After Yezi finished her explanation, Edith was the first to raise a question, "Your Majesty, can this wheat, catalyzed by magic, really be eaten by ordinary people?"
This was probably what everyone else was most concerned about. After the Pearl of the North spoke, not only Pero, but even Speel showed a worried expression.
"First of all, Gold Two and Gold One have no essential difference. They are both cultivated by Yezi—Gold Two only further expands the characteristic of yield." Roland replied with a smile, "Secondly, although it is modified by magic, it does not contain magic itself, so there is no need to worry that ordinary people will be harmed by it. In fact, the wheat porridge and pancakes I have been eating recently are all from the Gold Two in the experimental field."
He couldn't help but think of the later generations' disputes over natural foods, hybrid foods, and genetically modified foods. Some people always emphasize that natural is the best, but they don't know what natural foods should originally look like.
Explaining the origin of Gold Two in detail is a very complex issue, involving the mutation and heredity of organisms, and even Yezi may not be able to understand the principle behind it. Although her ability can cause plants to undergo tremendous changes in a short period of time, it basically requires a continuous supply of magic and cannot be inherited by offspring. If the change is too great, it may even die directly after being deprived of magic.
Therefore, when Yezi cultivates golden wheat, her main role is to promote mutation and accelerate its growth—selecting characteristics that are more conducive to planting, eliminating inferior shapes, and breeding them generation after generation, ultimately forming a wheat species with extremely prominent characteristics. This is no different from traditional crop cultivation methods, except that the process is greatly reduced, completing hundreds of years of long evolution in less than two years.
Roland had seen the original watermelon—a fist-sized hard-shelled fruit capsule interspersed with a few separate yellow flesh segments, which at first glance looked similar to an orange. By the seventeenth century, the flesh had turned red and the size had increased a lot, but it was still half-filled with whitish veins. If you dug it out with a spoon, you could probably empty it in four or five scoops.
In addition, the appearance of fruits and crops that people are familiar with is very different from before. In fact, not only plants, but also animals are no exception. The most typical example is the dog—a species that did not originally exist, but was transformed from a wolf under the influence of humans generation after generation.
Therefore, so-called natural foods are the result of repeated artificial selection. If you really return to its original appearance, it would be mostly unpalatable.
Moreover, not only humans, but any species, from mammals to microorganisms, is constantly changing the surrounding environment. In Roland's view, there is no difference between humans building a power station and yeast fermenting bread, both are natural acts, because life itself belongs to nature.
It was just that these principles were too profound for local officials, so he simply simplified the answer into two parts: "It's okay to eat Gold One, so Gold Two is naturally okay," and "If you don't believe me, I'm eating it too." The king's leading by example in this era was the best proof.
Seeing that everyone no longer had any doubts on the surface, Roland continued, "In addition, all grain transactions in various cities must be controlled by the second-level city hall, just like Neverwinter, prohibiting private sales of grain. As for the specific implementation methods, Chief Administrator Barov will explain them in detail to you later."
Earl Speel. Passi raised his eyebrows, "Your Majesty, if Gold Two really has such a high yield, there will probably be a large surplus after feeding the people, and the city hall will have a very large financial pressure if it wants to buy it all. Moreover, Dragonfall Ridge City only has more than 10,000 people, is it necessary to produce so much grain?"
"That's right, because the excess grain is not for eating, but for storing."
"Storing?" She was slightly stunned.
"For the upcoming Battle of Divine Will." Roland said word by word.
The purpose of his compulsory promotion of Gold Two, in addition to recruiting more people for Graycastle, was also for this war that would determine fate—as a member born in an era of peace, he had not experienced a protracted and cruel war, so he could only follow historical experience to prepare for war.
The worst situation that Roland could foresee was that the population would decrease sharply by 30%, all young and middle-aged men would have to go to the battlefield, and all women and children would work in factories to provide supplies for the front lines. Under this situation, it is likely to lead to the abandonment of farmland and no one to cultivate it. If there is enough grain to use for two to three years, it may be possible to hold out until a turning point appears.
He had asked the Minister of Construction, Karl. Vanbert, in detail about this point. The latter said that a well-designed, structurally complete, and specially guarded granary can store shelled grains for up to five years. Although the taste will drop significantly after more than a year or two, who would care about whether the food is delicious at that time.
It should be noted that Yezi's experimental field is far more than just wheat with high yields. After two years of cultivation, crops introduced from various places, such as sugarcane, corn, and potatoes, all have high-yield varieties. In particular, the latter two, with their inherent advantages, have much higher unit yields than wheat. The reason why Roland chose to promote Gold Two instead of promoting them is that their offspring can reproduce normally, which is not suitable for monopolizing grain trade; second, their storage period is not as long as that of grain.
Of course, agriculture is an extremely complex industry, which includes not only what people eat, but also what animals eat... For example, without sufficient soybean feed and a developed animal husbandry industry, it is just that he cannot take care of too much now. It is already a big project to ensure that everyone can eat staple food during the war.
Since most of the participants were aware of the significance of the Battle of Divine Will, no one questioned this policy concerning the survival of mankind. At the end of the meeting, Roland turned his attention to Juan, "I hope that education can be added to agronomy, mainly to train professionals who can skillfully master the planting methods of various crops."
The level of education in other cities is far from that of Neverwinter. He also feels that it is difficult to promote and popularize education in the entire Graycastle, so it is better to directly send professionals from Neverwinter to guide agricultural production in various places. Moreover, special agronomy is also a beginning, and in the future, subjects such as chemical engineering, architecture, and medicine will also be included in the schedule. It is not required that the people trained can independently research and invent new theories, but only that they can invest in the operation of the industry according to what they have learned.
After the meeting, Wendy brought new news.
The witches exploring the ruins in the Western Region's snow mountains have safely arrived at the Neverwinter Wharf.
When Roland rushed to the dock, a figure flew directly into his arms.
Light golden curly hair rubbed against his cheeks, with a slight itchy sensation, and a familiar scent filled his nose.
"I'm back," Nightingale whispered in his ear.