In the evening, Wang Kun, who had been promoted to the eunuch of the celebrant and the admiral, presented a speech to the emperor, and Jieyu Ai Xinjue Luo asked to see him. became a commander eunuch, or a commander eunuch of the celebrant eunuch, Wang Kun has been feeling a little high-spirited recently.

There are four divisions, eight bureaus and twelve supervisors in the palace, and the ceremonial supervisor is the heaviest. Although after the establishment of the new dynasty, the emperor dismissed many eunuchs out of the palace, and now there are more than 3,000 eunuchs left in the palace. The eunuchs are basically no longer out of the palace, and the twenty-four yamen have now been fully renovated.

In the past, the four divisions, eight bureaus and twelve supervisors were now unified into the chief of ceremonies and the internal affairs office, plus an east factory.

The original departments and bureaus were all under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was in charge of the affairs of the palace and served the royal affairs of the court, such as royal meals, clothing, storage, etiquette, etc.

The celebrant was the equivalent of the emperor's secretarial body. The duties were similar to those of the secretary province in the Sui and Tang dynasties. The internal affairs office had similar responsibilities to the internal affairs ministry in the Sui and Tang dynasties.

The special institution of the East Factory was retained, but the East Factory was no longer completely managed by eunuchs, but by both internal and external courtiers.

Now this prison has a government and a factory, each with a governor and a eunuch with a palm print, and there are seven eunuchs under the master of ceremonies and a palm seal, and there are seven eunuchs in charge under the governor and palm seal of the internal affairs office.

The eunuchs of the celebrant supervisor do not serve part-time in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the East Factory, and there are three sets of teams in one prison, one government and one factory, which are not subordinate to each other, and each has its current position.

However, in general, Wang Kun felt that he was still the most powerful eunuch. If the emperor is compared to the master of a large family, then the admiral eunuch of the Internal Affairs Office is equivalent to the chief butler of the inner court, the admiral eunuch of the East Factory is equivalent to the chief steward outside, and he, the master of ceremonies, is equivalent to the lord's big tent or master.

The celebrant still holds the power to approve the red and is the emperor's secretary. What they can get in touch with is not the royal court, intelligence affairs, they are in contact with the power core of the empire, although they can only watch this power core from afar.

It was Jieyu Makata just now, and she was also polite to him.

The people of Jingshi now often call the cabinet the outer court, and call their celebrant the inner court. He, the admiral eunuch, is equivalent to the head of the cabinet.

Liu Jun is having dinner, not the traditional twenty dishes, the meal that the emperor eats today is a multigrain meal.

They are all made from corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, which were new grains introduced from the Americas at the end of the Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, with the flourishing of maritime trade. Many high-yielding crops from the Americas have also begun to be introduced to China.

After corn was introduced into China, it was called "maize", "baogu", "baolu", "baorice" and "pearl rice". In the literature of the Ming Dynasty, sweet potatoes are called "white potato", "red potato", "purple potato", "sweet potato", "golden potato", "persimmon", "white potato", "sweet potato", "red yam" and so on.

Potatoes are also known as potatoes and potatoes.

In addition, there are peanuts, sunflowers, etc.

Potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, these crops are high-yielding crops, and they are not very demanding on the land, they can be grown next to the fields on the side of the mountain, and they are even drought tolerant.

The most important thing is that they have a high yield.

Now that the Han Dynasty has undergone a census, most of the hidden households in the past have been cleared out, and the total population of the empire has exceeded 200 million, which is the peak of all dynasties.

There is strength in numbers. A large population means more taxes, a wide range of soldiers, and countless demographic dividends. But a large population also means that there is a huge demand for food. At this time, it was still in the Xiaoice period, the weather was cold, disasters continued, and perennial wars. As a result, the fields are barren, the water conservancy is in disrepair, and the rivers are silted.

Plus the lack of animal power. The stagnation of farming technology, etc., has led to low grain production, and grain has not been stored.

Food has become an extremely important issue. When the Sui unified the world, the emperor was prosperous, the world was less than nine million households, after the great chaos, the implementation of the Juntian system and the government military system, the people were allocated enough land to cultivate, and the imperial court also set the rent and military system on this basis, for a time the imperial court accumulated grain every year, even after the end of the Sui Dynasty more than ten years of turmoil, after the death of the country, at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the grain stored in the large granaries of the Sui Dynasty can still be used in the Tang Dynasty for more than ten years.

But now it's different, the country that Liu Jun took over from the Ming Dynasty, not only the silver vaults of the household department and the inner government are empty, but also the granaries everywhere are empty.

Previously, Liu Jun purchased a large amount of grain from North Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Nanyang and other places by sea and transported it back to China. However, although the price of grain purchased from overseas is not higher than that of the Central Plains, the cost of transportation is very high.

Moreover, grain can be said to be the most important strategic material in this era, and it is impossible for Liu Jun to always place grain abroad. That is equivalent to being choked by someone, and short-term emergency relief is okay, not a long-term plan.

Liu Jun's food supply for the Han Dynasty mainly started in two directions. First, by opening up the frontiers, reclaiming barren land, and expanding the cultivated area, grain production will naturally increase. The second is these American crops, growing high-yielding crops in the Americas, increasing yields, and growing them even in places where food could not be grown in the past.

However, it is difficult to see results in the resettlement reclamation for a while, and the initial yield of the new land reclaimed will be very low. Liu Jun pinned his hopes on these new crops, which were also more suitable for cultivation on newly reclaimed wasteland.

