County Magistrate Zheng turned to look at Li Erlang and stammered, "W-Wenzhi, do you agree?"
He was confused. How could he ask a half-grown child about such an important matter? He stared at Li Erlang with burning eyes and an expectant expression!
Let's not talk about the potatoes for now. These sweet potatoes stretch across dozens of acres. How many sweet potatoes must there be? That must weigh tens of thousands of pounds, right? County Magistrate Zheng couldn't help but estimate in his mind.
"Sir, what my daughter said is what I mean!" Li Erlang said calmly.
After hearing Li Erlang's calm answer, County Magistrate Zheng couldn't help but touch his palpitating chest. The surprise came so suddenly that he was a little confused for a moment.
After a while, when County Magistrate Zheng had calmed down, he stepped forward and patted Li Erlang's shoulder vigorously, praising him cheerfully, "Good, good, good!"
Originally, telling the emperor that high-yield crops were grown in his jurisdiction would have made the emperor very happy. Now this girl actually wants to donate them all. After seeing such high-yield crops, how could he not be excited?
After the surprise, he was moved. Tears flashed in the eyes of County Magistrate Zheng. "On behalf of the people of Rongcheng, I thank you. Thank you for giving up your personal interests for the greater good. Thank you..." At the end, there was a choking tone in his voice.
"Your Excellency, there is no need to do this. Rongcheng's current development is all due to your governance. This is also my hometown. I also want it to become better and the people to live a more prosperous life.
But these sweet potatoes are limited, and there won't be much left for everyone to share! "
"That's not what you said. With your generous donation, in less than two years, such high-yield crops will be available in the homes of ordinary people. You have made a great contribution to this, so there is no need to be modest!" County Magistrate Zheng said solemnly.
After bidding farewell to the Li family, County Magistrate Zheng drove away with Li Erlang in excitement. He wanted to go back and prepare a memorial to the emperor.
Li Yan stood in front of the door until the carriage drove away, then turned around and went home.
"The county magistrate and your father are gone?"
Li Yan nodded, moved closer to her mother, and teased the baby in the cradle.
Mrs. Lin sat aside doing needlework. She felt satisfied watching the three children playing together, and just continued with the work in her hands.
"Mom, I donated all the sweet potatoes in the field!" Li Yan said to her mother.
Looking at her stunned mother, Li Yan continued to explain: "I have already discussed this with my father, and he agrees."
"Mom, we can't protect such a high-yield crop. Rather than letting those powerful people take it away, I want to give it all to the people of Rongcheng. That way, it won't be long before these sweet potatoes can be spread all over the place."
Li Yan also knew clearly in her heart that the half of the sweet potato given to the emperor would probably never reach the hands of the poor people.
Eventually, it will be divided up by the powerful people in Beijing. By then, the powerful people who control the high-yield crops will use this thing to make a lot of money!
Lin nodded. "You are a person with your own ideas. Now that you have made up your mind, just go for it. Although I can't help you with anything, I can't hinder you either!"
Li Yan hugged her mother with emotion, put her cheek on Lin's arm, and said thank you in a low voice. She was lucky to have such open-minded and generous parents in this era!
Mrs. Lin felt that her eldest daughter rarely acted like a spoiled child, and she felt very happy at this moment.
She felt very sad to have to give away the sweet potatoes that she had brought back with great difficulty without making a penny for them.
With so much grain, even if she only sold the sweet potato vines for one penny each, she would still make a lot of money!
Li Yan felt heartbroken when she thought about losing an opportunity to make money.
The main reason was that County Magistrate Zheng was impeached, and she needed to find a way to keep him.
Rongcheng Market is just in its infancy and its foundation is still shallow. No one can guarantee whether the next county magistrate can continue the will of the previous one?
Anyway, Li Yan knows in her heart that it is very difficult!
In particular, the magistrate of Zheng was dismissed by the emperor.
Would the new county magistrate be so apprehensive that he would eventually shut down the market? This was all possible.
Therefore, Li Yan had no choice but to use the news that she had grown high-yield crops to shut up those who wanted to replace her.
As long as County Magistrate Zheng wrote a memorial to the emperor about this matter, the entire court, both civil and military officials, would naturally get the news. Who wouldn't be tempted by such a high-yield crop?
She knows very well that a man is innocent but guilty of possessing a treasure.
Since she couldn't keep this thing, instead of letting those powerful people covet it and have bad intentions towards it, she might as well donate it all.
In this way, this thing can be promoted everywhere in just one or two years.
If the people have enough to eat, who would steal and create chaos?
Li Yan cuddled beside her mother, weighing the matter, when she heard voices outside the door.
"Girl, are you home?"
Li Yan stood up and looked, and saw the clan leader and several villagers walking into the yard.
"Grandpa, clan leader, what's the matter?"
"Now that we've finished our work in the fields, we're all thinking about opening the noodle shop soon, so I came to ask you something."
"I originally thought that the uncles and aunts would need to rest for two days after finishing their work, but I didn't expect everyone to be so enthusiastic!" Li Yan explained.
"Hey girl, we are used to doing farm work. It's not tiring, not tiring. We are not used to this leisure time!"
The others who followed nodded in agreement.
Seeing that everyone was very anxious, Li Yan led everyone to the warehouse and pointed to a pile of iron lumps and said, "This is the noodle pressing machine. Uncles, please help move it to the noodle shop first. I will teach you how to press the noodles!"
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