The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 582 Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes

Seeing that the four of them were all staring at the map and no one paid any attention to him, Guan Xing said to himself, "Later generations have verified that the world we live in is a sphere, just like the stars in the sky, not a flat continent as you understand it."

"Since it's a ball, theoretically, if you keep going west from Jiangling, you'll eventually return to Jiangling from the east. In other words, the idea of ​​going south while heading north isn't wrong, it's just that the journey is too long and the guy who went south while heading north is too slow, he'll never get there in his lifetime."

Liu Bei, not in the mood to listen to his nonsense, waved his hand to interrupt, saying, "Stop talking nonsense, quickly tell me what good things these places have, and whether they are suitable for farming."

The ability to cultivate the land was of utmost importance, as it determined whether the Han Dynasty could send troops to occupy the land and establish a permanent foothold.

Guan Xing said, "Let's talk about it slowly. First, let's talk about the north. Crossing the northern grasslands leads to the Siberian Plain, which is arable but the climate is too cold. More than half the year is frozen, and it was difficult to survive before cotton became widespread."

"Go northwest along the Siberian Plain, cross the Ural Mountains and you will reach the European Plain, which will become known as the European Plain. Further west is the largest of the three major black soil plains in the world, which I told you about earlier. The grain yield of that black soil can feed the entire West."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhuge Liang all gleamed with greed in their eyes.

Ignoring their terrifying gazes, Guan Xing continued, "Although the area east of the Ural Mountains is arable, the climate is cold and unsuitable for human habitation. However, there are many resources buried underground, such as iron ore, coal, oil, and natural gas, which can make us completely self-sufficient. Further north is the sea."

"Let's go back to the west of the Han Dynasty. Following the Silk Road westward into the Western Regions, and beyond the Western Regions is the Middle East, which is currently the Parthian Empire. That place is quite complex, with deserts, plains, hills, and rivers. The main thing is that it has oil, which is what we call lacquer. This stuff is extremely useful; it's the lifeblood of the industrial age. In our time, whoever controlled oil controlled the discourse."

"West of Parthia lies Europe, which is what we often call Daqin (the Roman Empire). Although there are mountains and hills there, most of it is plains. It leads all the way to that black soil plain. The Western civilization that was nurtured on that land later dominated the world and even oppressed the Han people for a century."

"South of Parthia lies the Kushan Empire of the Indian subcontinent, which has long been in contact with us Han Chinese."

"The continent that faces the Kushan Empire across the sea is called Australia. Australia looks quite large, but most of the central area is desert, which is not suitable for living. Only some coastal areas are suitable for human habitation. However, this continent is rich in iron ore, and many of them are open-pit mines that do not need to be mined. You can just pick them up by hand."

"This enormous continent beyond Australia is called Africa. Most of it has a tropical climate, which is not only suitable for farming but also rich in coal, iron ore, diamonds and other raw materials needed for industry. It is inhabited by dark-skinned black people. Black people are physically strong but their intelligence is generally below normal. In later generations, when both the East and the West entered the industrial age, the black people were still primitive tribes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and they didn't even know how to dig wells."

"I don't really know what crops are grown on this continent. I only know that there is a tree called the baobab tree, which has a fruit that can be eaten as a fruit or as a bread. The black natives can survive on this fruit, so they don't farm at all. Thanks to the abundance of resources, these bastards are even lazier than the natives of Linyi."

Liu Bei asked excitedly, "Baobaba trees, right? Could we bring them back to the Han Dynasty to plant?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "No, experiments have been conducted in later generations, and the climate of the Han Dynasty is not suitable for the growth of baobab trees. Transplanting them would be useless."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei looked regretful, but after a moment he said, "It doesn't matter. If the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain. When Yong'er and Li'er grow up, I'll enfeoff them there. All the land under heaven belongs to the king. As long as we set our sights on it, it belongs to my old Liu family. You continue."

