Chapter 358 Self-doubt
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your consideration. I will obey your order."
Liu Zhiyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He knelt down to thank him and then stepped back to arrange for people to dig the sweet potatoes.
In order to ensure that the few acres of sweet potatoes he cultivated for seeds would not be eaten, he carefully arranged for people to dig up the acres planted by Fu Song next door.
As the elder brother of the former Princess Huai, Fu Ronger, Fu Song also cherished this opportunity after becoming an agricultural official. The wealthy young man who had been engaged in business since childhood did not hesitate to follow Liu Zhiyuan to work in the fields.
Judging from the growth of the sweet potatoes in the field, the harvest from his land should be pretty good.
Emperor Yongping was too lazy to explain to all the officials the purpose of coming here today. He just asked Lin Fu to drive them off the carriage and let them stand on the path beside the sweet potato field.
Not only were they not allowed to move around, but patrolling guards would pass by them from time to time.
On weekdays, they would stand in the court for an hour, and they were always very serious.
But today, standing in the fields, they felt uncomfortable all over.
Sometimes they complained that the path was uneven and hurt their feet, and sometimes they complained that this place was too close to the manure pit and it smelled bad.
It was not until they saw that there were more than a dozen sweet potatoes dug out from the ground that they stopped complaining and stopped making complaints.
Emperor Yongping seemed to ignore everyone, but in fact he was well aware of what these people were saying.
"Shu'er, these sweet potatoes are really productive."
Emperor Yongping had already taken Chu Qinshu into his arms when Liu Zhiyuan took people to dig sweet potatoes.
When Chu Chengyi warned him not to shake Chu Qinshu's head, he looked at Chu Chengyi several times inexplicably.
He has been a royal grandfather for more than ten years, how could he not know that a little kid's head should not be shaken?
"Yeah, high yield."
Chu Qinshu saw the scene of digging sweet potatoes for the first time at Chu Chengyi's farm yesterday.
When the hoe was put down, a bunch of sweet potatoes popped out when it was lifted up again. The scene was really eye-catching.
I think Emperor Yongping's mood today is similar to hers yesterday.
"Oh my, this sweet potato is really big, I'm afraid each one must weigh two kilograms..."
Emperor Yongping was like a curious old baby. One moment he said there were a lot of sweet potatoes, the next moment he said the sweet potatoes were big, and the next moment he said the sweet potatoes were bright in color and very beautiful.
If she wasn't really right there at this moment, Chu Qinshu would have wondered if she was in the harem.
In the eyes of Emperor Yongping, those sweet potatoes were even more beautiful than the concubines in the harem.
"Your Majesty, we have dug up all the land. Next, I will have someone measure the output."
Liu Zhiyuan rolled up his trouser legs and sleeves, looking like a peasant, but as he knelt before Emperor Yongping, he looked even more confident and enthusiastic than when he was in his official uniform during court attendance.
"Okay, okay, go weigh it quickly and let Lin Fu go and help you."
Emperor Yongping looked at the sweet potatoes piled up like small hills on the ground, and tears were about to flow from his eyes and mouth.
He had eaten the sweet potatoes that Chu Qinshu had brought out for him many times and had tried various ways of eating them.
But he had never eaten the sweet potatoes grown on Sheng Anguo's land, and he wanted to know what the sweet potatoes grown on his own land would taste like.
"Well, I will take Eunuch Lin with me."
This time Liu Zhiyuan did not refuse again, he knew the intention of Emperor Yongping to ask Lin Fu to help him.
Seeing Lin Fu go to the field, some of the officials standing nearby couldn't help but want to go to the field to help.
Although the newly dug soil from the ground would dirty their shoes, that strange thing called sweet potato was probably not an idle crop.
Maybe if they show more positive behavior, the emperor will reward them with some seeds.
"The emperor has ordered that anyone who steps on a sweet potato will be fined three months' salary."
When the commander of the Imperial Guard, Lu Jihui, saw someone trying to take the risk, he stepped forward to stop him.
Although the fact that sweet potatoes were grown in the royal fields was kept secret, it was not completely unknown.
For example, the Dali Temple Minister Yu Jinming, and the commander of the Imperial Guard Lu Jihui.
Ever since the sweet potato seeds were transported out of the palace, they both had people following and protecting them, making sure that not a single sweet potato seed was wasted or lost.
"Eh~ Are these sweet potatoes really that expensive? Then I'd better not help."
"Yes, yes, we'll just stand here and watch, and we won't go out again."
......
Several officials quietly retracted their steps and no longer dared to have any unnecessary thoughts.
After waiting for another half an hour, Lin Fu came back from the field with his feet covered in mud.
"Your Majesty, I had the land measured and watched with my own eyes as all the sweet potatoes were weighed. The yield of this one acre of land today is so incredible that I can't believe it."
As Lin Fu spoke, he presented the note in his hand, which was specially used for recording, to Emperor Yongping.
After hearing his voice, all the officials looked towards him and pricked up their ears to hear how high the production of this sweet potato was.
Although they did not farm, they all had farms in their houses, and every autumn they would hear their wives talk about the harvest.
In other words, one mu of rice produces more than 300 kilograms, one mu of wheat produces more than 100 kilograms, one mu of millet produces more than 90 kilograms, and one mu of soybeans produces more than 100 kilograms.
These are the crops commonly grown on the farm, and they can easily remember the yields.
"Hahahaha, ok, that's great."
Emperor Yongping looked at the numbers on the note and laughed until tears came out. It seemed that the glow rising in the sky today was a beauty that had never been seen in the past few decades.
"Your Majesty, I am very brave. How many kilograms of sweet potatoes are there per mu? I am so eager to weigh them myself."
After all, Du Hongdao had been a historian all his life, so compared to other court officials, his temper was much more straightforward.
Just ask whatever you want to ask, don't be shy.
"Hahahaha, you want to know? Then go and see for yourself."
Emperor Yongping couldn't even retract the smile on his face, he was so happy that he wanted to let himself go.
However, his real purpose was to arouse the court officials' curiosity.
The note was handed to Du Hongdao. When he saw the numbers written on it, his eyes widened.
Tens, hundreds, thousands... Tens, hundreds, thousands...
He counted several times and it was indeed in the thousandth place. As for the six in the thousandth place, he once suspected that Lin Fu had written it wrong.
He even suspected that Lin Fu had written too much for the last digit.
He had never heard of a crop yield of more than 600 kilograms per mu, let alone more than 6,000 kilograms.
But when he turned around and looked at the piles of sweet potatoes that had already been weighed in the field, he fell into deep self-doubt again.
He was a Jinshi who passed the imperial examination several decades ago, he cannot be so ignorant.
Even if those huge piles were replaced with wheat or millet, they would weigh a thousand kilograms in total.
What's more, these sweet potatoes look quite heavy.
"Master Du, you have seen the number recorded by Eunuch Lin. We also want to know how many kilograms of sweet potatoes there are per acre."
"Yes, if you see it clearly, read it to everyone, so that we don't have to worry."
"That's right. Maybe Lord Du is too old and his eyesight is blurry and he can't recognize the numbers."
......
"Here, look for yourself. I won't help you."
Du Hongdao handed the note in his hand to the court official closest to him.
He himself stood there in a daze, trying to digest the shock in his heart.
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