At the end of June, the city of Beijing.

In the early summer of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, the weather was already very hot, many of the people in the capital were shirtless in begging for life, and on both sides of the Yongding River and other rivers outside the city, there were many people playing in the water to enjoy the coolness, and there was no sense of panic before the turmoil, but instead there was a peaceful and stable atmosphere.

At noon that day, the weather in the city was hot, and Zhang Lei, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, came to Chongwen Gate in a carriage, waiting for someone.

It didn't take long for Du Feng, the adviser of the Reclamation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, to appear with a few entourages, and after a few people passed the inspection of the guards at the city gate, a few people entered the city from the Chongwen Gate, and Du Feng saw the carriages and horses not far away.

Du Feng hurriedly stepped forward, and as soon as he walked to the side of the carriage and horse, he saw Zhang Lei's getting out of the car, so he hugged his fists and said: "Haha, how dare you bother the master of the ministry to come to pick it up in person, and it is a bad official!" ”

Now Du Feng has been an official in the Ministry of Agriculture for a long time, although he has been busy in the fields all the year round, but after a long time, he has also developed some official spirit, and his speech is not as "old-fashioned" as before.

Zhang Lei said with a smile: "Lord Du entered Beijing to report the good news, and this official, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, naturally has a light on his face, of course he has to wait here." ”

"Oh, don't make fun of the lower officials."

Zhang Lei said with a smile: "Let's go, get in the car first, you first Lord Du will talk to me first, I will see the elder in a while, and I know it well." ”

"Dare to disobey."

Then Du Feng also got into the carriage, and the two of them rode all the way to the direction of Wumen.

It didn't take long for Zhang Lei and Du Feng to come to the Cabinet Office, at this time Liu Yan was handling official business in the main hall, and the affairs in Jiangnan were becoming more and more complicated, and Liu Yan was weighing whether to increase troops in the direction of Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

At the same time, Liu Yan also gave the Sichuan chief soldier Qin Liangyu and the deputy chief soldier Ma Xianglin to stand by for the whole army. At present, Sichuan's military reform has come to an end, and 10 garrison battalions have been set up, including the Songlong Battalion (Songpanwei and Long'an Mansion), the Baokui Battalion (Baoning Prefecture and Kuizhou Prefecture), the Chengdu Battalion (Chengdu Prefecture, Xiaozhou, Yazhou, Meizhou, Tianquan Liuban Recruitment Division, and Lizhou Recruitment Division), and the Shuntong Battalion (Shunqing Prefecture and Tongchuan Prefecture), with a strength of more than 170,000 troops.

Moreover, six of the garrison battalions have already completed the refitting and training, and it can be said that the strength in Qin Liangyu's hands has surpassed that of any national defense force. Of course, in terms of combat strength, any national defense army will surpass Qin Liangyu's soldiers and horses.

At this time, Zhang Lei and Du Feng entered the hall, and after the two saluted, Liu Yan raised his head and looked over, put down the official document in his hand, and said with a smile: "Come on, sit down first." ”

"Xie Ge Lao."

After the two of them sat down, Liu Yan asked with a smile: "I heard Zhang Shangshuti mention some time ago that Consultant Du was going to Beijing to report the promotion of sweet potatoes to this prince?" ”

Du Feng got up and clenched his fists and said, "Exactly." ”

"Hehe, let's talk about it, my father also wants to know the planting of sweet potatoes."

Now that the new policies in various parts of the Ming Dynasty have been gradually implemented, and the cultivated land area in various places has increased significantly, Liu Yan urgently needs a high-yield crop such as sweet potatoes to promote planting in a large area to increase the country's grain output.

Du Feng immediately began to report.

Now sweet potatoes have been popularized and planted in Shandong and Beizhili, from last year to this year, the sweet potato output in Shandong and Beizhili alone has been more than 800,000 stones, providing a large amount of grain reserves for the imperial court.

"Ge Lao doesn't know that the factor restricting the yield of sweet potatoes now is not the lack of cultivated land or the lack of promotion, but the insufficient number of sweet potato seedlings."

"Now Xiaguan has organized a large number of manpower to select a large number of sweet potato seedlings as seeds in various places, which are estimated to be planted in more than 200,000 acres of arable land. But these areas are not too much in Beizhili and Shandong, let alone promoted nationwide. ”

Liu Yan nodded and said, "Sweet potatoes have a high yield, and it is necessary to promote them throughout the country." Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture should select some seedlings and promote them in Henan, Sichuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang and other places. The seedlings promoted in these places do not need to be much, but the scope should be wide, and each place can try to plant a little, so that the people around the country know that there is a high-yield crop such as sweet potato, and lay the foundation for the subsequent large-scale promotion and planting. ”

Du Feng wrote them down one by one and said: "What the elder said is very reasonable, and the lower officials also think so, after going back, the lower officials will organize people to start working, and first send some seedlings to various places to promote. ”

Nowadays, the Ministry of Agriculture has set up a test field base of the Reclamation Division in Fucheng, Qingzhou, Shandong, which is the largest seedling cultivation base for sweet potatoes, as well as a base for improving the quality of sweet potatoes and researching planting techniques.

As the consultant of the Reclamation Division, Du Feng is responsible for the promotion of sweet potatoes, and he is stationed in Qingzhou Mansion on weekdays to be responsible for the related affairs of the experimental field base.

