My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 68 Where there is food, there is hope

When mentioning Siberia, Li Han thought of potatoes again.

Agriculture is the foundation of industry. Without basic food guarantee, we cannot let the people of the Ming Dynasty work on an empty stomach.

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish, every matter must be arranged properly.

It’s not that he didn’t consider hybrid rice, but seed preservation and breeding is a big problem.

For this purpose, he went to the Seed Promotion Center and the Agricultural Science Institute to inquire, but the answer he got was no.

Moreover, people are extremely vigilant. Looking at his appearance, it feels like looking at a walking "50 people".

Li Han then remembered that some time ago there was a commercial espionage company that was selling domestic high-quality seeds abroad and then was wiped out.

Well, I give a thumbs up to the staff for their vigilance.

However, Li Han learned from other people's promotional materials that hybrid rice is the result of crossing two different parents, and its excellent characteristics are very obvious in the first generation.

However, due to differences in their genomes, these traits cannot be stably inherited to the second generation and beyond.

If it were really sent to the people of the Ming Dynasty, the yield per mu would be over a thousand kilograms in the first year, and the whole country would be jubilant. But in the second year, there would most likely be no harvest at all.

You can't just let them have a good harvest, right? Then Li Han would be guilty of a serious crime.

Perhaps, let the people of the Ming Dynasty master the technology of hybrid rice themselves?
This is truly a huge project, even bigger than promoting the steam engine!

As for corn, you can save seeds, but insufficient yield per mu is also a problem.

Therefore, the first consideration is potatoes and sweet potatoes.

For potatoes, Li Han chose the Yunshu 108 variety, which has a yield of about 8 kilograms per mu. For sweet potatoes, he chose the Sushu variety, which has a maximum yield of over kilograms per mu.

Not only is it high-yielding, but it is also highly adaptable, easy to breed, and easy to plant. Just cut it into pieces and throw it into the soil.

Most importantly, the maturity period is short, from sowing to harvesting, it only takes about 90 days at most.

Of course, with Ming Dynasty's planting technology, the yield would definitely not be that high, but a conservative estimate of four to five thousand kilograms would be no problem.

He also bought over a thousand kilograms, but when the truck driver helped deliver it to his home, Li Han regretted it.

How should I deliver these sacks one after another to Lao Zhu?

We can only pile them up in the warehouse for now and we’ll deal with them later.

I also downloaded the most comprehensive national mineral distribution map from a professional map website, and then began to prepare the drawings of the steam engine.

There are not many free resources on the Internet nowadays, so Li Han was honored to become a member of a professional platform.

In recent times, he has opened more memberships than in his entire life. It is all for the development of Ming Dynasty, so it is reasonable for him to spend some money.

There were so many different drawings of steam engines that Li Han was overwhelmed by the choices.

The first consideration is that the Ming Dynasty must be able to make it.

Secondly, usage and reliability must be considered.

In the end, he chose Watt's improved compound steam engine, which prompted Britain to fully enter the Industrial Revolution.

This steam engine has many uses, including mining, iron and steel smelting, textiles, shipbuilding, and so on.

After learning about the technical features of the steam engine in detail, Li Han couldn't help but sigh.

Every progress in the era starts with boiling water.

After making all preparations, write the reply letter.

Then, Li Han began to mail potatoes and sweet potatoes to Lao Zhu.

A thousand kilograms of potatoes and a thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes, he wanted to cry but had no tears. It was a pleasure to pay for the things, but why didn't you think about how to give them as gifts?

At this moment he hated why there was only a mailbox instead of a post office!

There was no other choice but to send them to Lao Zhu in batches, bag by bag.

……

In the 15th year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, in Fengtian Hall, after court session, the Minister of Revenue Yang Siyi was walking alone on the road.

Officials passing by greeted him one after another, and he just raised his hand casually as a symbolic gesture.

He had too many worries in his mind, so he didn't have much energy to chat with others.

Although the Dongting flood issue was properly handled, how to deal with the victims after the disaster has become a big problem.

Large tracts of fertile farmland were destroyed, countless houses were washed away, and tens of thousands of disaster victims were waiting for food!

However, misfortunes never come singly. A rare severe drought hit the Ganzhou area, causing countless farmlands to dry up and grain crops to die.

Once winter comes, I am afraid that countless people will starve to death.

And it’s not just that. Without the harvest, where will the food for next year come from?

Allocate from other places? The grain storage in various places is also insufficient.

Moreover, now that Your Majesty is preparing for the Northern Expedition, he has to prepare food for the officers and soldiers of the garrisons. Although the garrisons also farm themselves, who can touch the food of the officers and soldiers?

The hellish scene of thousands of starving people emerged in his mind, making him shudder.

Although disaster relief was the responsibility of the Ministry of Works, agriculture and sericulture were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue, which was in charge of the country's money and grain. All these matters fell on the head of him, the Minister of Revenue.

After all, the crux of everything lies in food. If there is food, there is a way. But where can he, the Minister of Revenue, get food?
Are you going to ask the gentry and landlords in Jiangnan for food?
I'm afraid that as soon as he says this, he will be drowned by the spit of the officials.

Sometimes he envied Li Min, who had new gadgets like radios, and the Ordnance Bureau produced new firearms.

Look at other people's enthusiasm and then look at yourself. Why is there such a big gap between people?

At this moment, not only Yang Siyi was troubled, but Zhu Yuanzhang was even more troubled.

The flood in Dongting Lake had not yet been properly dealt with when the severe drought in Ganzhou hit him like a heavy blow. These consecutive natural disasters made it almost impossible for him to breathe.

What’s even more infuriating is that those old stubborn people in the Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites blamed everything on Zhu Yuanzhang, saying things like “God will punish you for not being benevolent” and so on.

What’s particularly infuriating is that a group of censors from the Inspectorate actually jumped out and asked Zhu to issue an edict of repentance!

Ridiculous, how ridiculous!
Isn't it just that Zhu Yuanzhang paid less salary and was stricter with civil and military officials? It has nothing to do with God!
However, when Zhu Yuanzhang thought of the successive natural disasters, he couldn't help but feel self-doubt.

Could it be that all this is really our own Zhu's fault, and even God can't stand it anymore?

Oh, yes, don’t we still have Lao Li? We have to ask him about this matter.

When he came to the Buddhist temple, Zhu Yuanzhang's heart gradually calmed down. This might be the only place where he could find comfort in this world.

As soon as he entered the Buddhist temple, he was stunned and several question marks popped up in his head.

What are those bags and bags of stuff?

What shocking thing has Old Li prepared for him again?
I opened one of the bags and looked at the unremarkable things inside, and my doubts grew even more.

I picked one up and took a look. It was round, hard, and reddish. I thought it was made of wood, but it didn't look like wood. When I smelled it, it had an earthy smell.

I opened another bag, and the things inside were different from the previous one. They were rounder than the red ones, and the color was yellowish, just like clods of earth.

Lao Li, what are you doing?

(End of this chapter)