It was October, and the weather was getting colder and colder. Chu Yiqing sent all his people out to teach the tenants to build greenhouses. Fortunately, although the temperature was a bit low, it was only the beginning of winter, so there was no need for stoves for heating, only heating. A straw mat was put up on the shed to slow down the temperature drop and allow the rice to ear more completely. In the court hall, Emperor Li Li heard the report from the agricultural officer. His Sacred Heart was overjoyed and he once again rewarded Chu Yiqing with jewelry and satin. He even kept Ah Bao in the palace several times and was extremely pampered.
At this time, Mrs. Wu hurriedly entered Concubine Wu's chamber. After saluting, she could not restrain her anxiety and asked Concubine Wu: "My Lady, now that the Crown Prince of Chu has been engaged to Miss Yang, Ting'er's marriage..."
Concubine Wu waved her hands, feeling irritated in her heart, "These days, because of the rice incident, Long Xin is very happy, and Qian'er has just joined the Ministry of War to help, so I don't want to offend the emperor too much. Speaking of which, last time was a good one. The opportunity can not only bring down Chu Huan, but also bring down that bitch Chu Yiqing, but it is a pity that the bad thing happened to the married daughter of the Fang family!"
Fang Ci intervened in the middle, and even Qi Yunluo didn't expect that he was killed off guard. Afterwards, Concubine Wu was filled with hatred. Unfortunately, Fang Ci had already broken up with her family because of her marriage to Chu Shaozheng, and the Fang family had no idea. She couldn't be Fang Ci's master, so Concubine Wu's hatred was not revealed. She just secretly sent someone to teach the Fang family a lesson, and the matter was settled.
Mrs. Wu frowned. She had always been too self-reliant, and with the support of Concubine Wu, she also fell in love with Chu Huan, the prince and grandson of the court. Now that she was intercepted halfway, she was naturally filled with hatred. Therefore, he still refused to give up and asked in a low voice: "Is your Majesty just giving up like this? The prince has the support of Prince Chu and Chu Yiqing. If Prince Qian wants to ascend to the throne, it will be very difficult for him!" [
Concubine Wu was naturally unwilling to give in, but now she couldn't find anything to do with Chu Yiqing, so she had to say impatiently: "Let's talk about this later. You go back and tell your eldest brother to just help Gan'er and wait for Gan'er's place. Now that we are safe, it’s not too late to think of another way!”
When Mrs. Wu saw that Concubine Wu only thought about Li Qian and did not take her own marriage to heart at all, she immediately became a little angry, but she did not dare to show it on her face, so she had to respond and left the palace unwillingly.
In the Wu Mansion, when Wu Fangting heard that Concubine Wu had stopped helping, she naturally cried to Mrs. Wu again. After being reprimanded by Wu Yi, she did not dare to mention the matter again, but she felt resentful in her heart. thoughts.
The weather is slowly getting colder, and Chu Yiqing's belly is getting bigger and bigger. After the last rumor, most people in the capital are a little wary of Chu Yiqing. The Prince's Mansion has been peaceful for some days, and it's time to harvest the rice. At that time, although Chu Yiqing was pregnant, he still couldn't help but go to the field to sit in person. Looking at the heavy ears of rice, Chu Yiqing's heart, which had been depressed for a long time, finally felt relieved.
At this moment, in the rice fields that could not be seen at a glance, Chu Yiqing carefully held his waist, supported by Yingrun and Fang, and walked slowly on the ridges of the fields, with Mai Xiang leading the way.
"Madam, you see, there was an insect infestation in this land before. Fortunately, the treatment was timely. Now the ears are full and full, and they will be mature in two days!" Mai Xiang bent down and pulled out an ear and gave it to Chu Yi. Looking at it clearly, the little face is full of smiles.
She personally selected and bought these fields. In the past few months, most of her energy has been put into these fields. Now that she can get a good harvest, she is naturally happier than anyone else! Looking at those heavy ears of rice, her heart is filled with joy.
This kind of satisfaction was something she had never felt before!
