Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 717 Beans Made of Mud

With a little force, she crushed the shell of one of the peanuts. Inside, wrapped in a red coat, was a peanut. It should be called differently, Hualei thought.

"I bought it. Here you go." Hua Lei took out a few pieces of silver from her sleeve pocket and handed it over.

The other party was stunned and took Hua Lei's change in a daze. Why didn't this lady ask the quantity, didn't bargain, and just bought it all?

Hua Lei had already tied up the mouth of the sack. She tried hard but couldn't lift it by herself. She estimated that it was probably about 60 to 70 kilograms.

"Uncle, do you have any more of this mud beans?" Hua Lei asked again after getting the things.

"That's all, that's all. But you can take a look at the others." The skinny and dark-skinned boss pointed to several other sacks on the ground.

She had seen these flower buds before. They were soybeans, mung beans, and so on. They were all varieties grown in the Dasheng Dynasty, but she was not interested in them.

After looking at the empty baskets behind the boss and asking a few more questions, Hualei asked Qingzao to carry the peanuts and left the stall with some regret.

Peanuts are a bit scarce, and planting one acre of land requires about 30 to 35 kilograms of peanuts. There are only 60 to 70 kilograms of peanuts in the shell. When the shells are removed, at most one and a half acres of land can be planted.

When I asked the boss if he had any other stock, he just shook his head. He was a passing merchant, not a citizen of the Great Chen Kingdom. This time, he just happened to pass by here.

There are few peanuts, but in the past life, the yield of peanuts per mu could reach 700 to 1,000 kilograms. Here, it should be possible to produce 400 to 500 kilograms, right?

Then, I can expand my planting. When there are more, I can send some back to Shangjing City and present them to Emperor Shengwu. Then, maybe I can get some benefits.

When more peanuts are planted, they can be pressed into peanut oil. Unconsciously, Hualei's face was filled with a smile.

"Mom, what delicious food did you buy?" Jinnian followed behind.

"Mud beans." Hualei said as the locals did.

"Mud beans, beans made from mud." asked Jinnian, who recently loved taking Jinshi to play in the mud.

"No, it's mud beans that are planted in the ground and grow in the mud." Hua Lei held Jinnian's hand and said casually.

Rong Jin, who was at the back, followed with Jin Shi in his arms. Looking at the smiling Hua Lei, he asked in surprise, "Sister Hua, what did you buy? Why are you so happy?"

"Good stuff." Hua Lei leaned close to Rong Jin and whispered about Peanuts.

"Really? What a coincidence?" Rong Jin was also surprised.

"Well, it's a pity that it's a little too little." Hua Lei said regretfully.

Looking at the sack that Qingzao was carrying, Rong Jin nodded and comforted him, "It's already very good. This kind of thing can only be encountered by chance. You are already very lucky. We just need to be more careful when we plant it."

Hua Lei nodded, but her eyes were wider than before. She scanned the stalls one by one, afraid of missing out on any good stuff.

Sometimes, Hua Lei would even go over to take a look at the baskets and sacks that others had placed aside, which left many bosses puzzled.

But later, even though Hualei went around the entire market, she didn't find any other stalls selling peanuts, nor did she find any other good things. So, she took Jinnian, Jinshi, and Rong Jin back to the inn.

Originally, before coming here, I wanted to stay for a few more days and relax with my children, but because I accidentally got peanut seeds, Hualei had no mood to travel.

After resting for a night in the inn, he took his two children, loaded the peanuts onto the carriage, and went straight back to the government office.

Peanuts can be planted in spring or autumn. In Xichang, the weather is warm and the temperature in winter is not low. Hualei decided to start planting peanuts immediately while there is still time.

Remove the hard shells from the peanuts, dry them in the sun for a few days, then soak the peanuts in clean water for two to three days until they sprout.

Then, he picked a piece of the most fertile land from the official fields and leveled it carefully. At a certain distance, he buried the sprouted peanuts with the buds facing downwards in the loose soil to a depth of about half a finger, and kept the soil moist.

Peanuts grow quickly after germination, and it usually takes three to five to four months for peanuts planted in the ground to mature. When they are mature, the branches and leaves above the ground will turn yellow and wither, and fresh peanuts can be harvested at this time.

After the peanuts were planted, Hualei specifically looked for Feng Shuangxi and asked him to focus on the follow-up of the peanuts. She also told him the importance of peanuts.

Upon hearing that peanuts had never been grown in the Great Sheng Dynasty, and that in the future, the peanuts he grew might be presented to Emperor Shengwu, Feng Shuangxi, who had been a little absent-minded at first, suddenly became attentive.

Seeing that Feng Shuangxi was really concerned, Hua Lei felt relieved. In the next few days, Hua Lei worked in the government office, checking the documents sent by various states.

On this day, Hua Lei was working in the government office as usual, but unexpectedly received a letter from the official post. The letter was written to Hua Lei by Bao, the head of the neighboring prefecture of Xi'an.

In the letter, Prefect Bao proposed to purchase a batch of corn seeds from Hualei, and the price could be negotiated.

More than half a month ago, all the corn had matured and been harvested. At Hualei's request, the lower prefectures had handed over all the corn except for the seeds to the household warehouse of the prefecture government.

For a moment, Hualei didn't know whether to accept this unexpected letter. In fact, there is indeed a lot of corn in the warehouse now, but if you want to promote it to the various county offices under Xichang Prefecture, there will not be much.

However, if she rejected it directly, wouldn't it be inappropriate? So Hua Lei asked Wan Tongpan and Rong Jin, two other officials in the government office, for their opinions.

The opinions of Magistrate Wan Tong and several local officials under him were divided into two factions. One faction felt that the corn seeds in their warehouses were not abundant, so they would not sell them this year, but could sell some next year when the corn harvest was good.

Another group of officials said that since the other party said the price was negotiable, they might as well sell a batch of corn seeds at a high price. By next year, they would not be able to sell them at this price.

Seeing the quarreling subordinates, Hua Lei asked again about the character of Prefect Bao. However, this time, no one could answer.

Prefect Bao arrived at Xi'an Prefecture a year earlier than Hua Lei. Before that, he had little correspondence with Prefect Fei, and they had never met each other, so they were not familiar with each other.

During the Great Sheng Dynasty, once local officials were sent to serve in designated areas, they could not leave their jurisdiction at will during their term of office.

Unless there was an emergency or a special mission, it would be considered as absent from duty. Therefore, communication between local officials mainly relied on correspondence delivered by the official post system.

I asked Rong Jin, but he was not very familiar with Magistrate Bao.