Chapter 136: Farming Essentials [VIP]
When some are happy, others are sad.
Wang Xiang knew that the situation could not be reversed. After losing Song Zhiyi and Zheng Fu in succession, he regarded Yang Jizong as a thorn in his side and regretted not wiping out the entire Yang family.
Seeing these headless flies scurrying around like they had found their leader, Prime Minister Wang snorted coldly at Yang Jizong, his hands tucked into his wide sleeves. "I congratulate you on your return to the court. Your fathers would surely rest in peace if they knew."
"Prime Minister Wang, you are praising him too much. He is just a small governor of Ezhou." An official sneered.
A general standing beside Yang Jizong was about to take action to protect him, but was stopped by the crowd.
Yang Jizong looked at Wang Xiang, who was surrounded by the crowd, and a smile appeared on his lips as he bowed to Wang Xiang. "Thank you for your concern, Wang Xiang, but if I want to comfort my Yang family, there is much more to it than this."
"Oh? From what you said, I understand you're going to continue down the same path as before?"
Seeking death?
Facing Wang Xiang's provocation, Yang Jizong was not afraid at all. Instead, he met his fierce gaze and said, "Wang Xiang, you better wait and see."
"I'm waiting."
The prime minister was escorted out of the palace by a group of ministers.
After Yang Jizong exchanged a few words with the ministers around him, they all left one after another, except Li Menghong who stayed there and accompanied Yang Jizong.
Others did not know about the hardships they had gone through, but Li Menghong was deeply touched. He was grateful that Yang Jizong did not reveal the truth about the promotion of winter wheat in the court.
"Sir Yang, although Ezhou Prefecture is far away from Fang County, the road from Beijing is still on the way to the county lady. Would you like me to tell the county lady about it?" Li Menghong still felt sorry for the two of them regarding the divorce.
Yang Jizong looked at Tian Baolai and Shen Yao being escorted away by palace servants. "The Sage will send the Imperial Guards to escort them and the new Fang County Magistrate back to Fang County. I won't have to go with them."
Li Menghong half-opened his mouth, and it took him a long time to react: "Then who is the new prefect of Fang County?"
"Last year's third place winner, Peng Dingqiu."
Li Menghong knew Peng Dingqiu. He came from a poor family and although he was very talented, he should have been the top scorer in last year's imperial examination. However, he had no family to recommend him. Even though the saints praised him highly, he had to be ranked third.
Moreover, under the pressure from Wang Xiang and others, the sage could only give him an idle job as a book editor in the Hanlin Academy, so he was marginalized everywhere.
"Your Majesty wants to keep the third place scholar away from the court, go to Fang County and work with the county lord to achieve some political achievements before re-employing him?" Li Menghong carefully guessed the emperor's intention.
Yang Jizong didn't say anything, but Li Menghong understood instantly. He followed Yang Jizong and looked at the palace gate in the distance: "The county master is easy-going and devoted to farming. I believe he can benefit the people of Fang County together with the third place winner."
The speaker may not have intended it, but the listener took it to heart. Yang Jizong pursed his lips in an instant.
When everyone returned to the post station, the station manager learned that Chen Yao was conferred the title of county lady. He was so attentive that he took great care to prepare meals for the brother and sister. He even placed two charcoal basins in the cold room.
"You don't have to serve me so carefully. My cousin and I will leave tomorrow." Chen Yao placed the imperial edict and clothing on the bed.
The postmaster stood outside the door with his back bent, and no one dared to enter without instructions: "Then I will tell someone to prepare dry food for the county lady."
"Wait." With Tian Baolai's shout, the person in charge stopped immediately.
"Does the county lady have any other instructions?"
Tian Baolai took out the purse from his pocket and handed it to the person in charge as usual. They were not the kind of people who bullied others by taking advantage of their power.
