Chen Laohan, who was ordered, looked very nervous and cramped, and while bowing to everyone in the hall, he walked into the hall with a smiling face.

Xiao Tianjian said with a smile: "This old man Chen is the helper I invited last year, and he is an old expert in farming!" Uncle Chen doesn't have to be restrained, the people here are all our own people, you can tell you about the things you planted last year! ”

Chen Laohan agreed again and again, and said to Fu Deming and others: "My lords, Xiao Lao'er will not do anything in his life except for planting some fields, thanks to the general's affordability, he let Xiao Lao'er find a place to settle down here, otherwise Xiao Lao'er doesn't know where he has been buried now, and only the bones are left!" ”

Fu Deming and the others laughed meaningfully after hearing this, and waited to see what this old man would tell them something that surprised them.

Chen Laohan continued to everyone with a smile on his face: "I'm afraid you won't believe it when Little Lao'er says it, the general has found a good thing for our local people, after planting, at least a few thousand catties of grain can be produced from one acre of land, as long as we plant this season, we won't have to worry about food in the future!" ”

After listening to Chen Laohan's words, all the people present were taken aback, to say that these people are also scholars, although they are not necessarily familiar with agricultural affairs, but at least they also understand some grain production, what they have eaten in the world, the highest yield is the rice in the south, under normal circumstances, the production capacity of various crops per mu is 200 catties, even if it is a very good harvest! But this old man Chen actually said that there is a thing that can produce thousands of catties per mu, if this is the case, then it is not scared to death!

"Nonsense! How can you, an old man, say anything? What can yield thousands of catties per mu if planted? Although we dare not say that we are familiar with farming, at least we have never heard of such a thing! Don't talk nonsense here! After hearing this, one of Fu Deming's subordinates became angry, thinking that this was absolutely impossible, so he stood up and scolded Chen Laohan.

Xiao Tianjian frowned, glared at the person who came out to scold Chen Laohan, Fu Deming saw that Xiao Tianjian's face was not good, so he immediately coughed lightly and shouted: "Presumptuous!" Don't give me back yet! ”

The short-tempered guy was scolded by Fu Deming, and realized that he had said the wrong thing, so he hurriedly apologized to Xiao Tianjian and retreated to the side.

Fu Deming has been busy with civil affairs in the Yangcheng area since last year, and he hasn't paid much attention to the military reclamation fields left by the Xingtian Army, but he also knows some about the military reclamation fields.

So he asked Chen Laohan with a pleasant face: "Could it be that what Mr. Chen said was that the sweet potatoes and corn planted in our army's fields last year were not successful?" ”

Chen Laohan was scolded by the impatient man just now, and was taken aback, and now he saw Fu Deming come forward to ask him, so he quickly bowed down and nodded again and again: "Exactly!" It's the sweet potato that the general said! Xiao Lao'er really didn't dare to talk nonsense, last year Xiao Lao'er was ordered by the general to open a piece of land, with some people to serve these two things, corn is average, the yield of an acre of land is about two or three stones, compared to sorghum is a lot stronger, the yield is about the same!

But you don't believe it, this kind of sweet potato is too powerful, Xiao Lao'er bred a batch of seedlings in batches last spring, and then planted in batches to the ground, a total of seven acres of land were planted, last fall, on a piece of land, more than 2,000 catties of sweet potatoes were dug out!

Don't say that you adults don't believe it, even the little old man didn't dare to believe it at the beginning! I almost thought I was mistaken, and I went through the scales several times before I believed that it was true! Little Lao'er is an honest man, and he will never dare to deceive you adults and generals! If there is even the slightest falsehood, the general can cut off the little old man's head! ”

After listening to Chen Laohan's words, everyone here was surprised, it turned out that Xiao Tianjian really didn't lie to them, there are really things in this world that can grow thousands of catties of grain per acre!

So after listening to Chen Laohan's words, everyone in the hall immediately showed a look of ecstasy, and began to talk one after another, if this matter is true, as long as this kind of sweet potato is popularized and planted in a large area, the grain produced by one acre of land can feed a few people, and now they occupy the territory of three or four counties, if they are planted with this kind of thing, then are they afraid that there will be no food to eat in the future?

So after hearing the news, everyone felt a lot more relaxed and laughed heartily.

Xiao Tianjian raised his hand to stop the ecstasy of Fu Deming and others, and said with a smile: "Don't be happy too early, although the yield of this sweet potato is very high, but it is also under the careful care of Mr. Chen, the yield will be so high, if it is not for his intensive cultivation and careful care, it is not easy to achieve a yield of more than two thousand catties per mu!"

But I estimate that as long as the water and fertilizer keep up, under normal circumstances, there is no problem with the yield of 1,800 catties per mu of sweet potatoes, and the more valuable thing is that after this thing is planted, it is relatively drought tolerant and will not use too much water to irrigate.

But there is another problem, this kind of sweet potato is not too many roots at present, last year only received less than 10,000 catties of roots, want to plant everywhere, it is impossible, but as long as this year is planted, after next year we can spread out the planting in the territory, then we will really not lack food!

Of course, we can't forget the kind of thing called corn, which is also more drought-tolerant, does not pick the soil, although the yield is not high at present, but at least it is much higher than the yield of sorghum and corn, at present we have stored more than 1,000 catties of seeds, and this year we will also plant them together, which is also a good thing! ”

After hearing this, everyone nodded again and again, but some people had never heard of or seen such things as sweet potatoes and corn, so they asked Xiao Tianjian what this kind of thing looked like and could they see it.

So Xiao Tianjian ordered people to go down and prepare, as a treat for him to deal with Deming and his subordinates, and specially steamed a few plates of sweet potatoes for them and sent them to the hall, so that they could taste them.

Everyone scrambled to pick up the steamed, hot sweet potato, broke it in their mouths, and after chewing it for a while, someone immediately exclaimed, "It's delicious!" This thing actually tastes sweet! It's delicious! ”

Other people are not used to this taste, but fortunately, this sweet potato has no strange taste, but it can be basically accepted, like this year, being able to eat a full meal is already the greatest enjoyment, as for the taste, people really don't have much pursuit.

So after tasting the taste of this sweet potato, the matter of promoting the planting of sweet potatoes and corn was also decided, and after Fu Deming and Xiao Tianjian discussed some things about the construction of water conservancy, they left the lotus village with this group of subordinates, and went to the jurisdiction of the Xingtian Army to work everywhere.

(After consulting relevant historical materials, there was another great famine in Shanxi in the ninth year of Chongzhen, which is not apocryphal!) Today's son's birthday, a little less, accompany my son! One more chapter before noon! ）