"Corn? It's a fitting name. Chai Rong looked at the new grain on the plate and said softly. However, considering that I didn't say I hadn't eaten it before, I hadn't even seen this kind of thing. I don't know where or how to eat it. If you eat the wrong thing, won't you become the laughing stock of the whole world? But if everyone doesn't eat it, they will still lose face in the Great Zhou Dynasty - the dignified Great Zhou Dynasty doesn't even know how to eat a kind of folk food, which is too much to say. Therefore, while pretending to appreciate the crystal clear appearance of the corn on the plate, Chai Rong looked around at the Wenchen generals around him seemingly casually, hinting to everyone that he hoped that a courtier could stand up bravely and solve this problem for him.

As a local magistrate, Yao Neibin was naturally the first to be watched by Chai Rong. And Yao Neibin himself, as a former Liao State official who had just recently surrendered to the Great Zhou, also wanted to solve the problem in front of his new master very much from the bottom of his heart. It's a pity that although Yao Neibin is the general of Waqiao Pass, his daily concern is more about the defense of the city, whether the rule is stable, and whether the people live and work in peace and contentment. This kind of farming and mulberry work was usually done by his officials, and he himself was ignorant of these things, and he had never heard of or seen this new crop called "corn". Therefore, no matter how much he wanted to show himself in front of Chai Rong, in the end, he couldn't do anything except look back at Chai Rong with an apologetic face.

Yao Neibin, a local governor, didn't know anything like "corn", let alone other civil servants and military generals in the Great Zhou court. As the only one who knew the ins and outs of "corn" other than the local people who donated corn, Xu Shao'an was wondering whether the corn offering was deliberately arranged by the team, or whether the steward who managed the local grange - or the resettlement site for the displaced people on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture made his own initiative, and did not pay attention to the inquiring eyes sent by Chai Rong. As a result, a more embarrassing scene once again appeared on the review table - in the face of the invitation of the local villagers to taste corn, no one from the Great Zhou court to the emperor to the military generals responded.

This kind of scene is naturally detrimental to the prestige of the Great Zhou court, and as a courtier, he must not allow this to happen. Therefore, after a very short period of silence, Zhao Kuangyin, who was an important minister of the imperial court, decided to come forward to relieve the siege in the way of "taking care of him left and right". He naturally changed the topic and said to the fat steward: "This steward, I don't know who your master is, but in this school reading room?" From the fact that the other party said that the corn was brought by his owner from overseas, Zhao Kuangyin deduced that this person should be the manager of a large family, and he was commensurate with his manager.

The fat steward didn't dare to slack off when he heard this, and hurriedly saluted Zhao Kuangyin and said, "General, the villain's owner is Zhao Min'an Zhao Master Zhao among the 'Qingyuan' brothers. His old man now lives in the 'Liangyuan' in Liangxiang County, and is not here. ”

As soon as the fat steward's sentence "Zhao Min'an among the 'Qingyuan' brothers" and other words came out, all the Great Zhou courtiers and even the Son of Heaven Chai Rong present except Xu Shao'an showed such expressions on their faces. After Chai Rong nodded slightly, he turned around and asked Xu Shao'an, who was not far from him: "Xu Aiqing, what this steward said is true, is this so-called 'corn' really brought back from overseas by your and other brothers?" ”

Chai Rong asked, whether Xu Shao'an wanted to understand the fat steward's motive for offering corn, whether Xu Shao'an was willing to explain the land and human resources under the control of the crossing team to Chai Rong, he had to go out to answer and give the other party an acceptable explanation. So, Xu Shao'an took a step forward, bowed down and said, "Qi Qi Bixia, what this steward said is indeed the truth. Zhao Min'an and Zhao brothers are indeed the people who are in charge of the fields and crops among our brothers, and our brothers do have a piece of land near this Waqiao Pass, and this 'corn' is indeed brought back to Middle-earth by Zhao Min'an and Zhao brothers from overseas island countries after a lot of hardships. ”

Saying that, Xu Shaoan stepped forward, and after glaring at the fat steward secretly, he came to the imperial case where all kinds of food were placed, picked up the corn on the plate, put it in his mouth and took a bite, and then continued to explain: "This kind of grain is actually not native to overseas island countries, but hundreds of years ago, the people of the island country crossed the ocean and found it on another big island more than 8,000 miles away from the island country and brought it back to the island country to plant. Because of its sweet taste, many people in the island country enjoy eating it. ”,

After listening to Xu Shao'an's explanation, Chai Rong first whispered to himself, "I didn't expect the world to be so vast", and then stepped forward, picked up a piece of corn and tasted it like Xu Shao'an, and asked: "I don't know how much this corn is worth in overseas island countries, compared with wheat, rice, millet and other grains, is it expensive or cheap?" ”

