While I was talking, I arrived at the potato field.
Gao Bin and Xing Zhong have prepared farm tools and are waiting, including shovels for digging potatoes and willow baskets for potatoes.
Because we need to measure the yield, we set aside an acre of land.
Now it is evenly divided into nine squares.
Kangxi signaled his sons to divide the tools, and then he took matters into his own hands and dug out a potato seedling in the upper left corner.
A bunch of potatoes underneath.
Others couldn't see anything, but the eyes of the ninth elder brother and the fourth elder brother were bright.
The potatoes grown in this land are obviously larger than those in the greenhouse, so the yield should be high.
Because of the good rain this year, the potatoes are quite big. The big ones are as big as goose eggs, and the small ones are as big as chicken eggs.
The potatoes harvested from this one plant can't hold more than two kilograms. How many plants are there in this acre of land?
Kangxi put down his shovel, looked at his sons and said, "Just follow the method I just used. Dig potatoes carefully. Don't hurt the potatoes and don't drop them. The top three diggers who dig the best will be rewarded."
The prince responded: "Don't worry, Khan Ama, my sons and ministers will dig it out well."
Kangxi nodded and his eyes fell on the prince's boots, which were made of black gauze and had a half-embroidered swastika pattern on them.
swastika pattern...
The eldest brother glanced at the prince and felt that there was something interesting to watch.
One-ninth of an acre of land may sound like a lot, but it's actually not that small.
It's as big as three rooms. How can the prince dig so many potatoes with his always pampered appearance?
The third elder brother held back and didn't laugh out loud.
This is a labor of strength. Except for the boss, no one else will make mistakes. Today, we are fighting for the first place.
When I arrived at the fourth elder brother, I looked at the prince in front, and then at the ninth elder brother on the right.
These two are afraid of showing their cowardice.
Because the fifth elder brother and the seventh elder brother are not here, the eighth elder brother is next to the fourth elder brother.
Brother Ba's face was a little stiff and he was looking down at his shoes.
The weather is hot and the clothes are light-colored. Today he is wearing dark-white clothes and a pair of old silver shoes.
As a result, the potato field was still a little wet from the rain yesterday, and now there was muddy water on the uppers of my shoes.
Brother Jiu was standing next to him, holding a shovel. His face looked happy and worried at times.
Fortunately, the potatoes are growing very well. Not only do they have an acre here, but they also have hundreds of acres nearby.
There is no problem in letting Gao Bin keep a basket of potatoes.
What's worrying is that he has a good memory and can clearly recall the harvest of potatoes in the greenhouse last year. In half an hour, he harvested one hundred and eighty-eight pounds and four taels.
The current weight is more than 400 kilograms even if the weight is reduced.
Do you have to dig it out with a spade?
terrible?
Above him is the third elder brother, and below him is the fourteenth elder brother.
Seeing the unpredictable look on his face, Brother Fourteen patted his chest and said, "Brother Ninth, don't worry, keep it with me. When I finish here, I will go help you!"
The ninth elder brother was happy at first, and then thought about the age of the fourteenth elder brother, and could only say: "Forget it, you still have to work hard."
Brother Fourteen was unconvinced and said: "Brother Ninth looks down on others, but I have already gained enough strength."
The ninth elder brother did not argue with him and glanced in the direction of the tenth elder brother.
Don't worry about Brother Ten's strength, he should be fine.
Everyone started digging potatoes.
The tools are simple and the movements are simple, but because we have to prevent digging into the potatoes, everyone is still very slow at the beginning.
Kangxi stepped back and looked at other fields.
Gao Bin cleverly pushed Xing Zhong's lower back and pointed to the small square stool next to him.
When Xing Zhong saw this, he carried the square stool over, but instead of stepping forward, he came to Liang Jiugong.
Liang Jiugong glanced at him, took the square stool and went to the imperial court, wiped it clean with a handkerchief, and said, "Your Majesty, would you like to rest?"
Kangxi sat down and his eyes fell on Xing Zhong and Gao Bin next to him.
The two of them, one old and one young, were well-behaved, wearing coarse clothes, and their faces were tanned and red, but they did not have the demeanor of farmers.
These two people had met in the Ninth Prince's Mansion, and Kangxi also knew that the two of them were working with Si Age this year, trying to grow potatoes and corn.
Now that we are like this, we don’t need to talk about credit, but hard work is there.
He motioned for the two of them to come closer and asked Xing Zhong: "How many seedlings are there in this acre of land? Have you counted them before? What is the estimated yield?"
Xing Zhong bowed and said, "When I return to the emperor, I have counted. There are 2,400 seedlings per acre, with an estimated yield of 3,600 kilograms."
Kangxi nodded, pointed to the potatoes he had just dug out, and said, "I watched this one come down, and I can't bear it with two pounds."
Xing Zhong said: "The rain has been good this year, and there is no shortage of irrigation in Haidian. We can only count when the dry land yields in Baoding come out."
Seeing that he was neither humble nor arrogant, Kangxi was quite satisfied and said: "When the time comes, I will collect all the harvests from several places and make a record together. I will look at it later."
Xing Zhong agreed honestly.
Kangxi looked at Gao Bin again, looked him up and down, and said, "Are you just staring here these days?"
Gao Bin shook his head and said: "No, I was ordered to patrol the village a while ago. In addition to Haidian, I also had to go to Tongzhou and Zhuangzi in Daxing. I also made two trips to Baoding..."