"You did a good job this time!" Chu Yiqing touched Mai Xiang's soft hair and said appreciatively, "But this harvest will be busier. I have asked Fourteen and Fifteen to help you!"
Mai Xiang blinked and said: "Aunt Chu, I wrote to dad half a month ago, asking him to bring his family to help us. There is no work at home at the moment, and dad is free!"
Chu Yiqing was startled. She didn't expect that Mai Xiang was more considerate than she thought, so she said happily: "That's fine, but with so many people coming, food and accommodation are a problem..."
"Auntie, I have already thought about this. I have made an agreement with the village chief here. When the time comes, we will arrange for people to live in their village. We just need to pay a little money!" Mai Xiang said quickly, "Auntie
Don’t worry, I’m with you in everything, just take good care of yourself!”
Chu Yiqing nodded, looking at the wheat ears fluttering in the cold wind, feeling grateful for the springs in her heart. Speaking of this late rice, she didn't even enter the experimental field. It was really too risky for her to plant it on such a large scale.
But she had no choice at the time. By the time the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was successful, the period for planting corn had already passed. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. could not be grown. She could only take the risk of planting late rice to try. When she bought these lands, she wanted to provide food to the people first.
, and she was also afraid that if the rice failed, she would have a way out! Looking at the patches of rice ears, Chu Yiqing finally felt relieved.
"Madam, Mr. Shangguan is here!" A bright voice rang out, interrupting Chu Yiqing's thoughts.
When Chu Yiqing looked back, he saw Shangguan Yuqi approaching in a grand manner, with a look of joy on his face.
"I knew you would succeed, and it really is so!" Shangguan Yu raised his eyes and said happily, "Now you don't have to worry about the sales of this rice. It was half a month ago, when the rice had not yet fully eared.
Businessmen from the states of Rao, Rao, and Dai crowded into the capital, waiting for the rice to mature in the capital, Pingliang, and Lucheng! The price of rice this year has tripled compared to last year!"
Shangguan Yu said, excitedly holding out two fingers to indicate the price of rice.
Chu Yiqing smiled and said, "You said someone from Luo Kingdom is coming too?"
Shangguan Yu quickly nodded and said: "It is said that Emperor Luo didn't know what evil was possessed. As early as last year, he changed the good rice fields into dry land to grow wheat, causing the price of rice to skyrocket. In addition, the original rice in Zhujiazui
It is somewhat famous. As soon as I heard that Li State was producing a large amount of rice this year, all the rice merchants flocked to Jiuding War God’s latest chapter!"
Chu Yiqing remembered that Lan Yi had indeed asked her for spring wheat seeds. Originally, he only wanted to have two crops of rice and wheat, but now why have the good paddy fields been changed into dry fields? [
In fact, Chu Yiqing couldn't figure it out. Even Luo Huang Qu Yi, who implemented this policy, couldn't figure it out. At that time, he vigorously promoted wheat and promised to exempt wheat taxes. In addition, the output of wheat was rumored to be more and more mysterious. In the end,
It attracted many farmers who had paddy fields at home to convert the paddy fields into dry land and planted wheat all for the sake of the legendary profits. Moreover, because they did not know how to take care of it, the yield dropped sharply. In addition, for more than a year, Luo Huang had been obsessed with it.
During the war, farm work was neglected. By the time the farmer officials reported it, it was already too late, and the disaster had already been caused!
"Actually, it was not the imperial court's original intention to convert paddy fields into dry fields. Some people took the initiative and started planting it themselves, and the imperial court didn't know about it. By the time they found out, it was already too late!" Shangguan said.
Yu couldn't help but sigh.
Food is the most important thing for the people. The current rice harvest in the Luo Kingdom is poor and the wheat output is low. Although the weather is good this year, the people are still living very hard. A few days ago, because the marriage between Emperor Luo and Princess Dai fell through, the foundation of the Luo Kingdom is not very good.
Unstable, so the border has been quiet in the past few months, probably because Luo Huangxia was distracted.
"But this year's rice merchants are very strange. They have been asking not to pound the rice, but to use brown rice with the skin. Even so, the price is twice as high as the previous first-class rice!" Shangguan Yu added in passing.