"My Lady of the County, you may not know that these post stations along the way are free places to stay for court officials. I was shortsighted before and I dared not accept this money." The brother and sister Asada Baolai, who were in charge, apologized and left in a hurry.
Tian Baolai stood at the door and was about to call people back, but before he opened his mouth, he saw Yang Jizon, Li Menghong and others coming back.
With a bang.
Tian Baolai quickly closed the door.
"Cousin?" Chen Yao walked out from behind the screen.
"It's okay. It's windy outside. Let's eat first. After dinner, I will go find someone to ask about the departure time tomorrow. Let's go home and never come here again." No matter how prosperous and lively the capital is, it is not as good as home.
Chen Yao served her cousin some rice and just as she sat down, she heard Li Menghong's voice coming from the corridor outside the door.
Li Menghong asked the person in charge of the post station to prepare dry food for Yang Jizong for his departure tomorrow.
Just as the brother and sister were eating and listening in the house, the footsteps were getting closer and closer to them.
Li Menghong took advantage of Yang Jizong's return to his room and knocked on Chen Yao's door. "County Lady, we all came from Fang County together. It's thanks to you that I'm able to stay in the capital. I've booked a banquet for you at Huixianju, the most famous restaurant in the city, tonight. Would you be so kind as to come?"
Just as Chen Yao was about to agree, she heard her cousin standing behind her ask in a deep voice, "Are we inviting just the two of us, or is he going too?"
"Him? You mean Lord Peng? I have also sent out the invitation to Lord Peng," Li Menghong pretended to be confused to confuse the audience.
We will go, thank you Lord Li for your invitation."
"Then let's meet at Huixianju at 3:15 PM. As soon as his transfer order comes, he'll send out the prepared letter and bring his wife from Fang County to Beijing to reunite with him and his son.
The old mansion had already received the news and sent a carriage to take him home for dinner. The first thing Li Menghong said when he saw his son was, "How confident are you of passing the imperial examination this year?"
"Don't worry, father. I will do my best." Zi opened the curtain for Li Menghong, and the father and son left the post station.
Li Xin, Liu Chuang and other yamen runners were abandoned in the post station. Fortunately, Chen Yao looked after them, and the person in charge of the post station brought them hot meals.
"Do you think Madam Shen really divorced that guy?" The yamen runners sat around the table gossiping.
Liu Chuang raised his hand and smashed the bowl in front of him and shouted: "Eating can't stop your mouth, so don't eat anymore."
The squad leader couldn't stand Liu Chuang and criticized him: "Brothers, aren't you curious? Haven't you two ever thought about the day when you can stop being yamen runners and marry into the county lady's family? Although you can live off her, but..."
Li Xin and Liu Chuang kicked over the bench under the squad leader without saying a word, dumped the food on the table on his head, and punched the squad leader with their heavy sandbag fists one after another.
In the end, the noise was so loud that the three of them had bruised faces and were taken by Xing Fang to see Chen Yao.
After Chen Yao learned the whole story, she asked Xing Fang, "They framed the county lady afterwards. Can I punish them?"
"Of course, you are the lord of Fang County."
Upon hearing this, the squad leader immediately knelt down and admitted his mistake.
But Chen Yao did not forgive him: "If I forgive you today, then everyone will be able to make up stories about me in the future. Since you like to gossip like this, I will punish you by making you guard the East Market for half a year after returning to Fang County."
The squad leader thought his clothes were in danger, but he didn't expect Chen Yao to just give him a light punishment and a warning. He thanked her and then left.
As for Li Xin and Liu Chuang, they received medicinal wine for traumatic injuries from Chen Yao and went with her to Huixianju to meet the new magistrate of Fang County in the evening.
Just after the hour of You, Chen Yao and her cousin had already set off for Huixianju.
I thought they would be the first to arrive, but I didn't expect Yang Jizong to arrive earlier than them.
Chen Yao and Tian Baolai stood at the door and did not go in. Just then, Li Menghong and Peng Dingqiu also arrived.
