Tang Dynasty: The pot is tied to the duck nest, the little rhinoceros is here!

"Yes, Grandpa." Li Lizhi couldn't hide her secret joy; her mother understood her best.

"Mommy, Grandpa, I, the little boy, want to go out and play with you too!" the little boy said in his childish voice.

"No, you're too naughty. What if you lose it?" Li Lizhi waved her hand.

"No, I'm a good girl," the little girl said in her childish voice.

"There are a lot of people and it's chaotic outside. What if you get kidnapped?"

Li Lizhi continued to scare them.

"Sister, don't scare me. I'm a child, not someone who's been frightened."

Although Xiao Sizi was a little worried, she still pretended to be strong and said in a childish voice.

"hehe!"

"Sister, you're a bad woman, you're trying to steal my pot!"

"Who stole your brother? Your older sister is just... doing her best as a host," Li Lizhi said coquettishly.

"Alright! Sizi, stop making trouble. Tonight you and Chengyang will sleep with your mother. Your mother hasn't seen you for several days," Empress Zhangsun said with a smile.

"Okay, sure!"

Seeing that her mother had spoken, Xiao Sizi looked at Jiang Fan with pleading eyes and said aggrievedly.

"Sizi, you're still too young to stay up late. I'll treat you to something delicious tomorrow," Jiang Fan said with a smile as he stepped forward and pinched Sizi's cheek.

"Okay, come back soon, buddy."

As soon as he heard about delicious food, Xiao Sizi's face lit up with joy.

"Let's go, Lizhi, I also want to see how the common people of the Tang Dynasty celebrate the Lantern Festival."

"Brother Fan, your outfit is too eye-catching. Lizhi will take you to change your clothes."

Then Li Lizhi helped Jiang Fan change into Tang Dynasty clothes and then left the palace.

Of course, in addition to the two of them, Li Lizhi's personal maid also accompanied them.

"Brother Fan, you can hear a lot of people talking about the fireworks we just set off."

"Brother Fan, look ahead, there are foreign merchants. Every time they come to the Tang Dynasty, they bring back all sorts of exotic things."

"~"

Once outside the palace, Li Lizhi no longer resembled the Tang Dynasty's eldest princess, but rather a girl next door.

Jiang Fan looked around and saw that, apart from the streets and alleys, there were all kinds of exquisite lanterns, such as the White Phoenix Turning Flowers and the Yellow Dragon Spitting Water, stretching as far as the eye could see.

There were also merchants from Central Asia leading camels, their camel bells jingling, carrying Persian silverware and Indian spices.

A Hu woman with blue eyes, standing in front of a roadside tavern, beckoned customers with her swirling Hu Xuan dance, drawing cheers from passersby.

There were quite a few people, surrounding the area in layers, with itinerant performers in the middle.

Jiang Fan naturally wouldn't miss it; a magician who could swallow knives and breathe fire lifted his robe...

The flames spewed from its mouth, causing children to scream in terror. The strongman holding the pole had a seven- or eight-meter-long bamboo pole propped up on his shoulder.

A toddler on a pole performs a daring one-legged stance. In the nearby teahouse...

The scholars sipped their coarse tea while playing the game of "pitch-pot."

The crisp sound of the arrow piercing the jar was accompanied by the loser's helpless, bitter smile.

Jiang Fan and Li Lizhi walked along the way, admiring lanterns, watching various performances, strolling through the night market, and solving lantern riddles.

He even visited a brothel, a place where talented men and beautiful women would compose poems and exchange verses.

As a modern person, Jiang Fan naturally couldn't lose face, so he took the opportunity to leave behind a poem, "The Night of the Fifteenth of the First Month," to show off.

The fireworks display blends seamlessly with the starry sky and the iron locks of the bridge open.

Dust followed the horse, and the bright moon followed the man.

The courtesans were all beautiful as plum blossoms, and their songs were filled with falling plum blossoms.

