"Brother Xuanling, I wonder what those potatoes that Zhang County man is talking about are? Why are you and the emperor so excited?" Wei Zheng pulled Xuanling to his room and asked.
"Brother Xuancheng, please forgive me. I'd better wait until the emperor comes back to tell you this in person!" Fang Xuanling answered with cupped hands.
"Are you staying here?" Wei Zheng asked curiously without leaving to see Fang Xuanling.
"Haha, if Brother Xuancheng is really curious about the potato, you might as well stay and let's go take a look with the emperor later."
"Okay, that's what I wanted to see. Let's see what magical object can make our emperor put down such a big thing and go there in person."
Wei Zheng was quite dissatisfied with Li Shimin's behavior today, but considering that Li Shimin was not like this on weekdays, he endured it and saw what made the emperor's monk Zuo Pu She Fang Xuanling so excited.
Zhang San stayed alone in the Xuanzheng Hall, watching all the civil and military officials go out. He didn't know where to go, so he walked to the entrance of the hall and happened to see Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng still standing outside the hall.
"Prime Minister, Doctor Wei, you haven't left yet?" Zhang San walked over to greet him and said.
"Mistress, Brother Xuancheng and I are staying here because we want to go to the potato fields with the emperor later. If we don't see it with our own eyes, I will feel uneasy!" Fang Xuanling said.
Wei Zheng was surprised when he saw Fang Xuanling speaking so politely and affectionately to Zhang San. Who was Fang Xuanling? He had a very high vision, but he had never heard of any young man who deserved to be treated like this by Fang Xuanling.
"Mr. Zhang County, what are potatoes? A kind of crop?" Wei Zheng guessed after hearing Fang Xuanling talk about potato fields.
"Yes, it's a new crop. The yield is not low. You'll know when you see it, Doctor Wei." Zhang San replied.
Hearing what Zhang San said, Wei Zheng was very curious. Judging from the behavior of Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling, it seemed that this crop was very different!
"Mr. Fang, Mr. Wei, you are so polite. Mr. Zhang, the emperor has called you to leave." Seeing that Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng were still there, Xu Huang quickly greeted him and said to Zhang San.
"Okay." Zhang San replied.
"We will also follow the emperor, and Eunuch Xu will lead the way!" Fang Xuanling said.
Xu Huang naturally did not dare to refuse and led the way. Then he saw Li Shimin dressed in casual clothes and holding a small shovel in his hand.
This outfit made Wei Zheng even more stunned. The emperor looked like he was going to work in the fields!
When Li Shimin saw Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng following him, he didn't care. Fang Xuanling himself knew about the existence of potatoes, and Wei Zheng was Li Shimin's right-hand man. There was nothing to avoid. Besides, the potatoes could be harvested now.
, there is no need to hide it.
Li Shimin waved his hand to stop the three of them from saluting, and said: "Fang Qing and Wei Qing are also here, just in time, let's go quickly!"
Li Shimin jumped onto the horse's back. Wei Zheng and Fang Xuanling also easily sat on the horse's back. Only Zhang San was dumbfounded.
"Well, why don't we take a carriage? I'm not very good at riding a horse!" Zhang San said weakly.
Li Shimin was speechless upon hearing this, "Xu Huang, take him with you."
So several people quickly whipped their horses and rushed to Zhangjiacun.
When he came to the potato field, Wei Zheng saw a dozen people wearing peasant costumes scattered regularly around the potato field. From their alert eyes, Wei Zheng could see that these people did not seem to be farmers.
These people were naturally the soldiers left by Li Shimin to guard the potato fields. In order not to attract attention, these people dressed up as farmers.
Seeing Li Shimin and Zhang San coming with their people, the commander of the guards quickly came over to salute and said: "Your Majesty, these potatoes are ready to be harvested. Should we start harvesting now?"
After staying in this place for two or three months, these people have long been tired of staying. If it weren't for the emperor's orders, they would have given up their jobs long ago. The good soldiers turned out to be farmers guarding the farmland.
"Zhang San, is there anything we need to pay attention to when harvesting potatoes?" Li Shimin asked.
