The autumn was clear and the breeze was coming. Li Xiu rode on his horse and looked at the sweet potato fields on both sides of the road. He was also quite pleased. Today, he took some officials from the Ministry of Agriculture to leave Chang'an and wandered around Guanzhong. The main purpose was to inspect the growth of sweet potatoes in various places. Thanks to the blessing of the heavy rain last time, the drought in various places finally ended. These surviving sweet potatoes also grew well, and finally did not disappoint Yang Nong's wishes.?

"Mr. Concubine, further forward is within Xianyang County!" At this moment, Yang Duiti immediately came forward to report to Li Xiu that the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture were also dispatched this time. Except for a few people left behind in the Ministry of Agriculture, most of the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture were sent out, and they were divided into three teams. The team led by Li Xiu himself was responsible for inspecting the three counties of Xianyang, Jingyang and Sanyuan, and Xianyang was their first stop for inspection.

"Xianyang County, the former capital of Qin State should be in this county, right?" Li Xiu couldn't help but ask with emotion when he heard this. How courage did Qin Shihuang swallow the six kingdoms? Unfortunately, he died in his second lifetime. The capital of that year also disappeared, leaving only the name Xianyang, and was demoted to a county. I'm afraid that this was something Qin Shihuang would never have dreamed of.

"The prince-in-law said it is right. The former site of Xianyang is located in the northeast of the current Xianyang County. However, it has become a farmland. The real old city should have been buried underground!" Yang Dui also spoke at this time. Although he was not good at studying, he grew up in Guanzhong with Yang Nong since childhood. Under the influence of his knowledge, he also had a very good understanding of some of the stories in Guanzhong.

"If the prince-in-law is interested in ancient relics, you can go and see the northern plains of Xianyang. Among the eleven emperors of the Western Han Dynasty, nine of them were buried there, such as the famous Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, where his tomb is!" Just as Yang Dui finished speaking, a young and handsome official smiled and raised his head forward and said, it was Shangguan Yi, a new Jinshi this year. He was arranged by Li Xiu to do things under Yang Dui. Because of his outstanding abilities, he has become Yang Dui's main assistant.

"I have to see the northern plains of Xianyang, but before that, I should first see how the sweet potatoes grow in Xianyang County?" Li Xiu laughed when he heard this. He really didn't know that Liu Bang was buried in Xianyang. But it was not surprising that Chang'an City of the Han Dynasty was very close to Xianyang, and Xianyang could become the capital of Qin, so it was normal that he was selected as a cemetery by the emperor of the Han Dynasty.

Li Xiu and his group came in to Xianyang County with jokes. In fact, Xianyang County was not established for a long time. But after Li Yuan established the Tang Dynasty, he then divided part of Jingyang County and Shiping County to establish Xianyang County. It is under the jurisdiction of Jingji Road and has a higher status than ordinary county towns. After all, Guanzhong is the core of the Tang Dynasty, and it is not comparable to other places in terms of population or arable land.

Xianyang County was originally on the edge of Chang'an City. In fact, if it was Chang'an of Han, Xianyang was only more than ten miles away from Chang'an. Unfortunately, Chang'an of Han was destroyed due to war. Later, Yang Guang rebuilt Chang'an City, making Chang'an a little far away from Xianyang, which also took Li Xiu and the others a morning to come here.

Most of Xianyang County is plains, and the Jinghe River and Weihe River flow here, making the land here very suitable for cultivation, especially in the south of the county, there are large areas of fertile fields, and sweet potatoes are mainly planted in this area.

Shortly after Li Xiu and his friends entered Xianyang County, the local county magistrate hurried over to greet him. They had already received the news from the Ministry of Agriculture in advance. After all, Li Xiu and his friends definitely need the cooperation of local officials, and they will promote sweet potatoes and corn next year, and they also need to deal with these officials.

The county magistrate of Xianyang County is a gray old man with a surname Huang. As soon as he saw Li Xiu, he immediately introduced to them: "Please look, among all the fields in Xianyang County, about 30% of the sweet potatoes are planted. Other crops such as wheat, millet and other crops are all destroyed by the previous locust plague and drought. Fortunately, sweet potatoes are resistant to locust plague and drought. Most of the sweet potatoes have been survived. The officials heard that the yield of sweet potatoes is high and should be able to make up for the food loss this year!"

While listening to the introduction of Huang County Magistrate, Li Xiu looked at the fields of sweet potatoes in front of him. These sweet potatoes were not planted in concentration. Some fields were only half planted, while others were separated by several blank fields. This is not surprising. After all, the sweet potatoes were distributed to each household at the beginning, and farmers must plant them regardless of whether they want to.

However, sweet potatoes are new crops after all, and many people doubt the yield of sweet potatoes. Therefore, in comparison, people are more willing to plant wheat and millet, but under the mandate, they dare not not to plant them. This also led to many people growing them casually, and they were everywhere in this piece, but they did not expect that sweet potatoes would eventually become life-saving food at home.

