A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 250 Potato King
"Wu Yi will accompany me to meet the emperor." Li Jiancheng deliberately brought Li Yi with him to show their closeness.

On the way, Jiancheng didn't care much about the riot in Zhuoying County. Even if it happened near Chang'an, what threat could a mere thousand people pose?

Zhuozhen, which later became Zhouzhi, was named after the county because the mountain bend was called Zhuo and the water bend was called Xie.

Sizhu Garden is located on the east bank of the Heihe River east of the county seat. Since the Zhou and Qin dynasties, there has been a thousand-acre bamboo garden here. Since the Han Dynasty, a special management agency has been set up. The Han Dynasty established the Bamboo Official, the Northern Wei Dynasty established the Sizhu Duwei, and the Tang Dynasty established the Sizhu Jiancheng.

The bamboos in Sizhu Garden are dense and vast, forming a bamboo sea, which is easy to hide in.

When Li Yuan started the uprising in Hedong, many troops also rose up in Guanzhong.

The Hu merchant He Panren gathered a crowd at Sizhu Garden, proclaimed himself the general manager, and quickly gathered tens of thousands of troops.

Jiancheng told Li Yi about this old story, "He Panren originally gathered tens of thousands of troops in Sizhu Garden. At that time, Sanniang was in Chang'an City. She sent Chai Shao to Taiyuan to seek refuge with His Majesty. She returned to Huxian County, spent all her family wealth to provide relief to the victims, recruited a team of several hundred people, and later sent her servant Ma Sanbao to persuade He Panren to surrender."

Li Sanniang, who had only a few hundred men under her, sent her servants to try to persuade He Panren, who had tens of thousands of men to surrender, but in the end she failed.

Although He Pan had many subordinates, he was just a Hu merchant after all. He rebelled in anger because his money and goods were looted by Sui Dynasty officials and soldiers, and he had nowhere to turn to.

Later, Li Sanniang successively recruited Li Zhongwen, Qiu Shili, Xiang Shanzhi and other troops, and united with Li Shentong's troops to capture Zhouzhi, Huxian and other cities.

This army was led by Li Sanniang, known as the Women's Army. They strictly followed orders and were not allowed to plunder. People from far and near came to join them, and the army soon reached 70,000 men.

When Li Yuan entered the pass, he sent Chai Shao to welcome his wife Li Sanniang, and the couple each led an army.

"I can't believe that someone is gathering a group of thieves in Sizhu Garden again!"

"Back then, He Panren, with 30,000 men, managed to abduct Li Gang, who was living in seclusion in Hu County, and appoint him as the Chief Secretary, but he still failed. What can Zhu Shanhai achieve with just a thousand men? Besides, it's not been a few years since then."

Li Yi had never heard of Zhu Shanhai among the heroes of the early Tang Dynasty.

I am actually quite interested in the story of Princess Pingyang Li Sanniang.

Chai Shao was a woman. When the news came that his father had started a rebellion in Hedong, the couple discussed countermeasures. Chai Shao said that he wanted to go to his father-in-law, but it was not convenient to take his wife with him.

However, Li Sanniang encouraged her husband to go to Taiyuan, saying that she could take care of herself. She turned around and returned to her estate in the countryside of Huxian County, spent her family fortune to recruit soldiers and horses. After recruiting hundreds of people, she attacked everywhere and instead attracted many larger forces. What's more amazing is that as the number of soldiers and horses increased, she was still able to command this army, and even continued to capture cities and territories, while maintaining strict discipline.

There has never been such a female general before.

Unfortunately, Li Yi is in Chang'an.

He had only met the princess' husband Chai Shao, but had never met Li Sanniang.

I heard that the princess is leading troops in Hedong.

This princess still has her own army. Like the crown prince, Li Shimin, and Li Yuanji, she has her own army and shogunate.

Follow the prince to Taiji Palace.

Officials from the Ministry of War are reporting on the rebellion of bandits in Zhuyuan, Zhouzhisi.

There is a large map in the hall.

There are more detailed maps of Zhouzhi, Sizhuyuan, etc.
Sizhu Garden is backed by Mount Zhongnan, where there is the Louguan Dao. The abbot of the Louguan Dao, Qi Hui, once provided food and fodder to Li Sanniang, and later led the Louguan Daoists to welcome Li Yuan into the pass.

