Chang'an City.
The sound of horse hooves approached from afar.
The soldiers guarding the city looked out towards the outside.
A troop of cavalry was rapidly approaching Chang'an.
Behind the cavalry flew flags indicating urgent intelligence.
"Notify them, clear the way for them!"
The soldiers on the city wall shouted down.
"Yes!"
The soldiers below the city quickly ran from the gate towards the palace.
As they ran, they shouted, "Military intelligence, civilians, make way!"
The cavalry galloped into the city, heading straight for the palace, shouting from their horses as they rode.
"Good news! Shenyang's sweet potatoes yield twenty-six shi per mu!"
"Good news! Shenyang's potatoes yield eleven shi per mu!"
"Good news! Shenyang's pumpkins yield eighteen shi per mu!"
The civilians who had moved to the sides of the streets could hardly believe what they were hearing.
Even setting aside the twenty-six shi of sweet potatoes and eighteen shi of pumpkins, the eleven shi of potatoes alone made them feel as if they were dreaming!
In fact, there was no need for Li Shimin to issue a birth order; none of these civilians wanted their families to be small.
This era could be called the era of noble clans; whoever had more people, that family was powerful.
Setting aside power and wealth, those were too far from ordinary people.
However, in villages and towns, fights were common, and the simplest way to win was to have more people; if you disagreed, you had no choice but to accept it!
But the grain was limited, and having more children meant you couldn't afford to raise them!
Now, listen, at least eleven shi, is this a sign that a prosperous era is coming?
The imperial guards outside Chengtian Gate knew that these men had traveled all the way from Shenyang the moment they saw the messenger cavalry.
Their cracked lips and tired bodies were enough to show the importance of the matter.
"Brothers! Lend a hand and carry him into the palace!"
One person spoke, shouting to the other imperial guards.
The guards at the gate surged forward, lifted the man carrying the flag, and headed for Liangji Hall.
As for the others, they could be sent to rest; the flag-bearer was the main one.
"Your Majesty! There is a memorial from Shenyang, an urgent dispatch of eight hundred li!"
Lai Yifa walked to the imperial desk and whispered to Li Shimin.
Li Shimin closed the memorial in his hand and placed it on the desk.
"Where is the memorial?"
Lai Yifa walked to the door, "Hurry in!"
The imperial guards, carrying the soldier, entered Liangji Hall, put him down, and then turned to leave.
The soldier knelt on the ground with a thud, took the memorial from his怀 and held it above his head.
"Eight hundred li urgent! Shenyang good news!"
"Please Your Majesty review!"
Lai Yifa took the memorial and presented it to Li Shimin, then stepped aside and stood quietly.
Li Shimin opened the memorial.
"Your subject, Liu Dacheng, the Shenyang Chief Clerk, respectfully reports with tears of joy that this year, outside Shenyang City..."
Looking at the contents, even Li Shimin, who was accustomed to remaining unperturbed, could no longer maintain his composure.
"Send him down! Reward him handsomely!"
"Also, quickly summon officials of the fifth rank and above in the capital to the palace!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Lai Yifa helped the soldier up and escorted him to the door, handing him over to the imperial guards to be accommodated.
He himself then ran to the Ministry of the Interior to summon Fang Xuanling and others.
At the same time, countless eunuchs were arranged to rush to the various government departments.
"Shenyang good news, His Majesty summons officials of the fifth rank and above in the capital, hurry to the palace, no delay!"
After shouting three times at the entrance of each department, the eunuchs would leave immediately.
Half an hour later.
In the square outside Liangji Hall, civil and military officials stood in formation.
Li Shimin, holding the memorial, slowly walked out from the hall.
"All my ministers!"
"Liu Dacheng, the Shenyang Chief Clerk, has sent an urgent report of eight hundred li to inform me of good news!"
"He says the crops planted by the Marquis of Liaodong have been harvested!"
"Potatoes yielded eleven shi per mu, pumpkins eighteen shi per mu."
He paused deliberately at this point, watching the reaction of the officials below.
Cheng Yaojin was so happy he was about to break wind.
He had seen those things with his own eyes. With such high yields now, his brother would surely advance further.
This was a matter that benefited the entire world! Perhaps he would be of the same rank as himself!
Among the others, the most excited was Fang Xuanling, the magnate in charge of the empire's finances and grain. This was something closely related to him.
So, he stepped forward, preparing to speak.
But Li Shimin threw a bombshell.
"Sweet potatoes, yielding three thousand two hundred and seventeen catties and eight liang per mu! Equivalent to twenty-six shi!"
If the eleven shi and eighteen shi could be considered to have some exaggeration, then these ministers would have accepted it more easily.
But, twenty-six shi!
With this number, even if Liu Dacheng had a hundred times the courage, he would not dare to lie!
This meant that this matter was very likely true.
Fang Xuanling's face flushed, and he said, "Your Majesty, this is great news!"
"I request that troops be dispatched to Shenyang immediately to escort all the harvested crops of these three varieties back, guarded by heavy troops, to prevent any accidents!"
Wei Zheng stepped forward: "Your Majesty, I believe these figures should be exaggerated!"
"Since ancient times, no one has ever heard of grain yielding more than ten shi per mu, let alone sweet potatoes yielding twenty-six shi per mu!"
Cheng Yaojin wanted to go up and hit him.
Qin Qiong stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, what Liu Dacheng said should be true!"
Li Shimin looked at him with confusion.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Qin Qiong pointed towards Fangjiazhuang.
"If you have doubts, why not send someone to Fangjiazhuang to dig up a few and bring them back? You'll know with one look."
Li Shimin nodded and said to Lai Yifa by his side, "Hurry back!"
Lai Yifa bowed and then ran towards the palace gate.
Upon reaching Chengtian Gate, he asked a guard for a horse, gathered a few guards to accompany him, and headed towards Fangjiazhuang.
Upon arriving at the manor, they went straight to the sweet potato field.
Having been to Fangjiazhuang several times, he was naturally no stranger to the sweet potato field, which was treated as a treasure by the entire Fang family.
Upon reaching the field, he dismounted and walked into the land, grabbing the sweet potato vines and searching for a long time, but he couldn't see what sweet potatoes looked like.
By chance, he saw a crack in the soil that had been split by pressure, and beneath the layer of soil, there was a red thing.
"Quick! Dig it out for me! Be careful, don't damage it!"
Several imperial guards quickly ran over, drew their short swords, and carefully began to dig.
Old Man Ma had to visit the sweet potato field three times a day.
Once in the morning, once at noon, and once in the evening.
It had become a habit.
At this moment, he was walking over with his hands behind his back. From a distance, he saw several people acting suspiciously in the sweet potato field, and they looked like bad people.
Without a word, he took a signal flare from his怀, pulled the cord, and a red fireworks shot into the sky.
With a loud bang, Lai Yifa was startled.
Before he could react to what was happening, he saw over a hundred strong young men rushing towards him, holding steel knives.
"Son of a bitch, how dare you steal things from Fangjiazhuang, I'll castrate you if I don't!"
"Thief! Where are you running!"
He shouted as he ran.
Lai Yifa was stunned! This was a huge misunderstanding!
ps: This is the third chapter for the 28th.