"Okay, let's go and see if these sweet potatoes can yield dozens of shi per acre."
"Liu Jin, you praised Haikou back then."
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately walked towards the sweet potato field happily.
Everyone came to the sweet potato field with a smile. The sweet potato field was square and square.
At this time, autumn is approaching winter, and it is already a little cold here in the capital. The leaves and vines of the sweet potatoes have withered, and it is the harvest season.
"Are these sweet potatoes?"
Emperor Hongzhi came to the sweet potato field and went to have a look in the field with great interest.
"Your Majesty, the sweet potatoes are in the ground and you need to dig up the soil before you can dig them out."
Liu Jin quickly replied.
"Yeah~"
"Come here, bring me a hoe. I want to dig some sweet potatoes myself."
Emperor Hongzhi was in a good mood and even wanted to dig sweet potatoes himself.
"Your Majesty, please let me wait."
When Liu Jian and others heard this, they immediately said.
"You guys are digging too, I'm not letting you dig."
Emperor Hongzhi smiled and said.
Someone soon brought some hoes over here. Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others each had a hoe in their hands. They each found a place and started digging up sweet potatoes with great interest.
"Drink~"
Emperor Hongzhi waved his hoe high and then brought it down.
Well, the digging was a little off, but a piece of soil was still dug up.
Sweet potato fields are filled with rows of raised soil. The soil is very loose, so it is not difficult to dig.
Soon, Emperor Hongzhi dug out some soil around the roots of the sweet potatoes, and the sweet potatoes were exposed one by one.
"Haha, I dug it~"
Seeing the sweet potatoes, Emperor Hongzhi was in a good mood. He didn't care whether they were dirty or not, and just dug open the soil with his hands, and immediately the sweet potatoes were pulled out one by one.
These sweet potatoes are all very big, with small ones weighing several ounces, and large sweet potatoes even weighing two or three kilograms. There are several sweet potatoes under one sweet potato plant, just like its young.
"It's quite a lot, and the gravity is pretty good."
Emperor Hongzhi waved his hoe and kept digging, and soon he dug out all the sweet potatoes. He counted them carefully and found that there were eight sweet potatoes in total.
"How many~"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the sweet potatoes he dug out and weighed them carefully. Just this one sweet potato weighed several kilograms. The yield was huge.
"This output is ok~"
Next to them, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others also dug out a sweet potato plant and couldn't help but nod.
Liu Jin was indeed not lying. The yield of this sweet potato is only several kilograms per plant. Looking at this large sweet potato field, one does not know how many sweet potatoes can be dug out.
"Xiao Jing, take these sweet potatoes back and cook porridge later."
Emperor Hongzhi clapped his hands and waved his hoe to dig out several sweet potato plants one after another. Just like the first sweet potato plant, there were several sweet potatoes, and the yield was also quite high.
"It's okay, but the output is so-so~"
Liu Jin on the side also breathed a sigh of relief. The yield of this sweet potato did not disappoint.
Sweet potatoes are really easy to grow, have high yields, and taste good.
Well, the disadvantage is that you are not very hungry. You will be full quickly after eating sweet potatoes, but you will also get hungry quickly.
But as a supplementary food, it is very good.
In times of famine, these sweet potatoes are life-saving food.
"Liu Jin, let people start digging. I'm really curious now about how high the yield of these sweet potatoes is."
Emperor Hongzhi put down his hoe and said in a good mood.
"Yes~"
Liu Jin nodded quickly and then gave instructions to Mao Lun.
Soon, many people entered the fields with hoes and began to dig up sweet potatoes.
The sweet potatoes are being dug here, and the weighing has already been prepared over there. They are also digging and weighing at the same time.
It doesn't take long, just a moment.
Sweet potatoes were dug out one by one and placed on the ridges of the field. For a time, a large number of sweet potatoes could be seen in the entire field.
"Start weighing~"
Some people packed the sweet potatoes in baskets, while others held large scales and notebooks.
"One hundred pounds and three pounds~"
Just a dozen sweet potatoes were packed casually to fill a basket, weighing more than 100 kilograms.
"Tsk tsk, this output is too high~"
This has just begun. After careful comparison among the ministers, some people couldn't help but sigh.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this output is absolutely leveraged.
"One hundred and four pounds~"
"The total output is 537 kilograms~"
With enough manpower, sweet potatoes can be harvested very quickly.
Baskets of sweet potatoes were constantly being weighed, and soon they weighed more than 500 kilograms.
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the sweet potatoes that had been processed and then at the remaining sweet potatoes in the field. He was laughing from ear to ear.
"One thousand catties~"
Soon, the number soared to one thousand kilograms.
However, there are still a large number of sweet potatoes in the field that have not been weighed. A rough estimate is that there are at least several thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes.
"Three thousand catties~"
Soon, as the statistician reported this number, everyone was laughing from ear to ear.
"Congratulations to your majesty, congratulations to your majesty, the auspiciousness comes from heaven, there will be no more famine in our Ming Dynasty~"
Liu Jian, a flatterer, immediately took the lead in congratulating Emperor Hongzhi.
