“Sweet potato?” Ma Yilong, who was chewing a corn in the pavilion, thought for a moment and said, “I’ve never heard of this. Judging from the name, it seems to be from the same source as corn?”

"That's right." Zhao Hao nodded and smiled, "These two crops, as well as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, sunflowers, tobacco... and so on, were all brought by the Westerners from America."

"So many?" Ma Yilong could not help but be mesmerized when he heard Master Zhao introducing these colorful exotic crops one by one, just like a new comer in the brothel who went limp all over after hearing the names of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai.

"Let's just talk about sweet potatoes. They are sweet and sticky, delicious and filling. They can be eaten as a staple food when steamed." Zhao Hao was much more confident when he mentioned this. "They are also not picky about the land. The best fields can produce 10,000 catties per mu, the middle fields can produce 7,000 to 8,000 catties per mu, and the worst fields can produce 4,000 to 5,000 catties per mu!"

"Ahem... ahem..." Ma Yilong almost stabbed the corn cob into his throat. His eyes widened as he asked, "How can such a magical thing exist in the world? Then ordinary people will never have to suffer from hunger again?"

"Who says it's not?" Zhao Hao nodded and continued to boast: "There are also potatoes. The yield per mu is at least 2,000 kilograms, which can also be used as a staple food!"

The so-called "Kangxi and Qianlong prosperous era" in later generations was actually supported by these three brothers, so it was also called the "sweet potato prosperous era of eating bran and diarrhea", which completely dispelled the Europeans' thousand-year-old worship of Chinese civilization.

“Okay!” Ma Yilong was finally convinced by Zhao Hao. He slapped the table excitedly and said, “Bring those sweet potatoes and potatoes. I’ll go to Kunshan with you!”

"This..." Young Master Zhao said awkwardly, "I have seen and eaten these two things, but I have never grown them..."

"Why?" Ma Yilong was stunned.

"Because the red-haired devils are too cunning, they hide the delicious and high-yielding sweet potatoes and potatoes like treasures and do not allow them to be passed on to others. They only pay tribute to the Emperor of Ming Dynasty with corn, which has the best appearance but the yield is not good enough." Zhao Hao sighed.

"Then where did you see him?" Ma Yilong asked, "Haojingao?"

Zhao Hao liked this kind of imagination expert, and immediately nodded and said, "Yes, it is Haojingao."

He then made up a fantastic trip to Macau based on the historical data in his mind, which stunned Ma Yilong and his students.

Zhao Hao told Ma Yilong that the crops he mentioned were already in the hands of the Portuguese, but they were very precious and refused to disclose the seeds.

However, I have already thought of a solution. I believe that in a few years, I will be able to give all the seeds back to Mr. Menghe to plant.

He also told Ma Yilong that the out-of-season vegetables on the table were grown in a glass greenhouse built on Xishan Island after he mastered the method of making Western glass.

Zhao Hao also emphasized how Westerners kept the glass production process secret.

In a subtle way, Ma Yilong had the impression that if Mr. Zhao could handle such a highly confidential and complex process as glass, then it would be no problem for him to get something as simple as seeds that could not be kept secret.

But what Lao Ma didn't know was that there were no seeds of these crops in Macau. They were brought to Luzon by the Spanish, and then gradually introduced to China during the Wanli period...

However, it is true that the Spanish kept a close eye on these things. Especially sweet potatoes, anyone who dared to take them out of the country would be beheaded. An overseas Chinese named Chen Zhenlong twisted the sweet potato vines into a water-absorbing rope and smuggled them back to the Ming Dynasty to present to Jin Xuezeng, the then governor of Fujian.

Of course, this happened more than 20 years later, and Xiao Jin was still serving as the county magistrate on Chongming Island. The Spaniards had just arrived in Luzon and had not yet established a firm foothold...

But this did not affect Zhao Hao's promises to Ma Yilong, and he finally persuaded the old man to give him a few years.

However, Ma Yilong's idea was actually to continue living in Liyang and running the academy, and only go to Kunshan for a few months every year to provide guidance.

Zhao Hao pretended not to understand and asked Secretary Ma to take out a map and introduce to Ma Yilong how Kunkaisi's 600,000-acre farm was planned and produced.

"This is only the first phase!" Young Master Zhao pointed out Jiangshan and said with high spirits: "Pudong still has one million acres, and Chongming also has one million acres. These lands must be developed in the same way!"

After that, he sighed and said, "But the biggest problem now is that the farm managers and agricultural technicians are of low level and few in number. Not only can they not master the technology of double-season rice, but they also don't have enough grasp of various agricultural technologies!"

"How can that be possible!" Ma Yilong got anxious when he heard this. Hearing that so much land was going to be wasted, his heart was broken. With a red neck, he said to Zhao Hao: "You know what? If we take good care of this land, we can get twice the result with half the effort. If we don't take good care of it, we will get half the result with twice the effort. The yield can be several times worse!"

"So exaggerated?" Zhao Hao asked in astonishment, "Then if Mr. Menghe is in charge, how much can one acre of land produce?"

"That depends on the degree of cooperation of the people..." Ma Yilong sighed. His prestige in Liyang is already high enough, but the scattered family production mode of the people and their limited acceptance capacity have destined him to be unable to directly command them to act in a unified manner. He can only give guidance. How much they can listen to depends entirely on the individual understanding of the farmers.

In this way, he was able to increase the annual output of Liyang by one stone per mu! To others, this was already a miracle. But Ma Yilong was very dissatisfied.

Because the average annual yield of the several hundred mu of land in his Wuben Academy was eight shi, which was two shi higher than that in the county. This was also the result of many students not knowing how to tend the land or being lazy.

The land that Ma Yilong personally served produced more than ten shi of rice per year, and his favorite disciples, such as Shi Jizhi, could also produce nine shi of rice.

He had a strong desire to see if he could replicate the high productivity of Wuben College if strict management was adopted uniformly.

If you can't, what you pursue is meaningless.

On the contrary, you will die without regrets.

So when Ma Yilong heard about the management structure and reward and punishment system of Zhao Hao Farm, he couldn't sit still.

Go to Kunshan! It is your best testing ground!

“I can’t say more, but I can guarantee three stones for early rice and four stones for late rice.” Ma Yilong said firmly.

"That year it was seven shi..." Young Master Zhao was so shocked that his chopsticks fell on the table.

If 600,000 acres of land are planted with two crops of rice, 4.2 million shi can be harvested in one year!

Of course, half of the land is used to plant mulberry trees and cotton... because the profits from these two cash crops are twice as much as those from growing grain.

At first, Zhao Hao had no intention of making a profit from growing crops. He was counting on the profits from mulberry and cotton.

But with Ma Yilong's guarantee, he could make a fortune just by growing crops... Bah, no, I'm not doing this for the sake of getting rich.

"It's just that." However, Shennong had a lot of concerns. He looked at his academy and the students who were carrying hoes and preparing to go to the fields. He was worried and asked, "What should I do with these students?"

"Of course we'll go together!" Young Master Zhao had the idea of ​​packing up and taking them away, and laughed, "Move Wuben Academy to Kunshan, expand its scale, and train batches of agricultural technicians! We can also send them back to Liyang to guide farmers out of poverty."

"In addition to guiding agriculture, Mr. Menghe can also use the power of the research center to conduct agricultural research. If there are results in agricultural research, they can be tested in Jiangnan Company first. If successful, they can be promoted in Jiangnan and even the entire Ming Dynasty! Isn't this Mr. Menghe's ideal?"

"Yes." Ma Yilong finally had nothing to say and nodded, "Let's do it."

ps. Fourth update, please give me your monthly vote!