Wentang

Chapter 675 Return of the Expedition Team

Li Shimin also laughed, and said: "If King Bin hadn't reminded me, I almost forgot about it. The last time I said to give him the title of Jin, everyone thought the timing was inappropriate, so it's okay now."

Before the others had time to make a statement, Yue Shan stood up and said, "The title is the best prize that the imperial court can award, and it must be given carefully. Even if my merits are enough, I must find a suitable opportunity and reason to award it .”

"I think Sun Fucai's feat of exploring Dongsheng Shenzhou to obtain a good breed is enough to make him a Marquis, but it would be too much for me to be made a Duke."

"It's not that I'm being modest. Let's think about it, everyone. We are about to start the age of great voyages, and more magical crops and islands will inevitably be discovered. How will the imperial court award rewards at that time? So some rules must be established in advance, so that we can act accordingly later. Can't go wrong."

"Everyone knows that no one can erase my credit, and it will be more justifiable to find a better opportunity to be promoted in the future. Not to mention, the best chance is to destroy Goguryeo in two years."

Hearing that he took the initiative to decline, everyone admired him.The marquis is a step further and is the duke, although the difference of only one letter represents a world of difference in meaning.

How many people can't earn something with their lives, he actually refuses when it is brought to his mouth, this kind of mind is enough to make people admire.

"Yuehou's heart is ashamed of himself, I admire him." Fang Xuanling said.

Others also expressed their admiration.

Seeing that he himself declined, Li Shimin couldn't hold on any longer, but he was very satisfied with his modest attitude, so he decided: "Okay, you will follow me when I conquer Goguryeo, and your contribution to destroying the country is indispensable."

"Thank you saint."

Li Shimin's words revealed his intention to conscript himself, but no one dissuaded him.Just kidding, isn't it normal for General Tiance to go to war?

Of course, another reason is that Prince Li Chengqian has grown up.To put it bluntly, even if he made a mistake on the front line, Datang would still be able to continue normally.

……

An unknown source of news quickly spread throughout Chang'an City: a fleet of the Dizhou Navy found a good variety overseas, and the yield per mu could reach more than five stones.

A good breed with five stones per mu?
Most people don't believe it, it's bullshit.The rice output in Lingnan is high enough, but it is only two or three shi, which is directly doubled, which is too exaggerated.

But this unreliable news spread more and more widely, and the more it spread, the more it seemed to be true.Even the specific shape has been reported, and it is said that it is on the way to Chang'an and will arrive in a few days.

The common people also became skeptical, what if, what if it was true.That is an excellent breed with an yield of five stones per mu, which can double the grain output of Datang.

What is this concept, we all understand.

More and more people are taking the initiative to spread the news, and you can hear discussions about good breeds everywhere you go.Some people couldn't help but squatted at the pier outside the city, waiting for the legendary fleet.

Yushitai was the first to respond from the imperial court. They played Li Shimin and applied for a thorough investigation of the matter to see if someone maliciously spread rumors or something else.

If it was the period when rumors were heard before, these censors would definitely impeach the Dizhou navy for spreading rumors and causing trouble.

But the imperial court pays attention to evidence in everything now, and the censor can't listen to the message and impeach people at will.These censor memorials have become much more peaceful.

However, what made it impossible for everyone was that Li Shimin directly said that there was no need to investigate this matter, he already knew about it.The good breed is real, and it's on the way to Beijing.

Now the whole court was in a commotion.

Some people are skeptical, some people are skeptical.Some people simply said that Liu Rengui deceived the emperor or something, how could there be a good breed with five stones per mu in the world.

Li Shimin didn't say much, but said that it would be known in two days if it was true or not, and there was no need to draw conclusions so early.

This sentence suppressed the controversy for the time being, but many people were already prepared. When the so-called fleet arrived in Chang'an City, they would immediately impeach the opponent to death.

And the news in the court quickly spread, and Chang'an City exploded in an instant.

The common people are more simple, and most of them are willing to believe that there are good breeds, and even the saints have said that there can be false ones.There are a few skeptics who say that it is not credible, but in fact they also earnestly hope that it is true.

Skeptics and unbelievers are mostly scholars.This also proves that the more knowledgeable people are, the less willing they are to believe in things beyond common sense.

But believe it or not, everyone was craning their necks for the arrival of that fleet.

The fleet did not keep them waiting for long, and it docked at the government-owned wharf on the banks of the Weishui River on the third day.

After receiving the news, Li Chengqian and Yue Shan went to greet him with great fanfare.

The good breed has come to Beijing, everyone hurry up and see it.With a shout, countless people crowded to the banks of the Weishui River to watch the fine seeds.

Thousands of people empty alley was originally an adjective, but at this time it is not enough to describe the current situation, ten miles empty alley is more appropriate.Compared with the last time when Liu Rengui was welcomed back to Beijing, the number of people was more than a hundred times greater.

