"Xiaguan is here this time, and there is something to give to Master Pu."

After Yan Zhengqian said this mysteriously, he tinkered in his sleeve for a long time, took out three or two round potatoes and put them in front of Pu Tingnan, and flattered him as if he was offering treasures: "This is what the lower officials want to give to Master Pu, a high-yield grain crop with a yield of 1,000 catties per mu - artichoke." ”

"Artichoke?"

Pu Tingnan picked up an artichoke and looked at it in his hand, and asked curiously: "You said that this thing can produce thousands of catties per mu?" Really? How come you've never seen it before? ”

Yan Zhengqian's face was full of excitement, and he introduced the artichoke and gushed endlessly: "Of course it's true!" Artichoke is native to Amerika, not a crop of my Great Xia, but was later brought to us by the Francophiles, and they called it 'Broken Trampling'. Our locals think this name is not easy to remember, and when we see that it looks a little like taro, and it comes across the ocean, we call it artichoke. ”

"Artichoke has been planted in Xuzhou Mansion in a large range, when sowing with 300 catties per mu, and when it is harvested, it can be 15600 catties, if you are lucky, it is not uncommon to have 2,000 catties per mu!"

"Two thousand catties per mu! How can there be such a high yield of grain in the world?! Pu Tingnan was taken aback, and looked at the artichoke in his hand over and over again, but he didn't see that such a small thing could have such great ability.

When he was in Xuzhou Mansion, Yan Zhengqian's attitude towards Gu Yunji's cultivation of artichoke was very negative, but he was not a fool, and he sneered at artichoke on the surface, which does not mean that he thought so in his heart. On the contrary, he is actually very optimistic about the future development of artichoke.

Yan Zhengqian has seen with his own eyes how high the yield of artichoke is, and later facts have also proved that what Gu Yunji said at the beginning was true.

It can be said that Chen Xunzhou raised the rent sharply this time, and the tenants were able to swallow their anger and not unite to rebel, largely thanks to the artichoke - after all, for the people, as long as they have a bite to eat, it is not an endless road, and there will not be a large number of people who take risks and choose to rebel.

However, Yan Zhengqian obviously attaches great importance to artichokes, but he still shows great disdain in front of Gu Yunji, mainly for two reasons.

One is that he can't let go of his face, at the beginning when Gu Yunji tried to persuade him and Chen Xunzhou to ask the government to allocate funds to buy seeds, their attitude was very refusal, forcing Gu Yunji to have no choice but to ask Fan Li for money to buy seeds.

Now that the effect of the promotion of artichoke has come out, how important the artichoke is for everyone to see, to Yan Zhengqian licked his old face and bowed down in front of a hairy boy to admit his mistakes, admitting that he made a mistake in judgment and did not do it right, which is worse than killing him.

The second is that although the artichoke is paid as tax grain, it is also grain in the end, and it can be eaten if it is grain, not to mention that it is still such a high-yield grain that can feed thousands of people. The imperial court now does not know that there is still an artichoke, but if it knows, it must be taken seriously, and the first person to offer the artichoke will naturally be glorified and have a bright future.

If you want to present the artichoke to the emperor, you must have sent reports layer by layer, first the internal discussion and decision of the Xuzhou Mansion, the prefect, the Tongzhi, and the general judge jointly reported to the Political Secretary, and the Political Secretary reported to the Central Committee after knowing about it. When I arrived in the capital, I had to transfer my hands in the cabinet, the emperor, the ministry and other places, and the process was very cumbersome.

In this way, not only is it inefficient, and he may not be able to give him credit before Yan Zhengqian's transfer, but he also has to share the credit with everyone in every link. Especially Gu Yunji, he was the first person to discover and plant artichokes, and he was definitely the one who made the most profits when the imperial court rewarded him for his merits.

Rather than this, it is better for Yan Zhengqian to privately dedicate the artichoke to Pu Tingnan, Pu Tingnan, as a provincial-level governor, can directly write to the emperor, and at the end of the year, he will be able to dedicate the artichoke to Emperor Jingfeng in his personal name, and record a first merit in Emperor Jingfeng.

Pu Tingnan remembered the first merit in Emperor Jingfeng's heart, and Yan Zhengqian could naturally also take the first credit here in Pu Tingnan, and took the credit that belonged to Gu Yunji and others to himself and Pu Tingnan, this was his calculation.

To put it ironically, Yan Zhengqian sneered at Gu Yunji's artichoke on weekdays, but now he still steals other people's credits to decorate his political achievements, and he doesn't blush at all when he lies:

"Artichoke is a very common thing in Amerika, but it has not been planted in my Great Xia before, it was Xia Guan who accidentally found this thing on the ship of a Western merchant, took a little bit back and tried to plant, only then did I know that the yield of this thing is amazingly high, and only one acre of land can grow the rations of several people for a year."

"And the artichoke can also be planted two seasons a year, one season in spring, one season in autumn, and it can be harvested in two or three months, and it can be planted on dry fields, which is convenient and trouble-free to plant, and does not occupy the paddy field land of rice. It is not an exaggeration to say that God gave me Great Xia, so that I can have enough food and clothing for the people. ”

Seeing that he was blowing this thing into the sky, Pu Tingnan was suspicious: "Don't blow it too much, if you really have what you said so well, what are we going to do with rice and wheat?" Wouldn't it be nice to let the people grow all the potatoes? ”

Yan Zhengqian said: "I really didn't blow it, Master Pu, what the lower officials said is true." Of course, the artichoke is not perfect, eating too much heartburn, stomach discomfort, for us, it is just a dish added to the table. The rich peasants whose families were a little better off were not too rare to plant, and only the poor and untouchables who could not afford to eat planted more and ate more than they could eat. ”

"This time there was a big drought in Shuzhong, and Chen Xunzhou dared to increase the rent so high, because the tenants' families more or less planted artichokes, even if he collected all the rice, the people still had a bite to eat."

Speaking of this, Yan Zhengqian patted his chest confidently, and said confidently: "Master Pu, I may not be able to see it now, but at the end of the year, when the people's food reserves are almost eaten, the lower officials dare to assure you that the people who starved to death in Xuzhou Mansion must be the least among the Sichuan Prefecture Mansions, and the reason for this is because of this artichoke." ”

There is some credibility in these words, and Pu Tingnan is interested: "So confident? If that's the case, Governor Yan, the imperial court will give you a great credit. ”

Yan Zhengqian picked up a potato and held it in front of Pu Tingnan, and said with a flattering smile: "This is the credit of the lower officials, this is obviously the credit of Master Pu." Xiaguan just brought the artichoke into the Xuzhou Mansion, and the people planted it spontaneously, it was Master Pu who was far-sighted and found that this thing was extraordinary, and the first one to dedicate it to His Majesty, you are the person who wants to make great contributions to the imperial court. ”

Pu Tingnan looked at him meaninglessly: "The artichoke has a high yield, and it will definitely affect the entire Great Xia in the future, such outstanding achievements, Lord Yan is willing to give it to me?" ”

Yan Zhengqian still looked flattering: "What don't you let go, this is your adult." ”

Pu Tingnan smiled, simply opened the skylight and said brightly: "Lord Yan, I don't want you to go around the bend, you gave me such a credit, I definitely can't let you be empty-handed, just say whatever you want." But whatever I can do with Pu Tingnan, there is nothing that should be done. ”

Hearing this, Yan Zhengqian's eyes flashed with a moment of surprise, rubbed his hands embarrassedly, and said a little tentatively: "The lower officials heard that the right political counselors in the political department have returned to their hometowns, can the lower officials ......?"