Autumn is crisp, the breeze is coming, Li Xiu rode on a horse and looked at the sweet potato fields on both sides of the road, and his heart was quite gratified, today he left Chang'an with some officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, and went around in Guanzhong, mainly to inspect the growth of sweet potatoes in various places, thanks to the blessing of the last heavy rain, the drought in various places is finally over, and these surviving sweet potatoes are also growing gratifyingly, and finally lived up to Yang Nong's wishes. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Horse, further on is the territory of Xianyang County!" At this moment, I suddenly saw Yang Duiti immediately come forward to report to Li Xiuyu, this time the officials of their Ministry of Agriculture were also dispatched, except for a few people who stayed in the Ministry of Agriculture, most of the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture were sent out, and they were also divided into three teams, the team led by Li Xiu himself was responsible for inspecting the three counties of Xianyang, Jingyang and Sanyuan, and Xianyang was the first stop of their investigation.

"Xianyang County, the former site of the capital of the Qin State should be in this county, right?" Li Xiu couldn't help but ask with some emotion when he heard this, what kind of courage Qin Shi Huang had when he swallowed the Six Kingdoms, but unfortunately the second died, and the capital of that year disappeared, leaving only the name Xianyang, and it was also reduced to a county, I am afraid that this is what Qin Shi Huang would never have dreamed of.

"What the horse said is right, the old site of Xianyang is in the northeast of the current Xianyang County, but it has become a farmland, and the real old city should be buried underground!" Yang Dui also said at this time, although he is not good at reading, he has grown up in Guanzhong with Yang Nong since he was a child, and he also knows a lot about some of the stories in Guanzhong.

"If you are interested in historical sites, you can go to see Xianyang Beiyuan, among the eleven emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, nine of them are buried there, such as the famous Han Gaozu Liu Bang, his tomb is there!" As soon as Yang Dui's words fell, I saw a young and handsome official smiling and stepping forward, it was this year's new science and technology scholar Shangguanyi, he was arranged by Li Xiu to work under Yang Dui, because of his outstanding ability, he has also become Yang Dui's main assistant.

"Xianyang Beiyuan, then I want to see it, but before that, I still have to take a look at the growth of sweet potatoes in Xianyang County?" Li Xiu also laughed when he heard this, he really didn't know that Liu Bang was buried in Xianyang, but it is not surprising to think about it, Chang'an City in the Han Dynasty was originally very close to Xianyang, and Xianyang could become the capital of the Qin State, and the feng shui must be good, so it was normal for the emperor of the Han Dynasty to choose it as a cemetery.

Li Xiu and his entourage talked and laughed into the territory of Xianyang County, in fact, Xianyang County was not established for a long time, but after Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, it was only then that Jingyang County and Shiping County were divided out of each part and established Xianyang County, which belongs to the jurisdiction of Gyeonggi Province, and its status is higher than that of the general county seat, after all, Guanzhong is the core of the Tang Dynasty, and it is not comparable to other places in terms of population or cultivated land.

Xianyang County was originally on the edge of Chang'an City, in fact, if it was Han Chang'an, Xianyang was only a dozen miles away from Chang'an, but unfortunately Han Chang'an was destroyed due to war, and later Yang Guang rebuilt Chang'an City, making Chang'an far away from Xianyang, which also made Li Xiu and them spend a morning to come here.

Most of the territory of Xianyang County is plain, and the Jing River and the Wei River flow here, making the land here very suitable for farming, especially in the south of the county, which is a large area of fertile land, and sweet potatoes are also mainly planted in this area.

Soon after Li Xiu and the others entered the territory of Xianyang County, the local county magistrate hurriedly ran over to greet them, and they had already received the news that the Ministry of Agriculture was coming, after all, Li Xiu and they definitely needed the cooperation of local officials, and they also needed to deal with these officials if they wanted to promote sweet potatoes and corn next year.

The county magistrate of Xianyang County is a gray-haired old man, surnamed Huang, as soon as he saw Li Xiu, he immediately introduced to them: "Please look at the horses, in all the fields in Xianyang County, about thirty percent of the sweet potatoes are planted, and the other crops such as wheat and millet are all destroyed in the previous locust plague and drought, fortunately, the sweet potatoes are locust and drought resistant, and most of the sweet potatoes have survived. ”

Li Xiu listened to the introduction of Huang County's order, while looking at the sweet potato fields in front of him, these sweet potatoes are not concentrated, some fields are only half planted, and some are separated by a few blank fields, which is not surprising, after all, the original sweet potatoes were distributed to each family, and the farmers must be planted whether they want to or not.

However, sweet potatoes are a new crop after all, and many people doubt the yield of sweet potatoes, so in contrast, people are still more willing to plant wheat and millet, but under the compulsion of the government, they dare not plant, which also leads to many people planting very casually, this piece is everywhere, but I didn't expect sweet potatoes to become life-saving food at home in the end.

