Chapter 16: The Agricultural Nuclear Bomb: The Apotheosis of Hybrid Rice

Lin Xuan said calmly, "There is no other mystery; it simply has a high yield."

"Your Great Tang's best fields, in a bountiful year, top out at two or three hundred jin per mu, right?"

Xiao Sizi pondered slightly, then nodded. "Hmm, Father said they achieved that yield only once, and only when 'heaven's timing, earth's advantage, and human harmony' were all fully present."

"That year, the entire nation celebrated!"

"The Hybrid Rice he created started at a thousand jin per mu."

"In high-yield experimental fields, it could break two thousand jin."

Great Tang, Taiji Palace.

Li Shimin was sitting behind the imperial desk having lunch.

Upon hearing Lin Xuan's calm words, he was stunned.

He involuntarily tried to stand, and his knee struck the imperial desk.

The heavy solid-wood desk was forcibly overturned.

Plates and bowls shattered, and soup splattered everywhere.

The eunuchs and maidservants attending on both sides of the hall cowered on the ground, trembling in fear.

Li Shimin, ignoring the vegetable leaves staining his robe, stepped over the mess, rushed to the hall entrance in a few strides, and gazed at the sky.

"One thousand jin... two thousand jin..."

Wei Zheng, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and other high-ranking officials, who had just been discussing state affairs in their offices, now rushed into the Taiji Palace square, disregarding all decorum.

"Your Majesty!" Fang Xuanling's black gauze cap was tilted to one side, tears streaming down his face. "Did I hear wrongly? A yield of one thousand jin per mu?"

"Even if the Great Tang mobilizes the entire nation's strength, using the very best fields and applying ample manure, we barely manage three hundred jin!"

The rise and fall of ancient dynasties, to put it simply, is a ledger of grain.

When there is enough grain to eat, the world is peaceful, and the emperor becomes a sage ruler for the ages.

When disaster strikes and there is not a single grain harvested, refugees rise up with their weapons, and the dynasty collapses instantly.

Grain is the tightest noose around the necks of all feudal emperors.

And now, the youth in the Sky Screen told them.

That noose was torn apart by hand by the old man in the photograph.

Dark skin, simple clothing, rough hands holding rice ears.

"This is not a farmer; this is the true savior of the world!"

Li Shimin's first reaction to the old man was admiration, but his second reaction was defiance.

A mindset truly befitting a strong person.

We are all human; if others can do it, why can't we?!"

He grabbed Wei Zheng's collar.

"Issue the decree! Break ground immediately beside the Taimiao to build a Shennong Hall for me!"

"Make the Flame Emperor the primary deity, and the secondary deity... no! Place the spiritual image of this old gentleman from the Sky Screen right in the center, and let him receive the incense of the Great Tang for ten thousand generations according to imperial standards."

Usually a matter of two people, this time the agreement was surprisingly unanimous.

Wei Zheng nodded vigorously and shouted in assent:

"Your Majesty is wise! He who saves the myriad people deserves the incense of ten thousand generations!"

Li Shimin shoved Wei Zheng aside, drew the horizontal sword from his waist, and pointed the blade directly at the assembly of officials.

"The Imperial Court of Agriculture! The Ministry of Revenue!"

"From this day forth, issue a wanted notice for the entire realm... no, offer a bounty to recruit all those in the realm who understand farming techniques."

"Whoever can breed a superior seed for the Great Tang that produces ten jin more grain, I shall reward them with one hundred taels of gold."

"Whoever can breed a superior seed that doubles the yield, I shall grant them the title of Marquis of Different Surname!"

Modern apartment.

Lin Xuan picked up a piece of scrambled egg and placed it in Xiao Sizi's bowl.

"What are you staring at? Eat your food."

Xiao Sizi swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "Lin Xuan, if the yield is one thousand jin per mu, does that mean there will be no more bones of the starved in the world?"

"Yes, basically, no one will starve to death."

"As long as people are not lazy and are willing to work, they can eat their fill."

