After Gu Zhong withdrew, the emperor asked Wei Zhi, "What happened, that Ai Qing was so tired that he entered the palace at the risk of poisoning?"
After saluting, Wei Zhi presented the box, "Your Majesty, Bai Shan sent this back from Beihai County, and it is a congratulatory gift for His Majesty and Da Jin."
The emperor took the box, opened it and asked, "What gift? It's not even my birthday yet."
Wei Zhi didn't speak, the emperor had already opened it, saw the ears of rice and the booklet inside, he skipped the booklet, first picked up the ear of rice curiously to look at, and said without words: "Send me an ear of rice from a thousand miles away? Don't you know that correspondence costs a lot?"
Looking at it, he realized something was wrong. He took the ear of rice and looked carefully, and even weighed it. Feeling the heavy weight, he narrowed his eyes slightly.
The emperor attached great importance to farming. Every year when the dragon raised his head, he would go down to the ground to plow, worship the sky, and pray for blessings. Naturally, he would often go to the emperor's farm in autumn to see the harvest of the crops.
He himself has worked in the fields. The ears of rice he has seen before don't seem to be so long, with so many grains and full, right
Seeing that he had discovered it, Wei Zhi bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, this is a new rice seed cultivated by the Zhou family for six years. Now Beihai County of Qingzhou and Luojiang County of Mianzhou have six stones per mu."
The emperor stood up from his seat in shock, his eyes dazzled for a moment before he regained his composure, he raised his head and rubbed his forehead, and asked excitedly, "Really?"
Wei Zhi lowered his head, didn't see it, lowered his head and said loudly: "Your Majesty, Bai Shan will not cheat on this matter, it is clearly written in his notes."
The emperor quickly picked up the booklet to read.
Only then did Wei Zhi raise his head to look at him, seeing that his eyes were getting brighter and his face was glowing red, he waited for him to read the booklet and introduced: "Master Zhou has a nephew who is now an official of Luojiang County in Mianzhou, who is planted in Luojiang He brought back the fine seed in the county, and he and his father had cultivated it in the past six years. When the letter was sent out, they only harvested a piece of land and weighed it as raw rice. The yield per mu was six and a half shi. About five stones."
The emperor had already read Bai Shan's book at a glance, which also recorded the experimental process of the Pucun experimental field in detail.
He could no longer hear what Wei Zhi was saying behind him, and his eyes were fixed on the test data on the booklet.
Seeing that the emperor hadn't spoken for a long time, Wei Zhi knew what he was looking at with a glance, so he said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty—"
The emperor raised his eyes, gave him a sneaky look of disgust, then continued to look down at the notebook, "What's your name, I can hear you, tell me."
"Your Majesty, although the experimental data in Bai Shan's booklet is good-looking, it is an experiment. According to what Zhuang Shi said, they will pay more attention to the experimental field. Not only will they give the best fertilizer, but they will always ensure enough water, weeding and catching insects. The energy consumed is more than five times that of ordinary rice fields, so I feel that the experimental field can be used for breeding, but its yield cannot be used as a standard, at least it has to be lowered."
The emperor said: "According to the above data, the sun-dried rice can weigh seven shi and add 22 catties, which means that the raw rice may reach nine shi. Go to Sanshi? One third."
It hurts to think about it.
Wei Zhi knew that the emperor's old problem was repeated, and he had to look forward to Shu.
He said: "Your Majesty, the yield of this new rice seed is twice as high as the current one. That is to say, if it can be planted properly in the world, the next year's rice harvest will be twice as much as the current one..."
Excited just thinking about it, okay
The emperor clenched the booklet in his hand, his eyes sparkled, "If we continue to cultivate fine seeds, make the seeds better, so that the harvest of ordinary farmland can be as good as the current data of the experimental field, it will be three times the current..."
Wei Zhi: "...That's right." It's just that the ambition is too big. If the seeds are so easy to cultivate, the yield of rice per mu will not be so low over the years.
The emperor was very excited, as long as he thought about the various results of the increase in grain production, he was so excited that he couldn't sit still, wishing he could run three times in the West Inner Garden.
He got up excitedly, turned around and looked at Wei Zhi, "It seems that the Zhou family is very talented in farming. I vaguely remember that the new wheat seeds were also newly planted by the Zhou family."
Wei Zhi bowed his head and replied, "Yes."
At that time, Yang Heshu also wrote a letter to ask for merit for the Zhou family, but the situation was complicated at that time, the court only rewarded some property, and no other rewards.
Because Yang Heshu is the main promoter, the credit mainly falls on him.
Thinking of Mr. Zhuang's hint before entering the palace, Wei Zhi paused and said: "I heard that the Zhou family is best at farming, one is the Zhou family Dalang, and the other is the Zhou family Sanlang. Zhou Li, the son of Zhou Dalang, focuses on management and experiments, and all the experimental data comes from him."
The emperor hurriedly asked: "Does that mean Zhou Li has learned to read and write again?"
"That's right. I remember that Zhou Man has two nephews who passed the Mingjing exam two years ago. Is it one of them?"
"No," Wei Zhi was speechless for a moment, and he said that the emperor didn't hear what he said just now, so he could only say it again, "Zhou Lizhong is only an official in Luojiang County now."
Emperor: "Enyin went in?"
Zhou Man has achieved this position, but nephew Enyin, a small official, can still do it.
"No, he got in by himself."
The emperor nodded appreciatively, "I have ambition."
After a pause, he said, "Come in, attendant Xuanzhuang."
Wei Zhi went out to find Gu Zhong.
Gu Zhong quickly invited Mr. Zhuang over.
The emperor asked enthusiastically: "Since the experimental field is in Pucun, it should still be there now, right?"
Mr. Zhuang replied with a smile: "Yes."
"Does Napu Village have this new rice plant? Is it all harvested, or..."
"Harvesting has begun, but it has not been finished." Mr. Zhuang said: "This year, all the paddy fields in the village of Pucun are planted with this new rice seed."
The emperor got up immediately, "Come on, let's go out of the palace to have a look."
Wei Zhi was taken aback, "Now?"
The emperor was impatient, "If we don't go now, what will we do when they finish cutting tomorrow? I want to see it with my own eyes."
Although the emperor didn't think Bai Shan would lie, he still wanted to see it with his own eyes, mainly because the rice seed appeared suddenly to him, and he couldn't believe it.
Wei Zhi thought so too, and he also wanted to go and see for himself.
So I agreed, "Does Your Majesty want a guard of honor, or..."
"The guard of honor is too troublesome. When they are ready, I will soon arrive at Pu Village. Let Yin Li prepare, and we will leave the city immediately."
Mr. Zhuang lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then raised his hand and saluted: "Your Majesty, even if you want to be subdued, you can't leave the palace privately. The queen and the clan are together..."
The emperor waved his hand in distaste, and wanted to refute it, but Wei Zhi already said: "What Zhuang Shi said is right, that's all for the clan, but the queen has to say it."