After the execution ground incident ended, Yin Shuangshuang originally wanted to inspect the villages and lands around Qinglin County, as spring planting was only two months away, and as the County Magistrate, she naturally had to be concerned.

Unfortunately, because Yin Shuangshuang had stayed at the execution ground all day, the weather seemed fine at the time, but she ended up with a high fever upon returning.

This time, Ying Chang’an and Heng Yue showed no mercy, each making Yin Shuangshuang drink a bowl of Coptis water, which was so bitter that she couldn’t eat properly for several days.

Yin Shuangshuang knew she should take a couple of days to rest and recuperate. The reason she was so easily ill again was due to the previous illness not being thoroughly cured from the last visit to the gold mine.

However, the county affairs were numerous, and she had no time to rest. Many of those whose tongues had been cut off were either taken away by family or had no home to return to, needing her arrangements.

Measuring land, distributing relief grains, building houses—these people were not in good health, and certainly couldn’t endure heavy labor. Yin Shuangshuang also had to think of finding them a lighter means of living.

After much thought, Yin Shuangshuang could only think of herding. Outside Qinglin County, there was a large plain; although the soil wasn’t great, and the crop yield would definitely be poor, it could support extensive cultivation of Zurangela.

Zurangela is a type of green manure, not picky about the land on which it grows, and serves as a natural fertilizer.

By planting a crop of Zurangela before sowing the land, and turning it over into the soil before planting grain, it fertilizes the soil excellently.

Besides being green manure and nurturing the land, Zurangela is also an excellent fodder that livestock enjoy.

Moreover, Zurangela is particularly cold-resistant, can be planted year-round, and blooms every season. Crop after crop can be sown without worrying about harming the soil.

Compared to farming, herding is much easier, and planting Zurangela isn’t as meticulous or tiring as grain cultivation. Once their health improves, they can handle this amount of labor.

Yin Shuangshuang immediately wrote to the Emperor to request help in finding Zurangela seeds, also briefly explaining its uses, as there was no precedent for using green manure in this dynasty.

Yin Shuangshuang made a special effort to inform the Emperor about several types of green manure suitable for different regions and encouraged the Emperor to test its utility in several places and then promote it.

Yin Shuangshuang planned to have people breed some cattle and sheep. Sheep is the common meat nowadays, as people in ancient times ate mutton and not pork, while cattle were used for plowing.

Now farming relies entirely on manual labor, and without ranches, breeding cattle depends on families who own cattle to reproduce one or two, which is merely a drop in the bucket.

The biggest hassle in breeding is the almost inevitable epidemic problem in large herds. Modern breeding can scale up because of various medications available for vaccinations.

No research had been done on this in ancient times, and since people couldn’t control the losses caused by epidemics, they could only breed in small quantities. As a result, meat sources were scarce, prices were high, and few people could afford it.

Even if Qinglin County managed to establish a ranch, its products could only be sold to wealthy families and affluent households, but if ranches could scale up, there would be no worry about promotion elsewhere.

As long as there were enough ranches, eventually, every common person in the world could eat meat, even if not daily, at least more than just once or twice a year.

In the previous life of Nangong Shuangshuang, Yin Shuangshuang was highly skilled in medicine, but unfortunately, now she only had memory and had no time to relearn medicine.

However, with Heng Yue and Ying Chang’an, two highly skilled physicians, Yin Shuangshuang planned to think of some way to have these two help with research.

Heng Yue was straightforward; as long as she spoke, his personality would agree, but Ying Chang’an was a bit troublesome, being headstrong, even more stubborn than Heng Yue, who dared to force the Emperor to drink Coptis water.

Moreover, Ying Chang’an liked challenging the difficult and rare, unwilling to act unless faced with a difficult disease. When it came to rare diseases... an idea suddenly sparked in Yin Shuangshuang’s mind.

......

Early in the morning, Ying Chang’an found several sickly animals in the county government’s garden, including pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese.

Because these animals were sick, the smell from them was quite unpleasant, and Ying Chang’an immediately frowned.

Seeing Yin Shuangshuang, wrapped in a cloak and holding a warm stove, standing in the courtyard observing these sickly animals, Ying Chang’an’s eyebrow immediately raised.

"You brought all these sickly animals here and came here yourself; are you afraid your health is too good not to catch an illness, or do you think animal diseases can’t transmit to humans, so you feel secure?"

Yin Shuangshuang was unfazed by Ying Chang’an’s sarcastic remark, lightly smiling as she said, "I originally thought about researching a formula that could prevent and treat livestock diseases.

So, I thought of Doctor Ying and Imperial Doctor Heng; both of you are highly skilled, and a prescription shouldn’t be too difficult for you.

But then I thought, both of you treat humans and might not be adept at treating livestock. Although both involve treating illnesses, as the saying goes, different trades are separated by mountains.

I suppose treating livestock might be a kind of rare disease for you, so I won’t trouble you. So, I’m thinking about how to dispose of these animals."

At first, when Yin Shuangshuang spoke, Ying Chang’an’s expression was disdainful, but when she mentioned rare diseases, his interest was piqued.

However, though intrigued, Ying Chang’an didn’t respond, but when Yin Shuangshuang said she wouldn’t trouble them, his eyebrows shot up with dissatisfaction at being underestimated by her.

At this time, the servants following Yin Shuangshuang’s instructions had already started to clear out the sick animals.

Ying Chang’an, in a panic, immediately raised his hand and waved, "Hold on, take them to my courtyard; I’ve treated people, and I refuse to believe I can’t treat these animals!"

After saying this, Ying Chang’an gave Yin Shuangshuang a sideways glance, turned on his heel, and left, while behind him, Yin Shuangshuang couldn’t help but laugh. Despite Ying Chang’an’s age, he acted willfully like a child once familiar with someone.

It helped that everyone around indulged him, even Heng Yue, who appeared to clash with him, subtly deferred to him.

"My lord, have a cup of hot tea." Just when Yin Shuangshuang was pleased with Ying Chang’an taking the bait, Gao Ya came over with a tea cup, which was naturally medicinal tea.

Yin Shuangshuang took the tea cup from Gao Ya, sipped the bitter and far from pleasant tea, and curled her bitter-tasting tongue as if her taste buds were becoming increasingly numb now.

Warming her hands with the tea cup, Yin Shuangshuang looked at the demure and quiet Gao Ya beside her, "I’ve already said not to dwell on past matters; I haven’t taken that matter to heart. You have your Rouge Pavilion to manage; why waste your time with me?"