Lin Xuan thought for a moment, then added another sentence.

"Moreover, this old man not only solved the yield problem for good fields but also developed Sea Rice."

Xiao Sizi looked up: "What is Sea Rice?"

"In your Great Tang, along the coast, there are places where the ground is covered in white frost, right? That is saline-alkali land."

Lin Xiu gestured with his chopsticks. "The salt content is too high; not a blade of grass grows, and whatever seeds you sow rot in the soil."

Xiao Sizi nodded.

Such deadly lands are common along the Great Tang coast; the government never levied taxes on them because no grain could be grown there.

"Sea Rice is rice that can take root and grow on those white-frosted deadly lands."

"Irrigated with diluted seawater, it still sprouts and bears grain on saline-alkali land, turning wasteland into granaries."

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu timeline.

Before Fengtian Hall.

The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who had fought his way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood with a heart as hard as iron, was wailing in tears.

The entire court of civil and military officials knelt on the square, none daring to advise, none daring to speak.

Zhu Yuanzhang pounded his chest with both hands, old tears flowing along the gullies of his face.

"Grain from saline-alkali land... barren land turned into granaries..."

Zhu Yuanzhang sobbed until he gasped for breath, countless gruesome scenes flashing through his mind.

Haozhou suffered a great drought, locust swarms blocking the sun.

Not a blade of grass grew in the fields.

Tree bark was gnawed bare; Guanyin earth stuffed the starving masses' stomachs, suffocating them to death.

His father, his mother, and his eldest brother.

The entire family fell one after another onto the cracked yellow earth within half a month.

Before dying, his mother's skin-and-bone hands were still digging for grass roots in the soil.

Hunger was the most terrifying nightmare deep in Zhu Yuanzhang's soul.

He became Emperor and killed countless corrupt officials.

All to let every farmer in the world eat a full meal.

Yet the population of the Ming Dynasty grew, while arable land remained fixed.

Vast stretches of saline-alkali land along the coasts and in the northwest remained an intractable disease in his heart.

Now the Sky Screen told him that saline-alkali land could also grow life-saving grain.

After weeping, Zhu Yuanzhang roared:

"Minister of Works, Minister of Revenue! Come rolling out immediately!"

The two ministers scrambled out of the ranks, prostrating and kowtowing on the ground.

"Allocate silver, allocate manpower."

"Send all agricultural officials of the Ministry of Works to the Jiangzhe coast immediately, to the saline-alkali lands by the sea, to test acre by acre for us."

He walked before the two men, teeth gritted.

"People of later generations can cultivate rice that grows in salt water; can the agricultural officials of the Ming Dynasty not?"

"All things in the world interact and counteract each other; find those wild grasses most resistant to saline-alkali, find those wild rice plants that survive toughest by the sea!"

"Hybridize! Breed them for us!"

Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed the official hat of the Minister of Works.

"I give you ten years; if you cannot produce a prototype of this Sea Rice within ten years, you lot of officials who eat plain rice shall all go to the coast and drink seawater!"

Lin Xuan finished the last bite of rice and set down his bowl and chopsticks.

He began clearing the bowls and plates from the table.

"Enough, stop thinking about all that nonsense."

"Food from later generations is unlimited."

"Eat quickly, then go wash your face."

Xiao Sizi quickly shoveled a few more bites of rice into her mouth, her cheeks puffing out like a squirrel's.

"Where shall we go?"

Lin Xuan turned off the faucet, shook the water droplets from his hands, and walked out of the kitchen.

"I will take you out to visit a large Yuleyuan in the city center."

"There is nothing to play with downstairs at the apartment; taking a taxi there risks traffic jams."

"Today we will take the Underground Iron Dragon."

After a night of communication, he already knew how to explain things to Xiao Sizi using more vivid examples.

Xiao Sizi swallowed her food and opened her eyes wide: "Underground Iron Dragon?"

"Yes, also called Subway."

"A steel giant beast that drills holes underground and runs faster than horses."

"Put on your shoes after eating, and prepare to set off."