"Reply Xi Zhaorong, not yet." Fusheng answered truthfully.
Liao Qingqing nodded and said, "Okay, I understand, you can go back."
"Yes."
Fusheng left.
Liao Qingqing ordered He Xiang to bring the Great Wei Territory Records and maps. She sat at the table and looked at them carefully. Dongliao County is located in the northeast of the Great Wei Dynasty, and the area is vast.
Although the winter is cold, it has always been a relief for Emperor Jingli.
But this time it is different. It is already spring, and Dongliao County is still affected by the snow disaster.
It can be seen that Dongliao County will be affected for the next six months.
Now it is freezing to death, and after a while it may be starving to death.
Emperor Jingli must allocate funds for disaster relief.
Liao Qingqing couldn't help but frown. She thought of various ways in Lisheng Pavilion. At night, Emperor Jingli came back tiredly.
"Your Majesty." Liao Qingqing went forward to greet him.
When Emperor Jingli saw Liao Qingqing, his worries were reduced by half.
Liao Qingqing took the initiative to hold Emperor Jingli's hand.
Emperor Jingli felt much more relaxed and asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
"No, Your Majesty hasn't eaten yet, right?"
"Yes."
"Let's eat together."
"Okay."
"Wait a minute." Liao Qingqing suddenly said again.
"What's wrong?" Emperor Jingli asked.
"Your Majesty, come with me."
Liao Qingqing took Emperor Jingli's hand and walked towards the small room of Lisheng Pavilion. As soon as he entered the room, he saw several large boxes placed in the room. When he opened them, he found that they were either gold or silver, and some jewelry.
Emperor Jingli asked curiously, "What are you doing?"
Liao Qingqing said, "Your Majesty, I'll give you all of this."
"What are you giving me to do?"
"To provide disaster relief. Didn't you say that there was a snowstorm in Dongliao?"
Liao Qingqing said this sincerely, and Emperor Jingli was more and more touched. He had been an emperor for several years, and he encountered various natural and man-made disasters every year. Most of the concubines in the harem were just trying to please him, but no one had ever used all their belongings for disaster relief like Liao Qingqing did.
"All of it was used for disaster relief. What did you spend it on?" Emperor Jingli asked.
"I don't spend much to begin with, so I won't reward you in the future."
"Aren't you afraid that the palace maids and eunuchs will say you're a thief?"
"Just say it, I'd rather they say I'm a thief than see any more casualties in Dongliao." Liao Qingqing seemed to be determined.
Emperor Jingli felt warm in his heart, and he held Liao Qingqing in his arms and said, "Qingqing's kindness, I and the people of Dongliao appreciate it. You don't have to worry about the snow disaster. I have ordered people to open the warehouses for disaster relief. I believe you will receive good news in a few days."
"Then why is the emperor still frowning?" Liao Qingqing stretched out her slender fingers to touch Emperor Jingli's eyebrows gently.
The movement was gentle and warm.
Emperor Jingli's brows relaxed slightly, and he said, "I am worried about the people who are suffering from hunger and cold." He always valued the lives of ordinary people, and he added, "I don't know if other places are doing well this year."
"Since the emperor has opened the warehouse to provide disaster relief, they will soon receive the emperor's gift. God will see the emperor's kindness and will also treat the people of Wei well."
Emperor Jingli felt relieved when he heard this. He lowered his head and kissed Liao Qingqing's forehead, and felt much more comfortable.
But he was worried about the matter of Dongliao County.
After all, human lives are at stake.
Emperor Jingli didn't eat much at dinner.
After that, he sat in front of the documents to review memorials.
Liao Qingqing accompanied him for a while, but was really tired, so she went to sleep.
The next morning, the weather was fine and the sun was shining brightly.
Good news came from Dongliao County, saying that the snow had stopped. Some local officials and wealthy people set out porridge to help the people. Dongliao County also opened its warehouses to provide disaster relief, alleviating the urgent need.
Emperor Jingli felt a little relieved after hearing this.
But in the afternoon, he received another memorial saying that a flood had occurred in the south.
It was just the beginning of spring, and a flood had occurred. Not only was Emperor Jingli worried, but all the ministers were also worried. They held urgent meetings, and the prime ministers were busy. The Ministry of Works, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Revenue each came up with policies and seized the time to send more people to treat the flood and prevent thieves from taking advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos.
For a while, the court officials were extremely busy.
Emperor Jingli was even busier day and night.
He didn't expect that there would be so many things to happen at the beginning of this year. Before he ascended the throne, he had read a lot of historical records and summarized some rules, such as snow disasters, droughts, and disaster relief would not come alone, and were often accompanied by various diseases. The most common ones were coughs and fevers, and the most terrible was the plague.
Emperor Jingli was afraid of the plague.
He issued several imperial edicts in a row, reminding officials to pay attention to the prevention of various diseases. He
even allocated a large amount of money for medicine.
Perhaps Emperor Jingli's attention moved the heavens.
In the next few days, every place was sunny.
Sunshine is a good sign.
Everything is developing in a good direction.
Emperor Jingli breathed a sigh of relief.
