Drive to the Tang Dynasty, where supplies are refreshed daily!

Xiao Ran pointed to the corn stalks, "These can also be used to feed cattle and horses; they can be considered fodder."

"Alright, alright, quickly weigh this and see how many kilograms it is." Li Shimin was a little impatient.

"Uncle, the current readings are a bit too watery, so they might not be very accurate," Xiao Ran reminded him.

"This isn't a big question; just knowing the general idea is enough," Li Shimin waved his hand.

You don't need all of them, just estimate a few.

The officials from the Ministry of Revenue had already set up a measuring rope and a steelyard on the edge of the field. The steelyard beam was made of sandalwood and had a warm, lustrous sheen. The weight was made of bronze and engraved with the small characters "Ministry of Revenue Calibration".

As soon as the official placed the scales on the ground, Li Shimin reached out and handed over the corn cobs in his hand: "Weigh these first, then select two medium-sized ones, and calculate them evenly."

Xiao Ran smiled and took it, "First, peel off the kernels—you have to separate the cob from the grain; the cob can't be counted in the grain."

As he spoke, he squatted down, and with his fingertips, he broke off a kernel of corn from between the coarse cloth, and the golden kernels fell "rustling" onto the coarse cloth that had been laid out.

When the little princess saw this, she also came over with her own corn, clumsily picking at the kernels with her little fingers, occasionally dropping a couple on the ground.

Li Shimin quickly bent down to pick it up, brushed off the dirt, and put it back on the cloth: "We can't waste this; it's all good grain."

Fang Xuanling and Wei Zheng also gathered around, watching Xiao Ran peel the grains.

With practiced skill, he quickly peeled all the kernels off an ear of corn, revealing the pale yellow cob inside. A few kernels were still stuck to the cob, which he then picked off with his fingernails before he was finished.

"This cob is perfect for starting a fire; it burns very well." Xiao Ran handed the cob to Li Lizhi next to him and then picked up a second corncob.

After peeling three medium-sized corn cobs, a small pile of golden kernels accumulated on the coarse cloth, like a handful of scattered gold.

The Ministry of Revenue official wrapped the cloth around the scale hook and carefully moved the weight until the scale was level. Then he looked down at the scale and said, “Your Majesty, the first one is five taels and eight mace, the second one is six taels and one mace, and the third one is five taels and nine mace. On average, the kernels of a corn cob are about five taels and a little over.

In the Tang Dynasty, one jin was sixteen liang, and one liang was also different from that in later times.

"Five taels?" Li Shimin's eyes lit up, and he gestured with his hand, "One stick is five taels, three of them are about a pound!"

He turned to Xiao Ran and asked, "How many corn plants can you plant per acre in your field?"

Xiao Ran thought for a moment, then pointed to the row spacing on the ridges of the field: "There should be about three thousand plants per mu (unit of land area). Each plant has two ears of corn, one of which is smaller, so let's say there are 4000 ears per mu, and each ear weighs five liang (unit of weight)."

The official immediately pulled out a booklet to calculate, his pen moving rapidly across the paper.

"The yield is about 1,200 jin per mu!"

Everyone gasped in shock upon hearing this. Currently, the yield of rice in the Tang Dynasty is only slightly over 100 kilograms per mu, and wheat is about 150 kilograms per mu.

The yield of millet is slightly higher, over 200 jin per mu.

But the corn alone can weigh over a thousand kilograms!

"1200 jin?!"

Cheng Yaojin's gruff voice was the first to cause an uproar, and the corn cob he was holding slammed down on the edge of the field with a "thud".

He rushed to the scale, his eyes wide as saucers: "Say it again? How many kilograms? Did I hear that right? Millet only weighs about 200 kilograms per mu, and this corn weighs 1200 kilograms? Is your scale inaccurate?"

