I want to be emperor

Chapter 604 Rubber Plantation

There are many reasons for the expansion of the Great Chu Empire in Southeast Asia, although the direct factor of the expansion in the first two years was to protect and further develop overseas markets, promote the prosperity of domestic industry and commerce, and provide more employment.

But this is only the early reason, and entered the 13th year of Chengshun, especially after the second half of the year, as the supreme ruler of the empire, Luo Zhixue gradually changed his mind.

The change in thinking stems from the fact that although the domestic grain production has gradually increased in recent years, it has still not been able to solve the food crisis, and famines will come every now and then.

Although there was no mass starvation, small-scale famines and even starvation still occurred from time to time.

Not to mention that the vast majority of citizens are still undernourished for a long time.

In October 13 of Chengshun, Luo Zhixue learned that several nearby prefectures and counties conducted inspections, and the focus of the inspections was on the situation in rural areas.

Undoubtedly, this kind of inspection Luo Zhixue is impossible to see the real situation, he knows with his toes, since he decided to go to a certain place to inspect the rural situation, it is estimated that the local officials will act overnight In the old days, even if it was a poor village, everyone could become a rich peasant overnight...

In fact, what he saw was indeed the same. He traveled to three counties in total, and visited more than a dozen villages like a horse on horseback. There were good and bad. Some of them are also in good spirits and don't have to worry about food and drink. Even the worst villages can survive.

From the surface, it is definitely a scene of living and working in peace and prosperity...

Luo Zhixue is not some idiot who has never seen the world, so he is naturally aware of the petty actions of his courtiers, and he didn't stop them from showing off, even if they died... After all, there are policies and there are countermeasures.

Furthermore, he ran out to inspect with great fanfare, and the inspection would be reported through the Dachu Mansion Newspaper. If Luo Zhixue really wanted to show a bunch of dilapidated villages, this would make everyone unhappy, and how could he carry out publicity afterwards? Ah... Is it true that more than 90.00% of the people in the Great Chu Empire are malnourished and starved to death from time to time?
Certainly not.

Luo Zhixue didn't dislike them from showing off, but felt that they had already put on a show in advance, and the rural area was only at this level, so what happened before the show?Can I still watch?
Besides, in fact, Luo Zhixue can also feel the real life conditions of most of the people under the rule through words.

The simplest, that is to use food production data and population data to carry out the rebellion.

Although these data are not very accurate, and it is difficult to obtain large-scale data, accurate data on only a few terrains can still be obtained.

Then you can get the per capita food level in some areas!
To judge the actual living standards of the people, you don't need to look at any other messy economic data, just look at the food per capita.

Before talking about this data, let’s take a look at the per capita grain level of the Huaxia region in later generations. In the first year of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it was a little more than 280 kilograms. After a few years of normal production, it was about 21 kilograms. One hundred kilograms fluctuated repeatedly in the following decades, and it was not until the [-]st century that it reached the level of [-] kilograms and began to stop growing.

After the 21st century, the fluctuation of around [-] kg is because the supply of non-staple foods such as meat and vegetable oil began to increase, which limited the consumption of staple foods.

The per capita consumption of [-] kilograms of staple food is a very important watershed. If there is too little, it is not enough to eat, and if it is too much, it is not enough to eat. Generally, the supply of non-staple food such as meat is increased.

Let's talk about other places, such as countries in the first half of the [-]th century, among which Japan has maintained a level of more than two hundred for a long time...

At the same time, several great powers in the European region were actually not much better. Although they are all great powers, they are actually only about 300 kilograms, and there are many people who cannot eat enough.

But the United States is an exception... People have already broken through [-] kilograms... Their natural conditions are too superior.

When people in various countries are still suffering from malnutrition or even large-scale famine, the consumption of staple food can no longer rise, and the consumption of various foods such as meat and poultry eggs has begun to increase.

not in one dimension...

