The sweet potatoes were planted in March. It was only June now, and there was still a month before they fully matured.
Seeing that Old Zhao was insistent on looking, Zhao Che led Old Zhao towards the sweet potato plantation.
Now, the sweet potatoes were only a month away from ripening. The green sweet potato leaves were covered in leaves.
"This is it!" Zhao Che pointed at the large patch of green in the field.
"This sweet potato is good stuff. Not only can it be eaten, but the sweet potato leaves and stems can also be eaten. Moreover, the taste is not bad.”Zhao Che said with a smile.
In his previous life, when Zhao Che was young, his family was poor and did not have many vegetables. His parents would often pick some sweet potato leaves to cook during the growing season of sweet potatoes.
When Zhao Che grew up, he would occasionally stir-fry some sweet potato leaves to eat.
Old Zhao ignored Zhao Che. He squatted on the ground and looked at the green patch. He was probably studying where sweet potatoes grew.
Zhao Che walked over, grabbed the sweet potato stem, and pulled it out cleanly. A bunch of stunted sweet potatoes were pulled out, along with the soil.
"It's still a month away from maturing. These things can at least grow to this size.”Zhao Che gestured with his fists at the stunted sweet potato.
Because the sweet potato was not ripe yet, the sweet potato that Zhao Che pulled out was only about the size of a thumb.
However, there were at least a dozen sweet potatoes connected to each vine. Even if they were not fully grown, they would weigh at least a catty just by pulling them out.
In fact, if it was truly ripe, the sweet potato produced from a sweet potato vine would weigh at least eight pounds.
Brother Zheng stared curiously at the stunted sweet potato in Zhao Che's hand and fell into deep thought.
As Zhao Che said, the sweet potatoes were not ripe yet. Brother Zheng could tell.
These little sweet potatoes were worlds apart from the sweet potatoes they had just eaten.
Zhao Che had also measured the size. The roasted sweet potatoes they had just eaten should be the regular size.
A dozen sweet potatoes on a vine would weigh at least ten catties when they grew up. With so many sweet potatoes on this acre of land, Zhao Che's yield of two catties per mu might be a little off, but it was probably not much different.
In fact, Brother Zheng had thought that Zhao Che was just bragging.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Zhao Che or anything else.
In this era, a yield of 2000 catties per mu was beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
Even Great Qin, which placed great importance on farming, could only produce about 200 catties of crops per mu.
According to the 100 mu system, a Qin Dynasty citizen could contribute about 20,000 catties of grain.
sounds like a lot
However, this was only an ideal situation.
20,000 catties of grain also had to take into account the weather. Moreover, this 100 mu of land was good, so in fact, the grain output that a commoner could contribute was only about 15,000 catties.
It was precisely because they valued agriculture that they understood it.
Brother Zheng could be said to be the king who understood agriculture the most among all the kings of the seven kingdoms.
In other words, Great Qin's ruler was the ruler who understood agriculture the most among the seven countries.
It was because he understood that Brother Zheng knew the difficulty of food production.
It was also because of this that when Zhao Che said that he could produce two thousand catties per mu, Brother Zheng thought that Zhao Che was bragging.
After all, it was a crop that he had never seen before. Brother Zheng only thought that the yield per mu would be higher than ordinary grain. Otherwise, Zhao Che wouldn't have made such a big promise.
Brother Zheng's expectation was actually 500 to 600 pounds.
However, when he saw the sweet potatoes, although they were not ripe yet, Brother Zheng estimated that the yield of 2,000 catties per mu that Zhao Che had mentioned was not far off.
"Hiss!" Brother Zheng subconsciously gasped.
At this moment, in Brother Zheng's eyes, sweet potatoes no longer represented just sweet potatoes.
It meant that there was no famine in the world!
No one will starve to death!
This was the feudal era, and also the era of small-scale peasant economy. It was basically the highest honor for a country's ruler!
"Unfortunately, this thing doesn't have much nutrition and can't be eaten too much.”Zhao Che sighed.
Although sweet potatoes had a high yield, they were not nutritious. If they were eaten all year round, they would lack a lot of trace elements, which could easily lead to yellow skin and emaciation.
This was also one of the reasons why even during the Qing Dynasty, sweet potatoes, wheat, and other grains were still the main crops.
"If we use this thing to replace food and only eat this, we won't have any strength all year round.”Zhao Che said.
However, Brother Zheng did not think that there was a problem.
What kind of question was that?
People would eat tree bark when they were starving to death.
It was enough that he was alive!
It was enough that he did not starve to death!
The production of sweet potatoes did not make Great Qin prosperous.
Instead, it meant that with the sweet potatoes, Great Qin would have the ability to resist natural disasters.
This was a small-scale peasant economy.
Based on a yield of 200 catties per mu, a year's worth of grain could not be saved after paying taxes. Basically, once there was a famine, people would die.
However, sweet potatoes could not be eaten up by planting ten mu of land.
Not only could they not finish it, but they could also save a lot.
If there was a natural disaster next year, the people could rely on sweet potatoes to survive the disaster.
This was the meaning of sweet potatoes.
No nutrition meant that sweet potatoes could never replace the status of food.
However, the high yield meant that sweet potatoes could transfer the risk of food.
"A divine item!"
Regardless of whether sweet potatoes were nutritious or not, Brother Zheng only pursued one goal.
No one in the world would starve to death!
Therefore, even if there was a flaw in the beauty, it could not overshadow the beauty.
"Sweet potato divine item!"
Brother Zheng said in a low voice with a faint light in his eyes.
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