Prodigal Son of the Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 219 Joy from Heaven

  The first sweet potato finally showed its head. It was said to be huge because it was roughly as thick as an ordinary child's forearm.

   Naturally, this cannot be compared with the giant and thick sweet potatoes of later generations. Fang Jifan gradually dug up the soil, and the long sweet potatoes in the shape of lotus roots were completely exposed in front of his eyes.

  Hoo...

   Several captains opened their eyes wide.

  Actually, it's not like they haven't planed before.

  At that time, most of the sweet potatoes were not formed yet, and they were just cut open to record and observe their habits.

   This is one.

  Continue to plan...

  Under this vine, connected to this sweet potato, another sweet potato showed its embryonic form.

  This sweet potato... looks more like a potato. If you compare it to a human being, then probably it is more like Mr. Pan in Renzhong than the first long sweet potato.

  Fang Jifan comforted himself, Teacher Pan is also good, after all, concentration is the essence.

  When the second tree is completely exposed to the soil, there will be...

  A seedling is a large bunch. Although it is not as good as grapes, a single plant can bear dozens of fruits, but this seedling has produced five sweet potatoes.

   There are big and small ones, and there is one, which is even smaller than an egg. This child... er, is obviously hopeless.

  It can be big, but it is as thick as a lotus root, and it is more than a foot long.

  Fang Jifan's eyes sparkled, he held them up together, and shouted: "Scale!"

  The school captains had already prepared and brought the weights, so they hurriedly took the weights and weighed them.

  The lieutenant who was trying to adjust the weight, his eyes sparkled, said: "Hundred households, there are three catties."

  Three catties...

  If it is the sweet potatoes of the later generations, a few sweet potatoes will weigh no more than five catties.

   But Fang Jifan was still happy, the effect was far beyond his expectation.

   There are hundreds of plants in this large acre of land.

As a result, everyone stared wide-eyed, and Fang Jifan's mind was also dazed. He used to have good calculation skills, but...now he needs to constantly convert units. The most important thing is that he was a little excited and confused when he was in a hurry. , so he gritted his teeth and said, "Forget it!"

   "One out of five makes five, two out of five makes ten..."

  The lieutenants did not dare to neglect, they snapped their fingers one after another, and began to count.

   At this moment, someone took the pannier off his back and said excitedly, "I brought the abacus, I brought the abacus."

  Take out the abacus from the back basket, and it crackled for a while.

   After a long time, Fang Jifan became impatient: "Have you figured it out?"

   "..."

   What I got was, silence...

  Fang Jifan almost rolled his eyes, the students taught by the physical education teacher are better than you.

  Fang Jifan gritted his teeth, but his mind was still in a mess, so he didn't even think about it, he waited.

  After a while, someone finally said: "Twenty-five shi... this mu of land is twenty-five shi."

   "No." Someone excitedly said: "It's twenty-six stones, probably twenty-six stones."

   Their voices trembled.

   This world is crazy.

   This is five or six stones more than Fang Jifan's conservative estimate, but Fang Jifan is quite skeptical of their calculation ability, um, so he suppressed his excitement and continued to wait for the final result.

Zhang Xin, who had been silent all this time, was also stunned. He looked at the distant field ridge in a daze, and the endless vines, and the emerald green potato leaves, which were extraordinarily dazzling under the warm sunshine, like All of a sudden, his eyes were blurred.

   "That's right, twenty-six stones."

  Finally, there was a school captain with an online IQ. After two consecutive calculations, he finally decided.

  How many seedlings have been planted in each mu of land is counted, especially in the fields here in Xishan, which seedlings have been damaged by insects and which have withered, Zhang Xin will bring them to record every few days.

   Therefore, everyone is very clear.

   Twenty-six stones.

  The Ming Dynasty continued the Song system, and among the measurement units of the Song people, one stone was one hundred and twenty catties.

  Twenty-six stone...

  Fang Jifan's head was obviously still a little dazed, and he struggled and said: "Nearly three thousand catties? Ah, no, it should be two thousand five hundred catties."

  In the Ming system, one catty is about six hundred grams, and one catty is equal to sixteen taels, so it is called half catty eight taels, which means that half a catty and eight taels are equally important, and there is no difference.

crazy.

  Although the yield per acre of sweet potatoes in later generations is about 6,000 to 10,000 catties, it is the result of numerous improvements and the use of large amounts of fertilizers.

Although these sweet potatoes have been carefully cared for, especially the field at the south foot of the mountain is the most important experimental field of Baihusuo, so the yield may be higher, but... twenty-six shi still far exceeded Fang Jifan's estimate .

  He thought that if he could have sixteen or seventeen stones, it would be considered good.

   Then according to your own temperament, brag a bit, round up, isn't it twenty stones?

  The twenty stones were blown at the beginning because Fang Jifan wanted this sweet potato to attract the attention of the world, and it was best to spread it as quickly as possible.

