Chapter 248: Only After Solving Food and Clothing Can One Discuss Industry and Commerce

The Western Park was peaceful, and at the same time leisurely and serene.

Staying here was truly comfortable, though it felt a bit lazy—but that was fine too.

But the court outside was not like this; it could be said to be full of turmoil and strife.

The Eastern Depot had been arresting people this whole time, and everyone knew it was the result of the literati making a scene at the Western Park's gate last time.

Wei Zhongxian was imposing and formidable, putting on the air of someone determined to blow the matter up into something big.

The court's secret memorial system was also proceeding in an orderly fashion. Zhao Bingzhong of the Office of Transmission had already gone to select personnel, which stirred up another bout of chaos.

Some people wanted to squeeze their own men in, while others were trembling with fear.

Attacks on Zhao Bingzhong gradually increased as well, but none of them did much good. Neither the Grand Secretariat nor the imperial palace showed any reaction, seemingly turning a blind eye to Zhao Bingzhong's actions.

Beyond that, a storm was brewing within the Grand Secretariat.

The routine memorial of the four Grand Secretaries, led by Han Kuang, finally exploded into the open—they wanted to carry out reforms on the Great Ming.

Once the topic of reform came out, it instantly seized the mainstream of public opinion; no other discourse could compete with it at all.

Reform was simply too big—so big that everyone's reaction upon hearing those two words was different.

Some approved, some were excited, because reform represented opportunity; some were fearful and afraid, because it would infringe upon their own interests; and still others felt that chaos and upheaval were coming to the realm once again.

Some people thought of Zhang Juzheng, and recalling how the court had rehabilitated him, they immediately made the connection.

Thus the entire court descended into chaos, with everyone busy picking sides.

Sometimes it wasn't that others forced you to pick a side, but that you had to do so. If you didn't, there would be no place for you.

While all this commotion was raging outside, Zhu Youxiao was still concerning himself with his own affairs.

Zhu Youxiao was going to make a trip to the imperial estate, because today was the day for digging up potatoes—something he had been looking forward to for a long time.

With potatoes, many things would become much easier. As the saying goes, with grain in the bag, the heart does not panic.

Potatoes have high yields, short growing periods, and low demands on the soil—they are an excellent famine-resistant crop.

One had to understand that the earth was currently in an ice age; the weather would grow colder and colder, geological disasters would become more and more frequent, and crops with long growing periods certainly wouldn't have good harvests, nor would they have much resistance to natural disasters.

Not like potatoes—they could be planted anywhere, had a short enough growing period, and high enough yields to feed people. In this era, that was the winning trump card.

Because he was going to the imperial estate and had no one to receive in audience, Zhu Youxiao wore plain clothes today.

After rendezvousing with Xu Guangqi, the group set off toward the imperial estate.

Today Xu Guangqi also wasn't wearing his official robes; to match Zhu Youxiao, he was dressed up like an old pedantic scholar.

When the group arrived at the imperial estate, people were already waiting there. Li Zhizao, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was waiting in greeting at the main gate—he was Xu Guangqi's trusted confidant.

The affairs at the imperial estate were important enough that Xu Guangqi had handed the matter to his trusted man, and Li Zhizao was naturally the most suitable choice.

"Your servant Li Zhizao pays respects to Your Majesty." Upon seeing Zhu Youxiao, Li Zhizao hurriedly bowed in salute.

"Enough, no need for ceremony!" Zhu Youxiao said with a smile, waving his hand, and told Li Zhizao: "Take Us to have a look. What We came here to see today is these very things—to see whether we can get high yields."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Zhizao quickly acknowledged, then turned and led the way ahead.

The group soon arrived at the edge of the fields.

Looking out across the expanse, all they could see were mature potatoes; the potato vines had already turned somewhat yellow—this was a sign they were truly fully grown.

Zhu Youxiao didn't find it particularly novel, because he had seen plenty of this in his later life. But even so, he still felt a bit excited in his heart—this was the hope of the Great Ming!

Talking about anything else was of little use; this was the most crucial thing. Zhu Youxiao said: "Alright, have them get to work."

"Yes, Your Majesty." After Li Zhizao acknowledged the order, he went to summon the workers.

Zhu Youxiao was quite familiar with harvesting potatoes, so seeing their technique, he nodded.

These people were fairly professional—those in front directly pulled up the potato vines, while those behind used hoes to dig.

When digging, one had to be careful, or else a single strike of the hoe could split a potato in two.

Zhu Youxiao knew very well that any potato that was cut open or had its skin scraped off would be hard to store; only intact potatoes could be kept for a long time.

These people were doing a very good job.