Chu Yiqing was startled, seemed to have thought of something, and said in a low voice: "Tell those rice merchants that we don't sell brown rice, we sell all pounded and refined first-grade rice, and the price is the same!"
Shangguan Yu was stunned and didn't understand why Chu Yiqing was asking for trouble.
Chu Yiqing said calmly: "Those people bought back the brown rice, fearing that it would be used as rice seeds. However, during the process of removing the awn tips, the germs of the brown rice may be damaged. Moreover, late rice has not been grown in other countries.
Even I don't have enough confidence to have a good harvest, let alone them, I can't risk the food rations of the people in the world!"
Only then did Shangguan Yu understand, and couldn't help but say: "If I had been attacked, I am afraid that I would have taken advantage of this opportunity to defeat other countries, but as soon as I cleared you..."
"What I care about is the people of the world. I can't let the people be the victims of personal struggles for power!" Chu Yiqing said quietly, "I like the land, so I naturally respect it!"
Shangguan Yu nodded and said: "I understand, I will do what you want, but in this way, just pounding rice will require a lot of manpower and material resources!"
Chu Yiqing nodded: "You have seen my homemade rice pounding machine in Chu Han before. I will give you the drawings, and you can immediately order someone to make more!"
Shangguan Yu nodded again and said, "We can increase the rice price even more!"
Chu Yiqing curled his lips and said, "You make the decision on this part!"
Shangguan Yu nodded.
After discussing the sales issue with Shangguan Yu, starting from the second day, the capital city that ripened first began to harvest rice.
Although there were more than 20,000 acres of reserved land in the capital before, due to the incident involving Liu Hu and his son, a quarter of the fields were vacant. Chu Yiqing only paid for the rented land at first, but later these people had no livelihood.
Naturally, there would be no follow-up food income. In winter, they had already run out of food, so a few people started to make trouble, and the more daring ones joined forces to find Liu Hu's bad luck. Although the people did not agree with him,
When it comes to official fights, we don’t dare to do it blatantly, but we throw stones behind our backs, stumble us along the way, and rob Liu Hu’s family of their silver. This kind of thing is done often, and it makes Liu Hu’s family miserable.
Word.
After Liu Jun got the news from Liu Hu, he hurried to the courtyard where the Liu family lived temporarily. He said it was a courtyard, but it was just two main rooms. Then he built some side rooms on the three sides to rent to foreigners. The whole courtyard
It was noisy and rundown.
"Jun'er, we were tricked by someone. That day, your second brother finally caught a mud-legged guy who caused harm to our family. After beating him for a long time, he realized that in fact, their land had been bought by someone earlier.
The man also agreed with them that he would first rent the land for grain, and later plant rice, and then pay the other half. Read the full text of "Rebirth of a Commercial Concubine". I guess the person behind the land purchase must be Chu Yiqing, your eldest brother
It was Chu Yiqing's land that was harmed that day, not the land of thousands of people. Your eldest brother died unjustly!" Mrs. Liu pulled Liu Jun and cried so hard that Liu Hu's face was also livid with blue veins.
They all exploded.
If the emperor hadn't wanted to give an explanation to the more than 2,000 people that day, why would he have killed Liu Qi? Now we know that those lands were all owned by Chu Yiqing. Liu Qi's death was really unjust!
Liu Jun's face turned livid after listening to Mrs. Liu's words. She was already a little resentful of Liu Qi's death. Now that she heard that these places belonged to Chu Yiqing, her heart was on fire. She stood up all of a sudden and asked fiercely.
Go outside.
"Jun'er, what are you doing?" Mrs. Liu knew that her daughter had no intentions, so she quickly stepped forward to stop her and said, "Now that your father has been deprived of his official position, he is just a pawn guarding the city gate. You are different from before.
Well, you can't act on your own initiative! After all, you are still King Jue's concubine. If you can give birth to a son and a half daughters for King Jue, the Emperor will be happy. If you take the opportunity to explain the whole story, maybe your father will still be an official.
