Chapter 85 of 100
Chapter 85
15 min read3,747 words
PS: The update at midnight is canceled, I made some adjustments to the subsequent plot, sorry!
When Zhao Chen said this, the ministers who had been laughing uproariously in the grand hall suddenly all looked at him with peculiar expressions. Li Er glanced at Zhao Chen, who had stepped forward, and then cast a suspicious look at the bird.
Although this young man often acted irresponsibly, he never spoke without basis. Since he said such a thing now, it seemed that the bird really could speak!
Thinking of this, Li Er's eyes suddenly became fiery, staring intently at Zhao Chen below, watching how he would make the bird speak.
At this moment, not only Li Er, but almost everyone was staring at Zhao Chen, and Cheng Yaojin even half-rose from his seat, his eyes wide as copper bells, forcing the person behind him to stand up and look at Zhao Chen in the hall.
"Let me give it a try!" Zhao Chen came to the center of the hall, smiling as he took the bird from the Sichuan official, who was already breaking out in a cold sweat. As he spoke, he placed the bird on a thin wooden stick.
The parrot was still huddled together, clearly intimidated by the sudden appearance of so many people in the grand hall. Zhao Chen smiled inwardly; from the moment he saw the bird, he recognized it as a parrot.
Parrots were not rare in the future, but in the current Tang Dynasty, they were quite rare, found only in the Sichuan region. However, to discover that a parrot could speak and to teach it to do so was truly remarkable.
Zhao Chen placed the parrot on the wooden stick, staring straight into its eyes without speaking or making any movements, just staring intently. The people in the grand hall all watched Zhao Chen curiously, holding their breath, staring at the man and the bird.
The buzzing sound in the grand hall disappeared, and the entire hall became silent. The parrot, which had been huddled together, suddenly stretched out its head, looking around curiously, and finally its gaze was drawn to Zhao Chen's. The two, man and bird, silently faced each other.
"Long live the Emperor!" After an unknown amount of time, just as the people in the grand hall were becoming impatient, the parrot suddenly stared straight at Zhao Chen and called out clearly.
"Wow~" The grand hall erupted in excitement; this was the first time they had heard a bird speak so clearly and loudly.
Li Er, sitting above in the grand hall, hearing the bird indeed speak and call out "Long live the Emperor," felt a surge of vanity and burst into a satisfied laugh.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor..." The parrot, startled by the sudden noise in the grand hall, flew up and circled the hall, continuously calling out "Long live the Emperor," making Li Er laugh even more.
With the appearance of the parrot, the atmosphere in the grand hall became even more enthusiastic, and Li Er's mood became exceptionally good. Even when a shameless person later presented a pig covered in gold pieces, claiming it was the divine beast Qilin, Li Er only smiled and politely asked the shameless person to leave.
After all the auspicious offerings were presented, it was finally Zhao Chen's turn, a minor official. Zhao Chen ordered Qin Ming and others to laboriously move several barrels from the ox cart into the Taiji Hall.
"Minister Zhao, what auspicious offering are you presenting to the Emperor?" Li Er's eyes were full of curiosity as he looked at the barrels placed below, puzzled.
"Your Majesty, I present to you the joy of the people!" Zhao Chen replied with a smile.
That was a joke he had made with Old Qin and the others at the gate. If he dared to say in front of so many people in the Taiji Hall that he was presenting the world to Li Er, he would probably be drowned in a sea of spit by the entire court.
Hearing Zhao Chen's words, Li Er became interested and urged him to quickly remove the covers from the barrels to amaze the ministers.
Zhao Chen smiled and first removed the cover from the wheat barrel. As he removed the cover, the people in the grand hall, seeing the dozen or so wheat ears that had just emerged from the barrel, which were four to five times longer than the current wheat in the Tang Dynasty, all drew in a sharp breath.
Li Er stretched his neck to look at the dozen or so wheat ears, pointing at them in disbelief, his voice trembling: "Where... where did these come from?"
"I brought them out from the mountains!" Zhao Chen, still smiling, replied to Li Er, "The wheat I have cultivated yields at least fifty percent more per mu than the current wheat in the Tang Dynasty!"
"More than fifty percent! More than fifty percent!" Li Er had already stood up and come down, muttering to himself, as if he had seen a priceless treasure, gently caressing one of the heavy wheat ears, his eyes filled with fascination.
The Tang Dynasty was in a state of recovery after years of war, and the people were impoverished. He had just ordered the exemption of taxes in several provinces in Shandong and Hebei to allow them to rest and recover. Seeing this high-yield wheat that could increase yields by fifty to sixty percent, how could Li Er not be excited?
"What are in these other barrels?" Seeing the high-yield wheat, Li Er's eyes turned to the other barrels, asking curiously.