After the potatoes were dug out, quite a few people followed behind to pick them up. They loaded the potatoes into baskets woven from bamboo, and when a basket was full, they carried it over and set it aside.

Then professional personnel weighed them there, wanting to see how high the per-mu yield was.

Zhu Youxiao walked over, reached out and picked up a potato the size of a fist, and nodded with satisfaction.

As time passed, and with so many people working, a mu of potatoes was soon dug up, and the weighing over there was finished as well.

Li Zhizao came walking over excitedly, holding the results.

Zhu Youxiao was also looking forward to the results. After all, in his later life, potatoes were famously high-yielding.

The normal per-mu yield of potatoes was around 3,000 to 5,000 jin; if high-quality potato varieties were selected for planting, combined with careful management in the later stages, the per-mu yield could generally reach as high as around 8,000 jin.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao also knew that such results were unlikely to be achieved in the Great Ming.

Li Zhizao said excitedly: "Your Majesty, the per-mu yield is one thousand six hundred and fifty-two jin."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao grew excited as well. This yield had already exceeded his expectations.

One had to understand that one jin in the Great Ming was sixteen liang, equivalent to one and a half jin in later times. Roughly estimating, the potato yield of this one mu of land was equivalent to about 2,600 jin in later terms.

What did this mean?

It meant that one mu of land could produce 2,600 jin of food.

One had to understand that in the current Great Ming, one mu of prime irrigated land produced only about three to four hundred jin of rice in later terms.

Now this was a yield five or six times greater—and there was no need to husk it; it could be eaten as soon as it was taken.

Although the imperial estate's soil was quite fertile, and the care here was meticulous, allowing such a high yield to be achieved, the outside might not be able to reach such heights. But that didn't matter—as long as it could reach above 1,500 jin, or around 2,000 jin, that would be enough.

Such a yield would be able to feed many additional people and help the entire Great Ming get through this disaster year.

Thinking of this, how could Zhu Youxiao not be excited?

He laughed heartily and said: "Well done, truly well done! You shall all be rewarded—everyone shall be rewarded!"

As he spoke, Zhu Youxiao turned to Xu Guangqi beside him and said: "Later, report the merits to Us."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Guangqi hurriedly acknowledged.

He was also quite pleased in his heart—he knew very well what accomplishing this matter meant for himself.

Seizing the moment while Zhu Youxiao was in good spirits, Xu Guangqi added, "Your Majesty, there are other things over there. Would you like to take a look?"

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said with a smile, "Very well, I'll go take a look."

One should know that this was the experimental field of the imperial estate—what was planted here was not only potatoes, but also sweet potatoes, along with other new species and vegetables. These were all fine things.

It was just that the sweet potatoes weren't ready yet—they didn't have yields as good as the potatoes.

However, after strolling around for a while, Zhu Youxiao still felt a sense of lingering dissatisfaction.

This was the foundation. Only by solving the problem of food and clothing and enriching grain yields could one even begin to speak of industry and commerce.

Otherwise, if a country didn't even have enough grain to eat, everything else would be nothing but castles in the air.

Only with sufficient grain could one break away from the agrarian economy, bring down the price of land, and prevent land from being the primary means of production. This point, Zhu Youxiao understood.

After inspecting for roughly the whole morning, Zhu Youxiao returned to the Western Park.

Of course, he didn't leave empty-handed—Zhu Youxiao brought back two large baskets of potatoes and had Chen Hong prepare carts to haul them to the palace. On the one hand, it was for the palace to eat; on the other, it was for promotion and popularization.

After returning to the Western Park, Zhu Youxiao went directly to Empress Zhang's quarters.

Chen Hong, meanwhile, had people go prepare the potatoes.

As for the methods of preparation, the cooks would figure that out on their own.

Zhu Youxiao had instructed that they make stir-fried shredded potatoes and potato chicken stew, and that rice bowls with toppings would be served in the evening.

Seeing her sovereign return with such a delighted expression, Empress Zhang's face also broke into a smile. She went straight up to greet him and said with a charming laugh, "Seeing Your Majesty so overjoyed, might there be some good news?"

"Of course there's good news." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile, reaching out to take Empress Zhang's hand.

After pulling Empress Zhang to sit down, Zhu Youxiao said with a smile, "Today I went to the imperial estate. Xu Guangqi has accomplished the task. The matters at the estate have made me very happy!"

With that, Zhu Youxiao told Empress Zhang all about the trial planting at the imperial estate.

Empress Zhang's face was filled with excitement as well. In a tone of disbelief, she said, "It can produce that much grain? Then in the future, no one in the world will go hungry. That's truly wonderful!"

Zhu Youxiao nodded as well and said with a smile, "I'm also thinking of spreading the potato as quickly as possible. Let the lands around the capital be planted first, and have those nobles and imperial relatives grow them."