  Can now...

  Fang Jifan looked at Zhang Xin.

   This guy really takes care of sweet potatoes like his own son.

   Apart from this, there is really no other explanation.

   "Haha... thirty stones." Fang Jifan yelled ecstatically.

  A school captain couldn't help but said: "A hundred households, not thirty shi, but twenty-six shi..."

  Fang Jifan slapped him directly. Fortunately, the slap was not heavy, but it was also extremely clear. Fang Jifan bared his teeth at him and said, "How much is it now?"

  The captain hurriedly covered his cheeks: "Twenty-six... no, thirty..."

  Thirty stone...

  It is necessary to declare thirty shi, and I am too lazy to toss about the odds and ends. If I want to promote sweet potatoes, the first thing is to sell its huge output. Under this huge output, it is enough to move everyone.

   Once such a high-yielding crop is produced, after it is extended to thousands of households in the future, does it have anything to do with Fang Jifan as to whether you can grow ten stones, twenty stones, or thirty stones? You don't know how to grow it yourself, anyway... you have to kill it, thirty stones, not less than a catty!

  In the real estate of the northern land, the yield of ordinary wheat is only two or three stones. This comparison is ten times higher.

  Fang Jifan burst into laughter, and all the captains also said excitedly: "Hundreds of households are wise."

   "Hundred households are indeed Shennong in the present world."

   "We can serve hundreds of households, even if we are pigs and dogs, we are also happy..."

  But at this moment, a long howl interrupted everyone's chance to perform.

  Zhang Xin burst into tears uncontrollably. He raised his hands to the sky and screamed loudly: "Xiaojie...I have become...I have become...The hard work of these days is not in vain, it is not in vain..."

   He slapped and knelt directly in the soft mud, tears streaming down his face, and his shoulders trembling.

   "Do you want to invite a doctor?" Fang Jifan asked with concern.

He suddenly felt that Zhang Xin's status in his heart had been improved. The high yield of sweet potatoes was due to this letter. A guy who was born as a son of a son actually became a farmer honestly, and even had trouble with his family because of this. Turned over, every day is to roll up the trousers and dig in the ground, never idle from morning to night.

In fact...sweet potatoes are important, Fang Jifan has the advantage of being a traveler, he can realize the importance of sweet potatoes, and it is extremely important, but...if there is no capable person who really takes this farmland as his own life, it is even possible. In three to five years, it may not be possible to achieve this result.

  Many things, even if the direction is right, success or failure may not be just like that. Success or failure lies in people's hearts and whether they are willing to put their minds to it.

   Now seeing this guy rolling in the mud in great grief, Fang Jifan heaved a sigh of relief, feeling moved and slightly distressed.

  After crying, Zhang Xin gritted his teeth and said, "I'm fine. Let's dig and dig out everything. This mu of land will be harvested today!"

  Yes, calculation is one thing, but to know how much to harvest, you still need to dig out countless sweet potatoes yourself.

  Seeing that Zhang Xin regained his energy, everyone started digging sweet potatoes without hesitation.

  They dare not use tools. Every sweet potato is precious. To them, it is their hard work. If they use tools, it will inevitably hurt the roots of the sweet potatoes, so they use their hands.

   After a short time, many people's hands were dirty.

   Zhang Xin's eyes were bloodshot.

The fair face at the time is no different from that of an ordinary old farmer now. Not only is he darker, but his skin color has also become much rougher. He used to wear a large fish suit with a silver belt that he was awarded during the proofreading year. , the whole person is handsome and upright.

But after a period of time in the field, the captains of the field station began to realize that the large fish suit, beautiful boots, the belt around the waist, and even the sword inserted obliquely around the waist are all suitable. obstacles to their farming.

So, gradually, some people began to wear short clothes, just a short shirt, and directly put on breeches under the head, without boots. Wrapped in foot wraps, after working all day, I felt uncomfortable all over, so I changed them to cloth shoes. The cloth shoes are convenient, and if they get dirty, they will get dirty, so I don’t care.

The image of Zhang Xin is probably the same, with his sleeves rolled up, revealing two arms, breeches under his feet, the trousers below his knees have never been cleaned, a pair of cloth shoes with mud on them, and his well-maintained hands before. Calluses started to form, and like all nobles in the past, they had long and slender nails, but now, these nails have long since been worn out, and the nails are uneven, without any aesthetic feeling for appreciation.

Under the sun, the weather is not hot, but many people are sweating profusely. This is a group of "soil mice" who have become good at rolling in the mud. There are many people who come. One mu of sweet potatoes only uses In less than two hours, the harvest was over.

   "Twenty-six stones, nothing wrong."

  Fang Jifan was already in high spirits. Looking at the mountains of sweet potatoes piled up on the ridge of the field, he finally made up his mind, and said in a confident voice: "Find someone, and go to the Ministry of Households to announce the good news!"

  (end of this chapter)