General Ulric prepared the troops and supplies and soon set out to scout the land.
General Yves used the world map he had and had a sketch made for General Ulric.
General Ulric left.
Penn had also opened a route to the Wu Kingdom and came to say goodbye to General Yves.
At this time, General Yves was busy receiving potatoes that Sophia sent over.
She said another batch of seafood was coming.
Seafood, whether it was the fish sent before or this new word, was something he had never seen. He asked the soldiers, but no one knew it either.
After writing to ask, he found out seafood means creatures from the sea.
It was amazing.
General Yves became more curious about the future world and felt restless, wondering if one day his rule would reach the sea.
Penn wanted to say many things to General Yves but saw everyone busy carrying bag after bag of potatoes in the yard. Somehow, he joined in.
After moving seventy to eighty thousand pounds of potatoes, Penn looked at the yard almost covered by the potatoes. He was shocked but felt he had chosen the right leader.
He wanted to speak to the commander but suddenly more white boxes fell.
He recognized them.
"Commander, is this frozen fish again like last time?" Penn asked excitedly.
General Yves did not look up. He told someone to bring a box over to open.
Inside were fish again, but they looked like different kinds.
"The commander above sent us meat again!" Penn said happily.
And it was fish!
Seeing the meat, everyone in the yard's eyes lit up.
After defeating the Chen and Chu kingdoms, the Zhao army really had no food left.
Even though they conquered two kingdoms, the grain storage in Chu was missing, and rumors said Chu's treasury was empty.
They could only eat because they took over Chen, but that grain had to supply Zhao's country, Chu land, Chen commandery, and soldiers. Food was limited, not to mention meat.
General Yves then looked at Penn. "Mr. Penn, soon you will go to the Wu Kingdom. We will give you five hundred pounds of these fish, but the ice will melt soon. You should dry the fish in the next days and take them with you."
Penn's eyes brightened. "Commander, I plan to enter Wu Kingdom as a fisherman from southern Yue. Having this seafood will help me gain the trust of the Wu people."
Sophia sent many things, but more important was how General Yves and others used them well, not wasting her kindness.
Penn came to say goodbye sadly but happily left with five hundred pounds of fish. Once home, he ordered people to dry the fish quickly.
The weather had been dry for months, perfect for drying salted fish.
Sophia worked hard to send food, and General Yves thought not to make things hard for her because they needed to cooperate long term.
He did not know what Sophia needed, and since she never said money was not enough, he decided to keep sending gold, silver, jewels, and many antiques and paintings from their warehouse.
After Penn finished ordering his men to dry the fish, General Yves sent someone quickly to catch up with him with a message.
"Mr. Penn, the commander says the fish are not free. When you sell them, if you urgently take the money back, you must also offer tribute to the one above."
Penn was a bit surprised but then nodded. "Okay, please tell the commander. We will make sure to send some back."
He did not care much about money. What mattered most was achieving great success and making a lasting name.
General Yves started having people gather and list what was in the warehouse, sorting dozens of boxes of gold, silver, and jewels.
At this moment, Sophia finally received a note.
It said they wanted gold, porcelain, and antique paintings and calligraphy.
"Pick out the gold separately, select a batch of fine porcelain carefully, and store them safely. Also, the jewelry and headpieces copied earlier from King Chen's palace, plus the calligraphy, paintings, and musical instruments left from the previous dynasty."
Sophia watched the sky darken and wondered if she should keep waiting. But the other side was very efficient. Soon, the items started arriving.
Luckily, she had already moved the pig trough to the third floor. One wooden box after another appeared, and Sophia was overwhelmed.
She had no time to organize and had to quickly clear space in the trough for each new box.
When everything was delivered, boxes were piled all around Sophia.
General Yves sent a final message asking if she was satisfied.
Sophia took the note and opened the boxes one by one. She put heavy items on one side and lighter ones on the other.
Opening the heavy side, she found all gold, silver, and jewelry. Even the market wholesale sellers wouldn't dare handle such treasures.
Not counting what was stored in the bank, there were still many boxes waiting in the third-floor warehouse!
The gold, silver, and jewelry sparkled under the light. Although Sophia had seen them many times before, she was still amazed.
There were gold ingots, gold seeds, gold peanuts, gold cakes, jade and emerald bead strings, bracelets, hairpins, rings, and bangles.
She remembered watching Du Shiniang clutch all her family's jewelry as she drowned, which was very tragic.
Now, seeing real gold and jade, Sophia couldn't take her eyes off them.
After finishing, she went to the other side and opened those boxes. Inside were scroll paintings. One had a signature by the famous Wang Quan'an.
"Oh my god! I'm rich!"
She recalled a few years ago, one of Wang Quan'an's calligraphy works sold at auction for a billion yuan!
That meant the scroll in her hand was worth a billion!
Sophia's hands trembled. She didn't dare look too long, fearing she might accidentally spit on the painting and ruin it.
There were about ten paintings, all by famous artists, some legendary in history. She never thought she'd have them now.
"No, I have to send a message to confirm!"
Since she was already writing, she asked General Yves directly.
Soon, General Yves replied, "They are all authentic works collected from the royal palace."
No one would dare cheat the emperor.
Sophia wasn't tired or sleepy anymore.
She spread out the paintings and took photos of each.
Then she opened Professor Zhou's WeChat and sent the pictures to her.
Professor Zhou replied immediately, "You have a genuine Wang Quan'an original?"
"Is the painting with you now?"
"Where are you?"
"I'm buying a plane ticket right now."
Professor Zhou not only replied quickly but sent several messages in a row.
Sophia had just checked Professor Zhou's moments. She seemed to be on a business trip abroad but answered so fast.
Sophia hadn't even collected her thoughts when Professor Zhou transferred 30 million to her account.