prosperous age

Chapter 848 937 Academy of Agricultural Sciences

A dish placed in front of Wei Guangde might be very strange to people outside the palace, but Wei Guangde could recognize it at a glance. Isn't the imperial wheat in the mouth of the little emperor Zhu Yijun the corn that later generations would call it?

Well, Wei Guangde’s hometown originally called this thing Baogu.

However, the corn in front of him should have been boiled or made into soup. What was placed in front of him now was only half of a corn.

It's this half, cut into several pieces.

Just like how I made soup in my previous life, I also cut the corn into several sections and put them into the soup.

"Your Majesty, how much of this imperial wheat is grown in Xiyuan? How is the yield?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"Just wait a minute and taste the soup first."

The little emperor Zhu Yijun did not answer Wei Guangde directly. In fact, he probably couldn't answer it, so he changed the topic and let Wei Guangde taste the soup.

The emperor asked, and the waiter in the imperial kitchen hurried outside the palace. After a moment, two waiters came in carrying soup basins.

The waiter brought a bowl of white soup to the young emperor and Wei Guangde each. Wei Guangde knew from a slight sniff that the soup should be stewed with corn and meat, but the taste of this soup was indeed different from what he had eaten in Daming over the years.

He was greedy for a while, and Wei Guangde didn't care much. He picked up the soup bowl and took a sip. After drinking it, he smacked his lips with unsatisfied taste, as if it was very delicious.

"Master Wei likes it. I'll have someone deliver a basket of royal wheat to Master later."

Zhu Yijun said happily when he saw Wei Guangde drinking soup.

"Your Majesty, is this soup made by Yumai?"

Wei Guangde asked knowingly.

"Yes, in the past, this royal wheat was cooked and eaten directly. The taste can only be said to be very average. It is not very delicious anyway, but it is indeed edible.

But not long ago, the imperial kitchen used this thing to make soup. The soup came out with a unique flavor. My mother and I liked it very much. "

Zhu Yijun smiled.

"It definitely tastes like this. I've never tasted it before. It's a different feeling in my heart, haha."

Wei Guangde was so happy that he asked people to find sweet potatoes, corns, and potatoes. Unexpectedly, they were found in the palace.

I have been in the capital for so many years, but I don’t know anything about it. I need to ask this question clearly.

"Your Majesty, since this thing is edible, it tastes very good, but I don't know how much Xiyuan planted it and what is the yield? Are the storage conditions difficult?"

Wei Guangde continued the previous topic and wanted to break the casserole and get to the bottom of it.

"I don't know about this either. Let the gardener from Xiyuan come and explain."

Zhu Yijun saw that Wei Guangde wanted to ask, so he ordered the servant beside him: "The gardener of Xuanxiyuan will come over immediately and ask questions."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The little chamberlain next to him agreed and quickly ran out of the Wenhua Palace to find someone in Xiyuan.

"Master Wei, taste the taste of this royal wheat."

The little emperor warmly greeted Wei Guangde to eat food. Wei Guangde picked up his chopsticks from Shanruliu, picked up a piece of corn to his mouth, and opened his mouth to bite the corn kernels.

"Hey, Master Wei, do you know how to eat it?"

Who would have thought that when he saw Wei Guangde eating corn, the little emperor Zhu Yijun already screamed out in surprise.

"Your Majesty, it is not a good thing to play tricks on an old minister. You must know that someone used beacon fire to tease the princes. What was the result?"

Wei Guangde was secretly happy. Maybe if Zhang Juzheng or Lu Tiaoyang were here today, they might have eaten the corn kernels and cobs in one bite. After all, they had probably never seen this thing before.

But if you let him eat it, he might even eat the corn cobs.

Just like in the 1950s and 1960s, the most difficult period for the country, when cornmeal or cobmeal was ground into powder, it was said that the corncobs were ground together. The food tasted bad and could cut your throat if eaten.

In fact, this reaction is due to the presence of corn cobs.

You know, corn kernels alone will not have such a big reaction.

When the little emperor heard Wei Guangde's words, he immediately turned red.

"Master, I have been taught, and the student knows his mistakes."

After saying this, the young emperor Zhu Yijun actually stood up and bowed to Wei Guangde, not even using "I" but calling himself a student.

Although Wei Guangde believed in the equality of all people, depending on the era, how could he dare to accept the emperor's salute? He hurriedly turned sideways to indicate that he did not dare to receive the salute.

"Your Majesty treats your subjects so well and allows me to eat such delicious food. I have to thank you for your majesty."

Wei Guangde smiled.

Looking for someone in Xiyuan took a long time. The young emperor and Wei Guangde had a meal in the side hall of Wenhua Hall. After they had finished eating, and the young chamberlain started to clean up, they found someone there.

