Chapter Ninety-Two: Calculating Output

Seeing that this matter could not be dodged, Li Yuechen began to think about what she should do.

To be honest, in the life she had planned for herself, serving as an official at court had never been an option.

At first, she had assumed that, as a girl, inventing a few things to earn goodwill and persuading Li Zhi to let her open a shop and make money was already the limit.

She had never imagined that an emperor in this age would dare to think and act even more boldly than she, a person from the future, and would actually take the initiative to propose letting women serve as officials at court.

She was a princess, yes, but a princess was still a woman.

Once that door was opened, it would not only shake the court, it would shake the entire realm.

People of old were not fond of change. They only wanted to follow the ancestral rules. Partly to avoid trouble, partly because they were used to the system and comfortable with it.

But now the emperor himself was leading the way in breaking with ancestral law, and no one could tell what consequences would follow.

Li Zhi beckoned, and Zhang Chengxin, reading the room perfectly, handed over the health balls.

“What does Hong’er think of this matter?”

Seeing the ball being kicked to him, Li Hong was momentarily taken aback. He raised a hand and stroked the beard he had only recently begun to grow. “I think Yuechen is exceptionally gifted. If she were a man, of course there would be no problem, but after all…”

In the end, it was still a troublesome issue.

Li Zhi’s thinking might be advanced, but that did not mean his son was equally forward-looking. A system that had endured for a thousand years was not so easily changed.

The same old truth held: this nation had always been governed by men. Even Empress Wu, who had ascended the throne, had merely defeated men, not patriarchy.

Allowing women to serve in office was not as simple as the emperor saying a word. There were many problems that had to be solved first.

“You need not consider anything else,” Li Zhi said with a wave of his hand. “Just tell me what you think of it.”

Li Hong nodded. “I am naturally willing.”

He knew this younger sister well. She was intelligent, and everything she invented was extremely useful. Now she was even researching how to increase crop yields.

With talent like that, if she truly entered officialdom, she could surely raise the empire’s overall strength in a very real way.

What worried him was not whether his sister could do the work, but her gender.

Li Zhi nodded. “In that case, once the rice in Anfu Hall has been harvested, Yuechen shall enter court service. Start her as Vice Minister of Revenue.”

“Father, I…” Li Yuechen tried to struggle one more time.

But Li Zhi turned his head and said, “Do not think I do not know you also invented a convenient numeral system, and even taught it to Xuancheng. The Ministry of Revenue controls the treasury and grain. With you there, I can rest easier!”

Wu Zetian smiled. “One person is enough to outshine many masters of calculation. Truly worthy of being Li Chunfeng’s disciple…”

I barely even met him a few times, all right? Li Yuechen grumbled to herself.

“Then… Father, if you insist on making me serve at court, may I ask one favor?”

“Speak.”

“When I attend court, I do not want to sit with the other ministers. I will listen from the corridor instead. Unless there is something important, I will not speak,” Li Yuechen said.

The reason was simple: in this era, ministers attended court while kneeling in a seated posture, and when presenting a memorial, they had to rise and step forward to speak.

Li Yuechen did not like kneeling very much. It always felt as though it pressed uncomfortably against her shins.

Li Zhi laughed and nodded. “Very well. As you wish.”

“Then I have no objections!” Li Yuechen said with a smile and nodded.

Fine, then she would be an official. In any case, it would not be much different from before. It would just mean a few extra tasks, like keeping accounts.

And those accounting tasks would also give Princess Xuancheng some experience. In the end, she herself would still not need to do much at all. It would amount to hanging a name on the roster.

As a princess, if I am late or do not show up to work, who would dare say anything? My father is the emperor. Are you going to lecture me?

Li Hong, sitting across from her, raised another question. “But how does Father intend to persuade the ministers?”

“No matter.”

Li Zhi looked relaxed, utterly confident. “Hong’er, when the time comes…”

He then began to explain his plan. Li Hong nodded from time to time to show he understood.

When he was done, Li Hong could not help exclaiming, “Father is brilliant!”

Beside him, Li Yuechen thought to herself, Some writer once said it right: sometimes, if you want to open a window in a room, you first have to argue for tearing down the roof.

A long while later, the four members of the family spent more than an hour talking in the Glazed Pavilion before finally settling the matter.