It was under the attention of these people that Li Chengqian and Yue Shan came all the way to the Weishui River, and met Sun Fucai and hundreds of great fighters.

"His Royal Highness is here."

"Waiting for the clear water to arrive."

An official shouted at the top of his voice.

"Your Majesty, wait to see His Royal Highness, Qingshui waiting." Under the leadership of Sun Fucai, everyone saluted the two of them together.

Li Chengqian was also a little excited, stepped forward to support Sun Fucai and said: "All officers and men are exempt."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Thank you." Yue Shan stepped forward and said.

Seeing Yue Shan, Sun Fucai was so sad that he almost shed tears, but he restrained himself and said: "Fortunately, Sun Fucai did not disgrace his life and successfully retrieved the good seeds."

"Okay, okay, you are all warriors of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty will never forget your achievements." Yue Shan said.

He looked at this group of people, their skins turned dark, their hands and faces were covered with chapped wounds, and some of them were even oozing blood.His eye sockets couldn't help getting wet.

These are the brave men and pioneers of the era. With their own flesh and blood and meager strength, they have injected strong impetus into the prosperity of Chinese civilization.It is no exaggeration to say that they are all great men.

"Where is the good seed?" Li Chengqian asked impatiently.

"Your Highness, this is the good breed." Sun Fucai pointed to the three big boxes behind him and said.

There is no need for Yue Shan to explain this matter, Liu Rengui and the others had already made all the preparations when they were in Dizhou.Naturally, they would not use a crude frame to store good seeds, but would use boxes made of precious wood.

"Open it and let me have a look." Li Chengqian walked to the box in a few steps, and Yue Shan followed.

"Open the box." Sun Fucai shouted loudly.

A few soldiers who had prepared earlier opened the lid of the box, revealing the contents inside.

Yue Shan looked up, his eyes turned red immediately.I saw it, and finally saw this familiar thing again.Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Corn...

Li Chengqian was also very excited. He wanted to reach out to touch it but dared not. Finally, he looked at Yue Shan: "Teacher, is this the good breed you mentioned?"

"Yes... yes." Yue Shan's tone was a little choked up, he sniffled to stabilize his emotions, and then introduced in detail: "This is corn, do you see if its grains are bigger than soybeans, and it is ground into flour to make it The cake is suitable for cooking soup and can satisfy your hunger..."

"This is a sweet potato... It's big... It can be eaten raw or boiled, it can also be cooked as a vegetable, and it can be dried and ground into powder... But it can only be used as a supplementary food. Eating too much will hurt your body."

He pointed to the last box and said: "This box is potatoes, which is what I call a good variety with an yield of more than five stones per mu. It can be used as a vegetable and a meal..."

"It's really a good breed, haha... It's really a good breed, God bless me, Tang." Li Chengqian couldn't help shouting excitedly.

He shouted so loudly that the common people who were watching from a distance could hear him.

"What is His Highness the Crown Prince shouting? Good breed, must be good breed."

"I heard it too, it's a good breed, really a good breed."

"The fine seed is true, the fine seed is true, and our people are blessed."

The good seed is true. The news spread through the crowd layer by layer. More and more people knew the news, and the crowd began to shout wildly.

Li Chengqian also heard the shouts, his face blushed with excitement, and he waved his hands: "Come on, put the good seeds in order, and we will go to Beijing."

Following them, the officials immediately carried the three boxes of fine seeds to a stepping platform—this was Li Shimin's imperial box, which was specially taken out to welcome the fine seeds into Beijing.

"Get up." With a yell, the step was raised.

"Let's go, all officers and men will come to Beijing with me." Li Chengqian said loudly.

Li Chengqian and Yue Shan walked in front, followed by Sun Fucai and others, followed by Bu Huo, who was pretending to be a good breed, and at the end were other packed items.

The roadside is crowded with welcome crowds, and when they pass there, they will be cheered and blessed by the people there.

Sun Fucai and others had never experienced such a battle, most of them were excited and cried, and the rest of them didn't know where they were.

At this moment, all the hard work on the road of exploration is worth it, and they are even willing to let them take another trip.The crown prince greeted him personally, and tens of thousands of people in Chang'an City came to welcome him. This was something they never dared to think about before, but now it has come true.

This is destined to be the most glorious moment of their lives, and future generations will be proud of it.

Compared with it, the little danger encountered on the road is nothing.

The lids of the three boxes containing the fine seeds were not closed, they were left open, and the people along the way stood on tiptoe to watch the appearance of the fine seeds.

"I see, I see, why are there three types?"

"Which one is the good breed?"

"It should be the first one. You can see that the grains of that grain are mostly plump, bigger than soybeans. It is high-yield at first glance. Five stones is really possible."

