Xie Qikun was very curious when he heard Ma Cheng say this. What kind of grain can solve the food crisis within one year?

"Mr. General Secretary, Zhenjiang is located along the Yangtze River. Most of the land is tidal flats and is not suitable for cultivation. Every year, Zhenjiang has to transport grain from surrounding prefectures and counties. I wonder what kind of magical species the grain is said by the adults, but can Zhenjiang Prefecture be self-sufficient within one year?"

After hearing Xie Qikun's words, Ma Cheng laughed: "Haha, Lord Xie is a little lonely and slim. This new grain is sweet potatoes and wheat! Can you see it by Lord Xie?"

Potatoes and corn were introduced to China during the Longqing period, but they were only planted in coastal areas such as Guangdong and Fujian. Some people planted them in front of and behind houses in Nanzhili to raise pigs. Although Xie Qikun did not understand agriculture at all, he had never heard of this kind of non-stop crop.

Xie Qikun didn't know, but some of his subordinates knew that a magistrate in the prefect's office lay in Xie Qikun's ear and whispered: "Master Futai, some of us have grown these two crops here, but they are just used to feed pigs!"

Xie Qikun was furious when he heard this. This Ma Cheng was really not a human being, how could he use a pig feeder to feed people?

"Master General, isn't this right? How can we use the food for pigs to eat?"

At first, Ma Cheng thought he had found a way out for the people of Zhenjiang, but he didn't expect that Xie Qikun was so angry, why can't corn and potato people eat? I ate it at home before I traveled through time!

Ma Cheng didn't talk nonsense to Xie Qikun, and asked his personal soldiers to get corn and potatoes, and cooked them in front of the prefect's office.

As the temperature rose, corn and potatoes smelled. The potatoes of this era were not as big as those of later generations, and the taste was different from those of later generations. However, Ma Cheng had to eat them in big mouthfuls in order to make a move. Ma Cheng took one from his personal soldiers, lifted the scorched skin, bit it in one bite, and began to chew it.

Ma Cheng has a noble status. In addition to being the Marquis of the Supervisor, he is also the legitimate son of Ma Shiying. Ma Shiying has been a scholarly family for generations, so he naturally pays great attention to food and clothing. These officials did not expect that Ma Cheng could eat such vulgar food.

Ma Cheng said while eating: "Sir Xie, it's not normal now. As a parent official, do you see these people starving to death? Although this kind of thing is not delicious, it can at least fill your stomach!"

After Ma Cheng said that, he handed Xie Qikun a roasted potato and asked him to taste it. Seeing that Ma Cheng was like this, Xie Qikun could only take one and began to taste this strange food by imitating Ma Cheng.

To be honest, the taste of potatoes in the Ming Dynasty was not as good as that in later generations. They had a low starch content and a bitter taste. However, this kind of thing felt very full. Xie Qikun stood outside the city for a whole morning, and had not had a slight amount of water. Now, after eating a potato that was as big as a fist, I felt that I was not very hungry in my belly.

Xie Qikun was overjoyed and said, "I didn't expect that this kind of thing is so hungry. It's because the officials are slow to treat the general manager!" After that, Xie Qikun bowed to the ground and was considered to apologize to Ma Cheng.

Ma Cheng helped Xie Qikun and said, "Mr. Xie, I know that rice is delicious, but the rice yield is too low. Although this kind of thing is inconspicuous, it can collect five or six hundred kilograms per mu of land, which is much higher than grains such as rice, wheat, millet. There was not much land here in Zhenjiang. If you plant this kind of thing, you can fully satisfy your own food!"

The rice yield in the Ming Dynasty was very low, and the yield was only one stone in the upper fields. One stone in the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to about one hundred and twenty kilograms in later generations. Therefore, the rice in the Ming Dynasty was completely incomparable to the rice that produced five or six hundred kilograms per mu in later generations.

Of course, the yield of potatoes in the Ming Dynasty was not as high as that of later generations that had been genetically optimized. However, the yield of up to 600 kilograms still shocked Xie Qikun and others, and asked quickly: "Sir, is the yield of this kind really so high?"

Ma Cheng asked his personal soldiers to get some salt and sprinkle it on the potatoes. Then he said while eating: "Sir Xie, I started planting sweet potatoes in March last year. I collected about 600 kilograms per mu and about 400 kilograms per mu of wheat. During the spring plowing, I planted more than 20 acres, and the summer plowing planted another 10,000 acres. Except for 10,000 kilograms of grain, everything else will be brought to you, which should be able to alleviate the grain shortage in Zhenjiang!"

Ma Cheng accepted the property of Duke of Wei, with a land of 50,000 or 60,000 mu. If it weren't for insufficient grain planting, Ma Cheng would have wished to plant all the land with potatoes and corn. However, the harvest of this 10,000 mu of land was also a lot, with potatoes and more than 2 million kilograms of corn. These grains, rice, millet and other grains, plus black beans, wild vegetables and other complementary foods, were enough to allow more than one million people in Zhenjiang to survive this cold winter.

Only then did Xie Qikun convince Ma Cheng and bowed and said, "Master General, I was the lower official Meng Lang just now!"

"Mr. Xie, I know that you have a bad impression of my father and son, and I know that you were demoted back then, but I hope you remember that you are also a parent in Zhenjiang! Since you are their parents, you should treat them as your children. I hope Mr. Xie will not forget your original intention!"

After Ma Cheng said that, he said to the official behind Xie Qikun: "I am the first to arrive today, so you don't need to have any welcome banquets. Today, I will arrange for you to invite you to eat this new crop!"

