Chapter 20: The tragedy caused by potatoes
Yun Ye saw Zhuang San Ting and regretted his own drooling image. A good nobleman, a good official from the seventh rank, now his image is gone. Although the official name card says: Yun Ye, male, 15 years old, fair-skinned, no beard, 6 feet tall, no disability, no birthmark, Chang’an native, in the year of XXXX, the official reached the seventh rank of Lanzhou Zhechongfu’s chief clerk, hereby announcing.
At first glance, as long as you are a 15-year-old man, you can impersonate this clerk with the surname Yun. Niu Jinda also extorted the remaining red oil from me, saying that it was a fee for writing the notice. Looking at the crooked and twisted handwriting, Yun Ye felt that his official notice was like a fake no matter how he looked at it.
When he told Cheng Chumo about this, the guy laughed and went back to get his own official notice and showed it to Yun Ye. He saw that apart from the name, place of origin, age, and official position, the other descriptions were exactly the same as his own. And the characters were the same ugly. It was clear at a glance that it was also written by Master Niu.
Cheng Chumo pointed to the seal of the Ministry of War at the bottom of the official seal and told Yun Ye that there were three blank notices of resignation from the Zuowei, all of which had been sealed. As long as they were below the seventh rank, they would take effect as long as the name was filled in, and they would only be sent to the Ministry of Personnel for filing afterwards. So Yun Ye had indeed become a seventh-rank official in the Tang Dynasty, equivalent to a deputy director in later times.
Although the imperial examinations had been introduced in the Tang Dynasty, they were only used to supplement a small number of officials. A large number of low-level officials still had to be recommended by senior officials in the court, such as Cheng Yaojin. It was a rare honor to be recommended by two senior officials. You have to know that whoever recommends you is responsible.
The new scholar of the Tang Dynasty was only promoted to the seventh rank. Since the Tang Dynasty valued military power over literature, Yun Ye’s promotion to the seventh rank was even more rare. The most important thing was that this was a watershed, a watershed that separated the common people from the scholars.
Yun Ye now has a very noble demeanor. Seeing Zhuang San stop kneeling in front of him, he was able to remain calm and composed, and his face did not change. He no longer panicked when people knelt before him when he first arrived in the Tang Dynasty. Others return to the ancient times to influence the ancients, and they themselves are influenced by the ancients when they return to the ancient times. I don’t know if they are advancing with the times or degenerating. Anyway, I still enjoy the sense of success of being worshipped by others.
It was hard to drag Zhuang Santing up, and it was also a labor of love to prevent himself from being worshipped. Yun Ye decided to do it less often. Afraid that Zhuang Santing would kneel down again, he asked in the gentlest voice, “Are you all better? Is there anything wrong?”
Zhuang Santing bowed and replied, “Thanks to Your Excellency, I am already fine. Thank you for saving my life. If Your Excellency needs me again, I will give my life to repay you.”
“Haha, it’s good that you’re fine. A person of loyalty and integrity will be blessed. This is also the blessing of saving people with your life. You don’t have to thank me, but I have to thank you for saving Chu Mo. Have you been taking care of these potato seedlings these days?
“Yes, I saw that Your Excellency attached great importance to these seedlings, and I was afraid that they would not be taken care of properly by others. I have nothing to do, and I am also from a farming family, so I took it upon myself to take care of the seedlings. Please forgive me, Your Excellency.”
“Lao Zhuang, you don’t know, these rough soldiers don’t understand what this is all about. You should understand what a new crop means to a farmer. This thing is called a potato. It is used to growing in sandy and dry land, and the yield per mu is amazing. I heard that the yield per mu in foreign countries has reached an amazing 15 tons, and it is resistant to storage. As long as it is stored properly after harvest, it can be stored until next year without spoiling. It is suitable for both food and grain. Even if poor people don’t eat grain, they can survive by eating potatoes. Now you understand why I value these five large jars so much.