Liu Yan nodded, and then asked Zhang Lei, the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, a few questions, such as how is the spring plowing this year, how is the rain in various places this year, how are the water conservancy facilities built in various places, and so on.

These data are all remembered in Zhang Lei's mind, and he is also answering them one by one at this time.

"This year's spring ploughing is progressing smoothly, and most of the farmland has been recultivated, but Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan are all over the country because of the rampant bandits, and the degree of damage is very large, so it takes time to recover, and there are still a lot of cultivated land in a barren state."

“…… Since the beginning of spring this year, according to the reports of various localities, generally speaking, the rain north of the Yangtze River is still very little, and the northwestern provinces are in a state of drought, but at present the Ministry of Agriculture has spent millions of silver coins to build water conservancy projects in various places, and the degree of drought is still very low, and the harvest is not yet lost, but this year's harvest in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan is already a foregone conclusion. ”

"At present, there are many water conservancy facilities construction projects in various places, but the progress is not very large."

"Oh, why?"

"At present, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan are due to too much loss, and there is a shortage of manpower in various places, and the progress of water conservancy construction is still very slow. As for Liangguang, Fujian, Yunnan-Guizhou and other places, it is because the new policy has not yet been implemented, and the decree of the Ministry of Agriculture has reached these places, and it can be implemented in the end. ”

"As for Wusizang and other places, they have not yet been included in the water conservancy expansion plan."

After listening to this, Liu Yan said: "Zhang Shangshu is right, Liangguang, Fujian, Yunnan and Guizhou and other places should not allocate funds for the time being, and the water conservancy expenses in these places will be separately for the time being, and we will wait for the order of my father." ”

"Yes."

Then Liu Yan inquired in detail about the recent important affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Zhang Lei answered them one by one.

"Okay, let's stop here today, Zhang Shangshu and Consultant Du will come to my house tonight, and I will treat the two of you."

Zhang Lei said with a smile: "The elder is really polite, although the subordinates are a little busy, they don't have the hard work of the elder pavilion, how can I let the elder entertain me." ”

Du Feng also grinned, it was a great honor to let the cabinet head and auxiliary banquet, enough to go back and show off.

That night, Liu Yan invited Zhang Lei and Du Feng to his home, and the three of them had a meal in the flower hall, and in the middle of the night, he ordered someone to send Zhang Lei and Du Feng home and residence.

After Zhang Lei and Du Feng left, Liu Yan walked alone in the backyard, and now in the middle of the summer night, there is no wind, and it is extremely hot. Liu Yan, who had just drunk some wine, was already sweating profusely at this time.

Liu Yan frowned slightly, and said secretly: "This year's climate is still so abnormal, it seems that there is less rain this year!" ”

Thinking about it, Liu Yan walked into the study, and a map of the Ming Dynasty was hanging on the wall, Liu Yan stared at the map and frowned slightly, and said secretly: "Liangguang and Yungui are all undercurrents, and Zheng Zhilong of Fujian is also unclear, and if you can't get it, you can't avoid fighting in these places!" ”

Liu Yan did not want to go to war with the southern forces, firstly, because the war would consume the national defense strength of the Ming Dynasty, secondly, it would delay the time to recover Liaodong and destroy the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and thirdly, it would disrupt or even interrupt the implementation process of the New Deal and military reform in the south.

Of course, there is also an advantage to going to war with the South, that is, it can completely eliminate the opposition in the South and allow the follow-up policy to be implemented unimpeded.

Liu Yan weighed it for a long time, but he still couldn't get an idea, the pros and cons were obvious, and the result was also very significant, Liu Yan couldn't make up his mind for a while.

"Alas!"

Liu Yan shook his head slightly, and said to himself that he was old? But he is only thirty-one years old, and he is far from being old.

It's just that now Liu Yan is no longer a general in Shandong, but wants to dominate the direction of the entire Ming Dynasty, as big as hundreds of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty, the future of Huaxia, and the safety of his own family, all of which are tied to Liu Yan's body, so now that Liu Yan encounters major decisions, it is inevitable to weigh them carefully.

It's not that Liu Yan is indecisive, but that he has become more cautious when it comes to things.

Liu Yan stood in front of the map and groaned for a long time, then sighed, the corners of his mouth rose slightly, and said secretly: "Forget it, if there is a big event today, with the current power of the imperial court, it has formed a crushing trend on the locality, if anyone can't see the situation clearly, and wants to resist the imperial court, resist the new policy and military reform of the father, then there is only a dead end." ”

"Da Ming only needs one voice, that is my Liu Yan's voice, as for the other noises, they should disappear!"

Liu Yan figured it out in his heart, and his mood instantly became much happier.

It doesn't matter if you are Liangguang Yungui or the king of Fujian, as long as you are against the imperial court, as long as you are against me Liu Yan, then there is no nonsense to talk about, just go to war!

It's a big deal that Liaodong will collect it later, and it's a big deal that the new deal and military reform are completed slowly, which is better than letting some miscellaneous moths and bastards stay in the local government offices, leaving hidden dangers for Daming.

Thinking about this, Liu Yan pushed open the door and walked out of the study, and went to the bedroom with a smile, only to see Wang Yunhe embroidering something under the lamplight.

Seeing this, Liu Yan laughed and closed the door, and strode over in Wang Yunhe's somewhat surprised eyes.

"Huh? Ay! Yikes! ”

After an exclamation, the lights were blown out, leaving only the chirping of cicadas outside, and the moon in the sky, shy hiding behind thin clouds.