The Rise of the European Emperor

How powerful are sweet potatoes? In ancient times, when no chemical fertilizers were used, this thing produced at least a dozen stones per mu. This is still the yield in the barren mountainous area. If it is replaced by mature fields in the south of the Yangtze River and carefully planted, the yield per mu can reach 20 to 30 shi, which is three to five thousand catties.

This number may not matter in modern times. However, in ancient times without chemical fertilizers and careful breeding, it was normal to produce 200 catties per mu. A yield of 300 per mu is definitely considered a good harvest. Of course, this refers to wheat. For rice, the highest yield per mu in the upper-class paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River can reach 500 jin.

Of course, the production capacity of rice per mu reaches 500 catties, as mentioned earlier in this book. In addition to the richness of the first-class paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River, there is also a large amount of phosphorus in the mud and river water caused by the corpses of fish and shrimps in the rivers and lakes of the south of the Yangtze River, which is natural phosphorus fertilizer.

Paddy rice, its plants are soaked in water for a long time. There are many rivers and lakes in the south of the Yangtze River, and there are many fish and shrimps. After the fish and shrimp die, they will precipitate phosphorus, which becomes fertilizer and water beneficial to crops.

If there is manure, pile up some plant ash (potassium fertilizer) if there is nothing to do, and soak in phosphate fertilizer water with fish and shrimp corpses for a long time, it is not to blame for the high yield of rice in the south of the Yangtze River.

But even so, the yield of 500 jin per mu was very rare in ancient times. Generally, the yield of rice per mu is only about 300 catties, and that of wheat is about 200 catties.

Therefore, things like sweet potatoes, which can easily produce hundreds of catties per mu, or even three to five thousand catties per mu, were definitely like nuclear bombs in the ancient agricultural society.

However, no matter how powerful the crops are, they may not be quickly accepted by the common people because they are new varieties from outside. And Marin stayed in the country in his previous life, and knew that there was something called "official promotion"...

How powerful is official promotion? It can allow 10,000 mu of fertile land to be planted with another strange economic crop in a short period of time, as long as the government makes great efforts.

In later generations, Marin did not rarely see some thoughtful but unreliable officials slapping their heads to make decisions, blindly instructing farmers to plant some novel crops, planting blueberries for a while, and kiwis for a while... Finally, because the market acceptance is not high, the farmers Instead, it suffered a great loss...

Still, this is modern. Moreover, what those officials promote are generally cash crops, which may not be accepted by others.

But sweet potatoes are different, this thing is food. For the ancients, it was a big deal to be able to eat enough. Unlike modern people, having enough to eat is no longer a problem, the problem is how to get rich...

If you want to make a fortune, sweet potatoes really can't meet this requirement. But if you want to be full, sweet potatoes are absolutely fine...

Most importantly, sweet potatoes are definitely the best choice in mountainous areas and barren lands in the north. For example, the Loess Plateau...

The loess of the Loess Plateau cannot grow rice and wheat.

But no matter how bad it is to grow sweet potatoes, there are yields of more than ten stones, that is, one thousand and several hundred catties.

What is the concept of more than one thousand catties per mu? In later generations, due to the large population in the countryside, a family can only be allocated a few mu of land, but because the yield of rice per mu is several hundred catties, and the yield of wheat is also about one thousand catties per mu. Therefore, although there are only a few acres of land, the family can still eat enough and sell a lot of food. As long as the yield per mu is a thousand catties, basically, only two or three mu of land can feed the whole family. Of course, if you want a house, clothes, etc., you need more production...

The amount of land of ancient people is not comparable to that of modern people. Generally speaking, no matter how poor a family is, they have to have a few acres of thin land. In the northern region, because the yield per mu is low, it is by no means a problem for a family to own more than 10 mu. Of course, most of them are thin.

But sweet potatoes don't matter, even if it is thin land, the yield per mu is more than 10 shi. If it is ten acres of land, at least ten thousand catties of sweet potatoes can be harvested! There are more than 10,000 catties of sweet potatoes, how can I starve to death? Here's the puzzle...

