DLERB -Chapter 23 Five Thousand Jin Per Mu? Chancellor, You Finally Understand Me!

As Ying Ziye’s crisp applause echoed through the hall—

heavy, synchronized footsteps sounded from outside the palace doors.

Dozens of Jinyiwei dressed in flying-fish uniforms marched in expressionlessly.

Working in pairs, they carried over a dozen massive wooden chests.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The chests were heavily set down in the center of the hall, each thud tightening the hearts of the gathered officials.

But it still was not over.

Several more Jinyiwei entered carrying a small bronze stove, a half-man-tall bronze cooking pot, and several large barrels of water.

With swift, practiced movements, they actually began lighting a fire right in the middle of the court hall before the assembled civil and military officials.

Whoosh!

Flames sprang upward instantly.

The atmosphere inside the hall became indescribably bizarre.

The officials knelt on the floor with their heads lowered even further, not daring to breathe loudly.

Madness!

Was this little ancestor planning to cook inside Qilin Hall?!

“Open them.”

From atop the dragon throne, Ying Ziye gave the childish command.

“Yes!”

The Jinyiwei stepped forward and simultaneously lifted the lids from all the large chests.

There was no gold or silver.

No weapons or torture devices.

Only chest after chest filled with dark, round objects covered in fresh soil.

The officials secretly raised their eyes for a quick glance before hurriedly lowering them again.

Every face was filled with confusion.

What was this?

Clumps of dirt?

The Regent Young Master had dragged corpses from the execution grounds, and now he had dug up piles of dirt from the earth?

What exactly was he trying to do?

Ying Ziye hopped down from the dragon throne and walked over with his short little legs to the chests.

He casually picked one up, tossed it lightly in his hand, then held it up high.

“My dear ministers, have any of you seen this before?”

Silence filled the hall.

No one dared answer.

Ying Ziye’s gaze swept across the frightened faces before finally landing on an official from the Ministry of Agriculture.

“You there, Agricultural Vice Minister. Tell me, what is this?”

The named official was a little old man nearly fifty years old. His entire body shook so badly he almost collapsed.

Only after a colleague beside him shoved him forward did he tremblingly step out and kneel on the ground.

“R-replying to Young Master… this humble official… this humble official is ignorant and has… has never seen such a thing before.”

Ying Ziye tilted his little head.

“Look more carefully.”

The Agricultural Vice Minister shakily raised his head and glanced at the “clump of dirt” in Ying Ziye’s hand.

Swallowing hard, he gathered the greatest courage of his life.

“Young Master… this object… its appearance resembles certain poisonous roots this official has seen in the countryside. It… it may contain deadly poison and absolutely must not be eaten!”

As soon as he spoke, several civil officials subconsciously nodded.

It was a reasonable answer—he had responded to the question while also protecting the Young Master’s dignity.

Hearing this, Ying Ziye smiled.

“Poisonous?”

He tossed the “clump of dirt” in his hand to a nearby Jinyiwei.

“Wash it clean and boil it together with the others in the pot.”

“As you command!”

The Jinyiwei threw the potato into a bucket of water, quickly scrubbed away the dirt to reveal yellow skin beneath, and tossed it into the boiling water together with the dozen or so potatoes already cleaned inside the pot.

Not long afterward—a strange yet comforting aroma mixed with the fragrance of earth drifted from the bronze pot.

This simple scent mingled with the solemn sandalwood incense of the hall and the faint lingering smell of blood on the officials’ robes, creating an indescribably eerie atmosphere.

As the officials smelled the aroma, their stomachs growled traitorously.

Only then did they realize they had not eaten or drunk anything since the previous night.

“It’s ready.”

Ying Ziye’s voice rang out.

A Jinyiwei used long chopsticks to lift out a steaming-hot potato, dipped it briefly in cool water, swiftly peeled away the skin, and presented it.

The golden-yellow potato steamed with heat and released an irresistibly rich aroma.

Under the horrified gazes of the officials—

Ying Ziye accepted the potato and took a huge bite.

While chewing, he mumbled praise through his mouthful.

“Mmm… delicious!”

The officials stared in complete shock.

That Agricultural Vice Minister, in particular, turned deathly pale, trembling like a leaf in a storm.

It’s over!

The little ancestor ate poison!

If anything happened to him, everyone in this hall would be buried alongside him!

Ying Ziye quickly finished half the potato in a few bites, clapped his little hands, and handed the remaining half to Qinglong.

“Reward him with it.”

Qinglong accepted the half-eaten potato and walked over to the Agricultural Vice Minister, expressionlessly extending it toward him.

Looking at the steaming potato, the minister saw not food, but a fatal poison.

His legs gave out and he collapsed onto the floor, tears and mucus streaming down his face.

“Spare me, Young Master! Spare me! This humble official… this humble official isn’t hungry!”

