The protagonist has no interest in continuing to watch and talk, and the activities of reviewing the three armies and meeting with the squire and the elderly end hastily. Although the event ended a little suddenly, everyone saw that Chai Rong's face was not very good-looking, and they all thought that the emperor had been blowing cold wind and cold rain here for half a day, and he was a little uncomfortable and wanted to go back to the imperial tent to rest. So everyone didn't say anything, and after saluting Chai Rong, they all returned to their tents to prepare for the next Northern Expedition - the six representatives of the squire and elders and their servants were naturally sent back by Yao Neibin.

Chai Rong returned to his imperial tent with a gloomy face, and after changing his clothes under the service of the eunuch, he sat behind the imperial case and looked a little in good spirits. Seeing that his husband didn't say a word since he left the school parade, and his face was very ugly, Lin Xiaoyu thought that the other party was about to catch a cold in the rain school parade. Reminiscent of Zhang Weixin's once told her that in the history of his previous life, Chai Rong was drenched in the rain when he was stationed at Waqiao Pass, reviewing the three armies, and inspecting the terrain near the pass, and then he became ill, and he fell ill and died in less than a month. Now, although the Northern Expedition of the Zhou Army was two months earlier than the Battle of Youyun recorded in the history books of the previous life, it was also in Waqiao Pass, it was also the review of the three armies, it was also raining and cold, so many of the same conditions, plus Chai Rong's face was very bad, Lin Xiaoyu couldn't help but be worried.

Therefore, Lin Xiaoyu, who had returned to the woman's costume, ordered someone to quickly invite the imperial doctor who accompanied the army, and at the same time stepped forward to prepare for Chai Rong's pulse and diagnosis. However, to Lin Xiaoyu's surprise, Chai Rong, who had always been very cooperative with her pulse diagnosis in the past, was unusually at this time, and without waiting for her to put her finger on the pulse, she moved her arm away, and then asked in a solemn voice: "Since Concubine Ai has married me, she should be honest with me, but now why is she deceiving me?" ”

Chai Rong's endless question made Lin Xiaoyu very unclear, so she hurriedly said: "Where did the official family start with this?" How could the concubine ever deceive Bixia, and how could the concubine dare to deceive Bixia? ”

Chai Rong was even more unhappy when he heard this, and asked, "I came to ask you, do you know that your brothers brought back a grain seed called corn from overseas?" ”

"Corn? This concubine had indeed heard from several brothers. Lin Xiaoyu couldn't understand the reason why Chai Rong asked this question for a while, so he had to follow Chai Rong's words, so as not to further stimulate this son of heaven who is known for his temper - although Lin Xiaoyu pretended to be a guard and guarded the side of the school reading platform, after all, there was still some distance from the canopy in the school reading platform, and he did not hear the content of everyone on the school reading platform about corn.

Seeing that Lin Xiaoyu did not deny that he knew about the existence of corn, Chai Rong was somewhat surprised, but he did not stop there, but continued to ask: "Then I will ask you again, do you know how much grain can be produced by one acre of corn?" ”

Although he was more and more confused by Chai Rong's question, Lin Xiaoyu still replied truthfully: "The official family, the concubines and concubines don't know anything about the crops, and they don't know much about the output of this corn acre. However, the concubine once heard Brother Zhao Min'an, who was in charge of agriculture and mulberry field production, said that as long as this thing is watered and fertilized diligently, it should not be a problem for one acre of land to produce five or six hundred catties of cornmeal. ”

"Then do you know that those brothers of yours have purchased more than one million mu of land in the land of Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, of which nearly 100,000 mu are used to cultivate corn, and the annual output is at least 50 million catties, but not even one catty or two appears on the market?" Chai Rong continued to ask.

