"Aren't these just potatoes? I eat them often. Pei Aiqing came here just because these potatoes have been harvested and he wants to give me some. Why does Aiqing need to go there in person?" Li Er said politely.
Pei Ji glanced at the other think tanks and advisers in the study. Li Er was confused, what happened? Still need to screen back left and right? But thinking that Pei Ji was serving his father, maybe there was something wrong with his father, so he asked the others in the study to leave, leaving Gao Gao, the chambermaid, by his side.
"Tell me, but what is the Emperor's order?"
Pei Ji handed the basket in his hand to the chamberlain Lao Gao, then stretched out his hand to cover his chest, cleared his throat and said seriously: "Your Majesty, you must be seated securely."
Um? Could it be that something happened to the Supreme Emperor? Li Er became nervous instantly.
Pei Ji quickly explained: "No, no, no, Your Majesty, it's this potato. This potato can actually be used as a staple food."
"Huh...that's it? What a fuss!" Li Er felt bored for a moment.
But the chamberlain Lao Gao was stunned for a moment, looked down at the basket in his hand, and became thoughtful.
Pei Ji panicked: "Your Majesty, please take a closer look. The potatoes I brought this time are two whole plants. Each plant can produce five to ten potatoes."
Li Er waved his hand and said impatiently: "I know, I know, so Xiaojiazhuang has a bumper potato harvest this time? If nothing happens, Aiqing can go back."
The chamberlain Lao Gao suddenly woke up and seemed to understand. He asked with a trembling voice: "Mr. Pei, have you ever weighed these two plants?"
Pei Ji smiled and said, "We weighed it before coming here. The average yield per plant is four kilograms."
Lao Gao was no longer calm, "So, can one acre of land be planted? How many plants can be planted?"
Pei Ji stretched out a finger and said, "It ranges from one thousand to fifteen hundred plants."
What? ? ?
Lao Gao plopped down on the ground.
Emperor Li Er looked at the two singing in confusion, frowned and asked: "What do you two mean by this? What riddles are you playing?"
Lao Gao, the chamberlain, turned around and kowtowed: "Old slave, I would like to congratulate Your Majesty. With these potatoes, our Tang Dynasty will no longer have to worry about anything."
Pei Ji reminded: "Your Majesty, your Majesty, the Emperor ordered me to come here cautiously to announce the good news. These potatoes are actually a staple food with a yield of five thousand kilograms per mu!"
How much? Can you say that again? How many kilograms per mu can be produced?
"The average yield per mu is five thousand catties!"
Bah!
The Zhu Pi imperial pen in Li's hand fell on the table. He was half petrified and stood there blankly.
Pei Ji also knelt down and said: "Old minister, congratulations to the Tang Dynasty, congratulations to Your Majesty, I wish the Tang Dynasty to live forever!"
After a long time, the old man in the chamberlain was even knocked green. Li Er finally came back to his senses and said, "Pingsheng, come to Pingsheng quickly. Let's go, I'm going to Xiaojiazhuang. It turns out that this is the life-saving thing Xiao Rui said."
Pei Ji quickly stood up and stopped him: "No! Your Majesty, you absolutely must not."
Immediately, he explained his purpose of coming and the confidential potato breeding plan in detail. Li Er listened patiently and nodded regretfully: "It's not a problem to give Xiao Rui a promotion or send someone to assist him. , It’s a pity that I can’t witness the grand scene of producing thousands of kilograms per hectare with my own eyes. This is simply auspicious.”
The chamberlain Lao Gao wiped the tears from his eyes and gritted his teeth and said: "Your Majesty, we will see it sooner or later. The prince-in-law's plan is right. The enemy from the north, Jie Li, is eyeing us. He will not just watch us have such auspiciousness. "
Lao Gao came from a poor background. If he had not been desperate, he would not have chosen to go to the palace and become a chamberlain. He understands the difficulties of the people at the bottom better than ordinary people, especially when it comes to food. The crying today not only congratulates the Tang Dynasty and sheds tears for the people, but also brings back sad memories. If this thing had come out decades earlier, maybe my family would not have starved to death.
boom! Li Er angrily hammered his fist on the table, gritted his teeth and said, "Jie Li, sooner or later, I will cut off his head with my own hands."
Ordering the chamberlain Lao Gao to arrange for the Xuanjia Army, Pei Ji went back to help the Supreme Emperor formulate a secret plan. He must ensure the success of the potato harvest. Every potato will be life-saving food for the people of the Tang Dynasty in the future.
Speaking of life-saving food, Li Er suddenly thought that if the Yellow River burst its banks...