Before Ma Cheng came to Zhenjiang again, he was preparing to promote the cultivation of corn and potatoes. He was already ready. Now Ma Cheng invited all the senior officials of Zhenjiang Prefecture to his camp and brought out a banquet made of corn and potatoes.

Chefs in the Ming Dynasty had no experience in how to cook these two foods, but Ma Cheng came from later generations, such as shredded potatoes, mashed potatoes, and cubes, are all regular foods in winter. So today's banquets include stir-fried potato slices, stewed potatoes with pork, stewed potatoes with chicken, stir-fried shredded potatoes and other dishes. In addition to these staple foods, it is corn porridge.

Although the meal was not very rich, it was better than novelty. The officials of Zhenjiang Prefecture had never eaten these things. The novelty flavor made them feast on them, especially the potato stewed chicken, which won unanimous praise.

After this meal, Ma Cheng's relationship with the officials of Zhenjiang Prefecture has increased a lot, and Xie Qikun's attitude towards Ma Cheng has also softened a lot. At this point, Ma Cheng completely lived in Zhenjiang, and Ma Cheng's 100,000 troops were stationed in Dantu Town, five miles outside the city.

Ma Cheng raised an army to attack Lu Wang in Hangzhou. This news spread to Suzhou as early as October last year. The Lu Wang army in Suzhou was led by Governor Qi Biaojia, with Zhejiang Admiral Fang Guoan, Hangzhou General Chen Keli, Su Song General Zhang Yingmeng, Jiaxing Army Preparation Yu Yongshou, Zhejiang Weidu Secretary Huang Zhikui and others, who commanded 150,000 horse and infantry troops, which was considered to be the most powerful army.

But Lu Wang has a lot of troops, but he has been in Suzhou for half a year. This is not Qi Biaojia's fear of death, but Zhejiang

Admiral Jiang Fang Guoan firmly opposed the attack on Nanjing.

Unlike Qi Biaojia, who was born in a Jinshi, Fang Guoan was a subordinate of Zuo Liangyu. He followed Zuo Liangyu to fight bandits in Henan, Huguang and other places for many years. Although he had both wins and losses, his years of battlefield career made Fang Guoan know that the Ma Cheng on the opposite side was difficult to deal with.

The rumor that Ma Cheng used 15,000 to destroy the Qing army was already spread throughout Jiangnan. However, Jiangnan was skeptical about Ma Cheng's record. The Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty fought for more than 30 years, and except for the victory and defeat in Liaodong, they had never won in the pass. Therefore, the Lu Wang court did not believe that this was Ma Cheng's credit. Instead, they believed that it must be Zhu Lunkui and the Qing Dynasty had reached some conspiracy, so that the Qing Dynasty retreated.

Most civil officials of the Lu Wang court believed that Ma Cheng's contribution was false, but military generals such as Fang Guoan believed that Ma Cheng's achievements were unquestionable. Fang Guoan and others believed that the Qing army would never retreat for no reason, because the troops were already at the city, so how could they retreat to Jiangbei?

However, the Lu Wang army easily occupied Suzhou, which made the Lu Wang court full of underestimating the enemy from top to bottom, thinking that Ma Cheng was nothing scary. When he saw his army arrive, wasn’t he just fled? So Qi Biaojia insisted on going to war and striving to occupy Nanjing when he didn’t react.

But Fang Guoan and others didn't think so. Going further from Suzhou, there were Changzhou Prefecture and Zhenjiang Prefecture, which had not been very strong in the city. I heard that Ma Cheng's artillery was sharp and he was really worried if he didn't have a solid city wall, so the generals insisted on fighting defensive battles in Suzhou.

Although Qi Biaojia is the nominal commander-in-chief, he does not actually command the army, and these generals still need to fight wars. Now the generals do not want to advance, so Qi Biaojia has no choice but to persuade them one by one, hoping that they can understand the general and gain time to occupy Nanjing.

The precious time was spent in a dispute. When Qi Biaojia and the generals finally reached a consensus, it was already October. It started snowing in Suzhou and other places, and the most important canal was frozen. There was no way Qi Biaojia had to give up and wait for the spring of the next year to melt in Suzhou.

While waiting, news came from Nanjing that Ma Cheng was re-activated as the governor of Jiangnan, which made Qi Biaojia very regretful. If Nanjing was not prepared two months ago, it would be very likely to occupy Nanjing in one fell swoop. According to Qi Biaojia's estimate, the Zhu Lunkui court in Nanjing was supported by Ma Shiying as an eunuch party. The Donglin Party, which was made Qian Qianyi, would definitely dare not speak out. As long as the Lu King army arrived, the Zhu Lunkui regime would fall and scatter, and the world would be the Lu King.

However, Qi Biaojia thought very well, but his military generals were very weak. They were afraid of Ma Cheng's military achievements and were afraid that they would fall into Ma Cheng's trap, so they lost the most favorable opportunity.

After this, Qi Biaojia had no choice but to go. After receiving the news that Ma Cheng went to the expedition, Qi Biaojia also held a plenary meeting. At the meeting, Qi Biaojia no longer listened to the persuasion of his military generals, and even used the Emperor's Sword given by King Lu to subdue all the opposing military generals. Then he decided to go to the expedition after the beginning of spring, seize Changzhou first, and seize Zhenjiang, and strive to fight to the death with Ma Cheng between Zhenjiang and Changzhou.
Chapter completed!