Chapter 78 No One Falls Asleep
After the palace banquet ended, Eunuch Li led the palace maids to light fresh and pleasant-smelling incense everywhere. Wisps of light mist rose up, turning into a refreshing floral fragrance that lingered in everyone's nose.
"How about my incense?" Yan Xuanyu asked with a smile.
Nowadays, the atmosphere between the emperor and his ministers is relaxed. Whether they are old officials who remain in the officialdom or new officials who have entered the court, they are all shrewd people. They naturally know what attitude the emperor wants from his ministers and how he wants them to get along with the emperor.
The officials understood the elegant meaning of the music and praised it with a smile.
"Your Majesty, this incense is different from others. It's very refreshing... If you smell it carefully, there's a faint cool feeling." The current Minister of War Di Liangping said while stroking his beard.
"That's right." The officials around him glared at him secretly. They didn't expect that this Minister of War, who looked like he had thick eyebrows and big eyes, was so good at flattering the emperor!
Sure enough, after hearing what Di Liangping said, Yan Xuanyu happily asked Li Zhongxian to bring another box of incense to Di Liangping.
"In addition to dried flowers, this incense also contains some mint leaves, which is very refreshing." Yan Xuanyu said.
After thanking him, Di Liangping placed the box on the table in front of him.
It was indeed ungentle to have a faint smell of barbecue on one's body, so Yan Xuanyu took out the incense he usually used, which was prepared by the Imperial Hospital. After a while, the faint smell of meat was replaced by a fresh and pleasant scent, and Li Zhongxian led the palace servants to remove the incense.
Taking advantage of the time just now, everyone relaxed a little, but as Li Zhongxian and the palace servants left with the incense burner, it meant that they were going to start discussing the serious matter that they had not finished just now.
"In the future, potatoes will be promoted in the Great Zhou. But we must remember that although this crop is high-yielding, it cannot solely be relied upon to feed the people of the Great Zhou. The yields of other crops must also be increased. Is the Minister of the Ministry of Finance here?" Yan Xuanyu asked.
Fu Xiao stood up and said, "I am here."
"I remember giving the order to improve rice a long time ago. Has there been any progress?" Yan Xuanyu asked.
Fu Xiaodao said, "Your Majesty, there has not been much progress in increasing rice production. I have read various agricultural books, but still have no clues. Taifu Temple has also planted a lot and has harvested two seasons. But how to increase the yield is still... "
He didn't finish his words and just looked up at the emperor.
However, Yan Xuanyu did not open his mouth to blame him, but nodded and said: "If the Taifu Temple has any expenditures, it should report to the Ministry of Revenue. There is no need to worry about money and manpower."
The Minister of Revenue stood up and said yes.
Although the emperor advocated diligence and thrift, he never cut back on these aspects. Instead, he repeatedly told the departments to just do it and not to worry.
Yan Xuanyu thought for a moment, then looked at Fu Xiao: "There's no rush for this. Introducing potatoes from the Great Zhou will also give you time to increase production."
This time, the officials entered the palace and first watched the potatoes being pulled, then ate barbecue, and discussed state affairs. As the sun was setting, the palace gates were about to be locked, and it was time for everyone to leave the palace.
Fu Xiao was also walking slowly along the palace path. Seeing his silence, his good friend Fang Zhengchu spoke up, "Xiaozhi, His Majesty has also said that this matter cannot be rushed. It's a good thing that His Majesty values the Taifu Temple."
Fu Xiao nodded: "I know, I was just thinking about the fields."
Fu Xiao had memorized agricultural books from past dynasties long ago, but just when everyone was leaving, Eunuch Li beside the emperor came over and told him that Your Majesty said that agricultural books cannot be trusted completely, and one should practice it oneself. He also mentioned whether large and full grains could be combined with many ears of corn.
It's not that Fu Xiao couldn't do it, it's just that he had never thought of this path before. His Majesty said that he didn't understand farming, but he suddenly had an idea and told Fu Xiao.
"Yuan Yi, do you think that rice with large and full grains and many ears can be combined together?" Fu Xiao asked.
Fang Zhengchu smiled without even thinking, "How could such a wonderful thing happen?"
Fu Xiao smiled and shook his head. Indeed, it seemed like a fantasy at this moment, but in his heart he kept thinking about the feasibility of implementing the method the emperor mentioned. To put it into practice, it was too difficult...
...
Yan Xuanyu was not disappointed. Instead, he was afraid that Taifu Temple would slack off on this matter because there was no result now. After all, if it could be grown, it would not have taken so many years and several generations of hard work to research it out.
Taifu Temple is in charge of farming. Yan Xuanyu just wants to provide them with a research direction. Increasing the yield a little bit is Yan Xuanyu's current goal. He hopes that Taifu Temple can grow higher and higher quality varieties. After all, the yield of various crops is relatively low now.
As he was thinking, he was suddenly startled by the system prompt sound in his ear.
[Host completes the daily task of the tyrant - greed for pleasure, and obtains points...]
Yan Xuanyu came back to his senses from his deep thoughts, feeling both amused and helpless. He really wanted to thank his system. He wondered if anyone else's system could read only what he wanted like his system did.
Seeking pleasure? He probably meant eating barbecue with officials during the day, and then discussing state affairs without paying any attention to the system!
Yan Xuanyu couldn't help but laugh.
