The Rebirth of Han Yuxi

Chapter 0797 Granary

The wheat harvest took place in the seventh month, while the millet harvest took place in the ninth month. Although the millet harvest was not as good as the wheat harvest, it was still very encouraging compared to previous years.

After several profiteering merchants were executed and the authorities set a minimum grain price, grain prices in the northwest remained quite stable.

As Yuxi looked through the memorials submitted by the local authorities, a rare smile appeared on her face. With the various crops now harvested, more than half of the government granaries had been filled.

Seeing this, Xu Wu asked, "Wangfei, are we still going to purchase grain from Jiangnan this year?" Over the past two years, large quantities of grain had been purchased from Jiangnan, Taiyuan and other places. Due to the long distance and the unrest along the roads, the cost of purchasing grain was extremely high.

Yuxi gave a sound of acknowledgement. "We still have to buy it." In truth, the amount of grain the government currently stored was not particularly large. If natural disasters or man-made calamities occurred, the supply would not last a full year.

Xu Wu stated, "Wangfei, grain prices in Jiangnan are twenty per cent higher than last year." Over the past two years, Jiangnan had been relatively peaceful and had not suffered any major natural disasters or human-made calamities. Hubei, Henan and other regions, however, had experienced rebellions from time to time. On top of that, many people had died over the past few years, leaving vast areas of farmland abandoned. Since these places did not have enough grain, they had to purchase it from elsewhere, causing grain prices to rise year after year.

Yuxi frowned slightly. "Even if the grain price is higher than last year, we still have to buy it. In fact, we need to buy even more."

Xu Wu did not quite understand. "Our grain harvest was good this year, and once potatoes have been widely promoted next year, we'll have even more food. Why do we still need to buy so much grain from Jiangnan?" The grain they bought didn't pass through Henan; it was transported back via Hubei instead.

Those who had experienced hunger tended to store grain, and Yuxi was no exception. Whenever she felt she didn't have enough grain in reserve, she became anxious and uneasy, though this was something she couldn't explain. Yuxi asked, "Can you guarantee that next year will have the same favourable winds and timely rains as this year?"

Xu Wu shook his head. No one could guarantee such a thing.

Yuxi remarked, "That is exactly my point. If a natural disaster occurs, we may have to pay twice as much as we do now, or even several times as much, just to buy grain." If a rebellion broke out, even grain that had already been purchased could be seized.

That evening, Yuxi raised the matter with Yun Qing. "I want to set aside another one million taels of silver this year to purchase grain." As well as grain, they also needed to stockpile other things, such as beans and brown sugar.

Yun Qing looked at Yuxi and asked in puzzlement, "Our harvest was very good this year. Is there any need to buy that much more grain? Besides, we still have potatoes." The potato harvest had been very good this year, and Tian Yang had also purchased more than forty thousand jin of seed potatoes. They could begin planting them on a large scale this year.

Yuxi pointed out, "Four years ago, one tael of silver could buy three dan of grain. Now, one tael cannot even buy two dan. Once a natural disaster strikes, there may be no grain to buy, even if you have money. We do have a considerable amount of grain in our granaries, but it would only last us until the fourth or fifth month of next year." During periods of turmoil, one tael of silver could buy only a few jin of grain, and sometimes none would be available at all.

How could Yun Qing, as the person who shared her pillow, not know about Yuxi's fondness for stockpiling grain? Yun Qing found this little quirk of hers rather amusing. Yun Qing laughed. "You love stockpiling grain so much that anyone who didn't know better would think you'd gone hungry before." Yuxi was the highborn young lady of a Duke's household. Even though Han Jingyan had not favoured her when she was young, there was no way she could have gone hungry. Besides, the senior branch of the family had also looked after her.

Yuxi's heart gave a sudden jump, but she showed nothing on her face. "Didn't you tell me that, because of the natural disaster and food shortages back then, all of you were reduced to gnawing on grass roots and tree roots? If we have grain in our hands, then even if a natural disaster really occurs, the soldiers won't have to suffer like that again."

Yun Qing was not actually opposed to the idea; he had merely been teasing her. Still, Yuxi's answer pleased him greatly. "With that much grain, our granaries won't be able to hold it all."

Yuxi shook her head. "Herui, the grain we purchase won't be stored in the government's granaries." Yuxi intended to store the grain secretly.

Yun Qing was somewhat surprised. "You mean you want to hide this grain? Why do we need to hide it?" After all, they were now the ones managing the household and the Northwest master. There was absolutely no reason to hide the purchase of grain, unless Yuxi had other plans.

Yuxi explained, "I'm not trying to hide the grain itself. I simply don't want the Imperial Court's spies to know where we're storing it. Herui, I have a feeling that the next two years won't be as blessed with favourable winds and timely rains as things are now. The more grain we store now, the greater the stability the northwest will have in the future." As long as they had grain, the northwest could remain peaceful and secure.

Yun Qing's heart tightened with alarm. He asked, "Did you dream about something bad?" It was only natural for him to think that way. They had just harvested so much grain, which should have been cause for celebration, yet Yuxi was suddenly talking about natural disasters. Yun Qing could not help reading more into it.

Yuxi shook her head. "No. I just have this feeling."

Yun Qing thought for a moment and nodded. "Leave the matter of the granaries to me." Since they needed to prevent anyone from discovering them, he would instruct the army to build the granaries in secret locations. That way, even if spies tried to investigate, they wouldn't find anything.

Yuxi suggested, "It would be better to build more of them." The more grain she had stored away, the more reassured she would feel when a natural disaster eventually came.

Yun Qing teased her. "Would ten granaries be enough?" When Yuxi shook her head and said that at least twenty should be built, Yun Qing burst out laughing.

