Wind rises time and space gate

Chapter 551: Noble and Cheap

There were no potatoes in the northwest. Even in the whole of Da Qi, there were no potatoes. After the King of Yue came to the northwest, the people of the northwest knew about potatoes for the first time.

At first, when the Yue Palace took out the seeds and said they were potatoes, everyone thought it was hard to pronounce and misunderstood.

The common grains in Da Qi were rice, wheat, millet, sorghum and beans. When people said potato, they thought it was a kind of millet. In order to avoid misunderstanding, the Prince of Yue said it was potato.

As a result, people heard that the fruit grew in the ground, so they called it ground beans, which made them feel more familiar, so they started calling it open.

Now the ground beans can be dug.

The digging of the ground beans began with the guard camps in each city. When the Yuewang Mansion notified the guard camps, the guard camp quartermasters began to prepare and bought various baskets, sacks, and various harvesting tools nearby. On the day of harvesting, after the early morning training, the guard camp commander led the soldiers to the fields.

The families who received the news also brought their families to the guard camp early to help.

The military fields in the guard camp were packed with people.

Ground beans, I have never seen such a thing before. And it grows in the ground, if you don't dig it up, you don't know how it will grow in the ground. I am worried from top to bottom.

In addition to the family members who came to help, there were also villagers who came to watch the fun under the pretext of helping out.

Because there are too few seeds, not every city in the Northwest grows them.

I heard that the yield is extremely high, and all the villages and towns are waiting to see the results and preparing to place orders for seeds.

"Start digging."

At the command of the guard camp commander, everything on the ground started moving.

"So big!" The soldier pulled a bunch of ground beans from the vine. There were more than ten ground beans growing firmly on the vine. Big and small, they were crowded together. The big ones were as big as two adult fists, and the small ones were as big as three or four fingers.

He plucked the big one off and weighed it in his hand, "This one must weigh two or three pounds!"

The little one: "There are also half an ounce and one ounce!"

This bunch is enough for a whole family to eat!

"There are still some in the ground!" The child hadn't finished picking all the berries from the vines, and there were still two or three left on the ground. The anxious child hurriedly dug them out, took out two or three, held them up in his hands and showed them to the adults, smiling until his eyes narrowed.

"Dig quickly, there might be bigger ones!"

The enthusiasm for digging ground beans was high. From time to time, one person would say, "Mine is big." Then another would say, "Mine is even bigger, it's probably three pounds!"

The commander of the guard camp was grinning. They had only dug a little land, but it had already piled up into a small hill. If they finished digging, would they still be worried that the soldiers would not have enough food?
He thought everyone was digging too slowly, so he rolled up his trouser legs and followed them down to the ground.

On the side of the Prince of Yue's Palace, Zhao Guangyuan also brought Chang Zhi to the military farm outside Hangu City.

The father and son were no strangers to potatoes. They both loved eating potatoes, especially Chang Zhi, who usually liked eating potato chips and French fries the most. If Lin Zhaoxia hadn't restrained them, they would have eaten potato chips and French fries as a meal.

The father and son followed the soldiers to dig potatoes in the fields. They were infected by the exclamations from everywhere and dug more and more enthusiastically.

By noon, large and small hills of ground beans had been piled up everywhere in the military fields of Hangu City.

Send someone to weigh it...

"Your Majesty, there are 15 stones in this acre!"

"There are actually fifteen stones?" Generals such as Fang Sheng who were standing around waiting to see the output looked incredulous.

Fifteen shi! Fifteen shi! What does fifteen shi mean? Even the carefully cared-for imperial farmland in the imperial farm produces less than four shi of grain per mu!

They had all followed the digging just now and had roughly estimated that the output would be quite high, but they didn't expect it to be fifteen stones!
Zhao Guangyuan frowned. He was not very satisfied with the output.

One stone weighs 120 jin, and 15 stones weighs only 1,800 jin. In Xia'er's place, one acre of high-yield potatoes can reach tens of thousands of jin. Even organic potatoes without pesticides or fertilizers can yield more than 2,000 jin per acre.

The military fields of Hangu City were well tended in the first season because there were many livestock and sufficient fertilizers, but only 15 shi of crops were produced.

In the guard camps, the fertilizer was not as good as in Hangu City, and there were probably less than 15 dan. And the people had no place to collect fertilizer, so they had to rely on livestock and farm manure, which probably yielded even less.

"Your Highness, are you dissatisfied with the production?" Seeing that the King of Yue did not speak, Fang Sheng frowned and leaned closer to ask.

Chang Zhi glanced at his father and smiled and said to Fang Sheng, "I'm afraid my father is not satisfied. The military farms in Hangu City have been carefully taken care of this year, with just enough fertilizer. We originally thought there would be 20 shi."

Twenty stones!
The generals opened their mouths wide. They were already amazed at the 15 shi, and the prince was still dreaming of 20 shi!
The generals didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Maybe it's the first year of planting, so they may not be familiar with it. Maybe the yield will be higher next season." Fang Sheng comforted with a smile.

