Zhu Ci gripped his wrist and said, "Not bad, not bad at all. Your next task is to make sure you nurture this Jiahe well, keep it growing until it matures, then save the seeds. Do you understand?"
This Jinyi Guard had joined the squad later and had never had such close contact with the Emperor; at this moment, his entire body was stiff and his face flushed red—though, because he was so dark, it was hard to tell.
He stammered, "I.. I.. I obey your command."
Zhu Ci patted his shoulder with great satisfaction and said, "Well done."
After he finished speaking, he turned and ordered that this person be rewarded with gold ingots.
This gold was not some shoddy imitation made of bronze, but real gold ingots.
Zhu Ci said warmly, "Do your work well. If you can preserve the seeds of Jiahe, I shall reward you handsomely!"
The Jinyi Guard was so excited at this moment that he was speechless, he knelt down decisively to kowtow in thanks.
Zhu Ci took another look at Jiahe, only then did he leave, unwilling to part.
He had to leave; he had state affairs to attend to, besides, there was nothing he could achieve by staying here.
Fu remained silent by his side at first, only asking once they were walking out, "Does His Majesty have other instructions regarding Jiahe?"
Zhu Ci waved his hand, the people following him instinctively moved a little further away.
Only then did he lean close to Fu and lower his voice, saying, "This thing is the key to increasing yields. We save the seeds to see if their offspring can produce multiple ears from a single stalk. If this can be stabilized, let alone nine ears per stalk, even if it only produces two ears per stalk, the yield will still double!"
Fearing that Fu Qingsheng would not believe him, he went out of his way to emphasize, "In our time, the highest yield per mu reached one thousand eight hundred jin, it was cultivated on that very foundation!"
Of course, in reality, it certainly wasn't that simple, but.. it was better to paint a rosy picture first, otherwise he really feared that the hard-won Jiahe would be plucked away as a souvenir.
One thousand eight hundred jin!
Even though Fu was well-informed, he was stunned by this yield per mu.
His pale blue eyes looked at Zhu Ci with hope, he couldn't even help but lean a little closer as he asked, "Is Your Majesty serious?"
He was too close; in that instant, Zhu Ci seemed to faintly catch the scent of sandalwood on him, mingled with a hint of medicinal aroma, which was not unpleasant.
Fu is still taking medicine.
A thought flashed through Zhu Ci's mind, but he quickly nodded and said, "Right, although it is the maximum yield, it is generally over one thousand jin."
After he finished speaking, fearing that Fu would set his sights on this, he hurriedly said, "Don't even think about that for now; it's currently unattainable."
Fu immediately asked, "How can it be done?"
Zhu Ci tilted his head, thought for a moment, said, "That.. it depends on how the technology tree is developed. If we can figure out how to generate electricity, it should be.. much faster, right?"
Fu was momentarily bewildered. "Electricity? Lightning?"
Zhu Ci nodded, clenching his fist in a rather chuunibyou manner as he said, "Yes, I shall command the lightning!"
Fu Qingsheng took a soft breath. This.. stealing the authority of the gods..
Zhu Ci raised his hand and placed it on his shoulder. Mm, given his current height, it wasn't as much effort to reach him anymore!
He said, "Alright, don't think too much about it for now. This thing.. I might not be able to master it either. Let's take it slow."
Electricity is not something that can be produced just by wanting it; he can only lay a solid foundation for basic education first, after that, all that's left is to pray that the Ziwei Imperial Star descends from the heavens.
Take it slow; isn't scientific research all about luck anyway?
His luck seems quite good right now.
Zhu Ci walked forward smugly, but he felt a bit strange in his heart; Grand Secretary Fu hadn't reminded him about his posture today.
Could it be that he was stunned by the crop yields of future generations?
That made sense. It was likely that people at this time could never have imagined that crop yields could reach such heights; even the founding heroes of the new nation probably hadn't expected to reach this level in just a few short decades, right?
Fu Yu watched the Little Emperor's smiling profile out of the corner of his eye, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly. In the end, he said nothing, simply allowing the Little Emperor to cling to him as they returned to the Imperial Study.
Jiang Xueyan and Wu Xia stood behind them, unable to help but exchange glances; just now, it seemed as if the Grand Secretary had taken the initiative to approach His Majesty, His Majesty didn't seem to push him away.
They were too far away to know what had happened; they only felt that it might be inappropriate to follow them now.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: You actually want to make specimens out of such precious things? Are you crazy? A cat jumps up, hugs the rice, hisses. jpg
Next update at twelve noon~
Chapter 182
Zhu Ci, seeing that Jiahe was in high spirits, felt even better upon learning that Zhang Huangyan had already reorganized the Navy and would soon be ready to set sail.
However, his mood quickly soured.
What did you say?
The Vice Minister of War said tremblingly, "Reporting to His Majesty, Xuzhou has been captured, General He has fallen in battle, there is still no news from Minister Liu and General Shi."
He Gang.. died in battle?
Zhu Ci was dazed for a moment. Such a fine person, how could he just be gone like that?
He knew that war would certainly result in deaths, so he established a Martyrs' Shrine, every year, he never forgot to include the Martyrs' Shrine in all the various grand and small sacrificial rites.
It was just that, to be cold-blooded, the previous casualty counts were nothing more than numbers; this was the first time he had directly faced the reality of people he knew dying on the battlefield.
Zhu Ci fell silent for a long while, below him, the Vice Minister of War trembled even more violently.
