Chapter 279 Reward!
The next day, Xu Zhiyi followed Ning Chu into the palace.
Ning Chu took Xu Zhiyi outside the court and instructed: "Wait until someone comes to call you in, then go in. If you are nervous, don't look around, just lower your eyes and look down at the ground. After you go in, kneel down according to the etiquette I told you on the way."
"Also, you can only stand up when the emperor tells you to, and you must thank the emperor when you stand up. Remember that!"
Xu Zhiyi nodded: "Yes, I will remember it!"
Ning Chu felt relieved to go into court only after hearing Xu Zhiyi's affirmative answer.
Xu Zhiyi stood outside, and occasionally some adults who came hurriedly to attend the court would glance at her curiously.
After waiting for about quarter of an hour, Xu Zhiyi, who had gotten up early, was feeling a little sleepy. Suddenly, the eunuch shouted at her to go into the palace to see the emperor. She was so frightened that she lost all her sleepiness.
Xu Zhiyi straightened her clothes and walked in slowly, looking straight ahead with her eyes slightly lowered. She knelt down in front of the civil and military officials and said, "I, the commoner Xu Zhiyi, pay my respects to the Emperor. Long live the Emperor!"
When Jiang Xihe heard the name Xue Zhiyi, he couldn't help but think of Xu Zhiyi. Could they be the same person?
"Stand up!"
Xu Zhiyi: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The ministers saw that Xu Zhiyi was neither humble nor arrogant, and seemed quite calm. This was totally unlike the behavior of a peasant girl. An ordinary peasant girl, let alone the presence of all the civil and military officials, would only be trembling with fear and giving incomplete answers when facing the emperor.
Seeing that Xu Zhiyi had been lowering her head slightly and couldn't see her face clearly, Jiang Xihe couldn't help but say, "Raise your head!"
When Xu Zhiyi heard this, if she hadn't known that the current emperor was a woman, she would have thought that he was going to choose a concubine. She raised her head to see his face more clearly.
After Xu Zhiyi raised her head, Jiang Xihe finally saw that it was really Xu Zhiyi: "Xu Zhiyi, I didn't expect you to give me such a big surprise!"
"Fuqi?" Xu Zhiyi also saw that the person sitting on the dragon throne was Fuqi, and he couldn't help but exclaimed!
The eunuch chief steward standing below Jiang Xi heard Xu Zhiyi's exclamation and immediately shouted, "How dare you!!"
Jiang Xihe: "I allow her to be unbridled!"
Upon hearing this, the eunuch chief steward knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me."
Jiang Xihe waved his hand to signal the eunuch beside him to bring up the imperial edict that had been prepared long ago, and then filled in Xue Zhiyi's name and the reward in the blank space left in the imperial edict.
"I allow Xue Zhiyi to be the emperor in the future without the need to kneel and kowtow. Anshun, stand up and announce the decree!"
Chief Eunuch Anshun: "Yes, Your Majesty"
Xu Zhiyi: Does this mean she is spoiled?
An Shun picked up the imperial edict held by the eunuch beside him and said to the ministers, "I, Xue Zhiyi, accept the order!"
After Xu Zhiyi knelt down, the ministers behind him also knelt down.
"The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims: I know that food is the foundation of a nation..."
"There is a commoner named Xue Zhiyi who has been researching and developing fertilizers, pesticides, windmills for water irrigation, threshers, etc. for the benefit of the people. I hereby appoint Xue Zhiyi as the third-rank Minister of Agriculture, and grant her a thousand taels of gold and a hundred acres of fertile land. I decree this!"
When the ministers heard that the emperor actually appointed a small peasant girl as the Minister of Agriculture, they were all shocked. They thought, how could a small peasant girl receive such a great reward, a third-rank official! This is higher than most of their official positions!
Xu Zhiyi was also confused, with only one thought in her mind: had she traveled to ancient times, did she still have to get up early to go to work?
She had finally cultivated talents in the business, and thought she could finally have some free time to do her own thing, but now she was asked to get up early every day to go to the morning? No!
However, he did not dare to openly disobey the order in front of the civil and military officials, so he had to accept the imperial edict first.
Jiang Xihe heard the officials' whispers and knew that they were dissatisfied: "My dear ministers, is there anyone who thinks that my reward is inappropriate? Now, I will give you a chance to speak out!"
Ning Chu, Shi Xu, and Jiang Xuan immediately said: "I think it's appropriate!"
The remaining ministers finally suppressed a small cannon fodder who jumped out and said: "Your Majesty, I think it is inappropriate..."
Jiang Xihe: "Oh? What's wrong with that? You think Xue Zhiyi is just a little peasant girl, and this has suddenly affected most of you, so it's inappropriate?"
"I'm here to say that if you still feel that this is inappropriate, then fine, next year's grain production will be increased to 800 kilograms for me, which is only 200 kilograms more than Xue Zhiyi. I think, with your abilities, it shouldn't be difficult, right?"
"As for the other various agricultural tools that are beneficial to crops, I don't want too many. All you ministers need to do is to come up with three new styles. If all of you can do that, I will give him an additional rank of Third Rank Minister of Agriculture."
The cannon fodder who was instigated to jump out was so scared that he quickly knelt down, his face turned pale. The ministers felt the emperor's anger and also knelt down. They had never even cultivated the land, so how could they possibly meet the conditions mentioned by the emperor.
"Retreat!"
After Jiang Xihe instructed the eunuch next to him to take Xu Zhiyi to the imperial study, he glanced at the ministers who were still kneeling before leaving.
When the young eunuch saw Xu Zhiyi was about to leave, he hurried over to her side and whispered, "Grand Minister of Agriculture, the Emperor wants to see you!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiyi had no choice but to follow the young eunuch to the imperial study.
"Your Majesty!"
When Jiang Xihe saw Xu Zhiyi coming, he stopped writing and said, "Miss Zhiyi, I remember your last name was Xu, how come you changed it to Xue?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiyi told Jiang Xihe about his life story.
"I see!"
Next, Jiang Xihe showed him all the drawings that Xu Zhiyi had presented to him. Seeing that Jiang Xihe was interested, Xu Zhiyi explained them one by one, and the two chatted for an hour.
Xu Zhi had almost finished discussing his opinions, and at an appropriate moment he brought up the matter of his official position, subtly trying to get Jiang Xihe to take back his decision.
"Why? Give me a reason!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiyi whispered, "Your Majesty, I want to return to Hanshan County..."
Jiang Xihe heard this and curled his lips: "I'm not tying you up, you can go back if you want!"
"Hey? If I go back, does that mean I can't attend the morning court? Is that really possible?"
Jiang Xihe: "You don't have to go to court every day. If you want to be confined to the capital, I won't allow it. If you are confined to the capital for the rest of your life, what's the difference between you and those court officials who don't know the difference between grain and rice?"
"What I need is a Minister of Agriculture who can help me understand the people and solve their problems. Isn't the people's first wish for peace and a full meal?"
"So, you are now the Minister of Agriculture for all the people of Fenglin Kingdom, not just me."
After hearing such a long speech, Xu Zhiyi only noticed one sentence: she didn't have to go to court every day. Now she was really happy.
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