Chapter 113 Good Seedlings
The people of Anyue have been in a difficult situation recently.
The battle on the border of Qian State really depleted Anyue's national strength.
Food is insufficient and supplies are scarce.
Even if the people of Anyue tightened their belts and cut back on food, some of them could not withstand the consumption.
After all, Qian Kingdom is now severely damaged and does not have much food and supplies to trade to An Yue.
Both countries are in difficult situations now.
Emperor Anyue was so worried about this that his temples turned a little gray.
"Pass the order, all members of the royal family should save money and food, reduce the subsidy by half, and keep everything simple!"
"All Anyue officials must be diligent and frugal, and must not waste food and water. If anyone violates this rule, I will not forgive them lightly!"
Moreover, Emperor Anyue was determined to set an example for all officials and to strengthen the hearts of the people.
When will the people of Anyue be able to eat meat? Only then will meat appear on his plate!
Emperor Anyue's move greatly inspired his ministers.
Anyue's frugal spirit swept from top to bottom.
However, saving alone is not enough to solve Anyue’s food shortage.
This is another disaster that is brewing.
Long Jun has been soaking in the fields recently.
As soon as daybreak came, he would go down to the fields and observe the growth of the rice seedlings in the yellow rice fields.
Occasionally, a few strong rice seedlings would be carefully circled out and marked.
The fields are planted with high-quality rice seedlings that they carefully pollinated.
They have to select the best from the best and manually screen out healthy and full grain seeds.
This is a boring and hard process.
Long Jun was bending over in the field under the scorching sun, sweat pouring down his forehead.
Tan Xunzhi was beside him, holding a thick notebook of rough paper, taking notes from time to time.
The former students of Gewu Academy now mingle with the young people of Anyue, and together they explore the unexplored paths of this world.
Emperor Anyue attached great importance to these young people and specially allocated experimental fields and research areas for them.
Long Jun and others were grateful and studied day and night, not daring to slack off at all.
They knew that this was another time when An Yue was in trouble.
Something new needs to emerge to break the deadlock!
Many young people even gave up their original research directions and devoted themselves to assisting Long Jun in studying how to increase per-mu yield.
But this is not a one-day journey.
The food shortage became increasingly serious, and many people could no longer afford to eat.
Emperor Anyue had no choice but to ask Zheng Tai Biao for help once again and fly to a distant country to sell some valuable items in the palace and buy food.
But, it is ultimately limited.
If Anyue wants to gain a stable foothold, she must solve the problem of food.
Long Jun and others also know this truth very well.
They don't want to see the famine scene happen again, and they don't want to see the hell on earth with starving people everywhere!
Long Jun worked in the fields and refused to go home even late at night.
He wanted to observe the growth trends of rice seedlings during the day and at night.
Any slight change would make Long Jun frown and ponder for a long time.
This is a world without microscopes or magnifying glasses. All research must be distinguished by the naked eye.
He observed the growth of rice seedlings at night and bent over the fields during the day. Long Jun's body was covered with mud and his eyes gradually became bloodshot.
His companions asked him to go back and rest, but Long Jun just shook his head and said that he would gain new insights every time he observed for a period of time.
People are suffering now and they need good news.
Only by picking out good varieties and observing them through repeated pollination can we roughly determine whether they have sufficient growth potential.
There was no time to wait until the rice seedlings were full of grains, so Long Jun could only roughly judge whether this type of grain had the potential to be a high yield by looking at the stems and leaves of the seedlings.
It's just that it's too difficult.
After months of hard research, Long Jun combined his previous research results and selected several types of rice seedlings with thicker stems as experimental crops.
When An Yue was involved in the affairs of Qian Kingdom, Long Jun and others had already been studying the breeding of good varieties for a long time.
Long Jun once again put more effort into these experimental rice seedlings.
As a result, after planting, we have to wait half a year for them to mature, as the rice seedlings have a long growth cycle.
The stems of the seedlings are thick, but the grains are scarce!
Long Jun was devastated, but he did not give up. He just looked for the reasons carefully and found out the situation.
At first, Long Jun subconsciously thought that the soil was not fertile enough.
But when planted on the same piece of land, these rice seedlings with thick stems produce less grains than the original yellow rice.
Later, through everyone's concerted observation and research, Long Jun discovered that it was not a soil problem.
Rather, when this type of rice seedlings grow, the stems absorb too many nutrients, which ensures their thriving growth but reduces their ability to produce grains.
Therefore, Long Jun continued to study and observe in this direction.
Through continuous artificial pollination and hybridization, Long Jun spent more than half a year and selected several target rice seedlings.
Similarly, start by judging from the seedling stems and leaves, and select the better ones for secondary hybridization.
Multiple seedling raising schemes are carried out simultaneously.
In the fields, there are busy figures everywhere.
It’s not that the young people are in a hurry to achieve results, but An Yue’s situation has become worse.
During the year of cultivating grain, people in Anyue had already starved to death.
Emperor Anyue was very worried about this and suspected something fishy, so he sent the chief of his guards to conduct a thorough investigation in secret.
The leader of the guards took the order, left grimly, and conducted a secret investigation.
It turned out that some officials secretly collected grain and withheld the relief grain distributed by the court!
Although those people did it very covertly, they only deducted about 10% from each batch of grain.
But Emperor Anyue was still furious!
Because those simple and hardworking people starved to death because these officials withheld relief food!
For a time, heads fell on the execution ground that had never been stained with blood since the founding of Anyue!
Emperor Anyue was so angry that he scolded all his ministers.
All the officials in the court shrank their necks and listened to the lecture obediently. They secretly hated those who ate the relief grain.
What time is it now? The people are short of food and the country is in crisis!
How dare you think about that insignificant amount of disaster relief food!
The court of Anyue was in a state of panic, and all the officials worked diligently, not daring to make the slightest move.
Emperor Anyue is now like an angry dragon. Anyone who dares to touch his bottom line will lose his head.
In the fields, Long Jun still threw himself into the fields, playing with the mud, and finally saw the results of this batch of experimental seedlings!
Among the dozen or so experimental rice seedlings, there is a green yellow rice with thin stems and few leaves, but it produces a lot of grains!
Everyone made a rough estimate and found that if one acre of land was planted, 20% more grain would be produced than an ordinary acre of yellow rice field!
Upon hearing the news, Emperor Anyue hurried over and went into the fields barefoot, regardless of the mud on the fields.
Emperor Anyue smiled happily as he touched the green and yellow, half-ripe, but dense rice stems.
"Plant, wait until this batch of yellow rice is harvested, and plant this good variety immediately!"
Emperor Anyue was anxious and wished that the fields were planted with this grain immediately.
Long Jun was not overwhelmed by joy:
"Your Majesty, don't be anxious!"
He boldly advised:
"This grain variety has only just begun to show its advantages. We still need to continue testing its viability, yield, and whether the seeds are full!"
"Continuously improve and confirm until it is guaranteed to produce stable grains, and then this grain can be cultivated on a large scale!"
"If you act too hastily, I'm afraid your happiness will be in vain!"
Emperor Anyue took a deep breath.
"This batch of yellow rice in the field will take another season to mature."
"Mr. Long, are you sure that you can stabilize the seedlings before planting the next batch of rice seeds?"
Long Jun took a deep breath:
"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I have a rough idea. Before the next season, I will verify whether this good seed is practical!"
Emperor Anyue nodded and his joy faded away.
"I'll have to trouble Lord Long to take care of the grain seeds."
"This is an unprecedented move, and it involves the foundation of Anyue Nation!"
"If it succeeds, the people will be happy and Anyue will be stable!"
Emperor Anyue said seriously.