"Your Majesty, you are right! If the cassava is planted at an angle, the rhizome will be shallow, and it will indeed be easier to dig! ... Also, how can you peel, soak, cut, grind, and steam the cassava? You have to make up a ditty, or turn it into a song, and let the priests sing it! They are the best at doing this, and only when they sing can the villagers easily believe..."
Next to the cassava field, Chihuaco, an old militiaman, quietly kicked and smoothed the "blind mound" that he had just poked on the ground. Then, he turned around and continued to chat with the high-spirited Majesty about growing cassava.
"Huh? As for the seed selection and cultivation you mentioned...how to plant the cassava seeds and how to select the rhizomes? How would I, a stupid old farmer, know? I'd better let the smart priests figure it out!..."
"Haha! Chihuaco, you are not stupid, in fact you are very smart! ...Your knowledge is gained through practice. In fact, it is more useful than the knowledge learned by the priests! I have been thinking about it, should I I’ll send you to Shenwei University and study hard for a few years!”
"What?! As a half-buried person, you asked me to go to the priests' place and go to school... Ugh!... Isn't this asking the roots of old trees to hold cocoa beans and knocking out people's teeth?..."
"Hahaha!...I think it's better to have old tree roots like yours! Cocoa beans can only be eaten, but old tree roots can be made into walking sticks to explore the world!..."
Shulot smiled, looked at the somewhat nervous old militiaman Chihuaco, and praised him.
"Chihuaco, I didn't know there was cassava in Cuba, and I didn't give orders to the fleet. But, you helped the kingdom bring cassava back! Not only that, you also brought back the oil-producing Cuban tung oil tree..."
As he spoke, Shulot pointed to the other side of the backyard, where a row of small buds were sprouting, which were the Cuban tung oil trees, or jatropha. For these new crops, Xiulote was very precious and specially arranged a few personal guards to manage and take care of them. Two years ago, when he sent out the exploration fleet, he never thought that there would be such unexpected gains!
"Chihuaco, what you said before is right! Cassava can indeed survive for countless people! It's just that this high-yielding crop is in the tropical and subtropical tropics... Oh, it needs a very warm place to grow it! And in the In such warm places, such as the northern continent you visited when you first explored, it is not easy to grow cassava... The further north you go, the colder the climate, the fewer crops you can grow, and the less food you can eat. For those countless northern tribes, as long as they encounter a terrible cold wave, their farmland will be completely cut off, and even the entire tribe will starve to death and freeze to death..."
Having said this, Shulot paused and his expression became solemn. He looked at Chihuaco's surprised old face and asked seriously.
"Witness the Lord God! Do you know what kind of crops can save countless tribes in the northern continent of cold waves and divine disasters?"
"Huh? Your Majesty...is...what is it?"
Chihuaco, the old militiaman, was stunned, his eyes flickering a little. His keen intuition told him that there seemed to be some unknown fate, like dark clouds in the sky, gradually shrouding his Majesty's words.
"The Lord God witnesses! It's a potato!"
Shulot stretched out his hand and patted Chihuaco on the shoulder. Seeing His Majesty's kind gesture, the old militiaman suddenly shivered and his knees were shaking. He clearly remembered that the damn village chief had also photographed him like this when he was sent to the samurai recruitment team.
"Potatoes? Those tiny 'round beans' that are only the size of pigeon eggs or even quail eggs?"
"That's right! In the whole world at this time, this is the only staple food that can withstand the cold!"
Shulot touched his chin and recalled the latest news from the west coast exploration fleet. About five months ago, they had arrived in the land of Golden Bay, which would later become the San Francisco Bay Area. Subsequently, the fleet selected a port and prepared to establish the most important kingdom settlement on the west coast, Xishan Port!
Shulot was greatly excited to hear the latest news, which was brought back by the kingdom's struvite fleet after being delayed for nearly half a year. The exploration of the East China Sea and the West Sea, which he attached most importance to, bore fruitful fruits almost in the same season!
To this end, he has issued a royal order yesterday, and his personal guards will rush him back to the kingdom: ordering the second batch of support fleet to set off as soon as possible to replenish the settlements and longships along the west coast! At the same time, a new problem, although not urgent, gradually emerged.
"God bless you! Potatoes are a cold-resistant and high-yielding crop. They are the most urgently needed new crop in the northern continent! However, although potatoes have been spread to Central America, the yield per acre of potatoes in the kingdom is very small, and the tubers are also very small... This It is because this kind of potato has continuously self-crossed in the process of spreading northward, resulting in degeneration... To increase its yield, it is necessary to find different varieties to cross, or to find higher-yielding tubers!..."
Shulot spoke patiently and patiently for a long time. He looked at Chihuaco's increasingly confused face and increasingly uneasy eyes, and finally concluded simply.
"The Lord God testifies! In short, the kingdom needs new, more productive, and more cold-resistant potatoes! This kind of potato, or these many types of potatoes, can save millions of northern tribes!... Chihuaco, you Do you know where you can find potatoes like this?"
"Well!…"
Upon hearing this, the old militiaman Chihuaco immediately trembled, his knees became weak and his fingers trembled. He trembled, looked at His Majesty's smiling face, and said through gritted teeth.
"South! The south of the world! There is the southern continent thousands of miles away!..."
"Hey! Blessed by the Lord God! It is indeed the south of the world, the vast southern continent!"
Hearing this, Shulot's face suddenly showed some surprise. He blinked and asked curiously.
"Chihuaco, how did you know?"
"Your Majesty, you have already said that there is no such thing as the Alliance and Kingdom in the northern continent. The Cuban Snake Island in the east eats cassava, so there is only the south!"
Chihuaco, the old militiaman, widened his eyes, gritted his teeth, and continued to answer.
"Actually, when I was eating potatoes on the Mayan coast, I also asked the cunning bald fox... Oh, it was the Mayan merchant Tikallo! He said that these potatoes came from the south, and they were some kind of fleet of Serpentis descendants. , brought back hundreds of years ago... He also gave us a chart of the southern coast, a place called Qibcha, which is in the hands of the Mecat priest!..."
"God bless you, that's it! That's right! The origin of potatoes is in the far southern continent! And those real native potato species, many strange new crops, including cinchona trees whose flowers I only know are blue, and All alpacas that can be transported...are found in the vast and rich southern land!..."
Listening to His Majesty's story, the veteran militiaman Chihuaco pursed his lips, his eyes filled with hesitation. He thought of the terrible storm he encountered when he returned from Cuba, and the long ship that was swallowed up in the storm, and finally made up his mind!
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty! You said before that you would agree to a, uh, reasonable condition for me..."
The old militiaman opened his eyes wide and slowly bowed his waist. He looked at the serious Majesty in front of him, lowered his head and begged.
"I...I want to be alive and see my son again...can...can I?..."
"Um?"
Hearing this, Shulot raised his eyebrows. He pursed his lips and stared at the poor old militiaman. He was silent for a long time before slowly but firmly shaking his head.
"Chihuaco, I know what you want to ask for...but my answer is, no!...I only believe in you and can only entrust you with this important task! You are favored by fate. You can get it from the East China Sea." You will successfully return to the Snake Island in Cuba and bring back new crops... You will also come back alive from the vast southern continent, bringing back improved potato varieties and alpacas..."
"So, the Lord God witnesses! Chihuaco, you have to go to sea for me again, to the southern continent!... Of course, there is no need to rush, there are still two years... When the kingdom opens the sea route to the south, be ready to go south fleet…”
"At that time, the new exploration captain position... I have already appointed it, and it must be you!..."
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