Daming Greedy Wolf Star

Chapter 457 Pandora's Box Enough to Destroy Europe
outside Vienna.

Years of war have created extremely fast reaction speeds among the Crown Prince's guards.

Although the initial goal of the Ming army was to break through the city of Vienna, they did not pay much attention to the surrounding villages and other places where people gathered. They took more precautionary measures, which eventually led to many people fleeing from the surrounding villages.

But after the capture of Vienna, Zhu Zhanhe did not need to order the prince's guards to dispatch themselves, leaving a large force to stay in the city of Vienna to prevent the enemies outside from receiving news to counterattack, and a small number of people went out of the city to pursue the people in the surrounding villages.

In just one day and one night, the Crown Prince's guards led people to hunt down more than [-] people around the city of Vienna, which was already a considerable number.

You know, the total population of the city of Vienna is only around [-] people. If you include the population of surrounding villages, it is only around [-] people.

When the Ming army attacked Vienna, few of the more than 4 people in the city were able to escape, and then they hunted down more than [-] people, which was equivalent to half of the population of Vienna and its surrounding villages.

Not a lot.

"Send someone to escort you to Venice." Zhu Zhanhe watched the escort team coming and going, and ordered Zhu Ling who was behind him.

"I haven't paid attention to the news about the Japanese country in almost two years. I think there is already a shortage of slaves there. Let someone tell the Mu family that this time the spoils will not be sent away for the time being, and they will be piled up in Suez for the time being. Send the slave back."

"Besides, let the Mu family inform Xiangzhou Prefecture that the next supply will not require grain and grass, and ask them to transport more gunpowder and white phosphorus eggs."

As he spoke, Zhu Zhanhe knelt down and reached out to pull out a potato plant from the farmland in front of him.

"There is plenty of food here, and gunpowder...especially white phosphorus eggs, which are difficult to replenish here."

"Yes!" Zhu Ping lowered his head to accept the order and left quickly.

Orders like this involving logistics generally require Zhu Zhanhe's personal letter before they can be mobilized. At least Zhu Zhanhe's seal is required, and Zhu Zhanhe's seal has always been in Zhu Linghe's handwriting. Zhu Ping kept it.

From the beginning of the Western Expedition to the present, there was only a short period of time under Jian Xiao's custody, because during that time Jian Xiao was handling affairs on Zhu Zhanhe's behalf.

As the saying goes, no doubts, Zhu Zhanhe has never been confused on this point.

Jian Xiao, Qian Yong, Zhu Sanfeng, Zhu Ling and Zhu Ping are the five people he trusts most when he is away from home. Basically, he will leave anything to them without any doubts.

Of course, as Zhu Zhanhe's five most trusted people, they also face the most surveillance.

However, those things were done by people who were assigned to the crown prince's bodyguards, and their external identities were only the crown prince's guards. Only Zhu Zhanhe and his father Zhu Gaoxu knew their true identities.

Zhu Zhanhe has never cared about these things, and he has no intention to care about such things now because he cares more about other things.

Looking at the potatoes in his hand, Zhu Zhanhe frowned tightly.

He stood up, patted the soil on his hands, pointed to the field with potatoes in front of him and said.

"dig!"

……

"Yes!"

The prince's guards were a little stunned at first, because this was different from before.

In the past, they had done things like plundering grain stores in cities along the way, and even harvesting grain from the land to use as forage, but these things were basically done by Ah San, the least valued member of the Ming army.

There are not many guards for the Crown Prince. On the battlefield in Europe, they are also responsible for protecting Zhu Zhanhe, spying on intelligence, and serving as generals for Asan and Wu Zangdusi. It can be said that the work of the Crown Prince's guards is quite arduous and irreplaceable. of.

After all, there were not many people that Zhu Zhanhe could truly trust, so he would always let his crown prince protect him.

However, although he was a little stunned by Zhu Zhanhe's order to let himself and others harvest food, the guards of the prince quickly carried out Zhu Zhanhe's order after regaining consciousness.

……

As the saying goes, more people are more powerful. With the efforts of more than 200 royal guards, a large part of the land in front of Zhu Zhanhe was quickly harvested. When the land would soon be harvested, Zhu Zhanhe Called to stop.

"Go get a scale and weigh these."

"Yes!"

……

Looking at the pile of potatoes in front of him, Zhu Zhanhe didn't know whether it was an illusion or he had become accustomed to it over the years. He always felt that there was something wrong with the yield of these potatoes.

Although it has been more than ten years, Zhu Zhanhe still remembers that in the two years when Qian Yong and others first brought potatoes back to the Ming Dynasty, because there were no chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the potato yield per mu was far less than the four thousand or even five thousand in later generations. Jin, but also more than a thousand catties.

At the moment, although it may not be very accurate, the part of the land harvested by the prince's guards is about one acre, but what about the pile of potatoes in front of them?

Zhu Zhanhe felt that it might only be about three hundred catties.

Potatoes were first given to the Timur Empire by Zhu Zhanhe as a food weapon. Facts have proved that potatoes did not live up to Zhu Zhanhe's expectations and brought disaster to the Timur Empire.