"Congratulations to your majesty, congratulations to your majesty~"
"It is my great fortune to have this divine object."
When other people saw it, they immediately expressed their congratulations.
Now that only about half of it has been harvested, the yield per mu has already exceeded 3,000 jins. Calculated, the yield of sweet potatoes can at least exceed 5,000 jins per mu.
The yield per mu is five thousand catties. What is this concept?
In this era, the annual yield of wheat in the north is only about 300 catties per acre, and the annual yield of rice in the south does not exceed 400 catties per acre.
The current yield of sweet potatoes is more than ten times that of wheat and rice. This yield is so terrible.
Liu Jian called it auspiciousness, but he didn't mean it randomly.
With this thing, the output can be more than ten times higher, and the same land can feed more people, which means that the people of the Ming Dynasty will be able to eat more fully in the future.
This is definitely a great thing for Ming Dynasty.
"Haha, it is indeed auspicious~"
Emperor Hongzhi immediately laughed happily.
He was happier than ever, because he knew that with this sweet potato, as long as his old Zhu family did not seek death to a certain extent, the country would be stable.
As long as the people can have enough to eat, everything else is easy.
"Four thousand pounds~"
The weighing continued, and soon the weight exceeded 4,000 pounds, and everyone was laughing from ear to ear.
"Heaven~"
"If there had been sweet potatoes like this a few years ago, my poor children wouldn't have starved to death."
At this time, an old farmer who was buying something could not help but kneel down in the ground and burst into tears.
He thought of his children and how his children starved to death during the famine a few years ago.
Wheat yields are too low.
Wheat varieties of this era were not improved and yields were limited.
Coupled with the absence of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, the yield is even lower.
An acre of land that can produce three hundred pounds of wheat is considered good.
The sweet potatoes in front of us can produce several thousand kilograms per mu.
If there had been sweet potatoes at that time, countless people would have been saved from starving to death.
Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian and others all looked over and fell silent when they heard the old farmer crying.
Especially Emperor Hongzhi, he always thought that he was doing a good job as emperor.
But the past few years have made him see himself clearly, and what he has done is not enough.
I used to be immersed in the beautiful world created by civil servants.
Now I have seen a lot of things clearly, which is why I made these changes.
"Liu Jin is right. The world is very big. We Chinese descendants should not only be limited to the Ming Dynasty, but also go to all parts of the world to seize more land."
"It's one thing to have good seeds. If there's more land, it can naturally feed more people."
Emperor Hongzhi felt a lot and looked at Liu Jin.
He remembered something Liu Jin had said: Grain production must increase, and the land must continue to expand, moving people from densely populated areas out.
Liaodong, Ryukyu, Nanyang, Golden Continent, Australia, there are many good places in the world, and you can grab them all.
"Five thousand catties~"
The weighing continued and soon exceeded the 5,000 mark.
But because of the old farmer crying, everyone became a lot more silent.
The prosperity of the people is suffering, and the destruction of the people is suffering.
As important ministers of the imperial court, there are still many things that have not been done well, far from being done well. Just immersing themselves in the so-called prosperous age of Confucianism is too false.
The crying old farmer in front of me seemed to be slapped in the face.
"Five thousand five hundred and sixty-eight pounds~"
Soon, one acre of sweet potatoes was harvested and weighed.
Mao Lun piled the sweet potatoes together like a hill and reported the numbers at the same time.
"More than five thousand five hundred kilograms~"
"Okay, okay~"
"With this sweet potato, there will be no more famines in the Ming Dynasty."
"Liu Jin, how should I reward you?"
Emperor Hongzhi smiled happily and nodded, then looked at Liu Jin and asked.
"Your Majesty, I dare not take credit~"
"The fine seeds were brought back from Golden Continent by the crew led by Marquis Taiping after all the hardships."
"I have no merit at all, so I am embarrassed to ask for a reward."
When Liu Jin heard this, he quickly shook his head and said.
"No, you have merit, great merit."
Emperor Hongzhi said solemnly: "If you hadn't said that Golden Continent has high-yielding seeds, naturally there would be nothing that happened later."
"These sweet potatoes, corns, potatoes and other golden continent varieties can solve the food problem of our Ming Dynasty, so that our Ming Dynasty will never have famine from now on."
"This is a great achievement. If you have merit, you will be rewarded~"
"Well, here's the plan~"
"Confess Liu Jin the title of Marquis of Liaodong, hereditary succession, be promoted to one rank, and be rewarded with thousands of acres of fertile land in Liaodong..."
Emperor Hongzhi waved his hand and began to speak immediately.
Liu Jin was given the title of Marquis, which was hereditary and irreplaceable. Well, it was the kind of iron rice bowl that would not be reduced. At the same time, Liu was promoted to an official level.
It was originally the fourth rank, but now it is promoted from the third rank. The promotion speed is almost like a rocket.
As for the thousands of acres of fertile land in Liaodong... Emperor Hongzhi also learned bad things.