Xie Qikun was very curious when he heard Ma Cheng say this, what kind of grain can solve the food crisis within a year?

"Lord Zong, Zhenjiang is located along the Yangtze River, most of the land is tidal flats, not suitable for farming, Zhenjiang has to transfer grain from the surrounding prefectures and counties every year, I don't know what kind of magical species the adults are talking about, and they can make Zhenjiang self-sufficient within a year?"

Ma Cheng laughed when he heard Xie Qikun finish speaking: "Haha, Lord Xie is a little lonely and weak, this new grain is sweet potato and sweet wheat!" I don't know if Master Xie has seen it? ”

Potatoes and corn were introduced to China during the Longqing period, but they were only cultivated in coastal areas such as Guangdong and Fujian, and there were also people in Nanzhili who planted them in front of and behind the house to raise pigs. Although Xie Qikun is not completely ignorant of agriculture, he has never heard of this kind of out-of-the-way crop.

Xie Qikun didn't know, but some of his subordinates knew that a pusher in the prefect's yamen whispered in Xie Qikun's ear: "Lord Futai, we have planted these two crops, but they are used to feed pigs!" ”

Xie Qikun was furious when he heard this, this Ma Cheng is really not a human, how can he use a pig feeder to feed people?

"Lord Chief, isn't that right? How can you feed a pig food? ”

Ma Cheng thought at first that he had found a way to live for the people of Zhenjiang, but he didn't expect Xie Qikun to be so angry, why can't people eat corn and potatoes? It's good to eat at home before Lao Tzu crossed!

Ma Cheng didn't talk nonsense with Xie Qikun, and asked his soldiers to fetch corn and potatoes, and roasted them on a fire in front of the prefect's yamen.

As the temperature rises, the aroma of corn and potatoes emerges. The potatoes of this era are not as big as those of later generations, and the taste is different from that of later generations, but Ma Cheng can only eat them in order to make a appearance. Ma Cheng took one from his own soldiers, lifted the burnt skin, took a bite of it, and began to chew it.

Ma Cheng's status is precious, in addition to being the Marquis of Inspector, he is also Ma Shiying's son-in-law. Ma Shiying has been a scholar for generations, so he is naturally very particular about food and clothing, and these officials did not expect Ma Cheng to be able to eat such vulgar food.

Ma Cheng said while eating: "Lord Xie, now is not the usual time, as a parent official, do you see these people starving to death?" It's not tasty, but at least it's satisfying! ”

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he handed Xie Qikun a roasted potato and asked him to taste it. Xie Qikun saw that Ma Cheng was like this, so he could only take one, and began to taste this strange food like Ma Cheng.

To be honest, the taste of potatoes in the Ming Dynasty was not as good as that of later generations, with very low starch content and bitter taste. However, this kind of thing has a strong sense of satiety, Xie Qikun stood outside the city to greet Ma Cheng all morning, and he didn't eat any water and rice, and now after eating a fist-sized potato, he felt that he was not very hungry.

Xie Qikun said happily: "I didn't expect this kind of thing to be so hungry, it's the lower officials who are slow to treat the general system!" After speaking, Xie Qikun bowed to the ground, which was regarded as an apology to Ma Cheng.

Ma Cheng picked up Xie Qikun and said: "Lord Xie, this governor also knows that rice is delicious, but the rice yield is too low, although this kind of thing is inconspicuous, but it can harvest five or six hundred catties per mu, and the yield is far higher than rice, wheat, millet and other grains. There was not much land here in Zhenjiang, and if you planted this kind of thing, you could be self-sufficient in food! ”

The yield of rice in the Ming Dynasty was very low, and the yield of Shangtian was only more than one stone, and one stone in the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to about one hundred and twenty catties in later generations, so the rice in the Ming Dynasty was completely incomparable with the rice with a yield of five or six hundred catties per mu in later generations.

Of course, the yield of potatoes in the Ming Dynasty was not as high as the genetically optimized potatoes in later generations, but the yield of up to 600 catties still made Xie Qikun and others startled, and hurriedly asked: "My lord, is the yield of this kind of thing really so high?" ”

Ma Cheng asked his soldiers to get some salt, sprinkled it on the potatoes, and then said while eating: "Lord Xie, this governor started planting sweet potatoes in March last year, and harvested about 600 catties per mu and about 400 catties per mu of caricato. During the spring ploughing, the governor planted more than 20 acres, and the summer ploughing governor planted another 10,000 acres, except for 10,000 catties of grain, the others have been brought to you, which should be able to alleviate the grain shortage in Zhenjiang! ”

Ma Cheng took over the property of Wei Guogong, and the land was 50,000 or 60,000 mu, if it weren't for the lack of grain, Ma Cheng would have been eager to plant all the land with potatoes and corn. However, there are also a lot of harvests in this 10,000 mu of land, including 3 million catties of potatoes and more than 2 million catties of corn. These grains, rice, millet and other grains, together with black beans, wild vegetables and other supplementary foods, are enough for more than one million people in Zhenjiang to survive this cold winter.

