Sir, You Absolutely Cannot, This is the Ninth Prince

The next day.

Fang Heng arrived at the Seed Selection Department's offices.

It was his first day on the job, and he'd even arrived a quarter of an hour early.

As soon as he stepped into the Seed Selection Department, he found the offices already packed with people.

Every single official, big and small, from the Seed Selection Department was present, not one missing.

"Your humble servant greets Your Highness."

"You are all too kind, esteemed officials."

"Now that I'm in the Seed Selection Department, I am merely an Assistant Director of the Seed Selection Department, not any sort of Highness."

Fang Heng's demeanor was gentle, his face beaming, appearing approachable and amiable.

These grand, high-sounding words immediately put all the officials of the Seed Selection Department at ease.

Some even began to ponder Fang Heng's preferences.

Beautiful women?

Fine wine?

Gambling?

Calligraphy and painting?

In short, they wanted to cater to his tastes.

Previously, they had wanted to curry favor but had no one to attach themselves to.

Now, with such a powerful figure actively presenting himself, if they didn't seize the opportunity, they'd only be doing themselves a disservice.

Everyone in the Seed Selection Department had their own thoughts.

After surveying the crowd, Fang Heng spotted Xu Xingzhi, the Director of the Seed Selection Department, and took the initiative to greet him.

"Greetings, Director Xu."

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare! Your Highness is too kind."

"Your Highness, the Seed Selection Department has twelve sections in total, divided into the upper six sections and the lower six sections."

"The roster for the lower six sections has been handed over to Your Highness."

Upon taking office, Xu Xingzhi readily handed over the roster for the lower six sections, which was within Fang Heng's expectations.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture's rules, the Seed Selection Department's upper six sections were under the Director's jurisdiction, and the lower six sections were under the Assistant Director's jurisdiction.

Therefore, handing over the roster for the lower six sections was only natural.

Of course, this was just in theory.

How the twelve sections were actually divided, and how many sections the Director and Assistant Director each oversaw, depended on the power struggle between the two.

Whose background was stronger?

Whose abilities were greater?

Whose seniority was higher?

All of these would influence the division and jurisdiction of the twelve sections.

Seeing Xu Xingzhi being so cooperative, Fang Heng naturally wouldn't make things difficult for him and would give him face.

"Thank you, Director Xu, for the guidance."

After exchanging pleasantries with Xu Xingzhi, Fang Heng got up to leave and went to his own office.

"Steward Tian, give me the situation for the lower six sections."

Fang Heng took a sip of fragrant tea and said calmly.

As a steward in the Seed Selection Department, Tian Sheng had already decided to pledge his loyalty to Fang Heng after learning that Fang Heng was appointed Assistant Director of the Seed Selection Department.

Even if he was a prince with no hope of becoming emperor, he was still a prince.

If he could attach himself to such a powerful figure, he might finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and leave this dreadful place, the Seed Selection Department.

Tian Sheng put his full effort into explaining the situation of the lower six sections to Fang Heng.

"…Among them, there are a total of one hundred and twenty-five people out searching for superior crops…"

"Have them all return."

Fang Heng's tone was calm as he issued his first order since arriving at the Seed Selection Department.

Upon hearing this, Tian Sheng was momentarily stunned.

"Recall all of them?"

"But, Your Highness… they all have tasks to complete, and there's an annual assessment from the Ministry of Personnel. This year is also the year of the Capital Inspection…"

Before Tian Sheng could finish speaking, Fang Heng waved his hand, cutting him off.

"No 'buts'!"

"Just do as I say."

"There's no need to worry about the Ministry of Personnel's assessment."

Upon hearing this, Tian Sheng felt a surge of excitement.

He really hadn't misjudged the man!

As expected of the Ninth Prince, he can even handle the Ministry of Personnel's assessment.

He truly has incredible power!

"How many crop varieties does the Seed Selection Department have? Take me to see them!" Fang Heng ordered.

"Your Highness, the Seed Selection Department has collected 126,000 types of crop seeds from all over the world, all stored in the warehouse."

"Your Highness, please follow me."

Tian Sheng wasn't surprised at all that Fang Heng wanted to inspect the Seed Selection Department's crops.

He led Fang Heng to the Seed Selection Department's warehouse.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

"Greetings, Master Tian."

The warehouse guards bowed in greeting.

"Open the door, I want to go in and take a look."

Creak!

The warehouse door opened.

Rows upon rows of cabinets stood in the warehouse.

They were densely packed, like a maze.

These cabinets were similar to those in a traditional Chinese medicine shop, divided into uniformly sized drawers.

Each drawer contained a type of crop seed.

"Your Highness, these two rows of cabinets contain wheat seeds."

"These two rows are rice seeds!"

Midway through Tian Sheng's introduction, Fang Heng suddenly stopped.

He stood beside the two rows of cabinets storing rice seeds and asked, "Master Tian, are there any rice varieties in the warehouse that cannot produce grains?"

Rice that can't produce grains?!

Fang Heng's question momentarily stunned Tian Sheng.

The purpose of the Seed Selection Department was to select high-yield crops.

Why would they care about rice varieties that couldn't produce grains?

This Ninth Prince's ideas are truly strange.

Though he grumbled internally, Tian Sheng didn't care what Fang Heng's true purpose was. To curry favor with Fang Heng, he thought carefully.

A moment later.

"Your Highness, I remember now."

"There is indeed a type of rice in the warehouse that cannot produce grains."

"It was discovered by the previous Director. After several years of research yielded no results, it was sealed away in the warehouse."

