Chapter 7124 Foundations and Development

Chapter 7124 Foundations and Development

“It’s true. My experimental field can indeed achieve that under the premise of sufficient sunlight and water and fertilizer. And with the light intensity of this etched plate, fifty of them would be enough for one acre of land.” Cookie said very seriously. “I would never joke about something like this, as you all know.”

The entire audience was stunned, even stopping to breathe in the air conditioning, because this thing was too shocking for people of this era—radishes that grow in fifteen days? Although it wasn't a staple food, just a vegetable, using it as a supplement was still a bit too incredible.

Radishes are a native product of China, and Chinese white radishes and European carrots are actually not the same thing at all; the difference between the two is huge.

In terms of positioning, carrots are essentially a kind of seasoning, while white radishes are the real vegetables, and their yield is quite reliable.

China has a long-standing tradition of eating this stuff because it's relatively easy to store. So, if you ask anyone here, not one of them has never eaten it before.

Only by eating it can one understand how incredible it is that this thing takes fifteen days to mature. As for the amount of sunlight, water, fertilizer, and so on, these things are quite difficult to achieve. Hey, even if they are difficult, it's still not a problem compared to starving them to death. What a joke!
Before a person starves to death, they will try everything to keep themselves from starving.

Therefore, radishes are a good thing, especially fast-growing radishes that grow in fifteen days, which are even better.

"If I remember correctly, radishes can be grown in most places, as long as it's not too dry?" Deng Tong transformed into an agricultural expert at this moment. To be fair, even the most powerful families these days, unless they were truly spoiled brats, still had to farm. After all, even the royal family insisted on personally tilling the land, and the empress personally tended the mulberry trees.

Therefore, everyone present knows how to farm. After all, the environment in Central Asia forced these people to work in the fields themselves. Although they are not as extreme as the Yang family, they all know how to farm.

"Well, it can be grown in most places. Generally speaking, you can just plant some around the house. As for whether it tastes good or not, you know that fast-growing things are not going to taste good. But if you're not too concerned about yield, it's actually not bad." Cookie thought for a moment and explained.

There are also delicious varieties of fast-growing radishes. The fast-growing cherry radish that grows in just over twenty days is practically a fruit-level treat, and it tastes quite good.

The problem is that the yield of delicious fast-growing radishes is rather poor; if you were to use them as a disaster relief measure, they would definitely drive you crazy. However, as for their taste, they are indeed delicious.

"Isn't that normal? If it were to grow fast and taste good, why would I bother growing rice, right?" Wei Kai said nonchalantly. Although his family hadn't suffered any disaster because they were in the Caucasus Delta, they were essentially affected because other families had.

After all, the surrounding families had all come to the Wei family to beg for food, and the Wei family did need to give them some provisions. Given the current situation, it would be troublesome if they didn't provide food. So, after much thought, the Wei family gave some provisions to those who came to borrow from them.

So now, the Wei family is quite interested in seeing these fast-growing things.

"That's true, and to be honest, this stuff is quite productive. I even had someone customize a recipe. If you cook it with lard, it's actually pretty good, and it's also relatively filling." Cookie didn't say much after hearing this, only that she had a professional evaluate it after she made it.

For Cookie, the Imperial Kitchen was a place where they could easily add chopsticks if needed, since Cookie spent half the year in Shanglin Garden, so the Imperial Kitchen basically provided meals for Cookie.

Of course, it's normal for the Imperial Kitchen to steal cookies from the experimental fields. Although they are often blamed, the Imperial Kitchen does secretly harvest them, and there's really nothing that can be done about it.

“Lard.” Chen Xi stroked his chin. This was one of the best solutions he could currently use to deal with the fat pigs in the Northern Frontier. After all, compared to other methods, lard was an ancient and easy-to-preserve method, and large blocks of solid lard were also easy to transport.

After bringing it back from northern Xinjiang, selling the lard in chunks is one solution. In addition, people in this era are indeed lacking in oil, so this stuff is quite easy to sell.

Of course, Chen Xi was also well aware that the reason why pork cooked with radish could make people feel full was not because of the radish, but because of the lard. After all, it was fat, which helped to stave off hunger. The main function of the radish was probably to fill the stomach and prevent the body's instincts from forcing it to go crazy.

From one perspective, this is indeed a solution, but for people in this era, eating this stuff is pretty much the same as being full.

"Could we see this radish?" Wang Rou asked hesitantly. Compared to arguing here, although she believed that Qu Qi would not talk nonsense on such an important matter, some things still needed to be seen with one's own eyes.

However, this hesitant tone was actually used to dispel Cookie's perception that the questioner did not trust her.

Of course, seeing this life-saving device in person is the most reassuring thing.

