In fact, Liu Yu knows best that sweet potatoes and potatoes can be planted for two seasons a year, but now it is only one season’s output. If the two seasons are added together, the highest yield per acre per year can exceed 10,000 kilograms.

Since the output was proved, Gan Ning's achievements were confirmed. Liu Yu was granted the title of Gan Ning as the first-class Duke of Yue in that dynasty.

Gan Ning refused, saying that the corn had not been found yet, and that it was unsuccessful to Your Majesty. Moreover, the ability to find the American continent depends entirely on Your Majesty's guidance and long-term support. If you are involved in the achievements, Your Majesty should be the first to be the best.

Liu Yu refused to allow Gan Ning's rejection and insisted on adding a title, but Gan Ning had to be granted the title in the end.

Subsequently, Liu Yu issued an order to give priority to the eight counties on the Xianbei prairie for planting. With farming, the prairie will no longer rely entirely on nomadism and can independently resist certain natural disasters. It will accelerate the process of thorough Chineseization of the prairie and make it truly part of the inherent territory of the Han Dynasty in the future.

On the other hand, since the route to the American continent has been opened, of course it is impossible to abolish it in just one trip. Not only does corn seeds need to be searched, but silk, porcelain and other objects can also be used to exchange a large amount of gold and other rare treasures from the natives of the American continent to transport them back to the Han Dynasty.

Liu Yu ordered Gan Ning to lead the fleet to set sail again a year later, and this time he strived to establish a stronghold on the American continent to lay the foundation for long-term future exchanges.

Time passed, and another year passed, and sweet potatoes and potatoes were harvested for two more seasons. Basically, the planting scope has spread across the eight major counties in the grassland, and all counties in the Central Plains also have a small number of seedlings. In just one or two years, the planting of sweet potatoes and potatoes will spread throughout the Han Dynasty.

By then, the huge increase in grain production will drive the rapid growth of the Han Dynasty's animal husbandry, economy, and population.

When Liu Yu successively wiped out Cao Wei, Jingchu, and Eastern Wu, and initially unified the world, his total population was about 28 million.

It is now the thirteenth year of Shenwu, which means it has been twelve years since the first year of Shenwu conquered the Eastern Wu.

Due to the continuation of Liu Yu's population policy, the large-scale use of cattle noses and iron plows has greatly increased the farming efficiency, the per capita food has increased greatly, and the cost of raising newborns has been lower. The total population of Dahan has grown very rapidly in the past twelve years.

In the twelve years, the population increased by more than 16 million. Including the destruction of Gongsun Kang to obtain more than one million people in Liaodong, the annexation of Goguryeo and Xianbei tribes, the population of 167 million people in Yizhou and Yunnan, and the territory of the Han Dynasty in the thirteenth year of Shenwu had already reached a total population of no less than 49 million, and it was only a few million to catch up with the peak period of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Nowadays, the large number of high-yield crops of sweet potato and potato are planted, and the grain output of the Han Dynasty will also increase geometrically. Liu Yu is confident that the total population of the Han Dynasty under his rule will catch up with the peak of the Eastern Han Dynasty within three years.

Within twenty years, the total population of Dahan will reach 100 million.

...

The Western Regions were not peaceful in the thirteenth year of Shenwu. Five years have passed since the Queen Wujia Luolan of Jingjue annexed Khotan and Shule’s two countries. Jingjue’s country has basically digested the population and territory of Khotan and Shule, and at the same time, it has annexed some other small and medium-sized countries in the Western Regions with populations of hundreds to thousands.

Queen Jingjue wanted to unify the Western Regions around the Great Desert, so there were only Wusun and Yanqi and a few small countries that were attached to the two countries that had not yet been destroyed, mainly Wusun and Yanqi.

After five years of development, Jingjue Kingdom has now owned nearly 40,000 troops and a total population of nearly 200,000, making it the second largest country in the Western Regions after Wusun.

Of course, just from the perspective of population, Wusun is indeed the largest country in the Western Regions. However, Wusun was led by Zhao Yun to the city of Chigu four years ago and severely attacked him. He lost more than 30,000 soldiers and was far from recovering his vitality. In terms of the number of soldiers, Wusun is actually not more than Jingjue Kingdom. Behind Jingjue Kingdom, there is the support of the Han Dynasty and has a large amount of excellent equipment. Therefore, in terms of comprehensive combat effectiveness, the Jingjue Kingdom is definitely much stronger than Wusun.

