"Third brother, third brother, can you eat the candied haws?" Jin Yang came over from the outside while licking his lips.
Obviously, for these little guys in Jinyang, they don't care at all about high-yielding grains. What they care about is eating.
"Third brother, let's take a look." Li Ke stood up and walked out, took the candied haws of water out to dry, and knocked on the icing attached to the outside. When the icing fell off crisply, Li Ke was satisfied. Nodding, he took out a hawthorn and handed it to Jinyang: "You can eat it, go ahead."
"Wow! You can eat it!" Jinyang immediately stuck out his tongue and licked it out of curiosity. When the sweet taste came in, Jinyang's little eyes lit up.
"Third brother, I want third brother too." Gao Yang and Cheng Yang also rushed over.
Li Ke gave one to each of them one by one, everyone except Li Chengqian.
Li Xiang, who didn't even have all his teeth, was holding one and chewing on it, but he could only lick the sugar coating on the outside, and it was impossible to eat it.
"Brother, you can't eat it. You have to give up sugar." Li Ke said with a smile. No matter what type of diabetes Li Chengqian has, it is definitely right to give up sugar anyway. Then he can exercise properly. He doesn't need to exercise his legs. Just let him do pull-ups.
When Li Chengqian's symptoms disappear, there will be no problem in eating normally.
"Aren't you going to explain this thing? How many seeds does it have?" Li Shimin ate a candied haws, and his eyes lit up. This kind of sweet did not exist in the Tang Dynasty, but it looked more like it was for children. , so Li Shimin maintained his identity and had a taste.
"What we ate just now were seeds." Li Ke shrugged.
"What? You're a traitor!" Upon hearing this, Li Shimin was almost angry to death! Did you eat the high-yielding seeds? !
"Oh, Dad, don't be angry. I haven't finished my words yet. Their rhizomes are seeds, but these potatoes have been injured. I won't eat them until they are no longer suitable for planting next spring. Good seeds. I've kept them all. Tubers like this can be kept as seeds. It's probably close to 200 kilograms of seeds." Li Ke said.
"So many?" Li Shimin was stunned for a moment. After all, it is impossible for conventional wheat to use so many seeds.
"Because it needs healthy tubers with one or two healthy germs, that's when it can be cut into pieces."
"I planted about two acres of land this year and harvested a total of 6,000 kilograms of potatoes. I can plant about 30 acres of potatoes next year. After the harvest next year, I can start promoting it among hundreds of people around Chang'an." Li Ke said.
There is no other way to save seeds this way. Datang does not have a biological industry, so these seeds can only be spread gradually.
But even so, its speed is not slow. Based on the minimum guarantee of 3,000 kilograms per acre, one acre of land can be planted with about 15 acres, and 450 acres of potatoes can be grown next year. In about five years, the acres of these seeds can be expanded to millions of acres.
With each additional year in the future, the number of seeds can be continuously expanded.
On the contrary, sweet potatoes can expand much faster than potatoes because they can be propagated using stems and vines. However, unlike potatoes, sweet potatoes cannot be eaten as food. Potatoes must still be promoted first.
"These two crops not only have high yields, but also have a great advantage." Li Ke said with a smile.
"What?" Li Shimin asked.
"Drought tolerant, the requirements for land are not high. It can be grown on some poor-quality sandy land and barren land. Although it affects the yield, it is much higher than ordinary wheat even if it affects the yield. and the yield of corn. Of course, they can be used as auxiliary grains in the Tang Dynasty's food, and they cannot be used as staple foods, but their specificity means that in many barren areas, it is easier for people to survive." Li Ke said.
In fact, these modern varieties are not only cold-resistant, but also resistant to insect pests, salt-alkali, etc. They have been cultivated.
And it can actually be regarded as a staple food. At least Europeans once fed countless people on potatoes.
"In the future, let's talk about such important things first!" Li Shimin glanced at Li Ke angrily and said.
"Hehe, no problem, but actually it's not that I don't say it, but I need to confirm the yield of this crop. Another point is that I have to use my personal power to promote it in the early stage. Otherwise, I'm afraid, It caused some deliberate calculations." Li Ke shrugged.
"Who dares? I see how many heads he can lose." Li Shimin sneered and said directly.
Li Ke thought for a while, and it seemed that no one would dare to do this, because if this thing spreads, it will be more powerful than what Li Ke has done before. Whoever stops him will die.
"Well, next year I will select good farmland around Chang'an City to breed according to the situation. By the eleventh year of Zhenguan, I can transport it to various places in the world for planting." Li Ke thought for a while and said.
"According to what you said, the eleventh year of Zhenguan is not much, right?" Li Shimin was a little confused.
"In the 11th year of Zhenguan, more than 6,000 acres can be planted. The land near Chang'an is enough. But according to my idea, planting should be distributed in different provinces across the country, with priority given to the provinces that are more prone to drought. Each province Distribute some potatoes evenly. In this case, the spread will be faster. If they are concentrated together, more than 100,000 acres can be planted in the twelfth year of Zhenguan. By then, so many seeds will be transported out, but they will be easily damaged." Li Ke That roughly explains it.
Anyway, it is an exponential growth. If the base is divided at the beginning, it will be conducive to the later spread. Otherwise, the planting will be concentrated in one place. In the middle and later stages, just transporting the seeds will consume a lot of manpower and material resources. It is better to spread it in various places from the beginning. There are more flowers blooming in Daozhou as the center.
"Okay, I will write an edict on this matter later and leave it to Wei Zheng. He must be very concerned about supervising Li Tai for such an important matter." Li Shimin obviously knew who would care most about entrusting this matter to him. .
"Dad, just come and see this." Li Ke shrugged.
"Well... you are right. It just so happens that the data collection of war horses in Jiuyuan County and other places has been handed over to Li Tai, as well as the summary of disaster situations in various places. Statistics will also be carried out this year, and they will all be included. Leave it to Li Tai, I originally wanted to hand it over to the three provinces after the year." Li Shimin thought for a while and simply added some more burdens to Li Tai.
Every year, the Tang Dynasty court had many trivial things to do. Li Shimin was also troubled by these things, but they could not be completely left to the people below. For example, in the ninth year of Zhenguan, some disasters had to be summarized.
These summaries not only include the disasters in previous years, but also the number of local households, the number of fields, and the specific circumstances of the disasters. This kind of thing is very troublesome. In fact, officials from various places do not Don't dare to make your own decisions.
Because of the successive disasters at the beginning of the Zhenguan year, Li Shimin was very concerned about these matters, so all localities would compile and report them, and then Li Shimin would handle them personally, almost every year.
The past ninth year of Zhenguan was actually a good harvest year overall, but not all places had good harvests in the good harvest year. Statistics must be collected on these situations, and Li Shimin had to appoint and remove some officials who were good at this aspect based on these situations. , so these things are very cumbersome and often last for a month or two.
