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The agricultural official felt that weighing everything together would provide a more accurate quantity, even if it meant a bit more trouble.
It took three days to weigh all the corn, and the total yield was 610,000 catties, with an average yield of 1,200 catties per mu.
The laborers who were watching nearby were stunned by this quantity. They couldn’t believe it and looked at the agricultural official in disbelief. “Is this… is this real?”
Corn that used to yield three to four hundred catties per mu was now yielding twelve hundred? This was a threefold increase.
“How is the County Princess so amazing? She can grow such high-yielding corn.”
“The County Princess must quickly inform the Emperor about this news to make him happy. Six hundred thousand catties of corn seeds, this is fantastic.” They were now looking forward to the wheat harvest.
Five hundred mu of wheat had also been planted, but it remained to be seen whether they would yield as much.
Wang Jinhe helplessly watched the overly excited agricultural official and shook her head. “Don’t get too excited, let Su Yu tell the Emperor about this. His side will be quicker with the letter.”
“Okay.”
When Su Yu learned about the corn yield, he looked at Wang Jinhe in astonishment. “So high?”
“Yes, what do you think? Did it exceed expectations?” Wang Jinhe raised an eyebrow and asked Su Yu.
Su Yu nodded in agreement.
“Isn’t it beyond expectations? The yield is too high,” Su Yu couldn’t help but exclaim.
“I thought seven to eight hundred catties per mu was already impressive, but I didn’t expect to achieve a yield of twelve hundred,” Wang Jinhe remarked. This would bring good fortune to the people in the northern regions.
This news made Su Yu very happy. “I will immediately write back to inform my brother.”
“Good.”
Five days later, Xuan Feiran received Su Yu’s letter. Upon seeing the corn yield, he excitedly stood up from his chair. The ministers were discussing the weapons designed by Su Yu, but after reading the letter, Xuan Feiran suddenly stood up, looking extremely excited.
“Do you have good news, Your Majesty?” If it wasn’t good news, the Emperor wouldn’t be so excited.
The Emperor laughed heartily. “Indeed, it’s good news. This letter was brought back by Xiao Yu. The corn yield per mu in Fu’an County has been revealed. Can you guess how many catties?”
The ministers exchanged glances and considered before saying, “Seven to eight hundred catties, perhaps?”
After all, the corn yield had always been low, so even if the yield was high, it shouldn’t be too much higher.
Xuan Feiran smiled and shook his head. “The corn yield is 1,200 catties per mu. Xiao He planted five hundred mu of corn and harvested over 610,000 catties in total.”
The ministers were all astonished. “The Princess is amazing. This is a direct doubling of the yield.”
Xuan Feiran nodded with a smile. “You’re right, it’s indeed a direct doubling. Xiao Yu said it will take about a month for the wheat yield per mu to be determined.”
“After the wheat yield is determined, we will announce it together,” Xuan Feiran said happily.
“Understood.”
After the corn harvest in Fu’an County, the wheat harvest began. It took about half a month to harvest and dry the wheat. The agricultural official nervously began the weighing process. However, when the total yield was revealed, tears streamed down his face. “The people are blessed.”
“For so many years, we haven’t achieved this, and finally someone has done it,” the agricultural official said, wiping away tears with a choked voice.
For many years as the agricultural official, he had been thinking every year about how to increase the grain yield, but he had never been able to do so. He could only watch the people struggle with their meager food supplies.
Now, the yields of rice, corn, and wheat had finally become high.
With such high yields, no one would go hungry again, and no one would go without enough to eat.
Wang Jinhe knew that today the wheat yield was determined, so she came to take a look.
Who would have thought that as soon as she entered, she saw the agricultural official and his team crying uncontrollably. She looked at them with a strange expression and asked, “What’s going on? Has someone bullied you?” Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in such a state, right?
The agricultural official wiped away his tears and said apologetically, “Your Highness, you’ve misunderstood. No one has bullied us. We are just happy. After so many years of hard work, we finally have good results, and we couldn’t help it…”
Wang Jinhe immediately understood their feelings.
It was their responsibility as agricultural officials to ensure high grain yields. What they had been unable to achieve in the past, they had finally accomplished.
“This is a good thing to be happy about. How is the yield?”
“In total, there are over 570,000 catties, with an average yield of over 1,100 catties per mu. This yield is already very high,” the agricultural official said happily.
This yield was indeed within Wang Jinhe’s expectations. “This yield is indeed satisfactory, but next year, we should aim for even higher yields, striving to break through 1,500 catties for both crops.”
“Your Highness, are you saying that next year’s corn and wheat yields can exceed 1,500 catties per mu?”
“Yes, it’s not impossible.”
“This is great. Can we continue to follow you in the future? We want to witness the birth of this achievement,” they expressed their desire to be part of this journey.
Wang Jinhe raised an eyebrow, smiled, and nodded. “Of course you can. With you here, I can also relax a bit. Consider it as helping me be lazy. You can’t leave.”
Several agricultural officials couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“I will talk to Su Yu about this. After being busy for so long, everyone should rest well and prepare for the rice harvest,” Wang Jinhe said to everyone.
“Liáng, instruct the kitchen to provide an extra meal for everyone today. After the rice harvest, we will give everyone a big red envelope,” she continued.
“Rest assured, I will give the order right away,” Liáng, the steward, also expressed his joy. Their involvement had contributed to the emergence of these high-yield crops.
This was truly wonderful.
Wang Jinhe went to the Homestead and picked a few bunches of grapes before returning. Su Yu, seeing her return so early, was somewhat surprised and asked, “Why are you back so early today?”
“I went to check on the yield, and the agricultural officials were so excited that they cried,” Wang Jinhe said, finding it difficult to understand their emotional response.
In her view, the yield was actually quite low. Given another two years, the yield could easily exceed two thousand. They also needed to start preparing to increase the rice yield next year.
“You probably won’t understand this feeling because in your world, food is always high-yielding. But here, it’s different. In good weather, a good piece of land might yield only four to five hundred catties per mu. If the harvest is poor, it might be just over three hundred catties. Even if the tax set by the Emperor is low, after paying the tax, there’s hardly anything left.”
“For families with many members, relying on this meager amount of food, they can barely make ends meet. They have to tighten their belts, eat wild vegetables, and so on. Now, this yield means that they will never go hungry again. After paying the tax, they will still have plenty of food left, enough to feed their entire family,” Su Yu explained.