Steel Dynasty - Chapter 324

[Chapter 324 Potatoes]

In the main hall, Xiao Ming and Yue Yun sat opposite each other. After a long time, Xiao Ming put the book away.

He has basically understood the current situation. Generally speaking, the overall distribution of European countries has not changed, only the current rulers have changed.

Other than the fact that the technology is slightly more advanced, there is no other difference.

“Your Highness, Ryukyu has also been occupied by the Dutch. This is equivalent to blocking the southward route of our fleet. The general feels that Ryukyu must be taken back. In this way, the trade between Japan and other countries can be cut off.” Yue Yun said.

Xiao Ming nodded. Yue Yun was very discerning. As long as he captured Ryukyu and controlled the route, the power of Japan would be in his hands from now on.

But this matter is still a long way off. After all, he does not yet have enough ability to capture Ryukyu. These three Galen ships have already caused him heavy losses.

But this adventure was worth it. Yue Yun brought back corn, peanuts, potatoes and pepper seeds.

“Let’s not mention this. Your current task is to recruit naval soldiers, train them, and wait for the formation of the Dengzhou fleet. At that time, it will be your time to ride on the sea.”

Yue Yun nodded, showing a hint of excitement, and docked in Dengzhou After that, he made a special trip to Dengzhou Shipyard, which was currently building six warships at the same time.

Two of them were first-class sailing battleships. When these battleships were launched, he believed that he could compete with the Dutch on the sea.

Looking at the excited Yue Yun, Xiao Ming asked expectantly: “Where are these potatoes, peanuts, peppers, and corns?”

“Go back to your highness, these things have been sent to the government warehouse. “I brought back three whole ships at a time,” Yue Yun said.

Xiao Ming grinned from ear to ear happily and said, “Let’s go to the warehouse and take a look. While it’s still early, these things can still be planted.”

The two of them arrived at the warehouse together, and at this time Xiao Ming saw the potatoes piled into a hill. , on the potato side are peanuts, next to the peanuts are corn, and next to the corn are pepper seeds.

“Great, great.” Xiao Ming rubbed his palms excitedly.

Potatoes, corn, and peanuts are all high-yielding crops, and these crops are also very suitable for planting in slightly arid places. Once these crops are popularized in Qingzhou, he will not worry about the people in the feudal land going hungry in the future.

“Your Highness, these potatoes, peanuts and corn taste really good. If it weren’t for these things, the soldiers might have starved to death on the island.” Yue Yun had already tasted these things.

“Of course, it is not only delicious, but also much more productive than wheat and rice.” Xiao Ming turned to Zhao Long and said: “Inform the transportation team to transport these seeds to the slave plantation now and plant them. Go down.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Long was ordered to leave.

This time Yue Yun was tired from a long journey, so Xiao Ming had to take care of Yue Yun’s health. After saying a few words to Yue Yun, he asked him to go back and rest.

And he returned to the palace and wrote methods for growing potatoes, peanuts, peppers, and corn.

The next day, he took the planting manual to the slave plantations located on both sides of the Tuojiang River in Qingzhou.

Originally, these lands did not belong to Xiao Ming, but to the four previous wealthy families. However, after the Wangfu, Qin family and other families were destroyed, some fertile land came into his hands and became Guanzhuang.

In order not to waste this land, he dispatched six thousand slaves to take care of these thousands of hectares of land.

“Your Highness, can these potatoes really yield four thousand kilograms per mu?”

Pang Yukun was also very interested in the crops introduced this time. Before he set out in the morning, Pang Yukun was waiting outside the door.

Saying this along the way, the two gradually arrived at the slave plantation.

At this time, a village appeared in front of them. The village was very small, with about fifty brick and tile houses from south to north.

These brick and tile houses are arranged neatly, obviously they have been completed recently, and many slaves are running back and forth in the fields and villages.

There is also a small village like this not far away. The slaves in these villages are each responsible for the land in their own area.

“Your Highness, Pang Changshi.”

The two entered the village, and an honest farmer ran over. He was the captain of the village and was responsible for the cultivation of the land and the management of the village personnel.

“Kui Si, have you taken good care of the things you sent yesterday?” Xiao Ming asked.

“Your Highness, it’s ready,” Kui Wu said cautiously.

Xiao Ming nodded. Slave plantations have only just emerged in his hands. They will become more and more popular after Qingzhou in the future, because slave plantations are an important source of food in this era.

“Well, in that case, you can gather all the people in the village now, and I will teach you how to plant these crops.”

Kuisi nodded, ran to the center of the village and rang a bronze bell in the middle of the village. After a while, the fields All the slaves inside gathered around.

Pang Yukun came here purely to gain experience today, because he didn’t say anything, he just studied hard.

This time, Xiao Ming came in person and wrote the planting manual. It was certainly not a whim.

Because crop cultivation is also a science, especially potatoes, which are subject to generational degradation, he had to arrange the work of cultivating high-quality seedlings in advance.

After all, after several generations of propagation, potatoes will suffer a large yield loss or even no harvest in the next generation of plants due to soil viruses.

What he wanted to tell Kui Si this time was breeding. Whether it was peanuts, corn, peppers or potatoes, artificial selection was needed to retain high-quality seedlings.

So this time he planted potatoes, peppers, peanuts, and corn not for eating, but for raising seedlings.

After all the slaves were in place, Xiao Ming began to focus on the method of raising potato seedlings. This method is called cutting and propagation.

Xiao Ming looked at the potatoes brought by Yue Yun this time and found that they were very large, indicating that they were high-quality potatoes, so there was no problem in cutting them into pieces for propagation.

He told Kui Si to cut the potatoes into pieces, keeping the weight of each piece at about 20 grams, and having one or two sprouts on each piece of potato.

And when cutting into pieces, the knife should be burned with alcohol for strict disinfection.

Later, when the potato pieces germinate, propagation is carried out by breaking off the sprouts, that is, breaking off the potato sprouts that have grown out and planting them. The broken potato sprouts will grow back over time, which is similar to the principle of cutting leeks.

And when cultivating these seedlings, select high-quality seedlings again.

It’s still spring, and autumn is a good time to plant potatoes in the wild, so now is a good time to raise seedlings.

These operations are not difficult, and Kui Wu and others have no problem understanding them.

Then he talked about the seedling cultivation of peanuts, corn, peppers, etc., and explained the establishment of seedling bases in each plantation, so that these introduced crops can be continuously planted in his fiefdom.

(End of chapter)