The Lone Star of the Tang Dynasty

He knew that the emergence of Quyuan plough would have a subversive impact on Datang's agriculture, and the grain output that had barely fed tens of millions of people was now enough to feed millions more people. This kind of earth-shaking change will be exciting for anyone.

He continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, this Quyuan plow is not an immortal treasure, just an ordinary plow. However, it is precisely such ordinary objects, thanks to clever design improvements, that make them much more efficient and do not require additional materials. I decided to give the inventor a major reward. "

Li Er paused for a moment and announced his decision: "I consider canonizing him as a hereditary holy village marquis and giving him 1,800 households. What do you think about this?".

As soon as the words fell, the entire court fell silent in an instant, and the officials put away their previous excitement and whispers, and their expressions became complicated.

When it was mentioned that Quyuan plough would be popularized to every household, whether it was an official of the Tiance Mansion, an important minister from a big family, or a newcomer to the imperial examination, they couldn't help but be shocked, and they each pondered the news with different moods. For the Hanmen, the quyuan plough meant improving their lives and increasing their income, while the family officials foresaw that the income from their land would increase exponentially, and everyone was happy.

However, when it came to giving the inventor such a high reward, the hereditary marquis, everyone could not help but hesitate. In their opinion, feudal marquis should generally be based on military merits, but now it is rare to award such a high position to a craftsman, and it will inevitably cause controversy.

"Your Majesty, this is really inappropriate. An official came out to advise, "If you don't have military merits, you can be a marquis, I'm afraid it will cause dissatisfaction among people with military merits such as Guogong." "

"Your Majesty, although this person is talented, but after all, he is a craftsman, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to be a marquis?" another official also chimed in, "If it is a reward, five ploughing oxen are enough, why should there be such a big gift as a marquis?"

In the face of the doubts and opposition of the ministers, Li Er did not get angry, but smiled indifferently.

"Do you think that this merit is insignificant? You know, because of his invention, the income of each of your families has increased, and this does not indirectly increase your wealth?

There was a chill in Li Er's voice at this time, but the Manchu civil and military forces did not flinch because of this, especially those great Confucians, who were fiercely opposed.

"Your Majesty, please think twice! If this move is carried out, I am afraid that everyone in the world will abandon their books and join the peasants, no longer study poetry and books, and devote themselves to the frontier, which will shake the foundation of the country!" an old minister shouted with his arms raised and his face worried.

"Your Majesty, this move is contrary to the ancestral etiquette and law, and I am afraid that the etiquette and music will collapse, and the people's hearts will not be ancient!" another official also followed, his tone full of worry.

"Your Majesty, the ancients said: If you are virtuous, the people will fight each other. Nowadays, if the marquis is sealed because of his skills, it may lead to a trend of civil comparison, which is not conducive to the long-term stability of the country. Another official invoked the scriptures and exhorted Li Er to act prudently.

Above the imperial court, hundreds of officials almost unanimously opposed Li Er's decision, and only a few remained silent. Among them, Pei Lin was particularly angry, he looked directly at Li Er, and his words were stern. On the surface, it seems to resolutely defend the ancestral system and etiquette, but in fact, deep down he is worried about the shaking of the family's status - the opening of the imperial examination system has made the children of the family lose the advantage of monopolizing the official position, and if the craftsman is canonized as a marquis, the status of the family's gate valve will be even more precarious.

In the face of such fierce opposition, Li Er couldn't help but fall into a short silence.

He knew that in the past, if someone had made such a suggestion, he would probably not hesitate to veto it.

But times have changed, and things are different now.

Out of the corner of his eye, he swept over Wei Zheng and the others, and found that although they did not speak, they all nodded in tacit understanding, as if waiting for his next move.

Li Er secretly sighed in his heart, many times things must be explained clearly in order for people to understand and accept.

So, he said in a deep voice, "Since you have any doubts, then I will tell you another thing. The man who invented the zigzag plough was not the only one who made this contribution, he also created a new thing called ...... fertilizer."

"Chemical fertilizer?" The civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty were all confused, and there were many discussions, and no one knew what this was.

Lord Liu, Lord Jia, Lord Wang and other officials looked at each other and said that they had never heard of "chemical fertilizer".

Seeing this, Li Er hooked up a smile on the corner of his mouth: "Everyone hasn't heard of it, it's normal." Fertilizer can be seen as a special medicine that can be produced in large quantities to enhance the growth capacity of crops. He deliberately emphasized, "Only that genius can refine it, and no one else can imitate it." "

Then, Li Er invited Baiguan to follow him to the back gate of the Ganlu Hall to see the effect of chemical fertilizer.

In the confused and curious gazes of everyone, Li Er especially cast a meaningful glance at Lord Pei Lian, and that look seemed to imply something.

Pei Lin was shocked and nervous at the moment. He was quite puzzled by Li Er's actions today, and now he felt even more uneasy. Pei Lin knew that his opposition might be slapped in the face again, because if this so-called "chemical fertilizer" really had the effect of increasing production, the inventor behind it would undoubtedly have outstanding talents, comparable to Zhuge Kongming or Zhou Gongjin in the Three Kingdoms era. However, Pei Lin still finds it difficult to believe that there are so many ways to increase production in his heart, and he believes that even if chemical fertilizers are really effective, their yield increase is limited, and it is impossible to bring more than 50% increase in production like Quyuan plow.

So, Pei Lin frowned tightly and thought as he followed the army towards the Miyagi Imperial Garden.

When they arrived, they finally understood the source of the odor in the palace recently-it turned out that Li Er had opened up two vegetable fields here for experiments, and they were growing leeks. Since the crops need to be fertilized continuously, the smell is strong, but it has been much lessened by this time, and it is obvious that Li Er has stopped large-scale fertilization.

After everyone gathered, Li Er smiled and made a gesture of please, signaling everyone to look at the vegetable field that had been nourished by chemical fertilizer: "Everyone, please look at this vegetable field, this is the magic of chemical fertilizer!"

"Fertilizer?" The ministers looked at each other, suspicious.

Someone asked loudly: "Your Majesty, are you talking about chemical fertilizer, but this leek field in front of you?"

At this moment, all the officials present were confused, but Li Er laughed loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, the fertilizer in my hands has been used up, but the effect is intuitive. Look at these two leek fields......

".

At first glance, there seemed to be no obvious difference between the two leek fields, but a closer look reveals the secret: one was a slow-growing field with thin yellow leaves, while the other was verdant and the leaves were thick and tall, at least more than a tenth taller than the one next to it. This stark contrast made the officials present suddenly wonder in their hearts, but it was difficult to explain for a while.