Qin State, Treasurer.

This is the treasury of grain, gold and jade storage in the center of the Qin State.

Outside the front door of the treasurer, countless carts transporting materials were already parked, and these vehicles were lined up all the way to the streets of Xianyang City outside the palace.

Because everyone knew that the things transported by these vehicles were Shao Hao from thousands of miles away, there were already many ministers in front of the treasurer's door, and they all wanted to know what the new species Xu Fu brought back from Shao Hao were and what they looked like.

Soon, Li Yang and Fusu, accompanied by Ji Kai, came to the treasurer.

"I've seen Your Highness, Zhenguo Jun!" The crowd bowed one after another.

"You don't need to be polite, come with Gu to see the good things that Shao Hao brought back!"

Fusu didn't have the heart to talk to this group of ministers, looking at this endless vehicle full of Shaohao's supplies, his eyes lit up, and he was both excited and curious.

"Quick, open it and take a look!"

As soon as Fusu arrived in front of the car, he couldn't wait to order.

Ji Kai immediately signaled to the escort messenger and quickly opened the sack in the car. Immediately, grains of golden yellow stuff were revealed.

"What is this? It's actually several times bigger than Gu Li! ”

As soon as they saw this kind of large-sized grain, Fusu and everyone all lit up their eyes with a look of surprise.

Ji Kai was also very curious, and quickly reached out and grabbed a handful, looked at it carefully, and asked curiously, "Dean, is this food?" ”

And as soon as Li Yang saw these golden fruits, he naturally recognized them at a glance, isn't this corn!

Li Yang said with a smile: "Your Highness, the name of this thing is corn, and it is planted in dry land and high mountains. Shaohao Prefecture has no grain chestnut, and it is used as a staple food, so it is naturally food. ”

"Grain? Such a grain of grain! ”

When they heard this, they were all shocked.

"It's amazing, it's amazing! There is such a large grain of grain in this world! Fusu was also amazed and couldn't believe it.

And Ji Kai, as the head of the household department in charge of money and grain endowment, the burden of tripling grain output this year is all on him, and now seeing this kind of grain, it is like seeing hope for him, and the excitement is overflowing, and his mouth is so full of excitement that he can't close it, and he smiles: "If Daqin cultivates this thing in a large area, the grain output will definitely increase greatly!" ”

Fusu also nodded: "Yes, Taifu said that it can be planted in dry land and high mountains, so that it is not restricted by water conservancy, okay, it's really good, haha!" ”

Fusu applauded again and again, then moved his gaze to another car, urging: "Open it all for me!" ”

At the sound of an order, the sacks of all vehicles were opened one by one.

Then we saw something else, like an egg-sized potato.

"Taifu, what is this?" Fusu picked one up and asked happily.

Li Yang looked at it and smiled: "This is a potato, which can also be used as a staple food." ”

"What? This...... Is this also a staple food? ”

Fusu and the others exclaimed again, because this thing was bigger than corn.

When Ji Kai heard this, he quickly put down the corn in his hand, ran over again, picked up a potato, his eyes lit up, and he turned his head and asked, "Doesn't this potato need to be planted in the paddy field?" ”

Li Yang nodded: "It's also dryland planting." ”

"What is this?"

"Sweet potato!"

"Also dryland planting?"

"Exactly!"

"Is this ......?

"Peanuts! Dryland planting!! ”

"Dried chili ......"

“…………”

Looking at these many novel crops, everyone had to sigh deeply: "Xu Fu's contribution is very great!" ”

Li Yang was also very excited, because the crops Xu Fu brought back this time were really rich in varieties, planting corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, peppers, and dozens of sunflowers, tomatoes, lima beans, pineapples, papayas, tobacco, etc.

Moreover, not only is there a wide variety, but there are also a lot of them.

The escort officer who transported the materials in Langya County had already counted the quantity, 700 stone of corn kernels (1 stone in the Qin Dynasty is about 60 jin now, 700 stone is 42,000 jin), 550 stone of potatoes (about 33,000 jin), 600 stone of sweet potatoes (about 36,000 jin), and dozens of other kinds of peanuts also have a total of 500 stones (about 30,000 jin).

As long as so many crops are planted, after one or two years of cultivation, they can start mass production on the land of Daqin, greatly increasing the diversification and yield of grain types.

Fusu said excitedly: "With so many crops suitable for dryland cultivation, it is no longer a problem to increase grain production. ”

Everyone nodded one after another, and it is no exaggeration to say that as long as these crops are popularized and planted in the Qin State, then the problem of food and clothing in the Qin Dynasty will definitely be solved.

However, Ji Kai was more concerned about the planting method of these crops, and asked, "Dean, how should these things be planted?" ”

Li Yang said: "In the spring, corn is planted at a distance of two or three grains on the ground, which will germinate and grow seedlings, and then fertilize and remove insects, and can be produced between summer and autumn." Potato ......"

This talk was for most of the day, and Ji Kai was surprised and delighted when he heard it, because he found that the cultivation of some varieties of these crops is not only one in a lifetime, but a reproduction of five or ten in a lifetime.

