On May 16th, Chen Xi received a letter from the capital.

After discussing with Zhou, Xie Yuner decided to set out from the capital on the tenth day of May. In order to make the journey safe, the Xie family decided to take the waterway from the canal to the Yangtze River. Perhaps it was because Zhou had the shadow of being robbed by land before, but now she only dared to take the official boat when she traveled far away.

For Chen Xi, it is too early to consider when his family will arrive. After all, no matter what happens, it will take one or two months to wait for his family to actually arrive in Wuchang Prefecture.

Chenxi is busy with business now and has no time to take care of his family. However, it would be great if he had more caring people around him to take care of his daily life.

On May 18th, Ma Zhongxi went to the Governor's Office to talk to Chen Xi about summer grain.

In this era, grain production was the issue that the court paid the most attention.

Judging from the situation in Huguang in previous years, two seasons of grain can be harvested in a year, including wheat planting in winter and spring and rice planting in summer and autumn. The summer harvest of wheat harvesting is not the season with the largest grain production in a year. Now, the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi are vigorously planting corn and sweet potatoes, but it has not yet been promoted to Huguang.

The left governor of Huguang, Ma Zhongxi, was very surprised to learn that there were two grain crops with a yield of over 1,000 kilograms per mu in the three southeastern coastal provinces.

Since Chenxi promoted the planting of these two crops in Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi in the 15th year of Hongzhi, the prefectures that planted high-yield crops corn and sweet potatoes have basically covered the three provinces in the past two years. Chenxi is very clear about the advantages and disadvantages of these two crops. Ma Zhongxi heard that the promotion of crops was handled by Chenxi, who was the governor of the three southeastern coastal provinces at the time, so he came to Chenxi to ask for advice.

"...Shen Zhongcheng should be familiar with local officials in Guangdong Province. In recent years, Huguang has suffered disasters year by year. Not only are floods prevalent, locust plagues are also continuous. If adults can bring these two crops to Huguang, it will be beneficial to the people and can also help increase Shen Zhongcheng's reputation and status in the court. Isn't that a good thing?"

Ma Zhongxi asked with anticipation.

Chen Xi did not agree immediately. In his opinion, there was no problem in promoting sweet potatoes and corn in Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, because there were many mountains and hills and few plains. Apart from planting relatively drought-resistant sweet potatoes and corn, it was impossible to increase grain yield.

But the land of Huguang is different. The two lakes have low terrain, river networks are crisscrossing, and lakes are numerous. They are known as the "water town country". The conditions for planting wheat and rice are unique. If you change to plant sweet potatoes and corn, it will be more than worth the loss.

In the final analysis, although sweet potatoes and corn can be used as staple foods, it is inconvenient to store sweet potatoes, and the taste of corn is relatively rough. There must be a process of slowly adapting to it.

Now the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi are still in the stage of exploration and promotion. Chen Xi does not want to be so troublesome and promotes immature things to Huguang.

Chen Xidao: "Since Mr. Ma mentioned, I will think carefully... Although it is not far from Huguang to Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, it is already May. Even if I send people to find seeds immediately, I am afraid I will not be able to catch up with this year's summer farming. Why not wait for the promotion next year!"

Ma Zhongxi hesitated slightly: "Didn't Shen Zhongcheng hear that the thing called sweet potatoes are cultivated in summer and autumn, and can harvest one season before winter? If they can transplant it..., the people may be able to have a good winter..."

It can be seen that Ma Zhongxi is very enthusiastic about promoting sweet potatoes and corn. Although Chen Xi didn't want to accept this job, it was rare that the vassal state of the province was keen on it. If he refused, it might make them unable to come to Taiwan. Chen Xi nodded immediately: "Since that's the case, then I will accept it. Tomorrow I will send some sweet potatoes and corn seeds to the vassal state yamen. As for how to plant it, I will find a special person to teach Mr. Ma..."

"this……"

No matter what, Ma Zhongxi didn't expect that the sweet potatoes and corn seeds he wanted were ready-made here in Shenxi.

There is no way, Song Xiaocheng people have already arrived in Huguang. Although the experimental fields in Fujian Province are not as many as Guangdong Province, it is also the basic foundation of Chenxi. Chenxi asked Song Xiaocheng to come to Huguang. In order to avoid the trouble of going back and forth, they had already explained in the letter that Song Xiaocheng would bring corn and sweet potato seeds.

Chenxi Road: "I did not have a plan to promote sweet potatoes and corn, but since Mr. Ma is so enthusiastic, I will hand over the implementation of these two crops to Mr. Ma, and... I still have seeds of two economic crops here. Since Mr. Ma wants to promote sweet potatoes and corn, I will promote these two crops together!"

The "cash crop" that Chen Xi calls is two crops that are popular in the future, namely pepper and tobacco.

The role of pepper is self-evident. This is another important crop seed obtained by Chen Xi from the hands of Folangji people, following corn and sweet potatoes. It is an indispensable vegetable and seasoning on the people's dining table.