Hearing Tian Sheng's words, Fang Heng's eyes lit up.

His brows relaxed, and he secretly rejoiced.

Male Sterile Plant, this is a key technology in hybrid rice.

With Male Sterile Plant, he could use the Three-Line Method to cultivate hybrid rice on a large scale.

"Bring me the rice that cannot produce grains. I wish to study it."

Fang Heng nodded slightly and said in a deep voice, without showing any hint of joy on his face.

Tian Sheng didn't know Fang Heng's intentions and was quite suspicious, but he didn't think much of it.

If the Ninth Prince wanted it, he would give it to him.

It was just a rice variety that couldn't produce grains, nothing more.

The Male Sterile Plant was sealed in a special sandalwood box. Even after several years, it was still full of vitality.

After obtaining the Male Sterile Plant rice, Fang Heng had no further desire to tour the warehouse and left directly.

Back in his office, Fang Heng dismissed Tian Sheng, that persistent shadow, and began cultivating hybrid rice using the Three-Line Method.

The Male Sterile Plant is scientifically known as the Sterile Line.

The Sterile Line, when hybridized with a homozygous Restorer Line, can produce Hybrid Rice.

The Restorer Line is homozygous, so it can be continuously obtained simply by self-pollination.

Therefore, the difficulty with Hybrid Rice lies in:

How to continuously obtain Male Sterile Plants.

Male Sterile Plants have undeveloped male gametes and no pollen.

Thus, they cannot self-pollinate to produce seeds, making large-scale cultivation impossible.

The brilliance of the Three-Line Method is that the Sterile Line is hybridized with the homozygous Maintainer Line, continuously producing Male Sterile Plants.

Hybridizing the Sterile Line and the Maintainer Line yields the Sterile Line.

Self-pollinating the Maintainer Line yields the Maintainer Line.

Self-pollinating the Restorer Line yields the Restorer Line.

This cycle allows for the continuous production of the maternal parent for Hybrid Rice.

After simulating the entire Hybrid Rice cultivation process multiple times in his mind, Fang Heng began to act.

Awakening of Insects Master

Activate!

It extracted the vitality of plants and injected it into ordinary rice seeds.

The seeds rooted and sprouted at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In less than a quarter of an hour, a fully grown rice plant appeared in Fang Heng's hand.

He removed the seeds and continued cultivating.

After several generations of selection, Fang Heng easily obtained the homozygous Maintainer Line and Sterile Line.

All three lines of rice were now in his possession.

Fang Heng felt a great sense of calm, a slight smile playing on his lips.

The final step was to hybridize the Sterile Line and the Restorer Line to obtain Hybrid Rice.

"Tian Sheng, gather everyone and await my orders…"

Cultivating Hybrid Rice was arduous work.

Just the step of artificial pollination was extremely tedious.

If Fang Heng were to do it alone, he wouldn't finish until who knows when.

The human resources of the six lower departments would be wasted if not utilized.

In Xu Xingzhi's office.

"What is the Ninth Prince doing?" Xu Xingzhi asked, setting down a memorial and rubbing his wrists.

"Master, the Ninth Prince has gathered everyone from the six lower departments to plant rice in the fields."

Fang Heng gathering everyone from the six lower departments caused such a stir that it couldn't be hidden from others.

"Results so quickly."

Xu Xingzhi was momentarily stunned upon hearing this.

He subconsciously thought that perhaps the Ninth Prince had long discovered high-yield crops and was deliberately coming to the Seed Selection Department to gain merit.

"Indeed, it's easier to get things done when you have connections in court!"

"We've worked so hard and still can't find high-yield crops."

"Yet, an unremarkable prince like him can find them with ease."

"Sigh—"

"This world—"

Xu Xingzhi swallowed the words "How terribly unfair" halfway through.

Having navigated the officialdom for twenty years, he knew which words could be said and which could not.

Even if the Ninth Prince didn't care about his words, there were always sycophants who would twist them to curry favor with him.

The servant moved his lips slightly and whispered, "Master, I don't think what the Ninth Prince is planting is high-yield rice."

"Then what is it?"

"It's that kind of rice in the warehouse that doesn't produce grains."

"Even the people who were out searching for crops have been called back."

Bang—

Xu Xingzhi slammed his palm heavily on the desk, making it vibrate.

"Nonsense!"

"Why waste manpower planting rice that can't even bear grain?"

"This is utterly outrageous!"

Xu Xingzhi was practically fuming.

He had thought Fang Heng was here to gain experience and earn merit.

He never expected the other party to be here to cause trouble.

Xu Xingzhi had long heard about those rice seeds that couldn't bear grain.

The previous Director of the Seed Selection Department had been obsessed with researching this type of rice.

He'd received "inferior" ratings in the Ministry of Personnel's evaluations for three consecutive years and was subsequently demoted to Yazhou.

As a prince, Fang Heng naturally wasn't afraid of the Ministry of Personnel's evaluations.

But everyone in their Seed Selection Department would be in trouble.

"Follow me to the fields."

His subordinate quickly tried to dissuade him, a bitter expression on his face.

"Master, absolutely not!"

"This is the Ninth Prince."

"So what if he's the Ninth Prince?"

"This is the Seed Selection Department, not his princely estate."

"I will absolutely not stand by and watch the Ninth Prince behave like this."

"Even if it costs me my position, I must stop him."

Xu Xingzhi's face was filled with righteous indignation, his integrity unwavering.

His subordinate inwardly groaned.

He knew his master was a man of unyielding integrity.

He just never expected him to be so unyielding as to dare to contradict a prince.

Too reckless!