Afterwards, Qi Hui was also granted the title of Jinzi Guanglu Dafu.

"Zhu Shanhai and Zhang Zihui gathered people in Heishui Valley, occupied Yishou Palace, and looted everywhere..."

Li Yuan asked, "What are the origins of Zhu Shanhai and Zhang Zihui?"

No one knows, it seems to have appeared out of nowhere.

Of course, since the Sui Dynasty, the area around Sizhuyuan has always been full of bandits. Many people fled to Nanshan to avoid taxes and labor service. People in Huxian and Zhouzhi areas also fled to the bamboo sea of Sizhuyuan.

"Let General He Panren of the Left Tunwei lead the troops to wipe out these bandits," Li Yuan appointed his generals. He Panren, a Hu merchant, had originally gathered tens of thousands of troops in Sizhuyuan, and later joined the Women's Army. He was also considered to have made contributions to the founding of the country, and now he was promoted to General He Panren of the Left Tunwei.

Sending a third-rank general to encircle and suppress a bandit group of a thousand people is a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

However, the emperor chose him because he had gathered people in Sizhu Garden before.

"Behind Sizhu Garden is Louguan Terrace. Don't let these bandits harass Louguan Road. Also, although Yishou Palace was the imperial palace of the previous dynasty, we must not let a group of bandits occupy it."

Qin Wang Li Shimin was also summoned, but he was not interested in encircling and suppressing a group of bandits.

"I have good news for you all. The auspicious golden potatoes that Wuyi planted in the greenhouse of the palace are now ripe."

The emperor attached great importance to the golden potato. When he heard that the auspicious sign was ripe, he immediately called the prince, the king of Qin and a group of meritorious officials to come.

Going to dig golden potatoes.

"I can't forget the golden potato feast Wuyi made last time. When the golden potatoes are harvested, I will ask Wuyi to make it again."

He Panren took the military order and went to mobilize troops to suppress the bandits.

The emperor didn't take it to heart anymore and led everyone straight to the palace greenhouse.

Planted in late October, these potatoes are ripe after about a hundred days.

Last time, Li Yi produced 72 kilograms of potatoes from two plants. Now the emperor wants to see how much he can harvest this time.

Royal Garden Greenhouse,

Li Yi hasn't been here for a long time.

Everything is pretty much the same as when he was in charge.
There are large vats with wooden signs hanging on them, indicating the ownership of the potatoes grown in the vats.

They all belong to a group of meritorious officials, princes and prime ministers.

Careful management for a hundred days,
The potato seedlings have withered and fallen over.

The palace supervisor Lu Kuan handed the emperor a golden shovel tied with red silk.

The emperor himself came to dig potatoes,

There was a row of pottery jars belonging to the emperor. Two imperial guards first carried out a pottery jar.

The emperor pulled away the withered seedlings and dug with a golden shovel.
The soil of potatoes that are well cared for is black, very fertile and loose.

The potato had four sprouts. The emperor dug in with his shovel and soon one golden potato after another appeared.

Lu Kuan had already brought the scale, and when potatoes were dug out one after another, all the ministers couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

There are more than a dozen large potatoes and about a dozen small ones.

After digging out all the potatoes in the vat, Lu Kuan immediately weighed them himself.

There are three or four potatoes that weigh more than one pound, three or four potatoes that weigh less than one pound, and seven or eight small potatoes.

"Sixteen golden potatoes in total, eleven pounds!"

When this number was called out, Li Yuan also laughed out loud, "Eleven kilograms from one plant? Not bad, a good harvest."

Next, the excited emperor dug five or six more vats in succession, and each vat yielded more than ten kilograms of potatoes, and one vat even yielded more than twenty kilograms.

"My dear ministers, you're itching to dig your own digs, right? Let's see who has the highest yield today!"

"Whose house is the biggest golden potato?"

The emperor finished speaking,

Everyone started digging potatoes excitedly.

Among the ministers, some were given two potatoes, some were given one, and some were divided among the Crown Prince, the King of Qin, Pei Ji, and Li Yi.

Each potato plant also had several seedlings planted.
Each family sent people to learn planting from Li Yi, and then they have been managing it here.

Give up fertilizer and take good care of it.

After about a hundred days of production, each potato is generally larger.

Li Yi was originally going to be rewarded with a nest of potatoes, but he sold them for fifteen taels of gold each, so only two were left, and in the end he made eight.

