Jingding is the era name of the deceased Song Lizong, and the era name Xianchun has been determined as early as when the new official family ascended the throne.

In March of the first year of Xianchun, a lot of seeds and some rhizomes were sent from Fujian. The cadres who came to deliver the things happily told Sima Kao and others that the fleet sent by Zhao Jiaren to find Fusang had indeed found Fusang according to the ancient books, and set off from Fusang across the Pacific Ocean to the Nanyang Islands. And brought back a large number of local crops in Fuso. The seeds brought this time are Fusang cotton, pumpkin and tomato, which Zhao Jiaren pays great attention to.

Although it is claimed to be a cotton meeting, Li Boyu, the prefect of Jiaxing, also participated in the whole process. Last year, Cotton Wu really gave Prime Minister Jia Nidao 100,000 copper coins every month, and was rewarded by Jia Nidao. As the base of cotton business, Jiaxing Mansion has naturally been greatly praised.

Of course, Li Boyu knew that this kind of cheap verbal praise did not have any substantial benefits, and the person who could help him the most at this time was Zhao Jiaren who was close in front of him. In addition, Li Boyu knew how Sima Kao had fallen to the point where he was today, and he was sympathetic to the same disease, so he did not hesitate to join Zhao Jiaren.

When the meeting was over, Li Boyu couldn't help but ask Sima Kao, "But I don't know what's going on in this Fusang country?" ”

Sima Kao proudly told Li Boyu about the contents of the book. Hearing that Fusang Kingdom was more than 20,000 miles away from the Great Song Dynasty, Li Boyu couldn't help but laugh and said, "20,000 miles is an exaggeration, right?" ”

After looking at Li Boyu, Sima Kao asked solemnly: "Li Zhizhou, do you believe that the earth under our feet is a round ball?" ”

Not to mention the spiritual impact and ideological shock that Li Boyu received later, his daily life has to go on. Although it came from Fusang country, which was thousands of miles away, those seeds also took root and germinated smoothly in Huating County. Those pumpkins, in particular, grow at an alarming rate.

In Niujia Village on the banks of the Huangpu River, Guo Xiaotian, one of the foremen of the village, did not expect that the pumpkins in the village's experimental fields could grow so fast.

In ancient times, the riverside was not a good place. First of all, it is prone to flooding, and the land along the river is relatively barren and not suitable for farming. Even in such an infertile land, those pumpkins still grow rapidly. The Chinese are particularly good at agriculture, and even if they have never planted pumpkins, according to the experience of planting other vines, everyone has to constantly remove the late-growing and emaciated vines, leaving only the strongest vines.

didn't wait for Guo Xiaotian to sigh for too long, in June, the tomatoes were ripe quickly. Those brightly coloured fruits are sweet and sour, and they are extremely delicious. Guo Xiaotian originally ate it raw, but after he arrived at the construction site, he ate a big pot of rice and actually ate tomato and egg noodles. A spoonful of tomato and egg marinade is poured on the boiled noodles, and sugar is actually put in it, which is sweet and sour. Each person is given a two-to-two steamed meat sausage, which has plenty of spices and salt, and has a strong flavor. This lunch is over, and I just feel extremely satisfied. I also feel very motivated to work.

The Huangpu River in the Song Dynasty was different from the Huangpu River after the Ming Dynasty, and the Huangpu River in the Ming Dynasty was bent 90 degrees directly from the original Songjiang River to the north, all the way into the mouth of the Yangtze River, which was some disposal after the Songjiang River was silted up in the Ming Dynasty. The Huangpu River in the Song Dynasty entered the sea directly from the west. At this time, the Huangpu River is wide and has a large amount of water. Zhao Jiaren's shipyard is also on the Huangpu River, near Niujia Village.

Therefore, the contractors of Niujia Village do not worry about their work, and every once in a while, a fleet of ships will arrive here to unload a large amount of wood. The shipyard, which originally had only four docks, continued to expand, and now there are six docks for shipbuilding. And Guo Xiaotian: They are building four new docks.

In August of the first year of Xianchun, the orange-red pumpkin finally ripened. For such a fresh thing, the local people were afraid that they would not be familiar with it, and they did not dare to pick it privately. So Zhao Jiaxin and Zhao Daguan went to the twelve villages that tried to plant one by one. Surrounded by some students who were willing to learn farming, Zhao Daguan walked to the edge of the field, and after selection, cut off the vines with a knife, and held a pumpkin high.