Reinstated!"
Liu Jun was so angry that she couldn't bear to listen to this. Thinking about what Li Jue said to her when she just left the house, she felt even more uncomfortable.[
"Mom, I can't bear this tone. It's all Chu Yiqing, a bitch. Without her, Li Jue wouldn't have treated me like this!" Liu Jun's face turned livid with anger.
"What's wrong with King Jue?" When Mrs. Liu heard this, she felt bad and asked quickly.
"He hooked up with the concubine in Anlehou's mansion and insisted on letting her come in as a concubine. Mother, I can't swallow this breath!" On weekdays, Liu Jun relied on being the only mistress in Prince Jue's mansion and didn't know how to laugh at him.
How many times had she met Qi Yunluo, but she never imagined that this time Li Jue would take her into the house when her family lost power. This was all caused by Chu Yiqing. How could she swallow this tone of voice!
When Mrs. Liu heard this, she also sighed deeply and said in a low voice: "You kid just has no sense. If you had listened to your mother earlier and there was a boy and a girl, then King Jue would not have done this so quickly.
Waiting for you!"
"Mom, it's already this time, why are you talking about this? Don't worry, I will definitely avenge my eldest brother's revenge! If Li Jue wants to carry someone into the house, I'm afraid it won't be that easy!" Liu Jun took a deep breath.
In one breath, he walked out the door.
Mrs. Liu kept looking outside nervously, with worry and expectation in her eyes.
When Liu Jun came out of the courtyard, he did not go back directly to Prince Jue's Mansion, but went to Prince Qian's Mansion.
Since Qi Yunluo's conspiracy was discovered by the nobles in the capital last time, some prominent people have been ashamed to walk around with her. In addition, the case of the Qi family has been decided and the Qi family's property has been confiscated.
Yun Luo, all of them have become slaves and will be sold soon. Qi Yunluo has been anxious to raise money to rescue the Qi family, so he borrows money from everywhere, and the noble ladies in the capital are even more hiding.
It's strict, no one has interacted with Qi Yunluo for a long time.
At this moment, Qi Yunluo heard that Mr. Liu came to the door. In the past, she would have welcomed him out with a smile. After all, although the Liu family cannot be said to be as rich as the country, the Liu family had two salt fields before, and their income was quite abundant.
But now, she knew that Liu Jun could not protect himself, and the two salt farms had also been confiscated. Now, he might want to borrow her advantage!
Qi Yunluo sat lazily on the cushioned chair and did not move when Liu Jun came in with his mother-in-law. He just nodded lightly and asked with a smile: "Why is Sister Liu free to come here today?"
Seeing Qi Yunluo like this, Liu Jun felt a little angry in his heart, but thinking of his current purpose, he had to endure the anger in his heart, sat down, and asked his mother-in-law to pour tea and drink it, then asked Qi Yun
Luo retreated the left and right screens.
Qi Yunluo hesitated for a moment and then let the people on his left and right go down.
Liu Jun also asked his mother-in-law to go down, and they were the only two left in the hall.
"Sister Liu, you can talk!" Qi Yunluo said with a smile, but there was a hint of impatience in his eyes.
"I know what happened last time was a bit excessive, but you can't blame me. I fell into Chu Yiqing's trap to do that!" Liu Jun was still trying to excuse himself, "Now it seems that Chu Yiqing is not
She is a fuel-efficient lamp. No matter who of us fights alone, we can't defeat her, so why don't we join forces?"
Qi Yunluo narrowed his eyes and said with a smile: "It's okay to join forces. Recently, my money is tight. Sister Liu, please lend me 20,000 taels of silver. Read the full text of the Miracle Physician and fortune teller!"
Liu Jun and Qi Yunluo had known her virtue for so many years. Although they felt a little distressed, they still took out the banknotes from her body.
Qi Yunluo just talked casually, but she didn't expect Liu Jun to actually find the silver, and her face became serious. She took the banknote and looked at it carefully, and asked: "Do you really want to cooperate with me?
