Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 528
"Your Highness, if you are really worried, why not leave some money for the people in that village..."

At the foot of the Taihang Mountains, when a human-powered four-wheeled bicycle was still going south, the eunuch sitting next to Zhu Ciran, who was pedaling hard, couldn't help persuading Zhu Ciran who was in a bad mood.

It's just that after so much experience, Zhu Ciran is no longer the political novice. He asked the eunuch: "Do you think they are so poor because they don't have money?"

"If it's because of money, then why are the village officials in that village fed so poorly?"

"If you don't bring down the prices, no matter how much money you give, it's useless."

"Besides, this is only the first village. What's next? How many villages are there?"

Zhu Ciran was speechless at what the eunuch said, but he couldn't help thinking a little bit.

After staying in Qi Wangfu for more than half a year, and seeing it for more than half a year, he probably also knows why the people in Shanxi are so poor.

The drought is one aspect, and the soaring prices are the culprit that caused them to live like this.

Is there any way to keep prices down?Of course there is, that is to send a steady stream of goods to Shanxi, and then continue to use the method of work-for-relief to make the people rich.

It's just that the imperial court has interrupted the work-for-relief method in Shanxi, in order to force them to move to the three provinces outside the pass.

These people do not want to move, and the court has nothing to do. After all, King Qi said that force cannot be used, otherwise the entire population of Shanxi Province will be relocated within a few years.

"Isn't there a train in Guochao now? How can prices be so high in Shanxi..."

An eunuch sitting in the back row couldn't help but to speak, Zhu Ciran could only shake his head when he heard the words:

"The country has more than 9 million mu of arable land, only [-] million mu can produce grain, and the annual grain output is only [-] billion shi. According to five shi per person, the people alone will eat [-] million shi."

"But these grains did not come to the people suddenly, but needed to be transported."

"After the 11 million shi grains are transported to various places, they become one billion shi, or even [-] billion shi, and the remaining [-] to [-] million shi have to be used for livestock."

"If there are no livestock and enough meat, the [-] million stones will not be enough for the people to eat."

Zhu Ciran realized a problem of distribution and transportation loss.

At his age, it's pretty good to be aware of that.

Just like what he said, there must be enough food for Daming. Even if there is only [-] million mu of arable land, it can grow [-] billion shi of rice and wheat, which is enough for each person. In conversion, each person can get at least one hand every day. Three catties of rice.

However, this so-called three catties of rice is per capita, and everything is most afraid of per capita.

The Han people in Luchuan have [-] mu of paddy fields, with [-] to [-] shi per year, and the Han people in Shanxi have one or two mu of irrigated fields, with less than [-] shi per year.

The former can eat one bowl after another, and even spend more than a dozen shi to raise livestock to increase meat, egg and milk, while the latter can't even eat enough, and works hungry every day.

It is useless to talk about per capita. Only by crushing the data can we know how the people in various places are living. It is just like the prices in Beizhili and Shanxi, which are very different.

The problem in Shanxi that I want to solve, unless there is no drought in Shanxi, or Daming has sufficient supplies, can send tens of millions of stones, rice, wheat and various supplies to Shanxi every year.

However, freight costs, time costs, and labor costs.

The price of rice in Shanxi can be kept at around [-] Wen, which is already the limit that Ming officials can do.

According to the historical process, the price of rice in Shanxi this year should be three taels and one stone.

The people in Shanxi are not doing well, and all the officials in the court and Zhu Youjian know about it, but they have nothing to do.

Under the drought in the north, it is already the limit to rely on the food in the south to keep people from starving to death.

With a depressed mood, Zhu Ciran stomped on the pedal hard, trying to relieve his uneasiness by riding a bicycle.

"From today onwards, we will stop taking provincial and government roads, and use rural roads if there are any!"

After all, Zhu Ciran drove his bicycle quickly along the concrete country road, but suffered from the three eunuchs who were pedaling desperately to prevent him from getting tired.

The bicycle gradually disappeared at the end of the road, and Zhu Ciran's travel notes are still being written. He wants to report all the things he saw to his uncle Qi Wang, so that Uncle Qi Wang can better govern the world and bring happiness to the people. .

