Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 547 Pig farming is also a major national issue
Just as the officials were excitedly discussing the corn from Lizhou, cargo was being unloaded at the dock. Baskets of potatoes and sweet potatoes were being carried down, along with various seeds in jars. Wang Dayuan personally introduced them to everyone.

"Your Majesty, these twenty-odd varieties are all potatoes. After we arrived in the Aztec Empire, we discovered that there are indeed many varieties of potatoes there, probably no less than a hundred. However, it would not be easy to collect them all. So we only collected the twenty-odd most common varieties of potatoes available on the market, which are the ones we brought back this time."

“Of course, if Your Majesty wishes to collect them all, it is possible to have Xiangmu Port collect them gradually in the future,” Wang Dayuan said, pointing to the dozens of different types of potatoes in front of him.

Upon hearing this, Feng Guoyong asked in confusion, "Weren't we going to the Mayan Kingdom? How did it turn into the Kingdom of Aztecs?"

“It’s the Aztec Kingdom. Prime Minister Feng, you may not know this, but there are actually three kingdoms in the central part of Lizhou. The Maya Kingdom is located in the middle, the Aztec Kingdom is to the north, and the Inca Kingdom is to the south. Our main outposts and ports are located on the western coast of the Aztec Kingdom,” Wang Dayuan explained immediately.

"I see." Feng Guoyong suddenly realized.

Li Shanchang picked up a potato and weighed it in his hand, finding it quite heavy. Then, he frowned and hesitated, asking, "Can this really be used as a staple food? And can it be grown in the northern desert? How do you eat this?"

The appearance of potatoes is so different from the traditional image of staple food in Chinese people. The traditional Chinese five grains, rice, millet, foxtail millet, wheat, and soybeans, are all grasses that grow on the ground and produce seeds. They are either grasses or legumes.

The corn that was brought over earlier, although its shape was rather strange, at least followed the rule of grass growing on the ground and seeds forming on the grass. But this potato, on the other hand, was buried directly in the ground. It was such a big piece, it didn't look like a staple food at all, but rather resembled taro.

Wang Dayuan immediately said, "We can definitely eat. In fact, although we have a lot of rice on board, it certainly won't last a year. We need to keep some as rice seeds. So, in reality, the hundreds of people on our ship have been eating corn and potatoes for almost a year. We've been eating them as our staple food and we're still alive."

"As for how to eat it, this food is suitable for both vegetables and grains. When eaten as a staple food, it can be steamed, boiled, or baked. It can be eaten directly like steamed buns or mantou. It can also be mashed and made into potato rice. When eaten as a vegetable, it can be stir-fried with oil and other vegetables. It can also be cut into pieces and stewed with meat, just like adding radishes when stewing meat."

"There's also the question of whether it can be grown in the northern desert. It's hard to say for now. The climate of the Aztec country is very different from that of the northern desert. However, there are many mountain cities in the Aztec country, and the local people also grow potatoes on the barren mountaintops, and they can still survive."

"As for the northern desert, we have so many varieties. If we try them all, surely some of them will survive, right?"

At this point, Wang Dayuan glanced at Lu Jin, since he didn't know whether potatoes could be grown in the northern desert. It was Lu Jin who insisted that they could be grown, which led him to travel across the ocean to find them.

Lu Jin immediately nodded, "That's right. The biggest advantage of potatoes is that they are cold-resistant and can withstand poor soil. Why do they grow in this shape and reproduce asexually instead of using seeds? It's so that they can adapt to the most difficult environments. You could say that they grow in this shape specifically for those cold, arid, and barren lands."

"Don't worry, it can definitely be grown in the northern desert. Besides, even if you don't believe it, this stuff has already been brought here. We'll take it to the Hetao region and southern Mongolia next spring and see for ourselves."

The others nodded in agreement. They agreed that it was true; whether it could be planted or not, they would know once they tried. This kind of thing couldn't be faked. Then Li Shanchang asked again.

"What about the production volume of this product?"