Unless there is technology to make it happen, it will be difficult. Changzhi smiled and looked at his father.

Zhao Guangyuan came back to his senses and glanced at the generals. "Although this output is not as good as I expected, it is still much better than others."

All the generals nodded, and even the soldiers who were serving the army secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With this output, they were all expecting a generous reward from the prince, but the prince was not satisfied.

"You have made great contributions in serving the military fields. Go to the quartermaster department to receive your reward later." Zhao Guangyuan glanced at the soldiers in charge of the military fields.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Seeing the relaxed look on the King's face, the generals also flattered him, praising the King for the high yield of seeds he had found from nowhere. They kept boasting, "We, the rough folks, have never tasted such good things. I wonder what they taste like."

Zhao Guangyuan thought about it and ordered the cook in the army, "Bring a few baskets to the kitchen and cook a few dishes for everyone to taste."

"Yes."

The generals had lunch in the barracks with the King of Yue.

The chef of the Prince of Yue taught the cooks of the army camp to make more than 20 potato dishes. The table was full, and the main dishes were all potatoes. It was a real potato banquet. There were vegetables and soups, and they were steamed, boiled, stewed, fried, roasted, deep-fried, and cold dishes. Each one was something that everyone had never seen before.

It's greasy and the quantity is large. And potatoes are both vegetables and staple food, so they are definitely filling.

The generals felt fresh and satisfied after eating.

"This ground bean stew with meat is delicious. Not greasy at all."

"The stir-fried dishes made with these ground beans are also delicious."

"These fried bean balls are also delicious. They are dipped in sugar syrup and are also stringy. My children will definitely like them."

Everyone has their favorite dishes, but without exception, the ground beans were well received by everyone and were very popular. "It's convenient to carry as military rations. When you're resting in the wild, you can just throw one or two into the fire and simmer them for a while, then pick them out and eat them. It's easy."

“I just don’t know if it’s safe to preserve.”

"If it is well preserved, it can be kept for more than half a year."

More than half a year? That's great! "It can be used as staple food, as a vegetable, and as a snack! We should plant more of it in the future!" "Just now, the prince said that this can be ground into powder and made into noodles, which can be preserved for a longer time."

"Then we must plant more. We must also tell the guards not to eat too much and save enough seeds for the next season."

"The prince said earlier that each army farm should only keep enough seeds, and the rest should be sold to the people."

Seeing Zhao Guangyuan nod, some generals asked, how much is the price?

Zhao Guangyuan then discussed the price of potatoes with the generals.

After dinner, the generals who were close to the water were afraid that the potatoes would be sold out, so they rushed to the quartermaster department to order seeds for their own fields.

The yield of the beans in the military fields was reported, and it was 15 dan per acre! The people in the northwest were shocked. The people gathered around the fields where the beans were planted, waiting to see how the people were digging.

The enthusiasm of the people frightened the people who grew potatoes in Hangu City and surrounding cities.

Some even set up patrol teams and invited people from the escort agency to help guard the fields, while some villages secretly lit torches and dug at night.

After half a month of digging, the potato seeds that had been received were dug up in all the fields, whether they were military fields or civilian fields. The yield per mu was also calculated.

Except for Hangu City and some Wei camps, where the yield per mu reached 15 shi, the yield per mu in the Wei camps was only 14 shi. Because the land was not fertile enough, the highest yield per mu for the people was only 14 shi, and the average was about 13 shi.

However, compared with the per-acre yield of two or three stones of other crops in the northwest, it is already a huge amount.

There was joy everywhere.

There were also cases of laborers helping to dig potatoes hiding potato seeds in their clothes. They were originally going to be beaten, but the laborers cried and said envious words, saying that their own land was too thin and the harvest was not enough to feed the family after paying taxes. That's why they ran away to work as laborers.

After hearing this, everyone could no longer hate him. This was probably the thief that people were most reluctant to beat or scold.

When Zhao Guangyuan heard about it, he ordered people to go to each village to collect potatoes, and bought back all the potatoes except for those that kept enough seeds for each household.

Soon the harvested potatoes were delivered to various post stations by horse-drawn carriages, and then sent to various cities for sale. People from all over the northwest could buy them with their household registers and land deeds. One pound of seeds cost ten cents.

“Isn’t ten cents too expensive?”

One mu of land required 200 to 300 kilograms of potato seeds, and one kilogram cost ten cents, which meant that one mu of land would cost two to three taels of money to buy seeds. Lin Zhaoxia was a little worried that the people could not afford to buy seeds.

Zhao Guangyuan tilted his head and bit the watermelon that Lin Zhaoxia handed to him, "There are still watermelons? Haven't the watermelons in the field been harvested?"

"You are not sensitive to heat, so I asked someone to store some in the cellar."

Thinking of his furnace-like body in the summer, Lin Zhaoxia felt a little disgusted. Being close to her was like being close to a fireball. She wanted to push him away, but he refused and insisted on sticking to her.