Li Yuechen returned to Anfu Hall with a helpless expression, took off her shoes, and stepped inside, only to see Princess Xuancheng doing practice problems at one side, while Princess Yiyang and Shangguan Wan’er played chess.

Seeing her return, Shangguan Wan’er turned and asked, “Your Highness does not seem happy. Were you scolded by the sage?”

“If I had only been scolded, that would have been better,” Li Yuechen said as she sat down beside the chessboard, still wearing that helpless look. “The truth is far worse than being scolded!”

Princess Yiyang moved closer, gave her a hug, and gently stroked her cheek. “What happened?”

Li Yuechen leaned against her chest and put on a pitiful expression. “From now on, there will be far less peace and quiet for me… Father wants me to serve as an official at court.”

“Serve as an official at court?” Princess Yiyang looked utterly incredulous.

Even Princess Xuancheng, and Madam Zheng, who had been cleaning the table nearby, looked up in shock.

After all, it was truly too unbelievable. It was almost rarer than seeing the sun rise in the west.

Princess Xuancheng set down her brush and came over. “Yuechen, what is going on?”

Li Yuechen waved a hand. “It is a long story… I will not explain it. In any case, I will need Sister’s help from now on!”

“I do not know what it is, but as long as it concerns Yuechen, Elder Sister will never stand by and do nothing,” Princess Xuancheng said, and hugged her as well.

Meanwhile, Madam Zheng had only just recovered from her shock. She lowered her head to think, and then slowly smiled.

This princess really was extraordinary, to be able to enter court service as a woman!

Thinking of that, she looked at her daughter’s back as the girl sat kneeling before the chessboard, and could not help but smile.

It seemed she no longer needed to worry that her daughter would be trapped and die within this deep palace after all.

Before long, it was the end of the sixth month. That day, all the ministers received word from the palace that the emperor had invited the court to a banquet.

The ministers who received the message were all baffled.

In this era, whether weddings or banquets, everything was held at night.

Now, in broad daylight, the emperor had suddenly announced a banquet for the ministers. Though they were confused, they immediately rose and headed into the palace.

That was feudal society for you: no matter what madness the emperor indulged in, the ministers could only endure it.

Today’s event had indeed been announced on short notice, and none of the ministers knew why this banquet was being held.

It was around ten-thirty in the morning. In a time when people ate only two meals a day, many had only just finished breakfast.

Even so, they had to ride in carriages, swallowing hard against the nauseating jolting all the way to the palace.

By the time all the officials had arrived, many of them looked unwell, and some even had reddened eyes.

Li Zhi smiled and had tea served first, so they could rinse their mouths and settle themselves.

Then he said with a laugh, “My lords are surely curious why I have set a banquet today.”

The ministers below all nodded subtly, signaling that they wanted to hear the reason.

After a pause, Li Zhi continued, “You all know that my daughter Taiping often studies all manner of ingenious and unusual devices. The princess plow, as well as the health balls now popular throughout the realm, were both invented by her.”

“In recent years, droughts have become frequent. Last year, Taiping suggested to me that she wished to study how to increase grain yield. So I allowed her to conduct trials in a small garden within the palace. A few days ago, the rice was harvested, and today we are to thresh and shell it. Come with me and take a look.”

With that, he turned and walked inward, and the ministers followed in a daze.

At the same time, small groups of them whispered among themselves. Since the emperor himself was taking them to see it, the result was surely something worth looking at.

Still, if grain yields truly could be increased, it would be a good thing for the Great Tang.

The ministers discussed it in hushed voices as they followed the emperor to Anfu Hall.

On the other side, inside Anfu Hall, Li Yuechen was sitting on the railing of Ripple Pavilion, leaning against a pillar and yawning.

Originally, Xiao He had suggested that since the ministers were coming today, she ought to wear formal robes, but Li Yuechen had refused.

After all, this appearance of hers was already common knowledge. Besides, as a princess in my own right, why should I bother catering to them?

So today Li Yuechen was still wearing a bright red men’s round-collared robe, with a high ponytail tied up by a vivid red cord, looking carefree and unrestrained.

Her two elder sisters, however, were dressed in formal robes and looked quite solemn.

As for Shangguan Wan’er, Li Yuechen had told her that after paying respects to the emperor and empress later, she should simply return to the hall. Remaining here would only make her uncomfortable.

