Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 437

From far away came the eunuch's sharp, hair-on-shoulder cry: "The emperor is here!" Then there was a burst of shouts of long live, which was really lively.Under the moonlight, Chongzhen, wearing a dragon robe, walks slowly through the promenade, spreading flowers and willows.He didn't walk fast, because he still looked good with that dragon robe, but if he walked too fast, when the dragon robe was lifted up, the patches on the clothes underneath would come out.

Yang Menglong and the queen got up and went up, Yang Menglong knelt down on the ground, and shouted: "My minister Yang Menglong sees the emperor, my emperor, long live, long live, long live!" The cry was so loud.The queen gave a light blessing, and said in a manly voice: "The concubine sees the emperor."

Chongzhen laughed, and said: "Excuse me, let's be flat, you don't need to be too polite." He helped the queen to sit down, let Yang Menglong sit opposite him, looked at his round face, and smiled bitterly: "One goodbye for two years, Ai Qing's face is getting rounder."

This rosy baby face has simply become a pain in Yang Menglong's heart. Whether it is Sun Chengzong or Lu Xiangsheng, they will make fun of this round face and even pinch it. Now even Chongzhen is making such a joke with him!He laughed dryly: "Chen... I have nothing to do during this time. I ate a little more, so I gained some weight."

Chongzhen was not without envy: "It is a blessing to be able to eat!" He was as thin as a firewood stick, not because he didn't want to eat, but because he was not in the mood to eat at all, and there were too many things to worry about.

Yang Menglong said: "Your Majesty should also take care of your health. Don't work day and night. Cows are tired and have to sleep all day to recover their strength, let alone people. I brought some honey from Nanyang, freshly cut , Your Majesty drinks a cup every day, it is good for your health." After speaking, he took out a large jar of honey from the big cloth bag, put it on the table, and pushed it over.

Princess Kunxing opened her mouth wide, stared at her eyes, and asked in a naive voice, "How much stuff is there in your bag? You haven't finished it after digging out for a long time!" In her opinion, Yang Menglong's magical bag is just like a machine. Like a cat's pocket, as long as you reach in, you can take out what you want.

Yang Menglong said: "It's gone, it's completely gone!"

The queen smiled and said to Chongzhen: "Yang Aiqing brought a lot of specialties from Nanyang, and some of them were made by his wife herself. It's a good intention."

Chongzhen asked: "What did you bring?"

Yang Menglong said: "Persimmons, candied dates, longan, potatoes, sweet potatoes, ham, sheep intestines, beef jerky, honey... By the way, there are also a few pieces of cloth, which take up too much space, so I didn't bring them in and left them outside the palace. If the emperor doesn't dislike it, I'll let someone send it in."

Chongzhen was a bit dumbfounded, they were all worthless things.However, besides laughing and crying, he also felt a little relieved... If Yang Menglong gave him thousands of taels of gold or hundreds of pearls as soon as they met, then he must have asked for something else, and these worthless things made him feel A trace of camaraderie: This bastard just treats him as a friend, and only friends will give these worthless things that can only satisfy the greed of wives and children.He said: "Let someone bring in the cloth. I heard that Nanyang produces a kind of linen cloth, which is smooth and delicate, soft and wear-resistant. It is cool in summer and warm in winter. It has become the fashion of the nobles in the capital. I also want to open my eyes." Woolen cloth."

Yang Menglong said: "Okay!"

Not long after, the fabric came in.Empress Zhou took out one, looked at it carefully, and stroked it with her hands. She only felt that it felt soft and smooth.

Seeing that the cloth was not dyed at all, Chongzhen asked in surprise, "Why isn't it dyed?"

Yang Menglong scratched his head, and said with some embarrassment: "The disadvantage of this thing is that it is very difficult to dye. I didn't think of a way to dye it into golden yellow for a while, so I had to send it here... But there are so many capable people in the palace. , I’m sure I can figure out a way to dye it, hehe.”

