Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 487
Chongzhen asked: "Has an investigation been done?"

Du Yinxi said: "Returning to the Holy Lord, although the eight prefectures and one prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River have not done a new investigation, the minister and the head of the House of Internal Affairs, Ma Mingpao, have made estimates."

"From the 18th year of Chongzhen to the 20th year of Chongzhen, the total number of newborns in Jiangnan during these three years was at least 500 million. In addition, the total number of hired craftsmen who poured into Jiangnan from Shandong, Henan, Jiangxi, Fujian and even Huguang to work in Jiangnan also exceeded 500. million, so now the total population of the eight prefectures and one prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River must have exceeded 4000 million."

What Du Yinxi was talking about was the permanent population, not the registered population of the eight prefectures and one prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River.

"But even if there is an extra 1000 million mouths, it won't be an extra 5000 million shi food shortage, right?" Lu Zhenfei said.

"If there are only 1000 million more mouthfuls, it is true that there will not be an additional food gap of 5000 million shi, because the big mouth can only eat three stones and six buckets a year, and the small mouth only needs one stone and eight buckets to eat." Du Yinxi laughed. He nodded and said, "So even if there are more than 1000 million more food, we will not eat 3000 million shi of grain too much."

Huang Daozhou said: "Then where did the remaining 2000 million stone gap go?"

The tone of Huang Daozhou's questioning was already a bit harsh, because this old man was in charge of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Kodao Spokesman, so it was natural to think that someone was pocketing his own money?

Du Yinxi smiled and asked, "Old Huang Ge, have you forgotten?"

"What?" Huang Daozhou frowned, "What did the old man forget?"

Du Yinxi said: "Since the beginning of summer this year, the number of wineries in the south of the Yangtze River has increased sharply, from hundreds to thousands before, and the food consumed for brewing fermented wine has consumed at least tens of millions of shi! Including the food consumed for brewing distilled wine, there may be a food gap of [-] million shi."

Lu Zhenfei and the other four elders suddenly showed bitter expressions.

He wanted to complain about Chongzhen, but he didn't dare.

Because it was Chongzhen who caused the surge in the number of breweries.

After Chongzhen returned to Nanjing from Xuzhou, he didn't know which tendon was wrong. It was too extravagant to propose to provide one liter of fermented wine to all the town soldiers and recruits who were away.

Because of this matter, Lu Zhenfei and the other four pavilion elders once advised Chongzhen.

Huang Daozhou even wrote a majestic essay with tens of thousands of characters, making up his mind to let Chongzhen take back his life, but what is depressing is that Chongzhen blocked Huang Daozhou speechless with only one sentence.

I didn't spend a penny from the treasury, can you manage it?
Just this one sentence almost made Zodiac Zhou's cerebral thrombosis angry on the spot.

Due to the limitations of the times, Lu Zhenfei and Huang Daozhou naturally couldn't see the mystery.

Chongzhen did this purely to promote the development of other industries through the development of the military industry, and ultimately promote the improvement of the overall industrial level of Ming Dynasty.

By equipping town soldiers and recruits with iron pots, the development of the iron hardware industry is promoted.

By equipping town soldiers and recruits with quilts, the development of quilt textile industry is promoted.

Promote the development of the cooked food processing industry by providing rations for town soldiers and recruits.

By equipping town soldiers and recruits with fermented wine, the development of the wine-making and packaging industry will be promoted.

Promote the development of the wood processing industry by equipping town soldiers and recruits with vans.

All of these are equivalent to preparing the dry wood, and then waiting for the steam engine to come out, which is equivalent to a little spark falling into the dry wood pile. Boom, the industrial revolution broke out, perfect.

In order to provide one liter of fermented wine per person per day for all the town soldiers and recruits who went abroad, the Ministry of Internal Affairs did spend a lot of money, but Chongzhen believed that the money was well spent, because this measure not only improved the Ming army. These conditions improved the morale and combat effectiveness of the Ming army, and also drove the development of the brewing industry, pottery industry, and transportation industry, directly or indirectly created millions of jobs, and greatly prospered the industry and commerce of Daming.

Zodiac Zhou and the others naturally couldn't see so deeply.

But it's useless, even if they have opinions, they can only hold back.

Who made Chongzhen really not use a penny of the treasury?
The Wanli Emperor back then spent money lavishly, and he used the money from the national treasury, which made the civil and military officials in the court look down on him very much. Compared with the current emperor, he is much stronger.

At that moment, Huang Daozhou asked with a dark face: "In this way, the food shortage in the eight prefectures and one prefecture in the south of the Yangtze River may really exceed 5000 million shi, so I would like to ask Du Duxian, where can I find such a big gap? Can it be filled? ?"

"It can be made up, no problem at all." Du Yinxi replied very positively, "The drought in the provinces this year is indeed very serious. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is once in 500 years, but Henan, Huguang and Henan, which are important grain producers In the province, due to the construction of a complete water conservancy irrigation project last year and the year before, there has not been a large-scale reduction in grain production."

"Duduxian, Henan and Huguang really didn't reduce production?" Huang Daozhou was still skeptical.

Huang Daozhou's suspicion is based on his basic understanding of the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, because the ecology of the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is to deceive the upper and lower, only reporting good news but not worrying, so what Du Yinxi saw during the inspection process may not be the real situation, but It is very likely that the local officials in Henan and Huguang wanted him to see it.