Zhao Guangyuan glanced at her, thinking of this, and smiled. This place is not like China, where there is air conditioning. Although there is an ice basin in the room, it does not last long enough. At night, when he was next to her, she always stayed away.

"What are you laughing at? I'm asking you, do Marshal Fang and the others agree with this price?"

Zhao Guangyuan nodded, "We discussed this together."

This year, the military fields have harvested a lot of potatoes. So far, the Ministry of War has not allocated rations to the Northwest Army. The various guard camps are still planning to save up some military funds by selling potatoes.

As for the common people, "one mu of land yields 13 dan, and one mu of land can be sold for 13 liang of silver. Even if they have to borrow silver from a bank, they will still buy it."

Even a farmer who doesn't know how to count can do the math for this deal.

"This is the first crop. Many people are paying attention to it. Not only the people in the northwest are watching, but also the merchants in Daqi. Merchants from various countries in the Western Regions sent people to watch when the crops were harvested. If they sell it cheaply, they will be making wedding clothes for others."

“So you sold it at two prices?”

Zhao Guangyuan nodded. The people of the northwest could get ten coins per catty of land with their household registration and land deeds, while merchants and people from other places could get fifteen coins per catty of land.

"If you do this, I'm afraid you will attract more people from other places to move to the northwest. Aren't you afraid that local officials will write letters to criticize you?"

"How could I be afraid? If they can't keep the people, it's because they are incompetent."

Lin Zhaoxia's guess was right. Because of the potato incident, the people in the northwest became rich just by growing potatoes, which made countless people jealous. People from other places who came to find a living had already decided to move to the northwest.

No one likes to leave their homeland, and the people like stability even more. But in the northwest, they can have enough food to eat, and the King of Yue’s army protects the people. They live a rich and stable life, which is what the people hope for all their lives.

Not only did the people who grew potatoes become rich, but the silver boxes in the warehouses of the various guard camps also piled up more and more thanks to this wave of potato sales.

Assuming that one regular soldier was granted 12 mu of land, the garrison camp with 5,000 soldiers would need at least 60 hectares of land. This year, half of the land was planted with cotton and the other half with beans. The bean yield was 14 dan per mu. In addition to keeping enough seeds and eating some, each garrison camp could earn at least 30,000 to 40,000 taels of silver from selling potatoes.

It can cover military expenses for three or four months.

"You know, potatoes are so productive and can be sold for so much money. If all the military fields were planted with potatoes, wouldn't we be able to be self-sufficient?"

In the letters that the commanders sent to the King of Yue, they all expressed regret that too few crops were planted.

But Zhao Guangyuan smiled and did not respond. The cotton planted in the field had not yet been harvested.

How do you know that cotton cannot be sold at a high price?

After harvesting the potatoes, everyone turned their attention to the cotton in the military fields, examining it more carefully than their own eyes.

After harvesting potatoes, everyone not only kept an eye on the cotton fields, but also on the Prince of Yue's palace.

The Yue Palace seemed to have slowed down. The Yue King took his son to Hangu Pass to train troops every day, so he could not be seen. The Yue King's wife also seemed to dislike going out.

It’s not that Lin Zhaoxia doesn’t like to go out, it’s just that she has more and more things to do. People come to her every day to report things, and she can’t get away.

After the trade gradually flourished, merchants from all over the country opened workshops in the northwest. Because merchants from the Western Regions liked the porcelain of the Great Qi Dynasty, porcelain from all over the country was shipped to the northwest. However, there was often loss on the way, so many people built porcelain kilns in the northwest.

Lin Zhaoxia and Zhao Guangyuan didn't have anyone to fire the kiln, but they suddenly thought of someone.

At that time, Zhao Guangyuan went south to inspect water conservancy projects and met Liu Shiyu, the owner of a brick kiln in Zhutou County. Because Liu Shiyu helped him, his family followed Zhao Guangyuan to the capital.

After the rise of the trade, houses and shops were built everywhere, and Zhao Guangyuan thought of him and ordered him to go to the northwest. Liu Shiyu then built a brick kiln outside Hangu City and started to burn bricks and tiles.

I am so busy all day that I don’t even have time to eat, and the queue for buying bricks and tiles lasts for a month.

In addition to the brick kiln, the Yue Palace also called some workers from Qingzhou to open a sauce shop in Hangu City, and called some people from Yanzhou to open a dried vegetable shop.

Now the sauce shop and dried vegetable shop have been sold to the outside.

Merchants from the Western Regions liked the sauces from the sauce shop very much, and they liked the various dried vegetables and pickled vegetables from the dried vegetable shop even more. They were exhausted from the journey, and all they ate on the way back and forth were dried food and meat, so there was no food to eat. As for the vegetables that could be eaten by soaking in water, they bought them by the sack.

Business was booming everywhere, and Lin Zhaoxia was very busy.

In addition, another group of people that Lin Zhaoxia wanted also arrived.