The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 434 I'm Stupid

How much does Lao Zhu value Yin Shu?

To describe it in one sentence: eating and sleeping are all in the shack next to the potato field.

He really built a shack right at the edge of the field. It was not an exaggeration at all, even though there were houses dozens of meters away.

Empress Ma also makes three trips here a day.

Well, I am mainly responsible for delivering meals to Lao Zhu.

Chen Jingke was stunned by what he saw. If you didn't know, you would have thought that the couple was role-playing.

But they both really got into it.

Yinshu is indeed easy to grow and sprouts smoothly.

A month later, the seedlings grew. After careful counting, there were 106 seedlings in total.

Chen Jingke didn't say anything about the germination rate. Large pieces of sweet potatoes are not suitable for seedling cultivation.

In the past, small and medium pieces were generally used, with a high germination rate and no waste.

Finally, the rice seedlings were planted and there was just enough space for half an acre of land.

The next step is to take care of it. The first thing Mr. Zhu does when he opens his eyes every day is to observe its growth.

We weed and catch insects every day and take care of the plants very carefully.

After more than a month of growth, the seedlings are lush and green, which is very pleasing.

Chen Jingke's appetite was aroused, as sweet potato leaves were a delicacy in his previous life.

Even after I started working, I still often went to the countryside to pick sweet potato leaves to eat.

So under his encouragement, Lao Zhu picked some plump and tender leaves, and Empress Ma cooked them herself.

I fried a dish, made some vegetable rolled steamed buns, and some vegetable steamed buns.

To be honest, Empress Ma’s cooking skills are average.

However, I don’t know if it’s a psychological effect or some other reason, but everyone thought it tasted very delicious.

Lao Zhu kept praising it: "It's delicious, it's really good stuff."

“You can eat the fruit and the leaves.”

"When there is a shortage of food, picking some leaves can help you get by in an emergency."

Zhu Biao took a bite of the steamed bun and nodded.

“It tastes much better than ordinary wild vegetables.”

Most wild vegetables are rough and don’t taste very good.

Yinshu leaves have a more delicate taste, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a serious dish.

Chen Jingke never stopped using his chopsticks. After all, he hadn't tasted this familiar flavor for decades.

Old Zhu, who was eating last, was furious:
"You little bastard, can't you leave me some?"

"Stop eating, stop eating, you unfilial bastard."

Ma Niangniang smiled very happily:
"If you are extremely hungry, you can eat the rice vines by crushing them. Even if you don't eat them yourself, they are excellent feed for livestock."

Zhu Biao said: "Indeed, this Yin Shu is a treasure from head to toe."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the small plot of land and suddenly sighed:

"The number is just too small. We don't know when it will be popular throughout the world if we rely on this method to breed seedlings."

Chen Jingke then put down his chopsticks and said with a smile:

"There are ways to speed up seedling production, but the cost is a bit high."

Zhu Yuanzhang said in surprise: "You have a solution? Tell me quickly."

Chen Jingke said, "Have you forgotten to warm the room?"

"These vines are ready-made seedlings. We can cut them and transplant them into the greenhouse, and they can grow even in winter."

Zhu Yuanzhang slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, how could I forget such an important thing?"

"Hurry, hurry, dig up all the vegetables in the greenhouse and plant them all into sweet potatoes."

"Order the Ministry of Works to build new hothouses immediately."

Madam Ma said unhappily, "Look at you, you're so startled, just like a little kid."

"What are we going to eat in winter if we scrape the vegetables out of the hothouse? Are we going to eat all the pickles?"

"Besides, with so few vines, how many can we transplant?"

"Just ask the Ministry of Industry to speed up the construction of new greenhouses."

Lao Zhu also calmed down and said with a smile: "Hey, sister, you are right."

Then he ordered the Ministry of Works to build greenhouses to grow Yin potatoes.

The so-called greenhouse is the greenhouse cultivation in the previous life, which is a technology that China has had for a long time.

After Chen Jingke invented glass, he used it to build a number of greenhouses to meet the needs of the imperial palace.

He could also give some as rewards to his ministers from time to time in winter.

It was not easy for the court officials to eat fresh vegetables in the middle of winter, not to mention that the emperor's favor was there.

Therefore, many people were keeping an eye on the vegetables in the palace.

Therefore, the craftsmen in the palace have very mature skills in this area.

After receiving the order, the Ministry of Works quickly built a new greenhouse in the imperial farm.

Then, vine cutting and cutting were carried out without affecting the growth of Yinshu as much as possible.

Finally, two acres of sweet potatoes were produced.

However, most of Zhu Yuanzhang's energy was still focused on this half of the land in the palace.

After all, this is the initial experimental field, and the yield of Yinshu still needs to be confirmed by it.

Time passed day by day, and soon it was November.

It’s finally time to harvest sweet potatoes.

Even though the soil has not been dug yet, people have already judged from the high raised roots that the yield will not be low.

The question now is how high.

