"Father, let's go dig potatoes." Li Yun went upstairs and said to the emperor.
"Okay, I want to see what the food called potatoes looks like?" the emperor said happily and excitedly.
"Your Majesty, Mother, and Grandmother, this is a rural area. For your safety, we will call you Mr. Huang, Madam Huang, and Old Madam Huang. Are you able to accept this?" Li Yun asked the Emperor, the Empress, and the Empress Dowager.
"Yun'er is the most thoughtful one. You call me "I", no, you call me Master Huang." The emperor said to Marquis Dingbei and others.
"Yes, Mr. Huang!" everyone said.
Li Yun took the emperor and others to dig potatoes with hoes and straw hats.
If they weren't dressed so flamboyantly, they would look a bit like nouveau riche.
Since County Magistrate Ma often came here to plant potatoes, the villagers of Qingshan Village were not surprised to see these well-dressed and handsome masters, ladies, young masters and young ladies. They just waited quietly for the princess to come and teach them how to dig potatoes.
Li Yun came to the potato field and saw that the leaves had turned yellow. He knew that the potatoes were ripe and could be dug.
"Just watch how I do it and then follow my instructions," Li Yun said to the villagers of Qingshan Village.
She took a hoe and gently dug up the potatoes from next to the potato seedlings.
Soon, she pulled up a potato plant, root and branch. She revealed about eleven or twelve potatoes of varying sizes. Some were as big as a fist, others as small as an egg. This plant must have weighed six or seven pounds.
The emperor looked at the pile of potatoes of different sizes and loved them so much that he couldn't stop eating them.
If potatoes are really edible, will people still go hungry in the future?
It was the first time that the queen and her companions saw so much grain. They thought the potatoes were like gold and they loved them so much.
Tian Ji led his farming team to watch their master digging potatoes. They understood it after watching it once and began to teach the villagers how to dig potatoes.
After everyone learned how to do it, they started to dig potatoes carefully.
The emperor dug the potatoes carefully, as if he was digging for treasures.
Isn’t that a treasure? A treasure that can feed the people of the Jin Dynasty?
Looking at the dug-up potato plants laden with fruits, the emperor and the villagers all had smiles on their faces.
Li Yun recruited women and children to help. Children could not dig potatoes, but they could pick them.
Women and children also picked potatoes carefully, afraid of damaging them.
"Ah!" Suddenly there was a scream, and everyone looked over to see what had happened.
"Princess, I'm sorry! I accidentally dug up a rotten potato." The boy was fifteen years old. He looked depressed and said with self-blame and guilt in his heart.
His name is Chen Zhihui, a villager of Qingshan Village. His parents are not alive, and he only has a grandmother and five siblings of different ages to support.
They often did not have enough to eat and looked pale and thin. Many kind-hearted villagers in the village would help him. Li Yun also often instructed the manager to give them some food or hire them to work.
Li Yun walked over and took a look. It was just a little rotten and could still be eaten, so it wasn't a waste.
"It's okay, it's just a little broken, it's still edible.
It's not your fault. Potatoes grow on tubers, and their tubers grow everywhere irregularly. It's normal to dig some of them up.
Don't dig in the same place, so you don't ruin a lot of it." Li Yun comforted Chen Zhihui, and then told everyone to dig in multiple places.
Although Li Yun said this, Chen Zhihui still felt guilty.
The villagers also whispered accusations against Chen Zhihui, making him feel even more guilty.
One potato can produce about three or four sprouts, which means three or four potato plants. One potato plant weighs about six or seven pounds, and can produce more than ten to twenty pounds of potatoes, which can feed many people.
Li Yun asked everyone to continue digging potatoes, and everyone became more careful.
No matter how careful you are, some villagers will still dig up rotten potatoes.
This time, no one dared to criticize Chen Zhihui. Aren’t they themselves being slapped in the face?
Because there were so many people, they dug an acre of potatoes in an hour.
Li Yun asked someone to get a scale, and Changjiang brought a big scale, which was the big scale Li Yun bought from Haoduoduo.
Changjiang and An Yihe took the packed potatoes to be weighed. Every bag was overflowing, some holding 100 jin, others 200 jin. It took 35 bags, large and small, to complete the load, for a total yield of 3,820 jin per mu.
Changjiang and An Yi looked at the number in amazement. They stood there with their eyes wide open, staring at the number above.
"Mr. Huang, master, three thousand eight hundred and twenty kilograms. There are three thousand eight hundred kilograms of potatoes per acre." Changjiang said excitedly.
"I understand." Li Yun said calmly.
It’s similar to the previous life. The land is still not fertile enough, otherwise the yield could be increased a little bit.
When the emperor heard the news, he was so excited that he almost sat on the ground.
Oh my god! Three thousand eight hundred and twenty kilograms, what kind of celestial number is that?
Not only did the Jin Dynasty not have such production, but the entire continent did not have it either.
With these potatoes, will people still go hungry?
He was extremely excited whenever he thought that the people would not have to starve, be displaced, or sell their children.
Under his rule, the people lived a life of plenty, plenty of food and clothing, and a stable and prosperous life. A hundred years later, when he went down to the lower world, he would be able to face his ancestors.
When the villagers heard the news, they were so excited that they hugged each other and jumped up and down.
Some elderly people burst into tears when they thought of their relatives who starved to death.
If potatoes had appeared earlier, my family members wouldn’t have starved to death or died of starvation while fleeing famine.
Some people cried bitterly, and then the villagers started crying too.
The originally bustling scene suddenly turned into a scene of crying, which made Li Yun feel overwhelmed.
You are here to work, not to cry. Time is running out, and there are still sweet potatoes and rice to be harvested.
Tomorrow, even the nearby villages will recruit people to come and start the work, and we will try to complete the harvest within seven days.
The emperor and the queen looked at the cute potatoes and they were very happy.
“Well, folks, with potatoes, none of us will have to go through that again.
Everyone, hurry up and dig potatoes. Your relatives will feel relieved when they see you have enough food and warm clothes in the future." Li Yun comforted the villagers, hoping they would dig potatoes as soon as possible.
"The princess is right. Let's help her dig potatoes, and then buy some from her to grow ourselves. From now on, we won't have to go hungry anymore." said Aunt Hong's son.
The villagers thought Aunt Hong’s son was right, and everyone continued to dig potatoes carefully.
It was soon time for lunch, and Li Yun asked everyone to go back to eat and rest for half an hour before returning to work.
The weather is very hot now, maybe it's going to rain soon.
The water in the rivers has dried up and people can only rely on the water in the ponds to survive.
The only exception was Li Yun's family. The well she dug at that time was more than 100 meters deep, so it was no problem to maintain the water supply for her family.
The villagers were reluctant to go back for dinner, so their families brought them food. Li Yun had no choice but to agree.
She asked her servants to bring a large pot of mung bean soup to distribute to the working villagers to prevent heatstroke.
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