"Hehe, my little darling, you've grown so much in just two days...!"

"Huh? My second darling, you've gotten so much fuller...!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, my darling is so well-behaved, so round and full...!"

Xiyuan Experimental Field.

Cao Song was squatting on the ground, chuckling to himself, his eyes shining as he looked at the few stalks of floating wheat in his hand.

Its ears of wheat were large and strong, with round and plump grains, far superior to ordinary floating wheat in both size and weight.

The agricultural officials behind Cao Song stood there dumbfounded, listening to Cao Song's offensive words, and couldn't help but show a hint of disgust in their eyes.

Behind them were hundreds of Imperial Guards soldiers and thousands of farmers wielding sickles.

Under the leadership of Cao Song and a group of agricultural officials, the first batch of superior varieties, carefully cultivated by the Agricultural College, was finally ready for harvest.

Looking at the vast expanse of thriving floating wheat before them, Cao Song and the officials present, while laughing, couldn't help but wipe away tears.

"Begin harvesting!!"

After the initial excitement, Cao Song gave a loud shout, and thousands of farmers behind him took up their sickles and began the harvest.

Cao Song and the agricultural officials guided people to sort and categorize the floating wheat according to the experimental field numbers.

"Be careful, not a single grain of wheat can be missed. If even one grain is missing, I'll never forgive you!!"

As Cao Song inspected the area, he kept shouting at the farmers.

"Haha~, Grand Minister of Agriculture, please rest assured, even if I lose my life, I will never leave behind a single seed!"

A farmer responded to Cao Song with a smile.

Cao Song nodded with a smile and shouted, "That's good! Hurry up and harvest! After the harvest is finished, I will definitely write to His Majesty to reward you all handsomely!"

"Thank you, Grand Minister of Agriculture!!"

Upon hearing this, the farmers' faces lit up with joy. While expressing their gratitude, they quickened their harvesting pace.

As for the harvester developed by the Research and Manufacturing Bureau, Cao Song did not use it because he was worried about it causing waste.

On the other hand, upon learning that the experimental field had begun harvesting floating wheat, Liu Hong immediately ordered the dispatch of a large number of people to help.

A few days later, the harvesting and threshing of the ten experimental fields, totaling over a thousand acres, was finally completed.

Not far from the experimental field, on an open space, there were bags of harvested wheat piled up, each bag marked with a different number corresponding to the plot of land from which it was produced.

The open space was now packed with onlookers; at a glance, nearly 30,000 people had completely surrounded it.

Outside, there were countless ordinary people, while inside were students from the Imperial Guard, the three academies of industry, agriculture, and medicine, as well as students from the Imperial Academy and members of the surrounding aristocratic families and powerful clans.

Today is the day for weighing the improved seeds in the experimental fields, and everyone wants to see how effective the agricultural academy, which has cost the imperial court a great deal of money, really is.

Of course, the main reason is that people heard that the emperor would be present in person today, which is why so many people came to watch.

Rather than saying they came to watch the harvest from the experimental fields, it would be more accurate to say they came to pay homage to the emperor.

Just as people were eagerly anticipating what was to come, Liu Hong, the Empress Dowager, and Lady Dong's carriage slowly drove into the West Garden.

The Three Dukes, the Nine Ministers, and all the civil and military officials in Luoyang followed closely behind the carriage.

"His Majesty has arrived!!"

"The Empress Dowager has arrived!!"

With a shout, the crowd around the open space turned around in unison. When they saw the emperor's carriage at the head of the procession, everyone's expressions turned solemn, and a hint of joy appeared in their eyes.

As they approached, tens of thousands of onlookers bowed and paid their respects.

"Greetings, Your Majesty and Empress Dowager!!"

"No need for formalities!"

Liu Hong, who was in the carriage, also stood up and gestured with his hands to the people who were bowing.

"Thank you, Your Majesty and Empress Dowager!!"

After the ceremony, the onlookers gazed with reverence at Liu Hong's figure in the carriage.

Soon, Liu Hong led his civil and military officials to the center of the open space. Looking at the piles of floating wheat in front of him, he nodded in satisfaction, and then looked at Cao Song beside him with a smile.

"Grand Minister of Agriculture, let's begin!!"

"promise!!"

Cao Song nodded excitedly in agreement, then stepped forward and looked at the people responsible for statistics and weighing, his face showing a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

"His Majesty orders: Weighing to begin!!"

"promise!!"

At Cao Song's command, the people in the center of the open space quickly began to get to work.

Before long, the weighing results were tallied, and the heads of each region came to Liu Hong with the results.

An agricultural official stepped forward and respectfully reported, "Your Majesty, the total yield of the No. 1 100-mu experimental field is 280 shi, with the yield per mu increasing by more than 40%!"

"You...you said how much more production...?"

As soon as the agricultural official finished speaking, Chen Fan exclaimed in surprise, and even the old ministers beside Liu Hong stared in shock at the statistical table in the official's hand.

"Uh... forty percent!"

Under the sharp gazes of the assembled senior officials, the agricultural official held up four fingers and reported the data again with great certainty.

"My God, there are so many...?"

"A 40% increase in production...doesn't that mean our Great Han Dynasty will be able to harvest an extra 300 million shi of grain every year from now on...?"

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