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

"Really, Uncle Lu, you have canned food?"

"Canned food? What canned food?"

As if waking from a dream, Lu Da came to his senses and realized that he had indeed been daydreaming.

"Canned fruit."

"Oh, canned fruit? Yes, yes, I'll have someone send it over in a bit."

Other colleagues wanted canned food, but of course there wasn't any. Zhou Wu's first batch of goods was not much, which is why Lu Da hadn't started selling it yet. But if the princess wanted it, that was a different story.

"Thank you, Uncle Lu. The ladies in the palace also like canned fruit. Could you send some more?"

Li Xixue was a little embarrassed to speak, but Li Tiancheng was secretly overjoyed, praising his good daughter in his heart.

"That's nature, that's nature."

"Thank you, Uncle Lu."

Having achieved her goal, Li Xixue skipped away, and Li Tiancheng, having nothing to say to Lu Da, found an excuse to close the door to visitors.

After arriving at the palace gate, Lu Da suddenly became cautious, like a thief, peeking his head out of the gate to look around. Only when he found no one was there did he feel relieved.

"all gone?"

"Lord Duke, the other officials have already left."

The guards at the palace gate knew that Duke Lu was hiding from other ministers, so they told him the truth.

Having received a definite answer, Lu Da was completely relieved. He stepped out of the palace gate, waved to find the waiting carriage in the distance, and headed home.

"This canned fruit is sure to cause a sensation in the capital, haha, it's time for my Lu family to make a fortune!"

Humming a little tune along the way, Lu Da was in a great mood. The carriage slowly came to a stop, it seemed they had arrived home.

Lu Da lifted the curtain, but as soon as half of his body was out, he quickly pulled it back.

Am I seeing things?

As if he didn't believe it, he secretly glanced outside again and saw that all the court officials were at the gate of his residence.

"What's going on? Turn around and leave immediately!"

"Hehe, you think you can run away? You're too late."

Everyone had already spotted Lu Da's carriage. They seemed to have even discussed their tactics: one group quietly circled around to the back and cut off the carriage's rear, while the rest surrounded it.

"Hehe, what brings you all here today?"

Seeing that there was no way to avoid it, and that the other side had more people and more power, Lu Da couldn't resort to force, so he put on a smiling face and laughed it off.

"I'm sure the Duke of Lu knows very well why we've come."

"Let's be frank, if we don't get the canned food today, none of us are leaving."

"That's right, they're not leaving."

"I'll sleep right outside your Duke's mansion, so everyone can see."

"Yes."

Once someone takes the lead, others follow suit without restraint.

"Damn it, a wise man doesn't fight a losing battle. This time, I, Lu Da, admit defeat."

Lu Da cursed inwardly, thinking that he was definitely not going to escape this time and could only accept his bad luck.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I know you're all here for the canned fruit. To be honest, I do have some stock, but just now, His Majesty summoned me, as you all know."

"Could it be that all the canned goods have fallen into His Majesty's hands?"

Lu Da's sudden statement was quickly guessed by some.

"Yes, His Majesty just spoke to me about canned food, but don't worry, everyone thinks so highly of me, I'll do my best to squeeze some out for you. It's not much, but it's a token of my appreciation. We've worked together in the same court for so many years, and you know that I, Lu Da, am a kind and generous person."

Damn it, when everyone heard Lu Da's words, their faces instantly turned ashen. "You want two cans of food and you call yourself philanthropist? We know exactly what kind of person you are, you're a stingy scumbag."

However, seeing that their goal had been achieved, everyone stopped making a fuss and stood at the door waiting to be divided into cans.

Lu Da summoned his servants, who then brought out all the canned goods.

There were ten carriages in total, and everyone present was given four cans. Half of the food was gone, which made Lu Da very upset.

"Only four cans?"

Ministers, each of you has a large family behind you. Who can eat all four of these cans?

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, it really can't go on. All of these have already been reported to the palace, and we really can't distribute them any more. Here's what we'll do: when the next batch of goods arrives, I will definitely deliver them to your door."

Good heavens, Lu Da was already feeling the pinch with just four jars of wine, and these guys still complained it wasn't enough, so they had no choice but to shift the blame onto the emperor.

Having said all that, the group finally let Lu Da go and left the Duke of Lu's mansion together.

These people, as if they had won a battle, went to the restaurant in groups of three or five.

"Haha, that's great, that's really great! This is the first time in all these years that I've seen the Duke of Lu suffer such a setback."

"Who says otherwise? We've always been the ones who suffer losses, who would have thought he'd end up like this?"

"It's worth celebrating, it's worth celebrating! Today I'm hosting, let's all drink to our hearts' content."

"That won't do, I'll do it."

"Stop fighting over it, it's my turn, it's my turn."

Who would have thought that a Duke of Lu could have boosted the GDP of the capital's hotels by 20% today?

. . . .

South China Sea islands.

Zhou Wu, who was far away on a South China Sea island, received a letter from Lu Da in the capital.

The main message was to describe how popular the canned goods were in the capital, urging Zhou Wu to ship a large quantity as soon as possible. Zhou Wu worked day and night to finally have some stock.

In Jinshan Prefecture, since the planting season has passed, fruit trees can only be planted after spring. However, the glass factory started operation as scheduled, and the cannery was able to start operation with temporary supplies from Zhou Wu. Therefore, both sides are producing canned goods at the same time, and there is already a considerable inventory.

Zhou Wu's plan is to focus on the capital city for now, because the capital city has the most wealthy people, and the current inventory can only barely maintain the market in the capital city. After the canned food is launched in the capital city, there will be no need for publicity, the popularity of the canned food will automatically spread throughout the entire Great Dragon Empire.

"Sir, we are severely understaffed right now."

Deng Yuanliang is extremely busy every day, dealing with the construction of cities and theme parks, glass factories, canneries, fruit orchards, and rubber plantations—there are just too many things to do.

"Yuanliang, you've worked hard these past few days. I'll find someone to assist you as soon as possible."

Zhou Wu saw this and felt a little sorry for Deng Yuanliang, but there was really no one around to share the burden, so he could only let Deng Yuanliang shoulder the responsibility alone for the time being.

"Sir, I'm fine here, the problem is that we're really short-handed."

He's been really busy lately, but Deng Yuanliang likes this feeling of being busy. Only when he's busy can he truly feel his own existence.

"I've also told the chambers of commerce about the manpower issue, asking them to help attract some workers to our area. I believe they will do their best, since we are now a group with shared interests."

Zhou Wu had been trying to find a solution regarding manpower, but to be honest, he didn't have a better way than to increase the promotion of the South China Sea island policy. After all, he couldn't just kidnap people to come here.

"Wait, kidnapping?"