I saw that in the yard in front of Zhao Yan, rows of half-human-high vats were neatly placed there, and only one corn or sweet potato was planted in each vat, and a certain distance was maintained between the vats and the vats, it was estimated that each corn and sweet potatoes could maintain a certain amount of light, in addition, there were dozens of little eunuchs working non-stop between the vats, or loosening the soil, or removing insects, or watering, it seems that they took care of corn and sweet potatoes as rare plants, but now these two crops are indeed rare plants, At least in the entire Great Song Dynasty, in addition to here, there are only some Zhao Yan.

"Cui Nei, why are you planting corn and sweet potatoes in the vat?" Zhao Yan asked very puzzled, these vats are one meter high and more than one meter in diameter, which will not affect the growth of corn and sweet potatoes, but this is too wasteful, it is estimated that these vats alone will definitely cost a lot of money, and it is better to plant them directly in the ground in comparison.

For Zhao Yan's question, I saw Cui Nei's servant leaning over and replied: "King Qiyu, Your Majesty has told us before, corn and sweet potatoes are extremely rare plants, so we must not make a mistake, the old slave considered that the summer and autumn seasons are prone to strong winds, and there may even be hail, so I thought of this way, plant corn and sweet potatoes in the vat, so that when the wind is too strong or hail, we can carry the vaat to the main hall in the courtyard to hide, and wait until the weather is good to carry it out." ”

Zhao Yan also felt justified when he heard this, sweet potatoes are not afraid of wind, rain and hail, but corn is different, this thing grows so big, the wind may blow the stem, hail is its nemesis, and later generations often see the news that hail hits corn with only a light pole.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yan also praised: "I didn't expect Cui Nei to think so thoughtfully, no wonder Daddy handed over such an important matter to you to be responsible!" ”

"Thank you for the praise of the county king, the old slave entered the palace at the age of eight, and has no other skills, only serving some flowers and plants, and after a long time, he will have more experience, and he really can't afford to be praised by the county king!" Cui Neishi's wrinkled old face replied very calmly, he was already over the age of old, he had gone through the three emperors of Zhenzong, Renzong and Zhao Shu, he had experienced a lot of things, and he was old, so he looked down on the world, so he naturally would not be flattered by Zhao Yan's praise.

Zhao Yan walked quickly to the yard and carefully inspected the growth of corn and sweet potatoes, now the corn has grown to half a human height, and the sweet potatoes are almost crawling to the ground, which also makes Zhao Yan very satisfied, but then he thought of one more thing, and asked Cui Neishou again: "Cui Neishi, when my father summoned me into the palace today, he told me that there seemed to be something wrong with your corn planting, but he didn't say what the problem was, how is it now?" ”

Hearing Zhao Yan ask about the problem with the corn, Cui Neishou immediately replied: "King Qiyu, there is indeed a problem with the corn, since the corn has been planted, we have been watering and removing insects on time, it is normal to be a qiē, and the corn grows very well, but the corn has become a little listless in the past few days, and the growth is much slower, I don't know what the reason is?" ”

Zhao Yan also paid attention to it when he heard this, what he was most afraid of was that the corn was sick, there was no pesticide treatment in this era, so he immediately found a few corns and carefully observed them, but he found no signs of illness, which made him also relieved, since he was not sick, and there were special people to remove insects, then the only thing left was the impact of the environment on the corn.

The weather is still very hot, just right for the growth of corn, the temperature is definitely fine, the soil in the vat is also very fertile, and it is watered every day, and the soil is very moist......

"Got it!" Zhao Yan saw the moist soil in the vat and immediately stood up, pointed to the soil and said to Cui Nei, "You have watered too much, corn is more drought-tolerant, and when it first grows, it needs more water, so it is naturally no problem for you to water it frequently, but now that the corn has grown so big, the demand for water has declined, but you still water on time, and the corn will naturally be affected, fortunately you found it early, otherwise it is likely that the roots of the corn will rot." ”

Cui Neishou was also startled when he heard this, and his face like old bark finally showed a little surprise, and he immediately ordered the little eunuchs who were watering to stop and make a few more holes in the bottom of the vat instead, so that the water inside could seep out

Next, Zhao Yan carefully inspected the growth of sweet potatoes, in fact, it can be seen from the long vines that these sweet potatoes must grow well, speaking of which, sweet potatoes are originally an adaptable crop, whether it is arid or barren land, they can grow, not to mention that they are carefully taken care of by Cui Neishou and others here.

After solving the problem of corn and the sweet potatoes growing well, Zhao Yan was about to leave, but at this moment, he saw that the old eunuch Cui Neishou seemed to hesitate, and finally said to Zhao Yan: "His Royal Highness, the old slave wants to ask you for a thing!" ”

"Oh, what's the matter?" Zhao Yan said with some surprise, from just now to now, Cui Neishou has not been shocked, and he rarely takes the initiative to speak, but now he actually shows a hesitant look and takes the initiative to speak, which is really a little strange.

"The king of the county, His Majesty told the old slave before, corn and sweet potatoes are extremely high-yield food crops, if they are popularized in the future, my Great Song Dynasty will no longer have a famine, although the old slave knows His Majesty's words, but I still want to ask the county king, can these two crops really get the people of my Great Song Dynasty out of hunger?" When Cui Neishou asked at the end, the old bark-like face showed a look of unease, and it seemed that he should be very concerned about this matter.

