Smuggling Daming

Except for the cannon, the remaining gifts are not very large. After Gu Dayong personally inspected them, they have all been sent to the big tent, so when Zhengde asked about corn and sweet potatoes, Zhou Zhong immediately took them from the pile of gifts. I took out a small box one foot long, and when I opened it, there were a few corns and a few pieces of sweet potatoes in it.

I saw Zhou Zhong first took out the corn cobs inside and put them on the table, but before he could speak, Zhengde reached out to pick up the corn and played with it in his hand, saying: "This kind of grain is really strange, it grows so big, and the color And so gorgeous, it looks like gold."

Seeing that Zhengde only noticed the bright color of the corn, Zhou Zhong couldn't help laughing wryly. Zhengde was not an emperor who was diligent in government affairs. In addition, he grew up in a deep palace and had no contact with the sufferings of the people, so when he saw the corn , Naturally, he would not think of the yield and planting of this crop.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhong solemnly said to Emperor Zhengde: "Your Majesty, the crop in your hands is called corn. Its appearance is only second to none. The key is that this crop is relatively drought-tolerant and very suitable for planting in the northern area of ​​Daming. Moreover, the yield of corn is extremely high. Caomin opened up a piece of land in Shuangyu Port for trial planting. As a result, in just half a year, the yield per mu reached more than 500 catties. In contrast, the yield per mu of wheat in the north was more than two hundred catties. Next, if you can..."

Before Zhou Zhong finished speaking, the Emperor Zhengde who was sitting opposite him suddenly stood up, his face was also full of excitement, and he leaned forward to ask eagerly while leaning on the table with both hands: "Zhou Zhong, Are what you said true,? Can the yield of corn really reach more than 500 catties per mu?"

Although Zhengde doesn't like to deal with the government.But it does not mean that he really let go of the government completely. In fact, on the contrary, the cabinet will send a batch of memorials to the palace every day. He is also very familiar with the situation in all aspects of the Ming Dynasty. Now that he hears about corn, a crop that defies the sky, he naturally understands what it means, so he can't help being excited.

"Report to Your Majesty. Zhou Zhong dares to guarantee with the head of the project that the yield per mu of corn is absolutely free from moisture. Moreover, when the corn was harvested, Wu Shan and Ma Liang were there on the spot. They watched the corn being laid and dried with their own eyes. Weighing, so if Your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can ask Wu Shan and the others for proof!" Zhou Zhong had already made preparations, and he had asked Wu Shan and the others to participate in the corn harvest in order to give himself a personal certificate.

"Of course, Caomin only planted it in Shuangyu Port in the south for one season. Because the soil and environment are different, if the corn is transplanted to other places, the yield should fluctuate. However, Caomin believes that even if the yield fluctuates, it will be better than wheat. The output should be higher!" Zhou Zhong finally added that he didn't dare to speak to death, after all, the person in front of him was the emperor of Daming, and talking to him would at least leave him a way out.

"Okay! That's great! Since Wu Shan and the others have seen it with their own eyes, I naturally won't doubt it!" I saw Zhengde walking back and forth in the excited tent a few times, his face flushed with excitement, and at the same time muttering to himself road. "If corn can be popularized, then in places like Beizhili, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and even Shaanxi, a large amount of grain production can be increased every year, and even the whole north will no longer rely on transporting grain from the south. This will not only save A large amount of expenditure has been spent, and the people's hearts will be stable with food, and even if there is another King Anhua in the future, I don't have to worry about the people rebelling with these rebellious officials and thieves!"

No matter how mischievous Zhengde is, he is also the emperor of a country, and he cares more about his own country and country than anyone else. Whenever there is news of rebellion in the country, he is also very concerned, and he also knows that if the people of Ming Dynasty are not really alive If they can't go on, they won't take the risk of rebellion, so if they want the country to be stable, they must have food, and the corn sent by Zhou Zhong just solved this big problem. Wan Dajun compared.

Seeing that Zhengde was so excited after seeing the corn, Zhou Zhong also smiled secretly, and at the same time decided to hit the iron while it was hot: "Your Majesty, don't get too excited. Although the yield of corn is high, it is nothing compared to another crop in the hands of grass people. !"

"What?" The excited Zhengde stood there in shock when he heard Zhou Zhong's words. It took him a while to react, but he said with a suspicious look in his eyes, "Zhou Zhong, are you kidding?" Well, is there any crop in this world with a higher yield than corn?"

Zhou Zhong smiled when he heard this, reached out and took out a piece of unremarkable sweet potato from the box and put it on the table. , because the rhizome grows underground, it is very resistant to some natural disasters and insect pests, and it can grow in most fields, even in saline-alkali land. As for its yield, Your Majesty may wish to guess! "

At the end of Zhou Zhong's talk, he deliberately sold off, and a mysterious expression appeared on his face.Zhengde was also in high spirits at this time, and when he heard Zhou Zhong asking him to guess the yield of sweet potatoes, he thought about it for a moment and said, "Just now you said that the yield of sweet potatoes is higher than that of corn, and the yield of corn has already reached [-] catties per mu. Sweet potatoes can reach [-] or [-] catties?"

