In fact, it’s no wonder that Su Chuang wanted to go to Kyoto as soon as he landed.
The main reason is that the price paid this time is too high. If I can’t make my money back, then all the hard work of these months will be in vain.
But if you don't try your best, how can you stand out from so many ships?
In fact, there are quite a few people who hold the same idea as Su Chuang, and there are even many of them.
Therefore, almost every month, people go to Kyoto to deliver food ingredients, and the criteria for judging are very clear. If the food ingredients are suitable for planting in most places and can have high yields, then more money will be given.
Among them, pineapples were only brought in from overseas in the past two years, and it is estimated that hot spots have already started planting.
There are also some vegetables, but overall there hasn't been much progress.
And every time I bring back food, I always experience a lot of setbacks.
Many people overseas also understand that they can give you food, but not seeds. Especially for seeds like rubber that Tianxiang Country likes to import, they will never be given and will be strictly guarded.
It’s the same reason why Tianxiang Kingdom would never take silkworm cocoons out.
There are also many people in other places. If you are given seeds, you will plant them, but what about them?
Therefore, every merchant ship owner or merchant ship worker who brought back food would go through untold hardships to bring back the seeds.
Some would even exchange the salt, sugar and silk they brought with them for bribes to local nobles and tribes. There were always some people who were willing to give them these things because of the profit they received.
They also know that the things they bring may be useless, but they all hold on to the dream of getting rich. What if?
What if this thing is powerful?
But think about it, the ship owner who was able to seize the opportunity immediately when Tianxiang Kingdom ordered the development of the shipping industry and started exports must have been quite hardworking.
Su Chuang is just one of thousands of people.
So he ran to Kyoto as soon as he got off the boat. Although it was a bit exaggerated, people in his hometown could understand it.
In late January of the fifth year of Tianwan, Su Chuang returned to Tianxiang Kingdom and immediately set out with two of his men. These two men knew best how much their boss had done for these potatoes. It was truly thrilling to talk about it.
According to the original goal, they directly chose a land where few people went. Fortunately, they had a smooth journey. They heard that there were few merchant ships going there, and they had already prepared to make a fortune.
However, Su Chuang had a new goal on the boat, so after arriving there, he began to ask what the locals ate.
When they discovered potatoes, they were ecstatic, but were stopped when they wanted to buy them.
Anyway, after going through a lot of things, bribing officials with oil and sugar, and sending over some exquisite porcelain, he was able to exchange for half a boatload of potatoes.
It is no exaggeration to say that he spent a lot of money. You should know that among all the things on this ship, only one fifth belonged to Su Chuang, and the rest were sold on his behalf for other bosses. After all, there were too many things on the ship and they were too expensive, so it was generally difficult for one person to get them all.
The four companies would take a commission from putting the goods on the ship, but they would also arrange for a few servants to watch over them.
When Su Chuang was exchanging his share of oil and sugar for these things, the four families were watching him directly, fearing that their things would also be taken away.
Anyway, now the stuff is in hand.
After docking, Su Chuang took two of his men and a cart of potatoes and headed straight for Kyoto.
The remaining potatoes were piled up in the warehouse at home, and no one dared to touch them.
In fact, Su Chuang and his two companions were extremely tired on the road. They couldn't bear it any longer and slept for two days before continuing on their journey.
Even so, when they actually arrived in Kyoto, the three men were still skin and bones, and it was not that easy to drive the goods on the road.
Although the Emperor of Tianxiang Kingdom has ordered the construction of roads in various places, it has only been a short time and the roads in many places are still in poor condition, making it too tiring to walk on them.
After all, the deficit of more than ten years will take many years to make up slowly.
The day Su Chuang arrived in Kyoto was the third day of March, which was also a good festival. Kyoto was bustling everywhere. When they entered the city, they felt like savages.
Fortunately, there are all kinds of people in Kyoto, and no one pays attention to them.
When they arrived at the special point set up by the Ministry of Households, there was a place that specialized in purchasing all kinds of novel seeds, vegetables, crops, etc.
Anyway, just hand in the item as required, and write down where you got it, whether you know its habits, etc. These things can also help increase the amount of the bounty.
Finally, the clerk said, "Don't be discouraged even if it's not worth much. The Ministry of Revenue will give you a special sign to thank you for bringing in unique ingredients."
This brand is more like a medal of honor. Just the mention of the brand is enough to make many people excited.
After all, it is a reward from the government, and few people in the world can get it.
That means those of us who work on ships would have it, right?
