Datang: My apprentice is Li Chengqian

Chapter 305
The entire seven years of Zhenguan was a bumper year for Datang.

From the beginning to the end of the year, there were no major disasters, so it can be said that the weather was smooth.

Whether it is rice and corn, or cotton, which has just started to be planted on a large scale this year, they have achieved bumper harvests.

What is even more exciting is that on the last day of the seventh year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin deliberately came to the greenhouse base of the Agricultural College of Red Star Academy.

The potatoes that Yuchihuan brought back from South America have been planted for almost half a year, and it is now the harvest season.

Whether the production of potatoes is so exaggerated can be revealed today.

So even though today is already a holiday, all the ministers in the court followed.

"Your Majesty, this one greenhouse is one mu of land, and fifty consecutive greenhouses are planted with potatoes, all of which can be dug today."

Qin Xiedao naturally accompanied Li Shimin himself today, and was going to follow behind Li Shimin with a hoe and pretend to dig a few potatoes.

"Xie Dao, I'm putting my words here today. If the yield per mu of potatoes is really broken, then the imperial court will fully support the shipbuilding workshops to build more ships, encourage more caravans to go to sea, and remove customs from The household department was independent, and he was equipped with relevant sailors to cooperate in combating pirates and smuggling.

At that time, you can not only go to South America, but also go to North America to find the corn and sweet potatoes you mentioned.

But if this output is the result of your exaggeration, then all the credit will be lost, and your Red Star Academy will also be responsible for building a hundred primary schools for the Tang states for free. "

Li Shimin took a hoe and prepared to go to the ground himself.

But before doing it, he also made an agreement with Qin Xiedao.

"No problem, if the yield of potatoes is less than 100 jin per mu, then I can donate [-] million guan to the Ministry of Households to encourage immigrants to open up wasteland in Jiangnan Road and northern Xinjiang."

The students and teachers of the Agricultural College of Red Star Academy are not just for nothing.

Potatoes have been planted for half a year, and it is natural to know exactly how it is growing.

To put it bluntly, according to the growth of potatoes confirmed by the experiment, combined with the number of potato seedlings in an acre of land, Qin Xiedao can roughly deduce a yield.

So for Li Shimin's bet, he has no pressure at all.

"Your Majesty, the weather is so cold, why don't you let everyone do it as soon as possible, or it will be bad if you freeze your body."

Changsun Wuji couldn't understand Qin Xiedao's embarrassing look, so he quickly found an excuse.

Although everyone wore woolen sweaters, the weather was really cold.

So Li Shimin didn't hesitate too much. He bent down and entered the greenhouse, and then started digging potatoes.

As soon as he went down with the hoe, a few yellow and orange potatoes emerged from the soil.

Although these potatoes are only the size of an egg, there is no way to compare with some of the later generations who only weigh one or two catties.

But there are four or five potatoes in a bunch, which also makes Li Shimin full of expectations.

Soon he was working hard to dig potatoes.

Not to mention, Li Shimin looks a bit skilled at digging potatoes.

……

"How is it? How many catties?"

It is impossible for Li Shimin to dig potatoes from start to finish. During the break, a group of people immediately speed up the digging.

So after half an hour, all the potatoes in an acre were dug out.

The Ministry of Households had already arranged for subordinate staff to personally confirm the production of these potatoes.

"Your Majesty, it's... already over a thousand catties."

Dai Zhou's voice trembled a little.

This was even better than the best result he had imagined.

"There's still a bunch of them here that haven't been weighed, so they already weigh a thousand catties?"

Li Shimin's face was also overjoyed.

The pile of potatoes next to it weighed several hundred catties by visual inspection, that is, the potato yield of one mu of land really went to more than 1000 catties.

Although it was just dug out, there is still some soil on it, and it is wet again.

But that is more than 1000 catties.

"Good! That's great! Reward, great reward! Jingde, you gave birth to a good son."

Li Shimin looked at Yuchi Jingde who was following behind him, and he was in an extremely good mood.

"It's all done by His Majesty and Zhenbeihou!"

Yu Chigong's face was about to burst into smiles.

The son who was always making trouble at home has now made great contributions.

"I heard that your Saburo built a city called Singapore in Nanyang before, and this time he made such a great contribution, then I will officially confer him the title of Marquis of Nanyang!"

A potato for a Marquis.

In Datang, which values ​​military merits, it is simply unimaginable.

This also fully proves how important potatoes are to Datang.

"Your Majesty, the potatoes have been carefully cared for in the greenhouse, which is why they have such a high yield.

But outside, it is estimated that the situation will not be so good.

It is also impossible for the common people to have greenhouses to grow crops like Red Star Academy. "

Changsun Wuji, as always, jumped out to find fault.

"What Wuji said is also reasonable. The water and soil chosen now may be the most suitable for planting potatoes, but if they are placed outside, the water and soil may not be acclimatized. At that time, if the farmers planted potatoes, they would have no harvest. That would be a mess."

Gao Shilian also chimed in.

"Your Majesty, this potato can also be planted in the old Turkic land, so as to attract more people to live on the grasslands, and turn these grasslands into fertile farmlands, villages and small towns.

As for the changes in the outside planting environment, whether the yield of potatoes will be affected, in fact, there is no need to worry.

This time, the College of Agriculture prepared [-] greenhouse potato experiments at one go, just to verify the potato yield under various climatic conditions.

Just dig out all these potatoes, and the situation will be clear at a glance.

And the cultivation of this potato is very simple and does not require a lot of special care, which is much easier than paying attention to rice.

Now we have a large number of seeds, and we can promote and plant a batch in the spring of tomorrow.

After the autumn harvest, we in Datang will have enough potato seeds to promote to the entire Datang.

At that time, the people of Tang Dynasty will completely get rid of the famine problem, making His Majesty the first emperor in history to lead the people out of famine. "

Qin Xiedao didn't even look at Changsun Wuji.

This year, the more the eldest grandson's family opposed the Qin family, the harder Qin Xiedao fought back.

Today's eldest grandson's family has few industries that can make money.

It can even be said that few industries can survive.

The source of income has been cut off, and it will definitely have a profound impact on the eldest grandson's family.

"Okay! As long as the output of potatoes in the other greenhouses is also a thousand catties, then I agree with the plan of potato promotion."

The big cake painted by Qin Xiedao attracted Li Shimin, even if Changsun Wuji was unhappy, he expressed his willingness without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)