For example, the thing called sweet potato, as long as one is buried in the soil, it is not to bury one and grow one, but to wait for it to grow vine seedlings, take one of the vine seedlings to plant, and a sweet potato can grow vine seedlings in the future will be several meters long, can be cut into more than ten sections to plant, and then this short vine seedling will be able to produce several sweet potatoes in the future.

In other words, the sweet potatoes in front of you can become dozens, or even hundreds, in the future.

What's more, listening to Li Yang, these sweet potatoes can be grown in the barren mountains and mountains, and there is nothing better than this.

At this time, everyone finally understood why Li Yang dared to say that he would triple the grain production this year, with these new grains brought from Shaohao, it was obvious that these 3,000 stone crop seeds could soon become 30,000 stone or 40,000 stone (nearly two million catties).

It is conceivable that once these crops brought from Shaohao are popularized throughout the country, in addition to planting grains, the people's families will plant an acre of potatoes, sweet potatoes or corn in wasteland and vegetable fields, then food and clothing will no longer be a problem, and they can even live a rich life with three meals a day.

You must know that in the Qin Dynasty at this time, it was generally two meals a day, and only a few nobles could enjoy the life of three meals a day.

During the Qin period, how much grain was there per capita?

In the Qin Dynasty, the yield per mu was about five stones, about 200 catties of modern grains.

After paying the taxes, in fact, in the end, there is very little food left for yourself.

According to Li Kui's "Hanshu Food and Goods Chronicle", a family of five has an annual food of 90 stones, and a per capita food of 18 stones throughout the year. What does it mean, that is, a person's annual food is only 1,000 catties, which is still raw grain. After the shell is removed, there are only no more than 800 catties left, and ordinary people are almost in a state of half-starvation every day.

And if there is a supplement of sweet potatoes and potatoes and corn, then half hunger will be a thing of the past.

On the same day, Li Yang asked Ji Kai to make preparations, and then distribute these new crops to various provinces and counties for planting as soon as possible, so that each province and county can set up a new crop breeding area.

In these counties and counties, which are designated as new crop breeding areas, it is stipulated that in addition to the fertile land with sufficient water conservancy to continue to grow grain chestnuts, other dry fields and wastelands are planted with new crops brought by Shaohao, such as corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

Of course, in order to ensure the enthusiasm of the people to plant these new crops and the attitude of taking them seriously, Li Yang also put forward several guiding opinions.

First, the growers of new crops, the new crops produced this year, will be replaced by the imperial court with grain chestnuts, one stone of corn, can replace ten stones of grain chestnuts, one stone of potatoes, sweet potatoes, can replace five stones of grain chestnuts. That is to say, as long as you grow 1,000 catties of potatoes or sweet potatoes, you can exchange 5,000 catties of grain chestnuts from the imperial court, which is almost several times more cost-effective than them planting grain chestnuts.

In this way, we can encourage everyone to plant these new crops, and at the same time, we can ensure that these new crops are not eaten, and all of them will be used for large-scale nationwide planting next year.

Of course, it doesn't matter if they want to eat, as long as you are willing to eat, eating one pound of sweet potatoes is equivalent to eating five pounds of grain chestnuts, and it can be said that it is almost impossible for ordinary people to eat a large amount. Therefore, the new crops produced this year will be enough for the popularization of planting throughout the country next year.

Second, these new crops will be included in the total grain output of the provinces, counties, and counties at the rate of three times the number of grains.

What does this mean, that is, all localities should ensure a threefold increase in grain output this year, and where new crops are planted, one pound of potatoes can be used as three pounds of grain chestnuts, which will be counted as the merit of increasing grain production for local counties and counties.

In other words, as long as these new crops are vigorously planted and the harvest of these new crops is guaranteed, the decree issued by the imperial court on a threefold increase in grain production this year can be easily completed, and a "excellent" rating can be obtained in the performance appraisal, which is greatly conducive to promotion.

This method is tantamount to directly dispelling the recent complaints in the hearts of the local officials below.

As for these new crops brought from Shaohao, are they enough to be distributed to twenty provinces to plant and cultivate?

Let's put it this way, take corn as an example, one acre of land needs four catties of corn seeds, so the 40,000 catties of corn kernels that Xu Fu transported back this time can be planted with 10,000 acres of land.

36,000 catties of sweet potatoes, about one million sweet potatoes, a sweet potato can grow several meters of vine seedlings, take 20 centimeters of a small section of vine seedlings can be planted, these sweet potatoes planting area is larger.

There are also dried chili pepper seeds, which can be distributed to several rows to plant.

Moreover, the cultivation of rice and chestnut rice was originally guaranteed in various localities, and the new crops were only planted on wasteland and dry land with insufficient water resources, so it was sufficient to distribute them to 20 provinces and cultivate them.

After getting Li Yang's opinion on the cultivation of new crops, Ji Kai's mouth was so full of laughter.

He can already imagine that this year the people's output will increase threefold, taxes will be collected in full, and the treasury will be full, and there will be almost no problems.

As a household secretary in charge of the country's taxes, money and grain, how can he not be overjoyed to have such good news at the moment?

On the same day, all the ministers present finally understood that what Li Yang said before about a threefold increase in grain production was not a fantasy.