Going out on patrol (medium)

  The farmer hastily responded, and Zheng Kezang gave a understanding smile. The big brother didn't call out again - of course, the other party wouldn't be able to withstand it either. Instead, he asked carefully with a relatively calm attitude: "Looking at your appearance, I'm afraid you're also from the military, what's your identity?"

  "Hui Shi Sun said, 'In those years, he followed King Wang to conquer Zheng Zei Gongzi who claimed the king's title.' The farmer reported with a hint of pride. 'Later, King Wang rewarded him with twenty hectares of land, so he returned home to farm.' Upon hearing this, Zheng Kezang understood that this person was at most just a leader back then, and in the migrant town troops, he was at best just a Pai Zhang, otherwise, he should have had an official position. 'Now he is just a Pai Zhang in this local area.'"

  As expected, Zheng Kezang couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself, so he asked further: "And I'd like to ask you, are all the local leaders now former soldiers like you? How do they make a living? Do any of their children attend school?"

  The farmer replied cautiously, not daring to overstep the boundaries: "As for what Shisun said, originally there were twenty-five households in our village, all of whom were old soldiers from the military. However, some officials came and took eight households away to move to Xin Tun to serve as Pai Zhang and Jia Shou, so now only seventeen households are left. Thanks to the kindness of King Meng, each household is doing well. Chen Zongzheng established a school for Mongolians, and several children from our village have been admitted."

  Zheng Ke's eyebrows rose, and he naturally heard the subtlety in it, that there were people who had gone to school, but not everyone had gone to school yet. However, this matter was not something he could solve right now, so he didn't plan on investigating further. Instead, he asked: "Eight households have moved to Xin Tun, then who is cultivating the empty fields and lands left behind by these families?"

  Because Zheng Kezang asked non-sensitive things, despite being nervous, the card chief answered one by one: "The official reclaimed the land and planted sugarcane, and also requisitioned labor. However, sugarcane only needs to be planted, and it doesn't need to be asked too much on ordinary days. It's just that when it's time to harvest, the local card chief will send labor to help with the harvest."

  "Is that so." Zheng Kezang knew the answer but asked anyway and replied with a sentence, then immediately changed the subject back to farming: "Besides grains, what else do you plant? Do you plant mulberry trees? Do you plant sesame? What vegetables do you usually grow?"

  The farmer was stunned by Zheng Kezang's string of questions and only murmured a reply after a long while: "My family doesn't have mulberry trees, nor does our entire village. However, I heard that the neighboring village has some, but they only sell mulberry leaves and don't raise silkworms themselves."

  Silk was an extremely valuable foreign trade product in this era, although it's not as expensive as gold like before, but it has a stable demand and continuous production, so when Zheng Kezang heard that the people of Dongning didn't plant mulberry trees or raise silkworms, his face changed instantly, and his eyes scanned towards Liu Chongsheng like a sword.

  Liu Chongxi hastily came over to explain: "Shi Sun, raising silkworms is a very hard and time-consuming thing. Just feeding the silkworms every day requires more than ten times, now that tens of thousands of strong men have been drafted for the western expedition, originally it should be the men who take care of the farm work, but now it's all done by women and children, and few people can spare time."

  Zheng Kezang did not entirely accept Liu Chongxi's explanation: "That's a plausible explanation, but why didn't they plant mulberry trees either?"

  "Descendants, food." Liu Chongxi made a helpless expression. "The key is still food, General Chen ordered the change from mulberry to grain to ensure military supply, of course with the supply from Qiongzhou, it has let the people of Dongning take a breath, but the people are ignorant and the government does not encourage them, so they have little restored sericulture."

  "So, it's still Chen Gongzhi who is in charge, isn't it?" Zheng Kecang was very dissatisfied with Liu Chongxi using Chen Yonghua to suppress himself. What's the meaning of "the people are ignorant", isn't it just that those below are using administrative orders to suppress the people and make a fortune? Liu Chongxi's words were simply deceiving his superiors and fooling his inferiors. "Well, after I return this time, I will discuss with my father-in-law how to correct the mistakes of the past." Zheng Kecang's words came out, and Liu Chongxi's face seemed to have been slapped by an invisible hand, quickly turning red. Ah, he was the son-in-law, what was he doing meddling in this? Before he could even regret it, Zheng Kecang asked, "Don't you plant tung oil trees either?"

  "The castor bean is a treasure. The whole plant can be used as medicine, the bark of its stem is rich in fiber and can be used to make paper, the cake powder residue can be used as fertilizer and feed, and the extracted castor oil can be used as a laxative and is currently the best lubricant for Dongning hydraulic machinery. With such a treasure, farmers will not deliberately plant it, but usually only have a few plants in front of their houses. 'We have two at our door, planted with potatoes.'"

  Potatoes? Zheng Kezang was still puzzled as to why potatoes were not grown in the fields but rather near the houses. Liu Chongji, who saw an opportunity, hurried over to explain: "Young Master, what Dong Ning refers to as 'potatoes' are actually peanuts. This thing is often used by commoners to extract oil, and of course can also be boiled and eaten as a vegetable. In the wine shops of Chengtian Prefecture, they are also served as dried fruit."

