Translator: YHHH Editor: Book_Hoarder
6451 catties. After confirming it three times in a row, that court official who examined the sweet potatoes right at the start stared at them nervously. He was afraid that there would be some sort of calculation error.
After the figures had been confirmed, everyone went into a frenzy.
There were too many sweet potatoes.
This crop that was called sweet potato, could grow anywhere and could also be consumed as supplementary food. Moreover, its output was so high that it was ten times higher than the output of rice.
If the output of sweet potatoes was similar or slightly higher than that of rice, no one would really care. However, to everyone's surprise, it was much higher. As such, the value wasn't the same anymore.
As long as the cultivation of sweet potatoes was promoted, in future, Dayao wouldn't need to purchase crops from other nations any longer.
That Secondary class, Rank 3 official who examined the sweet potatoes began to laugh heartily.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty. These sweet potatoes are very favorable for Dayao. There will be no shortages of food in the future." Everyone turned and looked at the empress with a look of happiness on their faces.
The empress was pleased upon hearing the remarks of everyone. As expected, Ren Baqian didn't let her down. An output of 6000 over catties was already sufficient for everyone's jaws to drop.
She looked over at Ren Baqian, "I will reward you for the success of the sweet potatoes."
"Many thanks, Your Majesty." Ren Baqian expressed his gratitude at the suitable time. As far as a reward was concerned, it wasn't really beneficial anymore. After all, being promoted and getting rich was meaningless for him already. However, to be able to upgrade his rank among the commoners in Dayao was nevertheless, something good.
But, this output of 6000 over catties wasn't considered much of a surprise. The potential output of the sweet potatoes was said to be about 10000 catties, and even though Dayao's land was very fertile, the total output was only 6451 catties worth.
Unfortunately, he didn't know much about these sorts of things and merely searched for information online. But, there was one point which he remembered, loam was a better option than this type of firm and substantial soil.
"Ge Yihong, go and find out about the issue of the sweet potatoes from Deputy Prefect Ren. After that, expand the planting of it as fast as possible," the empress instructed him.
"Yes!" Ge Yihong was the Secondary class, Rank 3 official who examined the sweet potatoes. He was the Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Livestock which was part of the Ministry of Works. Basically, an official that was in charge of agriculture and livestock raising. With regards to the current situation of Dayao's agriculture, he knew it better than anyone else and naturally, he would also be clearer on the astonishing output of the sweet potatoes.
"Your Majesty, there's also the glass factory as well as Mount Damo. Tong Zhenye quickly stepped forward and bumped Ge Yihong to one side. Even though the sweet potatoes were important, there was still a pile of things waiting for him to do. Previously, Ren Baqian only visualized the future for him, but in fact, didn't realize it for him. As such, he had been thinking about it for a very long time.
Now, Ren Baqian was finally back. How could he allow Ren Baqian to work in the fields?
Ge Yihong was enraged as he was being pushed away. But, the other party was the Minister of Works and he was only the Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Livestock. Of course, at this rank, even if Tong Zhenye was his immediate superior, it wasn't that important anymore. Most importantly, he wasn't Tong Zhenye's match at all.
"Go back and discuss it among yourselves," the empress said faintly. In her heart, the iron ore mine task in Mount Damo was the most important. However, as she wasn't very sure about it, she instructed them to settle it themselves.
Tong Zhenye looked at Ren Baqian and revealed a self-acknowledged good-natured smile that actually looked sinister.
After everything was over, everyone roughly knew what they had to do and didn't see the need to stay any longer. A group of people were preparing to leave when Ge Yihong pointed at a piece of land and asked what was planted on it.
"Spices," Ren Baqian simply answered. For the time being, he was going to prepare a piece of land to plant these items. After which, he would sell these spices and make a quick buck from the other three nations.
These spices would definitely reap huge profits for Dayao.
They could also use that sum of money to buy other supplies as well as enrich the imperial depository. Then, they would slowly release the spices in a few years' time.
