Shortly after the assistant minister left, the Prince received a piece of good news.
Sean, who had gone to the Port of Clearwater to buy crop seeds, had come back.
When Roland followed the messenger to the garden, he saw Sean and several other guards unloading bags from the back of their mounts.
It had been almost a month since the day of his departure, and he looked a lot darker and thinner.
Seeing the Prince appear, Sean immediately stood up and raised his hand to salute. Roland quickly stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, "Good job. What kind of seeds did you bring back? "
Sean squatted down and untied the bags on the ground, "Pearl rice, earth eggs, candy bars … the plants you described, I bought them all in the Port of Clearwater. Indeed, most of them are produced in the Fjords, but the Port of Clearwater already has a lot of farmland growing these crops. "
"Did you ask the merchants how to grow them?"
"I did, but they couldn't tell me the specific method. They also said that if these plants left the Southern Territory, it would be very difficult to grow them in other places." Sean grabbed a handful of yellow grains from the bag and spread them in front of Roland, "Your Highness, this is pearl rice. The merchants said that if I bought it together with the pearl sticks, it would be cheaper. But the pearl sticks are too heavy and inconvenient to carry, so I only bought a whole one, and the rest are peeled seeds. "
There was no doubt that the pearl rice was the corn he was familiar with. He excitedly picked up a corn grain and put it under the sun to look at it. The fruit was somewhat shriveled, it seemed that it had been stored for a whole winter. The yield of corn was naturally much higher than that of wheat, and it also had lower soil requirements. Coupled with Leaf's transformation, it might soon replace wheat and become the main rations of Border Town.
Sean untied another bag and took out a round brown crop, "This is earth eggs, I ate them in the hotel in the Port of Clearwater. They were cut into strips and soaked in a basin of water. They were very crispy and had a faint sweet taste."
Seeing this familiar shape, Roland's heart was filled with emotion. This is clearly a potato! He used his fingers to dig away the muddy skin, revealing the dark yellow potato flesh inside. Compared with the potatoes in the future, the potatoes in this era were not big, and the color of the tubers was darker, and not every piece looked like an egg. He noticed that there were also long strips of potatoes like carrots in the bag.
"This thing tastes better when crushed and steamed into a paste."
"Uh … Your Highness, have you eaten before?"
"Yes, I've eaten it at a banquet in the palace," Roland decided to lie, because the name 'earth egg' was too unpleasant to hear, "The royal chefs don't call it earth egg, they call it potato. The delicious steamed snack is called mashed potatoes. "
"So that's how it is. As expected of Your Highness, you are truly knowledgeable." Sean sighed. He opened the last package and pulled out a black stick. "Your Highness, I think this crop is the most important. The honey of the Port of Clearwater was very cheap, largely because of it. According to the news I heard in the tavern, more and more of their farmland is being converted to candy bars. The stalks of this magical plant are actually sweet. After cutting off the outer skin, the sugar can be squeezed out. The price is one-tenth of the honey, but it tastes as sweet as honey water. "
"…" Roland wanted to say that he had also seen this crop, and conveniently change the name to sugar cane, but after thinking about it, he decided not to. It wouldn't be too late to change the name when the people planted it. Sugar cane was the raw material for making cane sugar, and it could also be used to refine ethanol. It could be regarded as a crop that could greatly improve the happiness of the people. Think about it, the pancakes made from flour were insipid and tasteless, but if you sprinkled some white sugar and wrapped it, it could immediately improve the taste by several levels. Even a salty person like Roland would fall head over heels for it.
"Are there any other crop seeds?"
"These are the ones from the Port of Clearwater," he took out five or six small leather bags from his pocket and gave them to His Highness. "You told me to bring back all the plant seeds that Graycastle has but Border Town doesn't. These bags were picked by me when I passed through Willow Town and Fallen Dragon Ridge. There are grapes, soybeans, cotton, flax and olive tree seeds. But the farmers said that most of the grapes are planted by inserting their branches into the ground. Although the seeds can also be planted, the germination period is very slow, and the grapes produced are not very tasty. "
With Leaf here, none of this is a problem, thought Roland. Now that I have the grape seeds, maybe I should try the vine version of wheat. As for soybeans, cotton, flax and olives, they were all very useful crops. First, I will let Leaf improve the seeds suitable for the Western Territory's climate and soil, and then give them to the serfs to grow on a small scale. Finally, the Ministry of Agriculture will be responsible for summarizing the improvements and writing a planting manual.
"Your Highness, I still have some news to report to you," Sean said in a low voice, "It's about the situation in the Port of Clearwater."
"Is it related to Princess Graycastle?"
Sean nodded, "I stayed in the Port of Clearwater for nearly two weeks. In addition to buying seeds, I spent the rest of my time in pubs. There are rumors that your sister Garcia Wimbledon and the Sand Nation have reached an agreement. She will provide the Sand Nation with the border of the Southern Territory, and in return, the Sand Nation will worship her as their King and obey her commands. And during my time in the port, I did see a lot of Mojins on the streets. "
The Mojins of the Southernmost Region … Although Border Town doesn't care about one's origin, but bringing a large number of foreigners to settle in the Kingdom's territory is another matter. It seems that in order to fight for the throne, Garcia is really unscrupulous, thought Roland. "The Sand Nation is also divided into many factions, and it is impossible for all of them to listen to her instructions. Do you know which clans she is trying to win over?"
Sean shook his head, "The Sand Nation is very wary of the people of Graycastle, even if I use the Golden Dragon, I can't buy more detailed information. But … there is one thing that is very strange. The day before I planned to leave the Port of Clearwater, Garcia returned from Eagle City. Everyone in the city was celebrating their Queen's victory over the false King Timothy. But the next day, there were four or five murders in the city, and one of the victims was torn into several pieces on the street. "
"The Port of Clearwater was then put under lockdown, so I had to stay there for three more days. The pubs were all closed, so everyone gathered in the hotel lobby to talk about this matter. Some people said it was the false King's revenge, while others said it was the Sand Nation's doing. One of the merchants from the Fjords said that he had witnessed one of the murders with his own eyes. The perpetrator wasn't tall, and obviously wasn't a Sand Nation, but his strength and speed weren't something a normal person could have. The security team that heard the news was completely annihilated by him, and even though he was stabbed several times, and blood flowed all over the ground, he was still indifferent. It wasn't until more and more security team members arrived that they were able to kill him with their shields and spears. Later, the lockdown was lifted, and I didn't dare to stay any longer, so I immediately took a merchant ship and rushed back. "
"You did a good job," Roland thought for a moment, "You don't have to return the Golden Dragon to the City hall after buying the seeds, just consider it your reward."
"Thank you for your reward, Your Highness!"
"His strength and speed are far beyond that of an ordinary person, and he can ignore the pain caused by the knife wounds, it sounds like … the Church's pills." After the guard left, Nightingale's voice sounded in his ears.
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