Zhu Youzhen accompanied Tian Xiuying for lunch, and coaxed Tian Xiuying carelessly, which finally made her smile. After the two stayed together for more than half an hour, although Tian Xiuying was reluctant to leave, looking at the mountains of music on the table in front of Chongzhen, as well as the tired look on his face that could not be concealed, he still sighed in his heart, and reluctantly said goodbye and left.

After Tian Xiuying walked down the white marble steps of the Qianqing Palace, she couldn't help but look back at the majestic and tall palace behind her in a daze.

Yuemei, the confidant palace maid who was serving beside her, looked at Tian Xiuying's unhappy expression, and couldn't help but carefully persuade: "Why is Your Highness so depressed, it seems that Your Majesty still loves His Royal Highness, not the queen alone." ”

Tian Xiuying turned around and looked at her henchman, and said faintly: "What's the point of that, in the end, I don't want to share everything about him with others." Sometimes, I think that maybe if I marry a small person in the market, I can still stay together every day. ”

The palace maid Yuemei persuaded with some trepidation: "Your Majesty, as the lord of all peoples, is like the sun in the sky, and all the subjects of the world must be bathed in the light of Your Majesty. Your Highness must not show your emotions in front of others, if you are heard to report to Your Majesty, I am afraid that Your Majesty will be displeased. ”

Tian Xiuying glanced at Yuemei, and without continuing to talk to her, she turned around and walked briskly towards her bedroom.

In the upper study, when Zhu Youzhen just sat down and wanted to take a break, Wang Chengen walked in from outside the door, and came forward with some hesitation and didn't know whether to open his mouth to report.

"Heh, what's the matter, just say something." Zhu Youzhen saw Wang Chengen's somewhat embarrassed expression, he stretched his waist and said after yawning.

Wang Chengen no longer hesitated, and opened his mouth to report: "It's Lu Jiude and they have returned to Beijing from the south, and Weichen is hesitating, do you want to wait for Your Majesty to rest for a while before reporting?" ”

Zhu Youzhen's sleepiness suddenly disappeared, he stood up excitedly, and said to Wang Chengen: "No need, let Lu Jiude, Lian Shanxiang and the trial hundred households named Li Chenfang come to see me together, I want to hear how they are going south." ”

At the urging of Zhu Youzhen, Wang Chengen quickly returned to the upper study with the three of them. Zhu Youzhen walked in front of Lu Jiude, Lian Shanxiang, and Li Chenfang and looked at the expressions of the three of them carefully.

Then he stopped in front of Li Chenfang, patted him on the shoulder, and joked with a smile: "I went out this time, I seem to have grown taller, and my body seems to be strong, not bad, not bad, is it hard to go out on business?" ”

Li Chenfang replied with a red face and some excitement: "Thank you Your Majesty for your concern, the minister is not hard at all." ”

Zhu Youzhen and the three of them comforted each other for a few words, before sitting back in their seats and saying, "Which of you will tell me first, what overseas novel species have you brought back from the south this time?" ”

Lian Shanxiang squinted his eyes, and Li Chenfang, who was still quite excited because of the emperor's personal question, thought about giving this nephew a chance to perform, so he said to Chongzhen.

"Try 100 households, Li Chenfang is familiar with these overseas novel species, why don't you let him report to His Majesty in detail."

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Lian Shanxiang, smiled and said, "That's it, it's very good, then Li Baihu, you can talk about it slowly." ”

Although it was not the first time that Li Chenfang had reported in front of Chongzhen, it was just trivial matters before, and the content of the report was very simple.

This time it was an important task that the emperor cared about, and he was naturally a little nervous. At first, he said something upside down, but with Chongzhen's encouragement, he began to slowly release his nervousness and focus on the novel species he was interested in.

“… Sweet potato, also known as yam, was brought back from Luzon by Chen Zhenlong, a native of Changle, Fujian Province, in the 21st year of Wanli.

Sweet potato vines are edible when they are young, and old ones can be used as green fodder to feed large livestock. The tubers of the underground part have several shapes: round and oval, and the color of the fruit is divided into three types: red, white, and purple.

The southern planting can be harvested after four months, the soil is excavated, the son and mother are hooked, the big one is like an arm, the small one is like a fist, and the Fujian governor Jin Xue has vigorously promoted planting in Fujian to solve the time shortage. Sweet potatoes do not compete with wheat and rice, and one or two cars can be harvested per acre, which can be described as small and profitable.

However, the sweet potato seeds are afraid of moisture and frost, and the minister listened to the old farmers who came with the potato seeds to say that the potato seeds may be difficult to overwinter in the north, and they need to be taken from the south again in the spring of the next year. ”

Lian Shanxiang secretly looked at this nephew who was a little unimportant, and wanted to stop him from continuing. This search for the Fanbang species is presided over by His Majesty, but his son and nephew are pouring cold water on His Majesty, which is really not smart enough.

Zhu Youzhen was not as careful as Lian Shanxiang thought, he just pondered for a while and said: "Shanglin Yuan supervises the Jiagui Department of Yiyi melons and vegetables, don't they be able to cultivate vegetables in winter?" Lian Shanxiang, you asked the Shanglin Yuan Superintendent Jia Vegetable Department to discuss the method of overwintering potato seeds with seed potato farmers, in my opinion, potato seeds wintering in the north, you have to dig cellars.

