Chai Yan kept talking for as long as he walked from the city tower back to the imperial study.
Liu Lang listened very carefully and asked about some details from time to time, and Chai Yan also answered them one by one.
Among them, what interested Liu Lang the most was Chai Yan’s discovery of Lu Bol’s poisoning. Not only did Liu Lang listen with interest, but even Pei Yang and Xu Mao who were following him were also interested and followed closely with their ears pricked up.
, for fear of missing a small detail.
It took almost a stick of incense for the sedan chair and the ceremonial guard to arrive outside the imperial study.
After Liu Lang got off the sedan chair, he only took Chai Yan and Pei Yang with him. Xu Mao entered the imperial study, and the rest of the people dispersed one after another according to the rules.
Chai Yan asked curiously: "Your Majesty, you have been tired all day long. Why don't you go back to the palace to rest early?"
Liu Lang shook his head, showed a wry smile and said: "That's easy to say. Do you think I don't want to rest? But no, I haven't finished approving the batch of discounts on hand, so I can't go to sleep."
With that said, Liu Lang walked to the inner room of the imperial study, and said as he walked: "Chai Yan, please wait here while I change into comfortable clothes first."
The emperor's imperial robe was so uncomfortable that after wearing it for one day, he was very tired. Fortunately, Liu Lang was young and had good physical strength, otherwise he would have fallen down from exhaustion long ago.
"Your Majesty, please excuse me. I'm waiting for you," Chai Yan said.
Immediately afterwards, Pei Yang and Xu Mao followed the emperor into the inner room to wait for him to change clothes.
As soon as the three of them entered, Chai Yan was the only one left outside the imperial study. Chai Yan got bored of waiting, so he walked around slowly in the imperial study and started to visit.
But Chai Yan still knew the rules, and he refused to go near the area where the Emperor's Dragon Case was located. He just moved around where there were bookshelves, looking at what books were on the shelves, etc. to pass the time.
Soon, Liu Lang changed into his casual clothes. When he walked out of the inner room, he happened to see Chai Yan looking up at the books on the upper shelf.
So Liu Lang said: "Xu Mao, where's the ladder? Move it over and help get the books."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Xu Mao hurriedly ran to find the ladder.
When Chai Yan heard the voice, he immediately turned around and said, "Your Majesty, I just have a look, there is no need to take it down."
Liu Lang said very kindly: "It doesn't matter. You can tell me which book you want to read. I can let you read it here, but one thing is, you are not allowed to take it out of this door. You have to know that there are many books on these shelves.
They are all unique copies!”
While he was talking, Xu Mao had already moved a short ladder specially used for fetching books.
"Master Chai, which book do you want to read? Zajia will help you get it." Xu Mao said with a smile.
Chai Yan waved his hand and said: "Thank you Eunuch Xu for your kindness. I won't use it for the time being. Next time, next time..."
Xu Mao always had a smile on his face and said to Chai Yan: "Master Chai, if you want to see it later, just call me Zajia."
Chai Yan nodded.
At this time, Liu Lang had already walked behind the piled desks. He sat down and said, "Xu Mao, go bring a bowl of ginseng tea. Chai Yan hasn't slept a wink all night. He might as well drink something to refresh himself."
Xu Mao immediately agreed, hurriedly exited the imperial study, and followed the instructions.
"Give me a seat!" Liu Lang said loudly again.
Pei Yang immediately brought a cushioned stool, placed it on one side under the table, and said politely: "Master Chai, please sit down."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." After Chai Yan thanked him, he sat down on the stool.
When Pei Yang saw this, he couldn't help but think to himself, Chai Yan dares to sit like this. If it were any other minister, who would dare to sit in such a full room?
Liu Lang asked: "By the way, after the poisoning, is the health of the second prince of Muyue Kingdom important?"
Chai Yan said: "Back to the emperor, there should be no major events, but we can't be tired and bumpy at the moment, so we have to rest for two days before we can reach the capital."
"Yes." Liu Lang nodded and said, "With your people and Hang Baiqiu watching over there, I feel very relieved."
After saying that, Liu Lang changed the subject and said: "Chai Yan, I heard that you have dealt with corrupt officials and rescued hostages all the way back. It's really quite lively..."
When he mentioned this, Chai Yan immediately thought of the potato, so he immediately stood up, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, I actually brought you a gift when I came back this time!"
"A gift?" Liu Lang became interested as soon as he heard it and asked: "What gift? Where is it?"
Chai Yan said with a very serious expression: "Back to the emperor, the gift that Wei Chen brought back is an overseas food crop. It's called potato, and some people call it earth egg!"
"Didan..." Liu Lang was happy when he heard it, and said: "This name is quite novel and interesting. What does it look like? Come and show it to me!"
While gesticulating, Chai Yan told Liu Lang what potatoes looked like and how to eat them, which greatly increased Liu Lang's interest.
"Stop just talking, bring the potatoes, I want to see with my own eyes!" Liu Lang urged.
Chai Yan suddenly felt embarrassed, so he could only smile a little and said: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, Tudou is still at the inn. I can't go back to Beijing with them until later."
Liu Lang was immediately disappointed, but he still asked patiently: "In that case, tell me first why you want to give me potatoes. Is there anything special about them?"
"Your Majesty, I can tell you without exaggeration, potatoes are a treasure worth thousands of gold or ten thousand gold!" Chai Yan said with great certainty.
"Oh, really?" Liu Lang was suddenly surprised. He didn't expect Chai Yan to speak so highly of this thing called potatoes.
Liu Lang then said: "Then I have to listen carefully to its treasures..."
Chai Yan nodded, thought for a while, and asked loudly: "Your Majesty, do you know how many kilograms of ordinary rice can be produced per acre?"
Liu Lang thought for a moment and said seriously: "I remember reading a booklet last time. It said that someone planted ten acres of rice, and the harvest in autumn actually reached 6,800 kilograms... Of course,
That person is a special case of high yield, but according to this calculation, if we reduce it a little, the yield of one acre of rice must be at least more than 500 kilograms... I am not wrong, right?"
After saying that, Liu Lang looked at Pei Yang.
Pei Yang immediately nodded and said respectfully: "Your Majesty is absolutely right. Our rice seedlings in Dasheng are the best. From one acre of land, as long as they are not too bad, we can produce about five hundred kilograms."
Liu Lang asked: "Chai Yan, you suddenly asked me this, do you mean that the yield of potatoes is higher than that of rice?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, what Wei Chen wants to say is the yield of potatoes!" Chai Yan agreed and said seriously: "About the yield of potatoes, Wei Chen uses two words to describe it - amazing!"
Liu Lang smiled and said: "Amazing? Okay, then tell me more carefully, how amazing is it?"
Pei Yang also looked at Chai Yan with interest, waiting for him to tell him the specific output.
Chai Yan said: "Back to the emperor, the yield of potatoes per mu is about two to three thousand catties, which is four or five times the current yield of rice per mu, or even more!"
As soon as Chai Yan's words came out, the smile on Liu Lang's face instantly solidified: "You...what did you say?"
Pei Yang was also shocked. He first looked at the emperor and then back at Chai Yan, completely unable to believe the numbers he heard.
"Master Chai, did you say something wrong?" Pei Yang couldn't help but ask.
Chai Yan shook his head very seriously and said word by word: "I'm right, the potato yield per mu is more than two thousand catties, or even three thousand catties!"