Dajiuzhou said that a big problem is that it is difficult to verify.
After all, in this era, Xu Fu and Zhao Si were the only ones who had truly set foot outside Kyushu, and only Zhao Si had even made the feat of traveling around the world.
After the First Emperor asked, he didn't say anything else. The significance of this world map was more of a supplement to the theory of Great Nine Provinces, rather than the direction of Great Qin's future conquests.
Of course, this assumes that the young man in front of you is not lying.
The First Emperor handed the map to Meng Yi beside him, and then looked at the crops covered with soil on the ground.
"What is this?" the First Emperor asked.
"The people named this sweet potato. It can be eaten both raw and cooked. It tastes sweet and crispy when eaten raw. It tastes soft and waxy when cooked, and it tastes sweet. It can also be used to ventilate and fill the stomach. The yield per acre can be hundreds of kilograms!"
"The people named this thing potato. It is full of food and can be used as rations. The cooked food is delicious. The yield per acre is also several hundred kilograms!"
"This thing is named corn. It can be used as a staple food. Although the yield per mu is inferior to sweet potatoes and potatoes, the yield is twice that of ordinary agricultural crops."
"This thing is named Chili Pepper. It tastes spicy and very good. It is delicious to eat!" Zhao Si showed a smile on his face.
When Zhao Si returned from overseas this time, in addition to collecting sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn, he also collected a large number of edible vegetables, spices and fruit seeds.
Although Zhao Si is not very good at history, he also knows that before the Han Dynasty opened the Western Regions, the agricultural and sideline products and condiments in the Central Plains were relatively simple.
For example, pepper, grapes, walnuts, carrots, peppers, beans, spinach, cucumbers, pomegranates, etc. were introduced to the Central Plains through the Silk Road.
The origin of peppers, corns, sweet potatoes and potatoes is as far away as America.
In fact, the current Central Plains can only be called livable, and the degree of development and civilization far exceeds other regions. However, the vast land and abundant resources had to wait until the Han and Tang Dynasties repeatedly expanded beyond the Great Wall, introduced a large number of agricultural and sideline products, and carried out cultural exchanges.
Among these things, Zhao Si values the most all kinds of fruit seeds and spice vegetable seeds.
It is worth mentioning that many of the fruits consumed in modern times have been selected through artificial breeding.
Therefore, in fact, the fruits Zhao Si found in this era did not taste as good as modern ones, and some were even difficult to swallow, so they looked like they were related to each other.
Most of them are sour and astringent, and the water content is not as sufficient as modern fruits, and the edible parts are not as much as modern fruits.
Agricultural and sideline products are also part of mankind’s taming of nature.
How can any fruit just happen to be suitable for human tastes? It just happens that this thing is edible and tastes okay. After a long period of manual selection, the ones that taste sweeter, have more water, and have bigger fruits are the ones that taste better. will be left to continue sowing.
In modern times, the development of science and technology has brought about earth-shaking changes, and there are even some fruits on the market that are almost two species from wild fruits in terms of taste and even appearance.
Most of the seeds Zhao Si brought back now are wild species and have basically not been artificially cultivated.
Except for some spices and vegetables that are more in line with human tastes and can be directly grown and eaten, a large number of fruits require time to be cultivated.
In short, even if Zhao Si continues planting at this stage, the fruits he harvests will most likely be small and unpalatable.
It is the same as in primitive times when humans tamed wolves into dogs over a long period of time.
Compared with the three new food grains of sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn, Zhao Si obviously pays more attention to spices such as peppers.
It's normal. After all, without sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn, there are other crops in this era, such as hemp, millet, millet, wheat, and beetroot. In short, Zhao Si will not die of hunger.
The significance of high-yielding crops such as sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn is more universal and will have a relatively large impact on Zhuxia's agro-ecological pattern.
The significance of condiments such as chili pepper to Zhao Si is relatively direct.
As a Sichuan native, Zhao Si can be said to be hot and spicy.
Before chili peppers came to the Central Plains, the Central Plains only had seasoned agricultural and sideline products such as peppercorns and chive flowers.
Compared with the direct stimulation of the taste by chili peppers, these are inferior.
However, from the perspective of the First Emperor, even though it was obvious that Zhao Si loved crops such as peppers, his focus was still on sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn.
"Yield per mu, how many kilograms?" the First Emperor repeated.
Although the Qin Dynasty was the beginning of great unification, in most cases it was lumped into the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
Although intensive farming methods were also adopted during this period, neither the seeds nor the farming experience were as good as those of later generations.
During the Qin Dynasty, the grain yield per mu generally stayed around one hundred kilograms.
A yield of 120 kilograms per mu and above is considered a successful farming, and a yield of 150 kilograms and above is considered to be a high-quality incense.
As for the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, without the influence of natural disasters, the average yield per mu has become a norm.
Zhao Si knew that the seeds two thousand years ago were different from the seeds two thousand years later.
It is normal for modern sweet potatoes to yield three to four thousand kilograms per mu. In some areas, the yield can even reach eight thousand kilograms per mu...
But that is based on insecticides, chemical fertilizers, and even the seeds themselves have undergone scientific artificial cultivation.
Therefore, Zhao Si only dared to say less.
This kind of thing is of great significance. Rather than saying too much about it, it is better to say less about it.
After all, compared with the average grain output of one hundred kilograms per mu in this era, a few hundred kilograms is an astronomical figure.
"About? About five hundred catties?" Zhao Si was very conservative. He didn't even say that the yield per mu was one thousand catties.
About five hundred pounds... What is this concept?
This means that, if widespread, the number of people in the world who starve to death will be reduced by half.
From the perspective of the First Emperor, a crop of five hundred kilograms per mu undoubtedly contributed to the rule of the Qin Dynasty and increased the stability of the regime.
"At most five hundred kilograms?" The First Emperor even asked one more question.
"About five hundred kilograms." Zhao Si answered.
The average yield of five hundred catties is very high, but the maximum yield of five hundred catties is very watery.
People cannot be generalized, and food and food cannot be generalized.
During the Qin Dynasty, Shang Yang encouraged production after reforming the law. At that time, there were already records of people who could produce two hundred and fifty kilograms per mu.
After the successful construction of Dujiangyan, the highest yield record per mu even reached 317 kilograms.
I don’t know if there is water or not, but at that time the average yield per mu in the Qin area was still just over one hundred catties. This is due to Qin's farming war system, where there are rewards and penalties for farming, so agricultural production efficiency and technical level are higher than those of the other six countries.
Now that the First Emperor has unified the world, there are even many areas where the yield per mu is less than 100 kilograms.
Objectively speaking, after the Qin Dynasty unified the world, the average yield per mu dropped by about ten to twenty kilograms.
Grain production also varies greatly, and only the average is the most reliable.
The average yield per mu is 500 kilograms. What is the concept in this era?
"Such a crop? Can it be manipulated?" The First Emperor subconsciously believed that this was a more valuable crop that required higher growth conditions.
There is no way, the yield per mu is too big, and the conditions are not high, it still feels unreal.
"It's easy to make a living!" Zhao Si grinned.
Even the First Emperor had great limits when faced with unknown information.
The yield per mu is five hundred kilograms...it's just Zhao Si's conservative statement.