You let these farmers experiment with more wintering methods, and I will allow you to fail. If it doesn't work this year, then come back next year, I believe that a solution will always be found, can a living person still suffocate his urine? There will always be more solutions than problems.

You can tell them that anyone who can solve the problem of overwintering potato seeds will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver, and in addition, those who have an official position can be promoted to one level, and those who do not have an official position can be admitted to the Royal Academy of Agricultural Sciences. That's it for sweet potatoes, Li Chenfang, you move on to the next item. ”

Such a vulgar phrase burst out of Chongzhen's mouth, which immediately shocked everyone in the room except Li Chenfang, but Li Chenfang continued as if he had a sudden sense of taste.

"Yes, Your Majesty, there is also a crop from the West in Fujian, called potatoes, also known as artichoke. However, the yield of this product is not as good as that of sweet potatoes, and it likes cold and is not heat-tolerant, so it needs to be planted on the top of the mountains to be harvested.

If it is planted on flat land, the fruit is not long, but its flowers are white or blue-purple, very beautiful, and rich merchants in Fujian are often planted in the courtyard as ornamental. However, if the potato sprouts or turns green, it is not edible, and it will vomit and diarrhea when eaten.

And then there's the pumpkin... Chili pepper... Sunflower... These are edible crops. Finally, there are tomatoes and tamba, the former has a brilliant red brocade fruit and can be ornamented, while the latter is used to smoke and can protect against cold and relieve pain. Li Chenfang did not shy away from 1510, and reported all the crops found from the south and brought back to Beijing.

After listening to the reports on these crops, Zhu Youzhen finally breathed a sigh of relief, with potatoes and sweet potatoes, plus corn that had been introduced a long time ago, then the northern farmers did not have to compete with wheat and rice.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the pinnacle of the Xiaoice River period, even he, an engineering student who didn't care much about history, had already heard of it. In fact, during this time period, rice and wheat are planted in the area north of the Yellow River, and the risk of a bad harvest is too great.

The three crops of potato, sweet potato and corn are the best food crops for the people of northern Daming to survive this Xiaoice period. In fact, the most suitable for the north are potatoes and corn, the former is cold tolerant and barren, while the latter is drought tolerant and barren.

Zhu Youzhen then instructed: "Li Chenfang, you divide the crop seeds and planting methods you brought with you into two parts, one to the Shanglin Yuan Superintendent Jiaveg Department, and the other to Wei Liangqing. The farmers you brought with you let Wei Liangqing be included in the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Tell them to nurture them carefully, keep track of how they are planted, and reward whoever cultivates more productive crops. ”

Li Chenfang replied with an excited expression: "Junior minister, you will definitely complete Your Majesty's order well." ”

Zhu Youzhen turned his head to Wang Chengen and said, "Wang Companion, everyone who went south this time is a meritorious person, and they will all be rewarded by the first level. Lu Jiude, Lian Shanxiang, and 50 taels of silver, Li Chenfang 30 taels of silver, and others 20 taels. As for the farmers who came north with the ship to teach the planting experience, each person was given 15 taels of settling-in allowance. ”

Wang Chengen nodded yes, and Zhu Youzhen continued to Li Chenfang: "You have been away from home for a long time when you have been out of Beijing this time, and I will not keep you today, so you should go back to visit your mother as soon as possible." ”

Chongzhen's kind tone made the corners of Li Chenfang's eyes a little red, and he hurriedly bowed to Chongzhen on the ground before thanking him and leaving.

After Li Chenfang left, Zhu Youzhen said, "How about those pirates? How did they react to the appeasement? ”

Lu Jiude suddenly said: "Although this eighteen Zhi claims to be a gang, in the eyes of the following ministers, it is actually not a heart. Zheng Zhilong, the leader of the Eighteen Zhi, has a beautiful appearance like a woman, and his personality is not tyrannical, unlike other pirate leaders, and his attitude towards the court is more deferential than that of other leaders.

The minister felt that this Zheng Zhilong was more like a guise elected by these pirates, the real leader of the pirates, and it was more like Liu Xianglao, who was hidden behind him and refused to enter Beijing, Li Guozhu, who had never been seen by the ministers, and Pan Bizheng, who entered Beijing together this time, and several other maritime merchants. ”

Zhu Youzhen was not confused by Lu Jiude's words, how could Nicholas, who was called the king of the seas of East Asia by Europeans, be a puppet.

This can only show that the current Zheng Zhilong has not fully controlled the pirate group of Eighteen Zhi, but because of this, he chose to support Zheng Zhilong to deal with other pirate gangs, which is undoubtedly raising the tiger as a cat.

Zhu Youzhen was noncommittal about Lu Jiude's statement, he changed the topic and asked: "Zheng Zhilong and other leaders of the Eighteen Zhi, where have you been placed?" ”

Lu Jiude hurriedly replied: "In the vicinity of Longfu Temple, there is a battalion of Beijing troops there, and the subordinates think that even if these pirates make any changes, they will not cause changes in the capital. ”