Guan Xing pointed to the last continent and said, "This is the Americas, which is divided into South America and North America. The people living in North America are Native Americans. There are rumors that the Native Americans are refugees who fled there after the Shang Dynasty was defeated by the Zhou Dynasty, because stone carvings from the Shang Dynasty have been unearthed in that land. But Westerners do not accept this view."

"The North American continent also has mountains, rivers, and plains, but the mountain ranges are different from those of the Han Dynasty. The mountain ranges of the Han Dynasty run east-west. Take the Qinling Mountains for example. They run across the Central Plains and the Jiangnan region, cutting the north and south apart. In winter, they block the cold air from the north, making the Jiangnan region much warmer than the north. The mountain ranges of the Americas, on the other hand, run horizontally from north to south. The mountain ranges run along the coast from south to north, leaving the plains next to the mountain ranges unobstructed. In winter, the cold air moves southward without any hindrance."

"But this plain is much larger than the North China Plain. The land is fertile and suitable for cultivation, especially for mechanized cultivation in later generations. There is so much grain that it can be sold out every year."

"South America is also mostly plains, but it has a tropical rainforest climate, and therefore has the world's largest primeval forest, the Amazon rainforest. This rainforest is known as the lungs of the earth. There is a river in it called the Amazon River, which is the world's largest freshwater river, with a flow rate greater than the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers combined. However, it is also the most dangerous river in the world. There are electric eels that can release lightning, poison dart frogs that can kill people with the slightest touch, giant pythons as thick as tree trunks and several meters long, as well as spiders, ants, mosquitoes, etc. that can kill people. In short, if you go into that river, you won't even know how you died."

"I've gone off on a tangent. There are a few crops that must be brought back from this continent of America: potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peanuts, and chili peppers."

"These crops are distributed in North and South America, but I can't remember which ones are in North America and which ones are in South America."

Liu Bei hurriedly asked, "What are the characteristics of these crops? What are their yields? Can they become a staple food like rice?"

The specific yield and whether it can become a staple food are the most important factors. If it can become a staple food, we must obtain it even at the cost of our lives. However, if it can only be used as a condiment or snack, like the ones Zhang Qian brought back, then it is not worth taking too much risk.

Guan Xing nodded and said, "Well, take potatoes and sweet potatoes for example. These two can only be considered as semi-staple foods because they are very filling. Eating them can really keep you alive and there are no side effects. The downside is that they are not easy to store."

"Potatoes and sweet potatoes grow underground. When dug out, they are as big as melons. They are not picky about the environment and can be grown even in the desert. The yield per mu is very high, generally two to three thousand jin, and the high yield can reach eight thousand jin. Under extreme experimental conditions, it can even reach thirteen thousand jin."

"What the hell?" Liu Bei broke down again, screaming in alarm, "Say that again?"

A yield of 10,000 jin per mu, three or four times higher than that so-called hybrid rice, how is that possible?

Guan Xing poured cold water on the situation, saying, "Your Majesty, please don't get agitated. Although potatoes and sweet potatoes have high yields, as I just mentioned, these things grow underground and have a very high water content. Compared to rice, they should be divided by at least five."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei breathed a sigh of relief. That's more like it; otherwise, it would be too outrageous.

Liu Bei continued, "Dividing by five is already quite astonishing, but what do you mean by saying it's only a semi-staple food? Is it just because it's inconvenient to store?"

Guan Xing shook his head and said, "Not entirely. Eating too many potatoes is not a big problem, but eating too many sweet potatoes can easily cause bloating. Moreover, it's easy to get tired of eating them for a long time, and the taste is far less stable than rice and noodles. That's why they are eaten as a supplementary food in later generations."

"However, potatoes and sweet potatoes have such high yields that they can be used as life-saving food in years of famine. During the turbulent times of the Qing Dynasty, the population of China was able to exceed 400 million mainly thanks to these two crops."