The talent show went on as planned, with contestants from all over the country arriving one after another. On September 20th, the first selection was held.
This selection was actually the first step of screening by the eunuchs and female officials, commonly known as the preliminary selection. After the selection, there was a period of intensive training, and then the general selection, which was mainly done by the empress and concubines, and Emperor Ming Yan usually did not go.
Wu Fangzi also passed the preliminary selection and came back to pack her things to enter the palace. However, when the carriage just arrived at the gate of the mansion, she saw Yan Shitu waiting on horseback nearby. When he saw the carriage coming, he jumped off the horse, stopped the horse in the way and saluted.
The driver stopped, and Yan Shitu hurried to the window and said in a low voice: "My dear lady, I am sorry for the intrusion. I will make it short. I am Yan Shitu, the third son of Yan Chengyuan. If you are interested, I can ask the emperor to arrange a marriage for me."
There was silence in the carriage.
After a while, Yan Shitu became anxious and begged, "Young lady? Young lady, can you answer me?"
The car window slowly opened, revealing Wu Fangzi's charming face. Her eyebrows were slanted, and she said shyly, "Who wants to marry you? I won't marry you!"
Yan Shitu's face turned red when he saw her look. He felt his ears burning and his heart beating fast, especially since she was usually bright and cheerful but now she was so shy.
The carriage then moved forward, and Yan Shitu pulled the horse to avoid it, and continued to stare at it blankly until the carriage turned the corner.
Little did he know that Wu Fangzi in the carriage had already stopped showing shyness and was now full of mockery.
...
...
Look, all men in the world are like this, bastards. She slapped him as soon as they met, and then cursed and pulled out a knife. Even when she went to the Prince of Taiping's mansion, she was unscrupulous and deliberately behaved rudely, poking his mother's eyes... But what? Didn't he come up to her like a dog, and she couldn't be beaten away? Didn't he care about the face of his mother, sister-in-law and sister?
hehe!
It was a pity that the place he chose was too quiet, with no one around. It would be much better if it was in a crowded place, where everyone could hear her say she didn't want to get married. If they wanted to do anything, it would be shameless! Even if they really asked for an arranged marriage, she wouldn't be afraid. She would disobey the order in public, so that everyone would know that she would rather die than marry him!
In fact, Yan Shiyue was quite curious about the talent show and had planned to go and take a look, but ended up being so busy that he didn't have time to spare.
Because of the Champa rice issue, this was the opportunity that Yan Shiyue had been waiting for, so the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Revenue were preparing for a joint promotion these past two days, and the imperial court was also preparing to issue an edict to encourage land reclamation.
If we have rice seeds, we must consider productivity, encourage land reclamation, and "sharpen our tools before doing our work well." These are all matters that affect the entire body.
So Yan Shiyue first considered the improvement of agricultural tools.
Now that the beans are about to be harvested, a thresher is a top priority, which will save a lot of manpower.
Furthermore, the water mill can also be improved. The water mill uses water power as its motive force and has existed as early as the Jin Dynasty. However, it can be improved so that one water wheel drives several mills to rotate. This type of mill is called a water-driven continuous mill.
You can also make water wheels and wind-powered water wheels, which are also improved on the basis of the existing keel water wheels.
Yan Shiyue went to the imperial study to see the emperor. Seeing a bunch of people waiting outside, he said, "Are you in a hurry? If not, I'll cut in line."
Who dared to argue with her? Naturally, they said that the Prime Minister should go first. Then Yan Shiyue stretched her head and gestured to Gu Jiuxing. Before she could do so, Emperor Ming Yan said, "What are you doing sneaking around? Come in!"
Yan Shiyue went in. Prince Chun, who was discussing matters, bowed and withdrew with a smile. Emperor Mingyan asked, "What's the urgent matter?"
"It's not urgent," Yan Shiyue said with a smile, "but I want to go out and play later. If you are not afraid of Xiaojiu and Xiaoshi making a fuss, I will wait a little longer."
Emperor Ming Yan glared at her. Then he asked, "What's the matter?"
Yan Shiyue put the drawings in his hand on the table: "I have drawn some improvements to farm tools. The beans will be harvested soon, so we need to do the threshing quickly. Who do you think should be assigned to this task? Do I need to submit a memorial?"
Emperor Ming Yan looked at it carefully and said, "Doesn't the Ministry of Commerce have a workshop?"
"Aye," Yan Shiyue said, "The workshop of our Ministry of Commerce cannot do this! You have to understand that the more of this kind of thing, the better, and we encourage the people to follow suit. But everything our Ministry of Commerce makes cannot be copied. The phrase 'the Ministry of Commerce has ordered the counterfeiting to be investigated' must become a profound concept. When you think of the Ministry of Commerce, you must think of this, and it will have a deterrent effect. So we must not allow this to be copied and that to not be copied. This will cause confusion and have a bad effect."
Emperor Mingyan raised his eyebrows slightly.
Yan Shiyue continued, "So, either after the test, hand over the blueprints to the people to make it themselves, or let the Ministry of Works do it. Look at your Ministry of Works, they either build houses or make tables and chairs for the palace, they don't do anything serious."
"Whose Ministry of Works?" Emperor Ming Yan scolded with a smile: "You are the Prime Minister, you are taking salary for nothing and not doing any work?
She spread her hands: "So, what do you say we should do?"
Emperor Ming Yan said, "Take it to the Ministry of Works and tell them to make it. Make a trial batch first, and then send the drawings down. Then ask them to submit a memorial with details."
Yan Shiyue pouted: "Oh!"
Emperor Mingyan asked, "Where are you going?"
Yan Shiyue said: "I want to take the children to the farm to eat edamame."
Emperor Mingyan asked, "Why don't you ask me to join you?"
"Ah?" Yan Shiyue asked, "Are you free? I thought you were definitely not free!"
Emperor Mingyan snorted, "You didn't even ask, which shows that you didn't really want to invite me."
Yan Shiyue: “…”
Is that so childish? She could only bow and say, "Father, the green beans on my daughter's farm are ripe. I sincerely invite you to come and taste them!"
Emperor Ming Yan nodded: "Yes!"
Emperor Ming Yan was very excited, so the officials outside received an oral order to go to the prime minister's farm to eat five-spiced edamame.
The emperor leaving the palace is no small matter, so naturally some preparation is required.
Then, Wu Gang, the Minister of Works, who hurried over in response to the call, was grabbed by Yan Shiyue, who handed him the blueprints: "Sir Wu, hurry up, while you have time, go back and tell your craftsmen to make these things as soon as possible. Other things are fine, but the thresher must be made within half a month, and after the blueprints are perfected, they will be distributed to local governments to encourage people to copy them... By the way, Aye said you have to submit a memorial with the details."
Wu Gang hurriedly bowed and wanted to ask more questions, but Prince Chun came over and said with a smile, "Sir Wu, the Prime Minister is brief, just do as the Prime Minister says. The Prime Minister will invite the Emperor to have dinner with us at the farm, so you should quickly give instructions and come over."
He pointed at the blueprint and said, "The Prime Minister meant not to delay the farming season, so we can ask the craftsmen to do research while we are eating."
Wu Gang suddenly realized what was going on and hurried over.
As a result, just as I arrived at the Ministry of Works and gave my instructions, I heard that the emperor had already left the palace.
So should he still go? If he goes, will it seem that he is not doing his job?
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