"Huh? What are those people doing?" But just as Li Xiu looked at the sweet potato fields in front of him, he suddenly saw some people in the field in the distance carrying baskets, as if they were picking something, which made him ask strangely.

"This..." Huang County Magistrate was stunned when he saw those people. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke, "Maybe... maybe it's picking wild vegetables. After all, there is insufficient food this year, and many people need to use wild vegetables to fill their stomachs!"

It is not a glorious thing for the people under their rule to fill their hunger with wild vegetables, so the Huang County Magistrate blushed when he said this, but Li Xiu did not think anything was there. Not to mention Xianyang, some people near Chang'an also began to fill their hunger with wild vegetables, and the number was still quite small. After all, during such famine years, it would be good to have something to fill their stomachs.

At that moment, Li Xiu led people forward. Most of the people who were picking were women and elderly people. When they saw Li Xiu and others walking over in bright clothes, they were all a little afraid. Only a few children were looking at them with big round eyes open and curious.

As Li Xiu approached, he also saw clearly what these people picked, which made him frown. Then he asked an old man not far away: "Brother-in-law, what are you doing? Why are you cutting off these sweet potato vines?"

In addition to wild vegetables, Li Xiuxian also had many sweet potato vines in his basket. In fact, many of these people were holding sickles, mainly to cut sweet potato vines, which made him a little annoyed. After all, the locust plague had eaten all the sweet potato vines once before, but now it has finally grown again. Cutting it off will definitely affect the yield of sweet potatoes.

"Officials, we don't want to waste these sweet potatoes. After all, the whole family is pointing at this thing to help their lives. However, there is really no food at home, and wild vegetables are not hungry. Although this sweet potato vine is not food, it is much better than wild vegetables, and it is hungry. So now our whole family is relying on this thing to survive!" The old man replied with a bitter look on his face.

Hearing the other party's answer, Li Xiu noticed that the other party's face was yellow and his cheeks were deeply sunken. There were two children, one big and one small, behind him. They were dirty and could not tell the man or woman, but they were all big and small, and they looked similar to African children on TV in later generations.

"So that's it, but you should be careful when cutting. Try to cut the newly grown vines, don't cut the old vines!" Li Xiu was silent for a moment when he heard this, and then said, he didn't want to tell the other party that cutting the vines would affect the yield of sweet potatoes, because this is nonsense. After all, they can't even eat, so how can they care about these?

"Thank you, the old man has planted it all his life. Although he has never planted sweet potatoes before, he knows this principle. Therefore, we choose to cut sweet potato vines. Only half of each sweet potato tree is cut, and the rest is allowed to continue growing. I am still waiting to eat sweet potatoes this winter!" When the old man said the last, he couldn't help but show a look of relief. He could still have a bite of food during this famine period, which was already very content for him.

"Sweet potatoes are very delicious, especially when they are roasted by the fire, which tastes fragrant and sweet. In addition, the taste of cooking in the pot is also good, but the father-in-law still needs to keep some sweet potatoes and plant them again next year!" Li Xiu couldn't help but smile.

"That's, at the beginning of this year, the government asked us to grow sweet potatoes. Many families were unwilling to grow them. When the locust plague came, each family realized the benefits of sweet potatoes. Next year, I plan to plant all the fields I rented at home with sweet potatoes. The yield of this thing is high, and I will no longer be afraid of not having enough food!" When my father-in-law talked about sweet potatoes, he smiled with his broken front teeth.

"Haha, the yield of sweet potatoes is high, but it's not easy to preserve. It's better in winter and can be placed in the cellar, but it won't work when the weather is hot. At that time, the father-in-law can cut the sweet potatoes into slices and dry them into dried sweet potatoes, so that they can be stored like wheat for several years!" Li Xiu also smiled and also taught the other party how to preserve sweet potatoes.

It was probably because he saw that Li Xiu was not arrogant, so the father-in-law also let go of his courage and started chatting with Li Xiu. In addition to sweet potatoes, Li Xiu also inquired about the local people's living conditions this year. As a result, according to the other party, this year's locust plague and drought have made everyone's life unhappy. Taking their village as an example, except for the two little landlords, most of the people's stored food has been eaten up. Now they point to the sweet potatoes in the field to save their lives. Even the small landlords' family can only live with porridge now.

After hearing this, Li Xiu couldn't help but feel heavy. At the same time, he also understood the reason why Yang Nong worked so hard at the beginning. After all, only by promoting sweet potatoes and corn can the problem of people not having enough food.

After inspecting the growth of sweet potatoes in Xianyang County, Li Xiu and his friends went to Jingyang and Sanyuan counties again. As a result, the situation in these two counties was similar to that in Xianyang County. Although the people lived in difficult times, they tried their best to ensure the growth of sweet potatoes. They were so hungry that they were so hungry that they dug one or two sweet potatoes to make soup. Anyway, they would just starve to death.
Chapter completed!