Forced to Ascend the Throne after Transmigrating

If He Xiang and the others knew that I was expecting two children, I wonder what would happen…

Ye Shuo couldn’t help but sigh.

Ye Shuo can understand what He Xiang and the others are thinking, but understanding is one thing and everyone has their own stance, right?

There was nothing wrong with the health of both Ye Shuo and Yao Zhi. Since they had decided to have a second child, naturally the result came soon.

Ever since Yao Zhi started preparing for pregnancy, Ye Shuo has always kept Dingning by his side. Although the girl is still young and knows nothing, Ye Shuo still feels a little guilty. After all, as a member of the family, things should always be discussed with her if she wants to have younger brothers and sisters. However, Dingning now has no power to choose at all. This is the difference between modern times and ancient times.

No matter how unconventional Yao Zhi was, it was still difficult for her to escape from the ancient background, and she couldn’t help feeling surprised by this.

“This is the first time I’ve heard such words.” In the past, Yao Zhi had never heard of asking children for their opinions on whether to have a child or not.

“It has always been the father who leads the son, the king who leads the minister, and the husband who leads the wife.” Yao Zhi had heard this many times and had long been accustomed to it, but being accustomed does not mean agreeing with it.

If the secular world is right, then Yao Zhi should be considered a traitor.

Looking at her husband who was also a betrayer, Yao Zhi hurriedly said, “It’s fine if you only say this to me, but don’t be so stupid as to tell He Xiang and the others.”

If He Xiang and the others knew about this, there would probably be a huge uproar. This would be equivalent to one person being against the entire secular world. Even if Da Zhou still needed him right now, he would surely die.

In this era, there is no room for such shocking remarks. The Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues are merely means to maintain rule and should not even be mentioned. Especially since he is the emperor, it is even more damnable for him to harbour such thoughts in his mind.

“I understand.” Ye Shuo is not stupid. He only said this in front of Yao Zhi. How could he dare to say a word to others? It’s not like he wants to die quickly. Even he has to compromise when it’s time to compromise.

You can’t become fat in one bite. Some things can only wait to change slowly in the future. Of course, they may never change.

But it is still too early for him to worry about these things now. He has just started, and he should not be too ambitious. He should just take it step by step.

Nowadays, people still can’t get enough food to eat. It’s nonsense to talk about other things under such circumstances.

Thinking of this, Ye Shuo quickly put the matter behind him.

While Yao Zhi was preparing for pregnancy, and the follow-up to the plague was already on track, Ye Shuo didn’t have much to do. Seeing that he had plenty of time, he began to study the technology of cutting grafting in the palace.

Over the years, the farm tools of the Great Zhou have been modified many times by Zou Wu and his team. In addition, the iron smelting technology has improved a lot, and the farm tools are more practical than before. Some basic fertilisers, such as crop pest control, have also been popularised. However, despite this, the increase in grain production is extremely limited. Overall, it has only increased by 30% to 40%. In the eyes of others, it is already quite good. All those who participated in it were given official titles during the Jingwen and Taicheng dynasties, but for Ye Shuo, it is far from enough.

I hope the rice seeds from Lucheng can bring new changes this time.

These things sound simple, but due to underdeveloped information and inconvenient transportation, it takes a lot of time to achieve them. And these alone are enough to keep Zou Wu and his team busy. There are still too few technical talents in the Great Zhou. Recently, Zou Wu and her students are busy with seed selection and breeding, striving to cultivate stronger and higher-yielding rice varieties. Ye Shuo thought about it and came up with the idea of ​​grafting.

Just like that, everyone in the entire palace knew that the emperor had asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs for various kinds of plants. Then, the palace people watched helplessly as the emperor cut and chopped these vegetable and fruit seedlings.

Plant grafting is generally divided into the following categories: approach grafting, cleft grafting, plug grafting and machine grafting.

Among them, machine implementation is the first choice, with fast speed, high productivity, and a success rate of about 90%. Although this machine is simple to make, Ye Shuo also knows how to draw the blueprint, but unfortunately, the Great Zhou has neither oil nor electricity at present, and the cost is too high. Even if it is built, the people cannot afford it.

So we can only settle for the second best and choose to do it ourselves. Although the success rate is a bit lower and it is probably not as standardised as that produced by machines, practice makes perfect, especially for ordinary people who make a living on the fields. After a long time, they will become proficient and may be able to compete with machines.

Although Ye Shuo knows a lot of theoretical knowledge, he is quite weak in practice.

The batch of seedlings fell into his hands and he killed them within two days. Fortunately, they were not very valuable and he could afford to consume them in large quantities. For this reason, Ye Shuo specially designed a greenhouse with glass on the top to absorb sunlight and allow some seeds to germinate faster. ℝ

When Ye Shuo first proposed the idea, the censors wanted to object, but were quickly stopped by He Xiang and others.

In He Xiang’s opinion, it was just a glass house and it was not a major construction project. Besides, the emperor had just promised them to have another child with the queen. At this critical juncture, He Xiang and others naturally would not want to displease him.

Just build it, it’s not a big deal.

