My father-in-law is Kangxi

Chapter 1115 Nine Dragons Gathering (Second Change)
The time to speak came to the potato field.

Gao Bin and Xing Zhong had prepared farm tools and waited, including shovels for digging potatoes and willow baskets for potatoes.

Because the production needs to be measured, one mu of land was set aside.

Right now, it is evenly divided into nine grids.

Kangxi signaled his sons to divide the tools, and then he did it himself, digging out a potato seedling in the upper left corner.

Bottom a bunch of potatoes.

Others couldn't see anything, but Brother Nine and Brother Four both had bright eyes.

The potatoes grown in this land are obviously larger than the potatoes in the greenhouse, so the yield should also be higher.

Because of the good rain this year, the potatoes are not small, the big ones are as big as goose eggs, and the small ones are the size of eggs.

This harvested potato can't hold up to two catties. How many plants are there in this acre of land?
Kangxi put down his shovel, looked at his sons and said, "Just follow my method just now, dig potatoes carefully, don't hurt the potatoes, and don't drop them, the top three who dig well will be rewarded."

The crown prince replied: "Don't worry, Ama Khan, the ministers will dig well."

Kangxi nodded, and his eyes fell on the prince's boots, which were made of black gauze with a half-embroidered swastika pattern on them.

swastika...

The elder brother glanced at the prince, thinking that there was something exciting to watch.

One-ninth of an acre of land sounds like a lot of land, but it is actually not small.

It's as big as three rooms, and the prince has always been pampered, how can he dig so many potatoes?
The third elder brother endured, so he didn't laugh out loud.

This is hard work, except for the boss, he is not afraid of others, today is to keep the two and fight for the first.

When I got to the fourth elder brother, I looked at the crown prince in front, and then at the ninth elder brother on the right.

These two are afraid to show their cowardice.

Because the fifth elder brother and the seventh elder brother are not there, the eighth elder brother is next to the fourth elder brother.

Eighth Brother's face was a little stiff, and he was looking down at his shoes.

The color of the clothes is also light in hot weather. Today he is wearing tea-white clothes with a pair of old silver shoes.

As a result, it rained yesterday and the potato field was still a little wet, and now the uppers of the shoes were covered with muddy water.

Brother Nine was by the side, holding a shovel, with joy on his face and worry at other times.

The good news is that this potato is growing very well, not only because they have an acre in front of them, but there are more than a hundred acres in the side.

It is no problem for Gao Bin to keep a basket of potatoes.

What is worrying is that he has a good memory, and he can still clearly recall the situation of harvesting potatoes in the greenhouse last year. He collected 180 eight catties and four taels for half the land.

At the moment, there is a lot of land, even if it is estimated to be less, it will be more than 400 catties.

Do you have to dig it out with a spade?

too frightening?

Above him is the third elder brother, and below him is the fourteenth elder brother.

Seeing the unpredictable changes on his face, Elder Fourteen patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Ninth Brother, wrap me up, and I'll help you when I'm done here!"

Ninth elder brother was happy at first, then thought about the age of fourteenth elder brother, and could only say: "Forget it, you still have to work hard."

The fourteenth elder brother said unconvinced: "Ninth brother underestimates people, I have gained a lot of strength."

Ninth Brother did not argue with him, and glanced at Tenth Brother's direction.

Don't worry about Elder Brother Ten's strength, he should be fine.

Everyone started digging up potatoes.

The tools are simple, and the movements are also simple, but because of the need to prevent digging potatoes, everyone's speed is still very slow at the beginning.

Kangxi withdrew and looked at other fields.

Gao Bin was clever, pushed Xing Zhong's back, and pointed to the small square stool next to him.

Seeing this, Xing Zhong carried the square stool over, but instead of going forward, he came to Liang Jiugong.

Liang Jiugong glanced at him, took the square stool and went over to the front of the imperial court, wiped it clean with a handkerchief, and said, "Your Majesty, would you like to rest your feet?"

Kangxi sat down, his eyes fell on Xing Zhong and Gao Bin who were beside him.

The two of them, one old and one young, looked well-behaved. They wore coarse clothes and their faces were tanned, but they were not peasants.

Both of these two had met in the Ninth Prince's Mansion, and Kangxi also knew that the two of them were working with the fourth elder brother this year, trying to grow potatoes and corn.

Now it is like this, not to mention the credit, but the hard work.

He motioned for the two to come closer, and asked Xing Zhong: "How many seedlings are there in this mu of land, have you counted them before? What is the estimated yield?"

Xing Zhong bowed and said: "If you go back to the emperor, I will count it. There are [-] seedlings per mu, and the estimated output is [-] catties."

Kangxi nodded, pointed to the potatoes that had just been dug up and said, "I can't hold back this one when I see it coming down."

Xing Zhongdao: "This year's rain is good, and there is no shortage of irrigation in Haidian. When the dry land in Baoding comes out, that can count."

Seeing that he was neither humble nor overbearing, Kangxi was quite satisfied, and said: "At that time, I will gather all the harvests from several places and make a record together. I will look at it later."

Xing Zhong answered honestly.

Kangxi looked at Gao Bin again, looked him over, and said, "Are you just staring here these days?"

Gao Bin shook his head and said, "No, this servant was ordered to visit the village a while ago. Apart from Haidian, he also went to Tongzhou and Daxing's Zhuangzi, and Baoding Mansion also made two trips..."