"For sure, the particles are big enough to be weighed, but I don't know how it tastes. It's delicious to have a taste."

"What are you thinking, this is a good seed, the lives of your whole family are not worth that one seed."

"This is a seed, how can you eat it? Haven't you heard the old saying that starving parents will not eat seed food?"

"exactly……"

"What's in those two boxes at the back? It looks bigger."

"I don't know. It should be a new food just discovered when it is put together with the improved species. I think it should be used for cooking."

"It doesn't matter what it is, it's a good thing if it can satisfy your hunger. Looking at the size of those two, the output is indispensable."

"God bless me, Datang, for discovering three grains at once."

"God bless Tang..."

"God bless Tang..."

More and more people began to shout, and the sound spread farther and farther, and could be clearly heard above the main hall of Yong'an Palace.

God bless Datang?

The ministers who were waiting anxiously in the palace could roughly guess what happened when they heard such shouts.But... Is the good breed real?Otherwise, the people would not be so happy.

More and more ministers changed their minds, and an atmosphere of joy began to permeate... The fine seed is real, that is really God bless Datang.

Many people stuffed the memorials in their sleeves inside, and burned them to ashes when they got home, and they must not be seen by others.

……

All the way to the palace, except for Sun Fu's exploration team, everyone else was very excited. This is the legendary palace. I didn't expect to have the opportunity to enter in this life.

Even Sun Fucai himself was filled with emotion. He finally came here again with another identity. The dream he thought was unrealistic at the beginning has really come true.It made him feel a little unreal.

Li Chengqian and Yue Shan went to return to their orders, and soon the eunuch Zhao Meng came to announce their audience in person.It is impossible for hundreds of people to go in and only select a few representatives.

A dozen guards lifted the wooden box and followed behind.

When walking on the road, Zhao Meng said reverently: "Sun... Captain, you are the example and pride of all our wrestlers, please accept my worship." After saying that, he saluted.

Sun Fucai didn't dare to accept the gift from the great eunuch carelessly, and quickly moved half of his body away and said, "Eunuch Zhao is too flattering, and I'm just following orders. To be honest, I feel like I'm in a dream now."

Zhao Meng smiled and said: "Hehe, think about the chaos in the world more than ten years ago, and think about it now, isn't it just a dream?"

After a while, they arrived at the Xuanzheng Palace, Zhao Mengxian went in to report, while Sun Fucai and others stayed outside the door and waited.

"Lieutenant Sun, are you nervous?" Lu Anzheng whispered.

"I'm fine, don't be nervous, you are very kind to ministers and saints who have meritorious service." Sun Fucai reassured.

"But... I'm still nervous." Lu Anzheng said in a trembling voice.

"Yes... yes... yes, I... I... I am trembling." Several other elected representatives also said.

"Ahem." Sun Fucai was about to say a few words to comfort them, when he heard the little Lishi standing guard next to him cough dryly, and then gave him an apologetic look.

Sun Fucai immediately made a silence gesture to tell everyone not to speak, and then quietly bowed his hands to the little wrestler to express his thanks.

The little wrestler was so excited that he almost couldn't laugh out loud. It can be seen that Zhao Meng's statement that all wrestlers follow Sun Fucai as an example is not bragging.

At this moment, shouts came from the hall: "Chuan Sun Fucai, Lu Anzheng and others are waiting for an audience."

Sun Fucai's face became serious, and he walked in first.At the beginning, he was still used to walking in with his head down—it was like this when he was a servant in the palace.

Just two steps away, Liu Rengui's exhortations sounded in my ears: You are a great hero who has returned from the expedition, and you are the representative of the Dizhou Navy. You must hold your head high and hold your chest high to meet the saint.

Thinking of this, a surge of pride rose in his heart, his chest straightened up, his eyes were straight, and he walked all the way to the front of the hall, ignoring the attention of the officials.

"My minister, Sun Fucai, pays homage to the sage, and the sage will live a long and healthy life."

"Excuse me." Li Shimin's majestic voice came from a high place.

The next thing is a greeting question and answer, so I won't go into details.

After the simple questioning, Li Shimin finally asked what everyone cared about most: "Where is the good seed?"

Sun Fucai, who had already adapted to the court environment, pointed to the three boxes and said, "It's inside the box, I will open it for the saint to see."

After finishing speaking, Sun Fu opened the three boxes one by one, and all the ministers stretched their heads to look here.Li Shimin looked at it from a distance, and found that it was not very clear, so he didn't say any etiquette at all, and got up and walked over directly.

"Which one is the good variety that yields five stones per mu?"

"This box contains potatoes with a yield of five shi per mu." Sun Fucai pointed to the box in the middle.