"
Liu Jun nodded and said: "Now that my mother's family has been framed by Chu Yiqing, I really have no choice! Think about it, my father still has some students in the court, which can be regarded as some influence, plus the concubine Wu and the
Lord Wu’s power will definitely be even more powerful for Prince Gan and Concubine Wu in the future!”
Qi Yunluo narrowed his eyes carefully and asked softly with a smile: "Sister said it is like a tiger with wings? Is the second prince willing to be my husband's wings?"
Liu Jun was startled. She said this too quickly. She originally wanted to cooperate, but now she has become a defector. However, she was eager for revenge. She was afraid that Qi Yunluo would not cooperate with her if she changed her words, so she immediately said: "Their men
Naturally, there is a dispute in the court over the matter, and what I am talking about now is the matter of our women! Are you willing to watch a little side concubine steal the limelight of our principal concubine just because of Chu Yiqing? "
Qi Yunluo usually pretends to be weak, but her mind is superior to that of Liu Jun. She smiled softly and said: "Then Chu Yiqing's majesty is not also because of the support of the prince? Sister Liu's care about the main concubine and the side concubine all day long is actually more
What’s the point!”
Liu Jun thought: "Of course you don't care about the position of the main concubine and the side concubines. You are the main concubine, and you are not as good as those side concubines in the house!" But she couldn't say these words, so she took advantage of the situation and said: "Sister Qi is right.
But I will naturally give you some advice from the prince!"
Qi Yunluo laughed softly; "With these words, my sister will feel relieved. Don't worry, we will be a family from now on!"
Liu Jun nodded with a smile.
At this moment in the Prince's Mansion, Chu Yiqing got the news that Zhao Maixiao and Jin Yu had arrived. When he thought that he had not seen Jin Yu for several months, he couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart. He walked with Mai Xiang to the door, far away.
Then I saw a carriage with a green curtain slowly driving over.
When Jin Yu came, Chu Yiqing thought that she would naturally bring Ah Jin, Ah Yin and Pan'er, plus Mrs. Huangfu and Concubine Qing. She would need three or four carriages, as well as the long-term workers she would bring this time.
There should be quite a few people there, but now they only saw one carriage. If it weren't for the fact that the driver was Zhao Maimai, Chu Yiqing would really be a little unsure.
"Sister!" From far away, Jin Yu stuck her head out of the carriage, waved her hand towards Chu Yiqing, and said hello.
Chu Yiqing nodded, and when the carriage stopped, he saw that Jin Yu had no time to wait for Zhao Xiaomai to get the stool, and got off the carriage with his legs turned.
"It's such a cold day, sister, why are you standing outside? Although I've never been to the capital city, I have Maixiang Daddy, so I can't get rid of him!" Jin Yu smiled and took Chu Yiqing's hand and said in a local accent,
Hearing this made Chu Yiqing feel very comfortable.
"Why did you come by yourself? Where are the children?" Chu Yiqing quickly took her hand and asked.
"I'm here to help you work, not to play. Isn't it a burden to take them with you? I asked them to follow my mother!" Jin Yu said carelessly, raising his eyes to look at the pair of lions outside the house.
He raised his head and immediately exclaimed: "Oh, this one is bigger than the one in front of our house. This capital is just different!"
Jin Yu looked like Grandma Liu had entered the Grand View Garden. A few of the ignorant people couldn't help but laugh. Qian and the others, because they had met Zhao Xiaomai and knew the relationship between the Zhao family and Chu Yiqing, did not dare to treat him lightly and treated him harshly.
He glared at the maids with playful and smiling faces, then quickly stepped forward and saluted: "I have met Mr. Zhao and Mrs. Zhao!"
Jin Yu quickly said: "Okay, okay, get up quickly, come, come, there are gifts!"
Jin Yu said and asked Zhao Maimai to stuff a red envelope.
The maid who had made fun of Jin Yu earlier felt that the red envelope was heavy to the touch. Seeing that Qian and others were so respectful to Jin Yu and Zhao Xiaomai, she did not dare to be disrespectful and quickly bowed and thanked her. Read the full text of the Orc World.
