With previous experience, Yang Hong deliberately transplanted the irrigated rice he had already irrigated to the center of the rice field before irrigating it again. He successfully cultivated 28 nine-grade common rice plants.
The cost was over 500 common fourth-grade rice seeds, from which the rice was grown.
"Good, perfect."
Looking at his five days of work, Yang Hong was very satisfied.
It was just that the spirit rice tree was a bit of an eyesore.
However, Yang Hong's worries were unnecessary.
"Spirit rice tree ~ this is a spirit rice tree. I never thought my good grandson could grow a spirit rice tree. Excellent, excellent."
Upon seeing the newly appeared spirit rice tree in the rice field, Yang Zhong merely praised it as good.
This reaction left Yang Hong very puzzled.
"Could it be that Imperial Grandfather has seen this kind of spirit rice tree before?"
"Heh heh ~ I knew you would ask. Come, I'll take you to broaden your horizons today too."
Yang Zhong seemed to have anticipated Yang Hong's expression. He chuckled triumphantly, then turned and walked out. Yang Hong immediately had some guesses and followed Yang Zhong out of the "Zhi Ruo Guan Wen Pavilion."
He also left the Imperial Palace and the Imperial City.
The inner city of Daxing Imperial City was 108 li in circumference, truly the Imperial City, housing the Imperial Palace, major government departments, and residences of nobles and high officials.
Beyond that was the outer city, 216 li in circumference, also part of the capital, where ordinary officials, wealthy merchants, and commoners lived.
They had to pass through three layers of walls along the way.
The palace walls were 30 zhang (one hundred meters) high and 20 zhang wide, built from solid bluestone. They could withstand the weight of trucks running on them.
The city walls of both the inner and outer cities were 20 zhang high and 10 zhang wide.
If such walls appeared in ancient Earth, they would surely be considered miracle-level architecture.
But after seeing the arenas of the Five Directions Heavenly Pride Competition, Yang Hong felt: it's just so-so.
Compared to hundred-zhang walls, 30 zhang was really insignificant.
However, such walls were sufficient to defend against martial artists below the Grandmaster level.
Thirty li south of the capital lay a range of hills.
In the center of the hills was a patch of farmland, which was Yang Hong's destination for the day.
"Look, grandson, this is the spirit rice tree. Our Yang family still has 360 of them.
Unfortunately, although the spirit rice produced by spirit rice trees nowadays tastes very delicious, it no longer contains spiritual energy, so it cannot be called spirit rice."
Before a gentle slope, Yang Zhong pointed to a small grove of trees.
The tallest of these spirit rice trees were nearly five zhang tall, while the shortest were over three zhang, clearly old trees.
Yang Hong was only slightly surprised before he understood.
These were degenerated spiritual plants. In the context of this world, with cultivators, spiritual plants were inevitable.
But these spiritual plants had no spiritual energy, and even the spiritual energy aura produced by the plants themselves was weaker than Yang Hong's fourth-grade common plants.
They were a typical example of being visually appealing but practically useless.
He didn't ask anything and just followed Yang Zhong to observe.
"This grove is called Golden Wheat Tree, the spiritual plant form of wheat; that is Crimson Apple, Ice Crystal Pear, Warm Fire Date..."
They circled the hillside, traveling 18 li, and found a total of 18 types of trees.
All of them were degenerated spiritual plants. Although they could produce a weak spiritual energy, it was even weaker than the fourth-grade common plants Yang Hong had cultivated in the Cold Palace.
This was equivalent to the standard of third-grade common plants.
"Good grandson, I'll give you a portion of the seeds from these spiritual trees. Plant them well, and I hope you can grow true spiritual trees."
After descending the gentle slope, Yang Zhong looked at Yang Hong with a hint of anticipation.
He was 71 years old this year. Even as a former emperor, he had never tasted spirit fruit. He only knew about spirit fruits from his grandfather's stories.
Although he didn't know why the spiritual plants of the Five Directions Dynasty had degenerated, the vegetables Yang Hong grew had a slight resemblance to the legendary spirit fruits.
He was very hopeful that Yang Hong could grow true spirit fruits.
"I'll do my best."
Yang Hong did not refuse, but he did not make any promises.
Cultivating spiritual plants was effortless for Yang Hong at this stage, but he would not expose his abilities easily.
After all, caution is the parent of safety.
Following this, Yang Hong was left behind in the farmland behind the hills.
This was because Yang Hong's specially cultivated plants were grown here.
To be precise, this was a seed cultivation base.
Every year, the royal family would select the highest quality seeds from the imperial farms and cultivate them in this area with excellent climate, temperature, humidity, and water sources.
The highest quality seeds would continue to be cultivated here, the next grade would be planted in the imperial farms, and the lowest grade would be sold.
It was precisely due to the unwavering dedication of the Great Sui royal family for over 300 years that the Great Sui, a dynasty most prone to natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and geological calamities, could still rise to become the strongest dynasty.
The role of grain was undoubtedly the greatest in this.
And the Great Sui royal family's insistence on high-quality breeding was even more crucial.
"Good grandson, now you understand why your father and I are so tolerant of you?
Honestly, if any other prince dared to behave like your delinquent self, I would have slapped him to death long ago."
"Heh heh ~ this is just my temper."
Yang Hong did not think his conduct was bad. He was from modern times and did not have the arrogant temper of the nobles in this world.
"Good grandson, you really need to change this bad temper of yours."
Yang Zhong complained again, as if Yang Hong's temper was indeed very bad.
"..."
Yang Hong rolled his eyes at him and simply fell silent.
However, he still stayed and guided the farmers in this breeding base on the key points of cultivating special plants.
...
For three consecutive days, Yang Hong did not leave.
However, the news of his appearance, through covert channels, reached the ears of those who should not have known.
In a lavish courtyard in the outer city of the capital of Daxing, on the east side,
A group of high-ranking old men and women were plotting something in an underground secret chamber.
"Dugu Qiuhong, you've suddenly summoned so many of us here. State your purpose quickly.
Otherwise, if Yang Jian discovers so many of us together, he might mobilize the army to eliminate us."
"Li Chongshan, you're still so impatient. Since I've summoned you all here, it's naturally for an important matter."
"Senior Dugu, please don't keep us in suspense. We have representatives from two of the four great clans, four of the five surnames,
Representatives from the founding, Yanping, and new generals, and five leading civil officials.
Such a force is something any emperor would be wary of."
The voice speaking trembled, clearly indicating that he had not known the extent of the attendees at this gathering.
"Then this old woman won't waste any more words!
That person from the Yang family who cultivated high-yield crops has appeared. I want to kill him.
Do you want to cooperate?"
"What? That person has appeared? Where?"
"Don't kill him! It would be a great pity to kill him! We should capture him!"
"Yes, yes! Such a person should be captured and kept to help us cultivate crops."
"The yield of rice, wheat, and nine other vegetables has all doubled! Such talent cannot be for the Yang family alone."
"We must have him under our control."
All the old men and women present became excited. They were all heads of their families, and regardless of the size of their families, they understood the importance of grain.
They all had the same idea: capture Yang Hong, hold him under house arrest, and treat him like a donkey for a production team.
When the commotion had somewhat subsided, Dugu Qiuhong spoke again.
"Everyone, quiet down."
"We don't know his specific identity yet. He's a very young and handsome farmer, currently at the Yang family's seed cultivation base, and he'll be returning the day after tomorrow.
This means we only have one day left.
Kill him? Or keep him?
Make a decision quickly!"