Wang Dayuan replied again, "Depending on the variety and planting method, there will be some differences, but the overall yield is not low. The yield per mu is between 600 and 900 jin, and between 800 and 1200 jin. Moreover, the locals don't know much about fertilization. If the Ming Dynasty were to cultivate it, with intensive farming and fertilization, the yield should be even higher."

Everyone looked at each other in shock. Bao Yu picked up a potato and exclaimed in surprise, "This thing has such a high yield?"

Seeing their shocked and excited expressions, Lu Jin immediately splashed cold water on them.

"Actually, there's something I haven't told you yet. To calculate potato yield, it's more accurate to divide the weight of fresh potatoes by five. If you calculate it that way, the yield per acre of potatoes is not much different from that of wheat."

"Well, if we calculate based on a yield of 1,000 catties per mu, wouldn't dividing by five result in only 200 catties? That's about the same as wheat, so why divide by five?" Xia Yu asked, puzzled.

Lu Jin immediately explained, "Because we usually calculate rice and wheat yields by dry weight. After the rice is harvested, it needs to be dried before it can be stored. Potatoes are different. You can feel their weight in your hands. They look heavy, but they are mostly water."

"Therefore, if we only consider fresh potatoes, the yield is naturally very high. But if we make them into dried potato flour, they will definitely not be as heavy. Dried potato flour only accounts for about 20% of the weight of potatoes. So we need to divide by five to get the true dry matter yield of potatoes."

Everyone was confused. Was this considered high-yield or low-yield? When you calculate it this way, it doesn't seem that impressive.

After considering it carefully, Li Shanchang asked again, "Does this stuff relieve hunger and keep you from starving? Can it actually be eaten as food?"

Wang Dayuan immediately replied, "Of course we can, we've been eating it for almost a year now."

Seeing that potatoes were still being unloaded from the boat, Lu Jin asked Wang Dayuan, "Approximately how many potatoes do you have left for consumption?"

"We have at least a million catties, but a million catties is just over ten thousand shi. We prepared enough food for three hundred people for more than a year. We are just in case something unexpected happens on the way back, so we prepared more."

Lu Jin immediately said, "Then bring out a thousand catties and take them back for the gentlemen to try, otherwise they will always feel uneasy."

"Yes." Upon hearing this, everyone was slightly relieved, and then Wang Dayuan began to introduce other crops.

"Your Majesty, these are all sweet potatoes. There aren't many varieties of sweet potatoes, and the local people don't grow them much either. I've gathered all the ones I could find, a total of seven or eight kinds. Some are quite edible, while others are rather unpalatable."

"There are other bad ones too?" Lu Jin raised an eyebrow and asked.

“Yes.” Wang Dayuan immediately introduced, “This kind of slender yam with a yellow flesh is quite sweet. I call it honey yam. When roasted, it tastes as sweet as candied fruit. However, the yield is not high, only 1000 to 1500 catties per mu.”

"This isn't high?!" Everyone exclaimed in surprise.

"It's not the tallest, there's also this slightly thicker one, with a dark red to purplish skin and a white interior. It tastes dry and mealy, and is also quite sweet. I call it sweet potato, but it has a lot of fibrous strands, which can easily get stuck in your teeth. The yield is about 2000 jin per mu."

"The one with the highest yield is this kind, which I call the big potato. Although it tastes terrible, the yield is extremely high. No matter how you plant it, the yield per mu is at least 3,000 jin."

"I have thought about it. Although this food is hard to eat, it is easy to produce. In years of famine, it is good enough for the people to have something to eat. It is better than forcing the people to exchange their own children to eat. Moreover, it can be grown to feed pigs and turned into meat for people to eat. So it is not a waste."

Everyone gasped in astonishment at the incredible yield of sweet potatoes, while Lu Jin's eyes lit up when he heard that he was going to use the sweet potatoes to feed the pigs.

Lu Jin has actually done some research on pig farming.

Some people may not know that when the Eighth Route Army was reclaiming wasteland in Nanniwan and becoming self-sufficient, they were able to ensure that each soldier ate meat once every three days. Their food was even better than that of Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army. The reason they were able to achieve such a high standard of food was by feeding pigs with potatoes and sweet potatoes. Four soldiers would share one pig, and a company of one hundred people could raise 25 pigs.