The person weighing the grain hurriedly pointed to the scale on the scale beam: "The scale has been calibrated by the Ministry of Revenue. The grains were husked and weighed in front of everyone. Each grain weighs a little over five ounces. There are four thousand grains per mu, which adds up to twelve hundred jin. There's no mistake!"

Li Shimin didn't speak, but took two steps forward, bent down to pick up the corn cob from the ground, and repeatedly rubbed the golden kernels with his fingertips.

The texture I felt when I peeled the grains is still there; they are firm and plump, not just superficially appealing.

He looked up at the pile of corn kernels on the coarse cloth, then at Xiao Ran, his voice trembling slightly.

"Xiao Ran, is this number really correct? One plant produces two shoots, so one acre produces four thousand shoots. Is it really that many?" "Uncle, I'm just estimating based on the numbers I see right now. It's more or less."

Xiao Ran squatted down and pointed to the corn stalks next to him, "Look, the corn plants in this field are close together, it's common for one stalk to have two ears, it's just that the second one is a little smaller."

"If the farmers planted the trees more sparsely, the yield might be lower, but it would still be around a thousand catties."

These words were like a reassuring pill, bringing Fang Xuanling back to his senses.

He strode over to the official, grabbed the notebook, ran his fingertips over the numbers on the paper, checked them three times, and then looked up, his voice filled with unbelievable excitement:

"It's true! Based on the weighing just now, even if we discount it by 20%, one mu (unit of land area) would still yield 960 jin (unit of weight)!"

"This yield is equivalent to five mu of millet or six mu of rice!"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, and the booklet in his hand trembled:

“In previous years, the Guanzhong Plain suffered severe droughts, and the people had to rely on government relief to survive. With this corn, even in a bad year, a mu (unit of land area) can yield five or six hundred jin (unit of weight), and the people can have enough to eat and no longer need to flee famine!”

The wind on the ridges of the fields seemed to have calmed down, leaving only the occasional soft sound of corn kernels rolling off the coarse cloth.

The number "1,200 jin" was not just a trivial weighing result in the hearts of the people of the Tang Dynasty; it was the breaking of the shackles of "food shortage" that had bound them for half their lives.

It means that the rice bin on people's stoves will never be empty again.

It's the smiling face of a child who no longer has to gnaw on tree bark during a year of famine.

It was the surplus relief grain in the government's treasury that could hold back the panic.

It is a hot meal that can fill the stomachs of the border soldiers.

For ordinary farmers, a yield of 200 jin of millet per mu is already considered a bumper year.

A family of five needs to cultivate ten acres of land to make a living. In case of drought or flood, they have to sell their children or flee the famine.

But now, one acre of corn can yield the same harvest as five acres of millet.

The remaining land can be used to grow vegetables and fruits to earn money, or left fallow to allow the land to recover.

From now on, we won't have to worry about the leftover grains at the bottom of the grain sack during the lean season.

No longer do we have to worry about a light rain flooding the rice seedlings and causing the whole family to go hungry—this yield of thousands of kilograms per mu truly delivers the confidence of a "stable life" to the people.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, Li Shimin and others would have found it hard to believe.

The little princess next to her grabbed a corn kernel and wanted to eat it.

Xiao Ran pulled the little princess along, "Sizi, this is hard and doesn't taste good."

"Mmm, mmm~" The little princess finally put it down.

"These are all seeds. We'll take them home, dry them, and plant them all next year," Xiao Ran said.

"It's a pity there's still too little, otherwise I would really like to try some." Li Shimin picked up a corncob and sniffed it.

"These are all we have now. We can't bear to eat even one grain; we have to save them all."

Li Shimin nodded, "Keep them all. Be careful when collecting them later, and don't lose a single one."

"Xiao Ran, can I take this corn stalk with me?" Li Shimin pointed. "I'll take it back to feed the cows and horses and see if they'll eat it."

"This uncle can take it with him, but this stem is a bit stiff, so it needs to be cut into smaller pieces." (End of Chapter)