But to Liu Jun's surprise, he found that although these American crops had been introduced to the Ming Dynasty very early, they had not been popularized on a large scale until now.

To his surprise, he found that the yield of crops in the Americas was very low.

It's hard to believe, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, these are high-yield crops, if an acre of northern dry land planted millet and wheat, the yield per mu is one stone, that kind of corn potatoes and sweet potatoes, at least ten stones per mu, in later generations, not to mention the yield of 10,000 catties per mu, but the yield of two tons per mu is still very common.

Two tons, that's four thousand catties. A hundred catties of a big man, and four thousand catties is forty stones. The original wheat and millet, the dry land in the north is about one or two quintals, which is dozens of times the increase in yield. Even if you deduct fertilizer, technology and other factors, the yield per mu is ten quintals.

But Liu Jun learned from officials that the yield of these new crops was extremely low, not much higher than that of grain and wheat. Not even as good as the rice in the south.

And the people don't like to eat potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes, and they can't sell them for money. Ordinary people don't want to do it.

Hearing this result, Liu Jun was shocked.

He spent many days investigating the matter.

It turned out that the officials had not lied to him. He also found some reasons, mainly because an alien species has an adaptability problem, but the main reason for the extremely low yield is a technical problem.

Although the imperial court also promoted the cultivation of these crops for a time, it did not have mature farming experience, and when a planting failed, the people found that they could not get it. Immediately there was no enthusiasm. Somehow, after coming and going, these American crops have a reputation for low yields and unprofitable, which leads to no one willing to plant anymore.

Another reason is that these new grains are not popular with the people.

It's the same as sorghum that yields more than millet and wheat, but the people don't like it. Sorghum has a very poor taste and astringency. It is generally only used to feed livestock, and some people use it to make wine, but no one wants to eat sorghum unless it is a year of famine.

Now these new grains. The people were not used to it.

Liu Jun felt very wronged, corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are really high-yield crops, and it was only after the large-scale promotion and planting of these crops that China had a population explosion in the Qing Dynasty.

As for the bad taste. It's all technical.

Historically, when wheat was first planted, everyone also steamed it into wheat rice with millet for a while, and then the taste was very bad. At the beginning, the treatment was the same as sorghum.

But then after grinding, it became flour, and immediately it became two things.

Corn potatoes and sweet potatoes can also be eaten. Not to mention that sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes can be ground flour, and potatoes can also be eaten as vegetables.

These days, Liu Jun even wrote a book on the planting technology and edible processing technology of potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes, and even added many recipes for these staple foods in the future.

For example, corn can be made into cornmeal, and it can also be mixed with soybean flour and flour to form triple flour, etc., and there is no need to eat corn kernels. And potatoes, there are countless ways to eat them, potato flour, potato vermicelli, can also be made into dishes, mashed potatoes, potato cakes, stewed potatoes and so on. Sweet potatoes can also be made into potato flour, vermicelli, etc.

It's delicious, but it's also good to preserve.

In the past few days, Liu Jun has asked the imperial dining room to follow his recipes every day, changing ways to make new dishes with these ingredients.

Hot and sour shredded potatoes, potato cakes, potato chips, vermicelli, mashed potatoes, etc., Liu Jun thought it was delicious, and even the imperial chefs were surprised, they couldn't imagine that the emperor could not only rule the country and level the world, but also have so many new dishes.

Liu Jun plans to go back and ask the imperial dining room to sort out these new dishes, study some new dishes, and then promote them outside the palace, so that the people of the Han Dynasty can see the new processing methods and eating methods of these new grains, so that they can change their past concepts. Then we will find a way to popularize these new crops, but if it really doesn't work, we will try to plant a little bit on the edge of Jingshi first, and use new technology to cultivate.

He believes that as long as this yield can be increased, the yield of more than ten quintals of one mu or even forty or fifty quintals of one acre will come out, and the people of the world will not compete to plant new crops?

Once these high-yield crops are fully promoted, these products will be planted in a large area in all parts of the Han Dynasty, not to mention the 200 million people of the Han Dynasty at that time, it will be doubled, and the people of the Han Dynasty will not be hungry.

Hearing that Makata asked to see her, Liu Jun put down his chopsticks and thought for a while, "Let her go back, I am not free today." ”

Liu Jun knew what Makata was going to say when he asked to see him.

The Han army was gathering the Mongol tribes, and the attack on Korqin was about to begin, and it might even be fought together with the Manchus.

Makata was not only the sister of the Qing king Fulin, but her mother was also a native of Korqin. Now the two princes on the left and right wings of Horqin are also her own uncles.

She neither wanted the Han army to conquer the Manchus, nor did she want the Han army to attack Horqin.

However, Liu Jun will not change his strategic plan because of a woman's request. Fighting Horqin was a plan that had already been set, and after fighting Horqin, the Han army would continue to use troops against the Manchus, which could not be changed.

"You told her that although she is a Jurchen and her mother is still from Horqin, we Chinese have an old saying, marry a husband and follow a husband. Since she has married into the Han Dynasty and become my woman, then her identity is only the Han Jieyu, she is no longer a Jurchen person or a Horqin person, she is a Han person! From her father at home and from her husband when she is married, she is now called Liu Aixinjue Luo, not Aixinjue Luo. ”

"Let her remember her new identity!"

(To be continued.) )