If the Loess Plateau was full of sweet potatoes, it would be very difficult for famine to occur in that corner of northern Shaanxi. Even at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the climate was abnormal, and there were sweet potatoes, which could withstand it. After that, Li Zicheng had nothing to do—everyone had something to eat, so the devil would rebel with you...

...

Of course, it is not that simple to make the Ming Dynasty accept sweet potatoes. At least, you have to make people like sweet potatoes. It doesn't matter whether the common people like it or not. Only when the emperor and ministers like it can this thing be promoted.

But it is not so difficult to make sweet potatoes like to eat. For example, roasted sweet potatoes, which are very popular in later generations...

This thing is very popular in later generations, and almost every city has uncles who sell roasted sweet potatoes. Moreover, the annual income of these uncles is generally tens of thousands a year, and the better ones are hundreds of thousands a year. Of course, the premise is that you are setting up a stall, not opening a shop. Otherwise, your annual profit of more than 100,000 yuan will be given to the landlord. Therefore, to sell roasted sweet potatoes, you still need to fight wits and courage with the urban management in order to save the store rent of hundreds of thousands per year. Young people can't do it, they will definitely be beaten by urban management. But the old man is different, most of the city management still have face, dare not be cruel to the old man. The few who dared to be cruel to the elderly were all on the news. As for the young man, hey, it's okay to beat you up...

Far away, roasted sweet potatoes are popular in later generations, but in fact, it is rare for people in the city to see them. In fact, in the countryside, if one acre or half an acre of sweet potatoes are planted at home, roasted sweet potatoes can make you want to vomit.

However, in this era, the people of the Ming Dynasty were almost the same as the city people of later generations, and they had rarely seen sweet potatoes. Even, never seen sweet potatoes. The taste of roasted sweet potatoes is not bad, as long as the brat Zhengde likes to eat it, and the ministers think it is good after eating it, then it has the value of promotion. What's more, the yield per mu is still so high.

...

In addition to roasted sweet potatoes, Marin also plans to come up with another powerful application of sweet potatoes - sweet potato vermicelli...

Vermicelli, also known as vermicelli, is a common food for northerners in later generations. In Northeast China, stewed pork vermicelli is the signature dish, and it can be called the main dish of Northeast China together with the sauerkraut on Cuihua.

Although Marin lived in the Jianghuai area since he was a child in his previous life, he did not eat less fans. Because the area north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huaihe River in the Qinling Mountains belongs to the confluence zone of the north and the south. Rice and glutinous rice balls in the south, flatbread noodles and vermicelli in the north are very common in the Jianghuai region. Moreover, this area is a rice-wheat rotation area. That is, wheat is planted in winter and harvested in summer. Rice is planted after harvest and harvested in autumn. There is rice and wheat, so people in this area are used to eating rice and pasta. Marin remembered that during the Chinese New Year in his previous life, dumplings and glutinous rice balls were served together at home. It is precisely because of this that after traveling to Europe, Marin was able to quickly adapt to European pasta. Otherwise, a pure southerner who is used to eating rice will be very uncomfortable in Europe where pasta is eaten.

Therefore, Marin planned to make a classic stewed pork vermicelli for Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty and several important ministers. Moreover, chili will be added, so that the emperor and important ministers of the Ming Dynasty can taste the food that will rule the Northeast hundreds of years in advance...

Of course, in addition to this Northeast way of eating, Marin also plans to recommend a way of eating southern vermicelli to the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty-duck blood vermicelli soup...

It should be noted that this is not the common duck blood vermicelli soup on the streets of later generations, but intends to use the long-simmered old duck soup as the soup base, supplemented by duck blood soup. After all, duck blood soup as a soup base is a folk way of eating. If you want to impress these Ming emperors and ministers who are used to eating delicacies from mountains and seas, it is better to improve the grade...

...

Roasted sweet potatoes, stewed pork vermicelli, and duck blood vermicelli soup, these three famous foods are sacrificed, and I don’t believe they can’t impress the emperors and ministers of Ming Dynasty. As long as they are impressed, Marin can exchange sweet potatoes for enough benefits. At the very least, we must also engage in free trade. It can't be like other countries that only pay tribute once every two years, so the profit is not enough...

Writing this chapter, I actually made myself hungry...