Soon, Xiao He, who had been keeping watch outside, hurried in. “Your Highness, they are here!”

“Mm.”

Li Yuechen answered, jumped down from the railing, stretched, and straightened her clothes.

Not long after, the emperor and empress appeared at the entrance to Anfu Hall with the civil and military officials behind them.

At this time, though they were called the civil and military officials, the ministers Li Zhi had brought were only those who normally attended court; there were not nearly a hundred of them.

Court audiences in the Tang dynasty varied according to occasion. In general, major sacrificial rites or the grand New Year audience brought the largest number of officials. Many local officials were also required to attend, and in such cases the audience could include more than a thousand people.

There were also the first and fifteenth day court audiences, which were medium-sized assemblies. All officials in the capital with rank were required to attend, and the number could also exceed one hundred.

Most minor officials, however, could only listen outside the hall and never had the chance to go in.

Even among the officials in the capital, many went their entire lives without ever seeing the emperor with their own eyes.

As for the regular court audiences, only officials in the capital of the fifth rank or above attended.

That sounded like a lot of people, but in this period there were only a handful of officials above the third rank; the rest were retirees enjoying their stipends.

So in truth, the number of people who attended court on ordinary days was only about forty.

And those who came today were the same group.

Thinking of it, Li Yuechen could not help wanting to laugh. In the Tang dynasty, there had once been a post called Director of the Secretariat, a position of the second rank, and it had originally held real power.

But now no one dared take it, because before he became emperor, the previous ruler, Li Er, had held that post.

After that, everyone had feared the ominous association, and by now it had become nothing more than an empty office.

Seeing that the emperor and empress had already come in with everyone, Li Yuechen raised a hand and rubbed her face to suppress her smile, then bowed together with her two elder sisters and the attendants.

The ministers behind the imperial couple, however, could not help widening their eyes at the sight before them.

Spread out on the ground was a glittering expanse of golden rice heads.

After a moment, they began to discuss it quietly, their voices still laced with disbelief.

These rice plants had been harvested three days earlier. Once they had been dried, they were to be shelled today.

The quantity did not look especially large, but if one considered the size of the plot beside it, the yield was astonishing.

No one suspected it had been brought in from elsewhere as a token showing. Even the emperor would not joke about such a matter.

Li Zhi smiled and told the princesses and attendants to rise, then led everyone inside.

Li Yuechen quietly waved a hand, signaling Shangguan Wan’er and the others to return first, leaving only Fu Lai and Xiao He waiting at the back.

Then she stood beside the imperial couple, obedient as could be.

Li Zhi turned slightly and glanced at the ministers gathered in small groups behind him, then waved a hand. “Begin. Let us see what the result is.”

“Yes!”

Zhang Chengxin answered and immediately had the prepared workers begin shelling the grain.

Seeing the ministers’ astonished expressions, Li Yuechen quietly sidled two steps over to Liu Rengui and asked in a low voice, “Master, what do you think?”

“Your Highness is truly unfathomable,” Liu Rengui replied softly. “This is a great blessing indeed.”

“Oh, Master flatters me too much,” Li Yuechen said with a proud little expression. “Your disciple is only lucky, that is all!”

Watching her put on a playful show, Liu Rengui merely smiled. “If possible, your master would also like to have such luck.”

Threshing and shelling rice was a troublesome task in itself, but with so many hands, the work moved quickly.

The ministers behind Li Zhi talked among themselves about how great the yield might be, and exactly what method could have produced grain so robust.

Judging by appearance alone, the rice heads were thick and the grains full. They already surpassed the crops outside.

And with such quantity besides, the result was obvious enough.

Because there were enough workers, it took only about an hour before two baskets of rice grains were placed before everyone.

Li Yuechen found herself a little curious. For some reason, rice in this era did not seem as white or as bright as the rice of the future. It even looked a little yellow.

But considering that the rice of the future had been specially bred, she did not dwell on it. In any case, everyone present seemed to find it perfectly normal.

After carefully confirming the weight, the official in charge turned and bowed respectfully. “Reporting to Your Majesty, the total grain yield from this plot is forty-seven and a half jin!”

Princess Xuancheng, standing nearby, subconsciously replied, “In that case, converted to one mu, it would be about two hundred eighty-five jin!”

A sharp intake of breath swept through the first few rows of ministers!