Tibet

Chapter 1477: Exotic Crops

Li Ye specially met with Yang Liangyao and praised him for his great achievements for the Tang Dynasty. He also listened to his account of the search for the Southern Continent and Nanda Island, including the first batch of experimenters and troops to settle on Nanda Island.

Accompanying the emperor to receive Yang Liangyao were eight senior officials from the political hall. Everyone did not interrupt and just listened to his majesty and Yang Liangyao.

In fact, everyone heard that there were many loopholes. The emperor seemed to know the Southern Continent, Nanda Island and the New World very well. The question became, how did the emperor know?

Although everyone had doubts in their minds, no one dared to point out the emperor's loopholes.

Yang Liangyao talked about the thrilling encounters of the fleet crossing the Pacific, and the encounter with the Yin people in South America. He collected various crop seeds and mature crops along the way.

After hearing this, Li Ye smiled and asked: "Why not settle in the southern continent instead of the southern island?"

Yang Liangyao leaned forward and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the land of the Southern Continent is not as fertile as the Southern Island, the forests are not as lush as the Southern Island, and the climate is drier. It is not as mild and humid as the Southern Island. We entered from the mouth of a large river and sailed seventy or eighty miles. , there are fertile and flat grasslands all the way, a large river spreads on the grassland like a mirror, there are pine forests more than ten feet high in the distance, and there are no ferocious beasts. With the promise of a hundred years of tax exemption, it is simply a paradise. "

"You named Nanda Island Xinjiang Ning?" Li Ye asked again with a smile.

"Exactly!"

"Okay!" Li Ye nodded, "This is a good name, I'm ready!"

But Li Ye was still concerned about crops, and asked with a smile: "Where are the crop seeds that I brought?"

Wei Jiansu said quickly: "They are all in the Agricultural College!"

Li Ye stood up and said with a smile: "Go to the Agricultural College to see the crops, otherwise I won't be able to sleep tonight."

All the officials got on the bullock carts, surrounded the emperor, and drove to the Agricultural College.

The Agricultural College is one of the largest universities in Chang'an, second only to the Guozixue and the Engineering College. There are many students applying for the exam. This year's imperial examination, tens of thousands of people chose to apply for the Agricultural College, but only 2,000 were admitted.

After all, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce are more likely to be accepted by the people if their children learn agriculture.

The Agricultural College has a special seed bank, and the seeds brought back by Yang Liangyao are placed in a confidential room. After all, no one has seen those crop specimens. Everyone knows that they are important, and there are experienced people to take care of them.

The seed bank was very cold, and ice cubes were placed inside all year round to cool down. Li Ye saw the specimens placed in hay boxes one by one.

The first one is a pumpkin, with a small pocket next to it filled with seeds.

"You haven't named it yet!" Li Ye asked with a smile.

Wang Bo, the minister of Sinong Temple, reacted very quickly and said quickly: "I'm just waiting for your Majesty to give me my name!"

The officials secretly scolded Wang Bo for being a sycophant, but Li Ye smiled happily and said: "This is called pumpkin. The method of growing it is the same as winter melon. People can grow it in front of and behind their houses, even in the county town!"

Zhao Jiunian, a student at the College of Agriculture, said: “We are all preparing to start trial planting next spring!”

Li Ye shook his head, "We can't generalize!"

He pointed to the second crop, sweet potatoes, and said: "This is called sweet potato. It will go bad after a few months. Doesn't your agricultural college have a glass greenhouse? Plant it in the glass greenhouse. The method of growing sweet potatoes is the same as that of yams. They are planted directly in the soil. "This is a high-yielding crop that requires a lot of fertilizer, and it is estimated that it can be harvested before and after frost."

Zhao Yuanzheng bowed and said: "I understand, we will start planting tomorrow!"

"With this!"

Li Ye pointed to the potato next to him and said: "This is called a potato. It is best grown in mountainous areas. It has a large yield and does not matter the land. The yield is similar to that of sweet potatoes. Plant it together. Look, it has sprouted on it."

"Follow the order!"

Li Ye introduced and named them one by one. It was indeed a trip to the Americas dedicated to collecting crops. In addition to the pumpkins, potatoes and sweet potatoes before, there were also corn, sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, and even cotton, etc.

Too bad there were no tobacco seeds and no cocoa.

However, Li Ye was still overjoyed. With these crops and Jiaozhou rice, Datang's population of hundreds of millions would be guaranteed, and it would have a solid population base for overseas development.

Coming out of the Agricultural College, Yang Liangyao bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I want to go to the Southern Continent and Jiangning Island again!"

Li Ye smiled and said: "I just came back, let's take a rest for half a year! There's still time to go next year."

"Your Majesty, I can't stay idle. A month's rest is enough. The key is that I promised the soldiers on Jiangning Island that they will change their posts after one year. Moreover, I have gained a lot of experience. This time I will establish supply points and rest areas along the way. It will be much easier for the fleet to go to the Southern Continent and Jiangning Island in the future.”

Since Yang Liangyao had this intention, how could Li Ye be wrong? He said happily: "Then it's all thanks to you!"

