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One day, the agricultural official ran in excitedly, exclaiming, “Madam, the corn is ready for harvest!”
Wang Jinhe looked surprised at the excited official and asked, “Already?!”
The corn had matured earlier than usual this year.
The official nodded enthusiastically, “Yes, it’s ready, and the corn cobs are really big, much larger than the ordinary corn.”
This year’s corn yield was definitely going to be substantial.
The official became increasingly excited at the thought of soon knowing the corn yield.
Wang Jinhe suddenly thought of the threshing tool, which was commonly used in her hometown.
“Please arrange the time to start harvesting the corn. I’m going to get something,” she said before heading to the study, leaving the officials puzzled about her apparent lack of interest.
“The Princess must have an idea of the yield based on the method she used to grow the corn,” one of the officials agreed, nodding. “You’re right, it seems so,” another added.
While the officials prepared for the corn harvest, Wang Jinhe went to the study to get the threshing tool ready. Holding the blueprint, she went to find Yuan Xu. “Yuan Xu, have someone prepare a hundred of these as soon as possible.”
Yuan Xu looked at the blueprint with some confusion and asked, “What is this, Your Highness?”
“This? It’s a threshing tool,” Wang Jinhe said, unable to suppress a smile.
Yuan Xu, however, looked at Wang Jinhe with a puzzled expression. Could this lump of iron really be used to thresh corn? It didn’t look like it at all.
“Get it done quickly. We’ll need it once the corn is harvested,” Wang Jinhe urged Yuan Xu, who shrugged and, since the Princess had said it was possible, quickly got to work.
The next day, the agricultural officials and laborers began harvesting the corn, and they were amazed by the size of the corn cobs.
“These cobs are huge, they can rival the size of two cobs from before.”
“The County Princess is truly amazing to achieve this.”
“Yes, from high-yield rice to high-yield corn, it’s fantastic.”
The officials and laborers were even more delighted to hear the laborers’ praises than to receive praise themselves.
“Everyone is about to get busy. After the work is done, the County Princess will give everyone a red envelope,” the agricultural official announced.
The laborers couldn’t help but smile upon hearing the official’s words. The official was right. After each spring planting and autumn harvest, the County Princess would give each of them a red envelope. Regardless of the amount of money inside, it was a gesture that meant a lot to them.
“Alright, everyone, let’s get to work while the weather is good and bring in the corn,” the official urged.
All the laborers worked hard for half a month to bring in all the corn. By the time the back was finished, the front was already dry.
As they looked at the corn cobs in the warehouse, everyone was delighted. However, the next challenge was threshing. With so many corn cobs, how long would it take to thresh them all?
While the agricultural official was worrying about this, Wang Jinhe took Yuan Xu to the warehouse.
Seeing everyone busy threshing the corn by hand, she called them over. “Everyone, stop for a moment. I have made something that can be used to thresh the corn. Come and take a look.”
Upon hearing Wang Jinhe’s announcement, everyone stopped what they were doing and ran over to see the machine in her hands.
Wang Jinhe placed the threshing machine on a bench, tightened it, and then inserted the corn cob. With a few turns of the handle, all the corn kernels fell out.
The laborers were amazed by the efficiency of the machine. “This machine is incredibly useful, Your Highness.”
“Yes, with this, we can quickly thresh all the corn,” they exclaimed. Each person could thresh a significant amount of corn cobs in a day.
Yuan Xu was also surprised by how effective the seemingly small iron lump was. It saved a lot of time, and its compact size didn’t take up much space.
The laborers brought the machines inside and each took one, along with a bench. Following Wang Jinhe’s instructions for installation, they began using the machines.
In no time, each person had a large pile of corn kernels at their feet.
The agricultural official was overjoyed at the sight. “Your Highness, you are truly amazing. If this could be popularized in areas where corn is widely grown, it would save everyone a lot of effort.”
Wang Jinhe chuckled and shook her head. “This is just a lazy person’s way of doing things.”
“But this method is really good, and this machine is truly practical,” the agricultural official insisted, thinking that Wang Jinhe was being too modest.
Wang Jinhe smiled helplessly and shook her head. Whatever she said, they would have something else to say.
As the corn harvest was completed, the cotton crops were also ready for harvest. The person who had previously taught the people how to grow cotton returned to instruct them on how to harvest and process the cotton. They were also informed that the cotton would be purchased by the government at a specific time, and the exact timing would be communicated by the government office.
The cotton farmers were completely reassured upon hearing this. When they were planting, they had been worried about what would happen if the County Princess didn’t want the cotton in the end, but now it seemed they had been overly concerned. Now, all they needed to do was harvest the cotton, dry it, and prepare to sell it.
As the farmers prepared to harvest the cotton, the corn threshing on Wang Jinhe’s side was coming to an end.
Ten days later, all the corn had been threshed and dried. The agricultural official was eagerly rubbing his hands together, feeling very excited.
“Why isn’t it here yet?”
“Don’t worry, it’s still early, Your Excellency,” the steward, who had become acquainted with the agricultural official, reassured him upon seeing his impatience.
“The County Princess has two children to take care of at home, so she’ll come when she’s ready. Don’t worry,” the steward said.
After waiting for a while, the agricultural official couldn’t wait any longer and went outside to take a look. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Wang Jinhe and her husband each carrying a child, with four other children following them.
“So much corn,” Xiao Bao exclaimed in amazement as he looked at the piles of corn in the warehouse.
“Mommy is amazing,” Xiao Zhi chimed in after looking around.
Hearing the children’s conversation, Wang Jinhe couldn’t help but smile. “How much candy did you two eat today to say such things?”
“Auntie is really amazing,” Chang Le also spoke up.
Xiao Bao and Xiao Zhi looked at each other and said in unison, “We didn’t eat any candy. We’re telling the truth.”
Wang Jinhe smiled and shook her head, finding it amusing that the agricultural official had come out anxiously to find them. “Are you worried that we wouldn’t come?” she teased.
The agricultural official cleared his throat. “I’m not worried that you wouldn’t come. I’m worried that it will be too late to weigh everything.”
“It’s not necessary. Yuan Xu, go and call all the soldiers who are on duty here, and bring the scales we’ve prepared,” Wang Jinhe instructed.
Originally, Wang Jinhe had planned to weigh the total amount of corn from ten acres and then calculate the average, but the agricultural official was adamant about it.