With such a ceremonial act, the surrounding villagers couldn't help but cry with joy. So they picked the pumpkins, which looked huge and grew well. After harvesting a large number of pumpkins, new problems arise. People don't know how to eat it. There is no need to bother Zhao Jiaxin's officials in this matter, and the cadres of the cotton affairs lead everyone to make pumpkin rice.

Guo Xiaotian watched the cadres take out some paper and read it, and then led everyone to carry it out of the stove in the shipyard to burn large pieces of honeycomb coal, set up an iron pot, and carry it to the steamer. Inside the steamer is a pumpkin cut into large pieces. In addition, the flesh of the pumpkin is crushed, mixed with flour and kneaded, and the pumpkin flesh is stuffed into the inner core, and it is steamed like steamed steamed buns.

In addition to these steaming methods, some people take out the pumpkin flesh and put it in a pot to boil, it seems that it is to boil pumpkin soup.

The pumpkin skins were not wasted and were sent to the composting plant in the village where earthworms are raised. Guo Xiaotian hopes that those little things who diligently devour all kinds of grasses every day and produce fertile earthworm soil will like this new taste. Like other villagers, Guo Xiaotian's family also learned to raise chickens and ducks from the cadres of the cotton industry. Raising earthworms is much more efficient than digging earthworms, and earthworms eat things that even poultry don't like to eat. Poultry animals eat earthworms and insects in the flytrap and grow very fast. Guo Xiaotian has begun to get used to eating an egg a day.

The pumpkin rice is made quickly, and both men and women, young and old, love this sweet food. In particular, the chewy pumpkin pie is generally appreciated. Needless to say, the working people of the Great Song Dynasty spontaneously left the seeds and waited for them to continue planting next year.

By September, cotton can be picked as well. After eating tomatoes and pumpkins, Li Boyu personally went to the experimental field where Fusang Mian was planted to check it out. At this time, cotton has not been cultivated by new varieties, so it is generally more than one meter or two meters tall. It is said that some cotton can grow up to six meters tall in the special zone. The cotton pickers each tilted their heads back, and after a long time they were covered in sweat.

Because he had cultivated beans, Zhao Jiaxin regretted to see that there were no mutated short cotton plants in the cotton field. Of course, Zhao Jiaxin did not have any special regrets, because Zhao Jiaren said that this voyage was just the beginning, and since the route had been opened, he would send ships to the Fusang mainland every year in the future. As long as you go diligently, you can come across short plants.

Compared with the locally grown cotton, a layman like Li Boyu also saw some clues, and he asked hesitantly: "Fusang cotton looks like it is longer than Songjiang cotton." ”

After listening to Li Zhizhou's evaluation, Zhao Jiaxin just smiled. As an agricultural expert, Zhao Jiaxin really didn't want to evaluate Li Zhizhou's observation. He just ordered the picked cotton to be disposed of and ready to be sent to Fuzhou.

Not long after, the cotton from the experimental field was loaded with other cotton and sent to Fuzhou. No one who studies medicine will be unfamiliar with cotton wool, but Zhao Jiaren knows that cotton wool must be made of short staple cotton, which is the so-called 'Indian cotton'. Although this cotton is not suitable for spinning, it is very suitable for medicinal cotton.

Comparing Fusang cotton with Indian cotton, Zhao Jiaren suddenly became enlightened. It's not just 'longer', it's almost doubled. Zhao Jiaxin has carried out the selection of improved varieties in recent years, and has selected cotton with relatively long fluff for cultivation as much as possible. However, genes are not so easy to mutate, but the lint of those preferred cotton is only half an inch. However, the cotton wool has not yet been selected, the lint is more than an inch long, and the flowers of the whole cotton are much larger than the local cotton. Zhao Jiaren was sure that the cloth spun by Fusang cotton must be much better than the previous cloth. And Zhao Jiaren finally understood why the British, who owned India back then, insisted on buying cotton from the southern United States. The gap between the two is just too big!

Seeing the results, Zhao Jiaren happily said that he wanted to invite everyone to dinner. When he asked everyone what they wanted to eat, everyone looked at me and I looked at you, and their demeanor was a little awkward. Zhao Jiaren asked puzzledly: "Just say what you want to eat, isn't this just for what?" ”

Secretary General Yuan Hongjie plucked up his courage and said with some embarrassment: "Zhizhou, I want to eat spicy hot pot!" ”

As soon as these words came out, many cadres couldn't help but laugh. Zhao Jiaren couldn't help but laugh. The fleet to Fuso in North America just wanted to follow the sailing route provided by Zhao Jiaren and rush back to their hometown, and they were not serious about collecting crops. Even so, the peppers are a lot.