Li Yi started digging potatoes, but he was not as careful as the emperor. He just pulled out the seedlings casually and dug the soil with his hands. Soon he dug out all the potatoes.

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture was standing nearby, weighing the items on the spot with a scale and then recording the results immediately on paper.

"Twenty-four pounds!"

"The heaviest one is one pound and three ounces!"

The two clerks cried out in surprise, attracting everyone's attention.

"One pound and three ounces?" The emperor came over quickly and looked at the pile of potatoes. The potatoes weighed one pound and three ounces, and they were huge.
"This pile is all from one tank. One tank weighs 24 kilograms?"

Li Yi only dug one jar, so of course he couldn't fake it.

"This has to be the Potato King."

Last time, Li Yi had eight basins of potatoes weighing 72 kilograms, and today he had one jar weighing 24 kilograms.

Next, under everyone's attention, Li Yi continued to dig. Even the emperor took a golden shovel to dig his dig. As expected, he lived up to everyone's expectations. Next, seven cylinders,
There is no one that is less than ten kilograms per tank,

He also dug out a potato weighing one and a half jin.

The well-deserved king of potatoes.

"One hundred and eight pounds!"

Lu Kuan was a little annoyed when he saw the output of Li Yi's eight jars of potatoes.

This is no longer a matter of whether the harvest is good or not, it is simply too productive.

Let alone planting thousands of plants per acre, even planting a thousand plants would be a huge undertaking. One plant weighs more than ten kilograms, so a thousand plants weigh more than ten thousand kilograms?
Lu Kuan felt like he couldn't even count anymore.

The other ministers also hurriedly dug their own digs excitedly.
Dig, dig, dig,
Finally, weigh and count one by one,

The smallest one had a yield of seven jin, the largest one was Li Yi's jar, which yielded twenty-four jin, and the largest one weighed one jin and five liang.

There are more than 200 jars of potatoes in total.

The final harvest was 2,048 kilograms, an average of more than 8 kilograms per tank.

Li Yi's eight-cylinder engine is much more productive than the others, with an average of more than 13 kilograms of energy produced by his eight-cylinder engine.

Even the emperor suspected that Li Yi was hiding something from others and was not teaching others.

Li Yi decided to use 8 kilograms of the 108 kilograms of potatoes he harvested to prepare a potato feast for everyone.

He picked and chose for a long time.
Pick out some potatoes that are of poor quality or have poor seedlings and eat them, and save the good ones for seeds first.

"Wu Yi,

"If we plant a thousand potatoes per acre, wouldn't that mean we can harvest eight thousand kilograms per acre?" the emperor asked excitedly.

"Your Majesty, these potatoes grown in this greenhouse are carefully cultivated and have sufficient water and fertilizer. If they were grown in the field, it would be impossible to have such good soil, water and fertilizer."

Li Yuan said, "Even if we reduce it by half, we still have 4,000 jin. If we reduce it by half again, we still have 2,000 jin. We can definitely get 2,000 jin!"

"With sufficient water and fertilizer and fertile soil, 2,000 kilograms can be handled without any problem."

"Auspicious sign, truly auspicious sign. I completely believe this." Li Yuan stroked his beard and laughed. "These two thousand pounds of golden potatoes, when the weather warms up, we will plant them quickly. If they multiply ten to twenty times in one season, we will have tens of thousands of pounds."

"Let the artist draw this golden potato king weighing one jin and five liang."

Li Yi immediately understood the situation and presented the largest king potato to the emperor.

He had ninety-eight catties and eleven ounces of potatoes left.
Looking at the two hundred or so potatoes of various sizes, Li Yi wanted to sell potatoes again. Last time he sold them for fifteen taels of gold each, and he made several hundred taels of gold. Now he reduced the price to five taels of gold each, and wondered if he could still sell them.

Even if they were sold for two or three taels of gold each, if a hundred were sold, that would be two or three hundred taels of gold.

"Wuyi, all the dishes you made with golden potatoes last time must be made today, especially the mashed potatoes and French fries, they are my favorites."

Pei Ji even said with a smile that he would ask the cook at home to learn how to make golden potatoes from Li Yi.

This time the golden potatoes had a bumper harvest. Even if there was only one golden potato, we still harvested more than 30 kilograms.

(End of this chapter)