Upon hearing that it was spices, Ge Yihong's eyes brightened. He announced to the empress that he would be taking his leave and immediately ran over.
The court officials had also heard about the news of the new spices in the imperial palace. After all, those spices had appeared during the empress's birthday celebration. Although the dishes at the time didn't look very appetizing, they were actually very delicious. Immediately, everyone could taste the flavor that was different from the usual dishes they consumed.
There were only some of these spices in the palace and basically, none of them were circulated outside. Everyone had only heard of it, but none had seen it.
Now, after getting hold of news that those were spices, there were many people that were interested. A large number of people shifted to the vicinity of that piece of land and walked around for quite some time.
However, they couldn't understand what was going on and were only there to join the crowd. After inquiring for quite some time and finding out from Ren Baqian that the imperial family would purchase land, plant these spices and sell them, they could only look forward to it.
In any case, as long as they could purchase these spices when the time comes, it would be fine. They didn't need to have everything in their own hands.
Even if they wanted to grab it for themselves, how could they grab it from the empress?
After thinking for a long time, Ge Yihong finally couldn't hold back anymore, "I still feel that Deputy Prefect Ren should work at the Department of Agriculture and Livestock. It just so happens that there is actually a vacant position for the junior official."
Ren Baqian's ability to come up with the sweet potatoes as well as these types of spices, made Ge Yihong felt that he still had other good stuff on hand. It would be a pity if he couldn't poach him to join the Department of Agriculture and Livestock.
Everyone gave him the side-eye. They have seen shameless people before, but, they have yet to see someone so shameless that could lie through his teeth.
The junior official of the Department of Agriculture and Livestock was busy with work all day round.
And your words simply ignored his existence?
If Ren Baqian really joins the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, what would you do?
In that case, will there be two junior officials in the Department of Agriculture and Livestock?
However, seeing that he not only turned a blind eye to their looks of despise but also remained calm, many people felt that this shameless manner was actually similar to their demeanor back then in the days.
After staying for quite time, everyone began to leave the beast park one after another. On one hand, Tong Zhenye kept clinging onto Ren Baqian to ask when he would be heading to Ministry of Works. On the other hand, Ge Yihong was asking about the situation of the sweet potatoes. With great difficulty, Ren Baqian finally managed to get rid of the two of them and returned to the palace to dine with the empress.
After sitting and relaxing in the garden and enjoying the serenity with the empress for a while, he headed to Qingxin Palace Hall and looked for Lin Qiaole to study. Previously, halfway through learning he was almost assassinated. As such, he had forgotten many words now.
That night, he made a trip to Qingxin Palace Hall again. After which, the both of them appeared in the room on Earth.
At this moment, it was already June and the weather was getting hotter. Ren Baqian opened the windows and door for better ventilation in the room. He looked at the time and it was only 7 o'clock in the evening. Then, he turned to the empress who was already sitting on the sofa
"Okay." The empress nodded. In this world, she had no opinions in regards to the itinerary, except for the time that she bought many red dresses in the shopping mall.
After all, everything in this world was new and odd to her.
In particular, the tranquil and rich atmosphere of this world also made her felt especially at ease and pleasurable. She never had to consider other things, and everything from the imperial court was far away from her.
The city looked extremely beautiful during the transition from spring to summer. The vibe that the city gave off was also full of vitality. Many people were taking strolls by the roadside. There were hip-hop teenagers wearing headphones that walked in small groups as well as people dancing in the plaza. Also, there were young mothers pushing strollers, and young parents bringing their children out for a walk with skewers in their hands.
During the previous time that the empress came, there wasn't that many people in the city at night.
He drove to the supermarket to buy a pile of things and stuffed them into the car. The empress was holding a bucket of popcorn and suddenly felt that it was very tasty.
As long as it was something sweet, she would be fond of it. As for food that were salty or spicy, she avoided them to a certain degree. Even though she didn't reveal any expressions, Ren Baqian was able to make out that she disliked them, just from the gaze of her beautiful and elegant, almond-shaped eyes.