Du Yinxi said with a smile: "Xiaguan knows what Huang Ge is worried about, but this is superfluous. I won't talk about the situation in Henan, because the water conservancy and irrigation facilities in Henan were originally in charge of the irrigation facilities. What kind of water conditions and drought conditions, Xiaguan knows better than anyone else, as for Huguang..."

There is another reason why the grain harvest in Henan was not affected by the drought.

That is, a large area of ​​Henan is planted with dry crops such as sweet potatoes, bracts, and potatoes.

"Although the water conservancy in Huguang is not the responsibility of the lower officials, the lower officials did not notify any local officials during their inspection in Huguang this time, nor did they have any contact with Huguang colleagues, so there is no deception. The lower officials can Guarantee to Mr. Huang Ge that what you see and hear is the truth, and there is absolutely no empty words."

"Really? Speaking of which, Pu really wants to visit Henan."

Huang Daozhou still didn't believe it, and wanted to get some words out of Du Yinxi's mouth, but Chongzhen became impatient.

"Okay, Mr. Huang Ge, you should go to Henan and Huguang when you have time." Chongzhen stabbed at Huang Daozhou, and then asked Du Yinxi, "Du Qing, the harvest of sweet potatoes, bracts and potatoes in Henan is good this year. ?”

Du Yinxi said happily: "My lord, the drought in Henan is actually the worst this year, and the Yellow River has completely stopped flowing, but fortunately, the sweet potatoes, bracts, and potatoes planted are relatively drought-resistant, so there has not been a large-scale failure of the harvest. I estimate that there are still two to three stones per mu, but if there is more, it will be gone."

"The drought is so severe, can you still harvest as much as two or three stones per mu?"

"So, sweet potatoes, bracts, and potatoes are drought-resistant valleys."

Lu Zhenfei, Zhang Shenyan, and Meng Zhaoxiang were immediately excited when they heard the words. If what Du Yinxi said was true, then they would probably achieve another unprecedented great achievement in their cabinet tenures—there would be no more famine in China, and there would be no famine in China. There will never be a large-scale famine again, which is a big deal, but a great merit!

Du Yinxi said: "Sweet potatoes, bract grains and potatoes are indeed called drought-resistant valleys. As far as the drought situation in Henan is concerned this year, if crops such as wheat and rice are planted, it would be good to have a harvest of one bucket per mu. If this is the case, Henan will surely When there is a great famine, those people who have just fled from the north will definitely starve to death in large numbers. I am afraid that the town soldiers in Guide and Xuzhou will also flee in large numbers. This way, the Huanghuai defense line that the Holy One has painstakingly managed will be destroyed by itself. gone."

Lu Zhenfei said: "My lord, these sweet potatoes, bracts and potatoes need to be vigorously promoted."

Zhang Shenyan also said: "That's right, we must vigorously promote the cultivation of sweet potatoes, bracts, and potatoes in all provinces. In this way, there will be no risk of famine in Ming Dynasty, and every family can live and work in peace and contentment."

"It must be promoted. Immediately purchase grain reserves from Henan, and exchange wheat and rice with the people of Henan."

It is rare that several elders in the cabinet have the willingness to promote the cultivation of sweet potatoes, bracts and potatoes, so they have to strike while the iron is hot and implement this matter, which they could not push hard before.

However, at this time Du Yinxi said instead: "Your Majesty, I support the vigorous promotion of planting sweet potatoes, corn corn and potatoes in various provinces, but I suggest only planting them in relatively barren dry land or mountainous areas, because it is almost impossible to grow wheat, rice and other crops on these cultivated lands. There will be no harvest, but coarse grains such as sweet potatoes will hardly be affected."

Zhang Shenyan asked: "There is not much difference between coarse grains and fine grains grown in paddy fields?"

"Yes, there is not much difference in the harvest of coarse grains and fine grains planted in paddy fields. They are all about two to three stones per mu. Maybe high-yield varieties will be cultivated in the future, but there is not much difference now." Du Yinxi continued, "So now, It is most advisable to mix refined grains such as wheat and rice with coarse grains such as sweet potatoes."

"Just do it like this." Chongzhen nodded happily, "Then mix it up."

In Chongzhen's memory, it seems that the farmers in the previous life were also a mixture of coarse and fine grains, and the coarse grains were planted in relatively barren mountainous areas or on the edge of the fields.

At this time, Meng Zhaoxiang suddenly asked again: "This time our Daming suffered such a severe drought, and we don't know how the conditions in Pseudo-Shun and Jiannu are? Have you also suffered from the once-in-a-century drought?"

"This, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint Mr. Meng Ge." Chongzhen shook his head and said.

Li Ruolian and Zuo Maodi had already sent secret reports to Nanjing about the disasters under Jiannu and the puppet Shun rule.

Chongzhen then said: "Although Beizhi, Shanxi, and Shandong under Jiannu's rule also suffered from drought, the disaster was much lighter. As for Shaanxi and Gansu under the puppet Shun rule, this year is even more favorable. It is said to be a good year. "

"Ah? It's still a good year?" Zhu Cijiong said disappointedly, "God, you don't have eyes."

"Prince Ding, please be careful with your words!" Huang Daozhou said suddenly, "There are gods three feet above your head, how can you insult them with words."

(End of this chapter)