A low-level eunuch and two gardeners were already kneeling in the hall.

"Get up, let me ask you, when was this imperial wheat planted in Xiyuan, how much was planted, and what was the yield?"

The little emperor Zhu Yijun asked them to stand up and threw out Wei Guangde's questions like a barrage of questions.

The eunuch should be the person in charge of the gardener in Xiyuan, but he obviously didn't know how to answer the emperor's question, so he subconsciously looked sideways at the older gardener next to him.

Wei Guangde guessed from this action that maybe this person had served the palace for a longer time and knew more, so that's why the eunuch reacted like this.

As expected, the gardener turned his head and looked at the eunuch first, perhaps understanding what the other person meant, and then said: "Your Majesty, this imperial wheat should be sent to the capital around the 34th year of Jiajing in the previous dynasty. , was a tribute paid by the chieftain of Yunnan when he came to court.

However, this food was only cooked at that time and tasted ordinary, so the late emperor ate it once and stopped eating it.

But the fruits looked good, so I asked Xiyuan Flower House to learn to grow some.

Now there is a piece of planting in Xiyuan near Taisu Hall, but there is no planting in other places. "

After the gardener finished speaking, the young emperor Zhu Yijun said in surprise: "Aren't there hillsides over there at Taisu Palace? Can this thing be planted on a hillside?"

You know, most of the crops used in the Ming Dynasty are traditional plants, commonly known as cereals.

In later generations, cereals generally refer to rice, wheat, soybeans, corn, and potatoes. At the same time, it is also customary to refer to grains other than rice and flour as cereals.

However, the five grains mentioned at this time actually refer to the japonica rice, adzuki beans, wheat, soybeans, and yellow millet recorded in the "Huangdi Neijing". Corn does not exist, so some people jokingly call corn the six grains.

Of course, with the changes in the cultivation of food crops by the Chinese, corn was not known when it was included as one of the five grains, but that was also the result of changing times.

"The chieftain from Yunnan is paying tribute?"

But at this moment, Wei Guangde was not concerned about where this thing was grown, but was interested in its origin.

"Back to Mr. Wei Ge, it was indeed the chieftain from Yunnan who paid tribute. We have to check the palace records to find out who it is."

The gardener answered carefully.

Until now, they didn't know what to do, but they were suddenly called to the palace. Fortunately, when the chamberlain came to summon him, he also said that His Majesty wanted to ask about Yumai. They were familiar with that thing, so they were summoned.

This old gardener has been working in the palace with his elders since he was very young, so he is naturally familiar with Yumai.

In the past, when the food matured, because Emperor Jiajing didn't like to eat it, the other eunuchs would just try it and throw it away. They would take it back to their families to eat, so they knew that the food was indeed edible, so they didn't worry about eating it. what is the problem.

“Has this thing always existed in Yunnan?”

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

"this."

The gardener lowered his head and seemed to be recalling that when he first asked the Yunnan chieftain to teach him planting techniques, the gardener was still young, so he had to think carefully before he dared to answer.

Wei Guangde was not in a hurry and just sat quietly and waited.

After a while, the gardener raised his head. He did not dare to look at the little emperor, but looked at Wei Guangde and replied: "In my memory, I seem to have heard that this thing comes from Xifan, and they call it fanmai.

The villain was still young at that time, and he only learned planting techniques from the chieftain's entourage, but he didn't know anything else. "

"You guys are planting royal wheat on the hillside?"

Wei Guangde asked again.

"Yes, this kind of royal wheat is easy to grow. It does not require flat fertile fields like ordinary crops. It only needs soil. It can be planted in mountains and river valleys. Moreover, royal wheat needs watering when planting. Usually it is just When weeding, the main thing is to pay attention to drainage.

Yumai doesn’t like water and will be damaged if it is soaked in water, so planting on hillsides is best for drainage.”

Speaking of planting, which was naturally his specialty, the gardener kept chattering there for a long time, but Wei Guangde just listened and did not interrupt.

From the gardener's description, Wei Guangde can roughly judge that corn is easy to feed. It can be planted in mountainous areas where ordinary crops are not easy to grow, and it requires less water than ordinary crops.

However, when the gardener talked about the yield of imperial wheat, Wei Guangde was still a little disappointed.

"I have never calculated how much this royal wheat can produce in a year. According to my estimation, if the yield per acre is as much as one stone if the core is removed."

One stone in the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to one hundred and twenty kilograms. Wei Guangde did not expect that the yield of corn was so low these days.

Of course, the old gardener's estimate may not be accurate. After all, he has not calculated it specifically. After all, he would not dare to report the output of this thing too high, otherwise he would be held responsible if it is not that much.

