Ci Jinzhi

Wen County is not a prosperous and rich place. There is no palace and there is no time to build it temporarily. Emperor Xingyuan stayed in a manor provided by a local wealthy gentleman.

This manor is located in the west of the city. It covers a large area and is surrounded by mountains and rivers. Although it is not as exquisite as the royal manor, it has its own interest.

Breathing the air with the fragrance of flowers, Emperor Xingyuan sighed: "Although Wen County is not famous, it is a good place."

Afterwards, there was no need to go into details about the banquet. When it was all over, Emperor Xingyuan asked Sun Yan, the eunuch who returned to his side: "How are you and Marquis Changle doing during this time?"

The image of the two quietly holding hands flashed through Sun Yan's mind, and he said with a sincere face: "Reporting to Your Majesty, in the past few months, Princess Ayou and Marquis Changle have been in love, and have never exceeded the limits of courtesy."

Emperor Xingyuan was greatly relieved, and his resentment towards He Qingxiao for bullying the emperor dissipated a lot: "He knows the rules." Then he became a little suspicious: a hot-blooded young man who was with his sweetheart every day, could actually maintain his own etiquette, that boy is Can Liu Xiahui make it?

Or is there something wrong with him?
Thinking of this possibility, Emperor Xingyuan felt conflicted.

"Your Majesty, please go to bed early. You have worked hard all the way and take a rest." Sun Yan advised.

But Emperor Xingyuan couldn't sleep: "Where is the sweet potato field? Is it ready to be harvested? How many have been planted in total..."

Sun Yan responded one by one, some knew it and some didn't.

Emperor Xingyuan then took a bath, changed clothes and rested.

Early the next morning, Emperor Xingyuan, accompanied by his ministers, went to the sweet potato field in person.

When he saw a large field of grass and vines, Emperor Xingyuan looked surprised: "So many have been planted?"

This is different from what Sun Yan said.

Xinyou explained: "Of these five acres of land, only one acre is planted with sweet potatoes. The other fields are planted with vines similar to sweet potato vines. The same is true for the other two fields."

Emperor Xingyuan was startled and then understood.

This is to prevent vandalism, so plant something similar in appearance to sweet potato vines for cover.

"It looks good. Is this a low-grade field?"

After receiving a positive answer, Emperor Xingyuan went to inspect the middle and upper fields.

He is a martial arts practitioner and has spent many years as an emperor. He is still full of energy when he returns to the manor where he is staying after such a trip, but some ministers are a little overwhelmed.

Emperor Xingyuan sat down in the hall used for discussions, with a smile on his lips.

Although the yield of sweet potatoes is not yet known, seeing the lush fields with your own eyes and thinking about the delicious taste of sweet potatoes will make you feel bad.

"Everyone has seen it, right? What is grown in that field are sweet potatoes."

Emperor Xingyuan's tone was filled with excitement, but the mood of the ministers was different: confusion, suspicion, helplessness... In short, it felt like they had traveled thousands of miles to see the treasure, but had been deceived.

The Minister of Household Affairs asked: "Your Majesty, what exactly are these sweet potatoes? What are their uses?"

Can it be eaten, extracted for oil, or used medicinally?

Emperor Xingyuan glanced at Xinyou and said with a smile: "Sweet potatoes can be used as a staple food."

Staple food?

The ministers looked at each other with strange expressions.

It's such a big deal, is it just staple food like rice and wheat?

This time, some people were disappointed, while others were secretly happy.

The things Xinyou tinkered with were worthless, so there was no threat.

"Ayou." Emperor Xingyuan nodded towards Xinyou.

Xin You turned around and went out, then returned with a tray after a moment.

Everyone couldn't help but look around and saw two white porcelain plates on the tray, with two spindle-shaped fruits placed on each plate.

Emperor Xingyuan pointed his finger: "This is sweet potato, a kind of rhizome. Last year when the envoys went to sea, Ayou had people bring it back from overseas. Now it's finally harvested. Please give it a try."

