"What... bring it here and let me see it!"
Emperor Xuan snatched the memorial and read it carefully three times.
"Hahahaha..." He burst into laughter and waved the memorial in his hand, suddenly feeling very proud. "This is written by Fu Xiaoguan himself! Xiushui County has planted 20,000 mu of Fu Sandai's rice seeds. The highest yield per mu is 820 kilograms, and the lowest yield per mu is as high as 720 kilograms..."
He took two steps on the dragon platform and stretched out his hand to swipe downwards, "You definitely won't believe it!"
Who the hell would believe this?
Even Yan Beixi's heart skipped a beat, wondering if this kid Fu Xiaoguan had been released.
It's good if you can get a yield of 400 to 500 kilograms per mu. If you get 800 kilograms per mu... you don't need to take credit for it!
At this moment, Zhou Ye, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Agriculture under the Ministry of Works, stood up.
He bowed and said with a serious face: "Your Majesty, I have objections to this!"
Emperor Xuan frowned, "Oh...Minister Zhou, tell me about it."
"Your Majesty, I have been in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture for ten years. During these ten years, I have cultivated rice in Jiangnan for eight years. I have assigned special personnel to carefully tend the crops, but the highest yield per mu in those eight years has been no more than 300 kilograms. I would like to ask you, my Lords, have you ever heard of any country or region producing more than 400 kilograms of rice per mu?"
He turned around, bowed to the ministers, and said passionately, "Even though the soil in Wofengyuan is more fertile, there has never been a record of a yield exceeding 400 kilograms per mu in Wofengyuan's history..."
He turned to face Emperor Xuan again, "I believe that Earl Ding'an is indeed very capable. This statistic of an average yield of 770 kilograms per mu... I'm afraid Earl Ding'an has been deceived by his subordinates!"
He said it beautifully.
He didn't dare to offend Fu Xiaoguan. That guy had a very bad reputation. If he provoked him, he, a small minister of agriculture, would not be able to withstand the pressure of his little finger.
So he could only throw the blame on the officials under Fu Xiaoguan. Ding'an Bo was still great, but the officials under him deceived him. This was not Ding'an Bo's fault, at most it was an oversight.
Upon hearing this, Emperor Xuan calmed down from his excitement.
Yes... Fu Xiaoguan is not the reincarnation of Shennong, so how could he have more than doubled the rice yield per mu by himself?
Zhou Ye glanced at the emperor's expression and added, "You all know that when the Earl of Ding'an recruited officials for the Wofeng Road, he selected a group of young men. These officials... I thought they lacked experience, or perhaps I wanted to impress the Earl of Ding'an, so I lied about the production figures."
When the ministers heard this, they thought it made sense. They were just a group of young men whose hair had not even grown out yet. It was not surprising that they would do such a thing to show off their achievements.
Emperor Xuan became even more suspicious. Could it be that his son-in-law was deceived this time?
But it would be great if we could really produce 700 to 800 kilograms per mu!
Once it is rolled out across the country, even if the fields in other places are not as fertile as those in Wofengdao, they can be doubled...will my Yu Dynasty still be short of food?
There is definitely no shortage of that!
There are still many to sell!
What a pity, I was so disappointed. I have to send a letter to Fu Xiaoguan and ask him to investigate it carefully so that he won’t make such a fool of himself.
Just as he was about to speak, he saw another eunuch hurried in from the side door. Eunuch Nian came forward to greet him, holding three memorials in his hand.
"Your Majesty, urgent news has arrived from Yao County, Pingling County, and Quyi County."
Emperor Xuan frowned, took the urgent report from Yao County and opened it - his eyes suddenly widened, and the expression on his face was extremely wonderful!
"Your servant, Yan Xiwen, reports:
Yao County planted 5,000 mu of Fu Sandai rice this year, and the autumn harvest is now completed. The yield has shocked me greatly!
The yield per mu of the remaining rice fields in Yao County is still around 240 kilograms, but the output of these 5,000 mu of rice fields has reached an unprecedented 650 kilograms per mu!
All the ministers were looking at Emperor Xuan at this moment, wondering if there was any more bad news.
But then Emperor Xuan burst into laughter again: "Hahahaha...you are frogs in the well!"
The ministers were shocked, wondering if His Majesty had gone insane.
Otherwise, why would his expression be so changeable?
Emperor Xuan felt relieved at this moment, realizing that Fu Xiaoguan had not lied to him.
"I tell you to keep pace with the times, but what about you? You still hold on to old concepts and ideas. This is called being stuck in your ways!"
He raised the document in his hand again and said proudly, "The average rice yield per mu in Xiushui County is 770 kilograms. This is absolutely correct!"
The ministers were shocked. If this wasn't wrong, then what was wrong?
Zhou Ye hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, how can this not be wrong?"
"Because... Fu's third generation of seeds have also been planted on 5,000 mu in Yao County. This is the report from Yao County. I tell you."
He paused, looking proudly at the ministers, his face showing undisguised joy, "The 5,000 mu of rice fields in Yao County have an average yield of 650 kilograms per mu!"
"Hiss..." Everyone in the room took a breath of cold air, and Zhou Ye opened his mouth wide.
"No way, this is impossible. In the area north of the Yangtze River, the rice yield per mu will not exceed 300 kilograms. This, this, this is simply nonsense!"
Emperor Xuan was displeased when he heard this. "Minister Zhou, as the Minister of Agriculture, you can't produce such a high-yield rice seed. Do you think no one else in the world can do it?"
"Let me tell you, this rice seed is called Fu Sandai! It was personally created by my son-in-law, Fu Xiaoguan!"
"I know that it's difficult to change the minds of stubborn people like you. Zhou Ye, I'm sending you to Yao County in person! Go there and show me around, and ask the people there. Also... stay in Yao County for a year next year and see how their rice seeds have more than doubled their yield!"
"Ah...I obey your command!"
Zhou Ye was not frightened. Instead, he was very excited after hearing the decree.
Why?
I just want to expose their lies myself!
There is no way in this world that there is rice seed with such high yield!
I will plant the rice myself next year and use real data to clear my name!
Traitorous ministers are ruining the country!
If Your Majesty takes it seriously, he will make many wrong decisions. At the most, it will very likely lead to instability in the country. At the least, many people will probably starve to death!
Food is the most important thing for people. If the food is fake, it is a heinous crime that is unforgivable.
So Zhou Ye was full of righteousness at this moment. He even stood up straight, and even his fear of Ding Anbo was thrown out of his mind at this moment.
Compared to the importance of the country, even if it costs me my life, I must expose the ugly faces of Ding'an Bo and Yan Xiwen!
Just as he was thinking this, Emperor Xuan picked up another memorial from Pingling County.
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