Chen Jingke didn't know what this girl who loved farming was thinking. He was more curious about Zhang Erweng.
Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, agriculture ranks second, but don't think that farmers have a higher status. This farmer is not a farmer, but agricultural production, food.
The imperial court emphasized agriculture, focusing on food production rather than the people engaged in agricultural production. The emperor's personal participation in spring plowing only showed that he valued agriculture, not farmers.
As for farmers, they are two-legged animals.
To put it bluntly, agriculture is very important, but engaging in agricultural production is a menial job. This has been the case since ancient times.
Therefore, there are very few upper-class people who are willing to plow the fields themselves and enjoy it.
Although Chen Jingke has not studied biology in depth, he still has a basic understanding of agriculture due to his compulsory education in his previous life and his rural background.
Know some methods of cultivating improved seeds and improving food production.
Of course, he only knows roughly what is going on. How to implement it specifically requires specialized people to study it.
He asked people to inquire for a long time, but never found any talent in this field.
The so-called experienced farmers can only farm step by step based on their experience, and they know almost nothing about cultivating improved seeds.
Although I don’t know how deeply Zhang Ping’s Erweng studied agriculture specifically, given his status as a Taoist priest and a wealthy family, as long as he has devoted himself to research in this area, his level will not be bad.
If we invite him to study together, we should be able to initially establish an agricultural research studio.
We don't expect to be able to develop crops of the level of hybrid rice, as long as we can improve conventional crops.
Even if the yield per mu can only increase by one kilogram, the total amount of land in the country is a huge number and can feed hundreds of thousands more people.
And he also has a longer-term plan. Not all of the improved varieties in North America can produce high yields immediately, and they need to be improved.
For example, the initial yield of potatoes was not high. It took Europeans more than a hundred years to develop cold-resistant and high-yielding varieties.
Potatoes also received a cold reception after being introduced to China. They are only grown in a few arid mountainous areas. Corn and sweet potatoes are more commonly grown.
The reason is very simple. Potato varieties have low yields without improvement, while sweet potatoes and corn have naturally high yields and do not need improvement.
If you want to promote potatoes in Datang, you must spend time improving varieties.
Some people may say, there are rice, wheat, sweet potatoes, and corn, so why bother cultivating potatoes?
Normally it is not necessary, but the Chinese nation cannot stay where it is forever. For example, when entering the North Sea (Lake Baikal) or even further north in the future, potatoes will become a must-have.
By preparing these things in advance, you can avoid many detours and save many deaths in the future.
Originally, he was thinking that if he really couldn't find the right person, he would ask Li Shimin for it, but unexpectedly someone came.
But don't rush yet. It's a bit inappropriate to invite someone over to do some crops after we've just met each other. Let's establish a good relationship first.
So he became even more enthusiastic towards Zhang Ping and had a very good attitude.
As for Zhang Ping, her purpose of contacting Chen Jingke was not simple in the first place, but now that she feels that the two are close friends, she has more ideas.
When she had some ideas, Chen Jingke's overtures naturally changed in her opinion. She felt shy and happy at the same time.
The two maids didn't think much about it. No matter what Chen Jingke's purpose was, they were not qualified to interfere.
According to current etiquette, you don't even have the right to be jealous.
Their current expectation is to obtain the status of a concubine. In this way, the rest of their lives will be guaranteed, and the children they will give birth to in the future will also be concubines, instead of having no status as slaves.
Being a concubine is also a status, which means that he has the status of a good man and can study, participate in the imperial examination, and become an official.
If they didn't even have the status of concubines, they would be slaves. Qingju and Ling'er, mother and daughter, were nameless people who were easily sold to Yaxing.
Moreover, the concubine does not have no inheritance rights at all, but it depends on the situation.
"Tang Lu Shu Yi·Household Marriage" records: If there is no legitimate son or a sinful disease, a legitimate grandson will be established; if there is no legitimate grandson, then a legitimate son will be born with the same mother's brother; if there is no legitimate son with the same mother and younger brother, a common son will be born; if there is no common son, a legitimate grandson will be born with the same mother's brother
; If there is no brother of the same mother, there will be a concubine and grandson; this is allowed for the following Zeng and Xuan.
In other words, concubines also have the right to inherit, but they are ranked lower.
In short, for them, concubine status is their biggest pursuit, which is also a major reason why they try their best to please Chen Jingke.
A few people chatted while working at a slow pace. They plowed the fields, watered them, and rested in the pavilion for a while. It was already noon.
After dinner, with nothing to do, Chen Jingke planned to go to the outer courtyard to take a look. He asked Zhang Ping, and she was also very interested and wanted to go with him.
When he walked to the door, Chen Jingke remembered something and turned around to tell Yi Nu: "I'll have someone send me some fertilized fertilizer later and put it into the fields."
Yi Nu said: "Okay, I'll have someone deliver it right now."
When Chen Jingke walked away, she let out a long sigh of relief, and a smile that couldn't be concealed appeared on her face.