Luoyang is not far from Chang'an, but transportation was not developed in ancient times. Even if you rode on horseback, it would take three days. What Li Er didn't know was that at this moment, the Yellow River had burst its banks, but the 800-mile express had not yet been sent out.
After changing their clothes, the Xuan Jiajun who followed Pei Ji to Xiaojiazhuang were shocked. One by one, they started rubbing their eyes. Many of them almost turned into panda eyes. Isn't my special mother dreaming? Is this stuff food?
Zhai Changsun, the commander of the Xuanjia Army, took a raw potato and gnawed it, "His... astringent, full of juice, but quite crispy. This thing doesn't look like a staple food, but it can be used as a cold dish." "
Li Junxian, who came to greet him, quickly explained: "General, these potatoes cannot be eaten raw. Food poisoning may occur if eaten raw. The prince-in-law said that this potato can be used as a staple food or a vegetable. It can be steamed, cooked, or stored. The time is shorter, about half a year.”
"Half a year? With such a high output, half a year is enough." Zhang Shigui asked in a low voice: "Jun Xian, you have been here for a long time, have you ever eaten this?"
"I've eaten it. I eat it every day. We people in Zhuangzi usually use this for cooking. When we warm up the fire in winter, we also burn a few and eat it. Even without salt, it's still very delicious." Li Junxian said with a boastful tone. .
Zhai Changsun laughed and scolded: "You kid, since this thing is so valuable, how can you eat it every day? Just try it, you have to stay and breed it."
Li Junxian scratched his head and said: "I didn't know this thing was expensive before, but one acre of real estate here costs five thousand kilograms. Even if we open it up, we won't be able to eat one acre of land in a year. I don't care about these three or five." .”
Zhang Shigui rolled his eyes, pointed at the group of people behind him and said, "That was before. This time we have three thousand brothers from the Xuanjia Army. Each person can eat a kilogram of food a day, which is enough to eat an acre of land in a day. But You have to save some food."
Zhai Changsun couldn't help but nodded: "Yes, yes, Lao Zhang is right. It's enough for everyone to have a meal and taste it, and save the seeds."
"Oh, no, my mouth is getting more and more bitter. Am I poisoned? Jun Xian, how can I cure poisoning after eating potatoes?"
Li Jun smiled so hard that his stomach ached, "General, where did you get poisoned? The symptoms of poisoning are foaming at the mouth, so just take a bite of fresh ones. It's okay. Just rinse your mouth."
Then he led several leaders to visit the Supreme Emperor, Old Li Yuan. Old Li Yuan told him that you soldiers are laymen to farming, so you should put down your arrogance and learn from the villagers. The generals should discuss countermeasures with the village chief. , strive to safely return the potatoes to the warehouse.
For those who are stupid and have no vision for work, stop wasting food in the fields and go help the villagers build houses and move wood.
Although many soldiers were scolded miserably, their faces were always filled with happy smiles.
At this time, after more than ten days of slow reconnaissance, Xiao Rui and his wife, who had arrived in Hebei, heard the bad news of the Yellow River breach in Luoyang coming from behind. Li Shengnan said in shock: "That Taoist Yuan was really right, Brother Rui, Does your clever trick really work?"
Xiao Rui shook his head and said: "I have given remedial suggestions, but I don't know whether His Majesty is willing to adopt them. I hope their situation can be relaxed. Otherwise, the people of Luoyang will suffer."
"Eh? Look, Shengnan, is there a carriage parked in the dense forest over there?" Just as he was talking, Xiao Rui saw a white shadow in his peripheral vision. Looking carefully, he seemed to find something in the dense forest.
Li Shengnan looked in the direction of Xiao Rui's finger, "It seems to be a carriage. How can there be a carriage in this wilderness?"
In order to survey the water level and understand the people's sentiments along the way, Xiao Rui and his wife gave up taking the official road and walked along many deep mountains and forests along the river. At this time, we were about to turn back from the fork road to Hebei Official Road.
For some reason, Xiao Rui suddenly had some inappropriate images in his mind. A carriage in the wilderness? Based on my experience in my previous life: I am not afraid of luxury cars parking sideways, but I am afraid of trams parking sideways. Could it be that the ancient Tang Dynasty also had such roadside junglers, right?
"Ahem, Katsuo, let's just leave it alone, in case it disturbs others."
Li Shengnan was puzzled: "Brother Rui, we should go and take a look. What if it's a bandit robbery? We have encountered several groups of bandits along the way. What happened to you today? You usually stand on the road and draw your sword to help when there is trouble."
ah? Ahem...I'm sorry, my thoughts are dirty. Xiao Rui's old face turned red, forgetting that most people in this era were robbers.