However, the situation of the hungry people in the Northwest is not only recorded by Zhu Ciran, Xu Xiake and others, there are also many officials among the officials of the Ming Dynasty who are constantly on the list.

Among them, what caught Zhu Youjian's attention the most was the one in his hand.

[Since last year, there has been no rain in the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi. Except for Guanzhong, Hetao, and the banks of Fen River, the rest of the land is yellow and the vegetation is scorched.]

[Since the spring of this year, Pingyang Prefecture has been fighting for rice and rice, and the people have competed to pick wild grass in the mountains for food. The grains of wild grass are as small as bran, and their taste is bitter and astringent. Eating them can only keep you alive...]

[The official Ma Maocai, the magistrate of Pingyang, Shanxi, begged His Majesty to allocate money and food to calm the food shortage in Shanxi]

A seven-year-late "Preparing for Chen's Great Hunger" appeared in Zhu Youjian's hands, and the person who wrote him was still Ma Maocai who dared to speak out.

Due to the appearance of Enke, Ma Maocai, who was supposed to be admitted as a Jinshi in the fifth year of Tianqi, received enough neglect in his subsequent official career.

After being an official for ten years, he was only a magistrate of Pingyang Prefecture, but in history, he only took three years to become a doctor of the Ministry of Rites.

Of course, the reason why he was promoted so quickly was mainly because there was no one available in Daming at that time.

It's just different now. Although the officials of the Yanshan faction have been fighting among the parties, in terms of governance, the Yanshan faction has countless grassroots officials.

Pragmatic... This is why they govern faster than the conservatives.

When the conservative faction still needed to worry about etiquette, the officials of the Yanshan faction had already handed over the answers to the questions.

Therefore, Ma Maocai, who was above average in ability, became unknown among the tens of thousands of Enke officials in the fifth year of the apocalypse.

Fortunately, as in history, he submitted a memorial to the court about the hungry people, otherwise Zhu Youjian might not have noticed him.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian put down Ma Maocai's memorabilia, and picked up Zhu Ciran's travel notes backup.

Ma Maocai went to Shushu at the beginning of February, and Zhu Ciran's travel notes were at the end of February.

With a difference of more than half a month, the content of Zhu Ciran's travel notes can allow Zhu Youjian to better understand the living conditions of the people in Pingyang Prefecture.

[February Jihai, I rode a bicycle from Lingshikou Township Road into the boundary of Pingyang Prefecture. When I arrived at Hanxinling, I chatted for a long time with the local village elder Liu. 】

[Since February, the "natural disaster" in Shanxi has not left, but has struck swiftly and violently, tormenting the barren Han Xinling]

[From Zhengdan to the vernal equinox, there was no rain here, and most of the paddy fields were unsustainable, and the drought turned into dry fields, and the crops failed. 】

[One day after the spring equinox, I was still in Hanxinling. It was all because of the migratory locusts that came to Shanxi and went to Shandong. The villagers stayed behind closed doors for a day. 】

[By the third day, the crops were withered, and most of the people in the village packed up their bags and went to Lingshi Railway Station, preparing to take a car to go outside the pass to discuss life. 】

[The people fleeing famine were bustling and bustling, going north along the railway, some thirteen or fourteen-year-old boys were about the same age as me, but still barely covered their clothes, and went northward with their upper body bare, and I also asked people to distribute clothes to them. 】

[I went against the victims and went south along the railway]

[Along the road, there are crowds of disaster victims, and they go north along the railway]

[In the famine year, the trees on both sides of the railway also suffered a lot]

[The young leaves on the branches were stroked off just after they bloomed, and they were stroked again when they worked hard to grow]

[The most unlucky thing is the bark. The trees on both sides along the railway have been stripped of their bark, and the wooden part is exposed, white and white, like the bones of a dead person. 】

[Thirty miles to the south, after arriving at Guojiakou, I saw the house collapsed, the building was empty, and the bones were piled in the corner of the collapsed earthen house, or in the stove]

[Forty miles further south, to Yangdiguan, there is still a stream here, but the fish in the river is empty, and the hungry people can't find anything to eat in the mountains and fields, so they can only look for wild vegetables and weeds]