Old Zhu specially invited all the civil and military officials in the court, as well as respected elders in the capital, to witness this moment.

After all, we can't leave room for others to talk.

Fang Xiaoru and Xie Jin naturally came as well, and they were naturally very interested in this high-yield and high-quality variety.

Especially Xie Jin, he had been waiting for the test results to come out so that he could publicize them in newspapers.

In order to wait for this day, he did not dare to over-report the discovery of the New World.

In front of everyone's eyes, Lao Zhu dug out the first shovelful.

He dug very carefully, fearing that he would damage the fruit.

Soon a large bunch of Yin potatoes was dug out, totaling six in total, large and small.

Seeing this scene, everyone couldn't help but exclaim.

Finally, I weighed it on the scale and it weighed one catty and one ounce.

Even though they were mentally prepared and got the accurate result, everyone couldn't help but exclaim again.

One seedling weighs one pound and one ounce, and there are 106 of them here.

Even if the average weight of each bean is one kilogram, that would be 106 kilograms.

You have to know that this is half a mu of land, which is equivalent to more than 2,100 kilograms of land.

This is no longer a thousand kilograms per mu, but two thousand kilograms per mu.

This result is really amazing.

But the facts were right before their eyes and they had no choice but to believe it.

Next, the ministers no longer cared about their image and rushed to dig sweet potatoes.

If you don't have tools, just start digging.

Xie Jin, who was watching from the side, was very moved and said: "If all the ministers have this heart, there is no need to worry about the prosperity of the country."

Fang Xiaoru smiled and said, "People are complicated. Today they can lose their temper for the sake of good seeds, but tomorrow..."

After saying that, he shook his head and said nothing.

Chen Jingke walked up to the two of them and said, "No matter what, at least at this moment, the hearts of the ministers are sincere."

Regardless of whether it is true or not, at least it appears to be sincere.

With everyone's efforts, the Yin potatoes in half a mu of field were soon dug out.

Finally, I weighed it on the scale and it was exactly 106 kilograms, no more, no less.

This result once again caused everyone to exclaim.

Half a mu of land produces 106 kilograms, which means the yield per mu is more than 2,100.

This is a yield of 2,000 kilograms per mu.

Tang He rolled his eyes and immediately bowed: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations, Your Majesty..."

The ministers also reacted and immediately followed suit to congratulate.

Something like Your Majesty is merciful and God has sent down such a good breed, and each one of them is praising it more than the other.

In the face of the good varieties, even Old Zhu, who hates flattery the most, was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. However, he still kept his rationality and gave a fair opinion on the yield:

"We use the best water and fertilizer on our half an acre of land and take good care of it every day. Ordinary people don't have the conditions to do so."

“So the normal production can’t be this high.”

Li Shanchang continued: "Even if it is halved, it is still an astonishing output. This is truly the credit of Your Majesty."

Others echoed it, saying that it was all His Majesty's credit.

Some people even shouted slogans that there would never be famine in the Ming Dynasty.

Everyone just laughed it off, thinking he was just so happy that he was talking nonsense.

Fang Xiaoru's historical materialism has long given the conclusion that the production end is important, but the distribution end is equally important.

Many famines are not caused by problems on the production side, but by problems on the distribution side.

This theory has been accepted by more and more people.

It is good that Yin potatoes have a high yield, but it is a joke to rely on them to achieve a permanent state of famine.

However, this does not mean that we can deny its advantages.

If there is more food, more can be given to the lower classes, so fewer people will starve to death.

As for tasting Yinshu, no one dared to suggest it.

There are only a few seeds in this amount, who would dare to suggest eating seed food?
But Lao Zhu was not a rigid person. He picked out some particularly small or damaged ones and gave each person a small piece.

It tastes crisp and sweet after tasting and has a very good taste.

Now everyone has no doubts anymore, this is truly a good seed to save the world.

Chen Jingke was also given a small piece, only as big as an egg yolk.

He tasted it carefully and it was indeed the taste of his previous life.

He hadn't eaten it for more than 20 years and almost forgot the taste.

But he believed that everything that happened in his past life would surely appear in this world in the future.

Even the development prospects are better than in the previous life.

This is the greatest significance of his time travel.

After tasting it, Xie Jin nodded continuously and said that he would definitely write about it in detail when he returned and introduce this fine variety to the world.

Chen Jingke took the opportunity to explain in general how to eat potato leaves and the uses of potato vines.

This made Xie Jin even happier.

The most difficult times for the people are the two months before the harvest.

The old grain has been eaten and the new grain has not yet been harvested, commonly known as the "gap between the old and the new."

Those days were the most difficult, and people could only survive by eating wild vegetables.

Even though people's lives have improved now, during the lean period, people still had to barely fill their stomachs with half grain and half vegetables.

If potato leaves can be eaten, it will undoubtedly be great news for the people.

Then he carefully inquired about the various situations of Yin Shu, including the methods of seedling cultivation, planting and care.

Chen Jingke took the opportunity to tell him about his experiences in his previous life.

