Yang Jian's lips twitched as he heard the words relayed by Zhou Liangong and Jia Zheng, knowing that Yang Hong was still angry.
Yang Hong had finally realized he had been used and was throwing a tantrum.
His words implied he would no longer be brewing wine, at least not for the time being.
Although Yang Jian felt a surge of anger, he had to endure this threat.
Yang Hong's value was no longer what it used to be; he needed to be appeased, not reprimanded.
"I understand. After you leave the palace, just spread the word about the situation at the 'Pavilion of Deliberate Neglect.' I believe those who are unaware will understand my intentions."
Looking at the two "fathers-in-law" standing nervously below, Yang Jian decided not to move against their families for now.
"Your subject obeys the decree. Your subject accepts the command."
Zhou Liangong and Jia Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, knowing their families were safe for the moment.
After leaving the imperial palace, they spread the news about Yang Hong's Pavilion of Deliberate Neglect.
The focus of the propaganda was naturally that all the small buildings were far apart, and the concubines lived together, implying that Yang Hong and these concubines were entirely innocent.
For a time, Yang Jian's reputation saw a considerable improvement.
The entire court began to praise Yang Jian's virtues of frugality and thrift.
After all, Yang Jian had already drawn his sword, but the civil and military officials lacked the determination and courage to rebel.
However, there were discordant voices. Many noble families openly declared that Yang Jian had gone mad with poverty, even making concubines in the cold palace act as farmers to cut expenses.
Some noble families even claimed they could lend Emperor Yang Jian money.
However, they demanded interest, and very high interest at that.
This infuriated Yang Jian to the point of spitting fire.
Throughout the Sui Dynasty, natural disasters had been constant in recent years, leaving the imperial treasury strained.
He had already extorted the families of his concubines, which had only slightly alleviated the court's financial difficulties.
Now, with the concubines farming in the cold palace, his reputation as a pauper emperor was cemented.
However, Yang Jian was also a man of great patience. He believed that with Yang Hong's wine, he could soon cultivate a large number of loyal experts, who could then easily suppress any disloyalty.
Furthermore, he was not one to suffer in silence. He also released the news that the Pavilion of Deliberate Neglect had eight buildings capable of housing seventy-two people.
Simultaneously, he had people spread rumors that the emperor was considering selecting more concubines to fill the harem.
Upon hearing these two pieces of news, families with marriageable daughters fell silent, especially the noble families.
Although they had the means to refuse royal selections, they also feared Yang Jian using it as an excuse to deal with them.
The united noble families were undeniably stronger than the imperial Yang family and the Sui Dynasty's court.
Unfortunately, everyone had selfish motives, and the noble families were far from united. This led to them changing their tune, and through their people, they submitted memorials urging Emperor Yang Jian to continue to promote the virtue of "frugality and thrift."
For a time, the situation was deeply ironic.
However, news about Yang Hong was perfectly ignored and concealed.
The art of ruling was never simple.
Yet, Yang Jian soon found himself seeking Yang Hong's help once again.
Inside Yang Hong's small building in the Pavilion of Deliberate Neglect, the living room.
Yang Jian sat in the upper seat, while Yang Hong lounged casually beside him.
Seeing the displeasure on Yang Hong's face, Yang Jian felt a flush of shame. After all, he had set up a scheme involving his own son, only to beg him for help.
As a father, he felt a pang of embarrassment.
"Hong'er, do you have any methods to increase crop yields?"
"Yes, the first chapter of the 'Divine Farmer's Manual' is all about farming techniques, and the third chapter of 'Tiangong Kaiwu' is dedicated to farming implements. You can take a look."
"Xiao Cao, go fetch these two books, and also bring the books 'Farming Techniques,' 'Beneficial Implements,' and others..."
Under Yang Jian's increasingly twitching gaze, Yang Hong rattled off seventeen book titles before Xiao Cao, who was trotting, ran off to the study to fetch them.
