Chapter 500 - Breeding Base (1/2)
In fact, even though Zhu Junyang’s farmstead was not officially under Xiaocao’s name, it more or less belonged to Xiaocao now. He sold the mountain area behind the farmstead to Xiaocao at a low price. He also gave her the right to arrange the land in the farmstead as she pleased. She was also able to order the stewards and servants working in the farmstead as she wanted. Xiaocao was respected and treated like the master of the farmstead by the servants. Of course, she was treated with respect because of her capability and charming personality.
Although they planted many flowers in the mountain area behind the farmstead, they were still short on supply. Yu Xiaocao publicly purchased a variety of flowers and petals from various places. She even had suppliers from Jiangnan. Furthermore, Zhu Junyang had assigned one of his fleets to personally purchase flowers for Yu Xiaocao.
They already agreed that the thousands of mu of fertile land in the farmstead would be planted with vegetables and fruits in the winter. At the beginning of spring, the land in the farmstead will then all be used to plant flowers. In addition to that, he also had a couple of hundred mu located on the backend of the mountain area. That amount of land should be barely enough, right? If it wasn’t enough, Zhu Junyang was thinking about purchasing the neighboring farmsteads at a high price…
Yu Xiaocao had been busy with the beauty and health club during spring. Of course, she had not forgotten about her official responsibilities. She had also been taking care of the matters in the Imperial Plantation. At the beginning of spring, she planted fresh vegetables after the greenhouse pavilions were taken down.
The vegetable farmers in the suburbs of the capital also planted some vegetables at the beginning of spring. However, their vegetables couldn’t compare to the vegetables planted in the Imperial Plantation. Perhaps the Imperial Plantation was infected with the dragon spirit from the royal family, but the vegetables produced this year appeared fresher and lusher than the vegetables from the other vegetable farmers. The vegetables from the Imperial Plantation tasted even better than the previous years.
As a result, the vegetables sold by the shops under Zhu Junyang’s name were much more expensive than the vegetables sold by ordinary vegetable farmers. Even so, the cunning government officials, noble families, and wealthy merchants all fought to buy some vegetables and fruits from his shop.
The weather gradually became warmer. People took off their warm clothes for lighter and more comfortable summer garments. The one thousand mu of winter wheat planted in the Imperial Plantation had grown into plump and massive ears of wheat. It looked like the Imperial Plantation was covered with a golden colored blanket. When they saw the vast golden wheat field, the old and experienced tenant farmers in the Imperial Plantation smiled until their wrinkles deepened at the corners of their eyes.
They had planted crops for the majority of their life, but this was the first time they had seen such large and plump wheat ears. This year was definitely going to have a bumper harvest and they would be able to live a better life this year due to the bountiful harvest! Although the wheat in the Imperial Plantation was owned by the imperial family, the tenant farmer’s income was still linked to the harvest of the fields each year. The output of the harvest usually got converted into other forms of food or silver as income for the tenant farmers.
Before Miss Yu came to the Imperial Plantation, the tenant farmers working in the Imperial Plantation were envied by others. The emperor was well known for his benevolence and love for his people, so he naturally wouldn’t treat the tenant farmers in the Imperial Plantation badly. Last fall, under Miss Yu’s leadership, the corn output in the Imperial Plantation broke a new record. Each of the tenant farmers’ incomes had doubled compared to the previous years. Looking at the fields of winter wheat for this spring, they knew that their income would definitely be better than the income they received from last fall. In other words, this year’s income was better than all the previous payments they had received in the previous two to three years!
As a result, the tenant farmers were full of energy when they were harvesting the winter wheat. Men, women, and children all looked like they were engaging in battle as they cut, tied, and picked the wheat...the children followed behind the adults while carrying a small basket to pick the wheat ears that fell to the ground. They knew that the plantation had to receive the wheat in the warehouse first before it would be considered as their own. Since this year’s winter wheat had grown so well, they couldn’t afford to have an accident when harvesting the crops. They wouldn’t be able to afford the consequences!
When the thousand mu of winter wheat had been cut, dried, and stored in the warehouse, the tenant farmers who had been busy harvesting all day and night could finally let out a sigh of relief. Steward Wang and Minister Liu of the Ministry of Revenue couldn’t wait to calculate the output of the winter wheat with the officials in charge of the farming tasks.
Minister Liu trembled with excitement. Seven hundred catties!! The average yield per mu actually reached seven hundred catties, which meant that they yielded a higher catty per mu than the crops produced at Tanggu Town. In this era where the average wheat yield per mu was only around two to three hundred catties, no one could even imagine that they could one day produce seven hundred catties per mu! This was simply a myth that they didn’t even dare to imagine!!
The statistics of the total yield from the Imperial Plantation was presented to the emperor. The yield per mu of the fields in Tanggu Town was also counted and it turned out that the yield per mu wasn't much different from the Imperial Plantation this year. However, Xiaocao asked a few people to select a few exceptionally large wheat ears in the previous year for her, and then she planted those in a few acres of land. The winter wheat planted in the few acres of land produced wheat ears that were a third larger in size than normal wheat ears. The wheat ear managed to create a miracle by outputting nine hundred catties per mu!
Above the imperial court, the emperor held a giant wheat ear and excitedly said to the civil and military officials, “Do you see this? This is the wheat ear that yielded nine hundred catties per mu. If we use this as a seed, then the yield next year definitely won’t worsen! Imagine if all the wheat in the north can reach this output, then would our Great Ming Dynasty have people who go hungry every day? Would we still have people who are poverty-stricken? Will we still have people who won’t be able to make a living?? The people in the Great Ming Dynasty will be able to live in peace and contentment. The Great Ming Dynasty will no longer be unstable because of poverty. Feudal Princess Jinan is indeed one of my most capable officials. Now, my officials and ministers, do you still believe that I’m trying to cause chaos to the imperial court by appointing a young girl as an official? My officials and ministers, do you still believe that a woman cannot be a capable and efficient official?”