Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 746, a good day for the plantation owner

Here in Danhe City in the north of Nanyang Province, Li Maolin, the magistrate of Danhe City, came to a plantation on horseback.

This plantation is very large. When you look at it at a glance, it feels like you can't see the edge. It is all tall and dense sugarcane forests. Soon, these sugarcane will be harvested again.

Li Maolin is also estimating how much sugarcane can be produced in Danhe County under his jurisdiction this year. Luzon is more suitable for growing sugarcane and rice than Ryukyu, and all planters generally choose half-opening.

Half of the land is planted with sugar cane and the other half with rice.

Sugar cane can be used to sell money, rice can be used to feed his slaves, and the surplus can be sold.

Thanks to the unique geographical conditions here, whether it is rice or sugar cane, they can be ripened for more than a year, the output is very large, and the quality is also very good. Using the increasingly convenient sea transportation, they are sold in large quantities to all parts of Daming.

"In the past, it was said that places other than Daming were barbarian lands, full of miasma. Only after I came to Nanyang did I realize that this place is simply paradise."

Riding on a horse, walking on a small cement road, this cement road was built by the plantation owner himself, it is not wide, nor is the pavement thick, mainly for the convenience of transporting sugar cane and rice.

In Nanyang, there is a lot of precipitation. If the cement road is not repaired, the road will be very muddy, which is not conducive to traffic.

Li Maolin, who is already in his fifties, sighed while watching.

Before coming to Nanyang, he, like most of the Ming people, felt that Daming was the best, and the world outside of Daming was a barbaric land full of miasma, and it was not a place for people to live at all.

He really came to Nanyang as an official, and after staying here for a long time, he knew that Nanyang was much better than Ming Dynasty in all aspects.

The land here is fertile, with sufficient rainfall, abundant light and heat, and is very suitable for planting rice and sugar cane. It can be harvested three times a year and seven crops in two years, and the yield is extremely high.

It is very warm here all year round, even in winter it is similar to summer, so there is no need to worry about the cold.

In such a place, it is like heaven.

When he was in Daming, he saw too much, too much hunger and poverty. Many poor people worked hard all year round, and they couldn't even get a full meal.

If there is a famine, they can only sell their sons and daughters to survive. Sometimes they can't even sell their sons and daughters to survive.

This is definitely not a fake, but something that really existed in Daming.

But here in Nanyang, everyone eats enough to eat, even the slaves of plantation owners can eat three meals a day, white rice, and fried sea fish. These days are very different .

He thought about this question carefully.

Why are the people of Ming Dynasty hardworking but always have enough food and warm clothes?
Now it seems that the main reason is the geographical conditions. The geographical conditions in Nanyang are so good, three crops a year, seven crops in two years, the output is really too large.

Even with a small area to grow rice, there is still not enough food in Nanyang, and a large amount of food is shipped to all parts of Daming for sale.

"Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. Only by going out for a long time and seeing more can you really gain insight."

Li Maolin couldn't help sighing.

Seeing the richness and fertility of Nanyang, he also often wrote letters back to his hometown, so that all the fathers and folks in his hometown immigrated to Nanyang.

In Danhe City under his jurisdiction, there are a large number of people who immigrated from his hometown to Nanyang. The person he is going to visit this time is a good friend of his.

"Old Qin, old Qin~"

Just arrived at his friend's plantation, Li Maolin couldn't help but growl. From a distance, he could see more than a dozen slaves tearing sugarcane leaves in this plantation.

"Haha, Old Li~"

Soon, someone heard Li Maolin's voice and came out of the sugarcane forest. This person was Qin Yan, who was also in his fifties and a scholar.

I used to be classmates with Li Maolin, and the two had been taking the imperial examinations for a lifetime. Although Li Maolin was admitted to the Juren, he was never able to pass the Jinshi examination, and he had no official position.

At the end of last year, the imperial court needed a large number of officials. He just caught up with this wave of welfare, so he also came to Nanyang to become the county magistrate of Danhe City.

Because Qin Yan received a letter from Li Maolin, his family also moved to Nanyang.

Because the imperial court encouraged immigrants to the Nanyang region, it also gave preferential policies. One person can reward dozens of acres of land. When the Qin Yan family moved here, the rewarded fields alone have thousands of acres, so they also established a plantation. The whole family was too busy, and bought more than a dozen slaves one after another.

"How about it?"

"The harvest should be good this time, right?"

Walking in his plantation with Qin Yan, Li Maolin also asked with a smile.

“Very good~”

Qin Yan also nodded with a smile and said bluntly, Li Maolin did not lie to him, Nanyang is indeed very good.