Hearing that Zhengde only increased the production of sweet potatoes by one or two hundred catties compared with corn, Zhou Zhong smiled proudly and said, "Your Majesty guessed wrong this time. I asked someone to bring back a few of these sweet potatoes from overseas. Later, some more were added, but only a fraction of the land was planted, but the yield of even a fraction of the land reached more than 300 catties, and if one mu was planted, the yield would definitely reach [-] catties."

"Three...three thousand catties?" Emperor Zhengde was stunned when he heard this number. He couldn't believe it anyway. This thing called sweet potato is so unnatural. If the yield per mu is three thousand catties, then the grain of Ming Dynasty may be It is impossible to finish eating at all, and it is even possible to feed grain to pigs.

But before Emperor Zhengde was happy, Zhou Zhong coughed and explained: "Of course, your Majesty, you have also seen that sweet potatoes are not dried like corn and wheat. Sweet potatoes contain a lot of water. , so if the sweet potatoes produced are sun-dried into dried sweet potatoes, the yield will definitely be reduced by more than half, but in ordinary fields, it is not difficult for sweet potatoes to reach a yield of [-] jin per mu!"

"Huh?" Zhengde felt distressed when he heard that three thousand catties suddenly became one thousand catties, as if he had been stolen a lot of money, but then he came to his senses, although the output of sweet potatoes was not as high as Three thousand catties, but the yield of one thousand catties is already very good. If at least one mu of sweet potatoes is planted, it is equivalent to five or six mu of wheat.

"That's great! That's great!" After Zhengde heard about the high yield of sweet potatoes, he didn't even bother to sit down any longer. He was walking around in the big tent excitedly, thinking about these two crops. The changes brought to Daming, he can even foresee that if he can successfully promote the two crops to the whole country, then maybe he will become a famous king in history.

Thinking of this, Zhengde was both excited and proud. At the same time, he lamented that he was really lucky. He didn't go to court every day and stayed in the palace to play. For the contribution of sweet potato, later generations may have a higher evaluation of him than his father, Emperor Xiaozong.

However, after the excitement passed, Zhengde immediately calmed down again, because he thought that promoting corn and sweet potatoes would not be an easy task. If the imperial court forcibly promotes it, it may cause dissatisfaction among the people, and may even turn a good thing into a bad thing. So this must be well planned.

"Zhou Zhong, how many corn seeds and sweet potato seeds do you have now? If I want to promote them, do you have any good suggestions?" Zhengde suddenly thought of Zhou Zhong at this time, so he wanted to hear what good ideas he had. How to promote?

In fact, even if Emperor Zhengde didn't ask, Zhou Zhong still wanted to share his opinion, so he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Caomin got these two crops at the beginning of this year. After a year of planting, We have harvested several thousand catties of corn, which can be used as seeds next year, but the planting area is still not very large, and the number of sweet potatoes is even smaller, but sweet potatoes do not need to be planted with seeds, and their vines are cut into small pieces and stored for the winter. In the coming year, they can be directly planted in the ground to survive, and the grass people have already been preserved a lot."

Zhou Zhong paused when he said this, looked up at Zhengde, and then said: "Corn seeds and preserved sweet potato vines, Caomin only left a small amount to grow by themselves, and most of the rest were brought to the capital with the boat. Your Majesty can try planting in Huangzhuang near Beijing, so that you can accumulate planting experience, and secondly, you can also cultivate seeds, and in the next year, you can promote them on a large scale!"

Huangzhuang began in the Ming Dynasty. As the name suggests, the so-called Huangzhuang is a farm directly managed by the royal family. One month after Zhengde ascended the throne, seven Huangzhuangs were added, with a total area of ​​more than 7000 hectares. These Huangzhuangs The origin of Huangzhuang is not very glorious, and some are even occupied by some eunuchs, and these eunuchs who manage Huangzhuang are harsh on the exploitation of the households, making the life of the villagers difficult, and even some people often rise up to resist.

Zhou Zhong proposed to try planting corn and sweet potatoes in Huangzhuang, and also wanted to increase some income for those Huangzhuang households who lived in poverty. Although they could not change the situation of being oppressed by eunuchs, they should be able to have more food for subsistence in the future.

"Okay, this method is exactly what I want!" Zhengde nodded when he heard this. Although he knew something about Huangzhuang, he couldn't help it. The money is given to him, so he can only let the eunuchs of the palace find money for him. Huangzhuang is a major source of income in the palace, so he doesn't want to change it for the time being. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)