The cruel little princess

An Er rushed all the way back to the tent of His Royal Highness Prince Jin, and only had time to report, "Miss Shen invites His Royal Highness to go to General Shen's tent to discuss matters!" He didn't explain anything else, and only a cup of warm tea was left in front of him, with ripples on it, showing the haste and speed of the person who left.

When His Royal Highness Prince Jin arrived at General Shen's tent, Shen Youyou had just arrived. She was still holding the long sweet potato vine in her hand, which was full of a dozen sweet potatoes of different sizes. The weight of at least 30 to 40 kilograms had made her delicate white fingers red. General Shen was about to step forward to take the thing from his daughter, but His Royal Highness Prince Jin got there first. "Why are you carrying such a heavy thing? Can't you ask An Er to carry it?" He asked with a half-hearted and half-concerned look, "What if you get tired after such a long journey?"

Shen Duanfang was completely bewildered. His Highness Prince Jin didn't consider him an outsider. More importantly, his daughter, instead of trying to avoid suspicion, responded with a resounding, "Got it. Next time there's something this heavy, I'll have An Er bring it over. Now, let's get down to business!" What was this inexplicable sense of relief? What was it about the familiarity between the two of them? Before Shen Duanfang could delve deeper, he was blown away by his daughter's next words!

"Dad, the sweet potato you tasted some time ago, didn't I ask An Er to bring some back from the mountain and plant them in the field? You also sent a few people to help. Now the sweet potatoes can be dug up. Here! Like this!" She pointed to the sweet potatoes she had thrown at her feet. She really didn't have the strength to pick them up. "The yield per mu must be more than 2,000 kilograms. His Royal Highness Prince Jin has planted more than a hundred mu of land. You can send people to dig sweet potatoes. I estimate that these hundred mu are enough to feed the army for a month." She said in a flat tone, not knowing how much impact her words had on His Royal Highness Prince Jin and her father!

A hundred acres?! Over two thousand kilograms per acre?! This… this… this… is this true?! Shen Duanfang kept calculating in his head how many sweet potatoes these hundred acres could produce, but he found that he couldn't calculate it. He couldn't calculate it at all! He was already overwhelmed by the surprise brought by these two numbers! However, he still adhered to his duty and paid his respects to His Royal Highness Prince Jin. "Your Highness, Prince Jin, thank you very much!"

His Royal Highness Prince Jin was also shocked by what Shen Youyou said, but when he saw General Shen saluting him, he quickly reacted, "General, there's no need to be so polite! I was curious about this plant at the time, so I wanted to try and see if I could grow it. I didn't expect this to be a blessing in disguise! In that case, while it's still early, General Shen, quickly send someone to dig up the ones Miss Shen has planted and see how much they can produce per mu. Tomorrow, we can go and dig up the ones from that wasteland outside the military camp."

"Yes! Yes! I obey your orders!" Shen Duanfang had no other thoughts in his mind, just obeying orders completely! He walked out of the tent and summoned 500 elite soldiers. At first, Deputy General Zhang didn't know why he summoned troops, until he followed Shen Youyou to this small sweet potato field.

"Isn't this a vegetable patch?" Lieutenant General Zhang asked, "Didn't the young lady send someone to tell you that these leaves can be cooked? Why are you calling so many people to the vegetable patch?" Lieutenant General Zhang looked puzzled, unable to understand what was so interesting about the vegetable patch. However, he had to watch it and make sure it wasn't wasted. After all, it was food! A little bit is better than nothing! The general couldn't possibly ask them to pick all the vegetables and eat them today, could he?!

Lieutenant General Zhang's words reminded General Shen, "Pull up all these leaves carefully, clean up the things that come out of the soil and put them aside. This general wants to see how much the yield per mu is. Don't destroy the sweet potato leaves on them! You can keep them for cooking!" General Shen gave the order carefully.

Upon hearing there was food, everyone jumped into action. Following General Shen's instructions, they pulled the sweet potato vines upwards with both hands, and then, bit by bit, all the sweet potatoes, big and small, were pulled out. Occasionally, some broke off from the roots and fell into the soil. Shen Duanfang ordered them to use hoes and pickaxes to carefully dig up the soil, digging out the remaining sweet potatoes and piling them up at the edge of the field. The remaining soldiers pulled the sweet potato leaves one by one and laid them out; after all, they were rations!

Strength lies in numbers. Soon, all the sweet potatoes from the two mu of land were carefully pulled out and gathered at the edge of the field. Shen Duanfang ordered someone to bring a large scale to roughly weigh them. In the end, it was over 6,200 kilograms!

Now, both those pulling and weighing the sweet potatoes were stunned! Three thousand kilograms per mu! His Royal Highness Prince Jin hadn't expected such a high yield! Report it! Write a memorial, write it now! He ordered An Yi to take about ten kilograms of sweet potatoes and follow him back to the tent.

Shen Duanfang quickly recovered, "Carry all these sweet potatoes into the kitchen. Wash them and steam or boil them to eat. They can replace grain as your staple food! From today on, military rations will not be distributed. Eat sweet potatoes! You'll be full!"