Liao Qingqing was relieved.
At this time, the little eunuch from the Agricultural Bureau came to Liao Qingqing again.
Liao Qingqing asked, "What's the matter?"
The eunuch said happily, "The director sent me to tell Xi Zhaorong that the potatoes will be harvested tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Liao Qingqing had been paying attention to the disasters in various places these days and had forgotten about the harvest of 1,000 acres of potatoes in Zhuzhou, so she asked, "Has your director checked the potatoes?"
"Yes."
"How are they growing?"
"The director said they are better than when I was the director of the Agriculture Department."
Liao Qingqing smiled and said, "Okay, I wanted to go with you to harvest the potatoes, but I'm not feeling well recently. Please tell the director."
"Yes."
"By the way, does the emperor know?"
"The director sent a memorial, but the emperor has been busy recently, so I don't know if he has read it." The eunuch said.
"Okay, I know, you can go back."
"Yes."
After the eunuch left, Liao Qingqing called the nanny of Lisheng Pavilion. Last year, she told Emperor Jingli more than once that she loved to grow vegetables and had made meritorious deeds many times.
Emperor Jingli not only rewarded her with silver, but also rewarded her with 100 mu of land.
When Zhuzhou County planted potatoes last year, she also sent people to plant 100 mu of potatoes. Now is the time to harvest, so she ordered the nanny to go out of the palace to find people to harvest potatoes, and she estimated this year's potato harvest in Lisheng Pavilion.
She spent more than half a year to cultivate potatoes from umbrella flowers.
He and the Minister of Revenue and the Director of the Department of Agriculture spent more than half a year to continue testing and cultivating potatoes. All the potatoes produced and the large amount of umbrella flowers purchased from the northwest were sparsely planted in the land.
The total area was more than 1,100 mu.
According to the last yield of 1,000 catties per mu, this time the potato harvest was about 1.1 million catties.
1.1 million catties? !
550 tons? !
Isn't this too much?
A few days later, the Minister of Revenue reported the potato harvest to Emperor Jingli in the Qinzheng Hall.
Emperor Jingli was shocked.
A group of court officials did not believe it at all.
The Minister of Revenue gave an impassioned explanation of the growth process of potatoes, the advantages of harvesting, and detailed the contributions of Xi Zhaorong Liao Qingqing.
The potatoes planted on the thousand mu of land in Zhuzhou, in addition to the potato flowers transported from the northwest, are mostly potato stems cultivated by Xi Zhaorong. The court officials present have all eaten potatoes.
Yes, they have eaten them, and they are quite delicious.
But the total output of the thousand mu of land reached more than one million catties, which is simply impossible. You know, usually planting wheat, rice and millet on a thousand mu can yield 300,000 catties, which is a bumper harvest. It
is obvious that the Minister of Revenue is exaggerating the facts.
Why exaggerate?
Of course, it is for Xi Zhaorong.
The Minister of Revenue is a well-known Xi Zhaorong party, and firmly supports Xi Zhaorong as the empress of this dynasty.
In order to become the empress, this Xi Zhaorong really did everything she could to dare to touch the foundation of the country.
Some court officials could not stand the Minister of Revenue. In the court, they began to bring out planting examples from ancient times to the present, firmly stating that potatoes could not have such a high yield, otherwise there would not be famine in the future.
At the same time, they strongly criticized the Minister of Revenue and insinuated Xi Zhaorong.
It was okay to criticize the Minister of Revenue, but it was not okay to insinuate Xi Zhaorong. Emperor Jingli immediately threw the memorial. There was
a dead silence in the hall.
The Minister of Revenue risked his life and said: "Your Majesty, everything I said is true. If you don't believe it, you can go to Zhuzhou and see now. The potatoes there have not been transported out yet. If I lied, I am willing to die!"
"Go to Zhuzhou!" Emperor Jingli said angrily.
Other court officials wanted to stop Emperor Jingli, but seeing that his face was full of anger, no one dared to speak. They immediately gathered the guards and soldiers, prepared carriages, and went to Zhuzhou in a mighty manner.
However, due to the haste of leaving the palace, there were not enough carriages, and many court officials were squeezed into one carriage. They did not dare to say much.
They squeezed silently.
Who made their emperor's heart unpredictable?
Emperor Jingli sat alone in a carriage. He was slightly excited in his heart. He believed what the Minister of Revenue said because he believed in his Qingqing.
Zhuzhou County was close to the capital, and along the official road, it took only one hour to reach the location of Zhuzhou County's 1,000 mu of experimental fields.
Emperor Jingli got off the carriage first.
The court officials got off the carriage one by one. Before they could even adjust their black veils, they were stunned by the scene not far away.
In the endless fields, one figure after another, some bent over to work, some carrying baskets, and some carrying cloth bags, everyone had a happy smile on their face, and the source of their smiles was the mountains of potatoes.
The carriages could not enter the test fields, so they got off the carriages on the official road and followed Emperor Jingli step by step towards the test fields. The more they walked, the more they could not believe their eyes.
This, this, the ground and the mountains were full of potatoes. They were
all potatoes that they loved to eat.