[Thousands of people are looking for wild vegetables and weeds, eating them while picking them. Their hands and lips are stained green and they don’t feel it. The hungry people who unfortunately eat the poisonous weeds can only lie on the ground and turn over and over in full view. 】

[Although the government along the border has set up the medical stalls of the Huimin Pharmacy Bureau, but in this severe drought, even weeds are sparse, let alone medicinal materials?Dozens of hungry people who ate poisonous weed were tortured to death]

[Jiashen in February, I went to the east of Fenshui. When I reached Fushan, the Fushui was dry, and even weeds could not grow. The scorched grass leaves were scattered on the ground, like pools of sharp fishbone. 】

【February……】

After reading hundreds of words, Zhu Youjian finally finished reading Zhu Ciran's travel notes, but after reading it, he did not order people to transport food to Pingyang Mansion for disaster relief.

It is easy to provide disaster relief, but once this opening is opened, the people of Shanxi are unwilling to leave.

The drought in Shanxi will be over for another eight years. If Zhu Youjian can't make up his mind to drive them out of the pass, then Daming will have to support them for another eight years.

With the scale of irrigated and paddy fields in Shanxi, only when the population of Shanxi was relocated to only 400 million people could he order the Huangdian to transport grain to Shanxi regardless of cost to stabilize food prices.

Shanxi is bitter, but other places are also bitter.

If we transport grain to Shanxi regardless of cost, the people in Shanxi will be full, but the people in other provinces will be hungry.

Zhu Youjian is already trying to keep them alive, they are unwilling to move, and Zhu Youjian has no choice.

Perhaps only when they are really about to starve to death, they will let go of their so-called nostalgia and go outside the pass where there is food.

"Ugh……"

Zhu Youjian sighed deeply, with a bit of self-blame on his brows, he couldn't help asking Cao Huachun who helped him organize the memorabilia: "Am I being too harsh on the people of Shanxi by doing this?"

"This..." Cao Huachun was surprised. He didn't understand why His Royal Highness would have such an idea, so he couldn't help bowing and replied:

"Even if Your Highness wants to adjust the food, the country has no food to adjust, let alone silver."

"In all dynasties, in all the lands that have suffered from drought for more than three years, it has never been heard that more than [-]% of the people can be preserved."

"Shanxi has experienced a severe drought for nearly nine years, but so far only 10 people have died of hunger."

"For such a natural disaster, His Highness has made the best arrangement and disposal. Even the common people in Shanxi, no one has ever said that His Highness is not at all. His Highness does not need to blame himself."

Cao Huachun's words can be said to express the thoughts and opinions of most people in this era.

In their view, it is normal for people to die of famine. After all, with the productivity of this era, let alone nine years of famine, even one year of famine can starve many people to death.

Like Shanxi, there is a severe drought in either one province or half of the province, and the drought has lasted for nine years. It is strange that millions of people do not starve to death in any dynasty.

However, in the Tianqi Dynasty, thanks to the import of trains, ships and overseas grain, Shanxi suffered a nine-year drought, and not even 10 people died of starvation.

Not to mention, most of the 10 people who died of starvation were stubborn people who were unwilling to relocate and would rather starve to death in their hometown.

In Cao Huachun's view, it is already a great kindness for His Royal Highness to preserve more than 800 million Shanxi people.

Compared with the more than 800 million Shanxi people, the 10 people who died are nothing at all.

"Maybe you're right..."

Facing Cao Huachun's words, Zhu Youjian remained silent.

He always wants to save as many people as possible and meet the needs of more people, but given the times, even though he has worked hard to climb the technology tree, things like improving productivity are not just about climbing the technology tree. It can be improved at once.

Governing a country requires patience year after year, day after day.

Only by working hard and working hard year after year can the country gradually become stronger.

The size of the Ming Dynasty is too large and the territory is too large. Even if many policies are promulgated, it will take several years to see results.

Not to mention anything else, the current population problem alone took nine years of Ming Dynasty, but it still hasn't been investigated clearly.

Facing such a Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian can only take it step by step, so facing such a Shanxi, his policy still cannot be changed.

"Tell Ma Maocai and the Ministry of Household Affairs that the imperial court already knows about the situation of the people in Pingyang Prefecture, but the imperial court has no food or money to adjust."