Yun Qing did not entrust the construction of the granaries to just one person. Instead, he secretly ordered the commanders of the various garrisons to build additional granaries at their respective bases. Yuxi had specifically raised the matter with Yun Qing because she knew the locations used to store military grain were well concealed and carefully chosen.

Yuan Ying was puzzled when he heard that Yun Qing wanted to build several military granaries. He asked, "Wangye, why do we need so many granaries? Is some sort of disaster expected?"

Yun Qing smiled. "My wife said next year's harvest might not be as good as this year's. If we purchase some extra grain now, then should a natural disaster really occur, we won't have anything to fear as long as we have grain in reserve."

Yuan Ying had some doubts about what Yun Qing had said. "How does Wangfei know that next year's harvest will be poor?" Could Wangfei actually divine the future by counting on her fingers and possess the ability to foresee the future?

Yun Qing certainly could not tell him that Yuxi was relying purely on intuition, because that would be far too much like child's play. "She heard it from some of the old farmers under our administration. I don't think it's particularly reliable, but she feels that storing some extra grain would be the safer choice."

Yuan Ying didn't entirely agree with Yun Qing on this. "It's also thanks to Wangfei's caution. Otherwise, our battles last year could never have gone so smoothly." Had Yuxi not purchased so much grain the year before last, their uprising would not have proceeded nearly as smoothly. They had all experienced hunger and hardship before, so when it came to storing more grain, Yuan Ying supported the idea with both hands.

Yun Qing could not help laughing. "This decision of hers certainly seems to suit you."

Yuan Ying did not think too deeply about it. "I certainly don't want to go back to the days of tightening our belts." In truth, given his present position, even if a natural disaster were to occur, people like him would not go hungry. If grain truly became scarce, it would be the ordinary soldiers and the commoners who would suffer from hunger.

By the end of the tenth month, examination candidates had already begun arriving in Haocheng. Because Yuxi had given the order, one inn in Haocheng had been reserved specifically for these candidates. Both lodging and meals were free, and they could stay there until the examination results were announced.

The first round admitted just over five hundred candidates, while the second, the provincial examination, accepted only ninety-eight. Nevertheless, merely passing the second round was no mean feat.

Yuxi showed Yun Qing the questions prepared for this Imperial Examination. The examination followed the same format as the metropolitan examination conducted by the Imperial Court, consisting of three sessions, each lasting three days. The first session was based on the Four Books and Five Classics, the second on policy, and the third on historical essays and analysis.

Yun Qing took the questions and read through them carefully. Afterwards, he told Yuxi, "I'll leave this entirely in your hands." He had only ever studied the Four Books and Five Classics because his teachers had forced him to, and he had never read anything on historical discourse. If he had to grade the examination papers as well, it would give him a headache.

Yuxi knew that Yun Qing was weak in this area, so she had never expected him to handle it. "If you have no objections, then we'll settle on these." Although Yuxi had read extensively and possessed a wealth of theoretical knowledge, she knew nothing at all about the imperial examination system. Therefore, she was relying mainly on Han Jianming and Tan Tuo this time. Although Han Jianming had never personally taken the Imperial Examinations, he had had dealings with matters in this area. Tan Tuo, meanwhile, had experienced the examination system firsthand.

Yun Qing naturally had no objections.

Yuxi placed the Imperial Examination questions on the table and complained, "Zaozao can't keep hiding in the front courtyard every day." To avoid reading and practising writing, Zaozao had simply started sleeping in the front courtyard at night and stopped returning to the rear residence. However, both Huo Changqing and Yun Qing thought that Zaozao was still young and that it would not be too late to teach her to read and write in two years. Consequently, they both protected Zaozao and allowed her to stay in the front courtyard.

Yun Qing smiled. "She's still very young. Even if you make her learn to read now, she'll probably forget it before long. It won't be too late to have her start learning in two years." Yun Qing himself had not begun learning to read and write until he was five.

In truth, Zaozao was only three and a half. Even after another two years, she would only just turn five. Five is actually the perfect age to start learning to read and write. However, Zaozao's attitude made Yuxi realise her education couldn't be postponed. If she didn't insist on it now, Zaozao would be even harder to manage after two years.

Upon hearing this, Yuxi replied irritably, "You make it sound as if I'm mistreating her terribly." She didn't demand much from Zaozao. She merely required her to learn three to five characters each day, write each character ten times, and memorise a short passage from the Three Character Classic📹. Unfortunately, what Yuxi regarded as a simple and easy course of study felt like an enormous burden to Zaozao.

Yun Qing said helplessly, "If the child doesn't like it, forcing her won't do any good. The more you force her, the less willing she'll be to learn." Having suffered the same fate himself, he knew from personal experience that this was not an effective approach.

Yuxi said, "If we don't force her to learn, she won't even be able to recognise all the basic characters when she grows up." Seeing that Yun Qing was about to speak again, Yuxi shook her head. "We can discuss everything else, but on this matter, there's nothing to discuss." If she let Yun Qing have his way, Zaozao would probably grow up to be a blind person with their eyes open.

After pausing for a moment, Yuxi continued, "I'm planning to hire a teacher for Zaozao. She won't need to study for very long, just one shichen each day."

Yun Qing frowned slightly, though he also knew that once Yuxi had made up her mind, there was little chance of changing it. "Don't hire any of those pedantic old scholars. Those old scholars are all so steeped in ancient learning that they fail to digest it. If you hire someone like that to teach Zaozao, she'll probably become even less willing to study." The moment such scholars opened their mouths, it was all 'zhi, hu, zhe, ye'. Even he found that tiresome, let alone Zaozao.

Yuxi was not an unreasonable person. Zaozao had simply forced her into taking a hard line this time. This child would not learn unless she was pushed. She nodded. "I'll choose her teacher carefully."