The land under your feet gives people a very down-to-earth feeling. It seems that it has been alienated for a long time. Whether in Japan or on the sea, it is impossible to feel this sense of steadiness. The huge change in the port has made these people who have gone to sea for half a year feel that it has been several years since the past six months. After coming back to their senses, they remembered that they had only been away for half a year. The changes in the port have changed too much, and there are great changes every day.

Xue Ji ate the food in front of him voraciously, stuffing it all into his mouth.

"Eat slowly." Yan Liben poured him a cup of hot tea, and asked the servants beside him to add more food.

"You don't know what I eat in Japan. The food in that place in Japan is really bad." Xue Ji said while eating.

"Don't talk when eating, be careful to bite your tongue." Yan Liben smiled and said, drinking wine on his own.

"The food here is so delicious." Xue Ji looked at the table of food, "When I came here, I always ate dry food, and I only had a hot meal a day."

"The Tang Dynasty has become rich, and everyone is not short of food." Yan Liben said with a smile on his face, "The Tang Dynasty has undergone many changes in the past six months after you left. There are more and more merchants. People have begun to go out to make money, especially in Chang'an today. Gu Qing's village has become the most prosperous place in the entire Central Plains. The people have money and more food. I still remember Gu Qing's potatoes, that small thing, had an extremely high yield."

"People in the Central Plains can farm. If they go down, they will be out of control. There are too many grains to hide at home." Yan Liben said with a smile, "Sometimes, His Highness of the King of Wu began to try to plant Nanzhao's grains in the east of the eastern Wu Jiangdong area. The rice in Nanzhao is large and ripe quickly. If you encounter the locust plague in the second year of Zhenguan, you will probably be able to cross the land."

Xue Ji experienced the locust plague in the second year of Zhenguan. The scene of the fields without harvest. He was still young at that time and now he can't remember it. He just knew that his grandfather had died in the famine after the locust plague for the rest of his life.

Xue Ji picked up a potato and took a bite. The taste was very soft and glutinous, and said, "It is this thing that makes the lives of the people in the Central Plains better."

"Every household has plantings. If one is bigger, it will be full. One seedling will be full. One seedling will be digging for several." Yan Liben said, "When Gu Qing took out the potatoes, it did not spread too far. That is, it was planted near Chang'an. Until in recent years, potatoes have grown more and more widely, and this thing is good. Sometimes there are potatoes in the wilderness on the roadside, so there is no need to worry about food. When the port is short of manpower, it will recruit some nearby residents. We will give money, and people are happy to work."

"These changes are very slow. I didn't feel them at first, but after a few years, I was caught off guard and came back to my senses. I found that those poor places had no worries about food and clothing at the beginning." Thinking of this, Yan Liben smiled, "I think when I first came here, there were some nearby villagers who would steal our things, but now there is no more. They would take the initiative to deliver some food that they couldn't finish at home."

Xue Ji listened to Yan Liben talking while eating.

"In fact, the biggest change is the change in labor." Yan Liben continued, "It seems that Gu Qing started building a factory. Chang'an west of Luoyang is mainly based on the Gu family's factories. However, to the south of Luoyang, the east of Dongwujiang to Shanhaiguan, many powerful and wealthy businessmen have also begun to learn from Gu Qing's appearance and learn to open large workshops. On the one hand, they have increased the number of items on their own, and on the other hand, they can make more villagers money."

"From farming to working?" Xue Ji asked in confusion.

"It's true that this is what it means. A long time ago, the people only had food in their eyes. Nowadays, the food in the people's homes was more expensive than money during the early Zhenguan year." Yan Liben sighed, "How come Gu Qing's inconspicuous little potato brought such a big change to the Central Plains."

Xue Ji also thought about it and said, "I don't think it's just a change of potatoes. It's a change of ideas. When I was in Japan, what touched me the most was that there were not many scholars in Japan, and very few people studied. The whole of Japan made a living by farming. Even if it was farming, there were only one meal or another. When the Japanese were working in our branch, they knew that they were working hard and had no idea how valuable the thing in their hands was."

"If you want to say that somewhere in Japan is really not as good as the Tang Dynasty, then you are scholars. When it comes to scholars, you are people who study knowledge." Xue Ji said, "Like the existence of academies has brought many students to the Tang Dynasty. After these students have completed their studies, they will bring so many new things to the Tang Dynasty. Marine trade is also knowledge, wars also require knowledge, and wisdom is even more needed in the court."

When he said this, Xue Ji paused, "Uncle Yan, you said that if there were no scholars in a country, what would happen to this country?"

"Does there be no scholars in Japan?" Yan Liben asked back.

"Too little, too little." Xue Ji said, "I didn't say much about the books in Japan. Many scholars only had the nobles of Japan, but even the nobles of Japan used bamboo slips, many of them were used in the Qin Dynasty. Moreover, the nobles of Japan were not as good as the other generation, and many of their descendants were unwilling to study. After thinking about some things, I felt a chill all over my back. I don't know if Gu Hou thought so. If Gu Hou really had this purpose, then Japan would be over."

"Let's talk." Yan Li was intrigued.

Xue Ji said, "We opened a branch in Japan, so that many Japanese people came to work here. After seeing the money and food, the Japanese squeezed their heads and wanted to come in. Even the Japanese nobles wanted to come in because the income given to them by the factories was too much more than the income from the Japanese farming. Sometimes I saw a large group of Japanese people working in the branch. Their eyes were dull and their expressions were stiff, as if they were half controlled. Sometimes they would work without saying a word, and they were quiet."
Chapter completed!