Tibet.

Chapter 1477 Exotic Crops
Li Ye specially met with Yang Liangyao and praised him for his great achievements for the Tang Dynasty. He also listened to his account of the process of finding the South Continent and Nanda Island, including the first batch of experimenters and troops settling on Nanda Island.

Accompanying the emperor in meeting Yang Liangyao were eight high-ranking officials from the Council of State Affairs. No one interrupted and just listened to the conversation between His Majesty and Yang Liangyao.

In fact, everyone heard a lot of loopholes. The emperor seemed to know a lot about the South Continent, South Island and the New World. The question is, how does the emperor know?

Although everyone had doubts in their minds, no one dared to point out the emperor's loopholes.

Yang Liangyao talked about the fleet's crossing of the Pacific Ocean, the various thrilling encounters, and the encounter with the Yin people in South America. He collected various crop seeds and mature crops along the way.

After listening to this, Li Ye asked with a smile: "Why don't you choose to settle on the South Continent, but on the South Island?"

Yang Liangyao bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the land of the South Continent is not as fertile as that of the South Island, and the forests are not as lush as those of the South Island. The climate is also relatively dry, not as mild and humid as that of the South Island. We entered from the mouth of a large river and sailed for seventy or eighty miles. All along the way, there were fertile and flat grasslands. A large river spread across the grasslands like a mirror. In the distance, there were pine forests more than ten feet high. There were no ferocious beasts, and with the promise of a hundred years of tax exemption, it was simply a paradise."

"You named Nanda Island New Jiangning?" Li Ye asked with a smile.

"Exactly!"

"Okay!" Li Ye nodded, "This is a good name, I've prepared it!"

But Li Ye was still concerned about the crops, and asked with a smile: "Where are the crop seeds you brought?"

Wei Jiansu said hurriedly, "They are all in the Agricultural College!"

Li Ye stood up and said with a smile: "Let's go to the Agricultural College to check the crops, otherwise I won't be able to sleep well tonight."

All the officials got on the ox carts and surrounded the emperor as he marched towards the Agricultural College.

The Agricultural College is one of the largest institutions of higher learning in Chang'an, second only to the Imperial College and the Institute of Technology. It has a large number of applicants. This year, more than 10,000 people chose to apply for the Agricultural College for the imperial examination, but only 2,000 were admitted.

After all, the four classes of people are scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, and it is easier for the people to accept children learning agriculture.

The Agricultural College has a special seed bank. The seeds that Yang Liangyao brought back were placed in a confidential room. After all, no one had ever seen those crop specimens. Everyone knew they were important, so there were experienced people who took care of them.

The seed bank was very cold, with ice placed inside all year round to keep it cool. Li Ye saw the specimens placed in hay boxes.

The first one is a pumpkin with a small pocket next to it filled with seeds.

"It hasn't been named yet!" Li Ye asked with a smile.

Wang Bo, the Minister of Agriculture, reacted very quickly and said, "We are just waiting for your Majesty to give us a name!"

The officials secretly cursed Wang Bo for being a bootlicker, but Li Ye smiled happily and said, "This is called pumpkin. It is planted in the same way as winter melon. People can plant it in front of or behind their houses, and even in the county town!"

Zhao Jiunian, the principal of the Agricultural College, said: "We are all preparing to start trial planting next spring!"

Li Ye shook his head, "We can't generalize!"

He pointed to the second crop, sweet potatoes, and said, "This is called sweet potato. It will go bad after a few months. Doesn't your Agricultural College have a glass greenhouse? Plant it in the glass greenhouse. The planting method of sweet potatoes is the same as that of yams, directly planted in the soil. This is a high-yield crop and requires a lot of fertilizer. It is estimated that it can be harvested around the time of the Frost Descent."

Zhao Yuanzheng bowed and said, "I understand. We will start planting tomorrow!"

"With this!"

Li Ye pointed at the potatoes next to him and said, "This is called potato. It is best grown in mountainous areas. It has a high yield and is not picky about the soil. The yield is about the same as sweet potato. Plant it together. Look, they have sprouted."

"Follow the order!"

Li Ye introduced and named them one by one. It was worthy of his trip to America specifically to collect crops. In addition to the previous pumpkins, potatoes and sweet potatoes, there were also corn, sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, and even cotton, etc.

Unfortunately, there are no tobacco seeds or cocoa.

However, Li Ye was still overjoyed. With these crops, plus the rice from Jiaozhou, the Tang Dynasty's population of over 100 million would be guaranteed, and there would be a solid population foundation for overseas development.

Coming out of the Agricultural College, Yang Liangyao bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I want to go to the Southern Continent and Jiangning Island again!"

Li Ye smiled and said, "I just came back, take a break for half a year! It's still in time for me to go next year." "Your Majesty, I can't sit still, a month of rest is enough. The key is that I promised the soldiers on Jiangning Island that they would be replaced after a year, and I have a lot of experience. This time I will set up supply points and rest areas along the way, so it will be much easier for the fleet to go to the South Continent and Jiangning Island in the future."

Since Yang Liangyao had this intention, how could Li Ye not agree? He happily said, "Thank you for your hard work!"