Well, if you send a few bolts of cloth, you have to find a way to dye it yourself, and it is really enough to send a gift for this purpose.Chongzhen couldn't laugh or cry again, but the queen liked these refined linen more and more.Of course, linen is not as gorgeous as silk, but it is flexible and smooth, very wear-resistant, and it is still very suitable for making high-end clothes.She said: "I like these fabrics very much, thank you General Yang."

Yang Menglong waved his hand and said, "Mother, you don't have to be polite. We grew this thing ourselves and it's not worth much. If you like it, I'll ask someone to send you a few more when you get back."

How many horses did you send?Also really stingy.

The queen said: "Then I will not be polite." Let Gong'e come over and take down the cloth and put it away. As for how to dye it, she has to worry about it herself, and Yang Menglong is not responsible.

At this time, the food was brought up, five dishes and one soup, and mainly vegetarian dishes, and it was rare to see any meat.Yang Menglong frowned. For him, a carnivore who had to kill at least one catty of fresh meat every day, eating this kind of food was simply torture.But after tossing and tossing for so long, he is really hungry, so let’s make it, pick up the bowl and chopsticks, and start eating, and the movements are getting faster and faster, the sound of chewing can be heard from far away... the smell of his eating His imposing manner was comparable to that of a Lancer charging, and before he had even tasted anything, the food on the table was swept away by him.He burped, and only then did he see Chongzhen and the Queen's chopsticks resting in the air, staring at him dumbfounded, like watching a monster.He secretly yelled that it was too bad, he ate too much just now, and killed the couple's share.He laughed dryly: "Chen... I usually eat like this at home, I'm used to it, I can't change it..."

Chongzhen was very depressed, the queen smiled helplessly, and said: "General Yang has a true temperament, so very kind, so very kind." She patted Chongzhen's hand and said, "Didn't General Yang bring a lot of special products over here? Why not Can someone make some and bring them up for tasting?"

Yang Menglong's eyes lit up: "That's right, hurry up and make some and send them up." He called an eunuch and said, "Go and tell the imperial cook, sweet potatoes taste best when roasted, and black potatoes taste good when cooked, the kind of ordinary sliced ​​potatoes It tastes great when fried until golden brown, spicy beef jerky should be fried with green peppers, lamb intestines are best eaten with lettuce, let’s go quickly.”

You think this is your home, right?

Chongzhen really wanted to strangle him to death!
After all the fuss, delicacies were delivered one after another.The skin is roasted until brown, with countless small packages of sweet potatoes, simmered black potatoes, fried golden potato slices, stir-fried spicy beef jerky with green peppers, stir-fried lamb intestines with lettuce... everything is fragrant and makes people salivate. .Chongzhen tasted a little of each and praised it repeatedly, especially the spicy beef jerky and stir-fried lettuce. It was so spicy that his face turned red and he was a little embarrassed, but this novel taste fascinated him.He was so excited that he made an exception and asked Gong'e to bring a jug of wine to have a drink with the queen. This was very rare, since he became emperor, he rarely drank alcohol.Probably because the chili pepper had a great appetizing effect, he ate two large bowls of rice and most of a sweet potato. Still unsatisfied, he even picked up a black potato, peeled off the skin and ate it.As for Princess Kunxing, if you keep stuffing the fried potato chips into your mouth and chew them loudly, aren't you afraid of turning into a little fat pig?
Chongzhen was very interested, applauded while tasting the black potatoes, pointed to the fried potato chips on the plate, and asked Yang Menglong: "I heard that Aiqing planted a large number of these potatoes in Nanyang, and the harvest is abundant every year?"

Yang Menglong said: "Yes, we plant every year and harvest every year."

The queen looked at her husband tenderly, stroked the princess's little face, and asked, "What is the yield?"

Yang Menglong said: "20 acres will be planted this spring, and the average harvest per mu will be more than 25 shi."