Although the emperor never gave her any orders, her identity as a spy was like a mountain weighing her down. Now that the light of escape was right in front of her, she felt more relaxed than ever before.
And things are progressing more smoothly than expected. If he hadn't been so young, he would have cooked rice by now.
Recalling everything that happened last night, her cheeks turned red and her legs were tightly clamped together.
The real person knows so much at such a young age and is so good at making mistakes. I really don’t know where he learned it.
When she thought of the beauty, her whole mind flew to nowhere.
Should I go look for him again tonight?
"Dong dong dong." Just then a knock on the door woke her up.
After rubbing her face and trying to calm down her turbulent mood, she raised her voice and said, "Who is it?"
"Miss Yi Nu, I am Yang Tianlu. I came to ask the real person if he needs anything." Yang Tianlu's familiar voice came from outside the door.
The only aftermath in Yi Nu's heart was completely clear. He calmed down, walked over, opened the door and said, "The Yangdu manager is just right. The real person asked you to send some fertilized fertilizer."
Yang Tianlu said: "Fertilizer is a pickled waste. How can a real person touch it? I'll send two people over to apply the fertilizer."
Yi Nu said: "No need, the master has told me to just bring the fat."
"Okay." Yang Tianlu replied while looking around. When he saw no one around, he lowered his voice and said, "Yao Yangyun went to Quanzhou, saying he was going to investigate a maritime merchant named Chen, who should be related to Zhenren Chen."
Yi Nu frowned slightly and said, "Have you ever heard a real person talk about overseas affairs?"
Yang Tianlu said: "No one knows whether the order given by this saint himself is true or false. Besides... wouldn't it be better if we can't find out."
If you can't find them, you can keep checking them without having to perform other dangerous tasks in the middle. It can be regarded as an alternative method of survival.
Yi Nu naturally understood. He nodded and shook his head and said: "If the news is still not found, I'm afraid the saint will think that he is unable to find another group of people to check."
Yang Tianlu sighed: "We can only take one step and see what happens. By the way, how are your things going?"
Hearing this, a hint of shame appeared on Yi Nu's face, and he quickly returned to normal and said: "There has been some progress."
This shame was not hidden from Yang Tianlu. He immediately guessed that this progress would not be small, otherwise she would not be shy, so he asked cryptically: "You won't..."
Yi Nu quickly interrupted him and said: "Don't talk nonsense, how can it be possible when the real person is still young? It's just... I slept with him last night."
Yang Tianlu said happily: "That's great. With Chen Zhenren's temperament, as long as he accepts you, he will not change easily. As expected, it will be done. You are finally out of this sea of suffering, and we are relieved."
Yi Nu said gratefully: "Thank you, don't worry, I will ask the real person to rescue you all if I have the chance."
Yang Tianlu said quickly: "Don't do this, it's too dangerous. Not only will you not be able to save us, you will be involved in it, and you may even implicate the real person."
Yi Nu said: "But if I don't do anything, am I still a human being?"
Yang Tianlu said happily: "Don't worry, we actually have our own selfish motives in helping you, but we are not asking you to save us. We are waiting for you to stabilize and help us take care of the children so that they can grow up safely."
Yi Nu said in surprise: "You have children? Why didn't I know?"
Yang Tianlu smiled and said: "If you don't have it now, it doesn't mean you won't have it in the future. Besides, you haven't completely settled down yet, so you can't do anything to take care of our children."
"Don't think about or worry about anything now, just take care of yourself."
Yi Nu nodded heavily and said, "Okay, I will definitely take good care of them."
Yang Tianlu said: "Of course I believe you. By the way, someone saw Chen Zhenren and Mrs. Wu joking about proposing marriage yesterday."
"I think you can make such a joke with some sincerity in it. In the future, you should pay more attention when you see Mrs. Wu, so as not to cause her displeasure."
If a concubine displeases the mistress of the house, life will be very difficult, especially if the mistress is very smart and skillful.
But Yi Nu thought of Zhang Ping. The real person seemed to be very special to her.
Because of the dual marriage, a real person can marry two wives. The Chen family's first wife has been confirmed to be Princess Jinyang, and now only the Sun family is left.
Lady Wu is the legitimate daughter of a noble family and cannot be a concubine; Lady Zhang is the legitimate daughter of the Tianshi Mansion in Longhu Mountain, and although her status is not as high as that of the Wu family, she will not lower herself to become a concubine.
But now the real person seems to like both of them, what should I do?
Yi Nu shook his head secretly and thought: Forget it, this is the real person's own business, and she, a maid, has no right to worry about it.
But if asked which lady she would like to be Sun's wife, she would definitely choose Madam Zhang.
Madam Wu is too smart to be easy to get along with, but Madam Zhang is very kind, and her life as mistress and concubines will be much easier.
It's a pity that what she doesn't know is that what she understands can't be understood by others, especially Sun Simiao.
There is no rule without rules. Chen Jingke is unruly. How could he find an unruly lady for him? Then the family would not be in chaos.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Three thousand words to make up for what I missed the day before yesterday.