Kangxi said: "Looking at the situation today, the potato harvest can't be wrong, and I probably won't try planting again."

Next year, land will be planted in Huangzhuang all over the country.

After two or three years, we have more seeds in reserve, and we have figured out all kinds of habits, and then we can promote it to the outside world.

Gao Bin nodded, his face was a little tangled.

Kangxi looked at him and said, "What's the matter? Can't bear the errand?"

Gao Bin shook his head and said, "My slave is thinking about Master Jiu's words. This corn can be directly used as food, but for potatoes, besides making flour and brewing wine, it would be great if they can also find a way to store them. Otherwise, everyone doesn't like it." kind."

Kangxi heard that the fourth elder brother mentioned milling, which didn't make much sense.

So fine.

Washing, refining, drying, baking.

Even the first three procedures are extremely cumbersome.

Then the powder made has become a small number of fine objects.

"Then have you thought of any way?"

Kangxi was a little more patient.

Gao Bin thought for a while, and said: "The easiest way is that you can't replace the food, just half a generation, slice it yourself, dry it into dried potatoes, and store it, mainly for food. If the official warehouse is rich, you can store this , it should be useful when it comes to critical times.”

Kangxi was noncommittal, but looked at the potato field.

As Xing Zhong estimated, if the yield per mu is more than [-] jin, then there should be [-] jin of dried potatoes left over.

Calculated in this way, it can indeed be used as a kind of food reserve.

The most problematic situation in local granaries is that good grain is sold out as old grain, and real old grain is released as wastage.

This is replaced by dried potatoes, how to do it?
This thing is also different from ordinary grains, as long as it is released, there will be traces to follow.

In the potato field, after the first two or three plants became unfamiliar, everyone sped up their actions.

The respective eunuchs were not idle either, and went to the field to pick up the dug potatoes and put them into baskets.

Nine princes here, just started to bring a novelty, and also counted the number of potatoes one by one.

The largest plant grew twelve potatoes, and the least seven.

but……

No more, the one who bent over and got up, got up and bent over again, his back is sore.

Sweat also came out on the forehead.

He looked down at the palm of his hand, there was no blister yet, but it was also flushed.

Brother Jiu looked at the rest, feeling a little desperate.

He looked at Yuqian, saw Kangxi called Xing Zhong and Gao Bin over, and was also happy for them.

This is not serious, but it is also glorious, showing up.

It's a pity that Xing Zhong is a servant of the household, even if he lacks rewards due to meritorious service in the future, he will still be at the eighth or ninth rank or not in the top class.

On the other hand, Gao Bin, since he wants to be released as an official, he can take this opportunity to make up six parts first, and then release it outside after being a Lang official, so that he can start as a magistrate and a magistrate.

The ninth elder brother didn't move, and the third elder brother, eighth elder brother, and fourteenth elder brother all noticed it.

The three of them looked over at the same time.

"Can't dig anymore? Then sit down and rest, and I will help you later?"

Third elder brother is kind.

It's better to be weak, he wished that his younger brothers were all delicate.

The eighth elder brother didn't speak, but it meant the same thing.

The fourteenth elder brother glanced at the third elder brother's place and couldn't help being anxious.

Not to mention comparing with others, but just being on the side of them, he can't get the first place.

The ninth elder brother said to the third elder brother: "I just remembered one thing and didn't tell my younger brother Fujin, don't be tired, keep digging."

As he spoke, he continued to dig.

But after the three of them looked away, Brother Jiu slowed down.

He still remembers the words "follow the crowd", there is no maverick.

Since the imperial father wanted to test his sons, it would be too ignorant for him to act like a waste.

You can be at the bottom of the grade, but you must have a correct attitude.

Brother Nine thought about it, his face also became serious, and he concentrated on digging up the potatoes.

Kangxi was a bystander, seeing the reactions of his sons in his eyes.

Although the prince's daily necessities are extravagant, his civil and military homework is top-notch, and it is also a time when he is in the prime of life.

Although when he first started digging potatoes, he damaged a nest of potatoes, but when he shoveled again, he had a sense of proportion.

The big brother here is not very patient, and the potatoes are dug quickly, but there are many damaged potatoes.

He was annoyed, and he would pay attention to the next few plants, but then they let go again.

Repeatedly.

Kangxi sighed in his heart, his mind was not turning around, and he was impatient.

When I got to the third elder brother, I looked pretty good, and the number dug up was not less than the number of the prince and the elder brother, but what happened to the eyes, I wish I could dig one, so I had to pay attention to the progress of the prince and the elder brother .

Although what he was holding in his hand was a farm tool, not a sharp weapon, it was dangerous to be distracted like this.

Kangxi frowned, but didn't mean to remind.

Some bitterness, always have to eat to long memory.

Most of the faults of the third elder brother are "competitive".

It's good to learn a lesson.

Arriving at the fourth elder brother's place, he seems to be more proficient in his movements than the other princes, because he has used farm tools.

Looking at the appearance of the fourth elder brother, the potatoes were also dug very seriously.

But isn't it too serious?

I dug carefully, not a single potato was hurt, and all the soil stained on it was scraped off.

This movement is a little slow.

The fourth elder brother pursed his lips to let his breathing be gentle.

He was the same as Brother Nine, apart from being happy, he was also worried.

He didn't dare to go fast, he was afraid that he would not have enough strength, and he would not be able to dig this much ground...

(End of this chapter)