In fact, although Zhu Junyang's Zhuangzi is not recorded in Xiaocao's name, it is almost the same as hers now. The back mountain was sold to her at a low price, the land in the village was arranged by her, and the personnel in the village were at her disposal. The stewards and servants in the manor have secretly respected and obeyed her like a mistress. Of course, this also has a lot to do with her personal ability and personality charm.
Although there are many flowers grown in the back mountain, the supply is still short of demand, so Xiaocao openly buys all kinds of flowers and petals from all over the world, and even develops to the south of the Yangtze River. Zhu Junyang specially added a boat to the fleet to buy flowers for Yu Xiaocao.
They negotiated that the thousands of hectares of fertile land on the Zhuangzi would be planted with vegetables and melons and fruits in greenhouses in winter, and all flowers would be planted in spring. Coupled with the hundreds of acres of sloping land on the back mountain, it should be barely enough, right? If it is not enough, Zhu Junyang is thinking about buying a few nearby Zhuangzi at a high price...
Yu Xiaocao has been busy with the affairs of the Beauty and Health Club all spring, and of course she has not forgotten her responsibilities, and the affairs of the Huangzhuang are also taken care of. At the beginning of spring, after the greenhouse was removed, early spring vegetables were planted.
Although the vegetable farmers in the suburbs of Beijing also planted vegetables in the beginning of spring, they didn't know it. Huangzhuang didn't know if it was contaminated with the dragon spirit of the royal family. The vegetables produced looked fresher and lusher than ordinary vegetable farmers, and the taste was much better.
Therefore, those vegetable shops under the name of Zhu Junyang sell vegetables that are much more expensive than ordinary vegetable farmers. Even so, those tricky official families, aristocratic families, and wealthy businessmen all scrambled to come to the vegetable and fruit shop to buy vegetables.
Ordinary people in Beijing are naturally reluctant to pay several times higher prices for the same vegetables. Therefore, there is still a market for vegetables from vegetable farmers in the suburbs of Beijing. The vegetables produced in Huangzhuang gradually became "noble vegetables" exclusively for the upper class. It's not even a fight for profit with the people.
Gradually, the weather got hotter. People changed their jackets and put on light summer clothes. Thousands of acres of winter wheat on Huangzhuang, the wheat ears are full and huge, like a carpet paved with gold bricks. There is an experienced old tenant in Zhuangzi, guarding the golden wheat fields, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes are getting deeper when he smiles.
I have planted crops for most of my life, and I have never seen such a large and full ear of wheat. This year is definitely a bumper harvest, and their tenants have a better life! Although the wheat in the village is owned by the royal family, the income of the tenants is still linked to the harvest of the field. The income of the tenants will be converted into other grain or money for them according to the output.
Before Miss Yu came, the tenants of the Huangzhuang were envied by others. The emperor was kind and caring for the people, so naturally he would not be harsh on the tenants of the Huangzhuang. Last autumn, under the leadership of Ms. Yu, corn production reached a new high, and the income of each household doubled compared with previous years. This spring, judging from the momentum of winter wheat, it will definitely not be worse than last autumn. In other words, one year's income is better than that of two or even three years in previous years!
Therefore, when harvesting winter wheat, the tenants are full of energy. Men, women, and children all go to battle, reaping, tying, and picking... Even the children follow behind with small baskets to pick wheat ears. These tenants are all experienced old farmers, and they are their own only when they know that the farmer receives it in the warehouse. This year's winter wheat has grown so well, they can't afford to make mistakes during the harvest, they can't afford it!
When thousands of acres of winter wheat were harvested, beaten, dried, and put into warehouses, the tenant farmers who had been busy harvesting day and night were relieved. Wang Guanshi and Liu Shangshu of the household department, together with the agricultural officials of the household department, couldn't wait to start calculating the production of winter wheat.
Liu Shangshu was so excited that his whole body trembled, seven hundred catties! ! The average yield per mu has actually reached 700 catties, which is a step higher than Tang Gu's yield last year. In this era when the average yield per mu is only two to three hundred catties, the yield of seven hundred catties is simply an unimaginable myth! !
When the production statistics are ready to be submitted to the emperor's royal case, Tang Gu's yield per mu is also calculated, which is not much different from Huangzhuang. However, when Xiaocao was harvesting last year, someone picked some particularly large ears of wheat and planted several acres of land. The ears of winter wheat on that field are one-third larger than normal ears, and the yield has created a miracle of nine hundred catties!
Above the court hall, the emperor held up a plump and huge ear of wheat, and excitedly said to the civil and military officials: "Have you seen it? This is an ear of wheat with a yield of 900 catties per mu. If you use it as a seed, the yield will definitely not be high." Where will it go! Just imagine, if all the wheat in the north had reached such an output, would there still be hungry people in Daming? Would there still be people who would not have enough to eat? Would there still be people who would fall into bandits because they couldn’t survive? Why are the people of Daming worried about living and working in peace, and why is the country of Daming not as stable as a mountain? The Lord of Jin’an County is indeed a capable minister of mine. Now, all you lovers, do you still think that I am disturbing Chaogang by appointing a little girl as an official? Ladies and gentlemen, do you still think that a woman who is an official is like a rooster?"