Li Zhongxian asked curiously, "What made Your Majesty laugh?"
Yan Xuanyu shook his head. "Nothing. Go get those documents. I'll finish reviewing them tonight."
Time is tight now, so I can only work harder.
Two young eunuchs worked together to carry the documents over. Li Zhongxian lit the palace lantern and left quietly. Only Yan Xuanyu was left in the huge Chengtian Hall. The palace lantern cast his shadow, and he looked lonely.
But Yan Xuanyu didn't think so. He couldn't help but wonder, what are other people doing at the same time?
A few days ago, news came from the border that this time, more than twice as many people were recruited to serve as soldiers. Yuan Kang and others were busy training the new recruits. Yuan Kang rarely wrote official documents in the past, and the documents written by him were obviously different from those of other officials. Yan Xuanyu could recognize them at a glance.
Because Yuan Kang often talked about other things while reporting on official business, for example, there were several interesting stories about new recruits joining the camp mixed in with the serious official documents. Yuan Kang also lamented that compared with the old hands in the past, the new recruits nowadays really didn't know their place. There were even new recruits who wanted to fight with him when they first watched the ring. Naturally, they came up standing up and went down lying down.
Yuan Kang then wrote that he felt the atmosphere in the barracks was very good and that he was grateful to His Majesty... After saying this, he began to seriously report on the affairs of the border cities, and then again...
Yan Xuanyu had reviewed many memorials, and whenever he saw a document written by Yuan Kang, he would suddenly feel enlightened.
He also wanted to see with his own eyes the scene described in the poems of the frontier poets of his previous life: "lonely smoke rising straight in the desert, the setting sun over the long river" - that was a place completely different from the capital, with the howling of wolves at night, the crackling sound of burning firewood in the silent night, billowing wolf smoke, the bleak wind, and the cold moon.
Although it was late at night, Su An probably had not fallen asleep yet. He was in charge of the Jinyiwei and controlled an intelligence network. He had a lot of things to deal with every day, and he also had to secretly pay attention to whether there were any unusual movements in the capital and its surroundings.
Feng Guangwei must have been busy with official duties and had not yet gone to sleep. Fengxian City has now become a place that people yearn for. Not to mention that the Fengxian Shopping Mall was the first shopping mall in the Great Zhou Dynasty, the "first" alone is enough to make people want to go and see it; the opera performances in Fengxian City also have their own flavor, and the most popular piece is "The Daughter of Jiang". The Lantern Festival in Fengxian City is also talked about by people. Not only are there parades of the Lantern Goddess and the Flower Girls, but there are also large-scale temple fairs, which are very lively and lively.
After the Great Zhou Dynasty was stabilized, a "Fengxian fever" swept the upper circles. Many literati and poets went to Fengxian City together and wrote countless poems there.
Not long ago, Yan Xuanyu and Feng Guangwei mentioned in their correspondence that they could add a portrait of Fengxian.
In fact, Yan Xuanyu proposed this as a joke after remembering that there were costumes for taking photos at tourist attractions in his previous life. After paying a certain amount of money, you can choose local Fengxian costumes in the store, and then a painter will follow you.
Unexpectedly, Feng Guangwei really didn't know where he found a group of painters with superb painting skills. I heard that there was a painter named Zhang Mengliu among them, who specially went to the prefectural government to recommend himself.
Among these painters, Zhang Mengliu has the best "performance". I heard that all his customers gave him five-star praise.
When the star rating system was first introduced, many customers were confused. These imaginative ancient people were also curious and inquisitive, asking why the upper limit was five stars. If more stars meant more satisfaction, why not a hundred?
It was not until later that everyone became familiar with the star rating system.
Back to the topic, the painter Zhang Mengliu, praised by all the guests, is said to be best at painting portraits, and his paintings are so lifelike that even the details of jewelry and cuff patterns can be accurately drawn. He also works quickly, so customers don't have to wait too long. Occasionally, when a taciturn guest finds fault, Zhang Mengliu always smiles and makes people feel warm. It is said that Zhang Mengliu works so hard to obtain an identity card from the Fengxian City government, as he hopes to live here permanently...
After hearing this, Yan Xuanyu became Spartan...
Because of Zhang Mengliu, the original owner had this person in his memory.
In the original owner's memory, Zhang Mengliu was already famous all over the world at that time. It was said that he had a bad temper and his paintings were hard to come by.
The original owner once asked him to enter the palace to paint, but he refused on the grounds that he was not good at portraits. The original owner had him forced to enter the palace and forced him to paint. In the end, he painted a picture that looked like a child's scribbles.
The original owner immediately drew his sword and wanted to stab Zhang Mengliu to death, but the other party not only did not dodge, but also said some flowery words, which roughly meant "I've already told you that I can't draw portraits, so what can I do, just stab me to death."
Yan Xuanyu shared the memories of the original owner, so of course he could call up what the painting looked like.
I can just barely make out a human face, but if I look closely, the thick lines vaguely resemble a dog's body. But if I look even more closely, it seems like an illusion. I can only say that it has a rather abstract quality...
Not good at portraits? Have a weird temper?
Yan Xuanyu was so happy that he wanted to pound the table.
In short, Yan Xuanyu tilted his head and glanced at the figure reflected on the wall.
He is not alone, because there is a group of people working hard for the development of Da Zhou.
He never felt lonely, but instead felt very fulfilled and at peace.
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