Yue Zhuangtou was speechless.
Song Xibai paused, then softened her tone.
"Of course, I'm not telling you to pull up those seedlings and insist on planting sweet potatoes. You can find other places! I think the back hill is good. Cut down a few trees and clear it up. Sweet potatoes aren't picky about where they grow."
Yue Zhuangtou secretly breathed a sigh of relief; he was really afraid that this lady would interfere in the affairs of the fields.
If it's just planted on the mountain, it won't have much of an impact, and Yue Zhuangtou immediately agreed.
“The old man I met seemed to be an experienced farmer. Why don’t we let him take charge? Let’s not let him work for free. Tell him that there will be a reward if he grows well, and compensation if he doesn’t grow well. Let him go ahead and do it.”
As he spoke, Song Xibai beckoned to Wei Hong, signaling her to bring out the box containing the silver.
Then she took out a ten-tael silver ingot.
"Giving too much might tempt others, so please have Commander Yue exchange this silver for loose silver and copper coins before sending it over."
After hearing her words, Yue Zhuangtou was filled with admiration.
With such a meticulous mind, considering every aspect, it's no wonder His Highness is so enamored with her!
If such a wise person can continue to assist Your Highness well, how can you not achieve great things?
After returning home, Yue Zhuangtou summoned the old farmer.
The old farmer nervously entered the house. Yue Zhuangtou asked about what had happened during the day. In the exchange of questions and answers, the old farmer dared not exaggerate in the slightest.
Then Yue Zhuangtou inquired about the yield and cultivation of sweet potatoes.
The old farmer answered honestly, "Our family has a plot of land on the other side of the mountain. We planted sweet potatoes on two-tenths of that land. Last year, we harvested about 500 jin (250 kg) of them."
Yue Zhuangtou thought he had misheard.
"How many?"
"Five hundred catties."
"How much land?"
"Two-tenths of an acre."
Yue Zhuangtou was so shocked he almost stood up from his chair.
One mu of land can be divided into ten parts, two parts, or two tenths, which is less than the size of two rooms, yet it can produce five hundred jin of sweet potatoes.
Wouldn't one mu of land yield 2,500 jin?
That's an astronomical figure!
It should be noted that even the best fertile land only yields three to four hundred catties per mu.
Wheat production was even lower.
Yue Zhuangtou became more and more excited as he thought about it, and couldn't help pacing back and forth in the room.
He thought of more.
Although Your Highness holds the title of Crown Prince, you have no real power. Moreover, the attitude of the person in the palace towards Your Highness is becoming increasingly unpredictable. Anyone with discerning eyes can see that the person prefers the youngest son rather than Your Highness, the eldest son.
If that person makes any move, His Highness the Crown Prince will be too passive and unable to resist at all.
Even if His Highness wins over the other princes and several important officials in the court, without military power, it's all in vain.
Yue Zhuangtou was originally from the Imperial Guard. Decades ago, the Imperial Guard was not like it is now, a place for spoiled brats to gain prestige. At that time, the Imperial Guard was quite powerful. When Yue Zhuangtou was thirteen years old, he was placed in the Imperial Guard by the Zhou family and climbed step by step to the position of commander. It was not until the Zhou family's daughter became the Crown Princess that he left the military camp and became a secret guard, following her into the palace.
He was well aware of the importance of military power and had suggested to the Crown Prince several times that they secretly train a private army.
But the crown prince refused.
The crown prince was also at a loss. He had neither iron weapons nor sufficient food, so how could he train troops?
The venue was actually the simplest; many of the Empress's dowry properties were located far outside the capital.
Now that we have sweet potatoes, wouldn't the food problem be easily solved?
As for ironware, we'll have to think about it some more.
The head of the village handed the exchanged silver and copper coins to the old farmer, and then relayed Song Xibai's instructions to him.
The old farmer was so excited that his hands and feet trembled. He kowtowed three times towards the backyard, clutched the purse containing the money tightly to his chest, and bowed as he left.
Yue Zhuangtou continued pacing back and forth in the house, his pace quickening until he suddenly strode outside.
This Lady Liangdi is simply His Highness's lucky star, no! His savior!
Meanwhile, Song Xibai was unaware that her status in Yue Zhuangtou's eyes had risen considerably.
She had someone buy a large basket of sweet potatoes from the tenant farmers, and then found a cook to discuss how to cook them.
The cook tried it, and whether she steamed or boiled it, the taste wasn't very good.
After thinking for a moment, Song Xibai asked the cook.
Have you ever made tofu?
The cook nodded, patting her chest with considerable pride: "My family makes tofu!"
"That's good. Let's try making these sweet potatoes into vermicelli, following the steps for making tofu."
Song Xibai said.
The cook was puzzled: "This stuff can be made into tofu? Sweet potato tofu?"
"That name is fine too, but you don't need to add brine or heat it up. Just filter and let it settle, right? You can try it."
Song Xibai had never tried making sweet potato starch before, but she had seen a video by a certain Qi who was very popular in her previous life. She vaguely remembered that the steps were to grind sweet potatoes with water, then filter them, let them stand, pour off the water, and then dry them in the sun.
When you want to eat it, mix sweet potato starch with water to make a thick paste, then use a strainer to make it into noodles or vermicelli.
Song Xibai considered herself clumsy; she could only talk about it but couldn't do it, so she decided to leave it to the professionals.
After giving his instructions, Song Xibai patted his bottom, got up, and prepared to return to the backyard.
Unexpectedly, a short while later, the Crown Prince suddenly rushed in like a gust of wind.
"Qingqing!"
The prince rushed to her, suddenly picked her up, and spun her around several times.
Song Xibai was so dizzy that she quickly grabbed his head.
"Put me down!"
The prince quickly and gently placed her on a chair.
"Qingqing, are you alright? I'm so excited. Commander Yue was right, you really are my savior! Heaven must have been unable to bear seeing me in such a state, so it sent you to my side."
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