“Alright, General Huangfu?” Qu Qi thought for a moment, then looked at Huangfu Song beside him. After all, this was the Huangfu family and the Kou family’s territory. Although it was late and Kou Feng and Huangfu Liangmiao had already been sent to their bridal chamber, they still had to consider the feelings of the host family.

"The weddings of my children are all settled. This is where we eat, drink, and have fun. But instead of toasting each other and eating, let's get down to business. And what in this world is more serious than farming?" Huangfu Song said with a smile, showing no dissatisfaction that the party was over. He also wanted to see for himself. After all, as a commander, he knew best what kind of effect this kind of thing could have on the war.

Do you understand what it means that even after you've besieged the enemy city for half a year, they still have fresh vegetables to eat? It means that their morale is high and their determination to resist is very strong.

Similarly, when fighting on the front lines, being able to eat fresh food every meal means something; it's also a synonym for high morale.

To be honest, even when Chen Xi was in charge, there were still times when people on the front lines would eat some rather outrageous things. For example, a while ago, Guan Yu and Zhao Yun forced Zhang Fei to eat wild pineapple and aloe vera. That stuff would make your mouth numb when you ate it, it was just unbelievable.

"Why don't we go together?" Cookie asked Chen Xi.

Chen Xi glanced at the generator. To be honest, he was actually more interested in the generator itself, because it could produce amazing results in his own hands. But now that Qu Qi was leading the way, he figured he might as well go to the experimental field and take a look. After all, the primary industry is the foundation of everything, and electric motors aren't going to grow legs and run away.

"Let's go, let's go see the radishes." The heads of the various families here, whether old or young, all drank the wine on the table in one gulp, and then got up and walked out with great interest. They could skip a couple of banquets, but they absolutely could not miss this life-saving stuff. Especially after surviving the locust plague, everyone present knew what was really important.

Huangfu Song nodded to the old steward of the Kou family, instructing him to lead the group out through another door. After all, they were all honored guests of the Kou family, and if they went out through the main gate at this time, what would the people outside think?

Okay, even if those people don't have this awareness, they probably still won't be able to eat properly, so it's better not to mess with the Kou family anymore, and just slip out through a side door.

"Let's go, let's go take a look at the radishes too." Liu Bei said with a smile, leading a group of his men. He was actually quite interested in this kind of activity, after all, edible things were very important to the Han Dynasty, especially something that looked like it could save lives.

"I think I've already eaten this kind of thing." Guo Jia said with a thoughtful look. It's a testing ground for cookies, right? As long as I'm shameless, eating it is just a matter of a word or two.
"I think I've already eaten," Chen Xi nodded and said.

Although Chen Xi was shocked when he heard about the 15-day fast-growing radish, he later recalled that it was one of the two substitute foods that Anaus had come up with when Rome was suffering from food shortages due to a locust plague.
One type is yellow mushroom or something like that, which has a pretty good yield. But as everyone knows, mushrooms are high-yielding and have a short harvest time, which is great, but only a small portion of mushrooms can be absorbed by humans. Most mushrooms just go through the human body once and are excreted.

This is also why mushrooms are very low in calories for humans.

As for the other one, it's the radish. Annaus's product at the time was a one-month fast-growing product, which was already quite impressive. After Cookie got it, she optimized it herself, and this radish became something that could grow in just twenty-five days. Of course, in essence, there is no difference. There should be no change at the genetic level. This is an optimization that is closer to a superior variety.

Cookies just did a better job of optimizing than his students.

Of course, shortening the time to fifteen days would be pure perversion, and there's nothing more to say about it.

"Oh, this thing was actually made by Anaus of Rome?" Fa Zheng said with some surprise. "But the difference between thirty days and fifteen days is not a huge issue."

Indeed, the difference between a 30-day crash course and a 15-day crash course is huge; in fact, it's like they've become completely different species.

"Sufficient water and fertilizer are needed, as is sufficient sunlight. In fact, I suspect that sunlight is even more important than water and fertilizer," Zhuge Liang added from the side. He also knew about farming. Even though he had never farmed in Nanyang in his life, he still knew the most basic farming skills. Sunlight is very important for plants.

"Lady Zhuge is really amazing, isn't she?" Chen Xi said with a smile, and everyone around him laughed. Li Yuan is indeed very capable. Throughout history, anyone involved in high-yield agriculture has been very capable, because this is truly a lifesaver.

"Speaking of which, I have a feeling that Zichuan, your mind isn't really on that fast-growing radish?" Jia Xu asked with a hint of curiosity. He could clearly sense that Chen Xi's attention wasn't on the seemingly outrageous fast-growing radish, but rather on the generator that Wan Zhen had created.

"Well, let's put the radishes aside for now, because there are plenty of high-yield crops available. In fact, most Han families who have listened to my teachings should have some of those things that aren't very tasty but are still edible," Chen Xi replied calmly.