No way, they have the most arable land in the world, and they still use mechanized large-scale farming, and the per capita arable land area is very large.

After talking about these data, then you will have a general idea of ​​the number of per capita food consumption:

Two hundred kilograms will starve to death, large-scale starvation...

About [-] kilograms can't starve to death, but they are generally malnourished;

With [-] kilograms, you can have enough food, and start to pursue eating well, so if you go further, you will increase the supply of meat, poultry, eggs, etc., and pursue the so-called diet quality.

And what about the current per capita food level of the Great Chu Empire?
There is no nationwide data, and there is no way to complete such a large-scale data statistics with the current statistics, but the data for a specific region.

In the 12th year of Chengshun, the per capita food in Suzhou Prefecture was about 330 kilograms. If there is no accident, this is also the highest level in the Great Chu Empire.

In Xuzhou Prefecture in the north of the Yangtze River, the per capita grain is 250 kg.

In Jinan Prefecture, Shandong Province, the per capita grain is 270 kg.

The Shaanxi-Gansu region is even worse, with only about [-] kilograms in many places.

Roughly speaking, a few places are in a state of great famine, most areas are in a state of small-scale famine, and a few wealthy areas are in a state of malnutrition...

As for the area with a per capita of [-] kilograms, I'm sorry... none of them.

Of course, the reason why there are not a few places where the per capita grain production is insufficient and people starve to death on a large scale is purely because of the Great Chu Empire Grain Corporation. Insufficient places avoid mass starvation.

In the end, Luo Zhixue estimated that the per capita food level of the Great Chu Empire would be around 260 kilograms.

And this level is to starve to death.

When Luo Zhixue carefully learned about the grain production and other issues, he saw a shocking situation in the seemingly prosperous show.

This also directly prompted Luo Zhixue to change his mind.

And when Luo Zhixue changed his mind, it also meant that the national policy of the Great Chu Empire had changed. It was also the main reason why Luo Zhixue made up his mind to spend huge sums of money on the artificial diversion project of the Yellow River, expand the expansion of Southeast Asia, and promote immigration.

These two items respectively represent important decisions made by Luo Zhixue to try to improve the per capita food level.

Internally, we will continue to open up wasteland, expand the area of ​​cultivated land, and build various water conservancy facilities to ensure more food production.

Externally, to expand food imports, whether it is through direct imports from indigenous people, or immigrating to the past to open up food plantations, etc., in short, it is to get food back.

This also led to December of the 13th year of Chengshun. After the end of this year, the Great Chu Empire issued a series of policies to encourage immigration.

The first large-scale colony of the empire on the Malay Peninsula, the 'Pekka area', is supplemented by the Bangkok area and the Kowloon area. Good, it can even be grown three times a year.

After the Great Chu Empire took over these places before, in fact, there were not many ordinary people in the country except businessmen and officials.

Now, imperial officials are beginning to encourage people to go!

And finalized several major incentive policies.

First of all, there is no ferry ticket. As long as you are willing to go to Nanyang, you can take an official ship for free. At present, you mainly take a navy ship to go there. Anyway, the navy runs to Nanyang for various training and patrols every three days. It is also convenient to emigrate by the way. It is also planned to build some special passenger ships to serve as ships for overseas immigrants.

Secondly, after arriving in the local area, a certain amount of land will be distributed free of charge, and the agricultural tax will be exempted for three years, half tax for two years, and long-term interest-free loans will be provided to provide grain seeds, farm tools, simple housing, and rations before harvesting wasteland.

What the immigrants have to do is to pack up their belongings and board the immigration boat to go to Nanyang.

The rest will be covered by the official.

And why did the government pay such a large cost?
In order to reduce domestic food pressure.

At the same time, after immigration, more grain can be planted overseas, and the grain production in these places is very high, and grain can be imported into the country in turn.

In the past few years, the Great Chu Empire has started rice trade with the Kingdom of Siam. Naturally, the Great Chu Empire can also start grain trade in its own colonies.