After Yun Ye finished speaking, he found that there was no response. He looked up and saw Zhuang San Ting with his mouth open, his eyes without any focus, and his whole body completely in a state of absent-mindedness. He smiled to himself. Not to mention you, Zhuang San Ting, even if His Majesty Li Er heard about this, he wouldn’t be in a better state than Old Zhuang.
While he was feeling pleased, two big hands grabbed his shoulders, and his body was lifted up. When he turned around to look, he found that the pavilion was full of people, tall, short, old and young, all staring at him with bloodshot eyes, more terrifying than the wolf eyes he encountered in the wasteland. Niu Jinda was shaking like he had malaria. It took the old ox half a day to spit out a few words: “Kid, is this true?” Half of his eyes were hopeful and half pleading as he stared at Yun Ye.
“Uncle Niu, can you let my nephew down before answering your question? My nephew is about to be crushed to death by you.” Yun Ye seemed to hear his shoulder blades ringing.
“No, you answer now. If you dare to lie to me, I will tear you apart.” Old Niu was in a state of madness. If Yun Ye said no, I was afraid that the old fool would really tear himself apart.
But he didn’t dare to follow the example of Yutian Chengdu. Yun Ye hurriedly said, “Uncle Niu, my nephew climbed out of the water and threw away all the precious calligraphy and paintings that my teacher collected. He only held a few potatoes and was half-starved in the wilderness, but he didn’t dare to eat them. Do you think my nephew would talk nonsense?
“Why? Why didn’t you take this out thirty years ago? Do you know how my parents, brother, and younger sister died? They starved to death! Why did you only take this out now? Master, so what if you’re a master? Can a master just watch others’ parents, brothers, and sisters starve to death? Why should you get rich at the expense of others’ lives? Niu Jinda was spitting out words of anger, his eyes streaming with tears, shaking Yun Ye back and forth as if Yun Ye was the culprit who had killed his entire family.
Yun Ye was not nervous at all. He saw Niu Jinda’s heart-wrenching pain, and when he heard that there was a kind of crop that could easily provide food and clothing, he was overwhelmed with emotions and thought of the tragic death of his parents and siblings who had starved to death. So he went crazy, and his emotions needed to be vented. Yun Ye did not mind letting him vent his emotions through himself, of course, on the premise of not hurting himself.
He was thinking of how to make Lao Niu let go. A giant hand chopped at the side of Niu Jinda’s neck, and Lao Niu fell to the ground. Cheng Yaojin appeared with a dark face. He had just been hit by Lao Niu, and he could see that Lao Niu had gone crazy. Afraid that Yun Ye would be injured, he decisively knocked out Niu Jinda.
Yun Ye also sat on the ground, his arms hanging down at his sides, unable to exert any strength. Cheng Yaojin tore open Yun Ye’s clothes and gasped, only to see two black and blue handprints clearly visible on Yun Ye’s white shoulders.
“Little nephew is fine, uncle need not worry, only shoulder hurts badly, hands can’t use force, rest two days will be no harm. Uncle Niu’s heart is agitated, great sorrow is sad, need to be well nourished, must not be careless.” Yun Ye smiled and said to Lao Cheng.
“You’re a big boy, you can be so calm in an instant of life and death, and you still care about Lao Niu when you’re in pain like this. If you don’t make it in the future, it’s really against the law of nature.” Lao Cheng was very pleased with Yun Ye’s performance and turned to the surrounding officers and reprimanded them: “Lao Niu is hot-tempered and can’t hold back when he’s angry. You’ve been partners for years, but you don’t know how to dissuade him? Have you eaten all the food these years? If it weren’t for me coming, I’m afraid that Yun would have died or been killed. As a general, you don’t know how to change with the times. Each of you will be given twenty military canes. If you commit the same crime next time, you will be punished.
The officers bowed to accept the order and apologized to Yun Ye with a fist salute. Yun Ye said with a wry smile, “This was supposed to be a happy occasion, but this nonsense of the kid’s has caused you all to be punished. When Yun Ye’s injury is healed, I will cook a pot of meat to apologize to you all.”