Chen Yan, a doctor of agriculture, woke up and became an orphan from a poor family who was so hungry that he gnawed tree bark in the Yin Dynasty. Faced with the eager eyes of the clan elders and the upcoming autumn tax, he had no time to copy poems to become famous. Instead, he went directly to the fields: composting to improve the soil, breeding to prevent insects, and he tripled the yield of the clan fields.
In the county examination, he did not write empty stereotypes about morals. He wrote a piece of "Mud Tian Policy" that directly pointed out the agricultural abuses, from deep plowing to warehousing, every word was practical. The answer sheet with its unique painting style was astonishing all the way to the Jinluan Palace, and the emperor appointed him: This boy is pragmatic and should be the number one scholar!
After becoming an official, Chen Yan became the most "unfashionable" alien in the court. When his colleagues recite poems and write poems, he is calculating grain production; when aristocratic families form cliques for private gain, he is building water conservancy projects. When the Beidi cavalry pressed down on the border and there were no generals available in the court, everyone thought that the civil servant should panic. Chen Yan silently opened the map of the border granary - "The soldiers and horses have not moved, but the food and grass go first. I have prepared enough food for three years."
This is a silent war. There are no swords and swords, only the rise and fall of food prices and the empty and empty warehouses. When the new emperor ascended the throne and wanted to confer a title on him, Chen Yan only held up a bunch of rice ears and said: "Your Majesty, the power of the world does not lie in the jade seal, but in this handful of mud that can keep the people from going hungry."