Chongzhen's hand trembled, and the black potato that had only taken two bites almost fell off: "How much...how much?"

Yang Menglong said: "More than 25 stones." He said a little dejectedly: "The seeds have degenerated, so the yield is less than before, and there are more diseases, otherwise the yield will be higher."

The Queen closed her mouth after a long while: "The yield per mu is more than 25 shi? That's a lot!"

Yang Menglong said: "It was even higher last year, with 30 mu of potato fields, and each mu reached [-] shi."

Chongzhen was a little out of breath.Thirty shi per mu, 30 mu, that's 900 million shi. He worked so hard, and with the whole world's infamy, how much food did he collect in a year?He said with some difficulty: "This...the output of this thing is so amazing!?"

Yang Menglong said: "The main reason is that the breeding work is done well and the fertilizer is sufficient. In addition, farmers have been dealing with it for several years and are already very familiar with it, so it is easy to get a bumper harvest."

Chongzhen said excitedly: "I must promote the cultivation of potatoes throughout the country! As long as the output of other places can reach half of Nanyang's, no, even if it only reaches [-]% of Nanyang's, there will be no more famine in Ming Dynasty!"

Yang Menglong said helplessly: "Your Majesty, you think too simply. First, people in other places are far from mastering the technology of growing potatoes like the farmers in Nanyang. If they plant them, they may grow vines but not produce potatoes; second, "You can't just throw potatoes into the ground and you'll get a harvest. You have to put a lot of fertilizer on them, and you have to spray pesticides when you encounter pests, otherwise there will be no harvest. I don't think those farmers have the money to buy so much fertilizer and pesticides!" After a pause! , emphasised, "The most important thing is, even if they get improved seeds, they won't have any land to plant them!"

Chongzhen was suddenly a little depressed.

The queen pondered for a while, and asked: "I heard that Nanyang not only has a bumper harvest of potatoes, but also an astonishing output of wheat. The yield per mu can generally reach three stones. What's the reason for this?"

Chongzhen became interested again. The year when the wheat yield of three stones per mu is so rare that there are few times in 100 years. As the king of a large agricultural country, he is of course very concerned: "Yes, why is the wheat harvest in Nanyang so low? so tall?"

Yang Menglong said: "First: effective irrigation. To be blunt, looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that no place has as developed an irrigation system as Nanyang. In order to completely solve the irrigation problem, more than 4000 irrigation wells were drilled. It can be said that as long as there is water in the ground, the crops in Nanyang will not die from drought; secondly, there is sufficient fertilizer. Before sowing, hundreds of kilograms of manure must be applied to each acre of land as base fertilizer, and then phosphate fertilizer must be applied several times. Each time an acre of land needs to be applied with more than ten kilograms of topdressing; Third: If pest control is good, every farm raises a large number of chickens and ducks. Once locusts are found breaking out of the ground, chicken beetles will be used to sweep them away. If there are other Pests that chickens and ducks cannot deal with are sprayed with pesticides..." He spread his hands and said, "Others only see that Nanyang's wheat and potato output is several times or even ten times that of theirs, but they don't know that the initial investment in Nanyang's farmland is the same. It’s several times or even ten times more than them!”

Chongzhen was dumbfounded when he heard it, and counted on his fingers while listening, calculating the cost with his poor agricultural knowledge, the more he counted, the more frustrated he became.Although he has never planted a field, he also knows that there will be no pies in the sky. To get a good harvest, he has to work a lot of sweat. Without fertilizers and irrigation can't keep up, a good harvest can only be a luxury.Nanyang has raised tens of thousands of riding and working horses, more than 2 cattle and dairy cows, and built several phosphate fertilizer processing plants, which have accumulated enough fertilizer. I wonder which government can afford to raise so many livestock? ?To put it bluntly, even if you want to learn it in other places, you can't learn it!

(End of this chapter)