The rumors and abuse that had accumulated for three or four days disappeared in more than an hour. Xiaobao clapped his hands like dirt on his hands and left with satisfaction.

I have to say that my mother’s trick is very useful.

***************

Imperial Palace, Imperial Study Room.

"Chu Qing's method is very effective!"

The emperor looked at the memorial and sighed the same way as Xiaobao.

Eunuch Li leaned aside and said nothing.

This is not the time to answer the call.

If you are a slave, you should always analyze when is the best time to answer the call, and when is it enough to just express that you are a living creature.

For example, now, although the emperor's tone is appreciative, he is determined not to respond, because the disaster is a disaster, and it is something that makes the emperor worried. Is it a good way to respond to the seriousness of the disaster or to respond to Chu Qing?

Therefore, I kept silent, but moved my body to show: Emperor, I am alive, and you can give me orders if you have anything to do! That is enough.

Eunuch Li could remain silent, but Liu Ju, the Minister of Household Affairs, had to remain calm: "What the emperor said is that the situation in Chuqing is not bad, but the situation in the north is not optimistic."

Seeing that the emperor's attention was attracted, Liu Ju continued: "Up to now, the chickens and ducks in the suburbs of Beijing are just one month old, and the number is far from enough; let alone other places."

The emperor was just in a better mood when Liu Ju brought him back to reality, which was really disappointing.

For nearly a whole month, Hu Hengqiu would send new news to the emperor almost every day, all from Yibin Mansion.

All the measures taken by the Chu and Qing Dynasties were clearly displayed in front of the emperor. The emperor was very happy. However, similarly, the disasters in other places were also increasing day by day.

The six prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River are better off, the drought is not too serious, and locusts are not too widespread. However, reports of insect infestations of varying degrees have been reported throughout the northern and central and northern parts of Daxuan.

As May enters, locusts in the north have also hatched, and reports of dense locust swarms in fields are being reported from various places.

The North Korean meetings over the past few days have also had heated discussions around this topic, especially regarding raising chickens and ducks.

The officials wanted to say that raising chickens and ducks was a waste of time and money, and it was really not a joke for Chu Qing to instigate this. However, when they thought that the emperor had issued decrees to various places to dig up soil and mow grass, raise chickens and ducks, and stabilize food prices, they changed their tune and said that Chu Qing did not know.

When it comes to current affairs, there is no need to argue about urgency.

Officials should be cautious: it wastes money and wastes people.

This point is very convincing, and even the Minister of Household Affairs cannot refute it.

Why? Because large-scale breeding is not something that ordinary farmers can do, even on a small scale like fifty.

First of all, it is difficult for farmers to feed themselves. What should they use to feed their livestock?

Usually, a farmer can make a good family by raising two or three chickens. Farmers raise chickens and ducks solely for the purpose of laying eggs, which is a nutritional supplement for those who cannot afford meat.

Not to mention raising pigs. Pigs eat too much and cannot afford to consume it.

Leaving aside large livestock, just talking about poultry, compared to chickens, no farmer is willing to raise ducks and geese.

As the saying goes: If a family has tens of thousands of tons of food, it would be impossible to raise a flat-mouthed king.

Flat-billed kings refer to relatively large poultry such as ducks and geese.

Although this sentence is an exaggeration, it also vividly illustrates the difficulty of raising these poultry.

It is better to raise three or two. If you raise more, you must have a clean water source, and the requirements for water quality are relatively high.

Especially in the north, most farmers are far away from water sources, which places certain restrictions on breeding.

Furthermore, ducks and geese have relatively large appetites, and they eat them all day and night. Ducks, in particular, have a lot of guts and poop wherever they go.

Let’s talk about geese. Farmers often say that raising three big geese can equal the food intake of a pig. If you feed them too little, they won’t be able to lay eggs.

For farmers, food is the most precious, and most people are reluctant to raise it.

Even farmers with a little wealth usually have to keep them in pens. If they run out and catch whatever they want to eat, they may harm the vegetables and grain grown in other people's homes.

Also, it's okay to raise one or two chickens, ducks and geese in free range. If there are too many, one will get sick and a whole group will die, which farmers cannot afford.

In addition, in terms of egg production, although the eggs of ducks and geese are relatively large, they lay fewer eggs than chickens, and they have a fishy smell and are not as delicious as eggs. This is why people are not willing to breed them.

To sum up, considering that it has only been a month since the emperor ordered breeding in the north, the chickens and ducks of farmers have not grown up, and the inhibitory effect on locusts has not yet been seen, so the officials spoke loudly in the court.

Very.

But the conflict still focused on Chu Qing.

Last month, the censor Zhongcheng collected a lot of "black materials" about the most arrogant censors and submitted them to the emperor, and demoted many officials. However, Chu Qing was still the target of the officials' ire.

Not only Yanguan, but older civil servants also became the main force.

However, although today's attacks by the court still focus on the reasons of women being officials and the burden that breeding brings to farmers, the essence has changed.

What was discussed in the court today was not how much food and money the raising of chickens and ducks cost the people in various places, but: wherever the Chu Qing intervened, regardless of the north or the south, the disasters were less severe than in other places.

To give a simple example, in the same Jizhou, different counties have different disaster situations.

Xingtang County and Huaian County are the two counties with the least severe locust plague and drought, while other places are similar to those around Kyoto.

The reason why the locust plague in Kyoto is relatively mild is because Kyoto has a dense population, so the locusts are mostly in Ji County and neighboring prefectures.

But in the same state capital of Jizhou, there is such a huge contrast, which makes people wonder.

This story starts with a few letters from Chu Qing more than a month ago.

In addition to the one submitted to the Secret Investigation Department, Chu Qing's letters were sent to Song Tingshan, the magistrate of Xinlun Prefecture, Qi Zhizhou, the magistrate of Jizhou, Xuzhi County of Xingtang County, Jizhou, and Youzhi County of Huai'an County.

Same letter, different people treat it differently.

After Song Tingshan received the letter, he felt that Chu Qing was a little too worried, but he still took it as a matter of course.

Because Chu Qing said in her letter that her warehouse could buy chicken and duck seedlings and give them to farmers for breeding on credit, and then buy the farmers' chickens and ducks after autumn, deducting the credit amount from them.

This did not require money from the state government, so Song Tingshan, who had always been happy to cooperate with Chu Qing, did it even though he felt that Chu Qing's concerns were unnecessary.

Youzhi County and Xuzhi County in Jizhou are more trusting of Chuqing. There is still a basis for cooperation in the past and consideration of official positions.

Of course, the more "pious" person is Xu Guangze from Xingtang County. He almost "trusts" Chu Qing. As long as Chu Qing says, he will do it. He even rushes to Xinlun Prefecture to find Song Tingshan with a letter, for fear that

Chu Qing didn't write to him, or he didn't take the letter seriously.

But the new governor of Jizhou, Qi Zhou, is different.

At the beginning of the year, he went to see Chu Qing once because he was intercepted and killed by bandits the year before. At that time, Chu Qing gave him a bad feeling.

Also, not long after the new official took office, he encountered this kind of "hang-up", which made him feel that Chu Qing was a trouble.

Of course, it was not only the cause of trouble, but also the reason of clear gender. No matter who he was at the time, as long as he was a woman, he would feel awkward.

Moreover, after the meeting, although Chu Qing's proposals such as the construction of the "Five Counties of the Fist" were good, he felt that he was "being influenced by a woman" and was very unhappy.


Chapter completed!