Xin You took the knife handed over by Sun Yan and cut the four sweet potatoes into pieces.

She didn't have to do these things herself, but she made the sweet potatoes come from scratch, which has a very different meaning. At this time, it was perfect for Xin You to cut the sweet potatoes with his own hands.

In some ways, it's an honor. The ministers watched intently as the purple-red skin of the sweet potato was cut open, revealing the golden interior.

It doesn't look unpalatable.

Sun Yan carried the cut sweet potatoes and divided them one by one from Emperor Xingyuan to King Xiu.

"Try it."

After Emperor Xingyuan spoke, everyone carefully put the sweet potato into their mouths and chewed it slowly. Then they found that the sweet potato was soft and delicate, and it reached their stomachs without chewing it slowly.

"How does it taste?" Emperor Xingyuan observed everyone's reactions.

"This sweet potato tastes sweet and soft, which can be called delicious."

"Yeah, it's delicious, especially suitable for the elderly and young children."

“It’s really rare for a staple food to have this kind of taste.”

……

Listening to the comments of the ministers, Emperor Xingyuan smiled: "Sweet potatoes are delicious and filling. They can be planted in spring and harvested in autumn in cold places. In warm places, they can be planted two seasons a year, or even in four seasons. The most important thing is -"

The ministers pricked up their ears.

Emperor Xingyuan said word for word: "If you don't care about the soil, even low-grade fields can have a good harvest."

As soon as these words came out, it was like thunder on the ground, shocking everyone.

Regardless of soil fertility, if the climate is a problem, it can be planted in all seasons. Doesn't this solve the people's food and clothing problem?

The Minister of Household Affairs immediately rushed out and asked excitedly: "Your Majesty, what is the yield of this sweet potato per acre?"

"The yield per acre of sweet potato -" Emperor Xingyuan paused, endured what Xin You had said about the high yield of sweet potato, and said with an unpredictable face, "This is the purpose of me taking you south. After all, sweet potato is an exotic food. There is no guarantee of what the yield per acre is, you will know it with your own eyes."

Everyone's curiosity was aroused and they went to see the sweet potato harvest with Emperor Xingyuan.

Xin You first led everyone to the lower-grade fields. There were already many farmhands waiting there, with hoes, baskets and other items ready.

"let's start."

After giving the order, the farm laborers got busy in full swing.

Pull out the grass and vines, go down with a hoe, dig out the bunches of sweet potatoes with mud, shake off the roots of the mud, and put them into the vine basket.

One basket, two baskets, three baskets...

Seeing more and more baskets being filled, Emperor Xingyuan became more and more excited.

There were many people harvesting, so the work went quickly. It didn't take long to finish harvesting one acre of sweet potatoes.

Emperor Xingyuan watched the sweet potatoes being weighed with his own eyes.

The Minister of Household Affairs squeezed out the person who was originally responsible for weighing, recorded the data personally, and calculated the total.

"Nine stones, a total of nine stones!" After finishing the calculation, the Minister of Hubu shouted.

"Is this low-grade farmland?" some officials who knew about farming asked one after another.

Everyone was shocked when they got the affirmative answer.

The average yield of a lower-grade field is two dan per acre, but this sweet potato actually has nine dan! This is more than quadrupled!
Emperor Xingyuan couldn't restrain the raised corners of his mouth and waved his hand: "Let's go harvest Zhongtian!"

A large group of people rushed to Zhongtian and once again watched with their own eyes as baskets were filled with sweet potatoes dug out of the ground.

"How many?"

The Minister of Hubu announced the number loudly: "Sixteen stones!"

Emperor Xingyuan was grinning from ear to ear, not even bothering to eat his lunch, staring closely at the acre of fine field being carefully turned over.

When the Minister of Household Affairs calculated the sweet potato yield in the superior fields, he was stunned and forgot to speak.

(End of this chapter)