"Okay, don't stand at the gate. It's windy. Let's talk inside!" Chu Yiqing happily took Jin Yu's hand and entered the door with her.
While supporting Chu Yiqing, Jin Yu looked at the decorations in the mansion and couldn't help but praise: "After we went back, Father Maixiang said a lot. I thought he was exaggerating. How can there be such a beautiful mansion in the world? It turns out
It’s true! Tsk tsk!”
As Jin Yu spoke, he craned his head to look. When he entered the hall, his eyes were even brighter, without any restraint.
Chu Yiqing looked at Jin Yu with a smile. She missed Jin Yu's straightforwardness even more after arriving in the capital, and now she felt even more comfortable looking at him.
"Sister Jinyu, it's great that you can come!" Chu Yiqing sighed.
Jin Yu turned around, stepped forward to hold her hand, and said with a smile: "I knew you missed me, so I came even if Father Maixiang didn't let me come. Don't worry, I'll stay for a while before leaving. Let me see you here."
How are you doing, but it’s really not good, you go home with me to celebrate the New Year, no matter how nice it is here, it’s not as good as our home!”
Chu Yiqing's heart moved and he couldn't help laughing, "Sister Jinyu is still nice to me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Li Huang's voice: "Am I not treating you well?"
Zhao Xiaomai was about to salute, but Jin Yu stopped him and said with a big smile: "I have always known how my brother-in-law treats my sister, but it is hard to say about your family. I can tell you, if my sister lives here,
If you are unhappy, I will really take my sister away!"
Li Huang and Chu Yiqing looked at each other and said with a smile: "Sister Jinyu, don't worry, I will naturally try my best to protect their mother and son!"
When people in the prince's residence saw that Li Huang also called Jin Yu "I" and had no airs about the prince at all, they knew that Jin Yu and Zhao Xiaomai's family must be very important to the prince and his wife, so they started to fight even more.
Spirit to serve.
After a while, Mai Xiang and A Bao also came over. The family reunion was naturally warm and lively, so I won’t go into details. After the meal, Chu Yiqing thought of harvesting rice and asked: "Brother Zhao, isn’t that in the letter?"
You said you're bringing your old family here with you? Why are there just the two of you?"
Zhao Xiaomai said quickly: "They are all here. I have also brought several stewards who have performed well recently, and I have brought five hundred long-term workers. On the way from Lucheng, we have made arrangements one after another. Wait until
When we arrived in the capital, there were only about fifty people left. We countrymen are all rough people, and it is not convenient to come to a place like the Prince's Mansion. So yesterday I placed them in various villages to be responsible for tomorrow's harvest.
"
Chu Yiqing didn't expect that Zhao Maimai could think so carefully, so he was naturally very happy, so he let Zhao Maimai and Jin Yu rest for a night before preparing to harvest the rice tomorrow.
Starting from the second day, Zhao Maimai led his people to start harvesting rice. Although the local farmers in the capital were unskilled, they were used to farm work, and they soon got on the road. The harvest was fast and good, and they waited for almost five days.
After that, the first batch of rice was dried and completely pounded into polished rice, which was immediately snapped up by rice merchants who had been waiting in the capital.
In a large mansion on the outskirts of the capital, Shangguan Yunyi, whose pseudonym was Luo, looked at the dozen sacks of white rice with cold eyes.
"Didn't you agree to get brown rice? How could..." Shangguan Yunyi asked coldly.
Liu Feng quickly replied: "I don't know why, but now all the rice in the capital has been replaced by polished rice. The price is also 10% higher, but there is no way. If you don't want this rice, how many people are waiting!"
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Xiaoyao is already preparing a new article, which will be published in November. This one is already at the end. I hope you guys don’t rush me, because Xiaoyao is really upset after seeing those rumors, so Xiaoyao is no longer ready to read the messages.
Xiaoyao can only say that Xiaoyao will stick to the outline and don’t want to end at the beginning. If you can support Xiaoyao, please continue to support it. If you can’t, Xiaoyao also thanks all of you for following me this year. Thank you very much!