Chapter 2677: Good Seed
Is she that kind of person?
Manbao spoke word by word, "We were clearly having a very pleasant conversation!"
As they were speaking, the Emperor and Empress arrived. Everyone in the hall stood up and waited for the Emperor and Empress to come out, bowing and greeting them.
The emperor smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Please stand up, my lords. On this festive occasion, I rejoice with you and the people."
The Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet is not held every year. In the past, it was the mourning period for the empress dowager, and the emperor did not even hold a palace banquet on New Year's Eve, so naturally he would not hold a Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet either.
Later, due to various matters, the emperor rarely held palace banquets after the mourning period. This year, many vassal states came to give gifts, so this palace banquet was considered the largest one ever.
The emperor smiled and asked everyone to stand up and sit down. After delivering a few festive greetings, he said, "Please invite the envoys from the various vassal states to come up."
The envoys from various vassal states had already been waiting in the side halls. Through the high walls, they could vaguely hear the sounds coming from the Wude Hall, but they could not hear them clearly.
Many of the envoys who came here were not here for the first time, so they were familiar with the procedures. They knew that the emperor had not come out yet, and the sounds they heard were mostly the laughter of the ministers and their families who had come in early.
When they heard three cheers of "Long live the emperor", they knew that the palace banquet had officially begun, and then they stood up and tidied their clothes and the gifts they brought.
Sure enough, after a while a eunuch came to invite them over, saying that the emperor wanted to summon them.
This time, the emperor valued the envoys from Tubo the most.
In the past two years, the relationship between Jin and Tubo has been pretty good. There have been no major conflicts, and as for the minor ones, they can basically be regarded as conflicts among local people and are not worth discussing in the court.
After all, the king of Tubo is still the emperor's cheap son-in-law.
The princess who married into Tubo was a young girl chosen by the emperor from the royal family. She was given the title of princess and then sent there. There was a relationship between them as father-in-law and son-in-law.
The emperor hoped that the relationship between the two countries could remain harmonious, especially now that he was going to use military force against Goguryeo. He did not want Tubo to attack him from both sides after he went on the expedition. That would be too bad.
As for other vassal states, the emperor simply maintained his attitude: If you are honest, I will be friendly; if you are naughty, I will not be able to help but raise the stick in my hand.
Fortunately, apart from Goguryeo, Silla and Baekje who cannot come for various reasons, the other vassal states are relatively honest.
The emperor skipped Goguryeo at the palace banquet and rewarded all the vassal states, especially Tubo. The emperor specifically mentioned his adopted daughter, asked the Tubo king to treat his princess well, and rewarded them with a large amount of silk and porcelain.
The Tibetan envoy immediately said, "The princess hopes that the Khan will give her some more good seeds to plant near the palace, so that she can eat food from her homeland."
When the princess married into the Central Plains, she brought a lot of good breeds with her. This was a good thing. If Tubo could have more things from the Central Plains, Tubo’s sense of belonging and affection for the Central Plains would only become deeper in the future. Therefore, the emperor generously agreed.
Just let the Shaoqing of the Sinong Temple prepare some good seeds for the Tubo delegation, such as grain seeds, wheat seeds, bean seeds, and give them a pack of some. As seeds, they don't need too much, a small bag is enough. The main thing is to have a variety of varieties.
When Manbao heard that they wanted seeds, she immediately thought of the rice seeds she was still experimenting with. For several years, the more than ten acres of experimental fields planted by her elder brother and Datou had never been able to stabilize. Even if there was a particularly good harvest in one season, the seeds would still be scattered after the second year.
She had discussed this with Dr. D more than once. Dr. D believed that the environments of the two places were too different, and the types of primitive valleys she had were too few.
She first glanced at Bai Shan, who happened to be looking at her as well, obviously thinking of the experimental field in Putian Village that was always in trouble.
Manbao sat up straight and said, "Your Majesty, I have heard that Tubo is a cold and high country, and that there are many varieties of seeds that are different from ours. I wonder if the Tubo envoy could give us some as well?"
When the Tibetan envoy heard this, he thought the woman was unwilling to give it. Seeing the official robes she was wearing, he became unhappy. "The Heavenly Khan didn't even say no. Who are you to sow discord between the princess and the Heavenly Khan?"
Manbao knew he had misunderstood when she heard this and hurried to explain. Bai Shan reached out and held her hand, then looked up and smiled at the Tibetan envoy, saying, "Your Excellency has misunderstood. Lord Zhou truly believes that Tibet is rich in resources and that good seeds are rare and beautiful, so he wants to ask for one or two. He has no other intentions."
The Tibetan envoy said angrily, "Then what good breeds do we Tibetans have?"
It is because they have little that they ask for good breeds, okay? The king and the princess had already instructed us before we came that we don’t have to ask for other rewards, such as luxury items like gold, silver, jewelry, porcelain, etc., but we must ask for more good breeds.
They heard that Dajin had obtained a kind of wheat seed in recent years, with a good yield per mu, much better than the one the princess brought to Tubo before, so they wanted that thing.
Bai Shan said, "Both corn and wheat seeds are fine."
The Tibetan envoys were even more displeased when they heard him say this, and they complained directly to the emperor, "Heavenly Khan, are your officials deliberately making things difficult for us? Everyone knows that in Tibet, the harsh cold weather makes it difficult for crops to grow. We can only grow less millet on our three mu of land than you can on one mu. How can we consider it good quality?"
He said, "It is precisely because we don't have it that we asked the Heavenly Khan for it. If the Heavenly Khan doesn't want it, then he can just tell us directly and we won't want it."
The emperor frowned slightly. Although what Bai Shan and Zhou Man said was a bit inappropriate, they were his subjects after all. The Tibetan envoy's unreasonable behavior was too disrespectful to him and the Great Jin.
Bai Shan laughed and said, "Your Excellency is too modest. The per-acre yield of Tubo's high-quality seeds may not be as high as ours, but any seed must have its advantages. For example, Tubo is cold and arid, and your seeds are more cold-resistant and drought-resistant than ours. This is their superiority. If they have advantages, how can they not be superior?"
Manbao nodded repeatedly. Seeing that Bai Shan no longer stopped her and even gave her a subtle wink and gently tapped the back of her hand, she suddenly had an idea and said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, my elder brother and nephew have allocated more than ten acres of land in my official farm as experimental fields. They are trying to plant rice seeds from various places to find the best seeds. After several years, they have encountered many problems and still cannot find a better seed. I thought that perhaps there are too few varieties of seeds. Perhaps we can try seeds from the plateau."
She glanced at the Tibetan envoy and smiled, "It was only when the envoy asked for improved seeds that I realized that perhaps planting grains from the plateau together with seeds from other regions would yield unexpected results."
See you at 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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