Chapter 111: Handwriting Like Chicken Scratch

Yan Ze: "First, let the common people have enough food and clothing, then develop the economy. Otherwise, if everyone goes into business, who will farm the land? However, it is not difficult to achieve food and clothing; we must quickly promote the spread of Corn, Potato, and Sweet Potato."

"And the land—let them reclaim wasteland. All the land they reclaim will belong to them. Those who cannot afford fields will then have land of their own, though it will be a bit of hard work."

"I estimate that in two years, the common people will have enough food and clothing."

Yan Ning added: "It's not that simple. You have to account for corrupt officials and those who refuse to listen to reason. I feel that promoting high-yield crops will still be somewhat difficult."

Yan Ze smiled: "Then, will you take on this task?"

Yan Ning then accepted it.

Yan Ze asked Yan Ning: "How do you plan to solve this?"

Yan Ning pondered for a moment: "Have the craftsmen write down the planting methods, and send one or two hundred people to every city and county with some Seed, ensuring that every official receives the instructions."

Of course, this was just a preliminary idea, considering that many officials like to pay lip service while acting differently, not to mention corruption...

They shouldn't go so far as to embezzle a few Sweet Potatoes or Potatoes.

Yan Ze continued to ask: "Anything else?"

Yan Ning shook her head: "I haven't thought it through yet. We'll take it one step at a time. Tonight, shall we have grilled lamb skewers or beef skewers?"

While in Lingnan, Yan Ning bought five cows. She gave three away, and the remaining two were in the Cold Fresh Warehouse; they could eat beef whenever they wanted.

Ji Lan thought for a moment, "Let's grill the lamb skewers and beef skewers together; I want to eat both."

Yan Ze then had someone slaughter a sheep.

Originally, the people at the manor wanted to come over to help with the grilling, but Yan Ning refused. They still wanted to chat and didn't want to be overheard.

Yan Ze skillfully cut the lamb into strips. Ji Lan helped marinate the beef and lamb. Yan Ning liked vegetables, so she went to prepare some Potato skewers.

Yan Ning sighed: "Although ancient times are okay, they are ultimately not as convenient as modern times. Vegetables are scarce, and fruit is also rare. Lingnan is a bit better, but the Capital really has nothing good to eat."

Yan Ze said cheerfully: "That is true, there is no comparison. But there are advantages here too; the beef and lamb taste very good, without any messy additives."

Ji Lan asked: "Can we plant whatever we want in this manor?"

Yan Ze said: "Yes, you can even plant flowers and grass if you want."

Ji Lan then asked Yan Ning: "Ningning, can you find those vegetable seeds? Let the people in the manor plant them. If they can't grow, we'll set up greenhouses to keep them warm."

Yan Ning's eyes lit up.

She hurriedly took out various different seeds.

The previous trading partner had used self-sealing bags, packed one by one. There were over a hundred bags, meaning over a hundred types of seeds.

Since plastic self-sealing bags did not exist in ancient times, it was inconvenient to take them out each time. So, Ji Lan simply made bags out of white silk, writing the names of the various seeds on them with a brush.

At the time, there was some extra cloth that wasn't enough for clothes, so Yan Ning made a few dozen small Cotton Pouches and set them aside, thinking they might be useful someday.

And now, weren't they being put to use?

Yan Ning picked out a dozen or so bags of seeds: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplants, seedless watermelons, cucumbers, various chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, and so on.

Yan Ning packed them well in the small bags, and her father began writing the names of the seeds on the pouches.

To avoid accidents like natural disasters or man-made calamities, Yan Ning did not take out all the seeds. She only took those that were easy to grow in the Capital, taking only one-third of each kind.

Except for the watermelon seeds.

There were many, many seeds for seedless watermelons. Because they were seedless, it was quite difficult to cultivate them. Yan Ning couldn't understand the videos on cultivating seedless watermelons, so she simply had the trading partner give her a lot of seeds, enough for them to eat for decades.

Early the next morning, Steward Feng returned.

Steward Feng said to Yan Ning: "His Highness, I have already informed the neighboring villages, and the seeds have all been arranged."

Yan Ning casually took out a small Pouch filled with silver and handed it to him.

Steward Feng weighed it; there was at least ten taels.

He hurriedly knelt down to thank her.

Yan Ning pointed to the seeds on the table: "Clear a piece of land to plant these well. Do not mix them up. The planting methods are all written down."

Steward Feng immediately took them. Seeing the dense writing on them, he knew these seeds were very important.

In addition, how to save seeds after they matured was also written down.

Steward Feng solemnly accepted them, "His Highness, please rest assured, we will definitely plant them well."

Yan Ning nodded: "If there is anything you are unsure about, or if any problems arise, come find me immediately."

Steward Feng of the manor agreed.

Yan Ning took a large watermelon out from the room for Steward Feng, "Take this winter melon and eat it."

As she spoke, she pointed to a small Pouch: "These are the seeds for the winter melon. You can keep twenty percent."

After finishing, Yan Ning's family prepared to return to the palace.

Steward Feng was a bit curious; this winter melon looked different from the ones they grew.

Once cut open, one could see the red melon flesh inside, and there wasn't a single seed!

He cut the melon again and took a bite; it was sweet. He had never eaten such a delicious watermelon before!

Steward Feng called everyone else over. The watermelon was cut up, and everyone had a share, though everyone only ate a little bit, just enough to taste the sweetness.

Steward Feng was a bit excited: "His Highness said we can keep twenty percent of the winter melons we grow!"

The farmers' eyes all lit up.

Early in the morning, they scrambled to reclaim wasteland to plant these seeds as soon as possible.

By the time Yan Ning and the others returned to the palace, it was already noon. There was no morning court session today.

After lunch, Yan Ning and her father went to the Imperial Study together.

Yan Ze read while complaining: "This memorial is written in such a flowery way, just to say at the end that they want to reduce taxes."

"And this one, it praises me to the heavens, but there isn't a single point in it."

Yan Ze looked at other memorials as well.

Yan Ning wrote "Get to the point" on many of them. After Yan Ze flipped through the flowery memorials, he had them sent back.

Yan Ze looked at another stack of memorials that Yan Ning had reviewed.

"As expected of my daughter, the opinions are written so well. It's a good thing you're in the liberal arts; if you were in the sciences, I reckon just looking at the characters would feel rather difficult."

Yan Ning said with a smile: "That's right, I spend several hours a day reading time-travel guides, how could I not be?"

However, Yan Ze pointed at her characters and asked: "What kind of characters are these? Why are they so..."

Yan Ze thought of a way to put it that wouldn't hurt his daughter's fragile heart: "Quite unique. How about Dad teaches you how to write?"

It was fortunate that neither Grand Tutor Chen nor the Grand Preceptor had managed to teach Yan Ning yet, otherwise, who knows how long it would take to practice away this chicken-scratch handwriting.

Yan Ning didn't really want to practice.

Characters, after all, are fine as long as they can be read.

Yan Ze said gloomily: "After your father abdicates, you will be the Empress Regnant. If you still have such chicken-scratch handwriting by then, not only will the ministers laugh, but perhaps thousands of years later, when people dig up your dark history..."

Yan Ning hurriedly said: "I'll practice, I'll practice, won't that do?"