The emperor looked at the rice plant carefully and frowned, "This rice plant is not as good as the previous Ding Hao. It is so short and the ears are not very long, but it looks full."
Zhou Dalang nodded, "But Lizhong still requires us to plant, and we are not allowed to water too much, saying that some places are very short of water, and the water shortage in Ding is too severe and there will be a lack of production. It is not as good as C..."
The emperor was shocked, so he pointed to the unharvested rice in another experimental field and asked, "What about that, I don't think it grows very well, what area is it cultivated in?"
Zhou Dalang said with a silly smile: "That's a new seed, which was sent over by Manbao the year before last, and it was numbered Gui. This year is the second year of planting, so we have to look at what it looks like. There are some rice. Special insects are attracted, some are not very attractive, some taste soft and glutinous, and some are hard. Man Bao said that the knowledge of this kind of land is great, and the yield depends on other things, such as drought resistance. , anti-waterlogging, those that attract bugs and those that don’t, have different tastes, and some even have different colors.”
Seeing that the emperor was amiable, and all the questions were about farming, Zhou Dalang accidentally said too much, "I heard from Man Bao that there is a place where the millet is red in color, and Man Bao has always wanted someone to bring it to him. Some came back and tried to look at it, but no one was found to bring it back... "
The emperor said: "Red rice, I remember it in the south of the Five Ridges, I ate it once before, the taste..."
The emperor thought about it for a while and said: "I don't think the rice needs to be planted."
Wei Zhi glanced at the emperor and asked Zhou Dalang, "I wonder if there is rice milled from new rice seeds in the house? Let's taste it too."
"Yes, yes, we planted a lot last year, and now we eat at home." Zhou Dalang immediately said, "I'll go back and cook right away, you wait."
Zhou Dalang turned around and ran back.
emperor:…
Everyone: ...
Mr. Zhuang couldn't stop him, so he could only watch him run away in a hurry. He had no choice but to act as the host and continue to introduce the emperor.
Fortunately, he also knows some of the conditions of the experimental field, so he won't be blinded, but it is impossible for him to go into details, so he said: "Your Majesty, whoever knows the most about the experimental field is Zhou Lizhong, who has always been in charge. The others, even Zhou Man, don’t know much about it.”
That child just gave the seeds, and occasionally pointed out the direction. Zhou Lizhong has always been the one who did the actual work.
The emperor nodded slightly, and walked from the experimental field to the field cultivated by the tenant farmers.
More than half of the rice in the paddy field has been harvested, but at a glance, it is still golden. The closer you get, the more shocking the heavy hanging rice ears will be.
The emperor stood on the ridge with his hands behind his back, exhaled deeply, and felt a sense of pride in his chest, "If all the paddy fields in the world can have such a good harvest..."
Wei Zhi just thought about it for a while and felt his blood boil, he clenched his fists and said, "There may be no famine in this world."
This is the goal that many generations have striven for.
The emperor said: "Issue an imperial edict to summon Zhou Li to return to Beijing."
He paused and said, "Zhou Man, I'm very interested in asking her to come back to Beijing. How did she come up with the idea of cultivating rice seeds, and where did she get so many rice seeds?"
Mr. Zhuang lowered his eyes and clenched his hands in his sleeves. Wei Zhi had already bowed in response, "Yes, I will draw up an order when I get back."
The emperor nodded slightly, then turned around and walked back. When he returned, the emperor was free to look at other places. Looking, looking, the emperor stopped, "Zhou Man's job field..."
The emperor looked left and then again, narrowing his eyes slightly, "The water system is well developed. This gully seems to connect many fields. There is also dry land over there, but why are there trees planted there?"
Mr. Zhuang hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, this ditch has been dug and repaired successively in the past few years. The Zhou family contributed some money and food, and the tenant farmers in the village contributed to repair it."
Glancing at the direction the emperor pointed, he lowered his head, "That piece of dry land over there is barren, and it's hard to get a harvest even if you plant beans, so Zhou Man asked someone to dig a pond there to raise some fish and lotus roots, and planted some are fruit trees."
Emperor: "... I vaguely remember that officials are not allowed to make major changes in their jobs and dig ponds, okay?"
He looked at Wei Zhi.
After a moment of silence, Wei Zhi replied impartially: "No!"
Mr. Zhuang: ...
The emperor nodded slightly, and walked back to the other courtyard with his hands behind his back.
As soon as he entered the door, the guard who was left to count the rice immediately stepped forward and reported, "Your Majesty, I have counted the one plant of yours, and there are a total of 3,612."
The other guard beside him was sweating profusely and kept talking non-stop. As soon as he finished his report, he immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have also finished counting, three thousand four hundred and eighty-two."
It's so dangerous, I almost forgot, I knew I would go out with some pens and paper, and write it down after counting...
Yin Li glanced at him and shook his head slightly.
The other guards also stepped forward to report the numbers they counted, all ranging from 3,000 to 5,000.
The emperor held a piece of millet and said: "It is indeed beyond my expectation that a single seed can be harvested like this. This is my luck, and it is also the luck of all people."
Wei Zhi nodded approvingly.
But the emperor suddenly looked at Mr. Zhuang and asked, "Master Zhuang, now that the salt administration has begun, the Jiangnan incident has been settled, and now there is high-yielding grain, what do you think Dajin should do next?"
Zhuang Shi said that he did not expect the emperor to ask him a question suddenly. He paused for a long time before he said slowly: "Your Majesty, spring planting and autumn harvest are the seasons, and it is also a reincarnation. Every year when the autumn harvest is over, the head of the family must start thinking about the next year's farming. Things, after farming, according to the climate, watering, weeding and weeding, this is the case every year, year after year, it seems that there has never been a change.”
"However, the harvest is different every year. Even if the things that happen in the family are roughly the same, there are always differences. There may be weddings, disasters, illnesses or bad things, but just go forward and look for things when something goes wrong. The solution is to think about accumulation when it is stable, not only to deal with possible disasters in the future, but also to make the family's life better."
Mr. Zhuang spoke very slowly, but the emperor listened carefully, "Governing the country is like running a family, and I think the country should do the same."
So there is no need to think about what to do next, because current events will tell them what to do. "
The emperor looked at Mr. Zhuang quietly, and nodded slightly after a while, "It's the crown prince's luck to be taught by Mr. Zhuang, and it's also my luck, and the great Jin's luck."
This comment is very powerful, even Mr. Zhuang who is as calm as Zhuang can't help but get up and kneel down, "I dare not be a minister."
The emperor hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, grabbed his hand and said: "Speaking of which, I have known you for a long time, but we rarely have the opportunity to talk in depth. This is my negligence, my fault."
The emperor recalled the meeting with Zhou Man and the others on the road and in the temple, and sighed in his heart, he was negligent, how can a teacher who can teach students like Zhou Man and Bai Shan be incompetent