"The news about the prince is really well-informed." Zhang Zong did not expect Li Hong to know about Lin Yidao so soon. He only learned from Xue Shao that Lin Yidao was sent to the capital, and Princess Chengyang also entered the palace with rice seeds, but there is no news yet.

"You know such an excellent rice seed. Why didn't you tell me the first two meetings?" Li Hong said excitedly again.

"The prince misunderstood. I like to read some miscellaneous books the most, so I know a lot of messy things. Lin Yidao was also chatted and told her inadvertently when the eldest princess invited me to the banquet. But unexpectedly, the eldest princess actually sent someone to Linyi and brought the rice seeds back." Zhang Zong hurriedly defended himself. He knew too much that could change this era, so of course it was impossible to say it whenever he saw someone.

"Then do you know if there are any better rice seeds?" Li Hong asked unwillingly at this time.

"There are better rice seeds, but they need to be cultivated slowly, and I can't tell when they can be cultivated." Zhang Zong thought of hybrid rice. Although he did not have the ability of Mr. Yuan, he still knew the principle of hybridization. As long as he patiently let the rice hybridization cultivate, he might really be able to cultivate high-yield hybrid rice one day.

Li Hong also showed a disappointed expression when he heard this, but he didn't expect that Zhang Zong would turn his mind and say again: "However, although there are no rice seeds, there are still other higher yields. For example, I know a crop called corn. The yield per mu is two or three times higher than that of wheat and rice. There are potatoes and sweet potatoes. These two crops can achieve a yield of several thousand kilograms per mu, but this is wet weight, not dry weight."

"Really! There are such high-yield crops in this world?" Li Hong was excited and almost jumped up. The yield per mu was several thousand kilograms, and even the wet weight was beyond his imagination.

"Of course it's true, but unfortunately, these three crops are all in extremely faraway places. If you want to find them, you have to sail out to sea. You know, let's send people to Japan first, and then find an ocean current to the east on the east coast of Japan, and follow the current. If you are lucky, you may be able to reach another continent in more than 20 days. However, that continent is relatively large and may take several months to find these crops. If everything goes well, you may be able to bring them back in less than a year." Zhang Zong said the truth again.

"Can you finish your words at once?" Li Hong actually showed a resentful expression when he heard this. Zhang Zong's words gave him hope and disappointed him again. He had a bad heart, but he could not withstand this stimulation.

Li Hong has not had a year now. You should know that his mother has already started to use the North Gate Bachelor to seize power. Moreover, Zhang Zong said it nicely. It would take a year for good luck, but if he was not lucky, all the people sent out might die at the sea.

"The prince asked what he did. Is the Tang Dynasty short of food now?" Zhang Zong asked in confusion at this time.

"The more food, the better, the more important thing, but the most important thing is that I need a political achievement that can seek credit from my father!" Li Hong said with a heavy expression.

Don't take credit for the prince. In fact, Li Hong's poor health has caused some objections to him. Therefore, he urgently needs something to prove to his father Li Zhi that if the rice seeds were offered by him, it would greatly consolidate his position as the prince. In contrast, the great contribution of the Chief Prince of Chengyang was useless, after all, she could not participate in politics.

Zhang Zong also reacted when he heard this. It seemed that Wu Meiniang's actions also put a lot of pressure on Li Hong, but he asked in confusion: "Isn't the method of making ice in saltpeter last time also a political achievement?"

"It's too small. Although saltpeter ice making is magical, because the price of saltpeter is not cheap, only medium or above can afford it. Moreover, this thing can only cool down, and its importance cannot be compared with food at all." Li Hong said with a wry smile.

Zhang Zong nodded when he heard this. The scope of use of saltpeter ice making is too narrow, and even if it does not cool down in summer, it may not be devastating, but it will be a little uncomfortable. In contrast, not eating food will really devastating.

"By the way, when it comes to making ice in saltpeter, I have reported it to my father before. Now it has started to promote it in the capital, and your reward is about to come down. But now you have offered rice seeds again. I guess two rewards will be distributed together at that time!" Li Hong suddenly thought of the reward to Zhang Zong and spoke again.

"Is there a reward? I won't be allowed to be an official, right?" Zhang Zong asked worriedly when he heard this.

"Don't worry, Linyidao's great contribution has fallen on you. My father really wants to reward you with official positions. Even if it is your father's affairs, the father can issue an order to make an exception. However, my aunt persuaded her to stop her. Therefore, this reward may only contain land and money, and will not reward you with official positions." Li Hong introduced helplessly.