Half a month later, Yang Liangyao left for Quanzhou to prepare for the second voyage. This time the imperial court attached much more importance to it and allocated 100,000 strings of cash to set up a special ocean-going agency. They also began to select prisoners from across the country who were willing to live in the South Continent and Jiangning Island. Even many farmers, when they heard that they would be given 1,000 acres of land, signed up to live overseas.

One thousand acres of land! The dream of many farmers.

Except for a very few of Yang Liangyao's subordinates who were sick and unable to go overseas, the rest were willing to follow Yang Liangyao to the Southern Continent again.

After two months of preparation, the well-prepared Yang Liangyao led thirty large ships with a capacity of 10,000 shi and three thousand people to set sail again, heading for the distant southern continent and Jiangning Island.

In Hechuan, although half a month had passed and the attack on Diaoyu Mountain had not yet begun, the Tang army was not idle. Li Sheng sent General Xiong Kun to lead an army of 20,000, cooperating with the 20,000 Nanzhao garrison, to annihilate the 30,000 Guo family troops in Luchuan County, killing more than 4,000 enemies and capturing 25,000.

In addition, the Hu family, a local noble family in Luzhou, and the Wen family, a local noble family in Bazhong, who supported the Guo family's rebellion, were all arrested and beheaded by the Internal Guards, and all their property was confiscated.

With the arrival of hundreds of large ships from Chengdu, the Tang army quickly wiped out the Guo family's surface forces. More than one hundred patrol ships of the Guo family were all destroyed or sunk by the Tang army's explosive arrows, killing more than two thousand enemies.

That morning, the first vanguard of the Tang army began to cross the Fu River by ferry. Deputy General Zhao Ting'an asked, "General, will the enemy be fooled?"

Li Sheng smiled and nodded, "Not only our soldiers are exhausted, but the enemy is also exhausted. They finally see the fish coming, how can they still hold it in?"

Li Sheng knew that the other side had deployed 5,000 men at the foot of the mountain to prevent the Tang army from crossing the river, but they usually hid in the mountains and forests. Once there was danger, they would immediately evacuate to the mountains. In order to annihilate these 5,000 enemy troops, Li Sheng decided to use 1,000 soldiers as bait to cross the river and lure the enemy troops out.

At the same time, the Tang army had prepared a pontoon bridge in advance, which could be laid in the shortest time possible.

There are more than a hundred small boats moored on the shore. At present, there is nothing unusual about them, but their true appearance will be revealed soon.

Ten large ships gradually approached the opposite bank. The soldiers took out their spears and shields and jumped off the ships. A thousand soldiers went ashore.

At this moment, a horn sounded from the forest, and five thousand Guo family soldiers rushed out of the forest and rushed towards the one thousand Tang army soldiers on the shore.

At the same time, a boat equipped with a paddle wheel started and sailed towards the opposite shore, dragging two iron chains, and more than a hundred small boats parked on the shore showed abnormalities.

They were actually connected together by two iron chains. When the iron chains moved, all the small boats moved with them, and one boat after another was lined up on the river.

Hundreds of soldiers immediately began to lay wooden boards. There were holes on the wooden boards and the boats. Two iron pins were inserted to fix the wooden boards and the boats. It was very convenient and fast. Ten thousand soldiers led their horses and began to march quickly on the pontoon bridge.

It only took two cups of tea to build the pontoon bridge, and 10,000 soldiers rushed to the other side on horseback. They mounted their horses and galloped towards the mountains and forests, cutting off the retreat of 5,000 enemy troops.

One thousand Tang soldiers, armed with short spears and shields, formed a large formation and confronted the five thousand enemy troops on the shore. Although the ratio was five to one, the Tang army was a large formation, like a turtle that had retracted its head, and the five thousand enemy troops had no way to deal with them.

At this moment, a bell suddenly rang loudly in the forest. "Dang! Dang! Dang!"

This was the emergency bell for the troops to retreat. The Guo family soldiers then discovered that a group of Tang cavalry appeared behind them and was about to cut off their retreat.

The Guo family soldiers were horrified and turned around to run towards the forest a mile away, but the enemy was cavalry and was much faster than them. They quickly overtook the five thousand soldiers and cut off their retreat.

Ten thousand cavalrymen began to attack the five thousand enemy troops fiercely, and the one thousand contradictory army soldiers also launched a counterattack.

The main force of the Tang army began to cross the river continuously. Soon another 10,000 soldiers crossed the river and entered the battlefield. The 5,000 troops were completely surrounded, suffering heavy casualties. In despair, the soldiers knelt down and surrendered.

Soon, the remaining 3,800 surrendered soldiers were escorted across the Fu River, and the more than 1,000 corpses on the ground were also cleared away.

The 30,000-strong army crossed the Fu River, which meant that the Guo family’s land and water defense lines were breached, and they could only defend themselves in the mountains.

At dusk, the Tang army began to pour large amounts of kerosene, pouring tens of thousands of barrels of kerosene, preparing to burn the mountain.

At the first watch, more than a thousand soldiers set the forest on fire at the same time. The woods at the foot of the mountain began to catch fire. The fire spread extremely quickly, and more than a thousand fire points gradually connected into one.

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[The fifth chapter of the new book, "Humiliation at the Martial Arts School", has also been published. Comments and corrections are welcome.]

(End of this chapter)