for Jinshan Prefecture. Since Jinshan Prefecture does not yet have large-scale fruit cultivation, although the cannery has been built, it has not recruited a large number of workers. It has only recruited a few dozen women who are familiar with making fruit cans using fruit imported from the South China Sea.

According to Zhou Wu's analysis, the successfully made canned fruit can be stored for at least six months without any problems, so the canned fruit is not being sold to the public and is just lying quietly in the warehouse.

. . . . . . . .

South China Sea islands.

"Sir, we have indeed found sugarcane. We have found large sugarcane fields in the northern part of the South China Sea island."

After finishing the fruit canning business, Zhou Wu was able to take a break, but Deng Yuanliang suddenly rushed in with a happy expression.

"Haha, great! How much is there?"

Zhou Wu jumped up excitedly when he heard this. He thought it would be good enough to find sugarcane, and he would hurry up and plant it himself. But he didn't expect to get it right away.

"It's enough for our cannery."

"it is good."

With sugarcane in hand, Zhou Wu built a sugar factory and then had Deng Yuanliang arrange for people to plant sugarcane on a large scale.

“The project is nearing completion, and the tribespeople don’t have much to do anyway, so let them go and harvest the sugarcane.”

"it is good."

Don't get me wrong, Zhou Wu is going to pay the tribe to harvest the sugarcane; he won't do it for free.

I thought that once the city's construction was nearing completion, things would become much less hectic, but little did I know that this was just the beginning.

Building a city is easy, but developing the entire fiefdom is the real challenge.

The city is still mostly empty, with an occupancy rate of less than 10%. Apart from Nanhai City, the entire Nanhai Island can be said to be still in an unexplored stage.

Although Zhou Wu had arranged for people to start unlocking the map, the South China Sea was indeed too large and had a lot of rainforest, making it impossible to travel on foot. Horses simply couldn't reach many places, so people had to rely on their own two feet, which is why the progress was so slow.

Now all the issues related to sugar, glass, fruit, and canning have been resolved, and canned fruit has now entered the formal production stage.

. . . . . . .

A fleet of ships departed from the South China Sea, one of which was loaded with canned goods from both the South China Sea and Jinshan Prefecture. The fleet's destination was the capital, where Zhou Wu intended to launch a major offensive with the canned goods.

The fleet slowly approached the dock, where people had been waiting for a long time. One of them was Lu Jian'an, Lu Da's eldest son.

Zhou Wu wrote to Lu Da in advance, informing him that there was a ship full of important materials, which were also new products, and asked Lu Da to arrange for people to take good care of them and not to sell them yet, but to wait for his news.

Although Lu Da was completely confused, he knew that since it came from Zhou Wu, it must be another profitable deal, so he instructed his eldest son to take on this task.

"It's fucking cold."

The South China Sea was still warm as spring, but the capital was starting to get cold. Lu Jian'an waited at the dock all morning. It was already cold, and the moisture at the dock made even this strong man feel unbearable.

He secretly opened his water bottle and took a sip, which relieved his discomfort. The soldiers behind him knew that it contained wine, and they couldn't help but swallow.

"Don't rush, I'll treat you to drinks after I finish this business trip."

"hey-hey."

Upon hearing Lu Jian'an's words, everyone burst into silly laughter.

Although Lu Jian'an was the son of Duke Lu Da, he completely inherited his father's genes and had none of the vices of a nobleman. On the contrary, he often mingled with the people below him.

Finally, the fleet came into view, heading towards the dock.

"Here you are, cheer up."

"Yes."

After docking, dockworkers began unloading the cargo, which could only be transported away by horse-drawn carts after disembarking.

“Take these things back to your warehouse, and this whole cart will come with me to the palace.”

"Yes, Master."

Before leaving home, his father had given the order to send a cartload of food to the palace as a tribute to the emperor. Only Lu Jian'an could personally handle such a matter.

The escort carriage traveled through the streets of the capital. As the weather grew colder, there were far fewer pedestrians on the streets, and the bustling sounds of vendors hawking their wares, which were common in warmer weather, were gone from the shops along the street.

"Young master, what are we escorting?"

These soldiers had all distinguished themselves on the battlefield under Lu Da's command. Now, due to injuries or old age, they had nowhere to go, so Lu Da placed them in his home, which could be considered a form of retirement.