"It just so happens that Baozhu's birthday is approaching. I plan to hold a great banquet in the palace to celebrate the Empress's birthday. Additionally, within the harem, Baozhu may summon the wives of some officials. As for the food—well, it will have to be potatoes only."

A smile appeared on Empress Zhang's face, and she said with some shyness, "Your Majesty, wouldn't this be inappropriate? Celebrating your consort's birthday with such a grand display seems a bit excessive. Besides, your consort is still young—I fear it might invite criticism."

"Who would dare?" Zhu Youxiao said with authority. "Baozhu is beautiful and intelligent—this is what you deserve. Accept it with peace of mind."

Seeing that His Majesty's attitude was resolute, Empress Zhang said no more.

As for the upcoming grand banquet, Zhu Youxiao was quite looking forward to it. As long as the news spread, he should be able to make a tidy profit.

Zhu Youxiao planned to sell the potato seeds at a high price, skimming a good sum from the officials and nobles.

These were seeds for a high-yield crop—selling them cheaply would make even himself feel embarrassed. Giving some to the officials as gifts would suffice; the rest would be sold by the Imperial Household Department, and the price certainly wouldn't be low.

Moreover, seeds were something that could be cultivated on one's own afterward—it was a one-time transaction, but it should still be enough for him to reap a hefty windfall.

The news spread quickly—His Majesty was going to celebrate the Empress's birthday and planned to hold a great banquet in the palace for all officials.

After the news spread, some submitted memorials in opposition—of course, only a small minority. Most people said nothing. Everyone knew how much His Majesty doted on the Empress, and anyone who jumped out to make trouble at this time would surely be remembered by His Majesty.

One should know that the Great Ming Dynasty had seen emperors who loved their empresses before.

Emperor Hongzhi of the Great Ming had adored his Empress Zhang immensely—he was also the only emperor in the Great Ming who had just one empress and no other women at all. A true one-man-one-woman arrangement.

So the officials were quite calm about the current emperor doting on Empress Zhang—at least he wasn't like Emperor Chenghua, who doted on Noble Consort Wan, a woman of such advanced years.

In this way, the affairs at court were considerably fewer, and the officials were happy to see it.

While the capital was buzzing with commotion, a County Magistrate far away in Henan was at this moment preparing to make a big move.

One should know that news from the court didn't take long to reach Henan. The earlier turmoil at court hadn't affected Henan much—after all, the distance was great, and it couldn't reach here anyway.

Still, the news had all come through. Everyone knew that the capital was in chaos now—His Majesty had killed quite a few people, revered Xunzi, and seemed to be stirring up quite a fuss.

The news that came through was a mix of truth and falsehood, falsehood and truth—hard to distinguish at a glance. But local officials couldn't meddle in the affairs of the capital anyway; that was the norm, let alone for a mere County Magistrate?

However, when a certain piece of news arrived, this County Magistrate became excited.

That news was that the court was opening up the secret memorial system—court officials could submit secret memorials that went directly before the throne. After receiving this news, the County Magistrate had been keeping a close watch on the matter.

The reason was simple: he wanted to file an accusation.

The person this County Magistrate wanted to accuse was none other than his immediate superior, Liao Zhong, the Prefect of Henan Prefecture. He wanted to impeach Liao Zhong for fleecing the land, extorting wealthy households, and levying arbitrary surcharges.

In his view, Liao Zhong was a thoroughly corrupt official. It was just that previously he'd had no ability to accuse him—this time, he did.

"Magistrate."

Just at this moment, an old man of over fifty walked in from outside. He looked somewhat gaunt and wore the robes of a private secretary.

The most striking thing about him was his particularly large bulbous nose. He was Li Fang, the county magistrate's private secretary.

"News has come from the capital." Li Fang arrived before the hall and bowed slightly. "The capital has officially begun its operations. The Office of Transmission has started selecting personnel—reportedly, a new government office is to be established."

"Whenever any official submits a secret memorial, it will all be verified and investigated by this new office. Once the evidence is conclusive, they will come down to make arrests."

"This office is not subordinate to the Six Ministries, nor does it even go through the Grand Secretariat. It can memorialize His Majesty directly. Word has it that it will be established very soon."

Upon hearing this, the County Magistrate suddenly stood up and laughed heartily, saying, "Excellent, excellent, truly excellent! Finally, this day has come!"

"Having been in Luoyang for so long, I, Chen Qiyu, can finally vent a breath of anger for the people of Luoyang!"

Li Fang looked at Chen Qiyu with some concern and said with slight hesitation, "Magistrate, the office has just been established—its prospects are unknown. Would it be wise to wait a little longer?"