The reason why Zhu Youxiao started a war against beggars was that in addition to rectifying public order, the most important thing was that he was really poor. Originally, he had always been worried that there would not be enough food to eat, because there were too many people. But he found from the statistics presented by the Economic Survey Bureau that there were not too many people, but too few. In particular, in the north, where there are more immigrants, there are already uncultivated fields in some places.

This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It was a good thing because the land in these places would be worthless, and the imperial court could easily take it into the possession of the state. The bad thing is that immigration and industrial production have diverted a lot of labor, resulting in a shortage of people in agriculture, which can lead to insufficient food production.

Of course, this is only an isolated phenomenon, in Nanzhili, there is still a large population, but these people are neither willing to emigrate overseas, let alone come to the bitter cold north. Then Zhu Youxiao had to use some other methods to send some labor to the north.

On this day, Wei Zhongxian ran in with a happy face and said, "Holy Lord, Liangqing has already experimented with a method of adding potato flour to flour. You can now use potato flour instead of flour. ”

Zhu Youxiao stood up abruptly and asked eagerly, "Are you sure you use potatoes instead of flour?" ”

Wei Zhongxian was stunned for a moment and said, "Shengshang, you can add more than one percent of potato flour to the flour, not all of it. ”

Zhu Youxiao said: "Used to make dumplings? Or steamed Hu Cake? Or make noodles? ”

Wei Zhongxian said: "It's used to make noodles." ”

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and quickly walked out of the house. Come to the Institute.

Wei Liangqing greeted the emperor and his party in the laboratory of the agricultural department. Zhu Youxiao said: "Try it in front of me." ”

Wei Liangqing and his classmates first took out a bag of flour and a bag of potato flour, then weighed out ten catties of flour, then added one and a half catties of potato flour, mixed them together, added old noodles and began to knead the dough.

After a while, when the dough was almost kneaded, I took a small noodle making machine, put the dough into the mouth, and began to shake the handle with my hands, and slowly the noodles flowed out of the mouth.

Colonel Zhu You stepped forward and touched the wet noodles and said, "Half of it is used for drying, and half is put into the pot to see." ”

Wei Liangqing asked his classmates to bake the noodles, put the noodles in the pot himself, and then began to adjust the noodle bowl. Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "Factory Chen, it's a family history." ”

Wei Zhongxian said with a smug expression: "Holy Lord, this kid is not good at all, he likes food, and he likes to make his own food." ”

Zhu Youxiao smiled, and after a while, Wei Liangqing put down the noodles, full of five bowls. Wei Zhongxian stepped forward and picked up a bowl, ate two bites and said, "Shengshang, the noodles are strong and chewy." ”

Zhu Youxiao selected three guards to come with him and said, "You guys try." ”

The three guards also began to eat noodles after thanking them, and after eating a few bites, they also praised the noodles together. Zhu Youxiao smiled, picked up a bowl of noodles himself, took two bites and said, "Yes, Liangqing is really Liangqing." ”

Wei Zhongxian smiled: "I haven't thanked the saint for his praise." ”

Wei Liangqing stepped forward and arched his hand: "The student thanked the saint for the praise, in the student's opinion, since it can be used in noodles, it should also be used in other places, the student has not had time to experiment, but the uncle can't wait to report it to the saint." ”

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "In fact, the easiest way to consume potatoes is to add them to military fried noodles, and there is absolutely no problem." It's just that I want the people to get used to the taste of potatoes and treat potatoes as a food rather than a dish. The output of the north has not been self-sufficient, which has led to the necessity of transporting large quantities of grain from the south. And now the weather is not very good, if I can't let every family have two years of food, I have no bottom in my heart. If potatoes can replace flour to a certain extent, with the yield of potatoes, I can worry about it. ”

Wei Liangqing said: "Shengshang, the students conducted an experiment, using potato pieces and millet to feed chickens, and found that chickens eat potatoes to grow faster and produce more eggs, students believe that the nutrients contained in potatoes are not weaker than millet, and potato yield is much higher than millet, so students think that there is no problem at all with potatoes instead of millet." ”

Zhu Youxiao's eyes lit up and said: "I didn't expect Liangqing to come to test the nutrients in it first, it's not bad, it's better than your uncle's scientific literacy." You can try adding more flour to the potatoes, or you can try something else, and I think the cake is a great way to do it. If you can use a portion of potato flour for noodles and cakes, there will be no hunger in the world. If you do a good job, you can also do great things in agriculture. I have made achievements, and I will not hesitate to reward them. ”

Wei Liangqing said: "Holy Lord, students will definitely live up to the Holy Hope. The students are going to experiment with Hu cakes, Westerners' bread and pastries, and they also want to improve the military fried noodles to make them taste better and more nutritious. ”

Zhu Youxiao laughed and said: "The future is terrifying, factory minister, Liangqing is much stronger than you." ”

Wei Zhongxian smiled so much that wrinkles piled up on his face, praising Wei Liangqing was much stronger than praising him, although the emperor was actually younger than Wei Liangqing, but no one felt that there was anything inappropriate to say that he was terrible.

Zhu Youxiao likes people like Wei Liangqing very much, he has quick thinking and solid skills. The most important thing is the spirit of experimentation, which can be seen from the fact that he first experimented with the nutritional content of potatoes, and he is not limited to the view of the door, and is willing to try the cooking methods of Westerners, which is rare among the current Ming people.

On a whim, he shouted: "Liu Ruoyu, you come to record a poem for me, and I want to give it to Wei Liangqing." "His own calligraphy is not very good, if you don't say it politely, it's miserable, so let the eunuch Liu Ruoyu record it.

Liu Ruoyu took out a pen and paper and looked at the emperor. Zhu Youxiao said: "There has been no success in trying since ancient times, and this may not be the case. I'm here for the next word, and I've been trying successfully since ancient times. ”

Liu Ruoyu wrote it and blew it and showed it to the emperor. Zhu Youxiao looked at it and said: "Good words, good words, and then write on the back to encourage Wei Liangqing's little friends!" ”

Liu Ruoyu wrote according to his words, and Zhu Youxiao took out his seal of "Mr. Xiaoqi", dipped it in the mud and carefully stamped it. Then I looked at it and couldn't help but be proud. The word is a good word, and the seal is also engraved by Dong Qichang for him, the two complement each other, and the poem is a good poem, although it is stolen from Mr. Shizhi, but it is also from his own mouth, which is really a good word.

Liu Ruoyu naturally doesn't think this is a good poem, but the meaning in this poem is fresh, and it is also very consistent with what Wei Liangqing did.