Zhao Chen removed the cover from the barrel containing the potatoes. As he did so, Li Er's eyes looked into the barrel, and his brows furrowed.
Inside the barrel grew a green plant with a few green fruits hanging from it. Was this a vegetable? Li Er pinched one of the hard green fruits, looking at Zhao Chen in confusion.
Zhao Chen smiled but did not rush to explain. Instead, he grabbed the potato plant and, under Li Er's surprised gaze, pulled it out with a sudden force.
Earlier, at the palace gate, the old generals had only focused on the wheat ears and had no idea what was in the other barrels. Now, with Li Er's question, they all stretched their necks, watching Zhao Chen's actions intently.
"Swish!" The soil in the barrel was soft, and with a light pull, the entire potato plant was pulled out.
As the potato plant was pulled out, the people looked curiously and saw several white, pearl-like tubers attached to the roots.
"Your Majesty, this is called a potato!" Zhao Chen, meeting Li Er's puzzled gaze, explained with a smile, "However, I have only cultivated it for a short time, so the potatoes are not fully grown. If they were fully grown, each one would be as big as a fist!"
The people, following Zhao Chen's words, looked at the dozen or so small potatoes attached to the roots, and their faces suddenly turned red as if they were drunk, imagining the potatoes growing to the size of a fist.
"Can these potatoes be eaten?" Li Er's fists clenched tightly, his eyes fixed on Zhao Chen, his voice trembling.
"Of course!" Zhao Chen smiled, "Potatoes can be eaten and are easy to grow, with a higher yield than wheat!"
Li Er's facial muscles were trembling, his expression fierce, his teeth clenched. Without waiting for Zhao Chen to uncover the remaining barrel, he impatiently did it himself.
"High-yield beans!" Without needing Zhao Chen to explain, Li Er looked at the remaining barrel, where the green bean plants had pods about five inches long, and exclaimed in surprise.
The Tang Dynasty currently had beans, but like wheat, they were low-yield crops and were very sensitive to climate. A slight drought would result in a poor harvest, and due to their low yield, almost no one was willing to grow them.
"Joy of the people!" After seeing the three high-yield crops presented by Zhao Chen, Li Er gently patted the edge of the barrel and sighed, "Minister Zhao has indeed brought joy to the people. With these three high-yield crops, my subjects will no longer fear hunger!"
Hearing Li Er's words, Zhao Chen inwardly smiled bitterly. He had actually also grown corn and sweet potatoes, but there had been some issues with them. Otherwise, Li Er would have been even more amazed!
However, it was good enough to have these three crops that could be widely cultivated in the Tang Dynasty. There was no need to force anything else. He could introduce other crops later when the opportunity arose.
"Your Majesty, if I remember correctly, when Minister Zhao first came out of the mountains, he only had one bag, right?" Just as everyone was happy, a discordant voice appeared, filled with hostility towards Zhao Chen.
"Minister Yan, for someone of your age, your memory is quite good!" Zhao Chen looked coldly at Yan Shigu, who had stepped forward, and said with a sneer, "That's right! When I came out of the mountains, I only had one bag. What of it?"
If someone else had said this, it would have been a concern for the country and the people, but coming from Yan Shigu, Zhao Chen felt a surge of anger.
This Yan, relying on his famous ancestor, always looked down on the lower classes, calling them country bumpkins. To expect such a person to care about the country and the people was like expecting the sun to rise in the west.
"That's strange!" Yan Shigu looked at Zhao Chen with a cold smile and asked, "If you only had one bag, then you must have had no extra seeds! Do you really think you can slowly cultivate enough seeds over ten or twenty years to bring joy to the people of the Tang Dynasty?"
This person was not fit to be an official and should have been sent to the fields long ago. Everyone in the grand hall was excited about the high-yield crops, but this old man alone came forward to pour cold water on the situation.
Even if Zhao Chen did not have enough seeds, now that such high-yield crops had appeared, it would not take fifty years, let alone ten or twenty.
"Minister Yan, it seems you are really senile!" Zhao Chen looked at Yan Shigu without any courtesy and said, "Did I ever say I would rely on these seeds to cultivate over a long period?"
Hearing this, Yan Shigu did not care about Zhao Chen calling him senile but instead looked at him in surprise and asked, "Do you have enough seeds?"
"Whether I do or not is none of your business!" Zhao Chen laughed coldly and said without any courtesy, "Why should I report to you?"
Zhao Chen had not forgotten the incident in Lantian. If it weren't for Yan Shigu, Old Qin would not have been forced to go to the Qinling Mountains in the snow, and he would not have been forced to go to Lantian.
This old man looked down on Old Qin and other military officials, and naturally, he looked down on him as well. Since that was the case, why should he be polite?
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