"Huh? What are those people doing? However, when Li Xiu looked at the sweet potato fields in front of him, he suddenly found that there were some people in the fields in the distance carrying baskets, as if they were picking something, which made him also ask a little strangely.

"This ......" Huang Xian Ling was also stunned when he saw those people, and hesitated for a moment before he spoke, "Maybe...... Maybe it's picking wild vegetables, after all, this year's food is insufficient, and many families need to use wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger! ”

The people under his rule used wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger, which was not a glorious thing, so Huang Xian Ling also blushed a little when he said this, but Li Xiu didn't feel anything, let alone Xianyang, some people near Chang'an also began to use wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger, and the number was not a few, after all, in this kind of famine year, it was already good to have something to fill the belly.

At that moment, Li Xiu led people forward, most of the people who picked were women and old people, and when they saw Li Xiu and others coming over in bright clothes, they were all a little afraid, and only a few children looked at them with big round eyes and a curious face.

As Li Xiu approached, he also saw clearly what these people were picking, which made him frown, and then asked an old man not far away: "This old man, what are you doing here, why did you cut off these sweet potato vines?" ”

Li Xiu found that in addition to wild vegetables, there were also a lot of sweet potato vines in these people's baskets, in fact, many of these people were holding sickles, mainly to cut sweet potato vines, which made him a little annoyed, after all, the locust plague had eaten up the sweet potato vines once, and now it was finally grown again, and cutting them again would definitely affect the yield of sweet potatoes.

"Official, we don't want to spoil these sweet potatoes, after all, the whole family is pointing to this thing to save their lives, but now there is really no food at home, and wild vegetables are not hungry, although this sweet potato vine is not food, but it is much better than wild vegetables, and it is also hungry, so now our whole family depends on this thing to survive!" I saw the old man reply with a bitter face.

Hearing the other party's answer, Li Xiu noticed that the other party's face was yellow, his cheeks were also deeply sunken, and there were two children behind him, one older and one young, who were dirty and couldn't tell the men and women, but they both had big heads and small bodies, and they looked similar to the African children on TV in later generations.

"I see, but you should pay attention when you cut it, try to cut the newly grown vines, and don't cut the old vines!" Li Xiu was silent for a moment when he heard this, and then he spoke, he didn't want to tell the other party that cutting the vines would affect the yield of sweet potatoes, because this was all, after all, people couldn't even eat, so how could they take care of this?

"Thank you officials, Xiao Lao'er has planted all his life, although he has never planted sweet potatoes before, but he also knows this truth, so we cut sweet potato vines are also selected to cut, only a small half of each sweet potato is cut, and the rest let them continue to grow, I am still waiting to eat sweet potatoes this winter!" When the old man said to the end, he couldn't help but show a relieved expression, he could still have a bite to eat in this famine year, which was very content for him.

"Sweet potatoes are very delicious, especially when they are roasted by the fire, they taste fragrant and sweet, and they taste good when cooked in a pot, but my husband still has to keep some sweet potatoes and plant them next year!" Li Xiu couldn't help but laugh at this time.

"That is, at the beginning of this year, the government asked us to plant sweet potatoes, many families were reluctant to plant, and when the locust plague came, each family knew the benefits of sweet potatoes, and next year I plan to plant all the fields rented by my family with sweet potatoes, the yield of this thing is high, and I will not be afraid of not having enough to eat in the future!" When the old man talked about sweet potatoes, he also showed his broken front teeth and smiled.

"Haha, the yield of sweet potatoes is high, but it is not easy to preserve, it is better in winter, you can put it in the cellar, but it will not work when the weather is hot, then the old man can cut the sweet potatoes into slices and dry them into dried sweet potatoes, so that they can be stored like wheat for a few years!" Li Xiu also smiled at the moment, and by the way, he also popularized the preservation method of sweet potatoes to the other party.

It is estimated that he saw that Li Xiu had no shelf, this old man also let go of his courage, and chatted with Li Xiu at the moment, in addition to sweet potatoes, Li Xiu also asked the other party about the living conditions of the locals this year, and according to the other party, this year's locust plague and drought have made everyone's life not very good, taking their village as an example, except for the two small landlords, most of the people's grain stocks have been eaten, and now they point to the sweet potatoes in the field to save their lives, and even if it is a small landlord's family, they can only live on gruel now.

After hearing this, Li Xiu couldn't help but feel heavy, and at the same time, he also understood the reason why Yang Nong was so desperate at the beginning, after all, only by promoting sweet potatoes and corn can the problem of the people not having enough to eat can be truly solved.

After inspecting the growth of sweet potatoes in Xianyang County, Li Xiu and they went to Jingyang and Sanyuan counties, and found that the situation in these two counties was similar to that of Xianyang County.

By the time Li Xiu finished transferring the three counties, it had taken ten days, and he was finally going back on this day, Li Xiu was also like an arrow on his horse, thinking about his wife and children at home, but at this moment, he suddenly heard a rapid sound of horses' hooves behind him, and when Li Xiu turned his head to look, he couldn't help frowning and said: "Turks? ”