To be honest, His Majesty is already extremely frugal, so it is not so difficult to understand that he has such a little hobby. As long as he does not learn bad things and do something that is harmful to the world and shakes the foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty, it will be fine.

Then, Yao Zhi and Prince Ding watched helplessly as the man in front of them cut off the watermelon seedlings and placed them on the gourd vines, placed the white eggplant seedlings on the thorny eggplants, cut off the white radish seedlings and placed the cabbage seedlings…

Yao Zhi and Prince Ding had never seen such a thing before and they were stunned as they watched from the side.

“Can this…really survive?” Prince Ding imagined cutting off a cow’s head and attaching it to a horse’s head. He couldn’t help but shudder. If this really happened, what would it be like?  

However, Ye Shuo nodded: “It should be fine.”

After a few days of practice, Ye Shuo has gradually mastered the tricks, and there should be no problem today. It’s just that the local crops in the Great Zhou are too few, even if you add Beiting and Chen State, they are not as abundant as in later generations.

Outside of Beiting there is Xijiang, and outside of Xijiang there are overseas. When the time comes, we must find a way to enrich the various crops of the Great Zhou.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Shuo stood up. Xiao Luzi saw this and quickly asked someone to bring a basin of water over. Ye Shuo took the opportunity to wash the mud off his hands and arms.

“If these seedlings don’t die, we’ll have watermelons to eat after a while.”

It would have been better to use pumpkin vines, but pumpkin is also a product of America, so it may not be available in the short term, so we can only use gourd vines as a substitute.

If this really works, the output of these fruits and vegetables can at least double, or maybe more than double, and it can also provide strong protection against diseases and pests. In short… any improvement is better than nothing.

Prince Ding curled his lips, not knowing whether he should believe such nonsense. Among the few people, only Wei Wen was used to it. After all, he had seen too many miraculous things about his little cousin, and a mere transplant… shouldn’t be a big problem.

In addition to cuttings and grafting, it is also time to start scientific breeding, especially since the Great Zhou had just conquered the seven cities of Beiting. Beiting has few arable lands, and most of the livestock are cattle and sheep. Even if it cannot be achieved like modern times, a little more improvement can also result in more meat production.

Thinking of the seven cities that had just been conquered, Ye Shuo thought for a while, then took the initiative to pick up the charcoal pencil and paper.

When it was evening, Yao Zhi first played with little Dingning outside the hall for a while. When she came in again, she saw the young man writing and drawing there, and she didn’t know what he was doing.

When Yao Zhi approached, she found that he had already written a very thick stack. Seeing that the young man did not seem to have any intention of covering up, Yao Zhi hesitated for a moment, then picked up the top page – Postpartum Care for Sow Pigs.

Yao Zhi was stunned: “What, what is this?”

Ye Shuo glanced at it casually and said, “Oh, that. I thought since I have written about cows and sheep, I might as well write about pigs, ducks, chickens, etc.”

Yao Zhi continued to scroll down, and various titles came into view.

“On the feeding of lambs, basic diseases of cattle and sheep and their prevention, tips for laying eggs by hens, hatching eggs, veterinary medicine…”

There were not only words but also pictures on the various pages. Ye Shuo knew that not many people read books, so he planned to distribute them to the prefects under him, and then ask the prefects to notify others to send people to various villages every once in a while to provide professional training.

Yao Zhi wanted to laugh at first, after all, these titles were really funny, but as she read on, Yao Zhi was stunned.

The above content does not seem to be nonsense, and it is written in a very easy-to-understand manner. Anyone who can read a few words can almost understand it.

Just in the process of hatching chicks, Yao Zhi saw more than one trick.

Yao Zhi gradually discovered that her husband seemed to know a lot of things, especially now. Looking at the young man lighting the lamp and working at his desk, after a while, Yao Zhi was stunned again. It was not until Xiao Luzi came back with Xiao Dingning that Yao Zhi suddenly came back to her senses.

Then, there was the matter of the Minister of Works being in mourning, and the court officials were arguing about who should be promoted to this position.

It is true that the Ministry of Works was a low-income government office in the past, but its status has gradually improved since Ye Shuo took the throne, so it is no longer considered an unpopular department now.

Ye Shuo listened everywhere but never heard of Zou Wu’s name. No matter how capable she was or how many contributions she had made over the years, based on her status as a woman, being an official of the sixth or seventh rank was already the limit for her. Even so, Emperor Jingwen had shown her special favour. However, her peers, or even later students, who were as capable as Zou Wu, had already achieved more than that.

Therefore, Ye Shuo promoted Zou Wu to the position of fourth-rank assistant minister of the Ministry of Works without much hesitation.

At this moment, He Xiang and others were immediately furious.

But soon, more important news overwhelmed this matter.

It has been just over two months since a group of officials knelt outside the Xuan Zheng Hall. With the spring ploughing, the news that the Empress was pregnant again spread throughout the court and the country.

In an instant, He Xiang and others were like they were injected with chicken blood and almost jumped up in public.

“God bless, Emperor Jingwen bless!” No matter what, it must be a prince!

Seeing them so excited, Ye Shuo on the side said nothing. After leaving the court, he went to find his wife and daughter.