Tianliangyuan

Chapter 138 Casually Pushing Brother 3 to the Top

If such a thing happens, and an official of the imperial court knowingly breaks the law, then his crime will certainly be punished even more severely!

Therefore, dismissal and investigation are necessary.

At this point, Grand Tutor Jiang could only pray that the Deng family was smart enough to handle the aftermath as soon as possible, especially to make arrangements for the other estates or shops.

Deng Xuan was imprisoned. The Emperor decreed that the case be presided over by the Court of Judicial Review, with Zhao Changqing as the jury.

More than a hundred unregistered households were discovered in the Deng family's estate, and these were only revealed by the buyer after the estate was sold.

The newly purchased estate fell under Xie Zheng's name, and he was naturally summoned into the palace by the Emperor for a talk.

"Xie Zheng, are you aware of what happened at the estate?"

Xie Zheng didn't hide anything: "Your Majesty, I only just found out. I dare not deceive Your Majesty. Gao Da Kui is my fiancée's subordinate. I learned that last year my younger sister Xie Yun was saved from a disaster thanks to Xu Zhao Zhao, so I took the liberty of sending her a gift of thanks."

Later, I overheard that Xu Zhaozhao wanted to add another farm as a trial plot. However, I knew nothing about farming and didn't know what she intended to do with it, so I boldly summoned Gao Da Kui and asked him to purchase a farm. Unexpectedly, Xu Zhaozhao found out and refused to accept it, so it ended up in my name.

With this explanation, things make sense.

After all, it's easy to find out who Gao Da Kui's master is.

Moreover, Xie Zheng brought up the incident from last year, and after a moment's thought, Emperor Yong'an remembered the vicious dog attack.

The Xie family's daughter almost lost her life, and Xu Zhaozhao was Xie Zheng's fiancée, so it was understandable that he would directly offer her a farm.

"You don't need to explain so clearly. I don't mean to blame you. It's just that Gao Da Kui didn't report this matter of the hidden households to you beforehand?"

"Your Majesty, Gao Da Kui was originally from a military background, and his work is not as meticulous or thorough as that of those born into families. He only intended to go to the government office to amend the contracts when he received them, but he never expected that this case of hidden households would be caused by accident. I heard that Gao Da Kui was also quite frightened."

Emperor Yong'an nodded. The tenants had signed contracts with the Deng family. Now that the estate had a new owner, it was perfectly normal for Gao Da Kui to take these old contracts to exchange for new ones.

Little did I expect that it would unexpectedly lead to a major case.

"Alright, you can go now. By the way, you just mentioned testing the fields, what do you mean by that?"

"Your Majesty, it seems that I heard that Xu Sanlang bought some seeds from a foreign merchant, but I don't know what they will grow into. So I tried planting them in flowerpots first. After they bore fruit, I just used them to feed some poultry and livestock. Seeing that it was fine, I thought of planting a batch directly in the fields. That's why I had the idea of ​​buying more farmland."

Emperor Yong'an nodded slightly. It seemed that the purchase of farmland had been planned for some time, but a suitable one had not been found until now. So this was just a coincidence.

Do you know what Xu Zhaozhao and Xu Sanlang planted?

"Your Majesty, I only know a little, and not in detail. I only learned about it by chance when I went to the Hundred Fruit Garden. But I heard from Xu Sanlang that the Hundred Fruit Garden originally had a lot of fruit trees and crops planted there, so Xu Zhaozhao just ordered people to reclaim a piece of wasteland on the mountaintop to plant them."

The more Emperor Yong'an listened, the more he realized that this was no small matter.

"Someone, bring Xu Junting here."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Emperor Yong'an did not let Xie Zheng leave, but waited for Xu Junting to come over so he could ask him more questions.

Xie Zheng kept his head down, his mind racing.

Xu Zhaozhao had previously told him to casually mention the trial field.

To my utter surprise, His Majesty indeed grasped the key point.

It seemed unintentional, but it was actually a deliberate attempt to pave the way for Xu Junting.

Xu Junting had already figured out the truth about the new grain. As for the origin of the seeds, he only said that he had obtained them by chance from a foreign merchant while he was out wandering. He couldn't possibly say that his sister had bought them herself, could he?

The newly acquired grain seeds were actually the corn that Xu Zhaozhao had always wanted to get.

The difference is that the corn seeds were obtained by Xu Zhaozhao from a potted green plant.

She bought that potted plant by chance at a flower and bird market. At the time, she felt that it looked familiar, but she couldn't figure out what it was right away. So she used her superpower to ripen it, and it turned out to be corn!

Xu Zhaozhao simply removed all the kernels from the corn cob, then planted a few in different flowerpots, and scattered the rest directly in the empty courtyard of Baiyuanyuan.

In this way, a large amount of corn was harvested.

Because the courtyard was previously empty, it was naturally more convenient for Xu Zhaozhao to do whatever she wanted.

After seeing this, Xu Junting personally fed the chickens and ducks with these things. Seeing that there were indeed no adverse reactions, he concluded that it should also be edible for humans.

So, in less than half a month, Xu Zhaozhao took him to see the corn planted in the empty courtyard.

At this time, Xu Zhaozhao had these corn kernels ripened to tender size, which were then ready to be picked, steamed, and eaten.

"Your Majesty, my sister and I have both eaten this tender corn. It is sweet and delicious and filling. However, this corn is not always tender. As it grows and matures, the kernels become very hard."

My sister and I then tried to grind it up before feeding it to the chickens and ducks, and found that it made them grow faster and lay more eggs. Later, I tried grinding it into powder, and now my sister, along with several cooks, is trying to make it into more palatable dishes. So far, they have only made a porridge-like paste; others are still unknown.

This is precisely where Xu Zhaozhao's brilliance lies.

We can't bring everything out all at once.

This is too easy to arouse suspicion. After all, they got the new seeds last winter and suddenly produced all kinds of food this year. What do you think the people in power will think?

Moreover, the longer the process, the more it allows those in power to see Xu Junting's dedication.

Only in this way can Emperor Yong'an truly value this minister.

Emperor Yong'an looked pleased, but also somewhat excited.

If it weren't for the fact that he was an emperor, he probably would have already rushed down to embrace Xu Junting.

What is the biggest worry for an emperor?

There isn't enough food!

Not only the common people, but also the soldiers on the frontier, where is there a need for food?

Most importantly, 70% of the land in the Great Xing Dynasty is now in the hands of powerful families. Even as the emperor, he cannot force them to give up their land!

But now that there are new grain varieties, things are different.

If the power struggle between Emperor Yong'an and the aristocratic families was previously evenly matched, now the advantage clearly favors the imperial court.

Emperor Yong'an has not yet seen this thing, but he has already begun to calculate in his mind how to use these new grains to deal with those powerful families.

"Xu Junting, write down your planting experience and methods for this new grain variety in a memorial and submit it here. I will immediately summon the Minister of Revenue to come and discuss this matter!"