Because of the importance of food, potatoes, a high-yielding food, were strictly prohibited from being exported during the Timurid Empire. Once they discovered that they were hiding, selling, or giving away to outsiders, the Timurid Empire would directly confiscate the prisoners. cut.

Therefore, the time for Europe to get potatoes was much later than that of the Timurid Empire and the Ottoman Empire, so that Zhu Zhanhe almost forgot about this extremely lethal food weapon.

But now, he had placed high hopes in the beginning, and wanted to use this to disable the food weapons in Central Asia and the whole of Europe. It was long overdue, but it finally came.

……

The crown prince's guard moved very quickly, and all the harvested potatoes were weighed. The results were somewhat different from what Zhu Zhanhe had imagined.

Zhu Zhanhe's initial estimate was three hundred kilograms, which is the current average yield of major food crops in Eurasia. However, the fact is that his estimate was a bit high.

A little over 260 pounds.

This figure shows that the potato seeds used in Europe have been extremely degraded, and the yield is far below the average yield of wheat, barley and oats, the main food crops in Europe.

Zhu Zhanhe understands that this figure also shows that when European countries are facing their own pressure, they also have to face the reduction of food production and shortage of food and grass, and even the riots of the people due to famine.

"Go, go back!"

Zhu Zhanhe made a decision immediately.

With potato production reduced, he has more room to display.

You must know that just as it is easier to destroy than to build, if potatoes are not grown scientifically and rationally, the damage to the land cannot be repaired in a short time.

When he implemented this plan for the Timurid Empire, the Timurid Empire was also deluded by the high yield of potatoes as he thought, which eventually led to the hellish scene of no harvest.

Later, Zhu Zhanhe led his people to destroy the Timur Empire and took over all the land of the Timur Empire.

After receiving the land of the Timurid Empire, the first thing Zhu Zhanhe did was to clean up the Yupei, Arabs and Ottoman Turks left in the Timurid Empire, and the second thing he did was to start raising land.

What he wanted was not a wasteland of Timur's empire, but land that could be cultivated and grazed.

But it has been more than three years since then, and the old lands of the Timur Empire have still not recovered.

Not only are potatoes, an extremely land-consuming crop, unable to be grown, but even wheat and other food crops native to West Asia have very low yields.

Even the food harvested from the land within Timur's empire could not meet the needs of the Suez region, and had to be supplied from Xiangzhou Prefecture.

Raising the land is not something that can be done by touching the upper and lower lips.

In the era when there was no chemical fertilizer, the only fertilizer was human and animal manure, which had to be fermented before it could be used.

In addition, Zhu Zhanhe also asked Mu's family to plant potatoes and other legumes, because legumes will coexist with rhizobia, which will produce nitrogen-fixing and fertilizing effects.

However, legumes cannot be rotated or replanted. That is to say, after one season of legumes, grasses such as wheat or rice must be replaced, which greatly prolongs the time for growing the land.

Zhu Zhanhe did not think that Europe could complete what Timur's empire had not completed for more than three years. Moreover, the method he used was the most scientific method available in this era. He also did not think that Europe in this era could do this. surpass him.

Zhu Zhanhe raised his head and looked at the sun in the sky.

Under the dazzling sunlight, he couldn't help but squint his eyes, put his right hand on his eyebrows, and raised the corners of his mouth in an arc.

Although Europe will most likely not face the disaster of harvest failure like Timurid's empire, it is probably not much better.

Moreover, in fact, the situation in Europe is not much better than that of the original Tamerlane Empire.

They have been bred from very few seeds to a scale that covers the entire continent. The accumulation of genetic diseases and anthracnose must be far beyond the ordinary accumulation level.

Besides, what Europe has to face is far more than the problem of reducing production.

Even if the rulers discovered the problem and abandoned potatoes on a large scale and planted wheat and other crops to recover losses, it was already too late.

After at least three consecutive years of planting potatoes, the fertility of the soil has dropped significantly. Even if we immediately switch back to the original food crops, it will be difficult to restore it.

In fact, the yield by then may not be as good as the potatoes that have already been reduced.

At that time, Europe's rulers will face a hellish choice.

Should we continue to grow wheat and other crops?Or replant potatoes?
When planting wheat, the yield is not as good as before, and it is not even as good as potatoes after the reduction in yield. In this case, they have to face the attack of the Ming army, and the already insufficient grain and grass will be even more stretched.

Planting potatoes is just drinking poison to quench thirst. The yield of potatoes will become lower and lower, and it will reach a trough in less than two years. By then, death will still be waiting for them.

One is to fall into a huge disadvantage instantly, and the other is to die slowly.

This choice may not be easy to make...

It can only be said that when the European rulers were confused by potatoes, which came out of Pandora's box, this result was already doomed.

And I just catalyzed this process.

Putting down his hands, Zhu Zhanhe turned around and walked towards Vienna.

Something powerful enough to destroy Europe has arrived, and he seems...not to be particularly anxious.

(End of this chapter)