Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved
Chapter 292: Jun Yuyan is also there to support her

Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Jun Yuyan is also there to support her

"You are all bad people! You are all bad people!"

The little boy who threw the mud shouted loudly, his eyes filled with hatred.

He was about to pick up more mud to throw, but was quickly stopped by a pair of frightened parents.

Both parents pulled the child to their knees and kowtowed to Jun Yuyan and Murong Jiu, "The child didn’t mean to do it, Noble Ladies, please, you have great tolerance, spare the child!"

The couple was dressed in tatters, their clothes patched dozens of times, the man barefooted, the woman wearing straw shoes, their bodies covered in mud.

Murong Jiu looked around, noticing many others dressed like them, all busy with spring plowing.

But they had all stopped their work and were looking this way.

On a distant ridge, a pot-bellied middle-aged man stealthily picked up a hoe and pretended to till the soil, his dress completely out of place with the other farmers.

She got down from the carriage, looked at the couple, and asked, "Do you know who we are?"

The couple kneeled on the ground, shrinking back in fear, trembling, "We know, Your Highness Princess Consort Ling, and beside you, Prince Ling."

"You are bad people! You are the ones making us go hungry!"

The child lifted his head and yelled at Jun Yuyan and Murong Jiu.

The peasant woman quickly covered the child’s mouth, her face showing terror, afraid that the nearby guard would draw his sword and chop down her child.

Jun Yuyan said, "We won’t hurt anyone, big sister, let him go, let him continue speaking."

Murong Jiu squatted down to eye level with the little boy, "We won’t let you go hungry, we will make sure you are fed. Tell auntie, who told you that you would starve?"

Her gaze was gentle, and the boy suddenly couldn’t be arrogant anymore, only gritting his teeth and saying:

"It was Steward Liu who said it! He said the plants you made us grow wouldn’t produce any food at all, that you just want to starve us to death!"

The leaves he mentioned were probably meant for cuttings of sweet potatoes.

Yesterday, the Peasant Official had brought the servants from the Prince Mansion to teach the farmers to plant potatoes and sweet potatoes, which is why Murong Jiu decided to come and see for herself.

Little did they expect that they would encounter agitation and trouble the very next day.

"If I wanted to starve you, I wouldn’t have spent months distributing porridge in the Capital City, nor could I have saved so many refugees."

Murong Jiu reached out, touched the boy’s dry and coarse hair, took a piece of candy made of milk beet from her sleeve, handed it to him; seeing him holding it dumbfounded, not daring to eat, she peeled off the wax paper and put it in his mouth.

The sudden sweetness melting in his mouth made the boy’s eyes widen, and for a moment, he was unable to speak.

Chang Chonghai came over, dragging the middle-aged man from the ridge, who was indeed Steward Liu, the one the boy had mentioned.

"This whole plot belongs to the Liu Family, these farmers don’t have their own land, they are tenant farmers renting land from the Liu Family. They toil all year and can keep at most ten percent of the harvest, the remaining ninety percent counts as their rent."

Murong Jiu furrowed her eyebrows deeply.

In Great Yan, those who own land are called self-cultivating farmers, those who don’t own land must rent land from landlord families, who are called tenant farmers, most of whom are refugees who fled from other places due to natural disasters or other reasons.

But, as Murong Jiu knew, tenant farmers should be able to keep thirty percent of their harvest, clearly, the Liu Family exploitation was far too severe.

Chang Chonghai said, "Last summer, heavy rains flooded many fields, causing many tenant farmers to lose their crops and even have to pay extra rent to the landlords. The Prince and Princess Consort originally wanted to increase the yield of the fields, but this Steward Liu secretly incited dissent, telling them that the Prince and Princess Consort were experimenting with their fields and would definitely cause them to starve!"

Jun Yuyan’s cold gaze fell on Steward Liu, who trembled violently and fell to his knees.

"I dare not, I dare not!"