The finder's name, the name the finder gave the item, and the amount of the reward would also be engraved in gold.
Anyway, it is the kind of gold-plated medal that can be passed down for centuries. What's more, Su Chuang really wants it.
After handing this thing in, Su Chuang and his two men went straight to a hotel to sleep for a few days and finally made up for the sleep they had received.
After resting, I felt a little uneasy again.
They arrived in Kyoto on the third day of March and delivered the potatoes in the afternoon. Now it is the eighth day of March and there is still no news. The accommodation they reserved was correct.
Is it that the food is bad? But Su Chuang has already asked, the local poor people all eat this, and the yield is very high, it shouldn't be.
He had chosen many ingredients and finally picked this one. He thought it would be useful. As long as he found the right thing, his life would be better in the future.
Su Chuang sighed, thinking that he really shouldn't take such opportunistic approaches and should just run the ship properly.
But he actually knew what was going on. When he went to deliver the things that day, he found that there were many people in the room who came to give new and exotic plants, not to mention people from Tianxiang, there were also foreigners.
I guess there's everything else.
Su Chuang suddenly realized that it was already March and he and his friends needed to change their clothes.
Feeling that the matter was hopeless, Su Chuang took his well-rested companions to change clothes, take a good shower, and finally get ready to present themselves.
But they didn't plan to leave immediately.
Kyoto is very lively now, with flowers blooming everywhere and singing and dancing everywhere.
Starting from March, there would be singing and dancing performances outside Chaotian Gate. They were all performed by the palace music troupe, famous artists from Tianxiang Kingdom, and even foreign countries came to perform. There were new performances every day.
It is to celebrate the wedding of His Majesty and Lady Su Wan this month.
Not only that, warehouses were opened everywhere to release grain, and His Majesty even reduced agricultural and commercial taxes across the country in the name of the wedding. When this order was issued, the whole country rejoiced.
There are more celebrations like this, and some are organized spontaneously by individual families.
With such a big excitement, Su Chuang naturally wanted to stay and take a look.
Besides, even if the treasure offering failed this time, he was sincerely grateful to His Majesty and Lady Su Wan. If it weren't for the two of them, he wouldn't have been able to sail so smoothly.
Even the people living along the coast could be harmed by bandits.
Since Your Majesty has attached importance to the sea area, he has sent more than a dozen ships with cannons to patrol the area. The surrounding foreign countries were all shocked and did not dare to approach.
Even if something happened on the water, as long as a small boat was sent for help, government officials would come to help drive away the pirates.
A few years ago, they would not have dared to imagine such a day.
Everyone will naturally be grateful and know how we got our current lives.
It’s a pity that the potatoes are useless.
In fact, it’s not that potatoes are useless, but that Kyoto is too busy now. The Land Bureau under the Ministry of Revenue, which is responsible for this matter, has accumulated many novel ingredients, which are shown to the female official Su Wan on weekdays. Female official Su Wan is particularly capable, and the ingredients she values are basically very useful.
So these things are still in the queue, and under normal circumstances they would have been dealt with.
But the situation is different now. It is already the eighth day of March, and there are still seven or eight days left for His Majesty to get married with Lady Su Wan.
The female officials were naturally extremely busy, so even if she wanted to do her official business, she couldn't.
Not to mention her, His Majesty also delayed a lot of work.
The officials in the court thought that this was normal. Getting married would interfere with their normal duties. Besides, the grandness of this wedding was unprecedented in recent decades.
Many foreign nations came with generous gifts just to curry favor with Tianxiang Kingdom. It is no exaggeration to say that all nations came to pay tribute.
Many things will become more refined.
To put it bluntly, Su Chuang and his men haven't submitted their stuff yet!
Su Wan had just changed into her last set of clothes, which consisted of more than thirty pieces layered together, and the accessories made her feel like a jewelry stand.
But this outfit on the boat attracted subconscious admiration from people around.
Su Wan has a slender figure, and her oval face is painted with powder, which makes her look particularly lively. Her lips are red without any makeup, and her eyes are watery. When she looks at you, it seems that you are the only one in her eyes.
Anyone who sees her will say she is a stunning beauty.
Normally, Su Wan didn't like these jewelries. At most, she would wear the ones Xie Pei gave her. But after a while, she changed to her usual low-key hairpins out of novelty.
That's why she dressed up so suddenly at this moment, which made Wenqin and Haike around her exclaim a little.
Lady Su Wan has always been good-looking, but I didn’t expect her to be this good-looking.
