The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 62 Planting vegetables to worship gods
Among the people outside the Taoist temple, there are farmers who are farming. They already know the harvest situation this year. Even ordinary people in the city are most worried about food shortages because they have little money.

I heard that the person worshiping at today's Dharma gathering is an immortal who can save the food shortage. Many people have long wanted to come and soak up the immortal energy.

Now that I know there are things I can take back, why not grab my head?

The court told them that they didn't believe Guacai Dai, but now that the news came from Li Xiangong and was endorsed by a group of gods in Chaozhou, the people were generally willing to believe the contents of these leaflets.

After getting the leaflets, they found that they were extremely beautifully printed, with words and pictures, and were more than one page. The people were even more happy.

Now many people stopped listening, lowered their heads and started reading.

People who farm want to see how to replace melons and vegetables on it, and people who don’t farm also want to take back the pictures of gods and paste them at home to worship day and night.

Most of the people crowded outside Fahua Nunnery were illiterate, and those who could read became valuable at once.

A few frustrated literati deliberately read out the words on the flyers in a low voice, which soon attracted the envious eyes of the white people around them, so the literate people started reading the flyers even more enthusiastically under their flattery.

Even if other people could not read, they still had leaflets for reference. They listened to the literati's explanations and looked at the pictures on the leaflets, and quickly understood the methods of growing vegetables and melons.

Farming in this era is also a technical job, and not everyone can do it well.

It’s not that most farmers don’t want to plant new crops, they just don’t know how to grow them.As long as there are new crop planting methods summarized by predecessors, aspiring farmers will dare to try them after learning them.

After hearing this, some farmers were surprised that the leaflet actually recorded the method of growing vegetables. They were really overjoyed.

Many people began to gather around people who could read, hoping to listen to them explain some of the contents on the flyers.

At the same time, Fahua Annei Li Ding was about to finish his speech and said to everyone: "Next, believers will be asked to offer sacrifices to the Immortal. Offerers: Jin Xuezeng, Xu Xueju, Shen Yourong..."

After listening to Li Ding's words, everyone in the venue was already a little distracted, but when he read out the names of the believers enshrined today, everyone in the venue raised their heads again.

Originally they thought it was just Xu Xueju who was behind the ceremony, but they didn't expect that everyone from the Governor of Fujian Province on down would actually come forward to offer sacrifices to the famine-rescuing immortal!
The lineup behind this sacrifice is huge!

Everyone's eyes turned to the field, wanting to see how much money these high officials could donate.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Wenlong and several other bureaucrats' staff were seen walking towards the altar carrying potatoes, sugar cane, white radish, winter melon and other items covered in red and colorful colors.

Everyone looked at it in a daze, and together they gave away some agricultural products without paying a penny.

Seeing that everyone's attention had turned, Li Ding also achieved his goal and said to everyone with a smile: "Next, I invite Xu Fantai to speak."

Xu Xueju did not wear official uniform today, and walked up to the stage with a big belly and a big smile.

After he came to the stage, he loudly said in a Jiangsu and Zhejiang accent: "There is no need to pay tribute to the melon and vegetable immortal to save famine, and there is no need for paper money or three animals and wine. I only use these melons and vegetables he passed down instead of melons and fruits."

"This method is very good. Firstly, it can educate the people to use various vegetables to survive the famine, and secondly, it will not waste people's resources."

"I have sent people to test it myself. This method of substituting melons and vegetables is very effective. The fruits and vegetables grown in Zhangquan have successfully sprouted. Although sugar cane and potatoes are fruits and vegetables, they can also feed people after being planted. Wait a moment. Come and taste it."

Xu Xueju spoke concisely and to the point, and then withdrew after he finished speaking.

The little Taoist boys quickly brought all kinds of fruits and vegetables and distributed them all over the place.The main crops promoted by Guacaidai this time are sugar cane and potatoes. All the seed resources obtained by Xu Xueju have been organized and prepared for planting. Fortunately, these two crops are self-propagated and can be grown as long as the buds are left. Cut off the buds It is enough to partially process some samples for everyone to try at today's Dharma conference.

Everyone present had eaten sugar cane and had no interest in it, but everyone was curious about potatoes. They picked up the potatoes on the plate of the trail boy with their chopsticks and tasted them.

Huang Fengxiang, who was standing next to Xu Xueju, curiously picked up a piece of potato from the plate and put it into his mouth. After chewing it, he nodded to Xu Xueju and said, "Good food."

You can taste the high starch content of potatoes in your mouth, and you can tell that they are a filling vegetable as soon as you eat them.

At this time, Li Guozhu, who was next to Wang Wenlong, also picked up a piece of potato to eat. Wang Wenlong knew that it was just a boiled potato mixed with some salt and sesame oil. It couldn't be said to be very delicious, but it was still quite novel for people who had never eaten potatoes before. After a few months, when potatoes from Fujian are on the market in large quantities, these people will not behave like this.

Li Guozhu, who was used to eating delicacies from the mountains and seas, chewed the potato twice and then picked it up with relish.

He asked Wang Wenlong: "This is the potato promoted by Brother Jianyang? It tastes very good. Can it be grown in Fujian? Brother Jianyang, won't you eat it?"

Wang Wenlong shook his head: "I've tasted it before. It's not easy to digest. You should eat less."

"It's delicious. You should try it too."

Wang Wenlong smiled and refused.

These potatoes were chosen by him. The potatoes that were kept until winter had sprouted. It was not easy to cut out such a few pieces that were still edible. He soaked them for a long time in advance. After they were cooked, he even found someone brave enough to try them. Poison, only dare to serve it in the dojo after making sure it's okay.

Xu Xueju and others did not know the power of potato toxins, so they felt that this treatment was enough. Even though Wang Wenlong had already mentioned in the leaflets that sprouted potatoes were poisonous, they did not take it seriously.

But Wang Wenlong really didn't dare to eat it. The potatoes were about to grow leaves, like potted plants. He knew that in this era, if you suffer from solanine poisoning, you can only bear it with your body. There is no need to risk your life.

……

In Yichun Village, when Chen Baoyi returned home after watching the Taoist temple, his wife hurriedly came out to greet him and asked:

"Can you burn incense and ask the immortals to protect us from this year's famine?"

Chen Baoyi shook his head and said: "The immortal I worshiped today did not accept the incense, but gave us better things!"

"Dad, what is it?" The daughter-in-law also walked out with the child in her arms and asked curiously.

Chen Baoyi took out a few leaflets stapled together with paper staples from his arms and said: "Today, the person Li Xiangong worships in the ashram is a famine-rescuing melon and vegetable fairy from Chaozhou. There was a drought in Chaozhou more than ten years ago, and the melon and vegetable fairy taught them how to grow vegetables. Vegetables supplement food and tide over famines. What the immortal said makes sense. The land is still barren anyway, so it is better to grow more vegetables. It is easier than digging wild vegetables in the mountains. I heard a scholar read, planting sugar cane and potatoes , radish and cabbage..."

As he spoke, he turned over the posters in the flyer to his wife and daughter-in-law. Before he finished speaking, his wife doubted and asked, "Will this method work? In my opinion, we should escape as soon as possible."

Chen Baoyi said: "You're an ignorant person. Even the Chaozhou people have used it, so why can't we use it?"

"Did Li Xianggong lie to you?"

"Many high-ranking officials came to the Dharma meeting today, and the lords of the feudal lords all spoke. How can such a high-ranking official tell lies to you?"

(End of this chapter)