Upon hearing this, Li Guang suddenly stood up, his face full of excitement.
"Does this food have seeds? Can it be grown here? With such a high yield, there will be no more famine here in the future."
"This crop is called 'yangyu' overseas, and 'tudou' by people in Southeast Asia. It has no seeds."
Li Guang was disappointed, and Zhao Xian couldn't help but laugh when he saw this.
"Although potatoes don't have seeds, they are very easy to grow. Before planting, potatoes will grow many buds. You can cut them into several pieces, and each piece only needs one or two buds."
Plant it in the soil, and it will sprout and grow into a new plant. It only takes three or four months to harvest a large amount of potatoes.
Potatoes are usually harvested during the lean season and can be stored for a long time. If they could be planted on a large scale, they could indeed help eliminate famine.
"Great! Where can I get potato seedlings now? I want to plant potatoes."
"I had someone bring two baskets of potatoes from Southeast Asia. Now that it's winter, we can plant them when it warms up in the spring, and they can be harvested in May or June."
However, growing potatoes requires a lot of seedlings, and these two large baskets of potatoes can only be planted on a few acres of land.
To allow for large-scale planting, we must wait another year and first cultivate a large number of seedlings before we can promote it.
"I want to see the potato seedlings," Li Guang said with a joyful expression, unable to wait any longer.
“They’re in the baskets. Go and see the real potatoes.” After saying that, Zhao Xian pointed to two large bamboo baskets in the corner, which were full of potatoes.
These are potato seedlings that Zhao Xian bought from the system. They are a bit different from the potatoes used for vegetables. These potatoes are of very good quality, each about the size of a fist, and they have already started to sprout.
Li Guang picked up a potato and examined it carefully. One or two potatoes this big would surely be enough to fill one's stomach. If this crop were to be promoted throughout the Northern Dynasty, every household would have a large stock of potatoes, and there would be no need to worry about famine.
"Li Guang, do you see the buds on the potatoes? Each potato has five or six buds, and some have more than ten. We can cut the potatoes open and plant them. There's no problem planting several acres of land with so many potato seedlings."
These potatoes, once mature, can yield tens of thousands of kilograms. If all of them are used as seedlings, they can be planted on a large scale.
"Then let's do it this way. After spring, I plan to carefully cultivate seedlings and strive to promote potatoes nationwide within two or three years," Li Guang said excitedly.
“My friend will be going to Southeast Asia soon, and I’ll ask him to bring some more over. That will speed up the promotion of potato cultivation.”
"That's great, thank you, Brother Zhao." Li Guang became excited again.
"Take the potatoes to the farm later and leave them there. Don't touch them yet. You can cut them up when it's time to plant them."
Also, please accept this potato carved from stone; it's very meaningful.
Li Guang knew the artwork was very valuable and was a little embarrassed to accept it, but he really liked the stone potato, so he didn't refuse.
"Thank you, Brother Zhao, then I'll accept it."
A few days later, the landlord Liu and his wife finally arrived at Narcissus Village, and Wufang Academy opened for the start of the new semester.
On the first day of school, the academy was bustling with activity. People from the whole village came to attend. This was a big event for Shuixian Village, and many villagers sent their children to study there on this day.
The villagers knew that two teachers had come to the academy. They were both invited from the capital and were very knowledgeable. They believed that if their children studied here, they would have no problem passing the imperial examinations and becoming scholars or even officials, bringing honor to their ancestors.
“I heard that Mr. Fang is also at the academy. We can’t let him teach our children. They’ll be ruined if they fall into his hands.” Some people began to worry.
"Don't worry, Mr. Fang only teaches calligraphy to the children at the academy, he doesn't teach academic subjects, so he won't mislead the students."
"Then I'm relieved. However, Mr. Fang's calligraphy is quite good. Look at the four characters on the gate of the academy, they were written by him. They are very well written, and even some of today's calligraphy masters are no better than this."
Everyone looked up at the four large characters on the plaque above the gate: Wufang Academy.
Ruan Fang was overjoyed. On the first day of school, more than fifty children from the village came to register, and she estimated that the number would soon exceed one hundred.
After more than two months of construction, the basic infrastructure of the Shuixian Village market has been completed.
Since there was no reinforced concrete in ancient times, the houses built were not tall. The storefronts facing the street were only one or two stories high, while restaurants and inns were a bit taller, but at most three stories.
These buildings are mostly made of wooden planks, which requires a lot of timber. For a time, the timber business in the village was booming, and timber merchants from other places came to do business, hoping to get a share of the profits.
A booming real estate business will drive the development of other industries; this is true in modern times, and it was also true in ancient times.
As more and more people from other places come to the village to do business, they also need to spend money in the village.
So the villagers brought out their own goods to sell. Although the stalls in the market were not yet fully built, people were already buying and selling there.
Zhao Xian has already increased the production of soap to 5,000 pieces per day, reaching the limit of his production capacity. In order to expand the variety of washing products, Zhao Xian has also developed a variety of washing products such as soap, shampoo, laundry detergent and dish soap.
These products are very popular and have attracted a large number of merchants to come and buy them wholesale. Some villagers also buy directly from Zhao Xian's workshop and then sell them at retail, with very good results.
Villagers from several surrounding villages began coming to Shuixian Village for the market. Although the village's market was not yet completed, a free market had already taken shape.
This situation was completely unexpected by the village head and Zhao Xian. They had anticipated that it would take some time for the market to gain traction after its completion, but the market had already taken off ahead of schedule.
This was fantastic news, and the village head was overjoyed. That day, he came to find Zhao Xian again to discuss some matters.
"The Chinese New Year is just around the corner. According to the construction progress of the farmers' market, it is estimated that it will be completed in another month. That will coincide with the Chinese New Year, which doesn't seem like a good time."
Zhao Xian had only been in this world for a short time and didn't know how people in ancient times celebrated the New Year. He didn't understand why the village head said it was bad for the market to be completed during the New Year.
The village head explained, "Isn't it obvious? According to the customs of the Lunar New Year, from the first day of the Lunar New Year, people do nothing but eat and play. During this period, people don't work."
This situation will continue until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, meaning that for at least half a month after our market is built, nothing can be done.
The village head's words gave Zhao Xian a glimmer of hope. He believed that this year's situation was special, and as long as it was managed well, the market in Shuixian Village would immediately become popular and make the village famous overnight.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