She is beautiful, lively and elegant, with a relaxed look. These jeweled accessories perfectly set off her look, and only she can carry off such accessories.
It is worthy of being the department in the palace that specializes in providing clothing. In recent years, because His Majesty does not like extravagance, there are only imperial concubines and princesses in the palace, and they have never had the opportunity to play their role.
They are so enthusiastic about His Majesty's wedding this time! They wish they could use all their life's learning on Her Majesty.
Every outfit is carefully matched and every accessory is a treasure among treasures.
I guarantee that on the wedding day, the queen will be the most beautiful person!
Su Wan originally wanted to refuse, but seeing everyone in the palace getting ready, she had no choice but to shut up and just be a clothes rack!
Fortunately, Xie Pei understood her and sent someone over in advance, saying that he had official business in the afternoon, so she was finally able to get away for a while.
It was a lie that it was official business; the truth was that he wanted to help Su Wan get away.
But when Su Wan went to see Xie Pei, the makeup on her face had not been removed, which made Xie Pei stunned for a moment, and only reacted when Su Wan approached.
"What? Don't you recognize me?" Su Wan saw Xie Pei was about to wave him off, so she immediately hugged his arm and said, "No, didn't you say it was official business? What official business?"
Now that the door is closed, who knows what will come out? What are we doing in the middle of the afternoon?
But she crossed her arms so skillfully that everyone couldn't help but laugh.
Your Majesty and Lady Su Wan are in a very good relationship.
How could Xie Pei refuse Su Wan's request? He picked up a book from the table and said, "This is it."
What a coincidence, this is the list sent by the Ministry of Revenue and Land Administration.
This list is handed in every ten days. It contains all the new and interesting items sent by those below. They are drawn on the list and their habits are clearly written down when they are handed in.
One copy of this list was given to the Ministry of Revenue, one copy was given to Su Wan and Xie Pei, and another copy was kept for archives.
However, there should be nothing important to be handed in from the first to the tenth day of March this month. After all, the Ministry of Revenue and Land Administration knows better than Su Wan what kind of plants are good and what kind of food is edible.
If they don't push us, it means they have already handled it themselves.
But as Su Wan was flipping through the memorial, her hand suddenly stopped at the page about potatoes.
It not only depicts the appearance of potatoes, but also writes about the approximate continent where they were found, their habits, etc.
Potato? !
However, what made Su Wan calm down was the comments from the land bureau.
The general idea is that this thing also existed in Tianxiang Kingdom before, but it could only be grown three times. After three times, the potatoes would become poisonous and the yield would decrease. People would suffer from abdominal pain and vomiting after eating it, so it was abandoned during the reign of Emperor Yuanzong.
that's all? !
Is it that simple?!
These are indeed problems with potatoes, but overall, the advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages. As long as these problems are solved, potatoes will definitely be a magical weapon.
But their place is actually not suitable for growing potatoes, it is only suitable for places with cold weather!
Considering that the promotion of corn and tomatoes was stopped due to the sudden change of emperor, it seems understandable that potatoes, which are more complicated and difficult to grow, were abandoned?
After all, I still have to curse Huaizong. If he had a little knowledge, he would not have delayed Tianxiang Kingdom for so long.
Su Wan looked at Xie Pei with sparkling eyes. Without waiting for Xie Pei to ask, Su Wan said, "We have something big to do next."
"Yes, get married." Xie Pei raised his eyebrows.
"No, no, no, it's more important than getting married."
As soon as Su Wan finished speaking, she saw Xie Pei raise his eyebrows again, and this time his meaning was different.
"Not really. Anyway, it's very important, and getting married is also important." Su Wan explained, "As long as we study this thing thoroughly, there will be less hunger in Tianxiang Country in the future."
Admittedly, potatoes have many problems. Just like sweet potatoes, they are low in protein and mostly starch, which is not as good as rice and flour, the staple food of Tianxiang Kingdom.
But this thing can really save lives in times of famine.
It's really cheap.
Especially for people living in cold areas, growing potatoes is the most suitable crop, as it can serve as food for so many people.
Su Wan feels happy just thinking about it!
Xie Pei looked at her with a smile, and felt that Wanwan seemed to be glowing at this moment. After all, he asked the servants to go out in broad daylight.
Kiss him well at the glowing queen.
In the evening, Su Wan and Xie Pei had someone send the potatoes to the palace.
