The Cold Palace.

"Welcome back to the palace, Your Majesty!"

"Welcome back to the palace, Your Majesty!"

"Welcome back to the palace, Your Majesty!"

When Guan Zhiyue returned to the Cold Palace with Bilian, all the palace servants gathered in the courtyard, kneeling down excitedly to welcome their mistress back.

These past three days, their empress has been away from the Cold Palace, and it has felt quite lonely. Now that their empress has returned, the entire Cold Palace will be lively again.

"Get up, all of you! I've just returned to the palace. I'll talk to you later," Guan Zhiyue said to the palace servants.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

All the palace servants got up from the ground and dispersed. Guan Zhiyue took Bilian back to her room and had a cup of tea before summoning the current chief eunuch.

"Xiao Dezi, report to me what the situation is like in the back mountain now?"

The head eunuch, Xiao Dezi, hurriedly replied in a high-pitched voice, "Your Majesty, the terraced fields behind our mountain are already half full of water, but in my opinion, the water in the terraced fields still seems too little, and more water is needed for irrigation."

Guan Zhiyue quickly thought about it in her mind. This was indeed the case. After all, the amount of melted snow water was not much. At this rate, more would definitely be needed.

"Hmm! Xiao Dezi, what you said is true. Do you have any solutions to this problem?" Guan Zhiyue posed this question to Xiao Dezi.

Upon hearing Guan Zhiyue's words, Xiao Dezi chuckled and said, "Oh, my Your Majesty, what can this servant possibly do? If this servant had a solution, would I have troubled Your Majesty with this problem?"

"Are you really unaware?" Guan Zhiyue looked at Xiao Dezi with suspicion.

Xiao Dezi knelt down in front of Guan Zhiyue with a thud, hurriedly explaining while swearing oaths.

The ancients valued oaths and such, so this was already the most severe punishment. Guan Zhiyue didn't press him any further and told him to get up and answer.

"Alright, get up! I'll pretend you really didn't know!"

"Oh dear, Your Majesty, this servant truly had no idea," Xiao Dezi quickly retorted.

Guan Zhiyue nodded, then her mind raced. In this world, there were no water pipes; the only ways to bring water into the fields were water pipes and ditches. There was a moat here, which was always filled with water. It was said that the moat had once flooded, submerging some residents at the gates of the capital.

There were no water pipes, no water pumps, and no drainage tools available, so it seemed that the only option was to use bamboo tubes to draw water.

"Take some men to the palace and find some undamaged bamboo. I've come up with a method, but we need to test it first," Guan Zhiyue instructed.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will take care of it immediately."

After Xiao Dezi left, Guan Zhiyue led Bilian towards the back mountain. When they arrived at the back mountain, it was almost March, and the weather was gradually warming up, but it was still a bit chilly.

Guan Zhiyue looked at the barren mountain that had been transformed into terraced fields. The water in the terraced fields was already starting to dry up, and it was clear that planting rice would not be possible under these circumstances.

To plant two seasons of rice, seedlings must be started in April. Guan Zhiyue only has one month to manage the paddy fields and bring in fresh water. Only in this way can rice be planted.

Rice, as the name suggests, requires water to grow. This is Guan Zhiyue's first year trying to grow rice, and she doesn't want to miss out on it.

"Your Highness, what are you looking at?" Bilian asked Guan Zhiyue, who was gazing at the terraced fields not far ahead.

Guan Zhiyue said without turning her head, "I want to cultivate two seasons of rice to make our Nanding Kingdom even stronger."

"A prosperous and strong nation means that all people in the world can afford to eat white rice."

Bilian was shocked by her mistress's words, "Two seasons of rice, everyone can eat white rice." Wasn't that a bit too much to ask? Although she had come to her mistress's side when she was young and hadn't suffered too much, white rice was something that a wealthy family like theirs could eat every day. But she also knew that there were many places where people couldn't afford white rice.

"Your Majesty, is what you're saying true?"

Guan Zhiyue turned to look at Bilian and said, "Do you think I'm lying? I'm trying to find a solution, aren't I?"

Bilian asked, "Then, Your Highness, have you thought of a solution?"

Guan Zhiyue said decisively, "I've thought of it, but I want to test it out now. Go find some people and have them bring hoes to come with me to dig ditches and canals to improve the paddy fields."

Bilian was stunned by Guan Zhiyue's firm tone, looking somewhat bewildered, but it did not hinder her steps at all.

Guan Zhiyue looked at the terraced fields transformed from barren mountains, and then at the terraced fields and the surrounding land that had been cleared. She thought about what crops to plant on this 180-mu back mountain, using this 180-mu land as her cultivation base.

As long as all the crops in your space are cultivated into seeds here, and then the emperor distributes them, Nan Ding Kingdom will surely become rich, won't it?

Guan Zhiyue felt full of energy when she thought about it. After she finished thinking about it, she saw that the palace servants in the Cold Palace had all changed into short clothes, and each of them was holding a hoe and shovel. They came along with her in a grand and cheerful manner to dig the mountain and dig the soil.

"You all look so excited, anyone who didn't know better would think you're here to dig for some treasure." Guan Zhiyue looked at the group of palace servants who had arrived in front of her, their faces beaming with smiles.

"Your Highness, isn't what you're doing now about the treasure? Aunt Bilian just told us that Your Highness wants to ensure that all the people of Nanding Kingdom can eat white rice. Of course we're happy. We all came to the palace because our families were poor and couldn't afford to raise us, so they sent us here as servants." A quick-witted eunuch replied to Guan Zhiyue.

Others echoed this sentiment, responding in a cacophony of voices.

Guan Zhiyue looked at them and said with a smile, "You're all so happy now, what if you fail? If you don't make sure all the people of Quannan Dingguo can eat white rice, won't you attack me?"

"Your Majesty, that's an exaggeration. This is also your first time trying this. If we fail, we can try again, can't we?"

"When Your Highness was losing weight, wasn't it the same? You started at 230 pounds and now you're down to 92 pounds. We servants have all seen it. So we believe that what Your Highness says will definitely come true." A young palace maid smiled beautifully.

Yes, yes.

"Your Majesty, let's both be number one!"

...

Guan Zhiyue looked at these people and said with a smile, "As the Empress, I haven't given you any dignity, and now I'm making you farm with me. You're still laughing so happily. Don't you regret it?"

"Regret is something we don't know, but we'll just follow you, Your Majesty."

Guan Zhiyue stopped wasting time talking to them and led them to start planning how to dig ditches to bring water from the moat to this land for irrigation. As for the terraced fields, water pipes would also need to be installed.