Half a month later, Yang Liangyao got up and went to Quanzhou to prepare for his second voyage. This time the court paid more attention to it, allocated 100,000 yuan, established a special ocean-going agency, and began to select people across the country who were willing to go to the southern continent and Prisoners living on Jiangning Island and even many farmers signed up to live overseas after hearing that they were given a thousand acres of land.

A thousand acres of land! How many farmers dream.

Except for a few of Yang Liangyao's men who were sick and unable to go overseas, everyone else was willing to follow Yang Liangyao to the southern continent again.

After two months of preparation, Yang Liangyao, who was well prepared, led 30 large ships worth 10,000 stones and 3,000 people and set out to sea again, heading for the distant Southern Continent and Jiangning Island.

Hechuan, although half a month had passed and the attack on Diaoyu Mountain had not yet begun, the Tang army was not idle. Li Sheng sent General Xiong Kun to lead 20,000 troops, cooperate with 20,000 Nanzhao garrisons, and completely wiped out the 30,000 Guo family troops in Luchuan County, killing more than 4,000 enemies and capturing 25,000.

In addition, the local nobles of Luzhou, the Hu family, and the local nobles of Bazhou, the Wen family, who supported the Guo family's rebellion, were all arrested and beheaded by the internal guards, and all their property was confiscated.

With the arrival of hundreds of large ships from Chengdu, the Tang army quickly cleared the Guo family's surface forces. More than 100 patrol boats of the Guo family were all destroyed and sunk by the Tang army's explosive arrows, killing more than 2,000 enemies.

That morning, the first vanguard of the Tang army began to cross the Fushui River by ferry. Deputy General Zhao Ting'an said, "General, will the enemy be fooled?"

Li Sheng smiled and nodded, "Not only our soldiers are exhausted, but the enemy is also exhausted. They finally see the fish coming, how can they still hold it?"

Li Sheng knew that the enemy had deployed 5,000 people at the foot of the mountain to prevent the Tang army from crossing the river, but they usually hid in the mountains and forests. Once there was danger, they would immediately evacuate to the mountains. In order to annihilate the 5,000 enemy troops, Li Sheng decided to use 1,000 soldiers as bait to cross the river and attract the enemy to kill.

At the same time, the Tang army had prepared a floating bridge in advance, which could be laid in the shortest time.

There were more than 100 small boats moored on the shore. There was no abnormality in them at present, but they would soon reveal their true appearance.

Ten large ships gradually approached the opposite bank, and the soldiers took out short spears and shields and jumped off the boats one after another. 1,000 soldiers went ashore

At this moment, a horn sounded in the forest, and five thousand Guo family soldiers rushed out of the forest and rushed towards the one thousand Tang army soldiers on the shore.

At the same time, a boat with a paddle wheel started and headed to the opposite bank. It dragged two iron chains, and more than a hundred small boats parked on the shore showed abnormalities.

They were actually connected in series by two iron chains. When the iron chains moved, all the small boats followed and moved one by one on the river.

Hundreds of soldiers immediately began to lay wooden boards. There were holes on the wooden boards and the small boats. With two iron pins inserted, the wooden boards and the boats were fixed. It was very convenient and fast. Ten thousand soldiers led their horses and began to run on the floating bridge.

It only took two cups of tea for the floating bridge to be laid, and ten thousand troops also led their horses to rush to the opposite bank. They turned over their horses and ran towards the forest, cutting off the retreat of the five thousand enemy troops.

One thousand Tang soldiers, holding short spears and shields, formed a large formation on the shore to fight against five thousand enemy troops. Although the ratio was five to one, the Tang army was a whole formation, like a turtle that had shrunk its head, and the five thousand enemy troops had no way to deal with them.

At this moment, a bell suddenly rang in the forest, "Dang! Dang! Dang!"

This was the bell for the emergency withdrawal of troops. The Guo family soldiers then discovered that a Tang cavalry appeared behind them and was about to cut off their retreat.

The Guo family soldiers were horrified and turned around and ran towards the forest a mile away, but the opponent was a cavalry, much faster than them, and quickly surpassed the five thousand soldiers, cutting off their retreat.

Ten thousand cavalry began to attack the five thousand enemy troops fiercely, and one thousand contradictory soldiers also launched a counterattack.

The main force of the Tang army began to cross the river continuously, and soon another ten thousand soldiers crossed the river and entered the battlefield. The five thousand troops were completely surrounded, with heavy casualties. In despair, the soldiers knelt down and surrendered.

Soon, the remaining 3,800 surrendered soldiers were escorted across the Fu River, and more than a thousand corpses on the ground were also cleared away.

The 30,000 troops crossed the Fu River, which meant that the Guo family's land and water defense lines were broken, and they could only defend the mountain.

At dusk, the Tang army began to pour a large amount of kerosene, pouring tens of thousands of barrels of kerosene, preparing to burn the mountain.

At the first watch, more than a thousand soldiers set fire to the forest at the same time, and the forest at the foot of the mountain began to catch fire. The fire was extremely fierce, and more than a thousand fire points gradually connected into one piece.

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[The fifth chapter of the new book "Humiliation of the Martial Arts Hall" has also been published, welcome to comment and correct]

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