"If the more than [-] people in Pingyang Prefecture really have no food to eat, they can be moved to Donghai Province for resettlement according to the national policy of 'immigrate to the border' and distribute food stamps."

"Yes……"

Zhu Youjian spoke, and Cao Huachun responded, just like that, things in Pingyang Mansion remained unchanged, and Zhu Youjian couldn't control those people who were stubborn to stay.

It's not that he didn't give these people a way to live, it's that these people didn't give themselves a way to live...

The memorabilia was quickly distributed, and at the same time, the changes of the Ming Dynasty were also revealed little by little.

With the influx of a large number of disaster victims over the years, the three provinces of Modong, Donghai, and Beishan outside the customs have changed a lot.

In terms of cultivated land, after the five-year policy of "immigrate to the border, and the victims moved north" in the five years of Tianqi 11, Tianqi 12, 13, 14, and 600, more than [-] million people have flooded into the three provinces outside the customs.

Most of these people are the people of Liaodong, followed by the victims of Shanxi, then the victims of Northern Zhili, and then the victims of Henan and Shandong after the completion of the railway.

These disaster victims did not migrate all at once in the same year, but groups of people, year after year.

Some of them have been outside the customs for five years, and some have only been a year.

What is directly proportional to the population migration is the cultivated land that has been continuously reclaimed by the people.

Among them, although Beishan Province, which is in a world of ice and snow, has only 40 people, it has the largest amount of arable land per capita. The arable land in the province has reached 160 million mu, four mu per capita, and five buckets of grain per mu.

Next is Donghai Province, with a population of more than 340 million and 920 million mu of arable land, which is close to three mu per capita.

As for the last Modong Province, according to the records in the yellow book, it also has a population of 300 million and 720 million mu of arable land, which is basically close to two and a half mu per capita.

Although the per capita is unrealistic, in terms of the local arable land, as batches of immigrants settled down and continued to cultivate, the food self-sufficiency rate of each province is also increasing.

During the Little Ice Age, the grain production outside the customs decreased by [-]% to [-]%, but at least there was no severe drought and there was still food to eat.

Even if Liaodong is not counted, the population of the three provinces has reached more than 680 million, and the cultivated land area has reached 810 million mu.

Although the latitude is different and the degree of cold is different, the grain yield per mu of the three provinces outside the customs is basically maintained at about five buckets to one stone, and they can basically produce about 400 million stones of grain, reaching a self-sufficiency rate of about [-]%.

The three provinces outside the pass are 2000% self-sufficient, so there is only a gap of less than [-] million shi left.

By the end of March in the 15th year of Tianqi, the population of Liaodong had dropped to 670 million before spring plowing, but the scale of cultivated land remained at about 400 million mu.

Although it is bitterly cold in Liaodong, after using chemical fertilizers, the local yield can still be kept at a minimum of seven buckets per mu and a maximum of one stone and one bucket.

Judging from last year's situation, this year's Liaodong should be able to ensure the province's self-sufficiency in grain, and at the same time export about 60 shimi wheat.

It may not seem like much, but this is the first and also the first province in the four northeastern provinces to be self-sufficient in so many years.

With the repair of railways and the use of sea ships, Zhu Youjian is no longer so anxious about the severe drought.

Especially when the time entered the summer of April, Shandong, Beizhili and other places, as well as Datong and Taiyuan in Shanxi, ushered in several timely rains, which brought new life to many irrigated fields that had been turned into dry fields.

This determines that the two provinces of Shandong and North Zhili, which have 1000 million mu of arable land, can export nearly [-] million shimi wheat to the outside world while ensuring the population rations of the two provinces.

The good news from the yamen in Beizhili and Shandong allowed Zhu Youjian to sleep soundly, and when Yingzhou sent the situation of Qi and Yingzhou back to Daming in May, Zhu Youjian's mood It's even better.

"As of April this year, there are about 260 million immigrants from Yingzhou, more than 160 million local residents in Yingzhou, and 190 million re-education workers."

"According to the investigation by the minister, Yingzhouhe should have more than 430 million mu of paddy fields, more than 340 million mu of irrigated fields, and more than 790 million mu of dry fields."