When General Shen first announced that rations would no longer be distributed, the soldiers were somewhat confused and resentful. However, when they later announced that eating sweet potatoes would fill them up, they cheered again! After all, no one wanted to go hungry. Regardless of how the sweet potatoes tasted, at least they could fill themselves up! That was enough!

Shen Youyou watched their cheering faces, and she too felt a surge of joy from the bottom of her heart. An unprecedented sense of belonging arose spontaneously, as if from this moment on, she truly realized that she was Shen Youyou! Her future home was here!

After making sure that everything was alright, she quietly left the crowd and returned to her tent.

"Miss, would you like to have dinner?" Chun Tao came forward upon seeing her young lady return. "Although it's rice porridge, it's thick enough. Miss, please have some to fill your stomach! I heard some soldiers went hunting in the mountains today. If they bring back prey, we can have an extra meal tonight."

"Well, you should eat some too. We can resume having three meals a day tomorrow!" Shen Youyou teased her deliberately.

"Ah? How did you know that, Miss?" Chuntao was puzzled.

"Do you remember the sweet potatoes that An Er dug up and planted?" Shen Youyou didn't keep her in suspense and asked her directly.

"I remember. Didn't we plant it a long time ago?" Chuntao replied.

"Yes! Now we can dig them out and eat them! And..." She paused, "His Royal Highness Prince Jin thought this was a novel plant, so he ordered people to dig up all those on the mountain and plant them. There are as many as one hundred acres, and we just dug a little bit, and the yield per acre is about three thousand kilograms. Isn't it just something we can eat as we please?" Shen Youyou didn't dare to flatter herself and said that His Royal Highness Prince Jin planted so many sweet potatoes just to win a beauty's smile, and then she said that he planted them because he thought it was novel and fun, but it accidentally solved the urgent need in the military camp!

Meanwhile, His Royal Highness Prince Jin was furiously writing. He wrote a memorial outlining the properties of sweet potatoes, summoned An Er, and inquired about the recipes for several dishes Shen Youyou had prepared. He then recounted all the precautions for sweet potato cultivation, concluding by noting that it was General Shen who had discovered the sweet potatoes while searching for Shen Zijin in the mountains, transplanted them, and through repeated trial planting discovered this high-yield crop! He was well aware that Shen Youyou was currently enjoying immense popularity in the capital, and he understood the principle that too much is as bad as too little. Therefore, he attributed the credit to her father. As long as her mother's family was strong, anyone who wanted to touch her would have to consider whether the power behind her was worth offending. He sealed the memorial with wax, added the sweet potatoes, and ordered it to be delivered to the capital immediately.

The military camp was peaceful, save for the occasional awkward moment... Eating too many sweet potatoes can lead to bloating, burping, and excessive flatulence. So Shen Youyou went back to her father and suggested that instead of eating sweet potatoes continuously, they should be rotated with the army rations, one sweet potato for each meal and one army ration for the next.

Far away in the capital, the emperor received another memorial from his son, along with some "clods of earth." He felt a surge of comfort, his son had grown up, now knowing enough to bring back new things for him to see. He was just about to order someone to take it to the imperial kitchen to see if it was something to eat or a toy, or what it was. But then he realized he hadn't read the memorial yet, so he decided to take a look first. The result was a shock, then another shock! Fortunately, he hadn't taken it to the imperial kitchen to eat. It turned out to be such a high-yielding crop! Plant it! Plant it immediately! He also saw that the harvest would be ready in about three months. Calculating the time, it was now mid-August, and the weather in the capital wouldn't be suitable for another three months—too cold for the crops to survive! So, send them south to plant! The emperor immediately summoned the Minister of Revenue to the palace for a long conversation. They agreed to immediately send troops to Shen Duanfang's headquarters, along with a shipment of sweet potatoes. They also wanted to bring back several skilled sweet potato growers from the border areas to be planted in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Sichuan. After deciding on the strategy, the emperor waved his hand and ordered him to kneel down.

After the Minister of Revenue left, the Emperor looked at the sweet potatoes and thought: Since the capital isn't suitable for growing sweet potatoes right now, can't we just let them rot?! Even though Old Nine said they could be stored for ten days or half a month, the palace is filled with powerful dragon energy, so they'd probably rot in just a few days. Anyway, once the Ministry of Revenue's grain and fodder are shipped to the border, they'll be able to bring back a large supply of sweet potatoes, so whether or not these few are there won't matter!

After realizing this, the emperor shouted, "Come here!"

Eunuch Xiao Xizi immediately bowed and asked, "What are your commands, Your Majesty?"

"Send the head of the imperial kitchen to see me!" he ordered impatiently, "quickly!"

Eunuch Xiao Xizi immediately went out to convey the order.

Don't ask why the Imperial Kitchen Chief was called in; the answer is to use the best chefs to prepare the best dishes! The Imperial Kitchen Chief arrived breathlessly. "Your Majesty..." Before the Chief even finished greeting, the Emperor spoke directly, "I give you these sweet potatoes. Please study the recipes I've given you and prepare these dishes for me!" With that, the Emperor gave the sweet potatoes and the copied recipes to the Imperial Kitchen Chief, who then went to study them.