As for introducing tobacco, it is not necessarily a good thing. However, Chen Xi asked himself that he was not a saint who could change the times. Existence was reasonable. Although he knew that this thing would have a great impact on people's health, he knew that this thing would soon become a popular all over the world. Instead of waiting for this thing to become a commodity exported by other countries to China for huge profits, it is better to promote it and plant it yourself.

Ma Zhongxi had no idea about the concept of "cash crops" and was a little confused, but since Chen Xi proposed that this was an additional condition for promoting corn and sweet potatoes, he had to follow it.

...

...

Chenxi is now in Huguang, but Xie Qian is wandering on the way south to Jinling and is exhausted every day.

The problem is that finding people is not going well. After all, Zhu Houzhao went south by boat, so Xie Qian had to rush through the day. Only after taking a boat to bend to the dock at night can he go to the towns along the coast to see if there are any naughty children.

The only feeling that Xie Qian felt was that he was tired.

Xie Qian brought not many people. After all, even if the power of the Dongchang and Jinyiwei was used, the number of people must be controlled within a small range, otherwise the matter would inevitably reach the ears of important officials in the court such as Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, Ma Wensheng, and Liu Daxia. Even so, Xie Qian also found some news, the most valuable of which was that in Liu Jin's team, who had previously worked as a garrison eunuch in a certain place in Nanzhili, there seemed to be a young man who was similar to the prince.

"A eunuch in the palace dares to take the prince south? Could it be that he doesn't want to live?"

Before, Xie Qian had never associated the disappearance of the prince with the two incidents of the eunuch Liu Jin going south, but now with clues, his goal has been clear and he went all the way to Zhili, Nan.

But Xie Qian did not dare to relax at all on the way, and still went ashore to search every day when he stopped at the dock. At the same time, he did not dare to report his discovery to the emperor, so as not to be thought by Zhu Youzhe that he was shirking responsibility... The eunuch's charge of abducting the prince was quite a bit, and without evidence, Xie Qian did not dare to make a conclusion.

On the second day of the fifth month, Xie Qian arrived at Yangzhou Prefecture. At this time, he was exhausted and wanted to find a place to lie down and rest for some rest. So he went to the inn early. Before he could get off the bed, the Jinyiwei came in and reported: "Sir, someone is asking for a visit outside!"

Xie Qian said angrily: "As soon as I arrived in Yangzhou, the local authorities have learned the news that I am not on behalf of the emperor to investigate their official faults. Could it be that I am planning to give gifts to me?"

The Jinyiwei said: "Sir, the visitor said he came from the west, not the local accent..."

Xie Qian was stunned, and then he thought that it was probably because Chen Xi sent someone to pick him up after receiving his letter.

Xie Qian's tone was bad: "Please invite someone in!"

The Jinyiwei took the order and left. Soon after, a capable man in his twenties was brought in. Xie Qian looked at him and felt familiar. He had seen him before and seemed to be a servant from the Chen Mansion.

The visitor met Xie Qian and saluted respectfully: "Little man Ma Jiu, I have met the master!"

Xie Qian nodded with satisfaction, waved his hand, and asked the Jinyiwei to retreat, then said: "The people trained by Chen Xi are really extraordinary and did not take the initiative to tell me about my identity. However, although my husband went south, his identity does not need to be deliberately covered. He... can he explain my purpose of going south to you?"

Ma Jiu thought about it and nodded honestly.

Xie Qian said: "Yes, you used to work with the prince. You knew the prince. It is most suitable for him to send you here, but it is not easy for you to find this place accurately. How did he explain to you?"

When Ma Jiu heard Xie Qian say "him" and clearly refers to Chen Xi. Ma Jiu was a little worried about his master because he was so despised, but he knew the identity of Xie Qian's Pavilion Master, so he could only suppress his dissatisfaction and said:

"My dear Lord, first follow the Yangtze River east to Nanzhili. After passing Nanjing, you will pay attention to the surroundings of the canal, ask about the destination of the deacons in the palace to go south, and find out in detail!"

Xie Qian frowned: "This kid, I'm so surprised by everything. Did he say which deacon in the palace?"

"Liu Jin, Eunuch Liu!" Ma Jiu replied honestly.

Xie Qian laughed: "Hey, it's not bad. Since he has such knowledge, it won't be too difficult to find this trip. I have already found out that Liu Jin went south to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Which prefecture is specifically? This is an errand assigned by the Imperial Horse Supervision Commission. I have no way to inquire. You can ask now. If there is any news, please inform me as soon as possible. Is there any problem?"

Ma Jiu saluted respectfully: "Yes, Master!"

************

ps: The second update!

During the May Day holiday, the emperor will not go out, and we will be rewarded at the third update tomorrow! Continue to ask for monthly tickets and subscription support!
Chapter completed!