Having said this, Lin Xiaoyu gradually realized the reason why Chai Rong suddenly attacked him this time - the other party knew about the existence of corn, a high-yield crop, and came to ask him for his guilt. Although she still didn't know where Chai Rong got the news from, and she couldn't figure out why Chai Rong didn't go to Xu Shaoan to ask, but took her anger out on herself. But one thing is certain, that is, the appearance of corn and the large-scale planting of the crossing team caused the other party to be dissatisfied, or rather, to arouse the suspicion of the other party. His answers to relevant questions may affect Chai Rong's judgment and characterization of the crossing team, Xu Shaoan, and even himself. Therefore, she decided to answer truthfully and explained to Chai Rong: "The concubine also said that Brother Zhao Min'an and Zhao were solely responsible for the affairs related to agriculture and mulberry fields, and the concubine did not know too much. However, although the concubine has been living in the capital for several years, she has been in correspondence with the brothers in Liangxiang, so the concubine has also heard of whether the brothers have purchased millions of fields in the land of clouds and planted corn on 100,000 acres of land, and none of the tens of millions of catties of corn produced have appeared on the market. ,

According to the information revealed in the letter, the reason why the concubine's brothers planted corn on a large scale and did not allow it to circulate in the world was because the people of Middle-earth had never heard of corn and had never seen it, and even if the grain and rice stores in the name of the concubine brothers sold it, the amount of money they sold and the money they earned must be extremely limited. Instead of spending a lot of manpower and material resources to sell corn, it is better to make the best use of it and dispose of it yourself; Second, although the concubine's brothers planted nearly 100,000 mu of corn on their own land, with an annual output of more than 50 million catties, at the end of the year, the corn that could really be left was very limited and not worth selling. ”

Hearing Lin Xiaoyu say that the amount of corn that the "Qingyuan" brothers can leave every year is very limited, Chai Rong suddenly came to his senses, and he hurriedly asked quietly: "There are only dozens of brothers in your class, and there are only hundreds of servants in the family, how can you eat so much corn?" Over the course of a year, there are even more than 50 million catties of corn left. ”

"The official's family, although the corn tastes sweet and delicious, the brothers of the concubines only taste it occasionally, and do not regard it as a staple food on weekdays. Not only them, but even their subordinates. The 50 million catties of corn are used for two main purposes, except for the hundreds of thousands of catties of seeds that were kept in advance by the concubines' brothers and used to sow seeds in the coming year.

The first is to keep the grain for the tenants or distribute it to the long-term workers, men, craftsmen and other people who work for the brothers of the concubines, and use part of their wages to offset part of their wages; The second is to feed livestock, specifically it is used as feed, used to feed horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, and other domestic animals and poultry, so as to be able to provide themselves with leg power, animal power for farming, meat and eggs for daily consumption, etc.

The brothers who wanted to concubines had no less than 100,000 tenants alone, plus thousands of long-term workers, men, and craftsmen, the number of them was huge, and the number of livestock needed for millions of acres of land was even more numerous. Fifty million catties of corn may sound like a huge amount at first glance, but after being divided among these people and animals, not much actually falls on each person or animal, and the brothers of the concubines have to spend a lot of money and other food every year to fill the gap. Lin Xiaoyu replied half-truthfully according to the real use of corn by the crossing team.

In fact, most of the 50 million catties of corn were used as military rations, except for feeding livestock and poultry, and the amount distributed to tenants, men, and workers was very limited, and they were strictly forbidden to sell on the market, otherwise they would be severely punished -- this is one of the reasons why corn has never appeared on the market. But when Lin Xiaoyu explained to Chai Rong, he successfully changed the concept, and said that the tenants, men, and workers who could get up to one or twenty catties of cornmeal every year were one of the main targets of corn consumption, so that smart characters like Chai Rong could not hear the untruths in her words.

After Lin Xiaoyu's explanation, although Chai Rong's original dissatisfaction with the "Qingyuan" brothers' concealment of the existence of corn, a new grain variety, has gone for the most part, his interest in corn, a high-yield crop, has not weakened in the slightest, but has become stronger and stronger. It's just that forcible seizure is not Chai Rong's style, nor is it done by Ming Jun. For Chai Rong, doing things must not only achieve the goal, but also not damage the prestige of himself and the court. Therefore, while he put his arm back on the imperial case and let Lin Xiaoyu diagnose his pulse, he also began to think about what to do in his heart, so that the "Qingyuan" brothers could willingly contribute corn seeds and planting methods to the imperial court.