Li Shimin stepped forward, took out a potato from the box and looked at it carefully, the more he looked at it, the happier he was.After a while, he said: "Bring some to the family of the ministers to have a look."

"Here." Zhao Meng, who followed behind, immediately put some potatoes on the hem of his clothes for the officials to observe.

Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Yang Shidao, Wei Zheng...all excitedly reached out and took out one to observe carefully, as if looking at a treasure.

After more than a quarter of an hour, Li Shimin asked after all the ministers of the court and the central government had seen it: "How much does Lieutenant Sun... know about these potatoes? Can the output really exceed five shi?"

Sun Fucai said confidently: "I have asked the local people that each potato seedling can bear three to five such fruits, and more than [-] potato plants can be planted on one mu of land."

"The weight of a potato the size of an egg can reach one and a half, and one plant can weigh six taels based on an average of four fruits. Four thousand seedlings can produce [-] catties of potatoes."

"Excluding the production reduction caused by defective products and improper management, there is at least a thousand catties of yield, and the yield per mu is far more than five stones." (Tang Dynasty was 16 taels per catty.)
Hearing this data, the court became noisy as if a pot had exploded, and everyone showed two completely different expressions of doubt and excitement at the same time.

The doubt is that it is really as productive as he said?What is exciting is that what he said about the data is true and false...

The point is that they saw the potatoes with their own eyes, even if there is not one or two halves of a potato, it is not much different.If it is calculated according to the data he said, the yield per mu is no longer five shi, but ten shi.

This number feels like a dream just thinking about them.

It feels like they are not the only ones who are dreaming, but also Li Shimin, how can you say that the good five stones have become ten stones?Instead, he couldn't believe it.He couldn't help looking at Yue Shan.

Yue Shan knew that he had to stand up, so he came to Li Shimin's side and said, "Lieutenant Sun's calculation is correct, the yield of potatoes per mu can indeed be done like this."

"It's just that he is talking about the ideal state. Everyone's farming level is high or low, some land is fertile and some is barren... So let's make a conservative estimate, and five stones are no problem."

Only then did everyone nod their heads, thinking that what Yue Shan said was more reliable.They really didn't dare to expect too much, and Wu Shi was satisfied.

Then Yue Shan said surprisingly: "But five stones is definitely not the limit of potatoes, not even ten stones."

Seeing that everyone turned their eyes and listened to his speech, Yue Shan continued: "The original owners of these potatoes were a group of local people. They were very ignorant and backward, and they didn't know any planting techniques at all. They planted the seeds in the ground. Just let it grow. Captain Sun, I don’t know if I’m right or not?”

Sun Fucai nodded and said: "That's true. Those native people are very backward, some don't even have complete clothes, and their planting technology is not much better than the barbarians around Datang."

Only then did Yue Shan continue to say: "Anyone who has learned about farming knows that intensive cultivation can lead to higher yields. And the selection of improved seeds generation after generation can also make crops better."

"For example, the leaves of wombat cabbage were originally spread out. After cultivation and selection, the leaves are wrapped inward and become larger, and the yield has more than doubled."

"Now these potatoes are still in a relatively primitive state, and there is still a lot of room for cultivation and development. If you cultivate them carefully, there will be no problem in producing more than ten stones in a few years."

Many officials who knew about the changes in wombat cabbage nodded their heads one after another, and told the officials around them who didn't know about the changes.With practical examples, everyone began to believe what Yue Shan said, and naturally became more excited.

Five stones per mu is enough to surprise people. I didn't expect it to increase, and it still increased several times.This...they didn't dare to think about it anymore.

Different people say the same thing with different degrees of credibility. Even if Sun Fucai speaks out, these people should believe it or not.They would half believe Yue Shan's words even without any evidence, not to mention that what he said was very logical.

Li Shimin was also happy, applauding repeatedly.

In fact, regardless of what Yue Shan said, when he first saw the potato, he broke into a cold sweat from fright—it was too small.

In the previous life, the small potatoes were bigger than an adult's fist, and the big ones were about the size of a brick.But the box in front of me is generally the size of an egg.There is no way to compare with the previous life.

He naturally knew the reason. Those in his previous life were all high-quality varieties after genetic improvement, with an output of four to five thousand catties per mu.Now these are still unimproved raw potatoes, and the yield is naturally far inferior.

Fortunately, he was a little conservative at the beginning and only said that the yield per mu was five shi. If he dared to blow thirty or fifty shi, he would probably be slapped in the face right now.

Soon someone noticed something was wrong, and asked aloud: "Yuehou seems to know potatoes very well?"

Yue Shan smiled and did not speak.

Sun Fucai took the initiative to stand up and said: "Yue Hou told me where the fine seed is. We followed his instructions to retrieve the fine seed from thousands of miles away."

(End of this chapter)