Hearing that Wu Shan and the others dared to use their heads as a guarantee, Li Dongyang finally dispelled the most suspicious doubt in his heart, and at the same time looked at the corn in the tray with an excited face.

Li Dongyang has served as a cabinet scholar since Xiaozong, presiding over the government of the Ming Dynasty, and naturally knows very well that the Ming Dynasty seems to be powerful, but there are strong enemies outside, and there are many crises at home, and if he is not careful, he may fall into the abyss of no return, so he has been walking on thin ice during his reign, and the importance of food to the Ming Dynasty is clearer than anyone else.

Yang Tinghe and the others next to him also had similar expressions, and their eyes were extremely hot when they looked at the corn one by one. Think about it, if corn can be popularized in the north, then the grain output of the Ming Dynasty can at least increase by a few percent, and then their life will be much better, at least when they encounter a famine, there will not be an embarrassing situation of no grain to adjust.

Seeing the eyes of Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe and others, Zhengde was also very amused, and he also wanted to know the expression of the other party when he knew the yield of sweet potatoes in Lu Dao, so he motioned Zhou Zhong to continue the introduction.

Zhou Zhong immediately understood when he saw Zhengde's eyes, ignored the shock of Li Dongyang and the others at the moment, and then pointed to the sweet potato next to the corn and said: "Elder Ge, please see, this crop next to corn is called sweet potato, sweet potato is different from wheat, rice and corn, it can be eaten not seeds, but rhizomes that grow underground. ”

Hearing Zhou Chong's introduction of another crop, Li Dongyang's eyes were also attracted, and then they only listened to Zhou Chong's introduction: "Sweet potato has two major advantages, one is that it does not pick the ground, even if it is in saline-alkali land where ordinary crops cannot grow. Sweet potatoes can also be grown. The second is the large production ......"

"Oh. It's another crop with a large yield, but I don't know how this sweet potato compares to the yield of corn? Zhou Chonggang introduced the yield of sweet potatoes, but he didn't expect Li Dongyang, who has always been steady, to interrupt the export, it seems that after learning about the yield of corn, it has made the cabinet chief assistant lose his former stability.

Hearing Li Dongyang compare corn with sweet potatoes, Zhou Chong smiled mysteriously and said: "Lord Qiqi Shoufu, the yield of corn is indeed a high-yield crop compared with wheat and rice. But it can't be compared to sweet potatoes. ”

When he said this, Zhou Chong deliberately paused, then glanced at the anxious eyes of Li Dongyang and others, and then continued: "This year, I got relatively few sweet potato seedlings, so I only planted one cent of land, but after the last harvest, I harvested more than 300 catties of sweet potatoes, that is to say, the yield of one mu of sweet potatoes should be about 3,000 catties, even if the sweet potatoes are dried, there should be a yield of 1,000 catties at the end!" ”

"Wow~" I heard that the yield per mu of sweet potatoes reached 1,000 catties. Several cabinet ministers were all stunned, even if they were as serious as Li Dongyang. also stood up straight with excitement, and the white beard on his chest trembled, if it weren't for the telescopes and corn as a paving before, he couldn't believe that there were still grain crops that yield thousands of catties per mu in this world.

Yang Tinghe and the others behaved similarly to Li Dongyang, one by one twisted their beards and was speechless excitedly, originally they were still worried that His Majesty the Emperor would suddenly summon themselves and what was ridiculous, but they didn't expect to give them two big surprises in a row, if Zhou Chong's words are all true, then after the corn and sweet potatoes are promoted, the Ming Dynasty will no longer have to worry about food shortage in a hundred years, and hundreds of people will live because of corn and sweet potatoes, and they will also leave a great reputation in the annals of history. So that it will last forever, which is the greatest pursuit of their poets and calligraphers in their lives.

Thinking that he could also praise thousands of people like those virtuous ministers in history, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe and others were even more excited, but they were not ordinary people after all, and soon Li Dongyang woke up from his excitement and said immediately: "Zhou Tongzhi, it is indeed a great merit that you can bring me these two crops that are so beneficial to the country and the people, but I don't know if there is anything that needs to be paid attention to if the imperial court wants to promote these two crops?" ”

Hearing Li Dongyang's words, Zhou Zhong immediately replied: "Qiqi Li Gong, the biggest problem now is that the number of corn seeds and sweet potato seedlings is not much, and it will take at least a year of breeding to be promoted on a large scale, so His Majesty has already made instructions to let me send corn seeds and sweet potato seedlings to the capital, and next year they will be planted in the imperial villages around the capital, and then yearn for the slow promotion of the year after tomorrow, and in order not to disturb the people, it is best to promote the means gentlely, so that the people can see the advantages of the two crops first." Naturally, they will scramble to plant them! ”

Hearing that there were not enough seeds and seedlings, Li Dongyang, Yang Tinghe and others also secretly said that it was a pity, although they also understood that the promotion of these two crops was not an overnight thing, and it would take at least several years or even more than ten years to promote them to the whole country, but they still wanted to start promoting them as soon as possible, so that they could see the effect as soon as possible. Especially Li Dongyang's age is not young, and he doesn't know how long he can be a bachelor, so he wants to make some achievements in the promotion of corn and sweet potatoes before he leaves, and then he can retire in style, and when future generations mention corn and sweet potatoes, they will naturally not forget him.

