Great Zhou Empress

That day after Xue Zhijing and Ayila finished talking about the Queen Mother, Ayila seemed to relax. She didn't do anything more to Yuan Hanzhang, but just maintained the previous state. It's as if none of these things happened at all.

Xue Zhijing will not urge her to pursue Yuan Hanzhang, anyway, this is Ayila's own business, she has her own ideas, so let her do it herself.

Winter is coming and spring is coming, the most grand event of the imperial court - "Planting Ceremony" is about to begin.

National affairs, only worship and Rong.

"Sacrifice" includes the ceremony of encouraging plowing.

The "Pro-cultivation Ceremony" is to arrange a large piece of land in the Huangzhuang in the suburbs, set up a high platform to watch the cultivation, and at the same time leave one-third of an acre of land for the emperor to cultivate himself. He went to the high platform to give a speech, and then watched courtiers and nobles plowing in person.

Because Liu Yan’s health is very poor, it’s okay to ask him to hold the ox and help the plow to make a show, but farming one-third of an acre of land will kill him, so he just poses in the farmland, and then the painter paints his relatives. It is enough to draw the portrait of Geng.

The next step was for the Empress Dowager Yuan Hanzhang to cultivate the remaining land for him, and to worship the heaven and sacrifice the gods to give a speech.

Then Liu Yan's queen carried out silkworm activities in the palace, so there is nothing to say.

The pro-cultivation ceremony is a large-scale event. Xue Zhijing, who is the Shang Palace of the Shang Palace, also helped the Ministry of Rites to design and adjust the etiquette of the pro-geng.

Almost all the courtiers in the court were there, including members of noble families over seven years old, and supervisors dressed in the costumes of the Imperial College. Surrounded by the one-acre-three-point land, three floors outside, listening to the music played by Jiaofangsi, watching quietly.

After watching the ceremony, Yuan Hanzhang and Liu Yan went to the high platform, Yuan Hanzhang gave an impassioned speech, and then all the courtiers, nobles, and supervisors also needed to cultivate the land.

These ceremonial events were intended to demonstrate to the entire country the importance the court attached to agriculture.

When people started farming, Yuan Hanzhang would sit on a high platform and drink tea, or meet some old farmers in Huangzhuang and ask about agricultural matters.

Xue Zhijing saw a piece of land at the edge, where a group of supervisors from the Imperial College were farming.

These supervising students are actually children of nobles or rich families. After all, it was not easy to study in the feudal era, so they had to have a rich family property.They are not very old, probably have never done farm work, and all of them are very clumsy.

From Xue Zhijing's point of view, they didn't look like farmers at all.

Even Yuan Hanzhang, the Empress Dowager, was better than them.

There is a small man inside, whose painting style is different from others, he looks very powerful, not only his movements are quick and stylish, but also his voice can be heard from a distance, it sounds like he has a special interest in agriculture good at.

What kind of seeds to use, when to plant them, and how deep the soil should be dug, all he talked about there.

In fact, today everyone is just plowing the land ceremonially, not to the extent of planting seeds and subsequent crop management.

The follow-up things are what the farmers in Huangzhuang will do next.

So Xue Zhijing was quite interested in that little man, so he took a second look.

Xue Zhijing didn't want to, but found that the little man didn't seem to be a boy, but a girl.

Xue Zhijing is very sensitive. Some people may not be able to tell the difference between a little girl and a boy in men's clothing, but Xue Zhijing can tell the difference from the other person's cheeks, corners of eyes, and some very subtle movements and expressions.

After discovering that the other party was a girl, Xue Zhijing became even more interested.

When their plowing ceremony was over, Xue Zhijing saw that the other party was still working in the field. She even squatted on the ground, touching the soil on the ground, as if thinking about something, chanting words.

Xue Zhijing greeted her and asked, "What are you looking at?"

The other party was squatting, when he heard Xue Zhijing's voice, he turned his head and looked up at her.

Xue Zhijing smiled and looked at her gently.

This kind of Xue Zhijing is comfortable, so the little girl also put away the aggressive energy she was talking to her classmates just now, and said softly, "I'm looking at the soil quality here."

Soil quality?This is a professional field Xue Zhijing is completely unaware of.

Seeing that the other party was young, but he spoke clearly and logically, Xue Zhijing became more interested.

She listened carefully, and even squatted down to look at the soil in her hand with the little girl.

The little girl grabbed the clod in her hand and explained to Xue Zhijing.

Different soils have different nutrients, some are fertile, some are barren, and they will have different colors and so on.

From Xue Zhijing's point of view, different soil layers contain different trace elements.

Perhaps it was because Xue Zhijing listened too seriously to her words, which made the little girl feel very satisfied. In the end, she even showed Xue Zhijing a smile that could be called "gratified".

It made Xue Zhijing laugh a little dumbfounded.

"You are much more eager to learn than those students in our Zijian."

Xue Zhijing smiled and teased her, "That's because you little gentleman is very knowledgeable!"

The little girl clapped her hands and stood up, "Of course, I have loved farming since I was a child. My backyard, farm and so on, all have the land I opened up and the crops I planted."