While increasing internal grain production, increase overseas grain imports, and export the increased population overseas as much as possible.

Combining three prongs, this is Luo Zhixue's solution to the food problem.

The first policy has the greatest effect. Luo Zhixue reckons that after a few years of domestic infrastructure projects, the per capita grain should be raised to the level of two to eighty or even three hundred kilograms.

But it is more difficult to continue to rise.

Before the two powerful tools of hybrid rice and chemical fertilizers are produced, it is difficult to increase the amount of grain per mu. Even if the country continues to open up wasteland and make more arable land, the domestic population is also increasing... and it is increasing fast.

At the same time, there is a limit to the domestic arable land that can be developed. Not all places can cultivate land. Therefore, after reaching a certain limit, there are only three ways to solve the food problem: more land, less people, and entering modern society.

Modern society is the most interesting. At that time, you don’t have to worry about the population problem, because people will consciously reduce their desire to have children. This is the result of many aspects of modern society. It is not just the housing price problem that is often said in China. Developed countries don't have the so-called high housing price problem, but they don't like having babies either.

This is a common situation in many countries after the 21st century...

There are not many people, so naturally there is no need to worry about the food problem.

Many places are naturally expanding abroad... It is possible to directly seize overseas territories to farm by themselves, or they can plunder overseas food and transport it back to the mainland through colonization and other methods.

To reduce the number of people, either through wars or other events or specific birth policies to reduce the population, or to export immigrants overseas, in short, to control the population under a certain number.

Luo Zhixue chose to expand overseas immigration!

It can not only export the remaining domestic population to overseas territories, strengthen the empire's control in overseas territories, but also obtain food from overseas territories to feed back the country.

This is going on, maybe the whole world will have to become Chinese.

Get it in one fell swoop!
Ever since Chengshun began in early 14, with the gradual implementation of various policies and preparations, the Great Chu Empire also began large-scale immigration, which set off a frenzy of going to Nanyang.

Xu Donglai is one of them.

However, it is different from many immigrants who starve to death anyway because they don’t have enough to eat. It’s better to go overseas to earn a living.

In fact, Xu Donglai is a wealthy businessman, and he went to Nanyang not to immigrate, but to do business and make a fortune.

More than ten years ago, he was actually an ordinary farmer's son, but he was lucky. He joined the army in the early days and took part in the Civil Unification War. When Chengshun retired in the eighth year, he already had the rank of sergeant.

He also participated in literacy classes during his military service. Those who can read, read, and count have a fairly good level of education. They have passed the higher primary school education examination and obtained a degree certificate.

Otherwise he wouldn't be promoted to sergeant.

The Chu army has long carried out literacy education in the army, with officers as the main teachers. In the early days, in order to encourage soldiers to learn, under the same circumstances, they will give priority to promoting soldiers who are outstanding in cultural subjects.

After occupying the Guannei area, literacy education and the promotion of non-commissioned officers were combined. You cannot be promoted to a non-commissioned officer without passing the cultural examination. Only after passing the cultural examination can you continue to join the army and serve as a non-commissioned officer.

This is not only to enhance the combat effectiveness of the army, but also to cultivate a large number of people with a certain level of education and grassroots officials.

Because these soldiers will retire after a certain period of service, and if these soldiers can read and write after retirement, it will be of great help to the productivity of the entire society, and it will also help the empire acquire a large number of people with basic culture. level of grassroots personnel.

Xu Donglai is a beneficiary of the literacy education policy. He has passed many cultural examinations during his years of service, and passed the academic examinations for higher primary schools before retiring from the army.

Senior non-commissioned officers at the rank of sergeant, and with occasional high-level academic qualifications, are generally retained in the army. Such senior non-commissioned officers are the core backbone of the army. However, Xu Donglai is bound to be tired of fighting for so many years, so after the service period chose to retire.