Taking advantage of Li Dongyang, they were all shocked by the yield of corn and sweet potatoes, and saw Zhengde smile and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, corn and sweet potatoes were brought back to my Ming Dynasty after a lot of hard work, if these two crops are promoted, hundreds of people will no longer endure the pain of hunger, I don't know if you Aiqing thinks that with Zhou Chong's merits, can you serve as the governor of the four seas?" ”

"This ......" Hearing Zhengde's words, Li Dongyang and the others also woke up from the shock, and looked at each other one by one, not knowing how to answer. With the influence of corn and sweet potatoes on the Ming Dynasty, it is not an exaggeration to give Zhou Chong a title, but it is a pity that Zhengde wants not only to let Zhou Chong be a waiter, but to promote Zhou Chong to the governor of the four seas, although it is somewhat inappropriate to hold this position with the age of the other party, but in terms of his great achievement, it is more than enough to hold such an official position.

Seeing that Li Dongyang and the others didn't speak one by one, the corners of Zhengde's mouth also showed a smug smile, and he finally made a decision after seeing that he was the most embarrassed: "Since all Aiqing has no objection, then it is agreed, come here, immediately draw up a holy decree, from now on, set up the Yamen of the Governor of the Four Seas, the Governor of Coastal Defense and Military Affairs, and promote the former Jinyi Wei Tongzhi Zhou Zhong as the Governor of the Four Seas!" ”

Emperor Zhengde's dictation was issued, and Li Dongyang and they couldn't find a reason to oppose it, so Zhou Chong's appointment as the governor of the four seas was so decided, of course, the formation of a new yamen is not so simple, which requires a series of cooperation from various departments such as the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Households, but these things do not need to be worried about by Zhengde and Zhou Chong, everything is coordinated by Li Dongyang and his cabinet ministers.

Seeing that Zhou Chong had achieved the position of a feudal official at a young age, Li Dongyang and the others couldn't help but look at Zhou Chong a few times again, but when they saw that Zhou Chong was still standing there with an indifferent face, and he didn't seem to get carried away because of this, it made their evaluation of Zhou Chong a few points higher. It's just that they can't help but be a little worried in their hearts, Zhou Chong was so favored by His Majesty the Emperor at a young age, and became one of the few feudal officials in the Ming Dynasty.

After discussing the matter of the Admiral of the Four Seas, Zhengde just wanted Li Dongyang and them to retreat, but saw Li Dongyang hesitate for a moment and then said: "Your Majesty, just now the minister reported to you that the two strongmen of Bazhou, Liu Liu and Liu Qi, openly rebelled, Your Majesty, and you did not give an exact answer, and the cabinet did not know how to deal with it, so please also ask Your Majesty to make it clear!" ”

Zhengde heard Li Dongyang mention the rebellion in Bazhou again, and said nonchalantly: "The anti-thieves in Bazhou are just a few thousand rabble, and they can't become a big climate. ”

Hearing Zhengde's words, Li Dongyang instinctively felt that this kind of disposal was really a bit hasty, but in recent years, there were not a few people who rebelled in the Ming Dynasty, most of them were petty fights, generally as long as the officers and soldiers arrived, the rebels would immediately collapse, if it weren't for the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi in Bazhou, which was very close to the capital, I am afraid he would not let Zhengde take the idea, so in Li Dongyang's heart, in fact, he didn't take Liu Liu and Liu Qi's gang of rebels seriously.

Thinking of this, Li Dongyang just wanted to obey the order, but at this moment, he saw that Zhou Chong, who had been acting very low-key, took the initiative to stand up and said: "Your Majesty is slow, for Liu Liu and Liu Qi's rebellion, the minister has something to say!" ”

"Oh? Zhouzhong, what do you have to say? Seeing Zhou Zhong take the initiative to stand up, Zhengde also asked in surprise.

"Your Majesty, when the minister was in the south to cover his identity for business, he often dealt with all kinds of people, and he also knew something about Liu Liu and Liu Qi, as far as the minister knew, Liu Liu and Liu Qi were thieves who were rampant in the Gyeonggi area, these two people were ruthless and always did things by unscrupulous means, this time they were able to gather thousands of people in just one month, and the court must not be underestimated!"

Speaking of this, Zhou Chong paused for a moment, and then said with a solemn face: "In addition, according to the minister's knowledge, Liu Liu Liu and Liu Qi also have close ties with Yang Hu, the anti-thief Yang Hu who is entrenched in Shandong, and now they are rebelling, then it is likely to meet with Yang Hu, if the two anti-thieves meet together, it must be a big shock, and then the court wants to exterminate them, I am afraid it will not be so simple, so please ask Your Majesty to think twice, be sure to send heavy troops to surround and suppress Liu Liu Liu Qi's gang of anti-thieves, don't be careless!" (To be continued......)