Chapter 146 Beishan Royal Manor
Chapter 146 Beishan Royal Manor

Ye Xuan nodded. Since only five or six acres of planting area were needed, there was no need to go through much trouble. It was much simpler than Ye Xuan had imagined before he came.

Yao Guang took Ye Xuan for a tour of the imperial farm, and soon, at Ye Xuan's suggestion, he identified a farmland rented by a farmer as the potato planting area.

Having a designated household to plant the crops not only makes management easier, but also allows the responsible person to be identified and the cause to be found quickly if any problem arises.

At first, the farmer was reluctant. After all, his wheat was growing well. It was really unsettling to suddenly switch to a crop he had never seen before.

But under Ye Xuan's financial offensive, the farmer immediately smiled and said, holding a ten-tael silver ingot, that even if all other crops failed, he must ensure the safety of potatoes.

By the time I saw the farmer's family carefully planting potatoes, it was already night.

Beishan Imperial Manor is thirty miles away from Yingtian Prefecture. Although it is not very far, it is already curfew time when we return to Yingtian.

Just at this time, a farmer who had received a huge sum of money earnestly invited Ye Xuan and Yao Guang to have dinner at his home.

Ye Xuan readily agreed, thinking that after having dinner at the farmer's house, it should not be a problem to ask for a bowl of rice for the night.

The farmer's name is Xu Erdan, he is in his thirties and he has parents, a wife, and a pair of teenage children at home.

Before this, the two of them met Xu Erdan and his family while they were working in the field, and they were not aware of their family circumstances.

As for Yao Guang, he was just a small official of the Ministry of Revenue, a ninth-rank official.

But in the eyes of these farmers, he was already a very important figure, so they didn't interact much and didn't know each other.

"My Lords, this is my humble abode."

Following Xu Erdan to his house, Ye Xuan was stunned.

Even Yao Guang felt a little nervous.

"What a shabby house!" Ye Xuan couldn't help but agree as he looked at the low thatched cottage in front of him.

But since he was already there and there was no other house around, Ye Xuan had no choice but to dismount.

Because the house was too small, the group of people simply set up the dining table in the yard.

Fortunately, the weather was clear and the evening breeze was quite comfortable.

While Xu Erdan's family was busy cooking, Ye Xuan started a conversation with Yao Guang and got a preliminary understanding of the imperial farm.

It is not correct to say that Beishan Imperial Farm is an imperial farm, because it is actually government land. The imperial farm system of the Ming Dynasty did not have a clear concept until the reign of Zhu Di.

But it would not be correct to say that it was an official field, because Zhu Yuanzhang had already awarded the Beishan Imperial Farm to his fourth son when Zhu Di was crowned king.

So strictly speaking, this is the farmland granted by Zhu Di.

However, Zhu Di never sent anyone to accept it at that time. It was only Li Guodong who would send the output of the imperial farm to the Prince of Yan's Mansion on a regular basis.

So much so that after Zhu Di arrived in Beijing and established his fiefdom, he would no longer send anyone.

Therefore, the Beishan Imperial Farm has always been managed by Li Guodong, and the Ministry of Households has not given any explanation.

While the two were chatting, Xu Erdan's dinner was ready and served on the table.

But when Yao Guang saw the dishes on the table, his face suddenly turned ugly. "Xu Erdan, you are really stingy!" Yao Guang said with a fierce face: "If it was just me, it would be fine, but didn't you see that the person next to me is Ye Qianhu from the Jinyiwei of the capital?"

"This is a dignified fifth-rank official of the imperial court, the emperor's personal guard! You can use this to entertain guests. Don't mention that it was you who took the initiative to invite them. It's not like we have to eat at your house!"

The knees of the Ming Dynasty farmers were relatively weak, and they immediately knelt down when faced with the angry Yao Guang.

Xu Erdan said in panic, "Oh, Master Yao, you have wronged me! I was so happy to get ten taels of silver that I forgot the noble status of the two masters. I wanted to curry favor with them, but I forgot my own weight!"

"Please don't be angry, my dear friends. I will go to my relative's house and borrow a chicken!"

Ye Xuan looked at the two stir-fried wild vegetables and a bowl of porridge on the low table, but he did not show any disgust.

He raised his hand and patted Yao Guang on the shoulder, and persuaded Xu Erdan who was about to borrow a chicken, "There is no such thing as noble or not noble. We are all ordinary people. Can't I eat what you can eat?"

Without further ado, he picked up the bowl and started to put the food into his mouth.

"Sir, how can I let you eat this kind of wild mountain grass!" Yao Guang looked bitter.

During the day, he was frightened by Ye Xuan's label of "disobeying imperial orders" and had to follow Ye Xuan to do things in front of his immediate superior.

This offended Li Guodong, so Yao Guang could only work for Ye Xuan wholeheartedly, hoping that this Jinyiwei official in front of him would keep his word. He didn't ask for him to say a few good words in front of the emperor, but just wanted to find a way to prevent Li Guodong from targeting him.

But I made him eat wild vegetables that night, and he doesn't hate me in his heart?
Fortunately, Ye Xuan seemed to be eating quite sweetly. Yao Guang was about to feel relieved, but then he saw Ye Xuan suddenly spit out the rice porridge in his mouth.

"Sir, what's wrong with you?" Yao Guang asked hurriedly.

Ye Xuan wiped his mouth, dug in the bowl, and asked, "Why is there sand in the porridge?"

Yao Guang was used to this and didn't take it seriously, but he was annoyed that Xu Erdan was so stingy and didn't even bother to prepare good rice when inviting guests to dinner.

"Lord Ye, this is the low-quality rice that farmers in the countryside eat." Yao Guang said.

Xu Erdan's child looked at the spurted rice porridge and said with some distress: "Uncle, you are so bad. We ourselves are reluctant to eat this rice, but you wasted it. Daddy said that people who waste food are not good people!"

Xu Erdan's family was frightened when they heard this. Xu's wife hurriedly covered the child's mouth and looked at Ye Xuan in horror.

However, Ye Xuan did not get angry as Xu Erdan's family thought. Instead, he stood up and asked, "Is this the kind of rice you usually eat?"

Xu Erdan nodded quickly. He was regretting it so much that his intestines turned green.

I hate myself for wanting to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy. I was really stupid and didn't think about how much wealth I had to curry favor with.

This time, he failed to curry favor with the high-ranking official and instead offended him.

However, Ye Xuan was not as furious as everyone imagined. He just looked at Xu Erdan's family again with a heavy face.

He was busy with farm work before, and even when he had free time, he was always talking to Yao Guang who was trying to flatter him. He really never looked at the farmers of that era in the eye.

This look made Ye Xuan silent immediately.

The low, dark thatched house was only twenty square meters in size as in the previous life, but it was home to Xu Erdan's family of six.

(End of this chapter)