At noon, Yang Ming returned from his patrol and told his sister, Madam Yang, about Qian Zhaodi coming to see him that morning.
Madam Yang was amused and angered by the news.
Zhaodi was truly arrogant, to look down on her brother and disdain Xiao Ming as a household slave.
Hmph, they looked down on her too!
However, this was for the best. Since neither she nor her brother had any interest in her, it saved a lot of trouble.
At lunch, Qian Zhaodi did not eat with everyone else. She fetched her meal from the kitchen and took it back to her room.
Besides feeling ashamed, she was also afraid of Prince Yu. Prince Yu's mouth was capable of saying anything, and if he revealed that she had brought tea that morning in front of everyone, she would never be able to stay in this house again.
Granny Zhong thought Qian Zhaodi was being shy. She had spoken to her about her and Yang Ming the previous night, but unexpectedly, the girl had outright refused, saying Yang Ming was not suitable for her.
Granny Zhong was a little surprised. Judging by her demeanor at the time, she seemed to have a low opinion of Yang Ming.
Yang Ming was excellent in every aspect. If Zhaodi missed this opportunity, she would never get another chance.
But Zhaodi's attitude was very firm, so Granny Zhong stopped trying to persuade her.
Yang Ming didn't care whether Qian Zhaodi came to eat or not. Even if she died, it would have nothing to do with him. He only cared about Madam... and her household.
Prince Yu, who had been bothered, didn't want to mention what happened that morning at all. After all, such things were commonplace for him, and he didn't want to affect Little Black Face's mood.
If Little Black Face knew that the maids in the household were restless, he would probably become agitated again. From now on, he would have A Qiu keep an eye on that maid.
The weather was gradually getting warmer. It was not suitable for planting crops and trees at this time, as young seedlings were easily scorched to death.
Moreover, the fifty-plus mu of wheat had already matured. Feng Pingyuan arranged for the bandit team and the assassin team to harvest the wheat. Together with hired workers, the fifty-plus mu of wheat were all harvested in two to three days.
A month earlier, Bai Sheng had ordered people to build a smooth, wide, high stone platform on the sand embankment near the wheat fields, specifically for drying grain.
After the wheat was harvested, it could be placed on it.
Only the ears of wheat were cut, and all the straw was left in the fields. After manual decomposition, it was used to fertilize the fields. With long-term practice, the soil quality of the sandy land would also be greatly improved.
Bai Sheng had another ingenious idea: he had people carve a stone roller from stone, pulled by Wu Yun, to crush the dried wheat ears, greatly saving manpower.
The villagers of Hongshu Village saw this rare agricultural tool and became even more in awe of the Village Chief's wife.
They increasingly felt that the Village Chief's wife must be an immortal descended to earth, otherwise, such ingenious agricultural tools would not be conceived by ordinary people.
After the wheat was threshed, the husks were removed, and it was dried. Feng Pingyuan weighed it and roughly calculated that the yield was 500 jin per mu.
This figure was less than half of the modern yield, but it was already a very high yield in the Great Xia Kingdom, and it was in a drought-stricken desert area. This was simply a desert miracle!
Although the entire process of planting wheat was very arduous, with preliminary soil improvement, continuous fertilization and watering in the later stages… after experiencing immense hardship, it was finally planted, and the yield was astonishing.
If they could grow grain, they could survive.
Everyone was very happy.
After the grain was dried, Bai Sheng conscientiously paid taxes to Prince Yu according to the imperial court's tax standards. When Hongshu Village was founded, Prince Yu allocated 10,000 mu of sandy land to her family, at 300 wen per mu.
Since Prince Yu was so generous, Bai Sheng could not take advantage of him for nothing.
Prince Yu planned to present these tax grains, along with the two books on desert agriculture written by Ji Chenghou, to the old man in the palace.
Starting this autumn, he would comprehensively implement well digging, desertification control, tree planting, and crop planting within Bian Province. He had already sent people to copy dozens of Ji Chenghou's agricultural books. After the old man read them, he would promote them widely.
Although Bian Province was his fiefdom, it was also the emperor's territory. For Bian Province to develop, the imperial court should provide economic support.
Otherwise, if he paid to develop a poor region, and those old guys just reaped the benefits, he wasn't foolish enough to do that.
The imperial court should also contribute some funds.
In addition, he would also heavily rely on Ji Chenghou.
The prefect of Bian Province was still under review, and a conclusion could not be drawn yet, nor could he be fully accepted as his own. However, the position of county magistrate of Tashan County was very suitable for Ji Chenghou.
Once Ji Chenghou became the county magistrate, Tashan County would take the lead in demonstration. As long as Tashan County succeeded, the entire Bian Province would be a piece of cake.
This time, Prince Yu also planned to submit all the negative information he had collected about County Magistrate Guo to the old man.
Although County Magistrate Guo's official position was too low, and his evidence of crime might not be worthy of the old man's attention, if Prince Yu wanted to eliminate him, he had to have reasons and evidence. It was best to lay the groundwork with the old man now.
He could not leave any loopholes that would give those sharp-tongued officials in the court an opportunity to impeach him.
He naturally did not fear their sharp tongues, nor did he fear impeachment. However, his imperial mother was still in the harem. If more people impeached him, his imperial mother's life would inevitably become difficult.
He had not seen his imperial mother for a year. He wondered how she was doing in the palace.
With crop planting and tree planting temporarily suspended, Bai Sheng's family shifted their focus to nurturing the already established trees, composting, building septic tanks, maintaining farmland, opening up new land, and stocking dry straw and soil for planting.
Among these, Bai Sheng was responsible for stocking dry straw for planting. The straw merchants she contacted always delivered in the middle of the night and never showed their faces.
After a long time, the family members had all gotten used to it. As long as they had straw for farming, they didn't care about anything else.
It was the same with the soil. The soil storage ponds were always full. The farmers simply assumed that the Lord and the Madam had people replenish them on time, and no one thought about the source of the soil.
In short, the general work direction of the household was to protect what had already been planted and prepare what was to be used.
In addition to managing their own affairs, Lu Ye also assigned some planting experts to teach the villagers of Hongshu Slope how to farm.
Some of the materials needed for farming could be purchased from Lu Ye's family. Although they could not plant now, they could learn the techniques first and prepare the septic tanks, so they could start immediately when autumn arrived.
When the village was first established, each household was allocated five mu of sandy land per person, and deeds were issued. These sandy lands had to be cultivated and planted by the villagers themselves. If nothing was planted within five years, the sandy land would be confiscated after five years.
The farm work became much easier, and Zhao Dazhuang led the construction team to build a large inn two to three hundred meters south of the well.
After Prince Yu took over the mine, the stones from the large sand pit could be used by Bai Sheng and her family freely. The villagers of Hongshu Village could also fetch stones for their own houses.
In a few more days, Lu Ye and Bai Sheng would go to the capital. During this period, they would increase the fertilization and watering of the crops and trees with spiritual spring water.
They hoped that the seedlings would grow sturdier and survive the high temperatures of summer.