Jin Wu couldn't help the night, and Yu Lei Mo urged.

Then, amidst the admiring gazes of the crowd, he gracefully led Li Lizhi away.

It wasn't that Jiang Fan didn't want to continue pretending; it's just that after working for so many years, he had almost forgotten all the poetry he knew.

This is the only one that Jiang Fan remembered when he accidentally came across it while researching the Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty.

~

The next day, early in the morning, Li Shimin sent Zhang Anan to find Jiang Fan and go to the Lizheng Hall to ask him about the techniques for planting potatoes and sweet potatoes.

"Jiang Fan, how do you plant these potato seeds? How long does it take to harvest them?" Li Shimin asked.

"Just cut this piece off with a knife, plant it in the ground, and it will grow. It can be harvested in about three months!"

Jiang Fan said that the potato seeds he brought had all sprouted. He could simply cut off the sprouted potato pieces with a knife and plant them in the soil to make them grow.

"Three months? And... you can already reap the rewards? Isn't that... a bit too fast?"

Compared to wheat, potatoes have a much shorter growth cycle.

Most importantly, Li Shimin still finds it hard to believe the production figures Jiang Fan mentioned.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Anan immediately picked up the sweet potato seedlings and potato seeds, and headed outside to find a place to plant them; there was plenty of space in the palace.

Although most of them are cultivated flowers and plants, compared to high-yield crops that can fill people's stomachs, one can live without admiring the flowers.

Just as they stepped out of the Lizheng Hall, they ran into Li Lizhi and the others, who had also arrived.

"Grandpa, Brother Fan, where are you going?" Jiang Fan asked with a smile. "To plant sweet potatoes, you should come along!"

Li Lizhi nodded happily and followed Jiang Fan over.

……

Soon, the group arrived at the garden, where hundreds of flowers were in full bloom, a truly beautiful sight.

However, Li Shimin had no interest in appreciating the flowers at the moment and directly ordered people to clear out an open space.

"Jiang Fan, is this piece of land enough?"

"If it's just for experimental purposes, it's certainly enough. But with all the sweet potato seedlings and potato seeds I brought this time, it should be enough to plant over a hundred acres, right?"

"hiss--"

Upon hearing Jiang Fan's words, Li Shimin was so shocked that he gasped.

Because it looks like there are only two big bags of sweet potato seedlings and potato seeds, which doesn't seem like much, yet they can plant hundreds of acres of land.

Jiang Fan looked at the cleared land and said, "Get a shovel, turn over the soil first, and then start planting."

Li Shimin didn't waste any time and took matters into his own hands, picking up one of the few shovels in the palace and starting to turn the soil.

Seeing this, Zhang Anan tried to snatch the shovel from Li Shimin's hand:

"Your Majesty, you are of noble birth and cannot do these tasks. Let me do them for you!"

"I can do it. Go get a shovel and help me till the land..."

Seeing this, Jiang Fan couldn't help but give Li Shimin a thumbs up:

"By setting an example, you deserve to be called the strongest carbon-based life form on Earth in the seventh century."

After turning over the soil, Jiang Fan picked up the sweet potato seedlings and began planting them one by one.

Each plant is spaced 40 centimeters apart to make it easier to determine the spacing.

Jiang Fan used his own hand to measure the distance between two bundles, which was basically forty centimeters.

While planting, he explained to Li Shimin, "See, when planting these sweet potato seedlings..."

The spacing between plants must be carefully controlled; they can't be too close together, or it will affect the yield of sweet potatoes. Plant one plant about two bunches apart!

Li Shimin nodded repeatedly and began to carefully plant the sweet potato seedlings.

"Grandpa, we'll help you too..."

Li Lizhi and her sisters also came to help.

However, wearing a long skirt made things a bit inconvenient, and I haven't planted many sweet potato plants yet.

The hem of her skirt was all dirty, but even so, Li Lizhi did not complain.