Kangxi said: "Looking at the situation today, the potato harvest is guaranteed, so we shouldn't try planting again."
Next year we will arrange general land cultivation in various imperial villages.
After two or three years, more seeds have been stored, and various habits have been understood, and then they can be promoted outside.
Gao Bin nodded, his face a little tangled.
Kangxi looked at him and said, "What's wrong? Can't bear to do errands?"
Gao Bin shook his head and said: "This slave is just thinking about Master Jiu's words. This corn can be directly used as food. But here, in addition to making flour and making wine, it would be great if we could also find a storage method. Otherwise, everyone will not like it." kind."
Kangxi heard that his fourth elder brother mentioned flour making, which was of little significance.
Too detailed.
Wash, grind, dry, and bake.
Even just the first three steps are extremely cumbersome.
Then the powder made became a small number of fine objects.
"Then do you have any ideas?"
Kangxi was a little more patient.
Gao Bin thought for a while and said: "The simplest way is that if you can't replace food, just half a generation, slice it and dry it yourself, dry it into potatoes and store them. It's mainly for food. If you get rich later, you can store these directly." , it should be useful when the critical moment comes.”
Kangxi was noncommittal, but looked at the potato field.
If, as Xing Zhong estimated, the yield per mu is more than 4,000 kilograms, then there should be 400 kilograms left over when making dried potatoes.
Calculated in this way, it can indeed be used as a kind of food reserve.
The most common problem with local granaries is that good grain is released as old grain, and really old grain is released as wasted.
This is replaced with dried potatoes, how to do it?
This thing is different from ordinary grains. As long as it is released, there will be traces to follow.
In the potato field, after the first two or three plants were unfamiliar, everyone sped up their movements.
The respective eunuchs were not idle either, and came on stage to pick up the dug potatoes and put them into baskets.
Brother Jiu brought something new to the table at first, counting the potatoes one by one.
The largest one plant grew twelve potatoes, and the smallest one grew seven.
But……
It doesn't work anymore. I bend down and stand up again, and bend down again. My back is sore.
Sweat also appeared on his forehead.
He looked down at the palms of his hands. There were no blisters yet, but they were also red.
Brother Jiu looked at the rest of the place, feeling a little desperate.
He looked at the imperial court and saw Kangxi calling Xing Zhong and Gao Bin over, and he was happy for them.
This is not a serious meeting, but it is also glorious and shows up.
It's a pity that Xing Zhong is a subordinate. Even if he misses the reward due to his merits in the future, he will be in the eighth or ninth rank or not in the upper class.
On the other hand, Gao Bin wanted to be promoted to an official position, so he could take this opportunity to fill up the six departments first, and then wait until he became a Langguan and then be promoted to other officials, so that he could start his career as a prefect.
The ninth elder brother didn't move, and the third elder brother, eighth elder brother and fourteenth elder brother next to him all noticed it.
The three of them looked over at the same time.
"Can't dig anymore? Then sit down and have a rest. I'll help you later?"
Third brother is kind.
It's better to be weak. He wished his brothers were weak.
The eighth prince didn't say anything, but he had the same idea.
The fourteenth elder brother looked at the third elder brother's place and couldn't help but worry.
Not to mention comparing with others, just by being next to them, he wouldn't be able to get the first place.
The ninth elder brother said to the third elder brother: "I just remembered something and didn't tell my brother Fujin. If you're not tired, keep digging."
As he spoke, he continued digging.
But after the three of them looked away, Brother Jiu slowed down.
He also remembers the words "follow the herd" and don't stand out.
Since the imperial father wants to test his sons, it would be too uninteresting for him to act like a loser.
You can have the lowest grades, but your attitude must be correct.
Brother Jiu thought, with a serious look on his face, and concentrated on digging up the potatoes.
Kangxi was an onlooker and saw his sons' reactions in his eyes.
Although the prince's daily necessities are extravagant, his civil and military skills are top-notch. This is also the time when he is in the prime of life.
Although when he first started digging potatoes, he damaged a whole bunch of potatoes, but when he used the shovel again, he gained a sense of propriety and never dug any more damage. The digging turned out to be pretty good.
The eldest brother is not a patient person. He dug the potatoes very quickly, but many of them were damaged.
Annoyed, he would pay close attention to the next few plants, but then they would fly away again.
What goes around comes around.
Kangxi sighed in his heart, his mind was not turning around, and he was impatient.
When we arrived at the third elder brother, he looked decent. The number dug out was no less than that of the prince and the eldest elder brother. But what was going on with those eyes? If you want to dig up one plant, you should pay attention to the progress of the prince and the eldest elder brother. .
Although what he was holding was a farm tool, not a sharp weapon, it was dangerous to look at him with such distraction.
Kangxi frowned, but had no intention of reminding him.
Some bitter things have to be eaten in order to remember them.
Most of the problems with the third elder brother are his "competitiveness".
It would be nice to learn a lesson.
When we arrived at Si Age's place, he looked more skillful than the other princes. This was because he had used farm tools.
Looking at the fourth elder brother, he dug the potatoes very seriously.
But not taking it too seriously?
I dug carefully, not a single potato was hurt, and all the dirt on it was removed.
This movement is a bit slow.
Brother Si pursed his lips and let his breathing calm down.
Like Brother Jiu, he was not only happy but also worried.
He didn't dare to go too fast, fearing that he would not be able to dig all the ground due to lack of strength...
