allonlinenovel Chapter 275 Sweet Potato Promotion
Chapter 275 Sweet Potato Promotion
Following the local customs, Diodorus exchanged the gold, silver and jewelry he brought with him for An Guo's silver. Then he immediately ordered people to buy a few sets of An Guo's clothes.
At this time, he stood in front of the bronze mirror, looking left and right, and was very satisfied with his appearance in Anguo costume.
"This dress is quite unique, the embroidery is beautiful, and it's very comfortable to wear."
As he spoke, he touched it carefully, and the love in his eyes could not be hidden.
"When the time comes, I'll buy a few for the Queen Mother. She'll definitely like them very much." He said to himself.
After putting his hand down, he looked at himself in the mirror again. Seeing that there was nothing wrong, he turned and walked out the door.
As soon as he stepped out of the door, he was spotted by a sharp-eyed envoy.
He hurried over and took a look at Diodorus's expression and the clothes he was wearing. "I almost didn't recognize you just now. This suit suits you so well. It makes you look even more handsome and elegant."
Diodorus laughed heartily. "Really? Your Highness agrees."
The sound of their conversation soon attracted other envoys.
The envoys surrounded him and praised him from top to bottom.
Diodorus tried hard to suppress the smile on his face. After hearing enough of the compliments, he raised his hand to suppress it.
"Okay, okay, get ready, we're going out for a walk today."
"Yes, Your Highness," the envoys responded.
This time, Diodorus did not ask for the accompaniment of any official from the State of An, but went to the streets with his envoys and some followers.
On the way, Diodorus's attention was attracted by countless things stuck in straw, each made of several red fruits strung together.
He walked up to the vendor and spoke in his not-so-fluent Anguo dialect, "What is this?"
The people of the imperial city already knew the identities of this group of people.
Although they are not rich and have not read many books, they still have a sense of the overall situation.
Naturally, they had to treat An Guo's first ally warmly, but they couldn't act like they were stingy.
Now their every move may affect their opinion of Anguo.
They want to make them feel at home and make them like this place.
So, after pondering what he said for a moment, the vendor smiled widely.
Afraid that he wouldn't understand, she spoke slowly, word by word, "Your Highness, this is a candied haws. It's sour and sweet, and very delicious. Please try it."
As he spoke, the vendor took out a bunch and handed it to him.
Looking at the bright red candied haws handed to him, Diodorus swallowed his saliva, took it and took a bite. The sweet and sour taste spread in his mouth, and his eyes lit up.
"It's delicious. How much is one skewer?"
Seeing the vendor's confused face, I realized that I had excitedly spoken back to my own language.
Diodorus smiled sheepishly and repeated in his unskilled Anguo dialect, adding gestures, "How much is this per string?"
The vendor held up two fingers. "Two cents a string, Your Highness."
He paused as he took out the silver. "It's so cheap, aren't you making any money?"
The vendor nodded, "It's a small business, making money."
"That's it."
Diodorus took a look at the candied haws on the straw target and counted them. There were about thirty strings.
So he took out a tael of silver and handed it to the vendor, "I want them all."
Looking at the silver in his hand, the merchant stammered, "Your Highness, this...I can't make the change."
Diodorus waved his hand and said, "Don't bother looking for it. You guys are working hard on this."
After he finished speaking, he signaled the guards behind him to carry the target away, leaving the merchant behind to thank him non-stop.
Next, he took everyone on a wandering trip aimlessly, going wherever something caught his interest.
If you are hungry, go to whichever place smells better.
Just eat when you are hungry, no matter how many meals a day you eat.
He discovered that there was nothing bad to eat here, and all the food tasted good.
After coming here, he felt more and more that his previous life was hard.
Of course, there are a few things that he doesn’t like to eat but the ministers like to eat very much, but this cannot be blamed on the poor cooking of others, it’s just that personal tastes are different.
In the days that followed, he went out early every morning and came back after eating and drinking his fill in the evening.
I enjoy it every day and never get bored of it.
He felt that it would take at least a year to try all the delicious food in Anguo Imperial City.
Because I communicate with the Anguo people every day, I can speak Anguo dialect much more fluently.
Over time, everyone in the imperial city knew that he was an easy-going person with great wealth. He never bargained and even gave more, just like a boy who gave away money.
The people also like him more and more. It’s good to have such an ally.
While Diodorus was strolling around the imperial city carefree every day, Yunzhi in the palace was thinking about how to promote the sweet potato.
At this time, there were only Yun Zhi, Liu Anruo and Tang Qiuwan in the hall.
"Lord Tang, please tell me in detail the planting time and method of these sweet potatoes."
Tang Qiuwan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, sweet potatoes are easy to grow and are mostly planted in spring and summer. However, the growth cycle of spring potatoes is longer than that of summer potatoes, so the yield will be higher."
"As for the planting method, it's very simple. Just bury the sweet potatoes in the soil and let them grow vines. When the vines grow to a certain length, cut them into sections, retaining a few nodes in each section. Then, keep these sections at a certain distance and insert them diagonally onto the ridges where the furrows are formed."
"As for the follow-up, just water and keep it moist. It will take root and sprout quickly. Sweet potatoes are drought-tolerant and highly adaptable, and they don't require much soil. Of course, fertile and loose soil is more conducive to high yields. There's not much else to pay attention to."
"That's indeed simple." Liu Anruo nodded as he listened. "Master Tang, how many kilograms of sweet potato seeds do you need to plant the sweet potato vines needed for one acre of land?"
Tang Qiuwan thought for a moment and replied, "Prime Minister, normally, to plant the sweet potato vines needed for one acre of land, you need about 150 kilograms of sweet potato seeds to germinate. Of course, I'm talking about a single crop, so if you want to plant all the vines in one go, you'll need about kilograms."
Liu Anruo nodded and said thoughtfully, "It's incredible that you can plant an acre of land with just a little bit of seed. However, even if you use less, if you want to promote it across the country, the amount of sweet potato seeds needed is quite considerable. The sweet potatoes you brought back probably won't be enough."
Tang Qiuwan frowned and said, "Prime Minister Liu is absolutely right. The sweet potatoes we brought back this time are indeed unable to meet the needs of national promotion."
Then we should carry out pilot planting in the surrounding areas, and after the sweet potatoes have a good harvest, use these harvested sweet potatoes as seeds to gradually expand the planting area.
Or should they plant it in some places first, and then send people to the Turan Empire to buy it later.
The two of them looked at Yun Zhi who was sitting above, waiting for her decision.
Yun Zhi tapped the armrest lightly with her index finger. After a moment of contemplation, she spoke under the gaze of the two men, "Send these sweet potatoes to places with more land than fields. In previous years, they relied on growing wheat to make a living, but wheat yields less than rice, so they always go hungry. If we can grow sweet potatoes, they won't have to go hungry this year."
"As for other places, they're not in such urgent need of sweet potatoes. We'll just give them to them after we buy them back from the Turan Empire. It's only a year away anyway."
"It's time to plant sweet potatoes now. You two should arrange it as soon as possible. There must be no mistakes."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Liu Anruo and Tang Qiuwan responded in unison, then left the hall to arrange related matters.