After five years of rest, the Queen of Jingjue was waiting for this moment.

However, before the war really started, Queen Jingjue plotted against Kucha.

Queen Jingjue openly mobilized 30,000 large armies of Jingjue Kingdom gathered on the Yanqi border, creating the momentum that the Jingjue Kingdom would first attack Yanqi.

As early as five years ago, when Queen Jingjue had just annexed the two countries of Khotan and Shule, she was afraid of the threat of Jingjue. Kucha and Yanqi married each other and formed an alliance. Therefore, no matter whether Jingjue's country first attacked Kucha or Yanqi, both countries would allied their forces to deal with the Jingjue's army.

Since the Jingjue Kingdom dispatched 30,000 troops on the border of Yanqi, this is the vast majority of the troops of the Jingjue Kingdom. There is no doubt that the Jingjue Kingdom wanted to attack Yanqi first. As an alliance, the army of Kucha immediately entered the Yanqi Kingdom and the Yanqi Kingdom's coalition forces. The coalition forces of the two countries were also stationed on the border of Yanqi Kingdom and confronted the Jingjue Kingdom's army.

However, Kucha and Yanqi were both deceived by the Queen of Jingjue.

In fact, the army of Jingjue Kingdom seemed to have gathered 30,000, but in fact, the Queen of Jingjue used deception methods. The army of Jingjue Kingdom that really gathered on the border of Yanqi Kingdom only had 15,000 people, but it just made the illusion of 30,000 people.

The real situation is that another 15,000 Jingjue Kingdom army had been quietly lurking in the area near the border between Shule and Kucha more than a month ago.

When he learned that most of the Kucha army had entered Yanqi, Queen Jingjue ordered the general Wupishan to lead the 15,000 Jingjue army lurking in the border area of ​​Shule and Kucha, and blatantly entered the territory of Kucha and seized the capital of Kucha.

The army of 15,000 Jingjue Kingdoms, including Wupishan, appeared like a sudden appearance of magic weapons. There were only about 6,000 soldiers left in Kucha. How could it be possible to resist when it was not safe? In just two days, the army of 15,000 Jingjue Kingdoms, including Wupishan, appeared under the capital of Kucha and launched a fierce attack on the capital of Kucha.

The Kucha army that defended the city was in panic and had no morale. The Kucha king was only afraid and had no ability to turn the tide. After only three days of defending, the Kucha king was captured by the army of the Jingjue Kingdom such as Wupishan, and the Kucha king and his royal family were all captured.

The news reached Yanqi. The 13,000 Kucha army, which was originally forming a coalition with the Yanqi army, was in chaos and wanted to leave the coalition and return to the Kucha country.

Queen Jingjue seized this time and ordered Wei Zhang and Tu Yu to attack the entire line. On that day, she defeated the coalition forces of Kucha and Yanqi, killed 8,000 and captured 16,000, of which 11,000 were the Yanqi army.

There were not many soldiers in Yanqi, and it was a sudden loss of 11,000. There were only less than 3,000 elderly, weak and remnants left in the entire Yanqi country. How could it be the opponent of the fierce Jingjue Army?

In despair, King Yanqi surrendered the whole country, and the army of Jingjue also occupied the capital of Yanqi and captured King Yanqi and his royal family.

At this point, Queen Wujia Luolan of Jingjue returned to the Western Regions and inherited the throne of Jingjue. After more than twelve years, she destroyed the five major countries of Shanshan, Yutian, Shule, Kucha, and Yanqi, plus more than a dozen small and medium-sized countries, completely unifying the area around the desert.

Although the population of Jingjue Kingdom at this time was less than 500,000, its territory was more than 1,500 miles from north to south and more than 3,000 miles from east to west.

The Jingjue Kingdom destroyed the Kucha Kingdom and Yanqi Kingdom, and unified the north and south of the desert.

The great man was not idle either. Princess Jieyou's descendants had been found and had lived in Chang'an City for more than a year. Liu Yu was also looking for excuses to start a war against Wusun again.
Chapter completed!