"Hong'er, see if you have any better seeds on hand, seeds that can be mass-produced and have high yields."
Yang Jian added, forcibly suppressing the urge to lash out.
He had no choice. This year was another year of great disaster. Today was the sixth of the twelfth lunar month, and the snow had been falling intermittently for nearly a month.
Six provinces in the north of the Sui Dynasty were affected, with three reaching the level of severe disaster.
Many disaster victims had frozen to death, and a significant number were fleeing towards the imperial capital of Daxing. He needed a large quantity of grain for disaster relief and also to plan for the future.
Moreover, this time the noble families had deliberately made things difficult for him, hindering Yang Jian's efforts in disaster relief.
In the end, he thought of his son, who was skilled in agriculture.
Yang Hong looked at Yang Jian, whose eye sockets were sunken and whose spirit was clearly flagging. He raised an eyebrow and smiled.
Although he didn't know what trouble Yang Jian was in, Yang Jian's misfortune inexplicably made him happy.
"I have pumpkin seeds. My pumpkins can yield two thousand catties per mu and are very filling. However, pumpkins have high temperature requirements for cultivation and consume a lot of soil nutrients. After planting one season, regular fields need at least three seasons to recover before they can be planted again."
Yang Hong still answered directly.
"Pumpkins? That can work too. Hong'er, where are the seeds?"
Yang Jian had tasted the pumpkins Yang Hong grew and knew that these pumpkins were indeed very filling and had a high yield.
"Old Li, go get my seeds. Bring all of them."
Yang Hong turned to the old eunuch standing by and said.
Soon, Xiao Cao and the eunuch Old Li arrived, but Yang Jian's expression darkened.
He suppressed his rising temper and looked at Yang Hong with unfriendly eyes, saying,
"Hong'er, are you toying with me?"
"Not at all. If Father Emperor doesn't believe me, you can ask the Ministry of Agriculture. The pumpkin seeds are indeed only this many."
Yang Hong replied calmly. Yang Jian, however, grew anxious.
"How can there be so few pumpkin seeds? Your pumpkins are as large as a hundred catties, and the small ones are at least thirty catties. How can there be so few seeds?"
"There's nothing I can do. Most of my pumpkins were taken by the Grand Emperor. The rest were mostly crushed for brewing wine. These seeds are what I painstakingly selected and kept."
Saying this, Yang Hong handed a pumpkin seed to Yang Jian.
"B-but there aren't even a hundred of these seeds."
"Yes, less than 100. Exactly 64."
"This... alas~"
Yang Jian sighed deeply, stood up, and left.
He had given up hope of receiving help from Yang Hong.
However, he still went to the Palace of Filial Piety, hoping to get help from Yang Zhong.
Unfortunately, Yang Zhong, that foolish fellow, had stir-fried all the pumpkin seeds, leaving not a single seed behind.
However, Yang Zhong, who knew Yang Hong well, immediately dragged Yang Jian back to Yang Hong.
"Little Six, I know you must have other seeds. How about this, in front of your Father Emperor, I promise that all the women in this courtyard are yours."
Yang Jian nodded calmly upon hearing Yang Zhong's words. Women were less important to him than clothes.
"Heh heh~"
Yang Hong merely chuckled, offering no reply.
"Except for that girl Song Yuzhi, I'll find you a legitimate wife from the Duke families."
"Heh heh~"
Yang Hong still smiled disdainfully. Yang Jian's heart stirred, and he said,
"I can issue a decree allowing you to leave the cold palace. You can go wherever you wish, as long as you don't practice martial arts."
"Heh heh~ I'm quite content in the cold palace. I don't want to leave."
"This~"
Yang Hong genuinely did not want to leave. The transformed cold palace was already the embryo of a cultivation base, perfectly suited for planting, especially since he intended to grow spiritual plants, not ordinary ones.
Outside the imperial palace, he would have to worry about various troubles.
Yang Zhong and Yang Jian were speechless. They could not think of any condition that would impress Yang Hong.