Xie Qikun was convinced by Ma Cheng at this time, bowed down and said, "Lord Chief, it was Xia Guan Meng Lang just now!" ”

"Lord Xie, this governor knows that you have a bad impression of my father and son, and I also know that you were demoted back then, but this official wants you to remember that you are still Zhenjiang's parent official! Since you are their parents, you must treat them as your own children, I hope that Master Xie will not forget your original intention! ”

After Ma Cheng finished speaking, he said to the officials behind Xie Qikun: "Today, the governor has just arrived, you don't need to do any reception, the governor arranged for you today, please eat this new crop!" ”

Before Ma Cheng came to Zhenjiang again, he was ready to promote the planting of corn and potatoes, and he had already made preparations. Now Ma Cheng invited all the high-ranking officials of Zhenjiang Prefecture to his camp and brought out a banquet made of corn and potatoes.

Chefs in the Ming Dynasty had no experience in how to cook these two foods, but Ma Cheng came from later generations, and shredded potatoes, mashed potatoes, and potato wedges were all common foods in winter. Therefore, today's banquet has stir-fried potato chips, potato stewed pork, potato stewed chicken, boiled shredded potatoes and other dishes, except that these staple foods are corn porridge.

Although the meal was not very rich, it was a novelty, and the officials of Zhenjiang Prefecture had not eaten these things, and the novelty of the taste made them feast, especially the potato stewed chicken, which won unanimous praise.

After this meal, the relationship between Ma Cheng and the officials of Zhenjiang Mansion has been pulled in a lot, and Xie Qikun's attitude towards Ma Cheng has also softened a lot. At this point, Ma Cheng was completely settled in Zhenjiang, and Ma Cheng's 100,000 troops were stationed in Dantu Town, five miles outside the city.

Ma Cheng raised an army to attack King Lu in Hangzhou, and the news reached Suzhou as early as October last year. The Luwang army in Suzhou was led by Qi Biaojia, the governor of Susong, and had Fang Guoan, the governor of Zhejiang, Chen Keli, the general soldier of Hangzhou, Zhang Yingmeng, the general soldier of Susong, Yu Yongshou, the commander of Jiaxing, and Huang Zhikui, the secretary of Zhejiang Weidu, and others, commanding 150,000 Mabu troops, which was also considered to be extremely prosperous.

But King Lu has a lot of troops, but he has been in Suzhou for half a year, this is not Qi Biaojia's greed for life and fear of death, but Zhejiang

Admiral Jiang Guoan resolutely opposed the attack on Nanjing.

Unlike Qi Biaojia, who was born in Jinshi, Fang Guoan is Zuo Liangyu's subordinate, and has followed Zuo Liangyu to fight with Liukou in Henan, Huguang and other places for many years.

The rumor that Ma Cheng used 15,000 to wipe out the Qing army of 400,000 had spread throughout Jiangnan at this time. However, all parts of the south of the Yangtze River will be suspicious of Ma Cheng's achievements, the Ming and Manchu Qing have fought for more than 30 years, except for the mutual victory and defeat in Liaodong, they have never won in Guannei, so the Luwang court does not believe that this is Ma Cheng's credit at all, but thinks that Zhu Lunkui must have reached some conspiracy with the Manchus, so that the Manchus retreated.

Most of the civil officials in the court of King Lu believed that Ma Cheng's merits were fake, but Fang Guoan and other generals were convinced of Ma Cheng's achievements. Fang Guoan and others believe that the Qing army will never retreat for no reason, because the troops have already arrived in the city, so there is a reason to retreat to Jiangbei?

However, King Lu's army easily occupied Suzhou, which made King Lu's court full of thoughts of underestimating the enemy from top to bottom, thinking that Ma Cheng was nothing to fear, and when he saw his own army arrive, didn't he also flee from the wind? Therefore, Qi Biaojia advocated the expedition and tried to occupy Nanjing when the Nanjing side did not react.

But Fang Guoan and others don't think so, from Suzhou further, is the city defense is not very strong Changzhou Mansion and Zhenjiang Mansion, I heard that Ma Cheng artillery sharp, if there is no solid city wall is really not at ease, so the generals advocate in Suzhou here to wait for the defense of the war.

Although Qi Biaojia is the nominal commander-in-chief, he does not actually command the army, and these generals are still needed to fight a war. Now that the generals don't want to move forward, Qi Biaojia has no choice but to persuade them one by one, hoping that they will understand the general situation and gain time to occupy Nanjing.

The precious time was spent in this way, and when Qi Biaojia and the generals finally reached a consensus, the time had entered October, Suzhou and other places had begun to snow, and the most important canal had also been frozen.

While waiting, the news that Ma Cheng was reactivated as the Jiangnan Governor came from Nanjing, which made Qi Biaojia regret it very much, if he took advantage of Nanjing's lack of preparation two months ago, it was very likely to occupy Nanjing in one fell swoop. According to Qi Biaojia's estimate, the Zhu Lunkui court in Nanjing was supported by Ma Shiying's eunuch party, and the Donglin party headed by Qian Qianyi would definitely dare not speak out.

But Qi Biaojia thought very well, but his generals were very weak, they were afraid of Ma Cheng's exploits, afraid that they would fall into Ma Cheng's trap, and this would lose the most favorable opportunity.

After getting the news of Ma Cheng's expedition, Qi Biaojia also held a plenary meeting, at which Qi Biaojia no longer listened to the persuasion of his generals, and even used the sword of the Son of Heaven given by King Lu to subdue all the opposing generals.

After all, Qi Biaojia was the governor of Susong appointed by King Lu and the commander-in-chief of this army, and those generals had no choice but to agree to Qi Biaojia's arrangement.