Although Zhao Yan wondered why an old eunuch like Cui Neishou would care about the issue of corn and sweet potatoes, since Zhao Shu had already sued the other party before, it also showed that Cui Neishou was very trusted by Zhao Shu, so he hesitated for a moment and replied: "Yes, corn and sweet potatoes are indeed very high-yielding, among which the yield per mu of corn should be twice that of rice, as for sweet potatoes, it is even higher, and the wet weight is at least two or three thousand catties, even if it is dried, it can reach more than 1,000 catties." ”

"County ...... You, the king of the county, ...... Are you sure you didn't cheat on the old slave? When Cui Neishou heard the yield of corn and sweet potatoes, he suddenly became excited, and asked with both hands on the edge of the vat trembling all over.

With the identity of Cui Neifu, Zhao Yan's words that were so suspicious were very rude, and it was even possible to be questioned, but fortunately, Zhao Yan didn't care much about this, and replied at the moment: "Of course this king will not lie to you, and you, as the first batch of people to plant corn and sweet potatoes, I believe that when the autumn harvest comes, you can see the yield of these two crops, and maybe even taste the taste of sweet potatoes and corn. ”

Zhao Yan couldn't help but smile a little when he said the end, and after the corn and sweet potatoes were promoted, the tenants in Sheung Shui Zhuang no longer had to worry about running out of food.

"No, no, no, no...... such an important grain, let's keep more seeds for it, and the sooner it is promoted, the sooner it will be able to make people have a full meal!" Cui Neishou hadn't woken up from the excitement at this time, and his old face was slightly ruddy, which looked a little weird, but when he said the last sentence, Cui Neishi's expression became a little low, as if he had thought of something sad, and a pair of cloudy old eyes overflowed with two lines of clear tears.

"Cui Neishi, ...... are you" Seeing the other party's strange expression, Zhao Yan couldn't help but ask.

Hearing Zhao Yan's question, Cui Neishou came to his senses, hurriedly wiped his tears, and replied in a somewhat hoarse voice: "Let the county king laugh, the old slave remembered some of the past, and he actually lost his temper in front of the county king, which is really damning!" ”

"It's okay, just looking at Cui Nei's sad appearance, it seems that the events of the year were extremely important to you, I don't know if you can tell this king? Of course, if it's inconvenient, forget it! Zhao Yan asked with some curiosity.

Hearing Zhao Yan's words, Cui Neishou showed a little hesitation at first, but soon sighed and said: "King Qiyu, in fact, there is nothing inconvenient, the old slave was originally a person from Hezhong Mansion, when he was seven years old, there was a great drought in his hometown, and there was no harvest for thousands of miles in the red land, and there were homeless people everywhere, our family of three generations and thirteen families went out to look for food, but in addition to the old slave, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunt, father and mother and several brothers and sisters were all starved to death, if there were two high-yield grains of corn and sweet potatoes, the old slave ...... Old slave ......"

When it comes to the end, Cui Neishou once again burst into tears, although decades have passed, but the tragic situation of his family being starved to death one by one is still deeply remembered by him, and the unforgettable hunger is still fresh in his memory, the reason why he entered the palace at the beginning was to hear others say that he could eat enough food when he entered the palace, as for being an inner servant and being despised by others, he could not enjoy the normal love between men and women, in his opinion, it was not important at all, and even now he did not regret the choice to enter the palace.

Zhao Yan was also silent for a long time when he heard this, he had not experienced that kind of famine, he couldn't fully understand Cui Neishi's feelings, and he didn't know how to comfort the other party, but he just thought of his loved ones starving to death by his side, which was definitely one of the most tragic things in the world.

At the same time, in a hidden secret room northeast of Tokyo, the room has only a small window, and the rays of sunlight that come in can only illuminate a small area, and most of the room is hidden in darkness.

"How's the investigation going?" A young man's voice rang out in a dark corner.

"There are already two dark lines mixed in, but the other party is very tightly defended, except for the old eunuch who seems to know the reason for planting the two plants, the others don't know anything at all." A hoarse voice replied.

"It's strange, the king of a country will definitely not attach so much importance to those two plants for no reason, could it be that there is some conspiracy in this?" The young voice muttered to itself in confusion.

"Could it be a trap set by the other party, trying to attract all our dark lines and then catch them all?" The hoarse voice spoke again, and he also felt that the two plants were not really important, but the bait that the other party had deliberately set up to attract them to the bait.

"Hehe, whether it's a bait or not, we can't take it lightly, aren't there two dark lines mixed in? Let them find a way to destroy both plants, and as for their families, we will take good care of them! The young voice said very coldly.

"Yes!" The hoarse voice accepted the order without the slightest hesitation, and those dark lines were cultivated, originally to prepare for this day.

As soon as the order was given, the man with a hoarse voice left, and the young man remained in the chamber for a long time before exiting through a secret passage. After a while, a young man walked out of a small courtyard not far from the secret room, only to see the other party wearing a shirt and a folding fan, and the sun shone on the other party's handsome face, which seemed to cause ripples, provoking the little ladies passing by to turn their heads and peek from time to time, but unfortunately this young man was puzzled and left with a slight smile.

Three days later, at midnight, the sky was covered with thick dark clouds, and there was not a single starlight in sight, and the wind blew from the afternoon to the evening without the slightest sign of stopping, and the hustle and bustle of the city of Tokyo fell silent at this time, as if the whole city had fallen into a deep sleep. But at this moment, a courtyard in the northwest corner of the palace suddenly burst into flames, and then countless palace people shouted "go to the water", which suddenly woke up the sleeping Tokyo City.