"No need to pay attention to it, just dig it out directly. Just be careful not to smash all the potatoes.
Li Shimin was still worried and asked Zhang San to demonstrate to everyone first.
Zhang San had no choice but to grab the straw and lift it up, and instantly brought out four or five fist-sized potatoes. Fang Xuanling and Li Shimin's eyes lit up when they saw Zhang San bring the shovel brought by the soldier.
I dug into the soil a few times and dug out two or three potatoes that were bigger than before.
Li Shimin laughed loudly when he saw it and said: "Okay, you can see the whole thing at a glance. The potato yield is really amazing. You all should be careful and start working."
After speaking, Li Shimin also took action himself, and the soldiers each occupied a place and began to carefully dig potatoes.
"Brother Xuanling, is this really edible?" Wei Zheng asked, picking up the potatoes that Zhang San had just dug out.
"Of course, I have eaten it once and it tastes very good." Fang Xuanling was very happy and continued to talk to Wei Zheng: "Brother Xuancheng, with these potatoes, the people of the Tang Dynasty will no longer have to worry about hunger!"
"Really?" Wei Zheng asked in surprise. Based on his understanding of Fang Xuanling, he naturally knew that Fang Xuanling would not say such big words casually.
"Didn't you see it?" Fang Xuanling pointed at the potato field and smiled.
Wei Zheng was shocked when he saw the potatoes being dug out by the soldiers. The potato yield per acre was probably going to be incredible!
As a result, Wei Zheng quickly joined the potato digging ranks, and now he finally understood why Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling were so excited in the first place.
"Isn't this too big?" Wei Zheng was holding a potato that had just been dug out by himself in both hands. He was excited and incoherent, just because this potato was really big, weighing a full kilogram.
As a result, Wei Zheng worked harder to dig potatoes, while Zhang San was the only one who worked hard.
Seeing Wei Zheng, Li Shimin, and Fang Xuanling, they threw away the bamboo hats on their heads, rolled up their sleeves, and worked very hard, as if they had been given a shot of chicken blood. From time to time, exclamations of surprise were heard.
"As for what? Damn it, it's such a hot day, we can't dig again early tomorrow morning, or maybe in the evening!" Zhang San complained while digging potatoes.
There is strength in numbers. This potato test field is about an acre of land. It took about two hours for everyone to dig out all the potatoes. Now the soldiers are carrying the potatoes outside.
Zhang San also asked people to get measuring tools, and planned to wait and see how many kilograms of potatoes the yield per mu could reach.
Wei Zheng's face was red from the sun, but he kept grinning stupidly, touching this potato and picking up that potato, feeling almost crazy.
Although Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling had already seen potatoes, what they saw that time were only harvested potatoes, which was far less impactful than personally participating in it like today.
When Li Shimin and others saw the final measurement data, they were so shocked that they could not speak for a long time.
"Say it again? How much?" Li Shimin grabbed the guard commander and shouted excitedly.
"Back, back to the emperor, a total of 25 stones!" The commander of the guards was stared at by Li Shimin, and his heart went crazy, so he reported the number again.
In fact, when he saw this data for the first time, the guard commander did not believe it. He thought he had made a wrong measurement, so he repeated the measurement twice before finally having to believe that the data was true.
"Hahaha, Zhang San, you have done a great job, 25 stones!" Li Shimin laughed maniacally.
Wei Zheng burst into tears with excitement and murmured to himself: "A miracle, a miracle! God bless me, the Tang Dynasty!"
Fang Xuanling held a potato in one hand, patted Zhang San's shoulder hard with the other, and said only two words: "Okay!"
Zhang San was almost knocked down by Fang Xuanling, and he complained in his heart: "Damn, why do they all like to take pictures of me? Whether I grow taller in the future depends on you."
Zhang San is also very satisfied with this figure. The yield per mu is 25 shi, and one shi is about 120 kilograms. This means that this mu of land has harvested 3,000 kilograms of potatoes.
No wonder these people were so exaggerated. At this time, the wheat yield per mu was only two to three hundred kilograms, while the potato yield was more than 10 times higher.