Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 696 Cornmeal and Sweet Potato Flour

The general trend of the Tang Dynasty swallowing the world has been achieved. The plan of Li Chengqian, Ma Zhou, and Tang Fengyi is only to pave the way for the unification of the future. The huge debts will make them try their best to extort money in the country and cause riots. When the time comes , Datang will complete the liberation of the entire Eurasian continent in a destructive manner with the attitude of maintaining world peace and liberating the poor people.

Li Shimin, who understood this point, was very pleased. Therefore, no matter how well Li Tai farmed the fields in Lingnan, his achievements could not be compared with Li Chengqian. Recently, what Empress Changsun cares most about is their grown-up princes. For the marriage, Li Ke insisted on marrying Sun Xiaomei. For this reason, he did not hesitate to contradict Empress Changsun. For Concubine Yang's sake, Empress Changsun didn't care about anything with him. On the contrary, Li Shimin, who heard the news, ordered to comfort him. He loved Li Ke and rewarded him heavily, which also expressed his support for his pursuit of Sun's daughter.

As for Li Tai, Empress Changsun thought she could make a decision with one word. After all, Li Tai is his own son, but who knows, Li Tai didn't agree with the person he chose, and instead wanted to marry a member of the art troupe. The Yi nationality girl who is a female official, this made Queen Changsun angry, and almost caused the qi disease that she hadn't suffered for a long time.

But who knows, after Li Shimin learned that the name of this Yi nationality girl was A Yue, she raised her hands in favor. Li Shimin had met that girl several times before, and she represented Lingnan to Wangjiang Tower to perform songs and dances for herself. Guo Maizi grew up under the influence and education of Sun Xiangfu and his wife. He is very kind and content, and his appearance is getting more and more beautiful.

The problem is, on Li Tai's side, he is still a little unsure about his family. The majestic prince of the Tang Empire, apart from the crown prince, is the prince with the highest title. If he gets married, his wife will not agree. Such a thing, counting up It is impossible to happen for thousands of years, but in Datang, it exists.

Then, taking down Ah Yue became Li Tai's political task, because the matter of his marriage made Li Shimin think of another problem.

The intermarriage between the royal family and ethnic minorities can make these ethnic minorities more loyal to the country. He himself is like this. Empress Changsun is from the Xianbei ethnic group. The surnames of the Xianbei people also gradually disappeared, and basically disappeared in the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, all adult princes have new tasks. Li Shimin's guidance is to try to accept women from ethnic minorities as concubines. Even if there is really no suitable one, at least one should be adopted as side concubine.

Usually, if a minority with a small population has a concubine-level character, it will be difficult for it to rebel. When women from ethnic minorities become concubines and concubines, it becomes a trend, then they It will be very difficult to separate from this country, because half of the descendants of the royal family belong to their own race, except for those whose populations are so large that they can threaten the status of the Han race.

If the unification war of Eurasia is launched, Datang will really face such a problem. The ethnic groups of Persians, big cannibals, Europas, and even Tianzhu people are larger than the current Han people. These ethnic groups, It will become an existence that threatens the genetics of the Han population.

Therefore, Shangshu Youpushe Wen Yanbo, who is committed to promoting ethnic integration and stabilizing the development of ethnic groups, put forward a proposal in the court to reform the marriage system.

Cancel some restrictions on common people taking concubines, and accept foreign bearded women as concubines, the number will not be limited, as long as the common people can afford it by themselves.

Moreover, once these foreign bearded women marry the people of the Tang Dynasty, they can immediately obtain the household registration of the Tang Dynasty, and even the imperial court will give incentives. Civilians who accept foreign bearded women as concubines can be divided into different occupations, and the next year's tax can be reduced by [-] to [-]%. Minorities in the country are not included, because all of them who hold the household registration of the Tang Dynasty enjoy the same benefits as the Han people. policy treatment.

Such a proposal for the long-term development of the ethnic group immediately received the approval and response of all the courtiers. After the news was announced across the country, there was a wave of women chasing men in the territory of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate. The Hu girls in the Tang Dynasty used all kinds of methods to hook up with the local people who held the household registration of the Tang Dynasty. Even the half-children of twelve or thirteen years old could not escape their clutches, let alone those young and strong soldiers, so , all Tang Erlang lived a happy life, and the population may show explosive growth after the decree was issued in May of the ninth year of Zhenguan.

In mid-July, the selected enclosures on Lingnan Road were almost completed. After inspecting the seedlings of rubber trees and sisal hemp, Sun Xiangfu returned to Guangzhou City to prepare for several field crops. According to the final harvest and statistics, rubber trees and sisal are different from those crops with strong adaptability such as potatoes and sweet potatoes. Their growth cycle is relatively slow, and if there is a problem, the time and cost of wasting is relatively large. Moreover, Sun Xiangfu himself will not have it in later generations. After planting these crops, fortunately, several Mayan natives had planted sisal. Combined with some of their experience, after two and a half years, there should be a lot of harvest.

Moreover, Zhao He not only brought back the seeds this time, but also a lot of harvested sisal leaves and released rubber sap, which have already been taken to Chang'an and handed over to various research institutes for research.

At the beginning of the month, Sun Xiaomei had a letter. In the field, the first and last seasons of hybrid rice are growing well. The yield of the previous season reached eleven stones and two, that is, 1344 catties. In this last season, if it can increase by several tens of catties again , should be able to achieve the expected yield. If more than 1400 jin can be planted, then the current highest yield per mu of hybrid rice will be on par with the later 90s.