"The Liu Family was one of the earliest to respond to the Imperial Court’s call, yet we had no idea that you say one thing to our face and another behind our backs."

Steward Liu shook like a leaf, his face deathly pale.

At that moment, another guard ran over from the distant fields, holding a sweet potato vine stalk in his hand.

"Prince, Princess Consort, the sweet potatoes that were planted yesterday have all been uprooted and replaced with other crops."

Murong Jiu took the sweet potato stems handed to her, and seeing that they were still fresh, she breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, she had the sudden inspiration to come here today, otherwise these precious sweet potato stems would have been wasted.

"Let it be, let’s just plant them in our own good fields for now. If we plant here again, there will be those who intentionally sabotage it."

Initially, she had prioritized the fields of others, hoping to feed the people first and thereby inspire other tenant farmers. Now, it seemed she had underestimated the lengths some would go to interfere.

The Liu Family had agreed so readily to the Imperial Court’s call, perhaps there were others behind this decision.

Jun Yuyan’s face darkened as he said to the tenant farmers present, "Those of you who are unwilling to plant, we will not force you. The Liu Family took it upon themselves to agree without your consent and even deliberately incited your emotions. I will investigate this matter thoroughly."

Steward Liu lay prostrate on the ground, his face ashen. He had never expected Prince Ling and Princess Consort Ling to come suddenly, and now things were truly a mess.

"Prince, the yield of these potato sweet potatoes we’re planting, can it really be a thousand catties per mu?"

A frail old man from the crowd asked, trembling.

It was Jun Yuyan who had discovered the yield of the potato sweet potatoes. The old Peasant Officials conservatively estimated it at two thousand catties per mu since potato sweet potatoes are quite heavy, each plant yielding at least four to five of them, resulting in a shocking quantity per mu.

He replied, "As long as they survive, with proper insect control, watering, and fertilization, they can indeed yield a thousand catties per mu! I can guarantee you this. If it does not reach a thousand catties, I will compensate each of you ten taels of silver."

The people present all gasped in astonishment.

A thousand catties!

What did that mean?

The yield for wheat per mu was only around thirty to fifty catties, while rice and sorghum yielded at most two hundred catties. In the face of natural disasters, there could even be a total crop failure.

No one had ever dared to imagine a grain that could yield a thousand catties per mu!

If that were the case, they would be willing to sleep in the furrows to ensure the potato sweet potatoes grew!

"We’ll plant! We’re willing to plant!"

The first to speak were the parents of a boy, their previously lifeless eyes now sparkling with hope.

Even if the yield wasn’t that high, five hundred catties would still be thrilling.

Besides, the Prince had said it himself, if it was less than a thousand catties, he would compensate each person with ten taels of silver.

Steward Liu sweated profusely, while the tenant farmers were elated.

However, Murong Jiu still had all the sweet potato stems collected and had them plant potatoes instead. The potatoes had been sent in a sprouting state, making them easier for the tenant farmers to manage since they were all planting the same thing.

Jun Yuyan and Murong Jiu then went to look at other places, which were in similar conditions to those of the Liu Family.

Some were due to people manipulating from behind, others were afraid to grow new crops out of fear of the unknown.

Murong Jiu was initially angry, but gradually her anger subsided. Any attempt at innovation is bound to meet resistance.

Once the potato sweet potatoes matured, naturally, more people would join in.

Moreover, these were issues that money could solve.

Buy farmland, keep buying farmland!

She would be the landlord, they would rent from her!

Land not for sale? Then spend even more money!

She had the confidence to be bold; even if there was no money in the accounts, she still had Jun Yuyan to back her up. Everything in the Prince Mansion’s treasury was at her disposal.

The carriage had just entered the Capital City, Murong Jiu was about to meet Manager Chai, when suddenly there was a noise outside, and the carriage abruptly stopped, followed by a pitiful scream.

Jun Yuyan frowned and lifted the carriage curtain, "What happened?"

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