IDWBE -Chapter 457 Hai Mao

In the middle of the night, whether a woman like Guan Xiaoqi might be in danger was not something he needed to concern himself with.

As the commander of the Prince He’s residence guards, if Jiao Zhong needed instructions for even such a small matter, he might as well be dismissed outright!

If a man lacked even that bit of awareness, how could he continue serving before him?

Just as he had expected, no sooner had he stepped out of the city gate tunnel than Jiao Zhong followed, smiling obsequiously.

“Your Highness, the brothers are protecting her in secret. And fearing Miss Guan might encounter villains at night, I’ve also arranged for additional patrol officers from Ankang City to sweep the surrounding area. Please rest assured, Your Highness—there won’t be the slightest mishap.”

Lin Yi smiled. “Good. That will do.”

After a brief hesitation, Jiao Zhong said, “Your Highness, the carriage has arrived. Would you like to ride?”

Lin Yi shook his head. “Better to walk a bit. If I don’t exercise, this belly of mine will only grow bigger. Not to mention the ‘three highs’—that would be troublesome.”

When the time came, there wouldn’t even be medicine to lower blood pressure, blood lipids, or blood sugar!

He might go to bed perfectly fine one night and suffer a stroke in his sleep, never to wake again.

And even if he did wake up by some miracle—with a limp leg and a crooked mouth—how would that look?

Might as well just die outright!

So in this ancient era with extremely backward medical care, preserving one’s health was absolutely necessary.

Most importantly, his lower abdomen had been aching lately. He suspected he had developed kidney stones!

There were no machines in this world to break stones with shockwaves or perform surgery. The only method was to drink more water and jump around.

These days, whenever he could walk, he walked, avoiding transportation whenever possible.

Mingyue and Zixia had served Lin Yi for many years. Like Hu Shilu, they knew a bit of modern scientific knowledge and understood what “stones” were.

Moreover, since the people of Sanhe loved seafood, it was a high-incidence area for stone disease in Liang State. It was common to see people clutching their stomachs in unbearable pain.

After Prince He entered Sanhe, he actively promoted the “high-jumping” method for treating stones.

They were no strangers to it.

Still, sometimes Lin Yi jumped so frequently that they almost wanted to summon Hu Shilu to check on him—had he developed hysteria?

A dignified Regent jumping up and down in the courtyard—what kind of spectacle was that?

“Your Highness is wise,” Jiao Zhong said.

He also understood what the “three highs” were.

As Prince He liked to say, they were troubles only the wealthy suffered from!

The poor couldn’t even afford enough to eat—how could they possibly have the “three highs”? Most likely they’d never suffer such rich men’s diseases.

This illness was very fair—it selected only nobles and officials!

The poor had no need to worry about it.

Instead, they had to worry whether eating bran and vegetables every day would leave them malnourished, skin and bones.

“I’ve also had some toothache lately,” Lin Yi said gloomily. “Have Hu Shilu come by sometime and pull the tooth for me.”

If not for helpless necessity, he truly didn’t want to give up that decayed tooth!

Once it was pulled, there’d be no way to fill it!

A gold tooth?

Forget it. Dying of heavy metal poisoning didn’t sound like a good bargain either.

Sigh. Even as the most powerful man in Great Liang, he was helpless before a cavity.

He looked up at the pitch-black sky and thought of his previous life—lying in a wheelchair, taking medicine every day. Technology had been so advanced, and yet it still couldn’t make him stand again.

With that thought, he suddenly felt at peace.

No matter what, in this life his arms and legs were whole, and he wasn’t a walking medicine jar.

What was one less tooth?

“Your Highness,” Jiao Zhong said carefully while guarding his sides, “Divine Doctor Hu has long told Miss Mingyue that Imperial Physician Niu in the palace specializes in treating dental caries. I’ll summon him tomorrow.”

Lin Yi nodded. “That works.”

As he walked, he watched more and more lanterns converge from both sides. He waved his hand.

“What, are you afraid I won’t trip? Why so bright?”

Jiao Zhong hurriedly ordered, “Add more lamps!”

“Yes, sir!”

Voices answered in unison.

Soon, more and more figures emerged from the darkness, carrying horse-lanterns onto the snow-covered street.

“Easy to go from frugality to luxury, hard to go back,” Lin Yi suddenly sighed. “Once you get used to whale oil, you really don’t want to use anything else. How can the road be this dark?”

Even for street lamps, he now preferred whale oil!

At times it was indeed extravagant—easily costing over a hundred taels of silver a month.

But then he thought of it another way: he was promoting maritime development!

Where did whale oil come from?

Whales, of course.

And where did whales come from?

The deep sea, the far ocean!

Ever since he popularized the use of whale oil, the nobles and officials of Great Liang had all taken pride in using it.

If your household couldn’t even use whale oil, how could you claim to be wealthy and distinguished?

Elsewhere he didn’t know, but in Ankang City, one tael of whale oil now cost one tael of silver!

Extremely expensive!

Any merchant with half a brain could see that selling whale oil and hunting whales was a path to fortune.

In Ankang City, some nobles even took action beyond Lin Yi’s expectations—they established Great Liang’s first “whaling fleet.”

Lin Yi was delighted and personally wrote an inscription for them: “Take Bigger Steps.”

The meaning was clear: don’t be afraid of overreaching—he, the Regent, would back them up.

Nowadays in Ankang City, any overseas “imported” goods were first adopted by Lin Yi himself.

He even granted tax exemptions to so-called “ingenious contraptions.”

For a time, maritime trade flourished in Liang.

As Minister of Finance of Liang State, Gan Mao was troubled and worried. Liang was already short on funds—now so much silver was flowing overseas. What a pity!

He wanted to oppose it, but he couldn’t.

Prince He had said that shutting the country off would never lead to a way out. On public occasions, he had declared more than once: “Persist in maritime trade without wavering,” “Whoever opposes maritime trade is my enemy,” and “The world is so big—go out and see it.”

Even Wang Qingbang, He Jixiang, Bian Jing—so-called close associates—would leave with dust on their faces after trying to advise him.

Prince He gave no one a chance to argue, nor did he give anyone face.

His attitude was utterly resolute!

If even He Jixiang and the others were reprimanded, who else would dare make trouble?

Don’t ask. If asked, the answer was support for the “opening-up” policy.

“Your Highness,” Jiao Zhong said with a forced smile as he looked at the street as bright as day, “please look…”

In secret, this was all the manpower they had!

If Prince He still found it too dim, he truly had no solution.

“That’s enough,” Lin Yi said as he walked. “The snow will likely grow heavier tonight. Tell Ma Jie to stay vigilant. We mustn’t let those beggars freeze to death easily. Daily porridge distribution and cotton clothes—don’t let it stop.”

Jiao Zhong quickly replied, “Your Highness is compassionate. It is the blessing of the people under Heaven.”

Lin Yi burst into laughter.