After retiring, he did not choose to change jobs like many retired colleagues. If he changed jobs, he could get a job as a patrolman or tax policeman with his qualifications, but he was not willing either.

His ambitions are even greater.

If he accepts the job change, he can only live an ordinary life for the rest of his life, but he wants more.

So he refused to change his career, but took the retirement compensation and the money he had accumulated in the army for many years and went to business directly...

The business he does is not big, just a small-scale cloth sale, but he makes a lot of money, and now he has accumulated a net worth of tens of thousands.

In the past few years of doing business, he has also been exposed to maritime trade. After all, the cotton cloth of the Great Chu Empire is the largest export material these days, and the relationship between cotton cloth and overseas trade is extremely close.

Xu Donglai also met a lot of those sea merchants, even some foreign sea merchants, and gained a new understanding of overseas, especially Southeast Asia.

And the more he understands, the more he feels that there are many opportunities in Southeast Asia.

It's not about maritime trade... As far as his net worth of more than 1 Chu Yuan is much compared to ordinary people, it is impossible to get involved in maritime trade...

Which one of those maritime trading companies has hundreds of thousands or even millions of assets at every turn!
What's more, the risk of engaging in maritime trade is extremely high. You may encounter pirates one day. Even if you don't talk about pirates, all kinds of natural disasters such as wind and waves are also very dangerous.

Every year, there are always many ships that go to sea and never return!
Last year, he heard that the large fleet organized by the Nanyang Trading Company to trade in the Indian peninsula encountered wind and waves. The huge storm directly destroyed and sank one of the large ships. Hundreds of people were swallowed by the wind and waves, and the ship sank , the goods were lost, and the loss was extremely heavy!

That is a thousand-ton large sea ship, and it is as vulnerable as a child in the face of a storm.

Therefore, the maritime trade these days is not something that ordinary businessmen can play with. It's okay if there is no accident, but if there is an accident, it will cost hundreds of thousands of Chu Yuan.

Those smaller maritime trading companies may have to go bankrupt and liquidate if their ships suffer such heavy losses.

Xu Donglai didn't have that much capital, so he couldn't do this kind of sea trade with huge profits but equally high risks.

What he values ​​is not maritime trade, but wants to open a rubber plantation in Beijia.

Rubber, for the vast majority of people in the Great Chu Empire, it is a product that has never even heard of it. Even Xu Donglai only heard of it by accident.

This thing came from the Americas. Xu Donglai didn't know exactly how it came from, but it must have something to do with the Spaniards and the three official trading companies.

The three official trading companies seem to like to find the Spaniards to get all kinds of novelties from the Americas, and the cinchona tree is one of them.

And rubber is one of them.

The Spaniards didn't know why the Great Chu Empire wanted this thing, but since they placed an order for this thing, they got it, making money, not shabby.

After the empire obtained this thing, it began to plant it in Qiongzhou Island and some hot rainforest areas in the south, and then processed it to produce tarpaulins and other rubber products.

The only rubber factory in China is directly invested by the Ministry of Industry, and the rubber plantation is also a rubber plantation directly invested by government-run enterprises.

After Xu Donglai learned about this, he began to think about it.

There is no private capital involved in this industry for the time being. From raw materials to research and production of finished products, it is controlled by official capital, and even the products produced are basically supplied to military supplies.

He wanted to step in and build a rubber plantation, and become the first person to eat crabs in private capital.

However, after getting a deeper understanding, he also found that it is not easy to grow rubber. There are not many suitable places in China, and domestic official capital has already been involved in it.

The most important thing is that rubber trees are typical tropical crops, and the most suitable places to grow rubber trees are those tropical areas in Southeast Asia.

Ever since, Xu Donglai set his sights on the empire's colonies in Southeast Asia, especially the Beijia region.

He wants to set up a large rubber plantation in Beijia, and earn a fortune from him before other people realize it!
(End of this chapter)