At the beginning of the day, Zhu Cai, who was standing guard at the north end of the village, ran back sweating profusely and shouted, "Here, here, several officials are running towards our village on horseback." ”

A moment later, several officials came to Xia and left home. After looking at the preparedness and whether there was any danger, I was very satisfied. He also said that the adults would come in half an hour.

When the time came, Zhou Li and the others came to wait outside the courtyard gate.

At this time, Xia Li didn't come forward, so he watched them busy in the kitchen.

Not long after, dozens of horseback riders and seven carriages came to the door of Xia Li's house in Xiaowa Village.

Horses and vehicles came to the door of Xia Li's house. Ye Laoguo and Liu Changzhao sat in the first carriage, Ye Feng personally helped the old man out of the car, followed by Lord Yu, Lord Zhou, Lord Zeng, and officials from several other provincial cities and Hanjiang Mansion, and finally the county lord and the lord. In addition to the ancestors of the Ye family and Liu Changzhao, a total of eight officials came.

Li Xiucai bowed to the ground, he had a meritorious reputation, and when he saw the official, he didn't need to kneel and kowtow, everyone else knelt down.

The officials entered the courtyard gate, and Xia, who was the master and planted the taro, left to greet him. As a small peasant girl, she should kowtow. Despite her reluctance, she still had to knock her head.

Before she knelt down, Ye Lao Guogong had already given her a hand and said, "Little girl, excuse me." ”

Xia Li bent his knees to give these people ten thousand blessings.

Ye Lao Guogong smiled and introduced, "Don't look at this Xia girl, she is not young, she is not small, and she knows a lot." ”

Xia Li smiled, "Grandfather Ye has won the prize." He added, "Your guest is coming, please come into the house and have a cup of tea." ”

Master Yu waved his hand and said, "No, take us to see the yaw." Ever since he knew that there were such crops in his jurisdiction, he had been so excited that he hadn't slept well for days.

Xia Li took them to the East Courtyard. Pointing to the green seedlings on the left, he said, "These are the taro seedlings, because the seeds are limited, only half an acre is planted." ”

Zhu Er squatted down and dug up a potato seedling, and the roots bore more than a dozen round and large potato. The eyes of the officials stared at the boss, and one seedling produced so many potatoes.

Xia Li asked Dani to bring two bowls, and Erni brought over more than a dozen pairs of chopsticks, and the bowls were filled with boiled potatoes, each cut in half.

After all the officials ate it, they all nodded frequently, saying that the flour glutinous scripture was hungry, and it could indeed be used as a staple food.

Ye Feng asked people to carry chairs and tables to the eaves of the east courtyard, where they had to watch the harvest of yams.

Zhu Er led the big cow and the second cow to dig the potato.

Xia Li poured tea for those officials, talked about the precautions for planting potatoes, and answered various questions from them. When it comes to questions in the village or the weather, land, etc., Zhou Lizheng, Li Xiucai and others will also answer a few words. Xia Laohan was already so frightened that his legs trembled, and he could only smile with a trembling face, unable to speak at all.

Only the officials and Liu Changzhao had a seat, and everyone else was standing. Ye Feng sympathized with Old Man Xia's lame leg and asked him to sit on a small stool.

A few people kept recording on the paper, and wrote down what Xia Li and Zhu Er said about planting potato.

At noon, the food was brought to the east courtyard to eat.

All the officials ate the dishes fried with yamasho, and they all praised the deliciousness, and they were full, and they ate with their meals......

When they lowered their heads to eat, Xia Li was in the mood to make a few eye contact with Ye Feng, and secretly compared a scissor hand to him, and Ye Feng raised his eyebrows again.

During this period, Zeng Lin also found an opportunity to say a few words to Xia Li, thanking her for saving and raising Qiu Zhongshu. Although Qiu Zhongshu is the son of his cousin's mother-in-law's eldest uncle, and his relatives are a little distant, the child came to Xiangjiang Province to find him. He had already knocked his son and daughter on the side, knowing that the child was very smart, and the Xia family was also very good to him. Zeng Lin didn't care about farming, and now he came here, one was curious about the potato, and the other was to express his gratitude to Xia Li in person.

When Ye Feng was in the provincial capital, he sent someone to Hecheng to deliver a letter to General Qiu, and at the same time told Zeng Lin and told him to keep it secret before Xia Ju returned to his home......

At the beginning of the next day, all the potatoes were harvested, and after weighing, a total of 716 catties. If one acre of land is planted, you can harvest 1,432 catties of taro, and the little girl means that the central and southern regions can still plant two crops a year.

The officials were overjoyed. If this kind of sweet potato is popularized throughout the country, it should be the same as sweet potatoes, second only to corn, wheat, and rice, and it will allow more people to eat enough. It also has more advantages than sweet potatoes, is delicious, easy to store, and can be used as a dish to make many delicious dishes.

The political policy made Lord Yu and the county magistrate He and several other officials even happier, and with this merit, his official career was smoother!

Lord Yu meant that he would leave 100 catties of yamu for Xia Li, and the rest would be owned by the government and distributed uniformly, first planted in Xiangjiang Province, and then promoted nationwide. He also said that even if Xia Li planted the yamu next time, the government would buy it at a high price, and could not deal with it itself.

Of course, the government will not take advantage of the people's homes in vain, and those canons will be bought at a high price as carrot seeds. In addition, Xia Li will also be rewarded for his great contribution to the rejuvenation of agriculture in the imperial court. Together, the two rewarded her with two hundred and fifty acres of land. The deed has been completed, and Lord Yu gave it to Xia Li in public.

Xia Li had already heard Ye Feng say that those lands were seized by officials who colluded with bandits, and they were in the backing town at the foot of Huaxiang Mountain outside the city of Xiangshan Mansion.

Lord Yu didn't spend a penny of silver, so he took so many potatoes from her family.

There is so little taro left for his own family, he must not be able to do business or cook vegetables, except for leaving a little for Dangdang to make mashed potatoes, the rest is not even enough to plant half an acre of land. Even if you grow potatoes next time, you have to sell them to the government, and you have to wait a little longer if you want to sell them in the restaurant.

However, Xia Li was still happy. With 250 acres of land, he suddenly jumped into the ranks of landlords. Of course, there must be Ye Feng's handwriting in the middle, otherwise Lord Yu would not be so generous to a small person.

Moreover, if the potatom is recognized by the emperor and vigorously promoted throughout the country, this credit will not only be given to local officials such as Lord Yu, but also by Ye Laoguo Gong and Ye Feng, the two people who first discovered that the people have this kind of crop.

Ancient emperors attached great importance to agriculture, and their credit was great.

Zhou Lizheng and the others all looked at Xia Li with envy, two hundred and fifty acres of land, more than a thousand taels of silver.

Xia Laohan was even more terrible, and his legs trembled even more excitedly.

These families all got the potatoes sent by Xia Li. I knew that it was so valuable, and I didn't eat it at home, but planted it, and I could sell it at a high price. They regretted it a lot, it wasn't the potato that they ate in their stomachs, it was a large sum of silver.

Because this was planted in Xiaowa Village, Lord Yu rewarded Xiaowa Village with fifty taels of silver, and also verbally praised Xiaowa Village's parents, Tongning County Ling, Lord He.

Zhou Lizheng and a few people kowtowed excitedly and thanked each other.

Peasant lady

Peasant lady