Chapter 353 - Preparing to Open a Shop (1/2)
The memorial presented by Royal Prince Yang set off a wave of storm at court. Minister Liu’s hands trembled as he took the memorial that the emperor had just reviewed. He carefully looked over the data over and over again. The yield on superior farmland was three hundred eighty catties per mu and the average farmland had three hundred thirty catties per mu. The output of inferior farmland had also gotten a high yield of two hundred ninety catties per mu.
Minister Liu burst into tears, “Emperor, this old official is incompetent! All of the fields in the Imperial Plantation are superior farmland, yet the yield is only around one hundred ninety catties per mu!! This Yu Family is indeed talented, Your Majesty!”
Zhu Junfan looked at Imperial Censor Yang and asked with a spurious smile, “Imperial Censor Yang, do you have anything else to say?”
With facts presented in front of his eyes, Imperial Censor Yang had no other reason to stop the emperor from awarding the Yu Family. He thought for a moment and said, “If what is stated in the memorial is true, then this official will acknowledge it sincerely.”
He was speaking as if Royal Prince Yang had made a false record in order to help the Yu Family. All the civil and military officials in court inwardly shook their heads. This Imperial Censor Yang seriously didn’t have a very good moral character. At this point, he was still trying to find an honorable way to get out of this embarrassing situation.
He should think about it. Who was the Yu Family to Royal Prince Yang? Why would the cold-hearted and black-faced royal prince be willing to risk the crime of deceiving the monarch to protect them? Furthermore, even if the Yu Family was bestowed a position, they would merely be a minor seven-rank official. They would just be small agricultural officials under the Ministry of Revenue, so how would that affect him, Imperial Censor Yang, in any way? Was it really worth it for him to cling onto them like a leech?
The Minister of Works came out again and tried to smooth things over, “Perhaps, there’s a difference in the output due to the difference of the seeds. In my opinion, to truly have fair and just results, the same types of seeds and fields should be used…”
Officials, who knew the situation, all looked at each other with tacit gaze—the Minister of Works’ granddaughter and Imperial Censor Yang’s grandson were currently in the middle of discussing marriage, so it was no wonder that he would speak up for him.
At this time, the military officials presented a memorial, stating that there seemed to be trouble at the northwest borders. The surviving supporters of the Yuan Dynasty had divided into two major tribes, Dongliao and Siliao. It seemed like they were eager to cause trouble at the borders. The military officials requested for backup in the event that war broke out and so on… As for the matter regarding the Yu Family, it had been left unsettled once again.
At the Yu Family’s farmstead on the outskirts of Tanggu Town, it was currently bustling with activity. After the soybeans were reaped, the tenant farmers were busy with fertilizing the fields and preparing for the cultivation of wheat.
Zhu Junyang, who had a tall and graceful figure, stood at the edge of the field and said to Yu Xiaocao, who was handing out wheat to the farmers, “If you plant winter wheat now, you won’t be able to plant corn in the spring, right? I must remind you that the emperor attaches great importance to corn and plans to popularize the cultivation of corn as a high-yielding crop in the north…”
Yu Xiaocao smiled at him and said, “I know. If we want to popularize the cultivation of corn, there definitely aren’t enough seeds. We should do it step by step! Since we’re familiar with growing corn, we’ll naturally take up the responsibility of breeding the seeds! But, this doesn’t conflict with growing winter wheat ah!”
With a look of surprise, Zhu Junyang asked in confusion, “How does it not conflict? I have asked your tenant farmers. After planting the winter wheat, they can only be harvested at the beginning of next summer. Where would you have farmland to grow corn?”
Yu Xiaocao lifted her eyebrows and smiled proudly, “Who told you that corn must be planted in the spring? After the winter wheat is reaped, we can plant a batch of corn to be harvested in the autumn. After harvesting the corn, we can grow winter wheat again. The timing is just right! If we don’t plant winter wheat now, the fields would be idle for at least four to five months. Isn’t that a waste of resources?”
After thinking about it, Zhu Junyang felt that it sounded quite reasonable. Yu Xiaocao said that after the popularization of corn, it would at most be considered a type of coarse grain. By growing corn for one season and winter wheat for another season, they would have both coarse grain and fine grain, and the common people would be able to live a better life. Thus, he also handed his eight hundred mu of farmland to her and asked her to help him decide what to plant. He wrote up an imperial memorial overnight and sent it to the capital. Soon, the Imperial Plantation on the outskirts of the capital also began growing winter wheat.
At this time, the method of cultivation for wheat had been relatively improved. Yu Xiaocao just had to let the little divine stone release some spiritual energy into the seeds, and the tenant farmers would take care of all other matters. The father and daughter pair were currently busy dealing with the villagers who came to purchase bean seeds after hearing about good things about them.
The news that the Yu Family’s farmstead had a great harvest of soybeans, which had a high yield of four hundred catties per mu, had quietly spread throughout Tanggu Town. After being spread through the word of mouth, people began saying that the soybean seeds that the Yu Family used were a high-yielding crop that Royal Prince Yang brought back from the western hemisphere.
At this time, there had been a gradual improvement of the extraction method for soybean oil. Bean curd, bead sprout, and some other bean-related products had slowly started appearing on the tables of the common people. The soybean cakes left over after being used to extract soybean oil and bean flour milled by beans were all food that the poverty-stricken commoners relied on for survival. The doubling of the output of beans could help improve the lives of many people, so it attracted quite a lot of people.
The soybeans harvested from Royal Prince Yang’s fields had to be transported back to the capital. As for the soybeans produced at the Yu Family’s plantation, with the exception of the portion saved to be used as seeds for next year, Yu Hai and his daughter decided to sell them at a state-set price. Why were they selling them at a state-set price? The Yu Family was able to earn a good reputation in several nearby villages by selling the soybeans to the impoverished commoner according to the market price of fine breed grain without adding a single copper coin to the price.