There was silence in the court hall. Those ministers who strongly opposed Yu Xiaocao's appointment as an official back then lowered their heads and felt their faces being slapped! The emperor has always appointed people on their merits, and at the beginning, despite the opposition of half the court, he insisted on promoting a small peasant girl from a farming family arbitrarily, so as not to bury a farming genius! !
After the emperor ascended the throne, in order to save the national treasury, the palaces of the previous dynasty have been used. Some remote palaces have been abandoned, and they are reluctant to use money to repair them. In order not to waste money and people, even the three-year draft was cancelled, and the harem, including the empress, had no more than ten masters! The longevity of the emperor and empress can be kept simple, and the cost does not exceed a thousand taels of silver, which is not as good as the birthday of a wealthy businessman.
The reason why the royal family is so frugal is naturally that the treasury is not rich. In the past ten years since he came to the throne, the emperor has been diligent in governing and caring for the people, encouraging land reclamation, and emphasizing farming. Even so, people in many places still can't fill their stomachs. In the final analysis, the yield of food is too low! At the end of the year, after paying the land rent, the rest can barely eat, and if there is a natural or man-made disaster, there is no food left and the stomach will be hungry.
If the yield per mu is tripled or even quadrupled, even the tenants who rent the land will have more to eat after paying the rent. The prosperity of the people leads to the security of the country. Isn't this what the rulers are after? All the officials in the court, military generals rule the country, and civil servants rule the country, but the one who can really stabilize the country is just a little girl that everyone has never looked down upon! !
Now, all the ministers really refuse to accept it! Master Xiaoyu used her extraordinary ability to win the recognition of civil and military officials, and gradually became familiar to the common people!
The high-yield wheat seeds were initially reserved for farming in Huangzhuang next year, and the rest were sold to poor people in the north at the price of ordinary grain seeds. In order to prevent being monopolized by some landlords, officials and gentry, the imperial court sent imperial envoys to preside over the sale of grain seeds in various places.
Huangzhuang and Tang Guyu's Zhuangzi had a combined land of no more than four to five thousand mu, and the yield per mu was calculated at an average of seven hundred, which was only more than three million catties of seeds. One mu of land is calculated based on the sowing rate of 15 catties, and it can only supply more than 200,000 mu of land. For the 600 million mu of arable land in the Ming Dynasty, it was not enough, far from enough! !
The emperor asked the hidden guards to quietly count the Zhuangzi belonging to officials and wealthy businessmen in the suburbs of Beijing and the surrounding counties. More than 10,000 acres of land! ! In this way, the popularization of high-yield grain planting in the north is one step closer!
The emperor asked Su Ran to gather these people together and announced that the imperial court would expropriate their land. Of course, they are not in vain, the grain is distributed by the court, and the harvested grain can only be sold to the court, and the court buys it at a price of ten cents per catty.
The price of wheat on the market is no more than five cents a catty. The owners of these Zhuangzi are profitable, so what is there to disagree with? The imperial court signed a ten-year agreement with Zhuangzi's owner. The imperial court has the final say on what and how to plant in these ten years. When it is time to harvest, the imperial court will send commissioners to purchase them uniformly.
Since the crops planted in each Zhuangzi are different, some are winter wheat and some are sown in spring, which is rather messy. Therefore, the time of signing is calculated from the time when the season is harvested in autumn and the winter wheat is planted.
After the winter wheat was harvested, the Zhuangzi of Huangzhuang and Tanggu planted corn and potatoes in full swing. In the northeast and northwest where the climate environment is harsh and the land is barren, these crops are more experimental. Last year, many villages in the suburbs of Beijing came to Beijing to snap up corn seeds and go back. In the spring, those who were impatient would sow the seeds. We received feedback that these corns are growing well, and the specific yield will not be known until autumn.
Zhuangzi in the two places already has experience in growing corn. Before farming, Yu Xiaocao went for a stroll around the well in Zhuangzi's field to increase the concentration of the aura that had been weakened in it, and pretended to stand on the ridge of the field with his hands behind his back. Walk up a few laps. Mission accomplished!
At this time, the peaches and plums in the mountains behind Zhuangzi began to ripen one after another. Due to the urgent need for fruit tree seedlings, the varieties of peaches are different. Some of them were grafted with peach branches transported from Dongshan Village, and the peaches produced were big and sweet. Others include large white peaches that are sweet and crunchy, red peaches that are as red as blood, sweet and juicy as blood, and yellow peaches that are crisp and sweet. Regardless of the variety, the peaches were so large and numerous that they bent the branches.
As soon as the peaches are ripe, they are transported to Yang Junwang's boutique vegetable and fruit shop, where they are sold in gift boxes at a high price. Fortunately, those who are willing to buy vegetables and fruits in boutique vegetable and fruit stores are those who are not short of money. No matter what kind of peaches there are in the back mountain of Huangzhuang, they are bigger than the fist of an adult man, not to mention the taste.