The family was full of praise for the taste of roasted sweet potatoes. As Li Qinzai said before, they melted in your mouth, were soft and glutinous, and had a refreshing sweetness.
Each person had a roasted sweet potato, and everyone was still a little unsatisfied after eating. Qiao'er reluctantly chewed her fingers, while Cui Jie and Jin Xiang wiped their mouths gracefully.
"Husband..." Cui Jie grabbed Li Qinzai's arm and asked coquettishly: "When can our family eat roasted sweet potatoes next time?"
Li Qinzai smiled bitterly and said: "At least we have to wait until next year. This year's harvest totals more than 80 kilograms. It would be a violation of heaven for me to steal a few."
Cui Jie sighed and said with a sad face: "Those who are pregnant want to eat roasted sweet potatoes, but they can't..."
As he spoke, he stroked his swollen belly with great pity, and his resentment was palpable.
Li Qinzai smiled: "Don't be a monster. It would be great if you could eat one. The emperor didn't even eat it. Think about how lucky you are."
Under the corridor beside the yard, a voice suddenly came out in the dark night: "What haven't I eaten?"
The faces of Li Qinzai's family changed completely. Cui Jie and Jinxiang looked at Li Qinzai in panic, while Qiao'er silently kicked the sweet potato skins on the ground into the garden.
At the critical moment, my son is still reliable. This skillful method of destroying corpses and eradicating traces must have gone through many tests of blood and fire.
"Why are you stunned! Put the grill away quickly!" Li Qinzai was also a little nervous.
Jinxiang hurriedly put away the grill on the charcoal fire. Cui Jie was so anxious that she didn't know what to do, so she simply kicked the charcoal stove. With a bang, the red charcoal fire scattered all over the ground, like stars in the sky.
In the darkness, Li Zhi's faint voice came: "Don't cover it up, I have seen it all..."
The family froze, and then saw Li Zhi walking out of the darkness.
Li Qinzai stepped forward to salute without changing his expression: "Your Majesty, you haven't rested yet? I and my family are admiring the moon in the yard and talking about family relationships..."
Li Zhi looked up and saw that the night sky was gloomy, without stars or moon, and the darkness seemed to be silently mocking Li Qinzai's lies.
Li Zhi sighed: "Aren't you even willing to use your brain to make up lies now? Am I so unworthy of your efforts to fool me?"
Li Qinzai said guiltily: "Your Majesty came so suddenly that I didn't have time to make up a perfect lie. Your Majesty, please forgive me."
Qiao'er obviously didn't clean the battlefield too cleanly. When Li Zhi came closer, he discovered the roasted sweet potato peels on the ground, and the sweet smell of sweet potatoes still lingered in the air.
Li Zhi's cheek twitched a few times and said: "Li Jingchu, you really deserve to die..."
"I was drinking in the hall just now. When I saw you sneaking away, I knew you must have done something wrong. I followed you all the way. You really didn't disappoint me." Li Zhi gritted his teeth and said, "We have a total of dozens of kilograms of sweet potatoes. What do you think you are?"
How much wasted? The entire Tang Dynasty only has a few dozen kilograms, do we need to save seeds for next year?"
"Your Majesty, I understand that I am guilty," Li Qinzai couldn't help but said: "However, this thing is easy to grow. If we plant it again next year, it will be all over the mountains and fields. Your Majesty will be very annoyed by then. Don't worry, Your Majesty."
Li Zhi hummed: "If the food of the Tang Dynasty grows all over the mountains and plains like weeds one day, wouldn't I go crazy with joy?"
Looking at the sweet potato peels that had not been cleaned up on the ground, Li Zhi sighed quietly: "...You didn't leave any for me. You really deserve to die."
Li Qinzai blinked and magically took out a fist-sized raw sweet potato from his arms and said, "Your Majesty, I left one for you..."
Li Zhi was suddenly surprised and happy: "You, how much did you steal?"
Li Qinzai said innocently: "It's gone, it's really gone. This is the last one."
Li Zhi waved his hand sadly and indignantly: "Bake it for me! You guys are having a great time eating, and I am still trying to live frugally. Why? I can't do it!"
Cui Jie and Jin Xiang chuckled, and after saluting, they wisely led Qiao'er to leave, leaving the space in the courtyard to the monarch and his ministers.
Rekindling the charcoal fire, setting up the grill, Li Qinzai placed the last sweet potato on the grill.
Not long after, the sweet potatoes were ripe, and Li Zhi couldn't wait to peel them and eat them. They were so hot that they squealed and kept mouthing.
"Okay, delicious!" Li Zhi's eyes shone: "As Jingchu said, this food is sweet and glutinous in the mouth, and tastes great. It tastes much better than rice and wheat."
After three strokes, five divided by two, Li Zhi quickly finished the whole sweet potato, licking his lips with unfinished content.
Li Qinzai said maliciously: "If your majesty has not eaten enough, why don't you give me a decree and I will get some more?"
Li Zhi was so excited that he immediately woke up. He pointed at him and said solemnly: "Remember this for me. Before the sweet potato harvest next year, you are not allowed to take any more sweet potatoes. Otherwise, you will be dealt with by military law. I will give the guards who guard the sweet potatoes a crackdown."
Strict decree, all the remaining sweet potatoes are numbered, if one is missing you will be punished."
Li Qinzai sighed. He knew that he might not be able to eat sweet potatoes this year.
After eating the roasted sweet potatoes, Li Zhi fulfilled his wish and sat in the yard, turning on the sage mode.
"Jingchu, you said that in a few years, the Tang Dynasty will really be full of sweet potatoes, and the people of the world will no longer have to worry about famine. Will the Tang Dynasty be able to last for thousands of years?" Li Zhi asked calmly.
Li Qinzai thought for a while and said: "Food is an important factor in maintaining the rule of the dynasty, but it is not the only factor. Your Majesty, there are many factors that continue the national destiny of a dynasty. Food, benevolent government, military, officialdom, natural disasters, etc., they can all affect it.
A country’s destiny.”
"I can only say that with sufficient food, the Tang Dynasty will be much more stable, but I dare not say that it will not change for ten thousand years. If foreign enemies invade, or officials become corrupt, and public resentment arises, the country will still be in danger of being overrun.
"
Li Zhi nodded: "That's the truth. It's not enough to fill the people's stomachs. If you want the country to last, those in power still need to walk on thin ice. Once you slack off, it will be the beginning of the country's destruction."
Li Qinzai smiled again and said: "Your Majesty, you don't have to worry too much. With the sweet potato, I can guarantee that the population of the Tang Dynasty will increase exponentially in the next hundred years. Maybe we will see the population of the Tang Dynasty exceed 100 million in our lifetime."
Li Zhi said happily: "Really?"
Li Qinzai nodded with a smile. This is not bragging. In real history, sweet potatoes were introduced to China during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. However, it was only during the Qianlong period of the Braid Dynasty that the cultivation of sweet potatoes became widespread in the world. Since then, there have been more people in the world.
By growing food sources, the population will grow explosively.
In that dark age when the Han people were ruled by boar-skin barbarians, various exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes made it difficult for the people to survive. However, despite this, the population of the Braided Dynasty far exceeded all dynasties in Chinese history.
This is inseparable from the gradual diversity of food, especially sweet potatoes, a new food source that is easy to grow and has huge yields. It is the direct cause of population growth.
In the future Li and Tang dynasties, as long as those in power don't make any big brain-dead mistakes, the population will definitely grow dramatically.