Once this news spreads, it will create some conditions for the promotion of Yinshu.

Looking at the excited crowd, Fang Xiaoru said:

"I'm afraid the world will never know that Jing Ke played a great role in the discovery of the improved variety."

Xie Jin looked at him in confusion.

Chen Jingke was also puzzled: "The good seed was found by Chen Yonghe and his men with great difficulty. What does it have to do with me?"

Fang Xiaoru said: "If you hadn't advocated opening the sea, they wouldn't have had the chance to go out and explore."

Chen Jingke showed a speechless expression: "According to what you said, all this is the credit of our ancestors."

"Without our ancestors, where would we be? Without the boats our ancestors built, how would we go out to sea?"

"I think you've gone mad studying materialism."

"Although everything is intrinsically connected and cannot be viewed in isolation, it is not the way you connect things."

Xie Jin also laughed and said, "Brother Fang, you have studied so much that you have become stupid. You can't tell this to outsiders."

"Otherwise, people would think that Chen Bandu is trying to steal the credit."

Fang Xiaoru frowned and said, "Is there really something wrong with what I said?"

Chen Jingke said affirmatively: "Yes, there is a big problem. You are just a hooligans and blind drifters thinking."

Fang Xiaoru looked relieved and said, "That's good. It seems I was indeed confused before."

Now it was Chen Jingke and Xie Jin's turn to be confused. What on earth are you doing?

Fang Xiaoru explained: "Thinking too deeply about many things can easily lead to obsession. Recently, I have been a little obsessed with inner connections and I can't grasp the degree."

"I just asked you to help me confirm where the boundary is."

Chen Jingke nodded in understanding. This situation often happens.

Complex problems can be solved, but simple and common problems will make us confused.

"We'll discuss this later. It's time to release my "Great Harmony World" as well."

"Both of you go and help me take a look and do the final review."

Both of them brightened up: "Okay, you are finally willing to take action."
-
Then Zhu Yuanzhang hosted a banquet for his ministers to celebrate the bumper potato harvest.

More than 80 people including Chen Yonghe were also invited to participate.

This made the group of people very happy. You know, they were just ordinary people before and any clerk could control them.

Who would have thought that one day I would be able to attend a royal banquet.

Moreover, today's civil and military officials are more friendly and easy to talk to than each other.

Of course, they are not fools and know the reason.

We also know that this harmony is limited to the here and now.

At the banquet, Zhu Yuanzhang expressed on the spot that he would confer the title of nobility on Chen Yonghe, and all the others would receive titles and rewards.

Now everyone was overjoyed and stood up to thank the emperor for his grace.

All the ministers had no objection. Once the result of a yield of 1,000 kilograms per mu came out, it was inevitable that he would be granted a title of nobility.

As I said, if the emperor didn't confer a title on them, they would dare to go on strike in protest.

And if the news gets out, no one will speak for the emperor.

When future generations see this history, they will also curse the emperor for being incompetent.

Chen Jingke took the opportunity to propose that a monument should be erected for everyone, including those who died on the road.

"They are all warriors of China and heroes of the Ming Dynasty. They deserve to be remembered by all people."

Old Zhu naturally had no objection to this, as this was also the achievement of them father and son.

After all, the improved varieties were discovered during their reign.

The more grand the commemoration, the more it can highlight the royal achievements.

Chen Yonghe and others were also very grateful to him, and Chen Bandu was indeed a trustworthy person.

I said at the beginning that I would erect a monument and write a biography for everyone, but I didn’t expect that they still remember it now.

The next day, the decree to confer the title of marquis was issued.

Chen Yonghe was named Marquis Zhuangliang, and the others were each rewarded, the lowest of which was an honorary title.

It can truly be said that it benefits future generations.

When the news of the high-quality variety that could produce 1,000 kilograms per mu was confirmed, the public was instantly excited.

The news spread throughout the world at an astonishing speed.

Wherever it goes, it sparks huge discussion.

However, there are people who doubt that it is impossible to produce 1,000 kilograms per mu.

Isn't this nonsense?

However, it wasn't long before the supplementary issue of Ming Weekly was published.

The headline on the front page was the news about the improved variety, and an entire page was used to introduce the characteristics, sowing and eating methods of Yinshu.

This time no one doubted it anymore.

As the only media outlet representing the imperial court, Ming Weekly naturally had no doubts about its credibility.

So the whole world was in an uproar.

To sum up in one sentence, people are all looking forward to the arrival of good seeds.

Just at this time, Zhu Xiongying returned from the south with a full load.

The two sides returned with great success. On the one hand, the political goal was basically achieved, and the tribes agreed to compulsorily learn Chinese ideas.

On the other hand, there are six more concubines in the harem, each of them is very beautiful.

However, his return, just like his previous departure, did not attract much attention.

Even Mr. Zhu and Mrs. Ma had no time to pay attention to him because the Steam Engine Research Institute finally achieved results.

Compared to this, even the matter of good seeds has to take a back seat.

(End of this chapter)