Perhaps seeing the slightly disappointed expression on Wei Guangde's face, the old gardener hurriedly said: "Mr. Wei Ge, in fact, the yield of this royal wheat is not too low. It should be noted that the rice produced in good fields is only two or three shi per season. This The place where royal wheat is grown is not fertile land.

Moreover, this royal wheat is also used as decorative flowers on both sides of the mountain road in Xiyuan, so..."

“Have you ever planted this kind of seed specifically?”

Wei Guangde asked again.

Hearing Wei Guangde's question, the old gardener and another person next to him were so frightened that they immediately knelt down and shouted: "My lord, this is unfair. This is something from the palace. How dare you take it out and plant it privately? My lord, this is really unfair." No."

"Get up, I didn't say you took it out to plant. I just want to know how much yield this thing will produce in one season."

Wei Guangde waved his hand impatiently to reassure the two frightened gardeners.

"Master Wei, what are you doing?"

The little emperor didn't ask, but the meaning was still obvious. He wanted to know Wei Guangde's intention in asking these questions.

"This thing is quite novel. According to what they said, it tastes average when cooked, but it is extremely delicious when cooked in soup.

However, what I am most concerned about is that this product is suitable for planting in mountainous areas and does not have high water requirements.

Your Majesty, the northwest of our Ming Dynasty has a mountainous terrain, which seems to be suitable for the cultivation of royal wheat.

If one could really obtain grain yields of one stone per mu in the mountains, it would be enough food for countless people to survive. "

Wei Guangde handed over to the young emperor Zhu Yijun and said, "I remember that when I took part in the provincial examination in Jiangxi, the strategy was to fight drought. At that time, natural disasters continued throughout the Ming Dynasty. There were varying degrees of drought in the northern and southern provinces, and many fields were harvestless.

The minister's strategy at that time was not only to build water conservancy projects to store water sources, but also mentioned that the imperial court would set up a special government office to research, find and promote drought-resistant crops."

Wei Guangde briefly described the general content of his original strategy to the young emperor, and explained in detail the parts that he did not understand clearly.

"Master, is this the winner of this exam?"

The young emperor Zhu Yijun listened carefully to Wei Guangde's story, asked some detailed questions, and suddenly asked at the end.

"No."

Wei Guangde's answer was very brief, without the slightest expression of embarrassment, "I failed the exam at that time. I passed the exam three years later."

Wei Guangde's path to the imperial examination was uneventful because he never copied a single shockingly good article.

Who told him that he was a waste of reading before? There were some classic eight-part essays in history in the textbook, but he only remembered a few words and couldn't copy them at all.

Moreover, the writing of an article is coherent. If you try to complete it with just a few words, the final effect will only be imitation, which will be very inelegant.

After all, stereotyped writing reached its peak during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Strictly speaking, there are still many that can be copied, but they are so hard to remember.

"There is no such Yamen in the imperial court, right?"

The little emperor Zhu Yijun asked again.

Wei Guangde nodded this time and said: "Later, I passed the Jinshi examination. I heard it mentioned by my seniors in the Hanlin Academy. There seemed to be a debate in the cabinet and Renshou Palace, but it was finally given up because the court lacked money.

After all, building a new yamen requires money, and they also need to collect various plants from all over the world for planting, which requires a lot of manpower.

You must know that oranges are oranges when they grow in the southern country, and they are zhi when they grow in the northern country. Once the court decides to establish this yamen, it is not enough to allocate a courtyard in the capital, but also to establish branches all over the Ming Dynasty.

Trial planting in one place is not enough. Only by trial planting in many places can we know the effect of crop selection. Moreover, this kind of work requires years of hard work and cannot produce results overnight. "

Zhu Yijun nodded when he heard this. He already understood that the price paid by Wei Guangde's proposal was huge, and it was indeed not a small investment.

Of course, the most important thing is that it will take time for this proposal to come to fruition, and it cannot be done in a short time.

Well, it’s not just people in later generations who are eager for quick success and quick success, but this is actually the case in all eras.

After all, there are too few people who are willing to make wedding clothes for others.

As a result, one's own political achievements will benefit others, which is not cost-effective, so it is better to give up.

"Does Master want to establish such a yamen now?"

Zhu Yijun suddenly asked, as if he was very interested.

Seeing Wei Guangde looking at him, the little emperor smiled and continued: "I think the master's strategy is right. The imperial court needs such an yamen.

The imperial court talks about focusing on agriculture every day, but apart from building water conservancy projects, it doesn’t seem to have done anything else.”

Zhu Yijun said seriously now with a straight face, but with the face of a child, Wei Guangde felt a bit of joy.

(End of this chapter)