sbdcsierra Chapter 399 Digging sweet potatoes
Chapter 399 Digging sweet potatoes
Emperor Yongshun brought a group of people to the sweet potato field. The gardener and many eunuchs were already waiting, and the farm tools were neatly placed aside.
Seeing the emperor, the empress, and the concubines, with the third prince and Princess Anping beside them, everyone came forward and knelt to pay their respects.
Zheng Sisi sighed, saying that wherever the emperor and empress traveled, people had to kneel down and pay their respects, which was really troublesome.
Sheng Zhen knew what she was thinking when he saw her impatient look, but he just smiled and said nothing.
Emperor Yongshun was delighted and shouted, "Everyone, please stand up. Today, Princess Anping said that the sweet potatoes are ripe. I will lead you to dig sweet potatoes today. Let's witness the historical moment of the sweet potato harvest. Haha! Let's dig together and see who digs the most."
Emperor Yongshun took the special shovel for digging sweet potatoes and wanted to start digging. Zheng Sisi hurriedly pulled him back and said, "Your Majesty, don't be in a hurry. I forgot to tell you that you should cut off the sweet potato vines before digging them. If the vines are too long, they will easily get caught and damage the sweet potatoes."
Emperor Yongshun heard this and quickly ordered: "Quick, cut the sweet potato vines first."
Several gardeners and eunuchs worked together, using sickles to cut the grass.
Zheng Sisi said nearby: "Everyone, slow down and tie up the sweet potato vines neatly. This is very good fodder for pigs, cows, and horses. It is best to dry it and store it for feeding horses in the winter."
Emperor Yongshun immediately agreed: "Yes, don't waste it!"
When a small piece of sweet potato was cut out of the field, Emperor Yongshun couldn't wait to start digging. Zheng Sisi didn't stop him because he knew that the emperor was in high spirits.
Emperor Yongshun followed the method Zheng Sisi had taught him just now, which was just like digging potatoes. He aimed the shovel at the sweet potatoes from a distance, stepped down hard, and then lifted up. A large piece of soil was lifted up.
Emperor Yongshun used his hands to pull up the remaining stem of the sweet potato vine, but because it was too heavy, he could only lift it a little and failed to pull it up completely.
Emperor Yongshun didn't expect that he couldn't pull it, and he didn't want to lose face, so he said, "Hey, it's quite heavy. I want to see how big you are."
He threw away the shovel and pulled hard with both hands. The sweet potato vines were pulled up with the soil. Everyone saw five or six oval-shaped sweet potatoes with red skin, thicker than an adult's arms, hidden in the soil and hanging in the air.
Emperor Yongshun shook a few times, and the dirt fell off, and several sweet potatoes also fell to the ground.
He picked one up with joy, laughing: "Haha, I didn't expect sweet potatoes to look like this. They're pretty big. Let me see how many there are on one tree."
Emperor Yongshun didn't care whether his dragon robe would get dirty or not. He lifted up the front of his robe, put it into his waist belt, and squatted down to pick sweet potatoes.
Eunuch Mu was very considerate and took a basket to put the things in and also helped count.
"One, two, three... eight, Your Majesty, there are eight sweet potatoes in this one, six big ones and two small ones. Hehe, Your Majesty, let me weigh how heavy this sweet potato is first." Eunuch Mu said with a smile.
Immediately, a eunuch came with a scale to help weigh it. Eunuch Mu was surprised and said, "Oh, quick, take it out and weigh the basket again."
The final result was twelve pounds and three ounces.
When Emperor Yongshun heard the result, he was so happy that he laughed out loud without caring about his image.
Zheng Sisi understood him. As a person in power in a country, how could he not be happy when he now had the ability to change people's lives and let everyone live a prosperous life?
Emperor Yongshun said after getting excited: "Dig, everyone, but be gentle, don't dig too much. I will reward those who dig more, hahahaha!"
The concubines also started to take action. The emperor's reward was an honor. Living in the palace depended on the emperor's favor and honor. Doing some work would make the emperor remember them. There was nothing they couldn't do.
Even if you don't know how to do it, you have to learn to do it. There are not so many farm tools, so two people can work together, one digging and the other picking up, and they cooperate well.
Zheng Sisi and Sheng Zhen also worked together, Sheng Zhen dug and Zheng Sisi picked up.
Sheng Zhen said: "It seems that the yield of sweet potatoes is much higher than that of potatoes. Can it reach 3,000 kilograms per mu?"
Zheng Sisi said: "I don't know. It depends on how fertile the soil is. Different lands will have different yields, but the approximate number can still be estimated."
Sheng Zhen nodded: "We'll have to dig more when we get back, and notify the farm too."
Zheng Sisi said: "It doesn't matter, there's no rush, it's okay to do it two days later."
There were only two mu of sweet potatoes planted in the Imperial Garden, and so many people dug them up in a short time.
Emperor Yongshun looked at the baskets of sweet potatoes, as if he saw his own fat boy. The smile on his face never stopped, and his loud laughter could be heard from far away.
Eunuch Mu was so pleased to see the emperor that he almost cried. Before Princess Anping appeared, the emperor was always worried. Today's laughter was equivalent to a month's laughter in the past.