  What the heck? Are potatoes peanuts? Zheng Kezang was a bit dizzy, just now sweet potatoes turned into yams he could still accept - after all, everyone has a "tuber" character, only the names are slightly different - but what's the relationship between potatoes and peanuts, pulling them together by force made him feel uncomfortable.

  However, Zheng Kezang did not show his depression and continued to ask with a smile: "Since there are sweet potatoes and potatoes, can Dongning also cultivate tomatoes that were introduced by the Ryukyu barbarians?"

  "Tomato?" This time it was Liu Chongxi's turn to be puzzled, he thought for a moment and asked Zheng Kecang to confirm. "Is Shisun referring to eggplant?"

  "Tomato? That's right, I remember there was another name called tomato, it should be the same as tomato."

  "The pomelo in Dongning is called 'Gan Zi Mi'. Liu Chongxi smiled and asked the farmer a few questions, and indeed the farmer replied that there were some, but the number of plantations was still small. Liu Chongxi had his own explanation for this. 'Descendants do not know, when pomelo was introduced to the Great Ming, it was originally used as an ornamental flower, only in recent years has it become a fruit and vegetable.'"

  Liu Chongxi thought he was knowledgeable, but Zheng Kecang seemed to be smiling and not smiling. In fact, Liu Chongxi knew everything he said, and what Liu Chongxi didn't know, he also knew. What is a tomato? Isn't it the prototype of Zhu Guo, which is said to have been eaten by the master of the Still Pearl Tower in the middle number, and can increase several decades of power? Of course, Zheng Kecang was not the British Encyclopedia, and there were things he didn't know, such as when this fruit, mistakenly thought to be the forbidden fruit eaten by Eve by Europeans, became a food in China. However, now it seems that there is an answer.

  After Liu Chongxi finished speaking, Zheng Kecang asked another question: "Is the potato introduced by Ryukyu also cultivated in Taiwan?"

  "What is potato?"

  Liu Chongxi still really didn't know what a potato was, and Zheng Kecang couldn't explain it either. He could only draw the shape of the potato. At this point, the farmer reminded him: "Isn't that a sweet potato?"

  Liu Chongxi suddenly realized: "That's right, it's sweet potato."

  Then Zheng Kezang asked: "Is there a kind in Dongning?"

  "There is, but few people are willing to cultivate this thing."

  Zheng Kezang was stunned upon hearing this. Wasn't it said that potatoes have a short breeding period, high yield, and even saved Ireland from the Great Famine? How could such a high-yielding crop become unpopular in Taiwan, is there some hidden reason behind it?

  Then Zheng Kezang asked the Ning surname card, and heard the other say: "Although the sweet potato is not used much after the middle of the year, it is said to be cold and not hot. If it is hot, it will grow slowly, and it needs a lot of fertilizer and water to grow well. After growing up, if you don't eat it quickly, it will sprout and rot. However, the sweet potato is not delicious when eaten, and after eating, it can't be pulled out of the stool, so in normal times, ordinary people are not willing to plant it."

  Zheng Kezang suddenly realized that he remembered, now the Little Ice Age has passed, and the average temperature in Dongning is around 24-25 degrees Celsius, which exceeds the most suitable growth temperature of potatoes at 16-22°C. The nighttime temperature is even far beyond the tuber formation temperature of 10-13°C (soil temperature 16-18°C), so the growth is slow and far inferior to the colder regions in the north.

  "The taro is not delicious, but at least it won't kill you. It's not easy to grow, but it's still better than rice and wheat in terms of shorter growth period and higher yield." Zheng Kezang knew that Taiwan would face a three-year drought in the future, and his high-yielding crops could feed most people, but he couldn't make such predictions publicly, so he could only hint at it vaguely. "Taro is a treasure, it will save lives when the time comes."

  Liu Chongxi was somewhat disbelieving, and the farmer was even more uncertain, not knowing what to think. At this time, Zheng Kechang boasted: "In fact, sweet potatoes can be used as a dish, such as vinegar-cooked or deep-fried, and can also be made into starch like potatoes. Sweet potato flour and potato flour can be used to make noodles, which is no worse than wheat flour."

  Zheng Kezang was speaking incessantly when the guard standing at the side came over to interrupt him, "Young Master, seeing that it's getting late, if you don't leave now, you might miss your lodging for the night."

  "That's it, let's get going." Zheng Kezang responded fluently and took two steps forward before turning back to the farmer, holding out his hand to a guard standing by the side to take something and stuffing it into the farmer's hands. "You've been delayed for a long time, this silver plaque is a reward for your efforts, consider it some small compensation."

  The farmer took it in his hands and turned it over, although he didn't know what it was, but seeing the silver light flashing, he knew it was a good thing. Before he could kneel down to thank him, Liu Chongzi, who was passing by, stopped beside him: "This is indeed a good thing, originally used by the Sheng Sun to reward righteous civilians, now it's cheap for you, take it and keep it as a family heirloom?"