After Ye Ye finished explaining, Edith was the first to ask a question, "Your Majesty, can this kind of wheat catalyzed by magic power really be eaten by ordinary people?"
This is probably what other people are most concerned about. After Pearl of the North spoke, not only Peiro, but even Speer showed a worried look.
"First of all, there is no essential difference between Golden No. 2 and Golden No. 1. Both are cultivated from leaves, but No. 2 has further expanded the characteristic of yield." Roland replied with a smile, "Secondly, although it is based on magic power It is transformed, but it does not contain magic itself, so there is no need to worry that ordinary people will be harmed by it. In fact, the oatmeal and pancakes I have recently eaten are the Golden No. 2 from the experimental field.”
He couldn't help but think of the natural food, hybrid food and genetically modified food debate in later generations. Some people always emphasize that natural food is the best, but they don't know what natural food should look like.
It is a very complicated issue to explain the origin of Golden No. 2 in detail. It involves the mutation and inheritance of organisms, and even Ye Ye may not understand the reason. Although her ability can make plants undergo great changes in a short period of time, they basically need a continuous supply of magic power, and they cannot be passed on to future generations.
Therefore, the main role of leaves in cultivating golden wheat is to promote mutation and accelerate its growth. Select the ones with characteristics that are more conducive to planting, eliminate inferior shapes, and reproduce from generation to generation, and finally form a wheat variety with outstanding characteristics. This is no different from the cultivation method of traditional crops, the only difference is that the process is greatly reduced, and the long evolution of hundreds of years has been completed in less than two years.
Roland had seen the appearance of a primitive watermelon. A fist-sized hard-shelled fruit sac with several yellow pulp separated into it looked similar to an orange at first glance. In the 17th century, the flesh of the fruit turned red and became much larger, but more than half of it was still filled with whitened meridians.
In addition, the well-known fruits and crops look very different from before. In fact, not only plants, but also animals. The most typical example is the dog, a pet that did not originally exist, but was transformed from wolves under the influence of human generations.
Therefore, the so-called natural food is the result of repeated manual screening. If it really returns to its original appearance, it is almost impossible to swallow it.
And not just humans, any species, from mammals to microbes, are changing the surrounding environment all the time. In Roland's view, human beings build a power station and yeast leaven bread is no different. They are both natural actions, because life itself is a part of nature.
It's just that these truths are too esoteric for officials in various places. He simply simplified his answer into two parts: "Gold No. 1 will be fine, No. 2 will be fine", and "If you don't believe me, I will eat it too." The example of the king in this era is the best proof.
Seeing that everyone no longer had any doubts on the surface, Roland continued, "In addition, the food transactions in each city must be controlled by the secondary city hall. Just like Neverwinter City, private sales of food are prohibited. As for the specific implementation method, the general manager Barov will explain to you in detail later."
Earl Spell Passy raised his eyebrows, "Your Majesty, if Gold No. 2 really has such a high output, there will probably be a lot of surplus after feeding the people. If the City Hall wants to buy all of them, the financial pressure will be very great. Besides, there are only more than 10,000 people in the city of Luolongling, so do you need to produce so much food?"
"That's right, because the excess grain is not for eating, but for storage."
"Storage?" She was slightly taken aback.
"For the upcoming battle of divine will." Roland said word by word.
The purpose of his forced promotion of Gold No. 2 is not only to recruit people for Greycastle, but also because of this fateful war. As a member born in a peaceful age, he has not experienced a protracted and brutal war, so he can only Prepare for war according to historical experience.
The worst that Roland could have imagined was that the population would drop by 30%, all the young and middle-aged would have to go to the battlefield, and all the women and children would work in factories to provide supplies to the front lines. Under such a situation, it is very likely that the farmland will be deserted, and no one will cultivate it. If there is enough grain for two to three years, it may be able to persist until a turning point occurs.
He asked the Minister of Construction, Karl Van Bert, about this in detail, and the latter said that a well-designed, well-structured and supervised granary could store hulled grain for up to five years. Although the taste will drop sharply after a year or two, at that time, who cares if the food is good or not.
It should be known that there is far more than a high-yielding crop of wheat in Ye Ye’s experimental field. After two years of cultivation, crops introduced from various places, such as sugarcane, corn, potatoes, etc., have high-yield varieties. In particular, the latter two are much higher than wheat in unit yield by virtue of their inherent advantages. And Roland chose to promote the Golden No. 2 instead of promoting them for two reasons: one is that their offspring can reproduce normally and are not suitable for monopolizing grain trade; the other is that their storage period is not as long as that of grains.
Of course, agriculture is an extremely complex industry, it includes not only what people eat, but also what animals eat... For example, without sufficient soybean feed, there will be no developed animal husbandry, but he can't take care of too much now, just guaranteeing all the wartime If everyone can eat the staple food, it is already a big project.
Since most of the attendees understood the meaning of the War of Divine Will, no one questioned the policy of human survival any longer. At the end of the meeting, Roland turned his attention to the book, "I hope to add agronomy as a course in secondary education, which is mainly used to cultivate professionals who can master various crop planting methods."
The education level of other cities is far from that of Neverwinter. He also felt that it would be difficult to achieve universal education in the entire territory of Greycastle, so it would be better to directly send learned professionals from Neverwinter to various places. guide agricultural production. In addition, specialized agronomy can be regarded as a beginning, and subjects such as chemical engineering, construction, and medicine will also be included in the process in the future. It is not required that the cultivated citizens can research and invent new theories on their own, as long as they invest in the operation of the industry based on what they have learned.
After the meeting, Wendy brought a new message.
The witches who were exploring the ruins in the Snow Mountains of the Western Region have arrived safely at the Neverwinter City Pier.
When Roland arrived at the dock, a figure flew straight into his arms.
Pale golden curls rubbed against his cheeks, a faint itching feeling, and the familiar breath filled his nose again.
"I'm back," Nightingale whispered in his ear.