Xu Shao'an replied: "Although overseas people like to eat corn, because they have been eating corn as the staple food for a long time and not supplemented by other foods, they are prone to a disease called 'pellagra', which is very uncomfortable. Moreover, corn likes drought rather than moisture, while overseas island countries are the same as China's Middle-earth, and there are many dry lands in the north and paddy fields in the south. Therefore, this corn is usually only cultivated in the north in overseas island countries, and its planting area is not as good as that of wheat, rice, millet and other food grains. However, because its production is larger than that of other kinds of food, its market price is slightly higher than that of other kinds of food, but ordinary people can afford it. ”

"Oh! Its yield is larger than that of wheat, rice, and millet? Hearing this, Chai Rong came to his senses and said, "How many stones can this corn produce per mu?" ”

"Bixia, if this corn is ground into flour per mu in the ordinary dry land of overseas island countries, it can produce about four to five stones. If it is intensively cultivated, the yield can be increased by two or three percent. Xu Shao'an replied -- As a soldier who was born as a peasant in the north in his previous life, Xu Shao'an is still very familiar with many characteristics of corn, a common crop, and the data on the yield of four or five stones per mu (five or six hundred catties) per mu was calculated by him according to the difference between the yield of wheat, rice, and other crops in the previous life and the yield of this era, according to the yield of corn per mu in the previous life.

"You can hit four or five stones on one acre of land!" Hearing this figure, not only Chai Rong, but also the other Wenchen generals present were all surprised. You must know that in this era, the yield per mu of dry fields in the north is generally one and a half to two stones, and the yield of paddy fields in the south can reach three to four stones because they can achieve two crops a year. This means that if corn is grown in the north, it can reach the grain yield of the paddy fields in the south with only one crop a year. And this is only the most general yield of corn, if it can be carefully cultivated, it is not impossible to produce six stone per mu.

Surprised, Chai Rong hurriedly asked: "Since this corn has such a high yield, there must be more planting in the grange of Aiqing and Aiqing's brothers?" ”

Chai Rong's question was natural and normal, so Xu Shaoan didn't think much about it after hearing it, and subconsciously used some of the information from the Ministry of Agriculture of the team that he got through the telegram every day, and replied: "Bixia, although corn is produced, as the minister said before, it is easy to get 'pellagra' with it as the staple food, so less than one-tenth of the nearly one million mu of land under the names of our brothers is used to live in corn. ”

Although Xu Shao'an answered very casually, listening to Chai Rong's ears made his heart move. On the one hand, Chai Rong was surprised by the ability and strength of the "Qingyuan" brothers. In just a few years, it has gone from nothing to now sitting on millions of acres of land, as well as a large number of shops and restaurants, and the ability and strength of the "Qingyuan" brothers should not be underestimated.

On the other hand, although less than one-tenth of the corn is produced in these million mu of land, even if it is calculated according to the output of 500 catties per mu, there is an output of nearly 50 million catties a year. However, compared with the abundant supply of wheat, millet and other common grains, in the grain and rice stores under the name of the "Qingyuan" brothers, which are almost all over the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, there has never been any corn for sale. Even if the "Qingyuan" brothers like to eat this kind of thing, the servants in their mansion and even the four or five thousand private soldiers under their command all use corn as their staple food, and the corn that can be consumed in a year is still far from the output of 50 million catties.

There are usually only two explanations for this. One is that Xu Shao'an exaggerated the yield of corn, which caused errors in the calculation. However, as an important minister of the court and a celebrity around the Son of Heaven, Xu Shaoan has no reason to do this kind of bullying and reckless thing, which is not beneficial to himself. The other is that the private soldiers under the "Qingyuan" brothers far exceeded the number of four or five thousand people found by Zhang Yongde's spies. Corn was grown mainly to raise soldiers, not to sell it for profit, as in the case of wheat and millet - the high yield of corn allowed it to raise soldiers without disturbing the business of the grain and rice stores and attracting the attention of others. As for why they raised so many private soldiers, and why they concealed the fact that they raised so many private soldiers, then we have to think carefully.

Thinking of this, Chai Rong's good mood brought by the review of the three armies was almost swept away, and the golden and crystalline corn did not have the sweet taste in his mouth just now. Moreover, as Chai Rong went from being full of joy to being full of doubts, the drizzle, which was not annoying, gradually turned into an offensive downpour at this time. As the rain intensified, the wind gradually became stronger. The gust of cold wind blew Chai Rong very uncomfortable, and he only felt that his whole body was full of cold, which made him subconsciously wrap the fur on his body.