The area south of the Yangtze River does not have much iron ore resources, so their iron tools have always been relatively scarce.

But iron resources are too sensitive for this era!

In the era of cold weapons, only with iron can there be weapons.

As soon as he said this, the entire Hall of Virtue fell silent.

Things have developed to this point, and only Li Shimin can make this decision.

After Li Shimin pondered for a while, he slowly spoke: "Contact Dongyue Kingdom as soon as possible and change it to them." ”

"Your Majesty!" Hou Junji took a step forward, he was the secretary of the military department, he should have said something at this time, but he didn't know how to speak.

Li Shimin nodded, knowing what he wanted to say: "I know what you want to say, but if I don't even have food, where will I have the strength to guard the border pass?" They have no food at home, so how can they go into battle to kill the enemy with peace of mind? ”

For such a decision, Li Shimin is of course a little aggrieved, thinking about the globe in his dormitory that he has to look at every day when he sleeps, and his desire to conquer the surrounding countries is even stronger.

"Wechen understands!" Dou Lu bowed and said, "I'll contact the envoys of the Dongyue Kingdom." ”

In fact, as long as Datang is willing to trade with iron, Dongyue has no reason to hold on to his ducks.

Even for them, if the duck can be exchanged for iron ore, it is a great thing.

After all, it is not only the Datang family that has external pressure, but now the Chinese countries, who are not guarding against other countries, maintain a delicate balance.

For the East Vietnamese, they were rich but lacked iron ore and horses, which was originally their disadvantage.

Even if this matter is decided, it is a great thing to think that raising more ducks among the people can not only suppress the locust plague, but also have one more kind of meat after the locust plague.

"Second, I want to promote it nationwide and grow potatoes."

If the duck is acceptable, this potato makes the courtiers of the entire Xiande Hall a little confused.

"Potatoes? What is that? ”

"I haven't heard of it, why does Your Majesty want to grow potatoes all over the country?"

Seeing that the Xiande Hall was as noisy as the vegetable market, Li Shimin frowned: "Quiet! ”

Everyone quickly shut up and looked at Li Shimin, knowing that he would definitely give an explanation.

"Potatoes are a new type of crop, which can be used as vegetables and grain, and the most important thing is that this crop can yield about 1,000 catties per mu."

"Impossible!" As soon as Li Shimin's voice fell, Dai Guan, the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, shouted loudly, and only after roaring did he realize that he had lost his dignity in front of the king.

But this number is really incredible.

1,000 catties, that's a thousand catties per mu!

If there is such a crop, why doesn't he, as the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, know about it? Don't know about the Si Nong Temple below? And the eunuchs below don't know?

And if there is no such thing, if the whole country wants to start planting, then it will be punished.

Of course he knew that such a thing would not appear in the hands of Li Shimin, who had lived in the deep palace for a long time, for no reason, so it must be someone who bewitched His Majesty.

"Your Majesty, it is absolutely impossible to have a crop of 1,000 catties per mu, I don't know who is slandering this, his heart can be punished, please kill this bureaucracy!"

This is actually the normal reaction of this era, if it weren't for Li Shimin's conviction that Tang Ping was his nephew, and he was a celestial man, it is estimated that it would be similar to Dai Guan's reaction.

So at this time, he was not angry at all, but felt that Dai Guan's unseen appearance was very interesting.

"Dai Aiqing, don't make a decision, I have already eaten this kind of thing called potatoes twice, and it is indeed very good as food."

He didn't respond to Dai Guan's question about the yield, but just said that this thing is very good as food.

However, Dai Zhou didn't have time to think about it, but he heard that Li Shimin had eaten it, and asked with some curiosity: "Where did Your Majesty eat it?" And if it is to be promoted nationwide, where does this kind of seed come from? ”

When he heard that potatoes had beans, he thought they were similar to soybeans, and that they needed a lot of seeds to be popularized on a large scale, just as ducks needed duck seedlings.

"Don't worry about where you eat, as for the seeds, ...... This thing was not grown from seeds, but after a few days someone brought in the seedlings. In fact, in the back garden, a piece of land has been opened and planted, and I want to wait until everyone sees its true yield before planning to promote it nationwide, but now it seems that it is too late. ”

Then Li Shimin gave a general introduction to the potatoes, mainly because the part of this thing is buried in the ground, even if the stems and leaves above are eaten by locusts, but the tubers below are ripe and can still be used as food.

It can be said that this is the best food to fight the locust plague.

After hearing this, the ministers were also amazed, they didn't expect that there would be such a miraculous crop in time.

Dai Guan, the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, suddenly asked: "Your Majesty, is the person who offers potatoes the same person who offers Tang plough and keel waterwheel?" ”

When he asked like this, many ministers remembered, didn't the emperor inexplicably come up with some good things in the past two months? I didn't even think about it just now.

"That's right, it's indeed this person!" Li Shimin thought about it and had nothing to hide, as long as he didn't say who it was, they wouldn't be able to guess it.

Dai Xuan was moved: "Isn't this person a legendary farmer's child?" ”

The peasant family was originally one of the hundred schools of thought, but after the Eastern Han Dynasty, Confucianism was light on agriculture and commerce, so it quickly declined.

Now that I can find such a miraculous crop, I think it is the child of a legendary farmer.

"I think this person may be a child of the Mo family!" Duan Lun, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, disagreed, farmer? How is it possible, the more the craftsmen of their Ministry of Industry study the Tang plough and the keel waterwheel, the more frightened they become.

If nothing else, they don't know how to make the stainless steel ploughshare on the earliest Tang plow.

The people and ministers below are very interested in this mysterious person, and gossip is human nature, so soon the building under the Hall of Xiande was crooked.

"Ahem!" Li Shimin coughed twice to indicate that they were still in a meeting, and then continued: "What do you think about the national promotion? ”

Dai Xuan said: "The minister thinks that if the grain is not too much, it is better to arrange the planting by Sinong Temple. ”

Because this thing is different from ducks, ducks you promote, everyone knows that this thing can be eaten when fattened, and can eat pests when you are a child, so you will definitely raise it with all your heart.

But no one has ever seen potatoes, so they are afraid that they will continue to promote it, and some people will not take care of it.

After all, the yield of 1,000 catties per mu is too shocking, and some people may think it is fake, so they will give priority to taking care of their original crops before putting their minds on potatoes.