Chapter 534 Extra 4

In April, the eldest son of the Pingle Marquisate became engaged to the second daughter of the Left Shaoqing of the Taichang Temple, and they got married in September. From then on, Chu Shangming would have to call Pei Yunjian his uncle.

In the eleventh year of Shunguang, the national land survey was completed, the tax reform was effectively implemented at the local level, and the treasury tax revenue increased. The emperor was very pleased and rewarded the officials according to their merits.

Leaving aside the others, the four people who followed King Xiao around were all given official positions.

Chu Shangming was transferred to the Ministry of Personnel to be the Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel, a fifth-rank official with the same powers as the fourth-rank official.

Pei Yunjian wanted to use his merits to ask the emperor to grant him a marriage. When Ren Qingxia heard this, he also knelt down and wanted to use his merits to exchange for a marriage. This made their fathers so angry that they rolled their eyes.

In fact, after so many years, the two families have basically accepted it. After all, he is not the only son, so the family line will not be cut off.

The two kids were determined to get along with each other. Their parents, who felt sorry for them, beat them, scolded them, and tried to persuade them, but they couldn't get rid of them and had no choice but to accept it.

But when they heard the two of them asking for marriage in front of all the civil and military officials, the two old fathers still found it a bit difficult to breathe.

Chu Shangming quickly supported his father-in-law to calm him down. If he died of anger, wouldn’t his wife be very sad?

Xiao Jingfan wanted to think about it, but an imperial censor jumped out to object, and criticized Pei and Ren, saying that they had poor personal morals and were not qualified to be officials.

Xiao Jingfan didn't think about it at the moment, and directly granted the marriage and appointed officials to both of them.

Ren Qingxia was transferred to be the chief of Dali Temple, a sixth-rank official; Pei Yunjian was promoted to be the director of the Ministry of Revenue, a fifth-rank official.

All three of them have found their place of residence, leaving only Yan Chengtao.

Young Master Yan had been following King Xiao around for so many years that he had long since given up on the job. However, his contributions were substantial, and as soon as he said he didn't want to be the Grand Tutor, he was punished according to family law.

Young Master Yan, who didn't want to be beaten, took the opportunity to go to the palace to petition the emperor. What he meant was, is there an official position that is less stressful and sounds better to others, and won't get him beaten by his father?

When Yan Chengtao was trying to get the position of Grand Tutor for the tax reform, he made great efforts. Xiao Jingfan remembered the contribution of this boy and after much thought, he actually found a vacancy.

The Sibin Office of the Honglu Temple is short of a Shaoqing. His main job is to receive envoys from foreign countries when they visit. It is usually quite free. His rank is fifth grade, which sounds good when it is announced.

Yan Chengtao thought about it and realized that he could get things done by eating and drinking, which was perfect for him. He chose this position as Shaoqing!

After rewarding the merits, the court still had an important matter to discuss.

After several years of exploration, the Shennong Bureau has selected potato, sweet potato and corn varieties with stable yields and suitable for cultivation in Dasheng.

It was the beginning of spring, and Xiao Jingfan wanted to take the opportunity to promote planting across the country, so he asked all officials to work together to come up with a practical plan as soon as possible.

After a brief discussion among the officials, a plan gradually took shape. It was to first have the government vigorously promote the three crops, starting with their huge yields and various ways of eating them, to arouse the interest of the people.

Then the Shennong Bureau sent people to various prefectures and counties to teach planting methods for free. For example, those old farmers who performed well in the Shennong Bureau were ready-made teachers, and the court could give them a certain amount of subsidies as encouragement.

In the first year of planting, the imperial court provided free seedlings, and people who wanted to plant could register with the government to receive them.

The government must distribute seedlings in proportion to the number of acres of land registered in the fish scale book, and must arrange special personnel to inspect and supervise to ensure that the seedlings are actually planted in the fields to prevent resale or malicious waste.

While promoting the cultivation of sacred objects, we should not neglect crops such as rice, wheat, and millet. We should adapt to local conditions and have the government calculate and control the proportions to avoid a situation where there are only sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes in the fields.

