Chapter 290 Wild Rice Breeding Failure
Minister Cui remained silent.
Given the current situation in the court, how could the emperor dare to send troops to Lingnan?
The reason why he attacked Lingnan again and again was simply to use Lingnan's military strength to deal with the Western Rong and relieve the urgent need in the capital.
Unless something changes...
*
Although he was busy preparing war supplies, Jiang Tangtang did not neglect the matter of sea rice.
After three nights of observation, the wild rice in the space finally matured. Jiang Tangtang took a handful of the harvested wild rice, peeled it, and put it in a pot to cook and taste it.
The wild rice grown in space is darker in color and tastes very good. It is stickier than ordinary rice, but not as good as glutinous rice.
Of course, it may also be because it has absorbed spiritual energy in space, so ordinary wild rice does not have such a taste.
But no matter what it tastes like, what is certain is that this wild rice can be eaten and grown.
If all the beach land can be used for planting, it will solve part of the food problem.
Jiang Tangtang divided the remaining wild rice into two parts, planted one part in the space, and sent the other part to Xiao Xian, asking him to take people to plant it in the experimental field on the tidal flat.
However, Jiang Tangtang, who had always relied on space to make planting go smoothly, encountered problems this time.
Wild rice found on the seashore works very well when grown in space.
However, when the seeds grown in space were taken out and planted on the tidal flats, problems arose.
Half of the seeds died, and the other half sprouted, but they didn't grow well.
After hearing the news, Jiang Tangtang made a special trip to the bay where the experimental field was set up.
"Farmers who are good at farming say that the rice they planted looks like it was burned, and they suspect it's because the weather is too hot."
Xiao Xian was a little distressed. He suspected that he was not suitable for growing wild rice.
Jiang Tangtang frowned as she looked at the seedlings in the field.
If seeds that are usually cultivated in space are planted in the ground, diseases and pests will be reduced and the yield will be higher.
But it doesn’t work this time. Is this any different from usual?
After carefully observing the seedlings and rotten seeds in the field, Jiang Tangtang had a bold guess in his mind.
These seeds must be unable to adapt to the special environment of the tidal flats.
So what if we simulate the environment of tidal flats when planting in space?
Jiang Tangtang couldn't wait to go back to the space to try it out, but seeing Xiao Xian's self-doubtful look, and thinking about the fact that Lu Shiyan had recently led troops out to sea and was short of manpower, she rolled her eyes and told Xiao Xian about their ship being hijacked at sea.
In this era, transportation is inconvenient and information flow is slow.
Xiao Xian didn't know what happened at sea.
He was a little shocked. He didn't expect Jiang Tangtang to tell him such an important thing.
Jiang Tangtang said, "Have you ever thought that everyone has their own areas of expertise? Perhaps that's your area of expertise. You're... not that you're not good at agriculture, but I think it's a bit of a waste of talent. Farming is not difficult to learn, but wielding a sword is something not everyone can do."
"Xiao Xian, please follow my madam's orders." Xiao Xian bowed with both hands, knelt on the ground and saluted Jiang Tangtang deeply.
"Take my seal and take Peng Yang and the others to the dock to find the general."
After Xiao Xian took his men away, Jiang Tangtang wrote another letter and asked a pigeon to deliver it to Lu Shiyan.
Jiang Tangtang temporarily settled down in the bay.
At night when no one was paying attention, she took Lili to move a lot of sea water and mud from the mudflats into the space and started conducting experiments in the space.
She set up two experimental fields, one of which used mud from the tidal flats and a small amount of sea water to grow wild rice, completely mimicking the tidal flat environment.
Another is to convert wild rice fields to seawater irrigation.
In my imagination, the wild rice in the two experimental plots grew similarly. It seemed that in space, neither the tidal flats nor the seawater irrigation had much impact on the wild rice.
We can only wait until this wave of wild rice is planted and mature, and then take it to the experimental fields in the bay for trial planting to know the final result.
While Jiang Tangtang was conducting experiments in space, farmers in the bay's crop fields were also exploring how to grow crops on the mudflats by the sea.
The farmers did not make any breakthrough in rice cultivation, but they accidentally discovered the aloe vera that Jiang Tangtang was looking for.
This wild vegetable is much easier to grow than wild rice.
The farmers cooked soup with sedge and shrimps caught from the beach and brought it to Jiang Tangtang.
"Ma'am, we don't have anything special to treat you, please don't be disgusted. This is the soup we made with some wild vegetables we found in the fields. Please try it."
A few simple farmers gave Jiang Tangtang the bowl with the most shrimps.
This year was a drought, and this was the best thing they could come up with. But instead of enjoying it themselves, they gave it to Jiang Tangtang like a treasure.
Jiang Tangtang felt heartbroken when she saw this.
She sat down, tasted the soup carefully, and commented, "It's delicious."
The farmers who brought the soup all smiled, as if receiving Jiang Tangtang's praise was a great thing.
"Madam, if you like it, I'll go catch some shrimp and cook them tomorrow," said a dark-skinned woman. "I've planted a large field of wild vegetables. In a few days, we'll have more than enough to eat."
It seems that being able to eat wild vegetables is a very happy thing.
Jiang Tangtang suppressed her sadness and said, "Then I'll bring some meat next time and make dumplings with the wild vegetables."
The woman wanted to refuse, but her throat was filled with saliva. Last year during the Spring Festival, their family had eaten dumplings.
Thanks to the kindness of the lady who took them in, gave them land to farm, and provided them with so much help, the family was fortunate enough to have a meal of dumplings during the Chinese New Year.
In the past, during the Great Zhou Dynasty, people were so busy all year round that they couldn't even have a meal of white rice during the New Year, let alone dumplings made with meat.
This year is a bad year, with severe drought everywhere.
But the woman didn't feel any pain.
At least no one in their family starved to death, and the lady was always thinking of ways to solve the problem, so life would get better eventually.
Feeling everyone's trust in her and the hope placed on her, Jiang Tangtang felt for the first time that she had a huge responsibility.
I have become more and more interested in the two new experimental fields in the space. Whenever I have free time every day, I go into the space to observe the planting of wild rice.
While Jiang Tangtang was paying close attention to the growth of wild rice, Lu Shiyan transferred Xie Xin to Lingnan to take charge, while he led his troops out to sea.
The unusual movement of Lingnan's military forces was also captured at the first opportunity by the various forces that had been keeping a close eye on Lingnan.
Minister Cui took action immediately.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