He had originally guessed that the Emperor would surely fly into a rage after hearing this news, he had also prepared himself to be held accountable.
But now that the Emperor remained silent, it felt even more terrifying!
After a long silence, Zhu Ci finally spoke slowly, "Wu Xia, summon the Grand Secretariat, the Censorate, the Six Ministries, the Nine Ministers.. for a meeting at Wuying Hall."
At this time, no one except Zhu Ci had received the news.
After all, the Ministry of War had essentially become semi-independent now; any major news was reported directly to the Emperor.
Everyone was somewhat surprised by the news; why had the Emperor suddenly summoned them?
When they came out and saw that many of their colleagues had also come out, they knew they had not been summoned individually.
Upon seeing the lineup of those summoned, everyone's heart instantly sank.
Either something major had happened, or the Little Emperor had come up with some new idea again.
However, the latter was generally not very common.
The Little Emperor generally shared his unusual ideas with the Grand Secretary first; if the Grand Secretary disagreed, the matter would basically not be brought up, or at least not at that moment.
Therefore, although they sometimes felt envious and jealous of the Grand Secretary's favor from the Emperor, there were also many times when they were grateful to the Grand Secretary for suppressing the Little Emperor's unreliable ideas.
However, most of the time, the Grand Secretary supported the Little Emperor unconditionally.
After everyone arrived at Wuying Hall, they first took their seats, then looked at one another, none of them daring to even draw a heavy breath.
Those who had been on good terms during the journey had already exchanged relieved breaths, none of them had noticed anything amiss, so.. what had happened?
After a short while, the Emperor arrived. Everyone rose to pay their respects and stole a glance at the Little Emperor.
As it turned out, the Little Emperor had no expression on his face, but the Vice Minister of War was following behind him.
When everyone saw the Vice Minister of War's face turn deathly pale, their hearts sank.
After Zhu Ci took his seat, his tone was calm: "Rise, my ministers."
Before the officials below could even ask a question, he spoke: "Vice Minister Fang, please, go ahead and tell us."
Vice Minister Fang stepped forward and whispered the news of Xuzhou's fall. For a moment, panic rippled through Wuying Hall before it fell into a deathly silence, everyone turned to look at the Little Emperor.
Strictly speaking, this was the first major defeat since the current Emperor ascended the throne.
Although the previous attacks on Xuzhou involved some stalemates, those were merely minor skirmishes with few casualties. This time, He Gang is dead, there has been no word from Liu Zhaoji or Shi Kefa; this has already begun to affect the very survival of Great Ming.
Fu was particularly worried; he had known Zhu Ci longer than anyone else and knew much more about him. It could be said that this was the first time Zhu Ci had suffered a setback after breaking free from Zhu Yousong's control.
However, at this moment, Zhu Ci appeared quite calm; both his expression and his gaze revealed a cold, detached tranquility.
Fu had seen this look before, back when Zhu Ci was guarding Huaian while holding the title of Suzhou Prefect.
The more calm the Little Emperor was, the more it meant his will was indestructible.
Fu immediately asked, "How did it fall? What exactly happened?"
The reason Liu Zhaoji and Shi Kefa were cut off from news was naturally because Xuzhou had fallen, the Tartars had severed their line of retreat.
Then the question arises: how exactly did the Tartars bypass Liu Zhaoji and Shi Kefa to launch a sneak attack on Xuzhou?
Moreover, Liu Zhaoji knew very well the importance of Xuzhou, so he left He Gang there to defend the city.
How could the Tartars manage to make even He Gang unable to defend the city in such a short amount of time?
This result was inconceivable to everyone, for a brief moment, some even wanted to ask if this Vice Minister of War was joking with them.
Vice Minister Fang said in a low voice, "According to the scouts' report, the Dutch helped the Tartars; they launched a surprise landing from the port of Xuzhou.."
The rest goes without saying; they brought Red-coated Cannons, even had the sponsorship of the Dutch, who also brought Birdlock Guns that the Great Ming soldiers and officers were not yet widely equipped with.
He didn't have many various rockets or cannons on hand, after all, Liu Zhaoji and Shi Kefa were at the front lines, the two of them were cautious enough that the Tartars could not possibly bypass their defensive lines to attack Xuzhou without being noticed.
He Gang stayed behind to guard Xuzhou only as a precaution.
As it turned out, no one expected the enemy to land from the seaport, catching Xuzhou completely off guard.
The officials in Wuying Hall could finally not help but whisper among themselves, unable to understand how the Tartars had managed to establish contact with the Dutch.
Their Navy only operated within the inland canals at most; they had no sea-going vessels, the northern ports were too far away to serve as starting points for trade.
Moreover, the Tartars haven't even begun to develop maritime trade at all. What.. what exactly happened in between?
Zhu Ci waited for a moment and asked calmly, "Have you finished your discussion?"
Everyone quieted down. At this moment, many people had already remembered that the Little Emperor had previously expressed a very firm stance regarding his plans, with the primary goal being to strike the Dutch.
It was just that at that time, everyone felt that the battlefield should not be expanded indiscriminately; they should focus on wiping out the Tartars before worrying about anything else.
After all, the Dutch hadn't provoked them, had they?
For many officials, which country Taiwan belonged to was not a very important matter; they focused more on the Central Plains.
As a result, things have turned out badly; the Dutch have arrived at the doorstep to attack.