When he looked up, he saw the Director of the Agriculture Department was organizing everyone to harvest potatoes. The Director of the Agriculture Department also saw Emperor Jingli at the same time. He was stunned for a moment and quickly saluted Emperor Jingli: "Greetings to the Emperor, long live the Emperor!"
The common people who were harvesting potatoes had already noticed Emperor Jingli and his people. Although they were close to the imperial city, they had never seen the emperor. This time, the emperor and Concubine Xi made potatoes that were delicious and satisfying. They had already worshipped Emperor Jingli and Concubine Xi as gods.
At this moment, when they heard the director of the Agriculture Department say that it was the emperor, they all dropped their work and knelt on the ground in unison: "Greetings to the emperor, long live the emperor."
The shouts were not trained and the voices were not in order, but Emperor Jingli was very excited. He valued the people and naturally hoped that the people would value him. Hearing such a sincere voice, he was particularly happy and could not help but think of his Qingqing. All these were given by his Qingqing.
However, now was not the time to think about Qingqing. He asked the director of the Agriculture Department: "Why are you here?"
"Your Majesty, I am here to supervise under the order of Xi Zhaorong."
"Xi Zhaorong?" When mentioning Liao Qingqing, Emperor Jingli was always very interested.
"Yes, Xi Zhaorong said that this is the first time for the people of the states to harvest potatoes. She was afraid that they might not understand something, so she ordered me to come and supervise and observe whether there are any unusual growth conditions of potatoes on one thousand acres of potatoes." The Director of the Agriculture Department told the truth.
After hearing this, Emperor Jingli nodded and asked, "How much is the yield per acre?"
"More than one thousand catties." The Director of the Agriculture Department said firmly.
An hour ago, when the courtiers in the court heard "more than one thousand catties", they no longer had disdain and disbelief, but were completely shocked.
Shocked!
They have lived for half a lifetime, and this is the first time they have seen a crop that can produce more than one thousand catties per acre. How many people will be saved by this discovery.
This is simply, simply, a merit that will last for all eternity!
They were shocked and amazed at the same time. The owner of this eternal merit was Xi Zhaorong. They didn't want Xi Zhaorong to be the empress, but now the position of empress must belong to Xi Zhaorong.
Their eyes moved from the potatoes to Emperor Jingli.
Emperor Jingli smiled and said "good" three times. Then he said loudly: "Rewards, heavy rewards. Reward the Minister of Revenue Zhu Huairen with a thousand taels of gold and a nine-silver cup. Promote Liu Zhongyi, the director of the Agriculture Department, to the director of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department, with a thousand taels of silver. Reward each of the thousand households in Zhuzhou County with 100 kilograms of potatoes. Reward Xi Zhaorong Liao--" Emperor Jingli
spoke fluently about the rewards for others. When it came to Liao Qingqing, Emperor Jingli suddenly paused and glanced at the court officials. Like a child who succeeded in doing something naughty, his eyes were full of pride.
Then his face became serious, and he said carefully: "Xi Zhaorong Liao, born in a family of scholars, is gentle and kind, with excellent moral character, and cares about the people. She has created eternal merits in the fields and worked with me for the people. This is the act of a mother of the country. Liao is established as the empress. The announcement will be made to the world soon, and the envoys will know it."
Xi Zhaorong became the empress?
The Minister of Revenue and the Director of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Department were the first to react. They knelt down and kowtowed sincerely: "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. Long live the emperor, and the empress will live a thousand years."
The potato incident made Xi Zhaorong as famous among the people as Emperor Jingli. Some people had privately discussed that it would be great if Xi Zhaorong became the empress. Now that Xi Zhaorong has really been promoted to the empress, one by one, the people knelt down and shouted as if their wishes had been fulfilled.
Some court officials who opposed Liao Qingqing as the empress could not stand up in front of two million kilograms of potatoes, and could not find any reason to refute, so they all knelt down to accept it.
Seeing this, Emperor Jingli showed a smug smile and turned to look in the direction of the palace. At this time, Liao Qingqing was sitting in the yard basking in the sun, and He Xiang was sitting next to her.
He Xiang was bowing her head to make small shoes.
One was already made.
Liao Qingqing took it and said, "This is too small, not even as big as my hand."
He Xiang said, "Children are like this, their feet are especially small."
"Really?" Liao Qingqing rarely came into contact with children.
"Yes, I've asked the nanny, so it can't be wrong."
"Okay, then you can continue.
" "Well, I've made the little shoes, and I'll also make clothes and socks for the little prince."
"Little prince, what if it's a princess?"
"Then I'll do both."
"Okay."
He Xiang lowered her head and worked.
Liao Qingqing was eating snacks and reading a book nearby.
After a while, Fusheng came in with a group of eunuchs and palace maids holding the imperial edict, and said in a sharp voice: "The imperial edict has arrived--"
The author has something to say: -
Reader: Your Majesty, your queen has buns!
Emperor Jingli: What?
Reader: Damn it! Your wife is pregnant!
Emperor: !!!
- Thank you for the minefield of the beautiful girl's difficult name, mua!
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