The fool has become a spirit, and she can speak

He was very smart. He wore brown clothes today. Although the color was a bit old, it was the same color as cow dung and was not as dirty. He felt a lot more relaxed. As usual, he wrapped a towel around his mouth and nose to reduce the smell he breathed in. Qiao Rong was doing chores for him as usual.

At dawn, Cheng Youning had already pushed the first cart of cow dung onto the field. Looking at the children busy in his own field, Cheng Youning dropped the cart and shouted, "What are you doing here?"

"I'll...work for you."

Cheng Youning looked at the extra land that had been reclaimed, which was almost two acres. "Stop it now! You are not helping me, you are harming me! Stop it now."

The child was so scared that he dropped the tools in his hand, then quickly bent down to pick them up. He couldn't throw away the farm tools, otherwise he would be beaten by the adults.

"Did you help me cultivate these two acres of land?"

Several children measured the area with hoes and showed it to Cheng Youning: "We are the ones who helped you cultivate this land."

Cheng Youning estimated that the land was about half an acre. "Who helped me cultivate this acre?"

"I can't tell you." Because they had promised the man, and the man also promised to bring them roast chicken from the city.

Cheng Youning said to Qiao Rong, "Go and find out who did it."

"Yes."

Cheng Feng and Shang Xi thought that their confidentiality work was flawless and thorough. In fact, except for Cheng Youning himself, everyone outside the city knew that the prince and the princess had helped the prince reclaim the wasteland overnight.

So Qiao Rong came back quickly, "Your Highness, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess came here yesterday at midnight and left before the hour of Chou. They helped you cultivate this land."

"Daddy and mommy helped me reclaim the wasteland overnight?" Cheng Youning had all kinds of guesses in her mind just now, but she didn't guess that it was her parents.

"Your Highness, that's it."

In order to get the roast chicken, a group of children began to blame each other, saying, "It wasn't me who said that."

"That's not what I said."

"I didn't say either."

……

The news spread like wildfire, and there must be people who don't keep their mouths shut, and there may be more than one or two people who don't keep their mouths shut.

Wan Lianxing, who was well-informed, knew about it not much later than Cheng Youning. By this time, someone had already gone to inform him, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess went outside the city last night."

"Oh, what are they doing out of town?"

"Help the prince reclaim wasteland overnight."

"How pitiful are the parents in the world!"

The old butler echoed, "Your Majesty, I think this is a good idea. Just pretend you don't know. This way, the Crown Prince will suffer less."

"I do want to spare the Crown Prince some of his fatigue, but with his fearless and indifferent nature, how can I not give him a hard time? He hasn't even taken power yet, but he's already causing a stir. If one day he has full power, he'll kill innocent people if he doesn't agree with me."

"Your Majesty is indeed very thoughtful, but...what are your plans?"

"Don't these young couple like to reclaim wasteland? Let's set aside ten acres of land next to Cheng Youning's wasteland and let them reclaim as much as they want."

"Your Majesty, this is inappropriate!"

"What's wrong with that? Cheng Youning is difficult to tame and is about to break away from me, but they are pretending to be good people. Then I will become the bad guy."

"Your Majesty, you are too kind. The Crown Prince will always be loyal to Your Majesty. In my opinion, it is better not to punish the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess."

"Punish! If they dare to disobey my will, I will severely punish them both."

"But yesterday, during the daytime, people in the city were buying and renting land, and there were rumors that the situation had changed. Last night at midnight, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess went to Zhujin Street. After a few words from the Crown Prince, everyone started buying and renting land overnight. It was very crazy, and the trading is still going on now."

"I already know what you said, no problem."

"Your Majesty, I know you are a master strategist and have everything under control, but the Crown Prince's land reclamation has already had a huge impact. If the Crown Prince also reclaims wasteland, I'm afraid the situation will be difficult to control."

"That's exactly what I want. This year there's been a drought and the harvest has been poor, so the people are barely getting enough to eat. But our Fengqi is full of wasteland, uncultivated. I'm going to take this opportunity to turn the wasteland in my Fengqi into fertile farmland, so we'll never lack food."

"Your Majesty, this is a good idea, but I'm worried that someone will try to drive up the rent for the land."

"Old steward, our Fengqi is different from Dalang and the Southern Yan Kingdom. In those countries, the land is all in the hands of landlords and field owners, and all of it is privately owned. But in Fengqi, it's the opposite. In the past five years, although many wastelands in Fengqi have been turned into fertile fields by the people, there are still wastelands everywhere. After all, our Fengqi population is not as dense as in other countries. After each person, regardless of gender, is given four mu of land, there is still countless land left uncultivated."

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. We beggars are few in number. With the war, people are dying every day, and our numbers are even fewer."

"We have so few people and still can't get enough to eat. Song Tingzhi is right. We in Fengqi have been overly prioritizing commerce over agriculture. If we had turned these wastelands into fertile fields earlier, we wouldn't be short of food even with years of war and floods. The people have some money now, but food can't be bought with money. Regardless of whether you have money or not, food is the biggest threat when you encounter floods and droughts."

"Your Majesty is right. No matter what year it is, the people must have food."

"We beggars have no food, and the national treasury is very limited. Apart from the supplies for the soldiers on the front lines, there is very little left for disaster relief. Therefore, I hope that the people will compete to reclaim the land and let the barren land be filled with grains and fruits. Even if the harvest is poor, it will be enough to feed the people."

"The Emperor is concerned about the country and the people. The Emperor is wise!"

"The primary reason why we in Fengqi have been hesitant to open the pass and let the refugees in is that we have limited grain reserves. To solve the food problem, as Song Tingzhi said, wasteland must be turned into fertile farmland. We have few people in Fengqi and cannot reclaim all the land, so we can let the refugees reclaim it, killing two birds with one stone. As for the price gouging for land rental and sale you mentioned, we are not worried. The busy farming season for planting and harvesting only lasts a few days, and those with more land will have to hire laborers. By then, labor will become popular and valuable, so it's a win-win situation."

"Your Majesty, the only ones who will suffer are the landlords who rent or sell land and the hired laborers, but those who buy or rent land will definitely lose money this year."

"Just wait and see. Within three days, no one who owns land will rent or sell it to others. Everyone will have to rent land from the government office."

"Your Majesty's words make sense. Although what we took from the government was wasteland, not fertile farmland, the advantage is that the price is cheap and stable. The people benefit, and we, the government, also benefit."