A three-and-a-half-year-old max-level ancestor, mistakenly bound to a system to be de

Chapter 189 Great Harvest

Just as Li Tian'ao was heading back to his hometown.

In the snow, the people of Huai'an Prefecture, led by local officials and yamen runners, were enthusiastically digging sweet potatoes.

Normally, people would be least inclined to go out when it's snowing heavily.

In this kind of weather, wouldn't it be nice to stay on a warm kang (heated brick bed) and roast honeycomb briquettes?

But this time, the villagers all took the initiative to carry hoes, leave their homes, and come to the field where they had planted sweet potatoes a few months ago.

They planted these sweet potatoes under orders from the government.

It was planted on newly reclaimed land, so there's no need to use the land they now use to grow other crops.

At that time, the government officials said that sweet potatoes were easy to grow, not picky about the land, had high yields, and could fill one's stomach.

With this divine object, the people no longer had to worry about going hungry.

That's why people were required to plant it.

The people of Huai'an Prefecture, in particular, were among the first to be affected.

After all, the previous floods did not have a major impact on the people of Huai'an Prefecture.

But the continuous rains also flooded the people's fields.

The people had no harvestable grain and had to buy it with money.

But for such an impoverished family, the financial burden became even more difficult to bear.

It was at this time that sweet potatoes appeared.

High yield? Over a thousand catties per mu? Can it be grown anywhere? Is that even possible?
Even if they don't quite believe it, thinking that the emperor might have been fooled, or that it was used to deceive the common people.

But as long as there is a glimmer of hope, they believe.

So, after the order was given, they all mobilized under the organization of the government.

We can clear land if needed, and plant crops if needed.

After planting them, I didn't really take care of them much, just occasionally passing by and looking after them.

When the snow disaster struck, people stayed indoors, and even fewer people came to check on the sweet potato field.

Unexpectedly, without anyone noticing, the government announced that it was safe to dig and harvest!

When they arrived with their hoes, they saw...

Sure enough, once you brushed aside the thick layer of snow, you could see the lush, green sweet potato vines and leaves underneath, all covered in snow.

"Hey, are these sweet potato leaves considered wild vegetables? Are they edible?" These days, anything that can fill your stomach is considered precious.

Soon, someone went to ask the yamen runner.

I received a reply.

"Yes, you can eat it. The adults said that the sweet potato vines and leaves are edible."

"That's good. I'll have to pick them and cook them. Oh, these leaves are so tender."

So, before the sweet potatoes were even dug up, the people started picking the sweet potato vines.

It wasn't until the constables discovered it that they said, "Don't touch the sweet potato vines yet, everyone take your hoes and dig up the sweet potatoes first."

"The dug-up sweet potatoes are all put aside and weighed."

"Be careful when digging, don't damage the sweet potatoes."

After the officials said so, the people had no choice but to reluctantly put down the sweet potato vines, pick up their hoes, and start digging sweet potatoes.

Digging sweet potatoes is not difficult for people who work in the fields year-round.

Sure enough, after finding the right spot, I dug down with my hoe and it felt like I'd struck something.

Pull the hoe upwards forcefully.

The soil, along with the sticky stuff under the sweet potato vines, was turned upside down.

When they saw what had been brought out, everyone gasped.

"My goodness! Melons have really grown in this field!"

Under the sweet potato vines, one after another, nestled together, were bright red sweet potatoes, each larger than an adult's palm.

"Oh dear, this is a huge bunch, I can barely lift it." A man stepped forward and, with considerable effort, finally managed to lift the entire bunch of sweet potatoes.

"My goodness, there are so many! How can you pull out so many sweet potatoes from just one vine?"

Are there that many of the others too?

"Look at these, how big they are! The biggest one is as big as a head, and the smallest one is as big as my palm." "Quick, dig up the others."

As a result, the people were even more motivated, and they dug with great force, wielding their hoes!

“I have a lot of sweet potatoes on my vine. Let me count them. Wow, there are thirteen of them!”

“Look how much bigger this one is! My goodness, this one is enough for my family of three to eat.”

"I can't believe it, I haven't taken good care of this melon before, but it's growing so well."

Soon, the bunches of sweet potatoes under the vine were turned over.

As the people looked at those piles of things, their eyes welled up with tears.

There are so many, really so many.

This was the first time they had ever seen such a large harvest of grain.

This must have excited them, as they had always been short of food.

"We're starting the weighing!"

The bailiffs then called someone over to weigh it.

Soon, basket after basket of sweet potatoes were weighed.

Subsequently, the weights were reported one by one!

"Chen Dayou, sweet potato, yield 2568 jin per mu."

"Lin Xiaohe, sweet potato, yield 2345 jin per mu."

"Li Jin, sweet potatoes, yield 3021 jin per mu!"

……

Because of the large population, each household was allocated only one acre of wasteland.

Nowadays, it's easy to tell how many kilograms each household produces per mu.

The common people were immediately dumbfounded when they heard the numbers announced by the yamen runner.

"So, that many?"

"My goodness! My sweet potatoes are yielding 3000 jin per mu!" Li Jin exclaimed incredulously, his eyes filled with excitement.

Li Jin's wife patted his arm and raised her head, "It's all thanks to me taking care of her!"

Indeed, compared to other families, Li Jin's wife is quite hardworking.

After planting sweet potatoes on this wasteland, people would occasionally go and collect some dry leaves or grass, burn them, and sprinkle the residue on the ground.

"There's nothing I can do. I have a lot of kids, four big boys. They say that half-grown boys can eat their fathers out of house and home."

Li Jin and his wife had two children, both twin sons.

The two older ones are now 13, and the smaller ones are 11.

They were all growing and had a large appetite.

Li Jin's family is arguably the poorest in the village.

So, when we learned that sweet potatoes could be a staple food and had a large yield, we were very happy.

The most excited person was Li Jin's wife.

Therefore, she took the best care of this land.

Now, it seems that heaven has finally rewarded those who persevere.

Look at the sweet potatoes she dug up; they're not only big, but they also yield a lot.

"If I had known, I would have come to take care of it more often."

"It's quite a lot now, over two thousand jin."

"Yes, yes, with these two or three thousand catties of sweet potatoes, we won't have to worry about getting through the New Year."

"Waaah, if only we had these sweet potatoes a few years earlier, my mother wouldn't have starved to death."

"Yes, my youngest son was born during a famine, and he died a few days later."

"Alright everyone, now that His Majesty the Emperor has sent us these sweet potatoes, our lives are finally getting better!"

"Yes, yes, thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor!"

(End of this chapter)