These are just the general directions. There will certainly be many problems in the specific implementation, and they all need to be carefully considered, especially to guard against people from other countries stealing seedlings.

Don't let Dasheng spend a lot of money, effort and manpower to bring back the magical objects, only to end up making wedding dresses for other countries.

All officials discussed the matter heatedly. Xiao Jingfan ordered the Minister of Revenue and the Director of the Shennong Bureau to summarize the matter together and come up with a practical plan at tomorrow's court meeting.

The two men obeyed the order.

Five days later, all the details were finally agreed upon, and Xiao Jingfan ordered the nationwide promotion of the cultivation of the three magical objects.

The first item is promotion. I don’t know which genius came up with the idea to connect the magical objects with the Phoenix Goddess, and made up a story that the Phoenix Goddess deliberately revealed the news of the three magical objects so that the people of Dasheng could have enough to eat. For this, she was willing to bear the punishment from heaven and almost lost her soul.

After these two miracles, Lady Phoenix had become a household name. Books related to Lady Phoenix were always selling well.

This book is the same. Compared with other love stories and exorcising demons, the subject matter is particularly fresh and unworldly, which makes people with aesthetic fatigue feel refreshed. After reading it carefully, they are so moved that a handkerchief is not enough.

The punishment from heaven is truly painful. Queen Fengnu has good intentions. How could they let her down?

The publicity was surprisingly effective. People flocked to the area and showed great enthusiasm for growing potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes, making the promotion extremely successful.

Upon seeing this, other prefectures and counties immediately followed suit. Based on local conditions, they created second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth... versions of the story of the Phoenix Lady and the three magical objects, each one more touching than the last.

Chu Liuzheng, who had been updating various versions of the system, only felt the rolling thunder from the sky.

No, is it necessary to write her in such a miserable way?

Although it was true that she revealed the existence of potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes, she only copied the information she found in the system and handed it to the emperor. That was all. There was really no punishment from heaven, such as fire, thunder or oil pan.

Can't it be peaceful and beautiful?

Chu Liuzheng didn't believe it, so he cooked his food and wrote a fresh and peaceful story with his own hands, without any punishment from heaven, without exhaustion of divine power, and without obstruction from demons and monsters.

"Print 500 copies and give them away for free."

Three days later, the bookseller announced that Empress Fengnu had a new book, which was free!

Few people could resist the word "free", and the 500 volumes of the storybooks were all taken away in less than an hour.

Chu Liuzheng was lying on a rattan chair, stroking his child's round head while checking the responses in the system.

The evaluation is average, very average, and quite average.

The lucky person who got the storybook said that free things are not as good as those that cost money. If it weren't for the beautiful illustration of Phoenix Girl on the cover, he would have used it to start a fire.

"It hurts." Xiao Dunheng, the baby who was being flattened, protested by covering his little head and pulling his hair out.

Chu Liuzheng guiltily threw away the two strands of hair he had plucked, quickly blew on his cub, and then kissed his shiny forehead twice before asking with a smile, "Are you hungry?"

"I'm hungry." Xiao Dunheng, a little boy over one year old, pouted.

The delicious cakes had been placed next to him for a long time. His mother ate half of the plate and didn't feed him a single piece.

"My dear, it's not that your mother doesn't want to give you some." Chu Liuzheng asked Siyue to check if the goat milk was ready.

She rubbed her son's head and said, "Last month, you choked while eating Eight Treasures Cake. Your father ordered that no one can give you Eight Treasures Cake in the future, otherwise they will be beheaded. I only have one head, I can't afford it."

Xiao Dunheng tilted his little head. He didn't understand, but that didn't stop him from crying.

Fortunately, Miyue came back quickly and blocked his crying little mouth with a pot full of goat's milk in time.

Chu Liuzheng wiped his tears with a piece of silk, feeling a headache: "You were fine, why are you crying all of a sudden?"

Tears were still in Xiao Dunheng's eyes, which looked very much like his mother's. He looked at her while drinking milk. From Chu Liuzheng's angle, it looked like his own child was rolling his eyes at her.

Chu Liuzheng: “…”

It must be her illusion.

(End of this chapter)