Qinglong said nothing.

He simply stood there, looking down at him from above.

That gaze was colder than the executioner’s blade on the killing grounds.

The Agricultural Vice Minister’s crying suddenly stopped.

He knew that if he refused to eat, he would die immediately.

If he ate it, he might live a little longer.

Trembling, he stretched out his hand and took the half potato. Closing his eyes like a man marching toward execution, he bit down hard.

Soft.

Fragrant.

Sweet.

A flavor unlike anything he had ever experienced before—a pure, natural grain-like richness—burst across his tongue.

The Agricultural Vice Minister’s eyes snapped open.

He froze in place, even forgetting to chew.

His face filled with overwhelming shock and disbelief.

“Well? Is it poisonous?”

Ying Ziye asked cheerfully.

As if waking from a dream, the official hurriedly swallowed the potato in his mouth, then completely abandoned all decorum and stuffed the remaining bits into his mouth in a few quick bites.

After finishing, he even licked his fingers reluctantly, still unsatisfied.

Suddenly, he raised his head and looked at Ying Ziye, his eyes blazing with unprecedented excitement.

“Young Master! This… this is a divine artifact! A divine artifact!”

So overwhelmed that he could barely speak coherently, he immediately knelt and slammed his forehead heavily against the floor before Ying Ziye.

“This thing is soft and delicious—its taste surpasses the finest millet a hundredfold! This flavor alone is enough to… enough to…”

Ying Ziye waved his hand at the man’s emotional outburst.

“Being tasty alone doesn’t make it divine.”

He walked over to the pile of chests and patted one lightly.

“This thing is called a potato.”

“The best thing about it isn’t the taste.”

Turning around, he faced the assembled civil and military officials and spoke word by word in his childish voice.

“It’s that one mu of land can produce five thousand jin.”

Boom!!!

The entire Qilin Hall felt as though struck by thunder.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Every official stared with eyes wide and mouths agape, as if frozen by magic.

F-five thousand jin?

Had they heard wrong?

Even the best fertile land in Great Qin, blessed with perfect weather, produced at most three hundred jin of millet per mu!

Five thousand jin?!

What kind of concept was that?

It meant that one mu of land could feed as many people as more than ten mu had before!

After the brief silence came an eruption like a volcano.

“Impossible!”

A Confucian official screamed uncontrollably.

“That’s absolutely impossible! Five thousand jin per mu has never been heard of! This is pure fantasy!”

“Exactly! The Young Master is only eight years old—he must have been deceived!”

“That’s right! How could such a thing possibly exist?!”

Voices of doubt rose one after another.

The officials’ reason simply could not accept such a number.

Just as the hall descended into chaos—

the old general Wang Jian, who had been resting quietly with closed eyes the entire time, slowly opened them.

He stepped forward.

“Silence!”

His steady voice struck like a heavy hammer, instantly quieting the entire hall.

Wang Jian walked to the center of the chamber and bowed respectfully toward the dragon throne.

He ignored the potatoes entirely and instead looked directly at Ying Ziye as he asked, word by word:

“May I ask, Young Master… is the claim of five thousand jin per mu truly real?”

His voice was not loud, yet it carried immense weight.

Everyone held their breath.

They understood that Wang Jian was not merely asking about a number.

He was asking about the fate of Great Qin itself!

Ying Ziye blinked his large, clear eyes, his face full of innocent sincerity.

“Of course it’s true.”

He answered as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

“This Young Master personally calculated it, so it can’t be wrong!”

“When have I ever lied to anyone?”

That innocent childlike answer caused the officials—who had only just calmed down—to become uneasy once more.

Calculated by an eight-year-old child?

Could that really be trusted?

Just as everyone hesitated and the atmosphere in the hall once again reached a deadlock—

someone moved.

It was Chancellor Li Si.

Li Si, who since the beginning of court had knelt there like a walking corpse.

Slowly, as though using every ounce of strength in his body, he stood up from the floor.

His robes were disordered, his hair and beard completely white, his eyes bloodshot, as though his soul had been drained away overnight.

Step by step, staggering slightly, he walked to the center of the hall.

The gaze of every official focused on him simultaneously.

Li Si looked at no one.

He simply faced Ying Ziye’s direction and dropped heavily to his knees.

In a hoarse voice rough like sandpaper scraping stone, he forced the words from his throat.

“Young Master…”

“If this object truly possesses such miraculous properties…”

“This minister requests that experimental fields immediately be opened outside the city walls, and that experienced old farmers from across the nation be invited so the people of Xianyang may personally witness this miracle descending upon the world!”

Ying Ziye looked at Li Si kneeling there with his head deeply lowered.

A brilliantly radiant smile spread across the little boy’s exquisitely delicate face.

“Chancellor, you finally understand what I mean.”