"Six to ten stones per mu? That's not how you brag, right? Have any of you seen it?"
"The old man has only heard that four stones appeared in some fields in Suzhou Prefecture during good harvest years. They all thought it was auspicious, and the local prefect reported it to the court. Unfortunately, nothing happened in the end!"
"What is a potato? How to eat it?"
"I heard that it was a tribute brought to the emperor by foreign envoys, and some top dignitaries only tasted it as a temporary fresh dish."
"Tribute? Forget it, it's probably grown for the royal family and the gentry, so we don't have to think about it!"
"It doesn't matter whether we eat it or not. What the old man cares about is whether we can plant it. If we can plant it, it's still worthwhile even if we hand over half of it!"
"Lao Li, isn't your son at the Agricultural Research Institute? Do you have any inside information?"
"No, that bastard lives in the Agricultural Research Institute. When he comes back occasionally, he just looks at us and leaves.
When asked what the institute was doing, it was told that it was a secret of the imperial court, and we didn’t dare to ask any more questions! "
"Okay, don't even guess. There will be a good harvest tomorrow. We can take a look at it from a distance, but we have to get up early!"
…
The city of Beijing is bustling again.
Just because there was a piece of information published in the Daming Daily, saying that the Agricultural Research Institute had a crop that could produce six to ten stones per mu.
Compared with rice and wheat, whose average yield is two dan per mu, this news is nothing short of shocking.
Amid the discussion among the people in Beijing, the time has come for Ming Potato to make its first public appearance.
Just after Mao hour, Chongzhen's Luan drove out of the Meridian Gate and went straight to the Agricultural Research Institute more than ten miles outside Yongding Gate, with hundreds of civil and military officials behind him.
At this time, the road was full of people watching the lively Beijing city, and everyone's face was filled with smiles and expectations.
A quarter of an hour before the Maozheng moment, Chongzhen's Luan Jia finally arrived at the Agricultural Research Institute.
Song Yingxing led the agricultural assistant officers who were transferred from various provinces and prefectures in the courtyard to greet him and saluted him, as did the surrounding people.
Chongzhen got off Luan Jia: "Dear fellow villagers, today is a good harvest day for potatoes. We will find out the specific situation when we meet later!"
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he looked at Song Yingxing: "Song Aiqing, this is your territory. You have the final say. Even I have to listen to you!"
Song Yingxing cupped his hands towards Chongzhen, no longer polite, and looked at the hundreds of civil and military officials behind Chongzhen.
"My lords, when you enter the experimental field, you can only look at it but not touch it, and don't ask questions. Don't interfere with the work of the assistants in the hospital.
Otherwise, this hospital will have no choice but to ask you out! "
After saying that, he looked at the crowd of people watching the excitement: "Fellow fellow citizens, you can watch the excitement, but you must not cross the line, otherwise you will be regarded as an enemy country and will be dealt with carefully.
You won't be able to avoid a painful meal if you go in, so you'd better be careful! "
Amid the applause of the people, Song Yingxing took the lead and headed in the other direction. Chongzhen followed, Wang Chengen accompanied him, and behind him were hundreds of civil and military officials.
After walking for half an hour, the team bypassed the Agricultural Research Institute.
Hundreds of strong, tanned farmers were waiting, all holding farm tools and looking quite impressive.
"Are these the farmers from the Agricultural Research Institute? I feel like one of them can defeat three or four sergeants in the Beijing camp."
"Nonsense, I heard that there is meat for every meal, and rice and steamed buns can be eaten as much as you like. If you work hard, can you be strong?"
"I heard that every morning at dawn they have to run around the Agricultural Research Institute a few times before they have food to eat. With this intensity, tsk tsk..."
"You've gone astray. Shouldn't you be paying attention to the potato now? Is this what the potato vine looks like? The tributes aren't that good either!"
…
"Your Majesty, since the potatoes were turned over, hundreds of sergeants patrolled during the day, and two hundred sergeants and more than a hundred farmers patrolled together at night."
After Song Yingxing explained, he added: "Your Majesty, we have planted two thousand acres. We can't harvest them all today. These two thousand acres are divided into fifty areas. Can you randomly pick a few pieces of land and let's take a look first?"
Chongzhen didn't talk nonsense: "Eight, twenty-six, thirty-nine, fifty, just these four!"
"Place No. 50?"
Song Yingxing let out a light sigh, a glint of expectation flashed in his eyes, and Chongzhen looked a little confused.
Without waiting for Chongzhen to ask, Song Yingxing waved his hand, and hundreds of farmers poured into Field No. 8, and started working in groups of three.
Seeing the farmers moving, the nearby people opened their eyes wide.
Pull out vines, hoe, turn over soil...
The yellow round lumps were brought out one by one with the shovel, and the person behind them gently put the potatoes aside.
It’s hard to imagine that these farmers would work so gently.
Some civil and military officials also entered the field. They couldn't touch it, but they could always look at it.
Everyone ignored the dirt and squatted down in the field to pick up the vines and look at them carefully. There were also groups of people pointing around a pile of potatoes.
Looking at the crowd, Yuan Keli, who was behind Chongzhen, said softly: "Your Majesty, how much do you think we can produce per acre?"
Chongzhen looked at the busy farmers and then at the piles of potatoes on the ground: "The batch cultivated in the greenhouse last time produced eighteen shi per mu.
But there was little planting at that time, and as a result of careful care, I estimate that for two thousand acres this time, there should be eight to ten stones! "
After Chongzhen finished speaking, some of the ministers behind him who had not gone to Tianzhong took a breath of cold air.
Eighteen stones, this number has never been seen since ancient times.
Even if it is planted on a large scale, it is excellent to be able to produce ten stones per mu.
Hundreds of people worked very quickly, and Field No. 8 was dug in just half an hour.
Looking at the potatoes piled on the edge of the ground, Chongzhen stood up.
"Excessive nicknames!"
A farmer knocked the potatoes into a bamboo basket and carried them to the side where they were weighed.
"One hundred and twenty-eight pounds!"
"One hundred and thirty-six pounds!"
"One hundred and nineteen pounds!"
…
Every time a basket is weighed, someone will sing loudly, causing the onlookers and the people to exclaim.
After digging for half an hour and weighing for two-quarters of an hour, the final result came out.
"Your Majesty, it's time to weigh in!"
"The total is sixty thousand one catty, which is equivalent to four hundred and six shi and six buckets, and the yield per acre is ten shi and eight buckets!"
hiss……
After hearing Song Yingxing's report, except Chongzhen, all civil and military officials and people were shocked.
The propaganda of Daming Daily is just a statistic and has no feeling.
But now they are watching the farmers at the Agricultural Research Institute dig out the food with hoes and shovels, and weigh it in baskets.
That sense of anticipation was filled with numbers and objects in my chest at this moment.
"Dean Song, congratulations!"
"Song..."
"Everyone, please be patient!"
When the ministers congratulated, Song Yingxing suppressed his joy and continued to the ministers: "This is just the first piece of land. It cannot be explained accurately.
Let's take advantage of the fact that it's still early and dig some pieces of land randomly selected by His Majesty, and finally take a look at the data, how about that? "
"Hahaha, I was waiting impatiently!"
"Dean Song, please do as you please!"
Song Yingxing cupped his hands towards Chongzhen, and then waved to the waiting farmers.
At this moment, all the farmers went into battle and rushed to the remaining three fields.