A pig weighs over 100 jin (50 kg), and if it's slaughtered, it can feed the whole company a variety of dishes for a week. That's enough for about three days a year, which is not much, but it's still meat.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, a pig could be raised to about 200 jin (100 catties) if the cost was not taken into account. However, it was different for commercial pigs. Some farmers were reluctant to eat the pigs themselves. When the pigs grew to a certain size, the feed conversion ratio became very poor. They could not grow meat by just feeding them. Continuing to feed them would only waste feed costs. Stopping to feed them would cause the pigs to starve to death. At this time, it was best to sell the pigs directly. Such commercial pigs were generally between 130 and 150 jin (65-75 catties).

If you feed pigs potatoes and sweet potatoes, about seven pounds of potatoes and sweet potatoes will make them gain one pound of meat. When piglets are weaned, they weigh about 16 pounds. Then they start to be fed commercial feed and need a ten-month growth period to grow to about 134 to 150 pounds before they are ready for market. In other words, to feed a commercial pig, you need a total of 1,000 pounds of potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The unpalatable sweet potato that Wang Dayuan mentioned has a yield of at least 3000 jin per mu. If we calculate based on 3,000 jin, one mu can raise three pigs, and five mu can raise 15 pigs, which is almost a whole litter.

Now that the war has just ended, the population is sparse and the land is barren. The imperial court usually allocates 50 mu of land to each household. If each household takes out 5 mu of land to grow potatoes and sweet potatoes, they can raise more than 10 pigs, which is not a small income.

Moreover, the importance of pigs to farmers should not be underestimated, especially in ancient times. As Lu Jin knows, some people in Jiangnan would borrow money to raise one or two pigs even if they didn't have the money to buy piglets. Of course, their purpose was not to eat pork, but to use pig manure as a manure-making machine for composting.

In the days before chemical fertilizers, even manure had to be bought. If a family could raise ten pigs, they wouldn't have to worry about running out of manure.

More pigs mean more manure, more fertilizer means higher grain yields, creating a positive cycle that increases farmers' income, allows people to eat more meat, improves the overall nutrition of the population, and enhances the fighting capacity of soldiers!
Thinking of this, Lu Jin was immediately excited. Soldiers who can eat meat every year will have more strength to fight, and it can also increase farmers' income. The nutrition of the whole nation is indeed a major issue that should be taken seriously.

So he immediately said, “Sir, this is a good idea. We can try it out in experimental fields or government-run farms to see how to grow sweet potatoes and feed pigs in the most cost-effective way to maximize profits. Once the court summarizes the experience, it can be promoted to the whole nation. This will also increase farmers’ income and allow people to eat more meat.”

Wang Dayuan immediately nodded and said, "That's exactly what I thought back then. It doesn't matter if the sweet potatoes are a little hard to eat. As long as the yield is high, there will always be a place where they can be used. It seems that I really made the right choice in buying these sweet potatoes back then."

When the jars and pots of seeds were finally unloaded, Lu Jin was overjoyed. After several years, he was finally able to eat chili peppers again.

"These are sunflower seeds, and peanuts, this is a chili pepper, and what is this thing that looks like sesame seeds?" Lu Jin looked at the jars in front of him, listing them off as if they were his own treasures. He quickly recognized almost all of these things, but there were still some he had never seen before.

Wang Dayuan immediately introduced, "These are the tomato seeds that His Majesty specifically requested, also known as tomatoes."

"I see. What about this one over there? Is this also a tomato?"

"No, these are tobacco seeds."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin exclaimed in surprise, "You actually found tobacco?"

Just then, Chen Youliang walked over with a smile, carrying a bundle of tobacco. "Your Majesty, this is truly a treasure."

"..." Lu Jin stared blankly at the pipe tucked into Chen Youliang's waist. How did such a handsome Prince of Han become addicted to smoking?
(End of this chapter)