The high yield of crops is due to two main reasons besides the pest damage factor. One is the evolution of the seed itself, which makes the imperfect gene perfect. This is what hybrid rice species are pursuing. This point, at the moment, has some advantages , that is, there are more original wild rice varieties produced in various places.

The second point is that fertilizers ensure adequate nutrition in all aspects of crops. This is the same as people who eat too much high-calorie food will gain weight. Fertilizer is high-calorie food for crops.

When the level of science and technology cannot reach the production of chemical fertilizers to help these crops supplement nutrients in an all-round way, Sun Xiangfu adopts the method of topdressing fertilizers multiple times, within the range that the crops can bear, to keep them full, the two fat people , The cubs born are basically fat. So far, the effect is not bad.

Of course, he does not recommend that the people use this method to increase production, because it requires manpower and the cost of fertilizer is too high. Only professional people are needed, and there is a breeding base to help the people breed the best. Seeds are fine.

Therefore, even if the rice seeds of Sun Xiangfu's first phase have reached the expected goal, and the rice seeds produced are handed over to the common people for planting, they will only grow a yield of about ten stones per mu at most, which is the best. , This has a lot to do with the fertility of fertilizers, insect control, and weed control techniques that are not up to the standard.

The output of about [-] catties, although there is a difference of [-] to [-] catties compared with the general yield of [-] catties per mu in the Jianghan Plain in later generations, but in this period, it is enough, because there is no need to feed so many people now.

As for the people in non-field areas, they may be able to grow a yield of about seven or eight stones. However, now that the crops in Datang are abundant, it may not be necessary to grow rice. It is very difficult to compete with others in terms of competition that cannot compete with others. It is a stupid way to choose emerging economic crops, corn, or various vegetable crops, which is a good choice.

Judging from the growth of the Lingnan corn field, its yield is still good, and it is much easier to grow than rice.

"Teacher, those Mayans who grow corn often say these days that our place is amazing. The corn they grow is actually much bigger and fuller than their cobs." Li Tai greeted them at the gate of the city. After Sun Xiangfu said happily.

"They didn't even know the basics of planting corn such as field cultivation, fertilization, topdressing, pest control, and seedling cutting. High-yield corn can be grown there. By the way, how do they know that the cobs of corn are big? Didn't you steal it?"

Sun Xiangfu glared at him, and Li Tai rubbed his nose in embarrassment and said, "Uh, those Mayans said that tender corn is the best when boiled. In order to make Ah Yue happy, I picked some and cooked it. It's very delicious." Sweet, she likes it very much."

Sun Xiangfu knew this was the case, rolled his eyes and said, "It's useless if she likes to eat corn! The key is whether she likes you or not."

Hearing this, Li Tai's face was a little downcast, but after a while, he puffed up his chest again and said, "I will definitely make her like me."

Sun Xiangfu gave him an encouraging look and said, "I think you should be able to do it, as long as you keep working hard and making yourself better."

Falling in love can change a person, especially when falling in love with a woman who has her own thoughts and is relatively independent. Li Ke is like this, and so is Li Tai.

In fact, Li Tai was not the only one who ate corn. Feng An also ate a lot when he was hungry. It was also not suitable for eating old corn, so Feng An, who had packed his bags in the city and was about to leave for Jiangling as soon as he received the news of Sun Xiangfu's return to the city, came to find him.

"Zhengming! Although the yield of this corn is high, its taste after aging is not as good as rice and wheat, and even worse than potatoes and sweet potatoes. At most, it can be regarded as coarse grains. Its value may not be too high." In Li Tai After sitting down in the living room of the yamen of the general manager's mansion, Feng An said while sipping tea.

Sun Xiangfu smiled and said, "If you eat rice and wheat, you should still shell it! This old corn! It also needs to be ground, sieved to remove the rough parts, and it is delicious to make pasta. Moreover, its nutritional value is not as good as that of rice. Maicha has the benefits of lowering blood fat, lowering blood pressure, anti-arteriosclerosis, anti-aging, etc., so it is very suitable as a staple food."

Corn is recognized as a "golden crop" by later generations, but it takes a certain amount of effort to make it delicious. At least, it needs to be ground relatively finely, and then go through multiple processes to screen out impurities. If it can be as fine as Like the powder made by the machines of later generations, the taste of the corn noodles and steamed corn bread can reach the level that is not inferior to that of wheat, because it has natural sweetness added by complex sugars.

Hearing this, Feng Ang suddenly realized, "It turns out that the old man's way of eating is wrong. Don't tell me, after eating this corn, the old man felt much more relaxed when he gave birth, and his whole stomach felt lighter. It really has its benefits. Grinding noodles for food, you have to teach everyone quickly."

Feng Ang has actually seen the benefits of corn, that is, when planting, it is less worrying than rice, and the yield is not low. If its taste can be compared to rice noodles, then Lingnan must be planted on a large scale. In this way, it can Save a lot of manpower to do other things.

Of course, Sun Xiangfu knew what he was thinking, so he smiled and said, "With the climate along the coast of Lingnan, corn can be planted at a different time, so that you can have tender corn all year round. However, when it comes to grinding cornmeal, I don't know Remember, sweet potatoes and potatoes can also be made into vermicelli, which is more convenient to store as a staple food, and we can get some out before we go to Jiangling."

"Sweet potatoes can also be made into vermicelli? This old man needs to be experienced. What kind of tools do you need? Just tell me, the old man will find someone to arrange it."

It is said that the yield of corn is large, but compared with sweet potatoes, it is far behind. However, Feng An, who has eaten sweet potatoes and potatoes, feels that these two crops seem to be more suitable for cooking. If they can be made into things like rice noodles, That would be great, this is a more worry-free crop than corn.

(End of this chapter)