Zhao Jiaren finally ate the spicy hot pot that he missed very much. Beef, Sichuan pepper, minced ginger, chili pepper, and the hot pot base after cooking is really refreshing. However, the subordinates who ate it for the first time expressed difficulty in accepting such stimulating food. Zhao Jiaren's impression of Fujian hot pot is beef hot pot, which is very tender and only takes 9 seconds to simmer in the pot. Moreover, the places where spicy food is eaten in China are really humid areas, such as Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, and Sichuan. Zhao Jiaren thinks that people in Fujian are not enthusiastic, and it is understandable. However, the performance of the cadres made Zhao Jiaren feel that it was not without reason that spicy hot pot could be popular across the country.

"I haven't used up the base ingredients, so I'm just going to invite everyone to eat spicy hot pot today!" Zhao Jiaren said briskly. Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but smile from the bottom of their hearts.

Although there is no fresh beef, duck intestines, gizzards, small fish, and chicken meatballs are available. Just put these in the hot pot and soak them, and they will come out with an amazing deliciousness. Not only did they eat, but they also asked what the various dishes were and how they were processed. By the time some pink gadgets arrived, the well-informed ones couldn't tell what it was.

put it in the hot pot and simmered it, and everyone couldn't help but show puzzled expressions when they ate these in their mouths. These pink things taste like meat, but they're very different from meat. There is an indescribable taste.

Looking at the expressions of everyone eating luncheon meat, Zhao Jiaren was secretly happy in his heart. He remembered that he loved to stew with his mother in the winter with a large piece of luncheon meat. Before he got bored, Zhao Jiaren felt that luncheon meat was much more delicious than large pieces of pork.

"How does this thing look like fish tofu?" Someone said something that only a gourmand can say. As soon as these words came out, everyone felt that they had found the key. Zhao Jiaren himself had to admire the quality of the citizens of the Great Foodie Empire. Luncheon meat is indeed quite similar to fish tofu in a sense.

With a wave of his hand, Zhao Jiaren asked the waiter to bring in some corn. It must be said that these corns are clearly not as good as the high-quality corns of the 21st century. But Zhao Jiaren believes in the ability of the Chinese people, not to mention that he has now taught the scientific method of breeding.

The corn was all cooked, and everyone was given one. After a few bites, everyone felt that they could accept the taste of corn. Then Zhao Jiaren introduced a little bit of the mashed meat mixed with cornstarch and pressed into pieces, which is the true face of the pink thing.

Putting down the half-gnawed corn cob, Xu Yuanzhi praised: "I didn't expect that there are so many good things in Fusang Zhou. ”

Zhao Jiaren smiled as he nodded. Nodding his head naturally agrees with Xu Yuanzhi's evaluation, and the smile is because Fusang and Waguo are finally distinguished. The name Fuso is so simple and wonderful, it is really a waste to use it to describe the Wa Kingdom. Not to mention that in the Liang book, Fusang and Waguo originally referred to two place names.

None of the people who ate were young, and a considerable number of them had entered the age of poor appetite. And this hot pot made everyone feel very refreshed, even if some people's nerves couldn't help but tremble slightly because of the slight stinging pain of 50 hertz per second brought by the peppercorns, they still showed a happy expression.

Zhao Jiaren said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the fleet that came back from Fusang Island this time happened to pass through the islands of the South China Sea and found the lilac tree. Our plantations in Sinhala will be able to produce cloves in large quantities in a few years. These spices are basically complete, and even if they are still developed, they are only a small fight. In the future, what we want to pursue is quantity, and we will transport a large number of spices here. Thank you all for your efforts. ”

After eating and drinking, everyone listened to the words describing the glorious future, and the mood was naturally relaxed. Listening to Zhao Jiaren's relaxation, everyone couldn't help laughing.

"Someone asked me before what I would like to rely on to continue to make money in the future. My answer is by volume. How many ships are there at sea now, about a thousand. Some people say that there are so many things that they can't sell for money. This argument sounds reasonable, but in fact it is not enterprising. A thousand ships is not much, and ten thousand ships are not much. The key is whether the ports have such a large output, we sell iron pots to the South China Sea, Foshan used to sell iron pots, now Foshan every day from morning to night, the production of iron pots is not enough to sell. Do you think the people of Fujian Road can eat enough? I don't think so. If you want to be full, where does the food come from? Even if there is grain, do we have the ability to transport grain from the production area to our Fujian Road? That's where we're headed. ”

……

Just four months after Zhao Jiaren invited the second spicy hot pot, that is, in March of the second year of Xianchun, the Mongol army launched a large-scale attack on Xiangyang, and the battle of Xiangyang between the Great Song Dynasty and Mongolia officially broke out.