Seeing Wanwan staring at the page, Xie Pei thought for a moment and said, "My grandfather and maternal grandfather must have brought this thing and studied it for four or five years. After that, due to the turmoil in the political situation, it was sealed up. Only some are planted in the royal gardens. They are all poisonous and cannot be eaten."
"In other words, Tianxiang Country has always had this thing?" Su Wan took a deep breath.
Potatoes, these are potatoes!
Any modern person knows the significance of potatoes. This thing solved famine in most parts of that time and space.
She had been looking for it for so long, and now it was planted in the viewing area of the Royal Garden?!
However, the purpose of planting is very simple, which is to enrich local species.
Xie Pei said: "Yes, but you can't eat it."
"It's indeed not edible." Su Wan carefully read the comments of the Land Bureau again. It can be said that the Land Bureau has written it very clearly, proving that they had also conducted research at the time.
Even these studies are very comprehensive.
Even in modern times, potatoes are high-yielding, but the problems they bring are the same as what the land official said.
Land that has been used to grow potatoes is prone to breeding pests and diseases. The entire land will suffer and the quality of the land will become unbalanced.
Moreover, if the potatoes planted this year are saved for seeds and planted again next year, the second generation of potatoes will accumulate toxins, and by the third generation, they will basically be inedible. This is commonly known as potato degeneration. After degeneration, potatoes cannot contain toxins, and the yield will be reduced by 60-70 percent.
If you want to promote potatoes, you must solve these problems.
It makes sense that Tianxiang Country doesn't grow this.
In Su Wan's time and space, potatoes could only be promoted on a large scale after these problems were solved.
But others didn't know how to deal with it, but Su Wan knew a thing or two.
It may be useless in the hands of others, but in Su Wan's opinion, studying potatoes is definitely valuable.
This is truly a life saver.
For a moment, both of them were busy with this and even found someone from the Land Bureau to ask questions.
The Land Bureau also dug out old documents, which showed that they had been conducting research before, but the situation in Beijing was turbulent, so the Land Bureau stopped the research.
Researching these things would consume a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources, and even after ten or eight years of research there would be no results, so it was normal for this plan to be suspended by Huai Zong.
There was indeed no progress at the Land Bureau, and no one mentioned it afterwards.
It was because Su Chuang brought the thing over and it caught Su Wan's eye that everyone thought of this old item.
However, the opinion of the land bureau is still the same as before. Oranges grown in the south of the Huai River are oranges, while oranges grown in the north of the Huai River are tangerines. It is indeed difficult for the same thing to survive if it is placed in different places.
It's not that they are too lazy to research, but they draw conclusions based on what they know.
But Su Wan said: "This thing will definitely work, but it is not suitable for planting in Kyoto. It must be planted at high altitudes, that is, in plateaus and cold regions."
"If we grow this, the North will no longer have to worry about food."
The northern border has always been a headache for the Tianxiang Kingdom. Winter comes early and goes late there, making it very unsuitable for human habitation. However, although the grain production there is not high, the taste is exceptionally good, especially the rice from the northern border, which is more fragrant and chewy than that from other places.
But although it tastes good, the yield is indeed not high. Even in later generations, it took several generations of people to reclaim the land to achieve this result.
Today's potatoes are very suitable for growing there.
Lady official Su Wan's words were always effective. Not only did she explain the habits of this thing, she also proposed methods to reduce the toxins. This is knowledge that can be easily found in modern times, and it is even mentioned casually in many books.
But in ancient times, it was a very rare experience.
The people from the Land Bureau are good at this. They came from the evening and talked until the palace gates were locked, but they still felt unsatisfied.
Anyway, after coming out of the palace, everyone looked at Potato differently.
Why do things that seem simple to others look different for Lady Officer Su Wan?
However, Su Wan felt that she was an expert in making empty promises and she made everyone think that potatoes really had a future.
But this thing does have a future!
Think big plate chicken, think fries, think mashed potatoes, think of the high yield of this thing!
What are the difficulties!
It can definitely be overcome!
And with the advanced experience in her head, within a few years, potatoes will definitely be promoted throughout the Tianxiang Kingdom, so that more places will no longer have hunger and more people will be able to have enough food.
Finally, Xie Pei reminded her: "Please hold back. We will be married in three days."
???
How could she have forgotten about this!
Su Wan almost forgot, but Xie Pei didn't. The only thing was that he couldn't see Wan Wan in these three days.
After all, three days before the wedding, you have to go home to prepare for the wedding.
But three days later.
Three days later, the two will get married.
Thinking of this, Xie Pei's smile never faded.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
