Steel Dynasty - Chapter 407

[Chapter 407 High Production]

“Let’s begin.”

Following the order, Kui Wu and thousands of slaves poured into the potato fields.

Harvesting potatoes is very simple. You only need to dig up the soil ridge where the potatoes are planted, and there will be yellow and orange potatoes inside.

In modern times, the scientific name for potatoes is Potato tuber, also known as ground egg. When he was a child, he often confused potatoes with sweet potatoes. In fact, sweet potatoes are another high-yielding crop, but it is a pity that they are not available from overseas.

However, modern agriculture is also in his plan, so he will continue to collect crops from all over the world.

It is estimated that the three warships that Yue Yun sent to the South these days are almost repaired. The expanded Dengzhou Shipyard has also been producing Galen ships this year. It is almost the end of the year. With the scale of Dengzhou Shipyard, it can at least be launched. Twelve Galenic ships.

According to the data reported by Zhang Liang, the twelve Galen ships include a flagship, which is a first-class sailing battleship, three second-class sailing battleships, four third-class sailing battleships, and four fourth-class sailing battleships.

If these warships can be successfully completed by the end of the year, his navy will have fifteen Galen ships. Although this number is far less than the hundreds of ships that the Western maritime powers often have, for Xiao Ming, this fleet is enough to use To deal with the colonists who have now extended their tentacles to Asia.

After all, according to his experience, the West is not monolithic now. Their most important colony is the Americas, and they will not invest many troops in the East.

Moreover, they travel long distances and are far away from homeland. Even if a war breaks out, it will take several months for reinforcements to arrive before the news spreads. Even then, they still have to face supply problems.

I think for him, he is playing at home and has a very obvious advantage.

After recapturing Shanhaiguan this time, Xiao Ming was already thinking about a plan to recapture Ryukyu Island from the Dutch. After all, the status of this island was very important.

As long as he captures Ryukyu Island, he can completely block the southward trade route between Japan and Goryeo. Of course, his goal is not just as simple as Ryukyu Island. What he really needs is sulfur, gold and silver.

According to records, in the late 16th century, Japan launched a mineral exploration boom, and silver mines were discovered in many areas. During the long period of more than 400 years from 1562 to the Edo period, the Iwami Silver Mine located in Daejeon City, Gen County, Japan was the The largest silver mine in Japan and even the world.

At this time, Japan was one of the few silver-producing countries in the world. At that time, one-third of the world’s silver was produced in Japan. Japan at that time was even called the “Silver Islands” by the people of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to silver, the gold of the Japanese country also accounted for 5% of the world at that time. The most important resource of the Japanese country was none other than sulfur, one of the ingredients of gunpowder.

During the Ming and Song Dynasties, the Japanese country had always been an important source of sulfur, and now most of the sulfur used for Xiao Ming’s gunpowder production was trafficked from the south.

He had investigated and found that the sulfur was also trafficked from Japan by maritime merchants.

In the past, when there was not much demand for gunpowder in Chongqing, the price of sulfur was even more expensive than saltpeter. Now that Qingzhou needs to produce a large amount of gunpowder, the price of sulfur has gone up even more.

Because of this, Xiao Ming became more determined to drive away the Western colonists who monopolized East Asian trade and even colonized Japanese countries. There was no way around it. What we needed to live in this era was to plunder various domestic scarce resources from the outside.

After all, this is an era of improving industry by plundering resources. As long as one of the resources is missing, industry may stagnate.

While he was thinking, Pang Yukun was already patrolling the fields.

Two fist-sized potatoes were dug out from the pile of soil. Pang Yukun ran over excitedly, “Your Highness, this thing is really heavy.”

Xiao Ming came back to his senses and looked at the field. Now the soil ridges were turned up everywhere. The slaves were busy with potatoes, but they seemed to be enjoying the harvest, and each of them had a smile on their face.

Taking the potatoes from Pang Yukun, Xiao Ming picked them up and smelled them carefully. A familiar smell came over them, which was touching.

“That’s the smell.” Xiao Ming said excitedly, ignoring Pang Yukun’s shocked eyes.

Pang Yukun couldn’t help but feel confused: “Your Highness seems to have eaten it?”

“No, but my Western teacher said it.” Xiao Ming made up a reason again. When a lie appeared, he could only keep telling lies. make up.

Pang Yukun nodded and sighed: “It’s a pity. If he is still alive, I will ask the official for advice.”

Ignoring Pang Yukun’s sympathy among scholars, Xiao Ming took the potatoes and went directly to the village to find out A briquette stove and clay pot.

Filling the clay pot with water, Xiao Ming washed the potatoes and put them into the clay pot, then heated them on the briquette stove.

After a while, as the water boiled, a faint fragrance floated out of the clay pot.

When Pang Yukun saw this, he kept staring at the potatoes rolling in the clay pot, waiting for the moment when the potatoes were ripe.

Now that the potatoes are ripe, whether they can be eaten is a question.

After boiling in boiling water for a while, Xiao Ming took chopsticks to take the potatoes out of the clay pot.

The hot potatoes are fragrant and the surface will dent when pinched, which is proof that they are ripe.

After swallowing, Xiao Ming soaked the potatoes in cold water, then picked them up and peeled them. A smooth potato came out, and he took a bite on it.

“Fragrant!” Xiao Ming couldn’t help shouting.

It has to be said that there are really very few vegetables that can be eaten in Dayu, so much so that Xiao Ming even thinks that potatoes, things that modern people make people want to eat, are delicious.

Seeing Xiao Ming’s expression, Pang Yukun immediately followed suit and took out a potato from the clay pot.

After taking a bite, Pang Yukun’s eyes immediately widened. He had never experienced this taste before, but he had to say that cooked potatoes tasted really good.

After eating one potato in a hurry, Pang Yukun took out another potato and ate it. After eating three potatoes in a row, he burped.

“Your Highness, these potatoes taste really good. Three potatoes are enough for a meal.” Pang Yukun laughed. These potatoes are so delicious and very hungry. If they are promoted in the fiefdom, there will be no need to worry about the people having nothing to eat in the future.

Xiao Ming also ate a full meal, and he was very satisfied. This was only part of his agricultural plan, and sweet potatoes would also be introduced in the future.

After touching his belly, Xiao Ming narrowed his eyes and said, “There are many ways to eat these potatoes. In a few days, I will give you better things to eat.”

Pang Yukun nodded heavily and held the potatoes as if they were Like the whole world.

After experiencing a handful of potatoes, Xiao Ming asked Kui Wu to start weighing the potato yield of one acre of land. In the evening, Kui Wu got the results.

“Your Highness, there are thirty-two stones of potatoes in this acre of land.” Kui Wu’s face turned red with excitement.

(End of chapter)