Before long, Li Guang led a large contingent of men to arrive in a grand procession. The villagers immediately set off firecrackers and beat drums to welcome Li Guang's triumphant return.
After the welcoming ceremony, Li Guang went to the military camp, arranged his affairs, and then hurriedly returned to the farm.
It had been more than a month since Li Guang had last seen Meng Yaoyao. When Li Guang returned to the village just now, Meng Yaoyao also came out of the village to greet him. She stood among the villagers and did not come out to meet Li Guang.
She knew that Li Guang would return soon after arriving at the military camp, so she didn't go to the camp and went straight back to the farm.
At this moment, Xiao Hei and Yu Hong were also standing at the entrance of the farm. They knew that Li Guang would be going home soon.
After a few peaceful days at the farm, Li Guang began to manage the farm affairs. He first went to the fields to check on the growth of the sweet potatoes.
The weather is getting cooler day by day, and it's time to harvest sweet potatoes.
This year, Shuixian Village and several surrounding villages planted a large amount of sweet potatoes. After keeping some for themselves, the villagers will sell most of them.
Since making baijiu (Chinese liquor) requires a large quantity of sweet potatoes as raw materials, Zhao Xian will purchase a large quantity of sweet potatoes. This is not a small amount, and if not stored properly, they can easily spoil, resulting in significant losses.
Digging cellars to store them seems a bit impractical; so many sweet potatoes can't be stored in just a few cellars.
Li Guang thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a good solution, so he prepared to discuss the matter with Zhao Xian.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Just as Li Guang was about to leave, Zhao Xian arrived at the farm, carrying a belt sword in his hand.
Upon seeing the sword at his waist, Li Guang immediately became happy and forgot about the sweet potatoes.
"Li Guang, the belt sword you had last time was destroyed on the battlefield, so I found another one for you. This is also a precious sword that can cut through gold and jade and slice through iron like mud."
Only you can wield such a precious sword. Ordinary people who possess such a sword cannot protect themselves and may even bring about their own demise.
"Losing that sword on the battlefield might not be a bad thing for you; who would have thought you even had such a precious sword?"
"Thank you, Brother Zhao. That belt sword is of great significance to me. Even though it's damaged, I can't bear to throw it away and still keep it with me."
Unexpectedly, Brother Zhao searched for it again. I kept that damaged belt sword at the bottom of the box as a family heirloom, to be preserved forever.
I will carry this belt sword with me at all times for self-defense.
Zhao Xian nodded, and the two talked about some other things. When Zhao Xian saw that there was nothing else to talk about, he said goodbye to Li Gao, saying that he had a lot of things to take care of.
Li Guang drew his sword from his belt and examined it carefully, growing more and more fond of it with each look.
At this moment, Li Guang felt that Zhao Xian was omnipotent. He could even obtain such a rare treasure. Li Guang had lost one on the battlefield, and Brother Zhao had found him another one.
Suddenly, Li Guang remembered the sweet potatoes; he had been so happy that he had completely forgotten about them.
Go home now and discuss this matter with Brother Zhao to see how to resolve it.
As soon as Zhao Xian entered, Li Guang followed right in, causing Zhao Xian to be taken aback.
"Brother Zhao, there's something important I forgot to mention earlier, so I rushed back specifically for it."
"Oh, then let's sit down and talk."
After the two were seated, Li Guang spoke:
"Brother Zhao, the sweet potato harvest season is coming soon. Last year, most of the sweet potatoes were purchased by the imperial court, so the villagers didn't have many left."
But this year is different. After keeping some sweet potatoes, the villagers will sell most of them. Since we produce liquor, we will buy a lot of the villagers' sweet potatoes as raw materials for liquor production.
This year, our own sweet potato harvest will reach 15 million catties, and with the sweet potatoes purchased from other sources, the number will be even larger.
If these sweet potatoes aren't stored properly, they'll rot and spoil, resulting in huge losses. Digging cellars to store them is simply impractical. Brother Zhao, do you have any ideas on how to solve this problem?
Li Guang was very thoughtful. During this period, he used other grains to produce liquor, and did not use sweet potatoes.
With sweet potatoes about to hit the market, using them to make baijiu (Chinese liquor) would greatly reduce costs, so it's time to consider using sweet potatoes to make baijiu.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xian spoke up:
"To make baijiu from sweet potatoes, you don't use fresh sweet potatoes directly. Instead, you first wash the sweet potatoes, cut them into slices, dry them in the sun to make dried sweet potatoes, and then use the dried sweet potatoes to produce baijiu."
This year, we processed all the harvested sweet potatoes into dried sweet potatoes, which makes them much easier to preserve. As long as they stay dry, they can be stored for several years without any problems.
"We can have the villagers process the sweet potatoes into dried sweet potatoes, and we'll buy the dried sweet potatoes directly. This will save us a lot of trouble, and we won't have to worry about the sweet potatoes spoiling due to improper storage."
"So that's how it is. It seems my worries were unnecessary," Li Guang said with a smile.
"Of course, we also want to develop other foods made from sweet potatoes, which taste much better than plain sweet potatoes."
“Sweet potatoes can be used to develop other food products, Brother Zhao, tell me about them quickly.” Li Guang immediately became interested.
Their conversation attracted the attention of others, who also wanted to know what other foods sweet potatoes could be made into besides being eaten as a meal.
Seeing that a large crowd had suddenly gathered around him, Zhao Xian became interested and spoke up:
"First of all, sweet potatoes can be made into starch, which is different from wheat flour and rice flour, and can be processed into a variety of delicacies."
You've all eaten maltose, right? Maltose made from sweet potatoes has a unique flavor and is very delicious.
In addition, we can make sweet potato puree, and sweet potato puree can be used to make all kinds of snacks, the list of which is endless.
Okay, after the sweet potato harvest is complete, I'll use them to make some delicious food for you. I guarantee you'll like it.
If we find these sweet potato-based delicacies appealing, we can produce them in large quantities and market them, thus enriching the variety of food available.
As soon as Zhao Xian finished speaking, applause rang out around him. It turned out that many girls had come to his side, and girls can't resist snacks.
"Brother Zhao, I understand. This year, in addition to producing a large amount of dried sweet potatoes, we also need to store as many sweet potatoes as possible so that we can use them when making various kinds of food," Li Guang said.
"Yes, we can make sweet potato starch in advance by turning those sweet potatoes that are not in good condition or are damaged into sweet potato starch."
This will use up a significant amount of sweet potatoes, thus reducing the pressure on sweet potato storage.
Li Guang nodded and said:
"There are 100,000 soldiers in the barracks. We can let them harvest the sweet potatoes. In this way, the sweet potatoes will be harvested very quickly."
The soldiers could also handle tasks such as processing sweet potato starch and making sweet potato chips, thus reducing the workload of the workers in the workshops.
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