Armed with a machete and a gun, armed with a system, they fled the famine.

Zhao Yan settled everyone's wages one by one, finally putting her mind at ease.

The twenty acres of land yielded a good harvest of sweet potatoes and potatoes. Zhao Yan kept enough for everyone to eat, and had Yang Sanlang send the rest to Shen Yu's restaurant.

The dozen or so households in Huaihua Village all planted some potatoes this time, with Qiu Zhen's family and Zhou Hu's family planting the most, each of them planting one mu (approximately 0.16 acres) of potatoes as an experiment.

Other families, at the very least, have set aside half a plot of land in front of their houses specifically for growing potatoes.

Luckily, they all planted some, otherwise they would have regretted it.

Whether it's Qiu Zhen's family or Zhou Hu's family, this time the yield of potatoes per mu was 200 jin higher than that of sweet potatoes.

The two of them happily arrived at Zhao Yan's place the next day and carefully inquired about the storage methods for potatoes.

If one mu (unit of land area) yields 1,700 to 1,800 jin (unit of weight), then one mu of potatoes would yield nearly 2,000 jin (unit of weight).

There are so many potatoes, they couldn't possibly finish them all in a short time even if they ate them every day.

So we need to find a way to preserve the potatoes for longer, otherwise they'll sprout and we won't be able to eat them.

Zhao Yan asked the two to sit down and patiently explained to them how to store potatoes.

There are only a few types.

The simplest and easiest way is to store potatoes in a cellar.

Since everyone started growing sweet potatoes, every household has dug a cellar.

“Aunt Zhou, you can put the potatoes in the cellar. See if there’s any dry sand nearby? First, spread a layer of dry sand on the ground where you’re storing them, then put the potatoes on the dry sand, and then spread another layer of dry sand on top of the potatoes. This way, they can absorb excess moisture and the potatoes won’t sprout easily.”

"Or you can put the potatoes in a wooden box and store them in a cool, dry place."

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Yan came up with another idea for Qiu Zhen and Zhou Hu.

"There's another way. You can keep only the amount you need for your household, and sell the rest. That way, you won't have to worry about the potatoes spoiling, and you'll also have extra income. Aunt Zhou, don't you think so?"

Qiu Zhen nodded hurriedly in agreement, "Yes, yes, I was just thinking that selling the potatoes would be a good idea. Little Zhao, what do you think? Would Young Master Shen buy them if we sold them to him too?"

The main problem was that she didn't know who to sell the potatoes to; the only place she could think of was Shen Yu's restaurant.

Zhou Hu, who was standing next to her, glanced at Zhao Yan with a flicker in his eyes.

Seeing that the two were waiting for her reply, Zhao Yan smiled and said, "Of course, it's possible. Right now, Brother Shen's restaurant is in dire need of potatoes, and we're not growing many. If we sell him the extra potatoes, he can definitely eat them all."

"Here's what we'll do. Brother Shen is at home right now. You wait here, and I'll go and call him over."

After saying that, she got up and walked outside.

"Xiao Zhao, I'll go with you."

Qiu Zhen quickly followed.

"Wait for me, I'll go too."

Seeing this, Zhou Hu hurriedly chased after them.

They wanted to sell the potatoes to Young Master Shen; how could they expect him to come and buy them?

Naturally, they went to find out for themselves.

As a result, Zhao Yan's solo trip eventually turned into a trip with three people.

Upon learning the purpose of the three men's visit, Shen Yu smiled and said, "If you want, I'll take as many as you have."

"However, the price depends on the quality of the potatoes; it's not fixed."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hu immediately nodded and said, "Of course, that's how it should be done."

As long as Shen Yu was willing to buy their potatoes, he would be extremely grateful and naturally wouldn't care about the price.

Seeing that Shen Yu was willing to buy their surplus potatoes, Zhao Yan turned to Qiu Zhen and Zhou Hu and said, "Aunt Zhou, Uncle Zhou, why don't you go to the village now and ask who is willing to sell their surplus potatoes? If they are willing to sell, please give them an approximate weight, so that Brother Shen can drive his horse-drawn cart to collect the potatoes."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Hu hurriedly replied, "Alright, alright, I'll go back and ask about the situation right now."

After saying that, he waved to Zhao Yan and Shen Yu, and then walked away.

Seeing that he had slipped away, Qiu Zhen quickly told Zhao Yan and then left as well.

The two worked quickly, and before long, Zhou Hu had tallied up the households willing to sell potatoes and the weight of the potatoes.

After that, it became a matter between Shen Yu and the villagers of Huaihua Village, and Zhao Yan no longer interfered.

After Shen Yu finished harvesting all the potatoes from the villagers of Huaihua Village, he had only collected less than 6,000 jin of potatoes.

The main reason is that everyone is afraid that if they plant too many, the buds will sprout and spoil. Therefore, this time, everyone tried planting only a small amount.

But something is better than nothing.

Based on the quality of the potatoes, Shen Yu settled the payment for each person individually.

The potatoes Zhao Yan had previously asked Yang Sanlang to deliver to the restaurant, along with the newly harvested potatoes from the villagers, were enough to sustain him for several months at the Shen Family Restaurant in the capital and Shitou Town.

What will happen in a few months?

Ha ha.

Then the next season of fresh potatoes will naturally grow.

While the farm was bustling with activity, Dou Qingran, far away in the capital, had no intention of pushing the potatoes out at all.

Although he did not intend to popularize potatoes, he did have the people of the Ministry of Agriculture find a piece of land specifically for growing potatoes.

The people from the Ministry of Agriculture successfully grew potatoes following the planting method provided by Zhao Yan.

However, for some reason, the potatoes they grew had a greenish skin and tasted completely different from those grown by Zhao Yan.

Dou Qingran tasted it once but dared not eat any more. He had no choice but to have the greenish potatoes put into a sack and wait until he had time to go to the farm to ask Zhao Yan what was going on.

However, as the emperor of the Đại Nguyễn dynasty, he had a lot of tedious affairs to handle every day and simply couldn't find the time to go to the farm.

Left with no other choice, he sent Yu Hao with several sacks of greenish potatoes to the farm.

Yu Hao was thrilled that he was able to act alone this time.

Ha ha ha.

He knew that the emperor valued him the most.

Seeing the regretful faces of others, he felt incredibly pleased.

Because he was so excited, he didn't want to rest much on the way. Traveling day and night, he reached the farm in just one day.

When Yang Sanlang saw his haggard, unshaven appearance, his heart skipped a beat.

"Haozi, what happened? How did you become like this? Did something happen in the capital?"

Yu Hao wanted to get there as soon as possible, so he didn't pay much attention to his appearance. When he saw that Yang Sanlang had misunderstood, he quickly shook his head like a rattle drum.

"No, Brother Yang, nothing's happened in the capital. It's not what you think. You might have misunderstood something."

Yang Sanlang frowned and asked, "Then what is this...?"

Yu Hao pointed to the carriage behind him and explained to Yang Sanlang, "See those sacks of potatoes inside? Those were planted by the people from the Ministry of Agriculture at the Emperor's behest. Unfortunately, they don't know how to grow them, and the potatoes that grew were all green."