When people talk about high-yield crops, they always mention potatoes and sweet potatoes, but in reality, if we're comparing high yields and how well a crop survives famine, taro is actually better.

Incidentally, humans and crops actually domesticated each other, rather than humans unilaterally domesticating crops. Take potatoes as an example: potatoes in the third century were definitely poisonous. I can't say for sure that they could kill humans, but vomiting and diarrhea would definitely not be a problem for normal people.

However, potatoes from the third century were edible for the Maya because they had become accustomed to the toxins in potatoes.

This is like when a group member named Xuegao (Ice Cream) sent mushrooms to other group members. They were red mushrooms, supposedly delicious and slightly poisonous wild mushrooms, and that as long as they were cooked, there would be no problem eating them. Xuegao had been eating them every year without any issues. The mushrooms sent to the group members were ones that Xuegao had personally picked from the mountains, making them very reliable. However, the group members, represented by the author, were all affected, while Xuegao was completely unharmed.

This is what is meant by crops domesticating humans, not the other way around.

For the people of the Central Plains, from the third century to the Ming and Qing dynasties, the crop that was truly used to survive years of famine was taro. Well, this thing is also poisonous, and in terms of toxicity, it is more toxic than potatoes, but the physique of the people of the Central Plains had been domesticated by taro over the previous thousand years.

At least during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, it can be confirmed from Jia Sixie's book that taro was something that people at that time could eat freely. Of course, it was poisonous, but people at that time had completely adapted to the poison. Or to put it more directly, those who could not adapt to the poison had been eliminated. The same applies to potatoes to the Maya.

The Maya, who couldn't adapt to the toxicity of potatoes, were probably eliminated as well.

As for the issue of yield, taro yields more than potatoes. Under the condition that both have adequate water, fertilizer and sunlight, taro's average yield is higher than that of potatoes.

And this isn't even the highest yield among high-yield crops. There are even higher yields for konjac, cassava, and so on. These things can even reach a yield of 10,000 catties per mu. Of course, if we're talking about something, these things have only one problem: they are poisonous. And at this stage of the third century, the toxicity was quite high. But eating a little bit occasionally won't kill you.

Chen Xi had explained these things to all the major families, and they were all familiar with them. Konjac and cassava could be set aside for now. As for taro, there were records from the Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and then to the Qin and Han Dynasties, so the relevant techniques, cooking methods, and detoxification methods were also available.

As for the taste, the taro has remained unchanged to this day, and the texture is perfectly fine.

It could be said that taro is actually more suitable than potatoes for high-yield crops, but rice remains the mainstream crop, which speaks volumes.

High yield does not necessarily mean it is suitable for ordinary people. These seemingly promising high-yield crops are things that farmers need to consider carefully in agriculture.

"Taro, right? I even planted some in my yard. Apart from the numbing sensation on my lips, they're fine and quite delicious," Mi Zhu said with a smile.

“Actually, I have had people try planting cassava on ranches in the south. Of course, this stuff isn’t for eating, but for brewing alcohol.” Chen Xi nodded upon hearing this and then mentioned another high-yield crop.

As one of the most productive crops, cassava can yield up to 10,000 jin per mu, but this stuff is poisonous, and it has two kinds of compound toxicity. One is the calcium oxalate needle-like stuff similar to hemp, and the other is alkaloids, both of which are quite deadly.

But this thing has a really high yield, and after thinking it over, Chen Xi still felt that he could try using it to brew wine. Of course, due to current technological limitations, the wine brewed from this thing cannot be completely filtered, so it cannot be drunk, but alcohol itself has many uses.

Even using it for sterilization is a good thing, so Chen Xi asked the industrial base in the south to find ways to produce alcohol from cassava.

If this works, it will create a very long industrial chain that can accommodate a large number of people. Of course, at present, it can only be described as a trial verification.

As for whether it can be done well, or when it will be done well, there's not much hope.

With so many crops available for disaster relief right here, Chen Xi's attitude towards high-yield crops was actually rather indifferent. Moreover, he had already seen fast-growing radishes and the like, so his interest in them was even smaller. On the contrary, electric motors were very important to Chen Xi.

"Well, after Wan Zhen got the electric motor sorted out, a lot of the technical problems that were holding me back were solved." Chen Xi said with a hint of wistfulness. He wasn't making things up; he knew best what his industries lacked. He just hadn't taken the initiative to solve them before. But now that people in this era have solved them themselves, it's time to get started.

I, Chen Xi, am merely piecing things together; I haven't created anything. Look at this electric motor; it was Wan Zhen who made it, not me, Chen Xi. I, Chen Xi, just brought it over to provide power.

"The simplest point is that with this, the output of Chang'an Textile Factory can probably double next year," Chen Xi said very seriously. "But this doubling of output brings new problems. Agriculture and sericulture will need to expand production, and then the demand for steel will be even greater, and we'll have to reclaim wasteland!"

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