How could my childhood sweetheart be the current empress?

For some reason, they always felt that the eldest lady had changed, as if... she had become more straightforward.

……

In the morning, Xu Chengling went to see Qian'er.

When I arrived at her place, I saw that this girl was actually practicing calligraphy.

He couldn't help rubbing his eyes. Did the sun rise from the west? Didn't Qian'er always hate studying?

But no matter what, it is naturally a good thing that this girl is willing to learn.

In order not to disturb Xu Xiqian's studies, he took a look and left.

"By the way, let's go to the fields today."

After returning to the courtyard, Xu Chengling remembered that he hadn't been to the fields for several days, so today was a good opportunity to go and take a look.

In his small courtyard, there is an area specially designated as a vegetable garden, and Xu Chengling would go there whenever he had time.

In his words, he is working on something that could change the entire landscape of wild geese.

If successful, it will definitely be a great achievement.

Meanwhile, in the yard.

"Xia Chan, where are the others?"

"Master is in the garden."

"..."

Yan Jixue frowned and was speechless.

Can you believe that the prime minister of a country’s biggest hobby is growing vegetables?

To this end, he even designated an area in the backyard as a vegetable garden, so that he would smell like dirt every day when he came back.

Today she wanted to see what the other party was tinkering with every day.

Yan Jixue came to the vegetable garden and saw a shed in front of her. Inside, she could vaguely see a figure working hard.

She walked in and saw a lush green vegetable garden with plants she had never seen before.

The branches of this plant are green, with yellow stick-like fruits at both ends, and one branch can have several fruits.

"Madam, why are you here?"

Xu Chengling couldn't help but put down the hoe in his hand, wiped the sweat off his face, and walked over.

"what are you doing here?"

Yan Jixue looked at the man in front of her who was dressed in cloth. If someone didn't know, they would think he was a farmer from somewhere.

"Grow vegetables."

It's a simple and powerful answer that anyone with a discerning eye can see.

Yan Jixue realized that there was something wrong with the question she asked, so she changed her way of saying it.

"What is growing here? I've never seen it before."

“Corn on the cob.”

"Corn? On the cob?"

Yan Jixue was confused when she heard this, but the more she had never seen or heard of something, the more she wanted to know about it.

Seeing his wife's eagerness for knowledge, Xu Chengling explained to her:

"It's normal that you haven't heard of it. This plant currently only grows in South America, which is the southernmost part of the wild geese. It has to cross the ocean, and it hasn't been introduced to the wild geese yet."

Xu Chengling said calmly that before he ascended the throne, he had already sent some servants to various parts of the world to collect various plant seeds, minerals and other things that dayans did not have.

These corn seeds were traded by a servant from an overseas merchant.

Through the servant's description, Xu Chengling also learned an important piece of information, that is, there are other countries outside the ocean, and the civilization of this country is in no way inferior to that of Dayan.

At present, merchants from the ocean come across the sea by boat, mainly using the jewelry in their hands to trade for Dayan's silk, porcelain, tea and other supplies.

If history had continued along this trajectory, by the time the countries on the other side of the ocean had developed light industry and gunpowder, it would probably be cannons that would have blasted open Dayan's borders.

But this was obviously not something he should worry about. By that time, he wouldn't even know how many years he had been dead.

Moreover, given Dayan's current economic level, although the empress has worked hard to govern the country and carried out vigorous reforms, the productivity of farmers is too poor. If they want to develop, they must first solve the problem of productivity.

The biggest problem affecting productivity is naturally food. Famines are happening everywhere and farmers can't even get enough food, so how can they develop productivity?

Only when we have enough food can we develop productivity, otherwise it is all wishful thinking and unrealistic.

What he holds in his hand is not just a corn cob, but the future of the geese.

Chapter 67: Happy Birthday, Madam

"Madam, what do you see in my hand?"

Xu Chengling broke off a corn cob, held it high, and asked his wife.

“Corn on the cob?”

Yan Jixue was stunned for a moment, then thought about it and replied.

She remembered that Xu Chengling had just said that this was something called corn cob.

"No, it is corn on the cob, but not entirely."

Xu Chengling pretended to be a riddler. Seeing his wife's displeasure at being teased by him, he hurriedly explained:

"I mean, what I have in my hand is not just a cob of corn, it's the future of the geese."

At this moment, Xu Chengling held the corn cob in his hand, like a great man in history.

At this moment, this is not just a corn cob, but the future of a country.

As people say, what grows in the cornfield is not just corn, but also the fruit of the harvest that will bring the country prosperity.

Corn is power, power is corn, and no one knows corn better than that man.

"The future of geese?"

Yan Jixue couldn't believe it. Could the future of the geese be determined by just one acre of crops?

Or in other words, does he really understand the weight of the words "the future of the geese"?