Xue Zhijing also stood up, and it was only after they stood up that they realized that there was a head difference in height between them, making it even more apparent that the little girl was not very old.

Xue Zhijing estimated that he was only thirteen or fourteen years old.

Xue Zhijing asked her with a slight smile, "May I ask this little gentleman, which family are you from? I am Shanggong Xue Zhijing from Shanggong Bureau in the palace. The spring plowing ceremony is over, and I am going back to the city. I need a carriage Shall I give you a ride?"

Hearing this, the little girl was stunned.

"I~I~I~I am the young master, I am not the young lady."

Xue Zhijing raised his eyebrows, probably guessing that the other party is a woman disguised as a man. Since the other party thinks that he is the young master, then he should call her the young master!

"Then may I ask this little gentleman, which family's young master are you from?"

"My grandfather is the Minister of Rites, and my name is Tian Shouyu. Well, you can take me back later."

The two sat in Xue Zhijing's carriage, and Xue Zhijing remembered that she had asked those sea merchants to go to Nanyang or further afield to fetch some high-yield seeds back.

She told Tian Shouyu about it.

Tian Shouyu was very happy when she heard it. She is a person with a strong interest in agriculture. As soon as she mentioned this, she began to talk non-stop about her previous selection of crop seeds.

In fact, the transformation of plants into food is a process of human domestication.

According to Tian Shouyu's simple statement, she will select the best-planted plants in a farmland to collect seeds for breeding and cultivation, and she will also determine different soil and water conditions based on observations to make crops more productive every year.

Tian Shouyu said happily, and it happened that their family's farm was nearby, so she wanted to take Xue Zhijing to their family's farm to have a look.

When they were about to arrive, Tian Shouyu said that their family's farm was quite large in Bianjing City, but unfortunately there was only a small one in Jiankang City, which was owned by their family before.There are many officials and nobles in the imperial court, and their land is all around Bianjing City, and now they are almost dying of anxiety.

Indeed, in today's agriculture-based society, the most important thing for officials and nobles is not how much gold and silver and grain are hidden in the warehouse, but how much land they own.

This is also the reason why only half of the land remained in the Dacheng Dynasty after 400 years, because people in the entire dynasty wanted land.

Arriving at the farm of Tian Shouyu's family, Xue Zhijing seemed to have entered an experimental field.

Although it is spring now, there are still many crops in the Jiangnan area that can be planted in winter and early spring.

Tian Shouyu introduced to her one by one, what kind of plant is this, what kind of plant is that, and which ones grew after she sprinkled the seeds she took from Bianjing City, but they became different.

Then Tian Shouyu took her to a warehouse, which stored a lot of grain seeds.

After listening to the introduction, Xue Zhijing realized that even rice is divided into dozens of varieties. Some varieties are red in color, some taste delicious and soft, and some varieties can be planted twice a year, etc. Extremely rich.

Wheat and rice are the two main core crops of the Dacheng Dynasty, providing the most basic nutrition.For the people at the bottom, they can not eat vegetables and meat, but they must not eat wheat and rice.

Even sometimes people are paid such food on a monthly basis.

For people like Xue Zhijing who need to do things, it is very important to understand the knowledge of these foods.

On the way back to the palace, she was thinking that she needed to set up an agricultural college, and then buy a batch of grain stores.

At that time, when the sea merchants come back from overseas, they will get their seeds for the agricultural college to conduct research, go to the experimental field for experiments, and then let the grain shops that they can control to promote and sell them.

However, the more he thought about it, the more Xue Zhijing felt that with his current identity, when he did such things in the future, he would still encounter obstacles and crises.

It's been a while since Yuan Hanzhang asked her if she was a good concubine, and Yuan Hanzhang didn't ask her again.

But Xue Zhijing remembered this matter, there must be a decision.

Back in the palace, she suddenly heard that the queen was pregnant.

This is a big deal.

Liu Yan's health is so bad, if the queen can give birth to a son and a half daughter this time, it may be Liu Yan's only child.

What Xue Zhijing didn't know was that Yuan Hanzhang was extremely excited when he heard the news, and immediately rushed to the courtyard where Liu Yan lived.

In fact, the queen hasn't shown her bosom yet, but she was asked to sit on the bed and not move around.

Yuan Hanzhang held her hand with a gentle and loving face.

"You are really a good daughter-in-law of our Liu family. Take a good rest and make sure you have a stable pregnancy. You can eat whatever you want, and let Shangshi Bureau make it for you at any time. If you have any questions, you can come to me at any time."

Yuan Hanzhang is extremely responsible, and she perfectly fulfills the responsibility of a mother-in-law.

There were two imperial physicians standing around, and the queen's diagnosis was made by these two imperial physicians together.

Because two imperial physicians had diagnosed him, Yuan Hanzhang did not let another imperial physician come over.

When she asked the two imperial physicians, the queen exchanged glances with them.

Yuan Hanzhang was so happy that he didn't even notice the exchange of eyes between them.

She felt that God had opened her eyes, that there was hope for the succession of the dynasty.