"After the fall of this year, Yingzhou produces about 3000 million shi of rice and wheat grains, and about [-] million shi of sweet potatoes and potato grains."

"After intercepting the grain, 700 million shi can be transported to Liaodong."

On the country road on the outskirts of the capital, when Wang Chengen read out the content of the memorial written by Yang Wenyue, Zhu Youjian who was next to him led Zhu Cihong on a horse on the country road to watch the endless rice fields.

The precedent of rice planting in the capital has long been established. During the Wanli period, many officials hoped to plant rice in the north, and many people guaranteed that once rice was planted in the paddy fields, the grain production in Beizhili would increase by [-]%.

However, the matter ended without a problem.

The reason for this is not that rice cannot be planted, nor that the grain production in Beizhili cannot be increased after planting, but because of simple tax issues.

The dignitaries, eunuchs, and gentry in the north were worried that the increase in grain production after rice planting in Beizhili would lead to an increase in taxes from the imperial court to Beizhili, so they had always opposed the ideas of southern officials.

Originally this was a good thing, but it failed because it involved the interests of nobles, gentry, and eunuchs in the north.

At that time, Daming was already in a period of global temperature decline. If we seized this opportunity, I am afraid that we would not have to rely on Sichuan and Huguang in the future.

Although the current drought in the north is still there, and the cold of the Little Ice Age has reduced grain production by about [-]%, but after large-scale rice cultivation in Hebei, the rice yield per mu can still be maintained at the output of four or five buckets per stone.

Unlike the paddy fields that only accounted for less than 2% in later generations, due to the sparse population and less water consumption than later generations, out of the 4000 million mu of land in Hebei in the late Ming Dynasty, the number of paddy fields reached more than 300 million mu, occupying [-]% of the cultivated land in Hebei. About [-]% of it, and most of the rest is irrigated.

After all the paddy fields were planted with rice, the total grain output in Beizhili increased by about [-]%.

Under the condition of ensuring the population rations of the province, Beizhili can stably export more than 500 million shi of grain without encountering disasters.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian was very happy walking beside the fruitful rice fields, and his happiness also drove Zhu Cihong in his arms.

Zhu Cihong held a rattle and shook it, but Zhu Youjian didn't find it noisy.

"Counting the grain in Beizhili, Shandong, and Yingzhou, it should not be a problem to supply the three provinces outside the customs, Shanxi, and Shaanxi through this year."

"The food in Sichuan and Henan should be guaranteed for the disaster victims in their own provinces this year."

"The grain from Huguang and the grain from Luchuan are still transported to the south of the Yangtze River as usual. As for the grain from Jiaozhi and Jiugang, which can be transported to Taicang by ship, we can buy as much as we can and transport it to Taicang."

Zhu Youjian rode on horseback and gave Wang Chengen instructions, and Zhu Cihong in his arms would obediently stop the rattle in his hand after hearing his words.

"Your maidservant takes orders..." Wang Chengen responded on his horseback, but he still reminded Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, the Department of Finance has less than 3000 million taels of gold and silver left in its inventory, and Guochao's Tianqi Tongbao has issued more than 800 billion pieces, with a total of about [-] million taels."

"Li Shilang asked if it will continue to be released this year..."

"Apart from the disaster area, is there any price increase in other places?" Zhu Youjian asked Wang Chengen, and Wang Chengen also subconsciously answered according to the answers of Jinyiwei and the Ministry of Household Affairs:
"There are some, but basically the rise is due to the rush for grain in the disaster-stricken areas."

"Then continue publishing." Zhu Youjian touched Zhu Cihong's head in his arms, and Zhu Cihong looked up at his father.

The north wind blowing in the distance made the rice fields undulate and flowed towards them with some rice fragrance.

Smelling the scent of rice, even though he knew it would be difficult next year, Zhu Youjian was able to maintain an optimistic attitude as the ships continued to launch.

He stroked Zhu Cihong's head and comforted him, "When Dad finishes working for the past two years, I will spare time to accompany you to the south to see the blue sea."

When Zhu Cilang heard this, his eyes narrowed immediately: "En!"

　The afternoon update is estimated to be around 05:30

　　
　
(End of this chapter)