“My lady, we only have this small acre of land now, but one day, this crop will cover the entire Dayan.”

Xu Chengling looked at the cornfield in front of him and began to imagine the future of the geese.

But this future is still far away.

To this end, Xu Chengling selected some corn seeds with full grains to cultivate high-quality varieties in the future.

At present, the yield of these corns is not very stable, the grains are small, and the yield is low, which is far from the excellent varieties in his mind.

Thanks to the huge foundation of the Xiangguo Mansion, Xu Chengling was able to carry out various breeding experiments, and he started from scratch.

Yan Jixue carefully observed the corn cob in her hand, wondering if this thing was really edible and could it fill her stomach?

"Madam, you still remember the work-for-relief program I mentioned to you before."

Xu Chengling suddenly asked.

"Well, this is a very good policy. If His Majesty knew about it, he would definitely promote it vigorously."

Yan Jixue couldn't help but smile slightly. This policy greatly alleviated Dayan's current pressure. If it were her, she would definitely overcome all difficulties to implement this policy.

However, she has learned from Xia Chan that Ling'er is currently implementing this policy.

However, due to the complicated situation within the court and various voices of opposition, the ministers pretended to obey the policies but actually disobeyed them, resulting in less than ideal implementation of the policies.

At least she did it and took the first step.

"That's fine, but there's a problem with this policy."

"what is the problem?"

"Work-for-relief, in the final analysis, is to use the part of the expenditure that would have been spent on engineering to provide disaster relief. This is based on the premise that the country has ongoing engineering projects and is based on local conditions. For example, this method is not applicable to relatively poor areas such as the Western Regions."

Xu Chengling said that the method he proposed in the court was also heard by the envoys from the Western Regions.

However, the geographical conditions in the Western Regions are not suitable for this method, or the effect is minimal.

"Natural disasters are unpredictable. As the number of disaster victims continues to increase, jobs are limited. Although work-for-relief can temporarily solve the problem of disaster relief grain, it is essentially a temporary solution and still cannot completely solve the problem of food for disaster victims."

Xu Chengling analyzed, and when he said this, he couldn't help but look at his wife.

Yan Jixue couldn't help but fall into deep thought. In fact, as the ruler of a country, this kind of thing was naturally within her consideration.

However, the wild geese have suffered from famine every year in recent years and food production has been scarce. It is extremely difficult to find a way to alleviate the famine situation while alleviating financial expenditure.

At this time, Xu Chengling looked at the corn in his hand again and said:

"Corn is a food that not only has high yields but is also drought-resistant, making it suitable for the geographical environment and climate of the geese."

In Xu Chengling's impression, those top students who traveled to ancient times, with the help of the system, began to build airplanes and cannons one by one, directly crushing the others in terms of technology points.

But he didn't have a system, and he wasn't a top student at a science and technology university, so he couldn't build airplanes or cannons.

But Xu Chengling's idea was very simple, he just wanted to make sure the people of Dayan had enough food to eat.

Thinking of this, Xu Chengling couldn't help but be stunned.

Wait, what is his identity?

After that, his wife worked with him and sweated in the fields.

This experience also made Yan Jixue realize the difficulties farmers face.

But for the sake of the geese, she must lead by example. Only after experiencing it personally can she have the right to speak.

After all, an emperor who can't farm is not a good emperor.

……

Today is an important day.

Xu Chengling got up very early and went into the kitchen in the morning and never came out.

Yan Jixue didn't see him that day and was a little surprised.

It was not until the evening that Xu Chengling came to the yard with a smile on his face and his hands behind his back.

Yan Jixue, who was resting on a stone bench, looked up at him and asked:

"what are you laughing at?"

Xu Chengling smiled mysteriously and said:

"Madam, have you forgotten today is an important day?"

"Important day?"

Yan Jixue frowned slightly. Is today a good day?

It seemed so, but she couldn't quite remember.

"Don't keep me in suspense. Just tell me now."

"Okay, but you have to close your eyes first."

"What are you going to do? Are you trying to do something bad again?"

"No, no, I want to give you a surprise, but it will take some time. Close your eyes first and count to tens."

"Okay then, I'll shut it up."

Yan Jixue closed her eyes.

Xu Chengling looked at the woman in front of him with her eyes closed. Her slender eyebrows were trembling slightly. Her delicate face was lightly made up. Her skin was as white as snow and she was extremely beautiful. Even though he had seen her so many times, he still felt his heart beating every time.

There was a slight curve at the corner of her mouth, and the faint red on her cheek was as delicate and lovely as a petal, but it gave people a clear and thorough coldness. The word "cold and beautiful" was fully reflected in her.

"Ten...nine...eight...seven..."

Yan Jixue counted down silently in her heart. She wanted to see what the other party was up to.