It is said that a day's plan begins in the morning and a year's plan begins in spring. Spring is here, everything revives, and it's time again... Oh my god, I didn't pay attention for a moment and almost went to Teacher Zhao Zhongxiang's Animal World. In a word, spring is here and spring plowing is about to begin. In order to prevent his sons from becoming lazy and ignorant fools who can be fooled by others in the future, Kangxi decided to take all the princes who are ten years old or above in the Shangshufang to the imperial farm outside the city to earn farming experience points.
As the saying goes, a country is based on its people, and food is the primary need of the people. Regardless of any era, people's livelihood issues are a very critical issue. Therefore, the annual spring plowing naturally becomes the top priority. Kangxi has always attached great importance to both the people's livelihood and the education of the princes. Not only does he go to the Xiannongtan to hold a plowing ceremony on the first day of spring in the lunar calendar every year, he also makes time to take the adult princes to the imperial farm outside the city to experience the hard work of farming in person, so that they understand that every meal is hard-earned.
"Alas, didn't Khan Ama bring only the eldest, second, and third brothers, the adult princes, to the imperial farm in previous years? How come this year he brought not only us but also his ten-year-old eighth brother? By the way, fourth brother, do you know how to plant rice?"
It's no wonder that Yinzuo would have such doubts. According to the regulations of the Qing Dynasty, princes are generally considered adults when they are 15 years old. In previous years, such things would not happen to them. What's wrong with his father this year?
"I don't know how to do it, but I can learn. I advise you to study hard and not try to cheat. Khan Ama always takes spring plowing very seriously. If you make a mistake at this time, even if he dotes on you normally, you won't get any good results."
Since the death of Queen Tong, Yinzhen had become visibly calmer in just over half a year, and even his expression became less expressive. Yinzuo often criticized him privately, feeling that he was becoming more and more like the cold-faced king in history.
Fortunately, although Yinzhen looked cold, he was really good to his younger brother Yinzuo. But what about Yinzuo? Although he was smart and willing to make progress, he seemed to be stuck in a rut every day. After all, he was a nerdy guy with a funny heart. Although he didn't make any big mistakes in the study, he made small mistakes all the time.
If it weren't for his good academic performance in recent years and the fact that he had an older brother, Yinzhen, to clean up after him, the teacher in the study would probably have complained about him to Kangxi.
"How dare I not study hard? Even my second brother, the crown prince, has to plant rice with his back to the sky, facing the loess. If I dare to cheat, I won't be punished by my father, but I guess my brothers will not forgive me either."
Yinzuo thought about how these pampered princes had never experienced such hardship. After they arrived at the imperial farm and worked in the fields for a while, they would probably be more resentful than Zhenzi. If he dared to slack off, wouldn't he be reported? Besides, his father was watching. Even if he was exhausted, he had to perform well.
The idea is good, but it is somewhat difficult to put it into practice. The Sixth Prince, who just threatened to do it even if it meant working himself to death, quickly proved with his actions that his bold words were not something he could just say casually.
Because there were quite a lot of princes this year, and most of them had no farming experience at all, after arriving at the imperial farm, Kangxi first gathered them together and had someone give them some pre-exam tutoring.
"My dear masters, I will now explain to you the key points of rice cultivation. There is a lot to learn about rice cultivation. For example, before transplanting rice, the first step is to ventilate and harden the seedlings in advance. The purpose of this step is to help the seedlings adapt to the external natural environment as quickly as possible, preparing them for transplanting later."
The person whom Kangxi arranged for the princes to receive pre-job training was the manager of the imperial farm and also an old farmer. He was very knowledgeable when talking about the piles and patches of rice in the fields. He took Yinzuo and several others for a walk around the farmland and carefully explained to them every step of rice planting.
"After completing the first step, we need to carry out the second step of water control and seedling slowing down three or four days before transplanting the rice. This step will put the seedlings in a state where they are not wilting but in urgent need of water replenishment. This is so that the seedlings can quickly absorb nutrients from the water and fertilizer after transplanting and quickly grow."
"Today, all you masters need to do is plant these rice seedlings after they've been soaked in water into the prepared paddy fields. So, I'll focus on explaining how to plant them. There are quite a few things to consider when planting rice. A good depth is about half a fingertip. Too deep or too shallow is not good. If you plant too shallow, the seedlings will easily become scattered, fall over, drift, or even become stunted. Not only will the ears be small and windproof later on, but too deep is also not good. It will cause delayed re-greening and poor tillering, impacting the harvest later on..."
After the theoretical class, the next step naturally came to practice. Those who had experience, such as the eldest prince Yinzhen, the crown prince Yinreng, and even the third prince Yinzhi had already taken off their shoes and socks, rolled up their trouser legs and went to the fields. Those who had no experience, such as Yinzhen, Yinqi, and even Yinyou and Yinsi had already begun to tentatively go to the fields. Only Yinzuo was left standing barefoot by the field with a confused look on his face.
"Yinzuo, what are you standing there hesitating about?"
Good boy, he said before that he would work hard to avoid attracting the attention of his father Kangxi? But now he has been targeted from the very beginning.
"Nothing, Khan Ama, I'm going down now."
The reason why Yinzuo didn't go down was not because he thought it was dirty, but because he suddenly remembered some popular science information he had read somewhere before, which said that there are usually leeches in this kind of paddy field. Although being bitten by it may not be very painful, it will suck human blood. And when he thought of that thing sucking on his body, Yinzuo felt uncomfortable all over.
But he had to go down to the land even though it was uncomfortable. If he was blamed by Kangxi for a mere leech, it would be a loss. But despite being mentally prepared, the moment he stepped into the soft mud, Yinzuo still got goose bumps all over his body. In order to divert his attention and not pay too much attention to the feeling under his feet, Yinzuo simply took the seedlings and walked towards the area assigned to him by Kangxi. With work in his hands, he no longer thought about the insects in the ground.
As a novice who was planting rice for the first time, Yinzuo really couldn't be said to be talented in this area. This further proved that having the brain and having the hands are two completely different things. Not only were the seedlings planted by him sparsely and crookedly, but many of them even floated away.
"Alas, just now when I was watching others planting rice, I thought I was sure I would be fine. But in just a short while, reality has taught me a lesson. As expected, arrogance and complacency are not good. Fourth brother, how did you manage to plant rice so well on your first try?"
Seeing his brother begging for help with a bitter face, what could Yinzhen do? He resigned himself to his fate and put down his work, then moved to Yinzuo's side and began to teach him step by step.
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