"It's good if there's nothing, it's good if there's nothing!" Zhang Zong patted his chest and looked scared.

Li Hong next to him was speechless when he saw this. Could it be that the official position of their Li family is so unpopular with Zhang Zong and his son?

"But don't be too happy too early. This time, you can give rice seeds through your aunt's offering, which may make some people unhappy. Maybe someone will notice you at that time!" Li Hong said deliberately.

"Your mother isn't that stingy, right?" Zhang Zong was startled when he heard this and blurted out directly.

"Cough~" Li Hong also showed an embarrassing look when he heard this. He had a very tacit understanding when chatting with Zhang Zong before, but he just said something to some people, but he did not name it. Now, Zhang Zong directly made the words clear, which made him unable to pretend to be confused anymore.

Zhang Zong's mood was completely destroyed by Li Hong's words. He had never thought about this problem before. After all, for Wu Meiniang, Princess Chengyang could not participate in politics, so her threat was far from comparable to Li Hong. Even if the two had conflicts, it would not involve herself, a small person.

But now he was careful with each other. Wu Meiniang seemed to be really not generous. Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu were cut off and died tragically. This kind of thing was not something that ordinary people could do. In addition, Princess Chengyang died later, and Xue Shao also married her favorite Princess Taiping, but even so, she tortured Xue Shao to death. This hatred made people feel cold in their bones.

"Your Highness, how about we make a deal?" Zhang Zong suddenly raised his head and stared at Li Hongdao. He was not very brave, especially after traveling through time, he had never felt any security in this era, so even if there was a slight threat, he had to treat it with caution.

"What deal?" Li Hong's embarrassment finally receded at this time, and then he asked with interest.

"Didn't you want credit? I can help you, but you have to ensure my safety!" Zhang Zong said very seriously.

"Of course it's okay for me to live, but what if I suddenly die of illness one day?" Li Hong seemed to have inherited his mother's petty mind. At this time, he deliberately used Zhang Zong's previous words to squeeze him out. After all, Zhang Zong said just now that he might die of illness at any time.

Zhang Zong did not seem to hear Li Hong's run, but instead thought seriously and said, "This is a problem, and I don't make things difficult for you. As long as you can ensure my safety during your lifetime!"

Li Hong was almost angry to death when he heard this, but in the end he suppressed his anger and asked again: "What are you going to help me? Haven't you given the rice seeds already given away?"

"Your Highness, Prince, you should broaden your horizons and not just focus on food. There are many things in this world that can be used for political achievements, such as... printing!" Zhang Zong said for a moment and soon thought of a good thing.

"Print? Are you talking about printing Buddhist scriptures?" Li Hong was stunned when he heard Zhang Zong's words, and then he showed a puzzled expression, because in his opinion, this kind of thing was useless at all?

Printing techniques had already appeared during the Tang Dynasty, which developed from the rubbing of stone tablets. However, the printing techniques of this period were still very primitive and mainly focused on carving printing. Moreover, because the technology of carvings was very rough, they could only be used to print some religious propaganda pages, such as printing a Buddha, adding a few Buddhist scriptures on it, and they were used to distribute them to attract believers.

As for the dissemination of books, it mainly relies on manpower to copy. This method is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also prone to errors.

"It's not the kind of primary engraving printing, but movable type printing. We don't use clay movable type, but just use copper movable type. The principle is very simple, you will understand it as soon as you hear it!" Zhang Zong said, taking the seals that the Tang people often use as an example, and soon Li Hong understood the mystery of movable type printing.

Of course, although the principle of movable type printing is simple, it also involves many technologies, such as ink, movable type production, typesetting, etc., but these are not a big problem for Zhang Zong.

"You...you mean that you can use this method to print books on a large scale, so that everyone in the world can afford books!" Li Hong also stood up excitedly at this time.

Books were a very expensive commodity in the Tang Dynasty, mainly because of manpower copying. It is said that a scholar needs to copy a book with thousands of articles, plus paper, pen and ink, etc., so the price of a book can be imagined.

Last year, Zhang Zong was buried with Father's Day without money. The most valuable books in his family were the books. Unfortunately, a few years ago, the fire broke out at home, and most of the books were burned. The remaining books were also damaged and could not be sold at any price. In the end, he had to borrow money from Xu Yalang.
Chapter completed!