He was originally a poor scholar, and his family was very poor. In Daming, it was difficult for the whole family to even eat. After he came to Nanyang, he turned over all of a sudden.

Not only do they have thousands of acres of vast land, but they also quickly made a fortune by planting sugarcane. Not only did they build a large house here, but they also bought more than a dozen slaves. It is simply unnecessary to live a small life. so comfortable.

A family of dozens of people lived comfortably. His eldest son helped manage the plantation here, the second child went to learn sailing, the third child went to prospecting and mining with others, and the fourth child went to do business. All the grandchildren were also liberated from the land. Some went to school to take the imperial examination, some went into business, and some went to sea to become sailors and so on.

In the past, a family of young and old were basically trapped on the land, facing the loess, with their backs facing the sky, working hard all year round, and in the end they couldn't even eat a few full meals.

"After this crop of sugar cane is harvested, I plan to buy dozens of slaves and a few more cows to plant the rest of the land, and to open up more wasteland to plant some rubber. I heard that Tianjin The plantations under the Ocean Trading Company are planting this thing on a large scale."

"It is said that this thing will take seven or eight years to mature, but it will be very profitable in the future. I don't know if it is true or not, but the plantations under Mr. Liu have always been the most profitable. They never grow sugarcane, nor do they grow sugar cane. Rice is all about growing some weird things.”

Qin Yan talked with Li Maolin about his plans for the plantation with a smile on his face.

The whole family moved here, and there were too many land rewards. Many lands were still wasteland and needed to be reclaimed by themselves. There was not enough manpower, so they could only buy more slaves and cattle to solve the problem.

"Following Mr. Liu is definitely not wrong."

Li Maolin smiled and nodded, then looked at the slaves working in the sugarcane grove and said, "How much money did you spend for the dozen or so slaves?"

"It cost me nearly five hundred taels of silver to buy."

"Twelve young and strong male slaves are the most expensive, costing about forty taels of silver each. There are also five adult female slaves and a few young slaves, basically all given away for nothing."

Qin Yan thought for a while and said, "This slave is too expensive. I heard that the price is still increasing."

"Well, the price is increasing. In the slave market in the city, as long as there are slaves brought in, they will be bought immediately."

"Recently, the Western United Trading Company captured the island of Ceylon. They shipped a batch of slaves over, and they bought them all in less than an hour."

"The imperial court has basically ended the war in Java, and there will be a shortage of slaves in the future. The price of these slaves will definitely rise. If you want to buy them, go buy more as soon as possible, and buy some slaves too."

"Anyway, it's just a little food. Here in Nanyang, there is a lot of food, and you can start working when you are a teenager."

Li Maolin nodded after thinking about it.

There are so many plantations in Nanyang, and Daming, who immigrated here, can't keep busy at all, so the demand for slaves is very large.

The price of slaves has also risen again and again, that is, the war in Nanyang some time ago gained a large number of slaves, which eased the demand of plantation owners.

But once the war stopped, the source of slaves became a big problem again, and the price of slaves began to rise again.

"I think so too, but I don't have any money. As you can see, the money is used to build houses, build roads, buy tools, and buy slaves. We can only wait until the sugar cane is harvested."

Qin Yan smiled and said helplessly.

"You can go for a loan, and you can pay it back after the sugarcane is harvested, otherwise the price will rise by then, and I don't know how much higher than the interest rate."

Li Maolin is the county magistrate, so he has more contact with people, so he naturally knows more.

"I've also thought about getting a loan, but bank loans require collateral, and I only have this plantation in my hands. If I don't pay it by then, the plantation will be gone."

"It doesn't matter if it's slower, if it rises too much, I just don't buy it."

Qin Yan thought for a while and shook his head slightly. His thinking is still a bit old-fashioned. He always feels that loans and borrowing money are not a good thing. Think about the usury in his hometown. The interest rate is rolling. If you bring a tael of silver, you may pay back dozens in the end. Both are unclear.

Therefore, his principle has always been that if he is in debt, he will not be in debt. Even if the interest rate of the bank is low, he will not think about taking out a loan unless it is a last resort.

"You came to see me, there must be something wrong?"

After thinking about it, Qin Yan said to Li Maolin again.

"Yes, it is definitely a good thing for you."

"The three-year imperial examination is about to begin. The imperial court has also issued a decree. Our Nanyang Province will also hold a rural examination, and a lot of places will be returned."

"You are a scholar, and you are considered a rare scholar here. I think you have a great chance this time, so I want to come here and invite you to take this provincial examination."

　How many acres of land could a person plant in ancient times?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)