"Why are you waiting outside, County Lady? Please come in." Li Menghong warmly invited everyone in to take a seat. Then he looked at Li Xin and Liu Chuang with a frown. "Why are you two here instead of staying at the post station?"
"Sir Li, I asked them to come with me. This is my cousin and I's first time in Beijing, and we're afraid we might accidentally bump into some noble person on the way." Chen Yao pulled her cousin's sleeve, and the brother and sister walked in.
Li Xin and Liu Chuang were waiting outside the door, and they also showed up in front of Peng Dingqiu.
During the dinner, in order to bring them closer together, Li Menghong specially introduced the customs and people of Fang County to Peng Dingqiu, and also talked about his various political achievements in making profits for the tenant farmers when he was in office.
He was able to get promoted because he did not forget to thank the saint when he was having a great time.
Obviously, Li Menghong was a little drunk.
Peng Dingqiu listened quietly from beginning to end, occasionally asking a few questions, which were also about the farming in the fields of local tenant farmers.
Seeing that Li Menghong had already fallen down drunk, everyone looked at each other.
The meal was so quiet that the only sound that could be heard was Li Menghong's snoring.
"County Lady!"
The two young talents sitting opposite the brother and sister called out to Chen Yao at the same time.
Chen Yao's heart skipped a beat. Maintaining her divorced personality, she deliberately ignored Yang Jizong and instead offered tea to Peng Dingqiu, "Master Peng, when will we set out tomorrow?"
"At noon, the Imperial Guards will be waiting for us at the city gate. Princess, I have something to ask you." Peng Dingqiu blushed. He actually couldn't drink much. The little amount of alcohol he had was acquired through training at home. He was afraid of encountering a situation where it would be difficult to refuse.
"What's up?"
Peng Dingqiu took out a book from his pocket and handed it over: "Is this really compiled by the county lord?"
Chen Yao put down the teacup, took the book, flipped through the pages, and shook her head: "This book was not compiled entirely by me. Some of the farming methods in it were only learned by me after consulting the old farmers in the village. There are also many..."
Chen Yao looked towards Yang Jizong.
Peng Dingqiu immediately understood what he meant, but he didn't care about that. What he cared about was how to spread the book among the people so that the tenant farmers could learn farming methods from it. "This is also the County Lord's hard work. Has the County Lord decided on a name for this book?"
"The title of the book? I can't think of it for the moment. You and..." Peng Dingqiu interrupted Chen Yao before she could finish her words.
"Why not call it 'A Collection of Essentials of Farming'? When we get to Fang County, I'll have someone make a copy. What do you think, County Lady?"
"Uh, this?" Chen Yao noticed that Yang Jizong's face opposite him was not very good, and he was drinking glass after glass of wine.
Tian Baolai naturally saw it too, and he was so happy. "This is a good title for the book. It sounds like it's related to farming. A Yao, let's call it this."
Chen Yao: "Then let's do as Lord Peng decides."
"That's great, but it may be difficult to get the tenant farmers to farm according to what I said above." Peng Dingqiu solved the problem, sighed deeply, and poured himself a glass of wine.
After all, not all villages in Fang County have schools and teachers like Xiahe Village.
"Why is Lord Peng sighing?" Tian Baolai deliberately left Yang Jizong aside and picked up the wine cup on the table to ask.
Peng Dingqiu looked at the brother and sister and said, "To be honest, I'm worried that the people under my jurisdiction will find it difficult to accept this."
"In fact, Lord Peng can ask Lord Yang for advice on this point. Lord Yang has led people to promote the planting of winter wheat in various villages before." Chen Yao looked at Yang Jizong drinking alone, which was really pitiful, so she turned the topic to him.
Chen Yao's words woke Peng Dingqiu up from his dream. He immediately looked at Yang Jizong. He finally noticed that Yang Jizong's expression was not right.
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