At the beginning of the civil castle, the Ming God of War was a little panicked

Chapter 110 Sweet Potatoes and Potatoes

Zhu Qizhen was very clear about the reason, but Li Zhen and Chen Ying had doubts on their faces.

Both of these two men are from meritorious families, and they highly respected Emperor Taizong.

It seems reasonable to hear Yu Qian's words, but...

Zhu Qizhen also noticed that the expressions of these two were not quite right, so he said: "Xiangchenghou, Taininghou, if you have any ideas, please speak up!"

Li Zhen frowned and said: "Master Yu's words are indeed reasonable, but, but..."

Seeing his hesitation, Yu Qian said directly: "Mr. Xiangcheng, do you want to ask why Emperor Taizong didn't do this when he conquered Mobei?"

Li Zhen scratched her head, but said nothing.

He has doubts, but his identity does not allow him to question Emperor Taizong's decision.

Yu Qian looked indifferent, and said: "Actually, the problem we have to face is exactly the same as before, that is, the land in Mobei is barren and not suitable for cultivation."

"Whether it's Wala or Tatar, the foundation of their foothold is not in riding and shooting, but because they are too poor. They can't squeeze out even a single star of oil when they are put into the millstone. It is okay to wage war against them. Fighting in vain, wasting the power of the country and the people in vain, wasting countless money and food!"

"If a country within a country suddenly appeared in the rich and prosperous south of the Yangtze River, I can guarantee that tomorrow the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty will go crazy and want to destroy this country within a country without leaving any dregs."

"But Mobei is different. Since the Han Dynasty, the generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing have beaten the Huns on the grassland and fled. However, the land they occupy is worthless. Even if the people are moved here, they can't grow food. In the end, they had to move back to the pass. Whether it was the Huns at the beginning, or the Khitans, Jurchens, and Mongols later, new nomadic peoples continued to rise in the desert and harassed the Central Plains, which was very annoying."

Li Zhen suddenly realized, and said: "So, the key to the matter is to plant food in the desert. Once the food is planted, the people will be able to settle down. Is that what you mean?"

Yu Qian nodded and said, "That's exactly what I mean."

Chen Ying then asked: "Although Mobei is barren and not suitable for growing grain, we can follow the example of the Mongols and herd herds. They can graze here, why can't we?"

Yu Qian shook his head and said: "The so-called grazing is not just a matter of you enclosing a piece of land. If cattle and sheep want to grow fat, they must have sufficient forage. When the water and grass in one place are eaten clean, they will go to the next one." , so the Mongols are grazing and roaming around.”

"If the Han people imitated the Mongols and lived in grass and wandered around, then once they were attacked by the Oirats, they would die without a place to bury them. The Oirats would like us Han people to go out to graze like this, so they can come to plunder."

Li Zhen and Chen Ying were silent after listening.

They finally understood why the emperor used modesty so much, they really knew a lot.

Moreover, he looked at the problem very thoroughly, and every sentence he said was on the point.

Yu Qian continued: "Even if we bombard them to death first, Mobei is still the territory of the Mongols. It won't be long before a new leader will appear. This person will fight in all directions, reunify Mongolia, and then gather troops Going south. Therefore, what we have to consider now is not how to defeat Yexian, but how to occupy the desert.”

"Weichen suggested that the household department take the lead in searching for cold-resistant crops all over the world, and arrange for the people to come outside the customs to try planting. If they can successfully grow food, more and more people can be fed. If everyone gathers together, they can form a good relationship. To form a fortress, the various fortresses are connected to each other, forming horns and echoing each other, so that the land we occupy will not be retaken by the Oirats."

"Every inch of land my Ming occupies, the living space of the Oirats will be reduced by one point. Then, the production of cattle and sheep will decrease, and the population will decrease. In the end, they can only choose to surrender, and learn to settle and farm like us. Maybe three After five generations, there is no difference between them and the Han people, so the trouble in Mobei can be completely eliminated."

"well said!"

Zhu Qizhen was very excited, he slammed the table and stood up.

"From now on, I will do as you said, step by step, and fight steadily. I want to completely eliminate the troubles in Mobei!"

Yu Qian said truthfully: "What I am worried about now is whether the crops in the Central Plains can survive in Mobei. If the problem of reclamation cannot be solved, everything is just empty talk. I suggest to try highland barley, which is widely distributed in Northwest China. Maybe It can be successful."

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said: "Don't worry about growing grain, I'll figure it out!"

Isn't it just growing food in Mobei, what a joke!
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, rye...

They are all cold-resistant crops, and they are all very productive. There is no problem in promoting them in Mobei.

After the meeting, Zhu Qizhen immediately wrote a letter and handed it to Yuan Bin, asking him to send a fast horse back to the capital.

Wang Zuo, Shangshu of the household department, received the urgent report and thought that there was not enough food for the front line, but when he opened it, he was at a loss.

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, what are these?

Never heard of it...

In desperation, he called the two guards on the left and right, and then... three faces were stunned.

"The emperor said that the matter is of great importance, and we must search for it with all our strength. The two of you should quickly think of a way!"

"Lord Wang, I have never heard of it before, can beans grow in this soil?"

"That's right, I don't know what these sweet potatoes and potatoes are at my age."

Wang Zuo thought for a while and said, "Well, I'll go find other ministries and ask them to help figure out a solution. You give orders, everyone stop working and do their best to find out about sweet potatoes and potatoes. This is an imperial edict. , Missing the imperial decree, no one can afford it, understand?"

"Yes!"

Immediately afterwards, the entire household department office began to look for sweet potatoes and potatoes, and mobilized family and friends if they could not find them.Wang Zuo even offered a reward. Within three days, people in the entire capital were asking, what are sweet potatoes and potatoes?
Finally, someone provided a clue.

A smuggler named Wu Canghai was imprisoned in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. He happened to hear the jailer talk about sweet potatoes and potatoes, so he asked a few words.

The jailer was also clever, thinking that Wu Canghai had many years of experience in smuggling at sea, he was well-informed, and he might have actually seen it, so he told him the whole story.

Wu Canghai went on to say that when he was sailing overseas, he had seen a kind of food from foreigners called yam, but he didn't know if it had something to do with sweet potatoes.

The jailer only heard about it, so he didn't know what sweet potatoes and potatoes looked like, so he truthfully reported what Wu Canghai said to his chief.

However, his chief didn't understand either, so he continued to report to the higher authorities.

In this way, the report went up level by level, and finally, Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment told Wang Zuo this clue.

(End of this chapter)